there´s a state on the north coast called, ¨¨thank you, god¨¨

i´ve been living in my site for about a month now (4 months in honduras-whoa, the longest i´ve ever been outside of the usa) and i´m pretty much settled in.

i have 2 friends that i go on walks with regularly. theyre both around my age but, of course, they´re married with kids. one of them, at most, has a 6th grade education-its amazing how you can still relate...people are just people. i´ve started 2 oddessey (sp?) of the mind youth groups, and i´ve been working with this guy to help get a better water system-we crawled up and down the mountain, through bushes, barbed wire, and peoples yards measuring out the distance for the pipes-great fun! i have the greatest job. i get to do what i want whenever i want! i have so much free time-i read books all the time, i could even become a karate master if i wanted.

i´ve finally gotten used to sleeping under a mosquito net, scrubbing my laundary on a wash board, bathing with buckets of water, eating beans with corn tortillas, taking li´l yellow school buses over long distances (i just got of the 2 hr long bus ride from my site to use the internet in the city. it was an hour late. we had a time change 4 weeks ago and the buses, schools, and people are all still in the old time) i´m used to having bugs crawling on my eyeballs like the children in the ¨¨send money to africa¨¨ comercials (its raing season. we´ve got an amazing amount of frogs, mosquitos, lizards, and these wierd worms with a million legs) and i´m even used to eating pig intestines, but one thing i don´t think i´ll ever get used to is the guys here yelling and harrassing. the ¨¨machismo¨¨...i´ve tried ignoring it, i´ve tried yelling at them in spanish, yelling at them in english, i´ve shoved people, kicked a guy, and the other day even picked up a rock as if i was going to throw it at them. when i was in india i didn´t even notice it or care, but i guess consistantly over a long period of time it just eats away at your soul.

honduras isn´t poor. i mean its the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, but compared to india and a butt ton of other countries its not poor. there are volunteers here from the usa, cuba, japan, food sent from canada, and only god knows the number of missionaries, but its not poor. compared to india its nothing. people are living in houses, there aren´t a million people sleeping in the streets and walking (or scooting) around with weird, awkward deformities. theres not a million li´l babies with the big bellies, not a million adults pooing on the side of the road in big cities. honduras isnt what ya´ll are thinking. my friend i visited last weekend goes out to eat for every meal and does his laundary at a laundary mat. i have access to internet, phone, comfy bed, food, and tv whenever i want. so the point i´m getting at is COME VISIT!!!! :) its laaaaayed back, cheap, and its not like youre going to AFRICA its li´l ity bity honduras. beautiful beaches, ancient mayan ruins, cloud forests, tropical forests, marriot hotel, and a pizza hut just opened up in the south. come play!! :)