My time is winding down here in Gracias. As much as I love it here, I am ready to go. The end of the summer is crunch time for staffs as we have to type up a million different evaluations; of the project, of the volunteers, of each other, of the communities of ourselves.... The list goes on. All this work really contributes to my desire to leave. To skip out on all this paper work and just enjoy my remaining weeks here in Honduras. Alas, I am a responsible person and would feel bad the whole time. Plus, I'd hate to get low marks on my evaluation.
Despite the amount of work I have, I have found some time to do things I love, like dancing. This past week Gracias has been celebrating "Dia De Lempira." A holiday to commemorate a fallen hero, Lempira. From what I understand Lempira led a stand against the Spanish during the conquests, but sadly did not succeed. His rudimentary weapons were no match for the Spanish gun. It's probably best that he wasn't around to experience the pleasure of small pox and other diseases the Spaniards brought with them. Enough with the history lesson, back to dancing. This whole week has been celebration after celebration, baile after baile. I've been to four different dances in the last week, each better than the last. On Sunday we went to a dance held in what remains of a Spanish fort. The excess of drunken men pulling on your arm for a dance (including two 12ish year old boys) could not put a damper on our fun. We danced the night away, staying out until 1:30 in the morning! (Trust me, this is late when you've become accustomed to being in bed by 10.) The DJ even agreed to play some American music for us, which quickly cleared the dance floor of all the Hondurenos. We titled the CD "Los megas grandes exitos de los Estados Unidos de Julio 2008 " (the mega biggest hits from the US of July 2008 ) thinking the DJ would be more inclined to play it. Many of the songs were not the biggest hits of July 2008, or 2005 for that matter. Most were several years old, but I don't think they knew the difference. Plus, I don't think the title had anything to do with him playing the CD. Most Hondurenos with do anything to put a smile on a gringa's face.
Beyond dancing and work I have been working on a list of things I want to do as soon as I get home. It is as follows:
-Drink a Dr. Pepper
-Get a manicure/ pedicure
-Eat Taco Bell
-Deep condition my hair
-Go for a run

There are a lot of other things I'm looking forward to, but I'm not going to list them as they will make me look like a glutton as most of them are things I want to eat.

I'm excited to see you all when I get home, but will be enjoying my time here in the meantime. I'm heading to Guatemala in 2 weeks to see some Mayan ruins, active volcanoes and to overall disfrutar. Hope all is well in the home land.

Cheque-leque,
Raquelita

P.S. I saw a dead horse on the side of the road last week. This week as I passed by there was nothing left but bones. Gross.

...

I´m not very good at blogging, or keeping in touch. I apologize to all that thought I might be dead. I´m not.

I´ve been very busy and have been preparing for the end of the summer! Yay! I spent a week in La Paz Honduras helping out the project there. It was a nice change from Gracias, but made me appreciate it that much more. It was a lot like being away from KC. I don´t realize how much I love it til I leave. During my trip to La Paz I racked up about 16 hours of bus time, 2 more days in San Pedro Sula, a day in Tegucigalpa and 5 more hours of airport time. I got to see some friends I made during training, so it made it all worthwhile.

Other than that our vols leave in less than two weeks. This is the moment we have been preparing for all summer. Things are considerably less hectic when you aren´t taking care of 55 high school students. I´m aprovecharing all there is to do here in Gracias. Hot Springs, beautiful walks, cheap food. There is a festival here on the 20th called "Dia de Lempira." Hondurans celebrate holidays the way I celebrate my birthday- beginning 3 weeks in advance. There are rides already set up, booths selling food and games and a fiesta tonight that I can´t wait to go to. I danced with the dance troop again last night. I was really nervous because it´s been about 4 weeks since my last practice. I´ll get some pics and try to put them up.

Hope all is well up North. Todo cheque aqui.

-Raquelita