Belize, well mostly.

This is going to be horribly written and all scrambled but stick with me.

Well, every 90 days we have to leave the 5 countries that make up CAFTA or however it's spelled. They're the 5 countries that make up the unified central american states. So we head up to Belize. Our trip began last thursday at 4:45 in the morning an the path went something like this. Basically we took a bus up to the honduran-guatemalan border. From there we took a cab to Porto Barrios. Then a boat ride to Punta Gorda, Belize. Then a bus ride up to Mango Creek. Then a water taxi over to Placencia. Rebecca had been feeling badly during the trip (and the day before) so she and Tyler and Jessica stayed in Punta Gorda, planning to come the next day.

While we were on the boat we met two guys who were traveling together for a short while. One was a German guy named Alton and the other was a New Zealand Kiwi named Allister. Turned out they were going to Placencia as well. Placencia is a big traveler's spot in the area. It's an island with beautiful water most of the year. I think someone said they saw a sign somewhere about pieces of land being sold for 1.7 million dollars American. Come to find out while we were on the island, this guy named Fonto (a local) told us that part of "Flavor of Love" had been filmed on the island and that he had met the Flav himself. He pointed to a house where he had stayed. He kind of played it off at first but you could tell he was really proud of it.

It was cool hanging out for a few days with Alton and Allister. They had just met recently and were just traveling together for a few days. Some of the time they sat around and bashed the US, which was fine. It was honestly pretty funny. Other times we just talked about different stuff. Tim and I left the island a little later than the others on Saturday, and I told Chrissy that night that it was a miracle that I didn't head north with Alton and Allister.

So it turned out that Rebecca had Dengue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever). And then Jenna showed up with a rash all over her and she had been complaining of headaches, so... you guessed it, when we got back to Cofradia she went to a hospital and they confirmed dengue. Yippeee! So, it's Sunday night and here's where we all are (as far as I know):

Drew- Cofradia

Alison- Cofradia (in bed with headache and says she's really tired)

Anne- Cofradia (really tired in bed)

Jenna- San Pedro Sula (going back to the hospital in the morning for more tests)

Chrissy- San Pedro Sula (with Jenna)

Paxton- Cofradia

Rebecca- Porto Barrios, Guatemala (in a hospital)

Jessica, Athena, Tyler- Porto Barrios, Guatemala (with Rebecca)

Tim- Punta Gorda, Belize

I'm not one to run to update this thing, but today was too weird of a day to pass up.

Okay, so it was buisness as usual during the day at school. Afterward at 3 we were going to have a party for one of the Honduran teachers, Ms. Linda, who, as we understood it, was recently engaged. So we have all this food for what we thought was going to be an engagement party (small tidbit of information, i openly have a crush on this woman).

False.

She got married today at 12 o'clock and it was her wedding reception (heart broken). What! We seriously found this out 10 minutes before her arrival. So we all sat in the computer lab with with the food and of course Pepsi.

*Small note on the Pepsi in Honduras. I'm not sure Honduras would continue without it. Whenever you visit a home, for the family not to serve you Pepsi is unthinkable. If you're walking in the front door, a child is running out the side to the pulperia to buy Pepsi.

As I was walking in the gate earlier today the vigilante/gate attendant, Don Francisco, gave me a tug on my shirt and kinda... raised his eyebrows at me with his eyes wide. Didn't really know how to handle the situation.

I was told a soccer game was happening in the field next to the school at 4 so I had taken my cleats. I was keeping an eye out. At around 5 I saw some guys playing so I grabbed my stuff and headed over. Turned out I didn't know any of the guys playing but they let me play. There were a few guys who were just sick, but I didn't just embarrass myself. They said they play everyday at 5 so I'm going to start playing with them. After we had finished they asked me if I would buy the Pepsi for today, so I obliged.

I walked back to my apartment then over the main house. Upon arrival I found one of the student's parents pulling up with a truck full of grapefruit, all for us.

By request from Todd

Next week we're heading to Belize. We have to leave the countries that formerly comprised the united central american states... or whatever it is called, for 3 days every 90 days for visa renewal. So next thursday we're headed to Belize. Saturday I'm heading to the mall in San Pedro Sula. Papa send me an amazing message earlier in the week that said that he would pay for a good meal in San Pedro Sula every once in a while. It may be hard for you to grasp how excited I am about eating at Tony Roma's. I will drink a soft drink, with refills and watch Florida play the Vols on CBS.

3 weeks in.

Well, we're three weeks into the school year. Last week we peaced out of Cofradia and went up to Tela in northern Honduras. It's a beautiful coastal town. We hung out on the beach for two days, building fires and swimming in the water. On Wednesday we had Dia del Nino. I don't understand the concept of this day as there are 364 days a year that celebrate children. The day was all about the kids running wild around the school. There was a parade today through the streets as it is their independence day. For the last few days we have been practicing at the school with the kids, having them march. So today we marched through the streets with the kids. Yesterday Tim and I went into the mountains with a local family who owns a farm up there. We picked wild lemons, tangerines, sugar cane, bananas and coffee. We roasted some coffee and grounded it.