Holiday Weekend Fun

We woke up on Saturday morning at 6:45am to the sound of airplanes flying overhead. We ran outside to our little patio to see what all the commotion was about. There were about 6 small planes circling in the air above performing stunts an tricks. (The photo to the left is a view from our rooftop.) Next thing we knew, we were hearing music from a band. Then we remember, it was Fiesta de Patria…Honduran Independence Day! We rushed back inside to get dressed then hurried up the street to the main boulevard. People surrounded the street to watch the parade of bands, dancers, performers and floats. Nearly all of the schools in Comayagua had a band in the parade, followed by a group of female dancers (All the girls had baton’s in the hands, but they never twirled them for some reason.) Everyone in the parade was in costume. Some dressed up in traditional native garb, others dressed up like the Lempira tribe, and a group of boys even dressed up like donkeys! (Comayagua is known as the city of donkeys: Ciudad de burros.) It was quite the production. Following the march through the streets, each group in the parade would do a brief performance - for the grand finale - in the Central Park. I have never seen so many people in the square - it was so crowded! The parade lasted for 5 hours! (7am to 1pm) I felt bad for the kids that were dressed up in heavy, long sleeved uniforms because I was wearing a tank top and capri pants and I was sweating….and that was at 8:00am. At first we thought it was crazy that the parade started so early, then realized it was because of the heat! However, if you didn’t want to brave the high temperature outside, you could watch the parade live on TV from the comfort of your own home! It was a neat experience and we were happy to get to see it!

We had another really cool experience on Monday. We went with some people from the orphanage to a nursery here in Comayagua to help them purchase some trees to plant and grow at the farm. We were planning to only buy mango trees, but since they were less expensive than we thought, we ended up with some guava, nance, and noni trees as well. The owner of the nursery was very nice and asked us if we wanted a tour. We gladly accepted. He took us all around and gave us samples of the difference fruits from each tree. We tasted a lot of different fruits, many that we had never heard of. It was really cool! He also told us that this nursery is the only one in all of Honduras that genetically alters plants and trees. So basically, they had many varieties of the same type of tree (avocado, pomegranate, guava, etc.) all just a little different based on how it’s make up was altered. To sum it all up, he sent us home with 2 bags full of fruit (some of which we don‘t even know how to eat!)

Monday was the Day of Teachers. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting anything, however, I was pleasantly surprised! The high school students at our school put together a program for all the teachers complete with dancing, singing, a skit, food, cake, and my personal favorite….a pinata! So for Tuesday afternoon (we didn’t have school on Monday) we got to skip out on classes and celebrate! I think the highlight was when they picked 6 teachers (3 female, 3 male) to come up on stage and dance. The kids sang this song, and when they got to the part “suave, suave, suave” the teachers were supposed to break it down (basically shake your pelvis). Naturally, Greg was one of the participants. He was the first male contestant to go, so he tried to be as conservative as he could be when shaking your hips. I mean, he was in school, performing in front of all the students and administration. He also did a ‘Hulk Hogan’ motion to try to get the crowd pumped up and earn some more applause. Well, little did he know that the head counselor (the school’s disciplinarian) being so “suave” would end up on the ground thrusting and swaying like we had never seen before! Needless to say, Greg did not win. However, he did get a consolation prize (a lamp….I know it is super random, but we needed one for our house, so it was actually perfect!) Clearly, we don’t have the natural hip shaking, pelvic thrusting ability that the Hondurans are born with. After that performance though, I am not sure that’s a bad thing…:) It was quite the sight to see and not one I could ever imagine seeing in a school back home!