Feliz Navidad, prospero año y felicidad…

Well we survived the holidays without losing any appendages to fireworks accidents, my one biggest concern for this holiday season. December was a really busy month for us, so we welcomed all the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations as a nice break from our normal routines. Leading up to Christmas, we were really busy with the nightly Convivo masses in different homes in our community, a food drive, which we organized, and a Christmas pageant involving the kids of the women in our Domestic Violence support group which our friend Luis organized and directed. The food drive didn’t yield as much donations as we had hoped, despite consistent advertisement at the masses. It was called the “Libra del Amor” or “pound of love,” but we actually collected maybe 60 pounds of various food and household items. We put together 13 bags that included the necessary items such as sugar, rice, beans, flour, coffee, etc., and delivered them to people living in the poorest parts of Talanga, which was a really interesting experience, but left me with mixed feelings. It’s surprisingly hard to pass out these donations to people in Talanga when you know there are so many other people who are left without anything. Many of those people we know personally, such as the women in our group, or our neighbors down the street, but we didn’t have enough to give them all something. People watched from other houses as we passed the bags out, which made me feel kind of uncomfortable as being one of those “white people” who come to pass gifts out to the poor people. Other people would stop and ask if we had anything for them, unfortunately the answer being “no”. On the other hand, it was nice to meet people we never would have otherwise from the parts of Talanga we don’t visit often. I’m just thankful that passing out donations or gifts isn’t really a part of our job here, only because it makes people look at us and our roles here differently from the way we’d like to be perceived.
The pageant was amazing, mostly because Luis is an awesome teacher and a very talented man. We had been looking for a way to involve the children of the moms in our Domestic Violence group for a while, because many of our women had been bringing their kids to our meetings. Obviously it’s not the best place for kids due to the topic of conversation, but many moms have no childcare and thus no choice, so we would try to entertain them with coloring books or toys. The kids loved spending time with Luis though, as well as Sean, Mike and Joe who helped out as they prepared their play. Luis taught them the songs and choreographed the whole thing, and we were all impressed by what they had learned in their 3 short practices held on Mondays while Lauren and I met with their moms. Putting on a Christmas play like this seems like nothing out of the ordinary to us, but here it’s really a rare thing as singing songs and acting aren’t things you do in school or church. In addition, the kids got to work with positive male role models which is something they don’t have in their lives, so overall, everything turned out great and we hope Luis and the guys will be able to continue working with these kids.
Christmas itself was quite different from what we’re all used to, but that was to be expected ☺. Here, it’s celebrated mostly on the night of the 24th, leading up until midnight which is rung in by fireworks and then more partying afterwards. During the day of the 24th, Joe, Sean and I traveled to Correlitos to celebrate with the family we visit each Thursday there. Lauren and Mike went to Terrero to celebrate with the families they visit there, but we all ended up doing basically the same thing…. eating numerous nacatamales and rosquillas en miel… the main holiday dishes. Nacatamales are made of pork or chicken, with rice and seasonings, wrapped in cornmeal and steamed… very tasty in my opinion, and the rosquillas are like hard biscuits doused in lots of honey, which doesn’t really improve the taste any. Mass was at 8pm, which isn’t as fun as midnight mass, but it was still special with lots of people and music. A big tradition here is making a “nacimiento” which is a large nativity scene. There was a really nice one outside the church that they opened that night, but a lot of people make them in their homes as well. They’re really intricate, and include scenes from Bethlehem, places from the town you live in, Talanga in our case, animals, water, trees, etc. Some people work on constructing these for many hours, often the whole week before Christmas or longer. After mass, the tradition is to eat and celebrate with your family. Lucky for us, we were invited to two homes of close friends of ours, meaning we ate two huge dinners after 9pm. At midnight, the whole town celebrated by lighting off bunches of fireworks in the streets, which was pretty nerve-racking, but neat at the same time. Christmas Day is traditionally a day for rest and recovery from the night before, but we decided to keep celebrating, so we spent the day with Father Lucian, the director of our program, in Tegucigalpa. He came to Honduras to spend Christmas with us, which was really great because he was like a little piece of home ☺ He spoiled us and brought us some great chocolate, and we ate lunch that day at Chili’s, which we have declared as the best American food in the country. We have visited the TGI Fridays and Ruby Tuesday’s, the other two American food chains in Honduras to chose from, but Chili’s wins with their amazing burgers and great service. They also happen to have TVs in the bathroom, which I feel is unusual, and worth noting in my opinion. After lunch we visited the mall, because that’s what we do for fun in Tegus, and even indulged in frosties, which I think Fr. Lucian may be addicted to, but I’m not complaining because that works out in our favor. So it’s safe to say we definitely still overate for the Christmas season, only very different foods this year.
New Year’s was amazing, but we didn’t exactly celebrate it in the traditional Honduran way. We actually got to celebrate together with the families of Lauren, Mike and Sean. The day after Christmas was actually the first day we could have visitors, so their families arrived shortly thereafter. They were all headed to the islands off the northern coast of Honduras, Roatán specifically, which is a beautiful spot for tourists. Joe and I decided that staying in Talanga didn’t sound nearly as exciting, so we traveled up north as well… a trip that took about 14 hours each way. Despite the fact we were only on the island for about 60 hours, we decided it was completely worth the effort. I went snorkeling for the first time ever, and it was incredible but terrifying at the same time. Within the first 2 minutes my head was underwater I had seen a stingray, some amazing coral reefs, and enough crazy looking fish straight from the Discovery Channel to fill my “close encounters with exotic creatures” quota for a lifetime. Roatán is supposed to be one of the best diving spots in the world, but only Mike got his scuba diving certification… I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t handle that too well anyway. Other than that, we relaxed on the beach, ate some more good food, and enjoyed hanging out and getting to know everyone’s families. Plus, on New Year’s Day I even got to watch some Iowa Football for the first time in over a year, which obviously was one of the highlights of my trip! So overall, the holiday season here was nothing like our holidays at home, but we still had a blast, and will always remember that one strange, warm and snowless Christmas we spent in Honduras.