Back in grade school...

Hello everyone!

So I am sure you have heard that here in Honduras we are dealing the this whole political crisis once again. This past August and September, things have been pretty calm. Nothing really going in regards to the coup... life returned to basically normal. I had started working on planning my last few Peace Corps projects and in general have been doing pretty well.

This Monday that all changed when Mel snuck back in the country causing a big giant muck in the capital. Because of all of the vandalism and craziness the government has been issuing daily curfews. We had curfew from 4pm Monday, All day Tuesday until 10am Wednesday. Being that I live in a larger town, we observed the curfew. Shops were closed, groceries were closed, the market was closed..... the town was silent and I couldn't leave my house. Today we were finally able to leave and buy food and tomorrow they say that things will be back to normal again-- but we will have to see what happens. I feel like a kid again...kinda funny.

Below I posted a link to the BBC website that gives a good explanation of the course of events over these past few months for anyone that might not be up to speed on the situation.

Well, as for now I think I am off to bed...all this walking around town today has got me pretty beat.

Adios!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8124154.stm

Feria

Hello all! So it is already September and that means almost my birthday! August went by soooo fast because there was so much to do since it was feria. The whole month of August we celebrate our local fair here in Santa Rosa. The whole thing kicks off at 4am august 1st when a man in a truck drives all around the city blowing off loud firecrackers to wake everyone up. It isn't my favorite tradition and didn't really appreciate being woken up that early but it did mean it was the start of a whole lot of fun. The main feria events happened at the end of the month with the Coronation of the queen of the feria, queen of tabacco and child queen.


The last 2 weeks of the month we had the "Feria de los Llanos" which consisted of different restuarants around town selling food in a fairground setting. People were also selling artesania.. i bought some cool earrings and a wallet made out of chip bags. The last Friday of August was "Noche de Fumadores" or smoker's night which was an event to celebrate the Tabacco industry which has been such a part of the history of this region. There were tons of PCVs that came to Santa Rosa just to go to this event which was soooo much fun. We danced, ate, smoked cigars and basically had a whole lot of fun. There was a woman from the factory hand rolling cigars right up in the front which was pretty neat to see.

The following day there was the "Tarde con Aroma de Cafe" which was an event where the coffee producers from the area come and give samples or their coffee and the local coffee shops make cappuchinos. This year we were lucky to have Guillermo Anderson, a famous Honduran singer/songwriter come and perform for us in the park. It was a great day and a great concert. His music is rooted in honduran culture and the lyrics celebrate things that are very honduran in nature. All in all it was a very good feria, very well planned by the feria committee and a good time was had by all.

I am happy to have things back to normal but sad because it was my last feria :( I won't be here this time next year-- time flies!