At Last - Copan

Street in Copan

We left San Pedro Sula yesterday for the trip to Copan. It rained almost the entire way. Copan is beautiful. There are cobbled streets and pretty buildings. It is definitely a tourist destination. We were greeted by Sandra, the past president of the Copan Rotary Club. Sandra is delightful. She owns 3 shops in town, works with culture and tourism, is in Rotary - you get the idea, she is very involved in her community. She has kindly offered one of her shops as our home base while we are here. After a lovely lunch with Sandra we met Roberto, another Rotarian, and we were taken to his place. His place is a group of rental cabins. We have an entire cabin to ourselves. It is very nice.

After settling in Roberto dropped us off at the Macaw Sanctuary. The Macaw is the national bird. For only $10 we had a personal guided tour. The Sanctuary takes in abandoned birds and cares for them.

Birds from the Sanctuary - Owl, Toucan, Toucan, and Macaws

Most of the birds were in cages, however, there was an interactive center. The birds here had cages but they were allowed to be free as well. There is someone there whenever the birds are out so that if they fly away they know approximately which direction the bird went and then they can find them if they do not return. The person is also there to scare off any potential predators. Mike, Laura and I got to hold the birds.

After leaving the bird sanctuary we hopped in 2 moto taxis and went back into town. The moto taxi is a fairly inexpensive way to get around Copan - 20 Limpira per person.

We ended with a wonderful meal at Nia Lola - a recommendation by Margarita in San Pedro Sula. The food was good, the beer cold, and the waitresses carried things on their heads.

Now off with Roberto back to our cabin so we can rest for Copan Ruins tomorrow.

San Pedro Sula - We Have Returned

On our return visit to San Pedro Sula we were delighted to be able to visit the Museum of Anthropolgy and History for the Valley Region. We had two personal tour guides taking us through the museum. Margarita is the wife of Jack, a San Pedro Sula Rotarian. She is on the board of directors for the Museum and is very knowledgeable about the artifacts in the museum. Theresa, who is the director of the museum, was also showing us the artifacts and providing much history of the region.

Garifuna Artifact

We then enjoyed lunch at Jalapeno's. Some of the Rotarians were able to take some time off from work to join us for lunch. After lunch we visited with Margarita some more. She gave us some homemade dulces (candy) and coffee. She also gave each of us a wonderful book on the architecture of San Pedro Sula.

The Brewery

Angela, Mike, and I then went to Cerveceria Honduran S.A. Angela opined as to whether they would give us samples. When we arrived we were offered full bottles of the beer they make - that is a big sample. We had as many as we wanted. Since I am already fond of the Port Royal beer, I decided to try something different and went for the Barena. It was muy delicioso. The trip was organized by the Valle de Sula Rotary Club. This is the second of the 3 Rotary Clubs in San Pedro Sula. Leda was the GSE team leader from 2007. She brought her team to Arizona. She has been to Hartford several times as she has a friend that lives there. All of these new Rotarian friends were very nice. Again, we received a personalized tour from the Brewmaster himself!!! That is a job I would like to have - note to self go back to school, again, to become a brewmaster.

Members from the Valle de Sula Rotary Club.

We ended our day with a wonderful party at Noel's house. All of our friends from the San Pedro Sula Rotary Club were there. We gave them some items to remember us by and agreed to keep in touch.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Copan with mixed emotions. We are sad to say goodby to our friends but we are excited for all that Copan has to offer.

Leaving La Ceiba

On our last night in La Ceiba our host, Gustavo, dropped us off at a great restaurant for dinner. We should have worn our swimsuits. It had begun to rain. We couldn't believe how quickly the roads filled with water. The water was over the curbs. We made quite the entrace into Tango Mango's as we ran through the downpour and the flooded parking lot. It was raining so hard we could hardly hear ourselves talking above the din from the rain hitting the metal roof. But the food was good and the company was great. The team got another opportunity to know each other better.

Gustavo picked us up "bright and early" according to La Ceiba time for our drive to Tela where we were going to meet our friends from San Pedro Sula. On the way to Tela we stopped to visit the waterfalls in La Ceiba. They were wonderful. Despite the rain there were families there having a picnic and swimming.

The Waterfalls at La Ceiba

We arrived in Tela where we were supposed to have a day on la playa (the beach). Of course it was raining all day. The rain gods must have heard we were going to the beach and decided to "bless" us with rain. We have determined that if Honduras needs rain then they just need to invite us to the beach. They will promptly be provided with lluvia (rain). We had a wonderful lunch on la playa and were able to watch the waves roll in. The rain did not seem to thwart the swimming efforts of the local Hondurans.

Waves at Tela

With the Rotary Club of San Pedro Sula

Martha, Patty, Laura, Mike, Angela, Alex, Dawn & Raquel

We left Tela for the ride to San Pedro Sula, where, upon arrival we were settled into our host family homes. Angela and I were staying at Noel's home where we each had our own en suite room. It was luxurious. Mike and Laura were staying with Jack and Margarita.

The City of La Ceiba

We have been in La Ceiba for the past 2 days. The city is very modern with great roads. The Rotary Club has 21 members - 3 of which are women. They have their own meeting house. This is their first time hosting a Group Study Exchange Team, however, they have flags from all over the world because of projects they have worked on with other Rotary Clubs.

We visited the University and saw the department of agriculture there. They grow and experiment with orchids, the national flower. They also have several acres dedicated to growing a variety of fruit trees.

We were able to go to the Jungle School. It is incredible. The school is free to children. It is available for children that otherwise might not be able to go to school. They were able to buy text books with money donated by the Rotary Club. They really need 3 chalkboards. They have 1 paid teacher and the rest are volunteers. The school year here runs from February to November.

Sign for the Jungle School

The school provides a hot lunch, rice and beans. It is often the only food these children will eat all day.

Jungle School Kitchen/Stove

The same person that runs this school also runs an orphanage. There were approximately 20 children there. They attend a school next to the orphanage.

Children at the Orphanage

Children at the Orphanage

We also visited a small village for a group of persons that had been displaced from their land when the land lease expired. The land for this small village was donated to them to build their houses.

House in Village

School in Village

Our Spanish Progress

We are all working diligently on our Spanish. Laura is speaking Spanish with an Italian accent. Mike is picking up all the ¨good¨ words. Angela speaks beautiful Spanish. How am I doing you may ask - no se. This is my new favorite phrase. It means I don´t know. Of course no comprendo is coming in a close second. I have lost all illusions that I will be fluent in Spanish by the time I return home.

Internet Problems

We have all taken many wonderful pictures of the people, projects, and places. Unfortunately, the internet connections in Honduras are not allowing us to connect them to our posts. Perhaps the internet gods will shine more favorably on us in La Ceiba. I apologize now to my computer at home and my internet connection at home - I will never yell at you again for being slow!!

Our First Presentation - Tocoa

We made it to Tocoa and settled into our hotel rooms. The Tocoa Rotary Club showed us many of their wonderful projects. At one of their projects, a school, we met a young boy about 8 years old that told us he works 7 days each week to help support his family because his father drinks. This young boy earns the equivalent of ten dollars each week. He is a mechanic and can fix cars.




School in Tocoa


We also saw a Hogar Maternidad (home for pregnant women). Without this critial pre-natal care the infant mortality rate would be higher than it already is. The Rotary Club paid to build the home and also pays to support the running of the facility. The home is near a hospital. We went to visit the pediatric ward. The boys and girls had separate ¨wards¨. There were childen there suffering from asthma and dengue fever. They even had a burn unit where one child was being treated.

Home for Pregnant Women

We were very greatful that Carlos, one of the Rotarians, spoke beautiful English. In addition, there was a woman here from MIT working on her Ph.D. project which is an early warning system for flooding.

We visited a fire house where we met many bomberos (fire fighters). The Tocoa Rotary Club provided all of the equipment for the firehouse including several trucks and a boat. Most of the fire fighters are volunteers.




Firehouse in Tocoa


On our last night in Tocoa we gave our presentations to the Rotary Club. They were very kind since our Spanish is very bad. We leave today for La Ceiba.





Tocoa Rotary Club