Monday, August 27, 2007
A wonderful first week!
Posted by kb at 02:34 PMWhat a wonderful week we just had in Honduras! Everyday was interesting and fun; we are learning a lot and feeling more at home even in the crowded buses and noisy streets (with wolf whistles, horns that sound like wolf whistles, and lots of kissing sounds)! Our schedule has some variety as we alternate between the culture and language parts of our summer course every day. Monday professor Kurt Ver Beek taught some of the history of Honduras. Tuesday we learned about the “vos” pronoun that Hondurans use in place of “tu” and also enjoyed talking to other university students as we asked them which of three or four terms was most commonly used in Honduras. Wednesday we visited Nueva Suyapa – the poorest section of Tegus. We learned some recent history from Professor Jo Ann Van Engen (married to Kurt Ver Beek), talked with Carlos – a Honduran gentleman who is fervently working to bring more justice to Honduras- about the Genesis organization that has allowed many children to receive and excellent education, and also met with some women who were able to start small business while participating in community, through another program that Carlos helps run. Thursday we heard from three moms who had all hosted more than 8 Calvin students through the years; they gave us good advice and talked about some of their experiences. Friday we visited an organic farm and although it took a long, bumpy ride to get there (besides an hour long wait in the bus before leaving the university) we had a great time seeing the broccoli, green onion, and carrot fields. Early Saturday morning we left for La Tigra – a national park that is not far from Tegus. We had a long hike to our hotel (we’ve had quite a few steep climbs that last few days but this was not only steep but long!) but enjoyed beautifully scenery as we climbed. We had lunch at the hotel and some time to rest or explore the area and then went on a guided hike to a large waterfall in the afternoon. After supper we had a time of sharing; we actually were allowed to speak in English as each person gave a 15 minute (more or less) history of their life. At night, we enjoyed Honduras style s’mores- snickers for chocolate, regular crackers instead of graham, and some strawberry flavored marshmallows as well as regular. In the morning we had some more sharing time after breakfast and then went on a short walk to the house of a women who sells homemade jelly. After lunch we walked back down the mountain and then took the bus to Valle de Angeles- a touristy town on our way back with lots of souvenirs for us to buy. We arrived back to Tegus around 5:00 perhaps a little tired but with a much stronger community than before our retreat.
Students dancing for us in Nueva Suyapa
Waiting for the bus to come.
At the farm- we all got brocolli to take home with us
Julie H.
We have been getting our exercise!
At the waterfall in La Tigra
A cool tree we saw while hiking.
A nice view during our hike.