The start of month 4!

November promises to be a busy month for us, but we’re excited about all the new things going on. This past weekend, we were able to participate in a tradition unique to Latin America in celebrating Day of the Dead/Día de los muertos. We weren’t really sure what the day was all about, and even when we ask anyone a question, we never get the same answer twice, but it was a celebration on November 1st and 2nd. I was told they honored those who died as children on the 1st and the adults on the 2nd, but I’m still not exactly sure. Either way, we walked down to the cemetery on the 2nd with crowds of other people heading the same way. When we arrived, it was an incredible sight. There were hundreds of people there visiting the cemetery, and outside the gates were vendors selling hotdogs, ice cream, and cotton candy among other things. Nearly every gravesite had been cleaned of weeds, covered in fresh dirt or sawdust and adorned with beautiful flowers, colorful paper or crosses. Families come to visit the graves of loved ones, bringing all sorts of decorations and of course a machete to clear the weeds. The celebration was definitely unique and enjoyable for us because it wasn’t really a day of sadness, but instead a day to honor and remember loved ones who had passed away.





The 4th marked the start of Talanga’s feria. Actually, it’s more the feria of our church because it’s the weeklong celebration of its namesake, San Diego. Festivities start at 5am, or 4:30 if the firecrackers start a bit earlier that day. That’s one cultural difference I have yet to get used to because I’m a firm believer in setting off explosives only during non-sleeping hours. At 3pm, there’s a procession into town as people come in from aldeas and other church groups decorate float-kinda-things and march to wherever the Eucharist is taking place that night- generally at random homes around town. The mass is a special one, and more people show up than normal. There’s a band and the music is great, with everyone waving their hands, dancing and singing along. In addition, there are random carnival games set up around town, and all sorts of people selling odds and ends and food in the park. Every night, there are fútbolito games too, which is basically soccer with a smaller ball played on the basketball court in the park… it gets intense at times. The players are really serious and seem to enjoy sliding and diving for the ball… which appears to be quite painful on the cement. We enjoy going though since there are few things to entertain us here at night, so thankfully it’s a big tournament and the games apparently last until December sometime.

Mike driving our uniquely decorated truck in the parade.

Different communities walking in the procession to mass.

Our friend Chico, being the announcer at mass :)

The crew in charge of setting off the fireworks... I wish I was kidding.

The 4th was also an especially exciting day for us as we got to take a one-night excursion into Tegucigalpa to watch as Barack Obama was elected President of the United States! It was amazing, and surreal in a way as it was definitely a bit strange to be watching everything playing out from outside US borders. We definitely lived the high-life that night, pretending we were at home, and it was amazing. We took showers, hung out poolside and ate some homegrown Pizza Hut and Oreos. We sat around the TV all night, just enjoying the coverage, listening to the newscasters speak in English, and hearing them talk about our respective home States every now and then. We also came to the conclusion that our new cat looks surprisingly like James Carville...

Cat James

.... but that's probably mostly a consequence of watching too much CNN.

As fun as the night was and as happy as we were to celebrate in Honduras, I think we all wished in a way we could be home to see the celebrations and excitement there, or be standing among the thousands in Grant Park to hear Obama’s speech live. We did get to celebrate in a unique way, and I know I’ll always remember how watched it all play out: from a hotel room in Honduras, sitting on the beds in silence, as close to the TV as possible, completely captivated by his words. The US elections were obviously important to many people here, but on a different level. The US is unarguably the most powerful country in the world, and nearly everyone here in Honduras has family or friends living there. Despite the fact that I could not tell you anything about political leaders in countries other than the US (and a little in Honduras now), a number of people we know, random people on the street and even the crazy guy that wears the crown at the Pizza Hut in the mall loved to strike up conversations with us about the elections. Some knew both the candidates, but my favorite was when people would ask me if I was voting for Obama or “the other guy” because it was generally McCain’s name they couldn’t remember. We even talked about the results at our latest Domestic Violence Support Group, and I was surprised that all the women there knew the outcome and were excited about it’s implications. It has definitely been a good lesson for me at least, to see how far reaching the power of United States is, and how all the decisions made there really do have an affect on the entire World.

Random Photos:

Lauren and I enjoying the view over Talanga.

An inside look at our bean-sorting process.

Me with two of my classmates... Yesser, the one on the left, was the one with the sweet puffy vest he insisted I try on.