juntos por progreso

As you all (probably) know, I spent a week in Honduras over the break. What Students Helping Honduras has been working towards for the past two years is building a village for 40 impoverished families in El Progreso; the houses are now finished, so our group was installing the water system so they could have running water in their homes. We also helped out at a kids camp for the children in the village, since they had been out of school for months due to instability in the country.

I flew into San Pedro Sula at around 12:30 on Saturday. Luckily there were a bunch of SHHers on the plane with me so I knew where to go when I got off the plane. Not that the airport was that big, but we did have a guy in our group get on the wrong bus and end up 3 hours north with a crazy Christian mission group, so it does happen. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, unpacking, getting used to our surroundings, and getting to know each other.

Our hotel was pretty awesome. This is one of the cabanas that we all stayed in.

On Sunday we got to know some of the kids at Por Venir, their school. Since lots of us don't speak Spanish, we drew pictures with them instead of having real conversations.

This is Jorge. He taught me "pescados", "caballo", "nube", and "lluvia". And he showed me how to draw the Honduran flag.

After Por Venir, we went to Siete de Abril, the slum that the families of the village used to live in. It was eye-opening, to say the least. The coordinators took us to Siete first in order to better understand why this project was needed. Afterwords, we went to the worksite, or Villa Soleada as it is now known. All of the villagers were waiting for us there with a big party to celebrate the near-completion of the project.

Entrance to Villa Soleada

Kids dancing!

The football pitch. The villagers were more concerned about this being built than the actual houses.

Random story about this field: Micheletti (the current president of Honduras)'s son built this for us. I don't know the details, but I know he is from El Progreso, and that Cosmo Fujiyama (one of the SHH founders) is extremely charismatic and apparently won him over and convinced him to help out.

On Monday we started the actual work, i.e. digging two foot trenches around the village to lay water pipes down. This task was made much more difficult by the fact that it had rained heavily for the past three or four days, so we were basically swimming in mud by the end of the day.

See, I wasn't kidding. Check out Wes behind me.

Monday night was salsa lesson night, which was a blast except for the fact that there were far more girls than boys on the trip so I had to lead! They set up a really awesome performance by the local high school salsa group though.


On Tuesday we had another morning with kids camp, and another afternoon at work. Our evening activity was supposed to be a soccer match, but it was raining again so the field we were supposed to play on was flooded! So we watched a great film called Sin Nombre instead. Not exactly a happy feel-good flick, but it was really interesting to see more about a world that I knew nothing about before my trip.

Monica and me with two of our favorite kids at Por Venir

Wednesday was our break from manual labor. We took the bus into San Pedro Sula for a bit of shopping at the indoor market in the morning, which was awesome. Most of the boys bought machetes. I bought a Honduras football jersey so I could rep my new favorite place during the World Cup this summer!


We had lunch at a place called Baleadas Express, which is kind of like their Chipotle, but better. Baleadas are the unofficial food of Honduras, and they are absolutely delicious. The day wasn't all fun and games, however.


In the afternoon we went to a government-run orphanage (known as Instituto Hondureño de de la Niñez y la Familia, or IHNFA) called Nueva Esperanza. This was an extremely misleading name however, as these children really have no hope for the future. The place is underfunded, understaffed, rarely cleaned, and looks like a prison. Nearly every child in there had been abused or abandoned before arriving there, and many of them are permanently mentally or physically affected by it. They don't get enough food and never get adult attention. They were so starved for affection that as soon as we walked through the door they attached themselves to us, a group of strange people who didn't even speak their language. They called us all "tio" and "tia", or "aunt" and "uncle", which was adorable and heartbreaking at the same time. There was so much that we wanted to do for them, but we couldn't. I've never felt more helpless. All we could do was play with them for an afternoon.

I spent most of my time with a little girl named Vilma, who didn't care at all that I didn't speak Spanish. I gave her piggy back rides and drew her pictures, and she was delighted. The hardest part of the visit was the infant room though. There were about 30 babies in one room, and most of them were sharing cribs that had no real bedding, just a thin plastic mattress. They were only changed once a day, if that, and had very little human contact, because there was only one worker in the room. When it came time for us to leave, Vilma found me again and just hugged me for about 10 minutes. It was so hard to leave, but at the same time it was so depressing that I couldn't wait to get out of there.

The saddest thing is that these children really have nothing to look forward to. When the boys get to about 12 or 13, if they haven't been placed in foster care they are kicked out. There used to be a boy's home in the building next to the orphanage, but it was closed down a few years ago after rumors of child abuse and murder. So most of the boys will join gangs to survive, and end up in a juvenile detention center or prison. The girls don't have it any better, either. There is a girl's home that they can stay in until they are 18, but it only has room for about 50 girls, and right now it's got 3 times that number. So they all sleep on the floor and again, don't get enough to eat, and once they turn 18 they are turned out on the streets to become beggars or prostitutes. Many of them will get pregnant and not be able to support their children, so they will go to an orphanage and the whole cycle will start again. It's such a depressing and hopeless situation. So even though Wednesday didn't tire us physically, by the end we were all completely emotionally and mentally exhausted.

Sorry for the tl;dr essay. I just had to get it all out.

On to less depressing things...Thursday we again had kids camp and work site digging. Since it was our last day working with the kids, we had an epic futbol match to celebrate. And we got crushed. By a bunch of 8 year olds.

In the evening we had a dinner celebration in El Progreso with all of the volunteers and Villa families, with good food and dancing. We even performed dances that we had been working on all week! There was even a special *NSYNC dance by the guys of cabana 5:

It was pretty epic.

On Friday we had our last look at Villa Soleada, when we planted trees around the edge of the football field. In about 30 years they will be huge shade trees, which will be awesome. I'll have to go back when I'm 50 and check it out.

Then we took the Villa kids to the beach at Tela, an hour away. A lot of them had never been to the beach before, so it was a great day of fun, sun, and relaxation. And I barely even got burned! I didn't get any other sort of color either though...

Spot the pale one...this is why I don't go to the beach.

The food at the beach was great. We had kebabs for lunch, and they sold beer and pina coladas and this absolutely heavenly coconut bread that I wish I had right now. I also drank coconut milk straight from a coconut. It was probably the best day at the beach I've ever had. A great way to end the trip.

Although it didn't quite end there...on our last night in town we got all dolled up and went out clubbing! It was a fundraiser party for the organization, and there were lots of locals there because apparently they had advertised with "come see american tourists dance, it's hilarious!". It was so much fun though.


We got back to the hotel at about 1am, and I had to go to the airport at 4:30, so I didn't even bother to sleep. A few of us went out to the pool and stargazed for a while, then we all trooped back into the dining room to talk. One by one, people started going to bed, until I was the only one left, and then I had like a half hour to sit by myself until the taxi picked me up. Needless to say, I was a zombie on the way home, but it was more than worth it.

And that was my epic trip to Honduras in a really really really large nutshell. My "life-altering experience" tag has never been so appropriate.

spring break adventures, part three: when in rome...buy shot glasses of the pope

Warning: Very long and picture heavy post. There's a lot of history in this city.

I met up with three of the other RoHo internationals in Rome, which was fun except I'm really not a fan of one of the guys that came on the trip. He was his usual self, but we all tolerated it because, well, we were in Rome.

On the first day we checked into our hostel, then went to see the Four Fountains, which was a bit of a letdown because they were flanking a very busy intersection, so there were people and cars everywhere and nowhere to stand. We moved on quickly.

First full day we were there we visited the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and walked around and got lost for a while.

Fontana di Trevi

The Spanish Steps

View from the top of the steps.

Day two was Ancient Rome day. BTW, the whole week I was in Italy it happened to be "culture week" meaning that tons of museums and exhibits and other things were free. So we only had to pay for the audio guides, and then we proceeded to get lost in the ruins, looking for the correlating structures to the stupid guide numbers. We ended up running around trying to identify every structure by its foundations and getting super confused, but it ended up being a ton of fun anyways. And surprisingly informative.

Ancient ruins.

Palatine Hill had a killer view. The remains of ancient Rome are spread out below, and as I looked from left to right the Colosseum loomed out of the distance. It was totally one of those "woah, this is unreal" moments.

View from Palatine Hill.

We splashed out a bit and joined an official tour of the Colosseum because we hadn't paid for anything else so far, and I'm glad we did because it was full of interesting tidbits of info. For instance, did you know that contrary to popular assumption, only four Christians were ever killed in the Colosseum? Also, despite what some people think it was never flooded for naval battles.

The Colosseum. Pretty cool, huh?

The inside of the Colosseum. Really made me want to watch Gladiator.

The third day was dedicated to all things Catholic. We woke up early to take the Metro to Vatican City, which in itself was quite an experience. I never want to take the Roman Metro ever again. We were packed in like sardines and the whole time I was thinking that someone was about to pickpocket me. The random guy in front of me had the same idea about me, since he kept looking backwards at me and his backpack. Do I look like a thief, really?

The Vatican Museum wasn't too interesting. Usually I love art museums, but this was full of religious art which isn't really my thing. Only so many times I can see a graphic picture of Jesus being killed or God casting sinners into hell before I get bored and a little freaked out. But the Sistene Chapel was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures or videos, so naturally I took both.

I'm sure this is familiar to all of you. Yeah, yeah I know what you're all thinking: where's the FSM? And the cloud behind God is totally a human brain. Michelangelo was a closet pathologist (autopsist?).

St. Peter's Cathedral is pretty indescribably breathtaking. It's ginormous and a little too ornate for my particular taste, but still really pretty. We spent a long time in there because the four of us got separated and then couldn't find each other again for ages. Then we climbed to the top of the basilica, which was quite literally breathtaking. That's a hell of a lot of stairs and we were exhausted by the time we got to the top.

Halfway up there (at the top of the church but before the cupola) there was a place to stop and catch your breath, and go out and look at the view. This resting place had a gift shop with lots of religious style things to buy like crucifixes and angels and such. They also had shot glasses. With pictures of the pope on them. We dared Rob to buy one from the scary nuns who didn't speak English but he chickened out. Brigid went traditional and bought a rosary for her grandmother. She managed to communicate with them in French. I didn't buy anything because a) my french is atrocious, b) I'm not really one for religion, and c) I had very little money left.

The curve of the walls near the top of the cupola. I'm not claustrophobic in the least, but this part even had me a little spooked.

View from the top.

A Swiss Guard in the fabulously stylish uniforms allegedly designed by Michelangelo.

We found another tourist to take a picture of the whole gang.

After we left the Vatican, we realized that we hadn't quite gotten our fill of climbing things, so we climbed to the top of the Castel Sant'Angelo. Another great view from the top.


That night we went to a (surprise, surprise) pizza place in Trastevere (the medieval quarter) for dinner. This place was recommended as having the best pizza for a reasonable price in the city, and I wholeheartedly agree with that guide book. It started raining while we ate, but stopped before we left so we decided to get gelato as well. Bad idea. Just as we were finishing our cones we saw lightning and the wind started howling, and within two seconds we were drenched. And we were all the way across the city (and the river) from our hostel. So we had a long walk in front of us and by the time we got back we looked like this:
Brigid and I were numb and slightly delirious by this point, and we turned on Italian TV and proceeded to find every channel hilarious. There was a football talk show with these old men with the most ridiculous haircuts I've ever seen in my life. And Italian pop music is...well, awesome, to say the least. Fun times.

Our fourth and final day was filled with seeing/doing the miscellaneous things that we couldn't do the previous days. First stop was Piazza Navona, to see more Bernini sculptures. I swear, just like Florence is filled with Medici things, Rome is covered in Bernini.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

From the back, con obelisk

Then we moved on to the Parthenon.

Raphael's tomb. And a bit of my finger. Picture taking win right there...

Bernini's Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini

Finally, we went to the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, or the Altar of the Fatherland. We wanted to climb more stairs, and didn't have anything else on our list of things to see. Unforch it closed right when we got there, and then we got yelled at by guards for sitting on the steps outside while we figured out what to do after.

When in doubt, get gelato. Since the guidebook pointed us in the direction of great pizza earlier, we decided to trust it again when it said Gelato di San Crispino was the best in Rome. And boy were they right again. I got nocciolo e cioccolato (hazelnut and chocolate) and it was pure creamy heaven.
*deep breath* Oookay that's pretty much it. The next morning the three others had an early flight so they left before I woke up, and I took a noon train to Pisa. My final Italian adventures coming soon...

spring break adventures, part two: gelato and michelangelo

More train issues resulted in me not having any time to spend in Nice (quelle tragédie), so I will skip right on to Italia. First stop: Florence/Firenze.

Some of the city + the Arno + pretty mountains in the background

This city is so pretty. I am forever indebted to my mom for telling me to go here instead of Milan. The hostel I stayed at (The Archi Rossi, if anyone is planning a trip and wants a rec) was my favorite of the whole trip. The room I stayed in was huge and spacious, and they served free breakfast and dinner every day except Saturday.

I met lots of really cool people in the hostel, including a girl from Maryland who was studying abroad in Amsterdam for the semester, a guy named Kevin from Arizona who looked like a 90s boyband reject, and Lizzie, my new buddy who lives in Hammersmith and works for the BBC.

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The first morning I tagged along on the free tour that was set up by my hostel, and it was actually really informative. I love free tours because you actually learn shizz, but you don't have to skip lunch to pay for it! (Hey shuddup, I really had to watch my spending on these trips!)

The fake David they put up after they moved the real David inside to protect him

I spent most of the rest of the day wandering around, looking at the architecture and numerous pieces of art around the city. I had the best pizza I've ever eaten for lunch, and then went back to the hostel and had free pizza for dinner. I pretty much survived on a diet of pizza margherita in Italy.

The second day I crossed the river and walked up the hill to the Piazza del Michelangelo, because the view is incredible. It was a gorgeous day too and I spent most of the afternoon up there just reading and walking around and soaking in the Italian-ness.

Both nights I hung out with Lizzie and Kevin and a few other people (whose names I can't remember) in the common area of the hostel, drinking wine and limoncello and just chatting about random stuff. We also went to get gelato several times because, well, it's pretty much an orgasm in a waffle cone.

So yeah, like London, Paris and Barcelona before it, this city was one of my immediate loves. If I knew how to speak the language I could happily spend a very long time there.

spring break adventures, part one: españa, te amo

It's been forever since I got back, so I figured I'd better just sit down and get this done. Two months after the fact...sorry about that, but exams have kind of been more on my mind than blogging. Apparently I fail at multitasking. Anyways I have a lot to talk about, so the recap will have to be split up into several entries.

On Tuesday the 14th of April I flew from London to Barcelona to start my two week backpacking adventure. I had to take the bus to the Plaça de Catalunya from the airport, and for the whole bus ride I was looking out the window with this huge grin on my face. It was cold and rainy in London but I was in Spain, with the sun shining on everything, giving it all a lovely orange glow. There were palm trees and Messi shirts everywhere. The latter mainly because it was the day of the second leg QF between Barcelona and Bayern Munich, which I watched with some locals while eating dinner. There was also a German couple there, who were sad about Munich losing so badly but were good sports about the whole thing.

La Rambla, where my hostel was located (well it was on a side street, but within walking distance).

I was lame and kind of forgot to take pictures of Barcelona. I was also only there for a day, so I didn't get to see much of the city beyond the Plaça Catalunya. What I did see was amazing though. I really want to go back to Barça for a longer amount of time soon.

The next day I took a train to Valencia, and on the way I sat across from a family from Virginia! The daughter was studying at Valencia University for the year and the parents had come to visit her for the week. Odd coincidence I thought at the time, but I actually met a bunch of people from VA over the next few weeks. Apparently we're all very worldly.

Valencia train station. I thought it was a pretty sweet building.

My hostel in Valencia was really great, with this huge kitchen area where everyone hung out and cooked dinner and drank together (a litre of sangria was 80 cents at the local shop). I talked Canadian politics with a girl from Ottowa and a couple from Quebec, which was pretty interesting because I know nothing about it.

The next day I went to La Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias (the City of Arts and Sciences), which is a group of crazy looking futuristic buildings housing museums of...you guessed it...art and science. The science museum was pretty cool, but a lot of it was only in Spanish so I didn't understand much of it. I really need to learn how to say more than "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish", "Go Spain/Barcelona", "I love you", and "Where's the metro?".

As my friend said on facebook...this is not a building, it's a space ship.

I met up with fellow footie-lover Gina there, and we took a quick trip to the Mestalla. Doesn't look like much from the outside, but I hear that the inside is pretty awesome. Go here for proof.

Then we walked around the city some, ate delish paella, went to the very cool-looking silk exchange building, and took refuge under a building's overhang while it rained a lot. WTF, weather.
On my last day in town I took the metro down to the beach, because the weather was (finally) gorgeous. I didn't bring my towel or bathing suit with me, so I didn't actually sunbathe, but I did lay on the wall by the sand for ages.I also visited the local indoor market for lunch and to stock up on oranges...because what is a trip to Valencia without oranges?? I didn't take a picture of that but it was a really cool building. And I spoke Spanish to the girl at the fruit stand. Kind of.

Everyone heard/read my ranting about my stolen iPod, so I won't go back into that again, but here's the park where it happened. Not exactly the type of place you'd expect thieves to hang out, is it?Due to unforeseen train issues, I ended up going back to Barcelona for a night before traveling on to France, instead of taking an overnight train to Nice. Because I was effectively stranded there and my train didn't get in until midnight, I coudn't really be picky (i.e. money-conscious) about where I stayed and ended up at a hotel instead of a hostel. I didn't mind though, because it was the best night's sleep I had all trip.

Next up: Italia!