Adventures in Honduras: Retreat, the States, Newbies and CLIMBING!

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger these last two months. As per usual, it’s been a busy time. Last time I posted the volunteers were gearing up to go on the volunteer retreat. Since then the retreat has come and gone (it feels like it was way longer than 2 months ago), I went home to the States for a two week visit, and new volunteers have arrived!

First, I’ll do some back tracking. The volunteer retreat was a lot of fun. We went to Lago de Yojoa, which is frequently referred to simply as “Lago” (lake) because there’s basically one lake (or one worth knowing) in all of Honduras and it’s HUGE. We stayed at a place that is both a lodge/retreat and brewery! Unfortunately, we never actually went to or in the lake but we went on a pretty awesome hike with amazing views of the lake (yes, pictures to follow).

In June I went home for 2 weeks for a friend’s wedding and to visit family and friends. As much as I love Honduras and the Ranch it was SO GOOD to go home. Seattle did not disappoint and had beautiful, amazing weather the whole time I was home. I’d forgotten about how nice it is to have such long summer days. Since we’re much closer to the equator our days are about the same length year round, meaning it gets dark around 6:30.

The new group of volunteers arrived while I was in the States so there were 6 new faces when I got back. The volunteer house is very full right now. The newbies are living in the dorms and in another two weeks the old volunteers (the ones who have now been here a full year) will be moving out and the new ones will get their own rooms. I can’t believe that soon I’m going to be an “old” volunteer! I feel like I just got here.

This last weekend was a really fun one. My roommate, Christiane, accidentally ran into some members of (what appears to be really small) climbing community in Honduras. Through the connections she made we (Christiane, Christina, and I) went climbing at a location close to Tegucigalpa. It was amazing! None of us had any of our climbing equipment so they loaned us everything we needed. We started with a really beautiful 40-meter rappel into the ravine where we would be climbing. From there we spent the entire day lead and top rope climbing, enjoying the scenery, and finding out more about the climbing scene in Honduras.

And now, lots and lots of pictures to make up for my lack of posts recently…

Kendra and I had proyecto familiar with a super fun family of sisters and cousins!

Sisters and cousins.

Making our way to the start of the hike during the volunteer retreat.

Kailyn and Michael

View from the top of the near vertical hike - Lago de Yojoa

Two of my favorite people - Val and Kendra - on the volunteer retreat

Sometimes you just need to be held and take a post-lunch nap

And sometimes you just fall asleep at the nurses station...

Hanging out behind hogar making tajaditos (fried plantain chips)

And then there was that time when it rained all day during a brigade and the ceiling sprung a leak...

Milagro, my favorite little girl

Sitting on the deck during my visit home, Hood Canal did not disappoint.

Some of my awesome labor and delivery coworkers from Harrison!

Sonya (the bride) with her two awesome Maids of Honor.

We clean up real nice.

Seattle skyline from the my ferry ride back after the wedding.

Another awesome proyecto group of sisters!

6 patients all lined up getting their IV fluids on diabetes day.

My birthday came and went while I was in the States so my girls threw me a surprise birthday party when I got back and I was determined to get at least one pictures with all (okay, most) of them in it.