Pulhapanzak

I have gotten a little behind on my blog the past couple weeks, so I am going to make this entry kinda short. The past two weeks here have been super busy, as Global Brigades hosted its first Student Leadership Conference of the year in Chicago this weekend. I spent the last two weeks preparing for student workshops and also we had our group advising team training two weeks ago. So far I have been learning a lot and been able to apply a lot of the skills that i learned by being involved with student organizations like SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise), especially when it comes to fundraising.

This weekend, since the majority of the 25 US staff were in the states, 6 of us girls traveled 3 hours north to a quaint town called Peña Blanca where there is a lake called Lago de Yojoa. After a quite comical bus ride filled with about an hour of terrifying Honduran clowns making fun of us for being "gringas" and a man selling natural medicine, we arrived in Peña Blanca.(Yes all sorts of interesting people appear on bus rides in order to make some money or get tips for entertaining you throughout the ride).We stayed at a beautiful finca (farm), which was more like a resort, that was in a tropical forest like setting. Yesterday afternoon, we went to a national park called Pulhapanzak. There are lots of outdoor activities such as zip lining, kayaking, horseback riding,etc. Erin, Christie, Rachel, and I went on a guided tour behind the waterfall. Our guide named Carlos has been hiking behind the falls for most of his life and has been giving tours for over 4 years. He assured us we weren't going to die or get carried away in the current.

Last night, we went to a brewery that is owned by a guy from the states which also is attached to an inn. After waking up so early that morning, it was nice to just talk and have a good meal and great beer. Beer is not the greatest by the can or bottle here. It was refreshing to have beer that actually tastes good.

This morning, we left Peña Blanca by 6:30 and conveniently arrived just in time to the closest town called La Guama to catch a bus back to Tegus. We even were greeted on our bus by a woman with freshly baked pastries stuffed with pineapple. They were a great way to end our trip back to the city.

It's amazing to see the way hundreds of people live and work here just to afford basic necessities to survive. So many men,women, and children live their lives by riding buses from town to town trying to sell baked goods, clothing, or entertainment to passengers. I feel so lucky to have never had to worry about where i would sleep or how I would eat for days on end depending on my daily income. For many people, not even just in Honduras, their life is continuous work. Oftentimes, they are working simply to get by, feeding their families and keeping clothes on their back. They will never have an opportunity to travel, shop for fun, or go out for a nice dinner.

This afternoon, I was able to return to our apartment in Tegus to spend the afternoon cooking with my friends and having more than enough food to feed all of us. We are very lucky to have not only our own families that love and support us but also our new Global Brigades family that we can share this experience with.