My Family came to see me!

So just a day after getting back from Mexico I headed to the airport on Saturday morning to meet some folk from England. My family had finally arrived to come and see me and my new home! It was very strange for about the first ten minutes but then it all suddenly became very normal and as if we were never apart. Punta Gorda was our first stop off, where they got into a hotel and we went to Mary Lou’s for lunch. She cooked rice and beans with coconut milk – on of my favourites and it went down pretty well with them all. After lunch and a bit of getting to know Mary Lou, we went to the beach, and because it was the Easter Weekend, there were so many people so it was nice to play in the sea with all the kids, and lots of them wanting to know my family. We also explored Punta Gorda, and met loads of people asking who the ‘gringos’ were! After dinner out, they went to bed quite early very tired after all that travelling and I headed back home.

The next day we all went to church for the Easter Service, which was really good, though I don’t think they understood much of it given their level of Spanish! After church we went for lunch, spaghetti and sweet bread, delicious. After that we went for a swim and down to Perla, where we watched Punta dancing for a while before grabbing some baleadas and pastelitos for dinner before we went to bed.

On the Monday, after quickly going to the school so my family could meet some teachers and the kids, we went to Pineapple Villas in French Harbour. This was a great, though rather empty, hotel. Our suite was huge and really posh and we had a private pool for pretty much the whole week! Luke did forget his iPad so us two went back on the bus to Punta Gorda to get it.

The next two days we spend by the pool at the hotel and on the beach and Little French Key. This is a beautiful little island with rescued animals on it and amazing beaches. We swam and snorkelling, and rented a kayak which was really good fun. Also we played basketball and just chilled out for a good two days by the beach.

On the Thursday, after relaxing by the pool in the morning, we came back to Punta Gorda so I could drop off some things and so my family could meet the older kids and some more teachers. A fair few of them went very shy though some were nice and chatty with my lot which was really nice. They tried to work out whether or not I was adopted because I apparently don’t look like either of my parents! Also they were judging who was the ‘prettiest’ out of me and my brothers; we can guess who won that one! After that we headed back to the hotel with Robbie where we went in the pool for a bit before a really nice meal out in the restaurant.

The next day we went down to the last hotel, in West End. It was more basic than Pineapple Villas but it was really nice and right on the sea in Half Moon Bay, right next to an abandoned boat which you can swim out to and jump off. So that’s what we did for an hour or two, there’s also a rope swing and you can climb up a ladder and swing into the sea – its great fun. After that, while we were relaxing on the beach, a girl called Sierra came up to us and offered us a free ride on the Glass Bottom Boat – if she could film us for her website – yes please! So after a bit of filming we jumped on the boat and off we went. We saw loads of fish and even a turtle! When we got back we headed for lunch before spending a lot more time in the sea and snorkelling (and seeing another turtle!) before having an ice cream for tea because we were all still so full from lunch!

Saturday was our last full day together and we spent it on the best beach I’ve been to – West Bay! We walked there and Mum fell over into the sea which was funny, thank goodness she laughed too though! We got there and swam and snorkelled for most of the day. After lunch we got half price tickets for a big inflatable water slide and trampoline which was good fun. After that we got a water taxi back to West End and went out to the boat for one last time before dinner. I had a huge pizza but no one could finish theirs because they were so big! Really good food though. Back to the hotel and chilled out before bed.

Sunday morning we headed to the airport to say goodbye – only three and a half months till I come home – don’t miss me too much!

It was a great week or so with my family. It was great for them to see my ‘home’ so they can understand a bit better what I’m on about when I talk about people and places and my stories that they have to listen to! It was a bit sad to say goodbye but it’s so little time before I come back, and I know that time will fly by, so see you all soon!

Sam xx

Four Days on Buses for Two Nights in Mexico…

The first of three 4.30 am starts was last Friday, as Robbie and I got up to head to the ferry port to make our way to the mainland, and San Pedro Sula. After meeting Lisa and Olivia, and Ellie and Bryony, we went to the City Mall (as we always do in San Pedro) and then caught up on all the stories we each had from the last two months.

The next morning was another 4.30 am start, as we took a bus from the terminal to Flores, a city in the north of Guatemala, more or less half way to Playa del Carmen, our destination in Mexico. The first bus was about five hours, mostly spent sleeping, before we got to a service station to change buses. Now, after paying 700 lempiras (35 dollars) for the bus, and any volunteer will know it is very hard to part with that amount of money, we got on to our second bus of the day. With all the seats taken, us six had to sit on the floor for a good two hours before people started to get off. Feeling every gear change and every bump in the road, it was a very long two hours before we eventually got three seats between the six of us and made that work, all of us somehow squished in! We got to Flores late at night, it was a shame to only see it in the dark because it seems like a beautiful city, but we got some good food and headed to bed.

The last 4.30 am start came on Sunday morning as we got a direct bus to Belize City. To save money, Robbie has said at the start of the day that he wouldn’t eat until we got to Mexico (which would be at about 4 pm). I was thinking that’ll never happen. But, after being shoved on to a bus in Belize City, we arrived at the Mexico border still without any food. We made our way in to Mexico and on to the next bus and it was more or less 6 pm before we ate that day. Safe to say we had quite a big dinner to fill ourselves up! We stayed at a hostel called Hostel Playa (in Playa del Carmen) which was most probably the best we’ve stayed in all year. They had free breakfast (including Nutella on toast!!) great staff and we got ourselves a private room!

The next morning we spent exploring the town/city of Playa del Carmen, it was pretty big. We headed to 5^th Avenue which is a really long street with loads of shops – really Western so nice to have a few home comforts for a while. We spend the afternoon chilling on the beach which was really beautiful before cooking ourselves noodles (typical travelling meal) for dinner.

On the Tuesday (my last day in Mexico) we headed to Chichen Itza, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. First of all we went to a Cenote which is a big underground cave filled with water, where we swam and kicked out any remaining hangover from the night before! Then we headed on to the ruins at Chichen Itza. Very impressive! A huge main temple surrounded by lots of little buildings, we learnt a lot about the history of the place which was really nice. It was a really good day, and thank goodness for the bus journey back where we all slept like babies!

Then on the Tuesday night at 11.40 I had to catch a bus, and say goodbye to the group, just over 48 hours after arriving in Mexico. So I got a direct (arctic) bus to Belize City where I then jumped on a chicken bus (old American school bus) for 6 hours or so to Punta Gorda in the south. Being absolutely shattered this part of the journey can only be described as hell. Got myself on to a boat with some Nicaraguan bloke to Puerto Barrios in Guatemala where he asked me all sorts of questions about British history which I couldn’t answer. After spending a night there I got a couple of buses to make it to San Pedro Sula where I wanted to get a bus back to La Ceiba to get the boat. But…because it was the day before Good Friday, all the buses had stopped at about 11.30, so I had to get a very expensive taxi all the way to Ceiba with three other guys. Well, 30 dollars for a 3 ½ hour taxi ride isn’t that bad I guess. After quite possible the worst crossing back to Roatan ever (I threw up very badly) I made it back to Punta Gorda for one of Mary Lou’s famous meals!

As you can tell by the amount I’ve written about each part of the week, travelling seemed to take up much more time that actually being in Mexico, which is very true. On reflection it probably wasn’t the most sensible idea money-wise to travel two days to spend two days in Mexico then travel another two days back. But oh well, I had a good time and enjoyed spending time with the travelling group, and I had to renew my VISA, and I can now say that I’ve been to Mexico so yeah all is good.

Oh, and my family come tomorrow, so I am one very excited boy! 

Actually now I'm posting this my family is already here so another blog will be coming soon about their visit!

Hasta Luego,

Sam xx

A New School Year

After coming back from travelling, which was the best time of my life, you may’ve though it would’ve been hard to get back to school and into the old routines. Well, you’d be wrong there.

After helping out in the office at lot with Profa Ligia and Profa Doris, the school year finally kicked off at the start of February, with new timetables, a few new kids and one or two new teachers. So far this year I’m loving teaching pretty much all of my classes. Yeah, there are some who annoy me from time to time, but on the whole they’re all great to teach.

Profa Ligia headed to the mainland to have her baby at the start of March which she called Sam. She’ll be back in June, but in the meantime she’s lent us her dog, Max, while she’s away, so that’s nice and gives us something to do in the evening and whenever we’re free, which isn’t often!

So far this term we’ve had Father’s Day, a school excursion to the beach and Felicity’s visit. Father’s Day was really sweet, all the kids brought their Dads to school and there was a talk and a few games, though in typical Honduras style the event started late and we couldn’t finish it. Oh well, we got free food and fresco so we weren’t complaining.

The school trip to West Bay was really good. We were meant to go and watch the dolphin show at Anthony’s Key but because the kids didn’t have their uniform on we couldn’t go at the discounted price, so we went to the beach instead. About three hours of playing with the kids in the sea, I was absolutely exhausted, and a bit pink which the kids all laughed at on Monday!

Felicity came for our desk officer visit last Thursday which was really nice. It was really good to see a familiar face and spend a day with her. She observed some lessons, which went pretty well; we went for a walk around town and had a meeting with the principal of the school and a couple of other teachers. It’s really nice to be spoken about positively by the other teachers; it shows all the hard work really does pay off!

I’ve started to work in the ‘caseta,’ the little shop that sells food at school. It’s incredibly hot in there and with a tonne of kids shouting their order at you it can be a bit stressful but they give me free fresco and sometimes a bit of food so it’s worth it for me! One day a couple of weeks ago I ate a plate of chicken with plantain chips from the ‘caseta,’ then it was someone’s birthday so I ate a plate of rice and chicken and a massive piece of cake before heading to Mary Lou’s for lunch! Hopefully I didn’t offend her by not eating very much. If I’m not obese by the time I get back to England then a true miracle will have occurred!

That’s about it for now so hope you’re still enjoying reading this and only 4 months or so till I get back home!

Sam xx