Christmas on the Ranch

Christmas festivities began last night with a Christmas play put on by the religion department, followed up by a typical Christmas dinner of Tamales down on the soccer courts by the boys' homes. The activities lasted until midnight - with games and a massive bonfire (marshmallows were roasted before it got too hot to stand next to) to keep us warm on an already fairly warm evening.

This morning the kids woke up to open their presents and had a typical breakfast. It is Ranch tradition that the children walk to a nearby town on Christmas day to give away games, toys, clothes, and even food, to families that otherwise probably didn't get Christmas gifts. This walk is always my favorite thing about Christmas here. Even though our children don't have it all, they have what they need, and a little bit extra that they are able to share with their neighbors.

Unfortunately this year, Casa Suyapa (the home our littlest ones live in) was left with their toys and extra things locked up. The caregivers forgot to leave out the gifts to give away before leaving on Christmas vacation. So we didn't go to the villages with them, but stayed home and hung out watching movies all morning and played some games in the afternoon.

Tonight we will celebrate the Christmas mass.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and I wish you all Peace in the New Year!!
Annie

Zambrano Fair

Well friends, it's true - I've made it into one of the two main newspapers in Honduras yet again. This time however, it was my face (in 2 photos) and not just my feet. Last weekend Monica and I went to the fair in Zambrano with two great friends, who are university students from NPH. Zambrano is a town located 36 kilometers from Tegucigalpa, the other direction from the Ranch. It is the town that Denis is from, and he invited us for the weekend to stay with his sister and her family.

The photo in the upper left corner is of the 4 of us playing a game, and on the right page is a terrible photo of me after being completely freaked out - read on.

The evening proved to be quite eventful - we rode a Honduran Ferris Wheel. Sounds hilarious that we were all quite scared to get on it (for reasons other than the simple fact that it was put together in Honduras). Denis and Jairo had never been on one before. While watching it before getting on, we all 4 at the same time said "wow, it's going really fast!" I know it sounds like an oxymoron to say that a ferris wheel was moving quickly - but seriously, the seats would whip around once they reached the top. We all got off feeling a little ill. But GREAT experience. (photo to left - Jairo holding onto the Ferris Wheel for dear life)

We followed that up by going to see the main attraction at the fair - the "spider girl"!! Oh, it was hilarious. It was front page news the next morning. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen in my life, and I have absolutely no idea how they did it. It looked completely real - her face was exactly like a human face. Jairo actually touched it and said it felt real. I'm sure it was somehow a machine, but I just can't figure it out. So it was this human head, with a spider body. Once we were inside, we were all given the opportunity to touch it - I was the last one. I for some reason was feeling bad about laughing and freaking out about it, almost like I was momentarily believing it. I felt wrong about touching her face! Haha!

Anyways, so I ran out of the little shed where she was kept, and of course the reporters were RIGHT there waiting for me, taking my photo and asking me why i was so scared. haha, so hilarious.

So it was a fun weekend. Friday night I stayed at the Maya (fancy Honduran hotel in Teguc - pool, "luke-warm tub", saunas and all) and spoiled myself, then a group of us went out for a night on the town. Saturday we went to Zambrano and stayed at Denis's sister's house, which was the nicest home I've ever been in down here! Her and her husband built it themselves. Two story, beautiful home. Sunday we went back to Teguc and I stayed another night at the Maya with Monica (nice because that way we split the cost of the room!!) Monday we ran around and got Christmas shopping done, and got back to the Ranch early afternoon.

Soccer Tournament - Guatemala

I arrived back to Central America the day after Thanksgiving - just in time to arrive to the home in Honduras for Quinceaneros, a yearly party for all boys and girls that turned 15 within the past year. Two days later I had the priviledge of traveling to NPH Guatemala with two soccer teams (boys and girls) from Honduras, for the Annual NPH Soccer Tournament. The purpose of my travel was actually for work - I met up with another member of the Medical Services team, with the goal of working on preparations for our Annual Medical Workshop, which is to be held next April, in a town just outside of Antigua, Guatemala.

I am proud to announce that the Honduras boys team brought home the Cup (photo above), the girls finishing in third place (out of the 5 Central American countries that were able to participate). The week was a lot of fun - reuniting with some friends and kids that I met in Guatemala when I was there last year, and also reuniting with friends from El Salvador. The kids really like getting to meet kids from other homes, and learning about the other countries and their homes.

Photo to the right - when I was in El Salvador last October, I had made a bet with Irma (university student from NPH). I bet the Honduran girls would win, and she bet on the El Salvador team. The loser had a wear a jersey from the other country - the original bet was that it had to be worn for a week without washing it. As you can see by the photo, Honduras won! I was nice on her and didn't make her wear the jersey the whole week, however she did have to wear it during the Honduras vs. Salvador boys game the next morning. I figured that was harsh enough. For the record, the Honduran boys won that game as well.

Photo above - me with my Salvadoran girls.

Photo at right - Tony (house director El Sal), myself and Barrasa (coach for both Salvador teams) showing our support for El Salvador