Thursday, May 2nd

On Thursday we woke up at 7:30 and made eggs on a tortilla with half an avocado. We brought our breakfast out onto the front patio and watched the different people walking by while writing in our journals. Last night on our way to the supermarket (Maxi Dispensa) we passed a fair (una feria). While writing in my journal a man riding on a horse with a carriage attached went by shouting "melon". Also a woman and man passed shouting "coco helados". From this we can see that parts of the economy are very informal. After we ate breakfast David (founder of HHK) came and picked us up and brought us up to the Jungle School. The Jungle School is a private school run by Helping Honduras Kids that serves the poor and those in need. On the way to the Jungle School Davids truck broke down and we were stuck at a Texaco gas station for like 30 minutes. However, in the time of waiting we were able to talk to and get to know Kim, (the nurse at the Jungle School). At the Jungle school we were given a tour of the three classroom buildings, the lunch kitchen and the two bathrooms. In the classrooms the 3rd and 4th grade are together, the 5th and 6th grade are together, and the kinder, 1st and 2nd grade are separate. David then sat down with us and told us about the history of the Jungle School and how it first started out as one building and how it has now grown to over 100 kids. He also told us that the bus costs $1,000 to run a month and the kids only pay $2.50 a month for everything. He explained that this payment by the families is more of a gesture than anything else. David then had us go into the 1st grade classroom to get to know some of the kids and the school. In the first grade there was roughly 15 kids with one teacher. The teacher in the 1st grade was only 18. In Honduras you don't need an education degree or a college degree to teach grades 1st through 6th. While in the 1st grade I watched the children color in pictures and then helped the teacher write their homework into their journals. On this particular days the kids were learning the letter, "J". The kids go to school from 7:00 to 12:30 and have lunch and brush their teeth during the day. They brush their teeth at school because many kids don't have toothbrushes or don't brush their teeth at home. At the lunch time all the kids except the Hogar de Amor kids go and eat lunch. The Hogar de Amor kids wait until they get home to have lunch.At the end of the day after lunch many of the kids go and see Kim (nurse) to get Benadryl or another type of medicine. Kim explained to us that the kids see her to "get something sweet" or to be able to sleep well at night. Many of the kids have allergies or can't sleep because of the heat. After many of the kids visited the nurse we headed down to take the bus home. The bus dropped us off near the end of our road and we walked the rest of the way home. However, when we got home we encountered our first problem our key to the gate didn't work. The issue was quickly resolved when Cristy came to the house and let us in. The heat was so intense today it was close to 100 degrees and being out and about made the sweat just pour off my body. After resting up on the patio for a little while we walked from our house in El Sauce to Calle Uno. The walk took a total of 2 1/2 hours in which we walked from one end of San Isidro (a main street) to the other end and back. The streets here are labeled by numbers starting from one and going on. The town is a strip of buildings and lots of taxis. At first appearance the town is not a tourist attraction at all however after being shown around by Luis (a man that lives in the same housing as us) we have eaten at a couple good restaurants and have been told about the hidden gems of La Ceiba such as some of the bay islands, the good beaches, and places to hang out. After walking down town we went back to the house, relaxed, took a shower, and watched some tv. Luckily it was Thursday night and we get English tv so we watched Greys Anatomy. After Greys we headed to bed to rest up for the next day.