Like that One Disney Movie says, "Sí se puede!"

I feel like a month has gone by since I posted last. So much has happened. Let's see here, I left off with the day of waking up at an ungodly hour to watch a sport I don't understand, correct? Oh psych. I just looked back and I didn't post that. Alright, so Wednesday, a few of us wake up at 4:30a to go to a friend's house to watch the Honduras vs. Chile soccer game. Surrounding the television, we all had orange juice and eggs in some sort of breakfast tortilla called a baleada. Unfortunately for the catrachos, their boys lost to Chile. Something I forgot to mention in my last post was that the government is enthralled by futbol. So much so, in fact, that the President, Vice President and entire Cabinet are in South Africa right now for the World Cup. For ONE month, there is no government in Honduras. That is just insane to me. Christi, the nurse, told us how crazy the government is here and some of the history behind that.

Anyway after the soccer game, we headed into Balfate to teach at the school for a little bit until a truck came to pick us up to go into the mountains. Little did I know then what the day had in store for me. I think there were about 4 of us in the bed of the truck going up this mountain. Mark my words, I will never complain about roads in Tulsa ever again (and if I do, I give you permission to slap me). There were incredibly deep divots in the road due to erosion from the rain. I have a few more bruises on my back from sloshing around in that truck to add to my ATV bruises. Honduran battle wounds!! Anyway, once we arrived at a stopping, we got out and hiked and hiked and hiked...and hiked. We went to about four villages atop that mountain. If you all know me at all, my physical prime was probably when I was 12 in gymnastics and my lung capacity since then has dramatically declined. So needless to say, the trek that day was a little tough but it was so worth it. At the top of the mountain, I got to watch an elementary school futbol game and play with some kids.

Thursdays are probably my favorite days here. We go with Dr. Don to various schools and then hike up to Las Niguas. One of the schools on the way, Margarita, is a primarily Garifuna school. There was an ADORABLE little girl there that was probably about 2 or 3 years old. She had the sweetest facial expressions. Aside from her sticking a pencil eraser up her nose, she was the cutest. I told Dr. Don, I was going to take her home with us. I didn't really end up taking her but I definitely thought about it. Las Niguas was fun as always. The kids there are so so eager. Yesterday, we went to La Ceiba to do some shopping, etc. The pace of life in Ceiba is SOOOOO different than in the villages, as you could probably imagine. Just an insane amount of traffic, all of the time and noises coming from every direction. We walked outside the mall at one point for lunch and had kind of a strange encounter. There was this man, whose growth I think was stunted, but he was holding up this paper that read, "Diploma," while harassing us to give him money. I later found out that the government gives some people, especially those with disabilities, authorization to be beggars. So strange.

Alright, now that I've got you up to speed, I have a HUGE story to tell you of what has happened to me this morning. I usually wake up around 5am to howler monkeys or geckos but most often, I just go back to sleep until about 7am. Today, I wanted to get up to switch my laundry, take a shower, and update this blog before I go out into the villages (oh right. I forgot to mention that I'm going to be living in the village this week). So I go into the bathroom and there is the biggest scorpion I've ever seen in the bathtub. I've only encountered two scorpions here prior to this one, and this was the biggest. I'd probably say about half the size of an unsharpened Ticonderoga #2 pencil (why I'm using this as a scale, I'll never know). Alright so my first reaction is, "oh shit." My second reaction is prayer. There was no one else awake to kill this scorpion for me so I knew I had to do it. God knows I could not have done that alone. I went outside and grabbed a flip flop and came back to the tub, ready for battle. I stood there for another 5 minutes just staring at this demon baby and praying for strength. Finally, God provided courage for me to hit the scorpion. I quickly realized, I had the flimsiest shoe I could have ever grabbed after I hit him and he scurried around the bathtub. So I just pissed off this little beast and have yet to kill him. Still no one else awake to take over for me. Again, I get the courage to hit him and I have to hit him not only once more, but 5 TIMES MORE. I think I should get a patch for my first grade Girl scout brownie vest or something. So after the deed was done, I scooped up the demon baby, put him in a bag and took him outside and burned him in the trash can. This was all before 6:30am, mind you. If this has been my morning, I can't even imagine what the rest of the day has in store. Karin and I are going to go live with Bictelia, Delmi and their family until Tuesday, I think. But I'm going back out there Wednesday to stay until my time is up here. I cannot wait to live in community with them. I adore their family and am so grateful for the opportunity to round out my time here with them. I probably won't be able to update for a bit. Mud huts don't have the best internet service but I'll be sure to update you once I make it back to the "real world." So I will update you soon. I love everyone!

P.S. Sorry I haven't had any pictures. During our ride to Río Coco, my camera got wet and I think sat on, because the screen is cracked so it won't turn on. That camera served me well but I'm still kind of bummed, I can't take any more pictures. So yeah, no pictures. Sorry charlies. I'll work on mooching some pictures off of the other people here.