Thanksgiving and Beyond

Blogging can be difficult when you are busy, feeling stressed, or just have nothing to talk about. Fortunately, my problem has been the first two, but I have waited too long to tell you about all the stuff that I am afraid this update may not be as eventful as some other ones. But here I go.

As most of you people stateside kno, last Thursday was Thanksgiving. Nothing was different here. It's like they don't celebrate it here...oh wait, they don't. But as a courtesy to us, the teachers, we were given a long weekend and a short half day to prepare for our feast. This was actually they Thanksgiving I found myself most looking forward to in a long time. Not because I don't like Thanksgiving with my family, even though not having an hour debate about which movie to see and then not getting tickets was not missed. Rather I love thanksgiving with my family, especially my mom's cooking and having my cousins in town. But I was just excited this time around.

I mostly think it was because our team was doing all the planning. We were buying, preparing, and serving the food. We got to create a little bit of USA here in Honduras, which is really comforting this close to a very long break. And we got to share all of this with the Honduran teachers and a bunch of other people affiliated with the school. All in all we had a T-day feast with about 30 people.

Norah and I were in charge of dessert. We made and upside down banana cake, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate cookies, and two pumpkin pies. Norah and I actually have a tradition of making cookies every weekend, so we were thrilled to try out something new.

Our display was complete with cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and most importantly a turkey. I really was a beautiful occasion and one that was even more special being able to share it with people who we interact with everyday.  But the best is yet to come--long weekend with enough time to travel.

So off to Copan we went. Copan is a city in western Honduras most famous, scratch that, only famous for the Mayan ruins right outside of town. And maybe coffee.

This ruins are not the greatest of the Mayan territory but they are the most ornate. I was not entirely impressed by the size of them. I mean, having seen Incan ruins with their giant stones pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle, it is hard to top, but the designs that are so accurately carved in the stone are magnificent.

We didn't do much but eat, drink and sleep, but it was all worth it. Every time I travel I wonder why the food we buy in restaurants cannot be found in Cofradía. We even went to a Honduran food restaurant that was leagues above anything you would find in Cofradía. This restaurant was the equivalent of the Chinese restaurant in you city where all of the Chinese people go (the Canton Cooks of Honduras if you will). I mean, I am in the same country. It is the same food. Why does it taste so different?

Our tour of the ruins was by far the most entertaining part of the weekend. Notice how I said entertaining, not informative. Our tour guide never really made anything up, he just didn't seem to know very much. Also he kept sharing really weird things with us:

(Before buying tickets, talking over the plan)
Henry (tour guide): Tickets to the park are $15 and to the tunnels is another $15. I really do recommend the tunnels. You will get to see the temple Rosalila, which is quite beautiful and colorful.


Us: Let's just do the main park and decide later.


(Begin tour and walk for about 20 minutes)
(Stop at the first really temple)


Henry: I like you guys, so I am ] going to be honest with you. It was smart not to buy tickets to the tunnels. There is really not much to see.


(Laughter ensues) 

This was only one of many strange occurrences that happened with Henry. Most of which were brutally honest, completely pulled out of his ass, or just plain strange. Like I said, entertaining, not informative.

In the end, it was a great trip, a great weekend, and a great feast. By the way, I'll be in Atlanta in three weeks?!

Posting new pictures in a minute or so.