Lots of parties
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2004
1
7
14
Trip End
??? ??, 2005
La Ceiba, Honduras
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Wow, March already. The last month has been busy. I spent all but four days of February in the village and it was great. Each month one of the villages in our area has a Fair which is a celebration of community and culture. Its a big party. On the weekends there is usually basketball games and soccer games during the day and dancing at night. For the fair in my village Garifuna people came from all over the place to attend. There were 5 teams in the soccer tournament and the same for the basketball tournament. On the final saturday night there were two dances going on. One for the adult crowd with a live sax and drum band and the other was the youth dance with a dj playing Regaton. In March Nicole and I also went out to Batalla for the fair there. It is a community in La Moskitia about 15km past the end of the road. So we took a bus part way, a boat to Sangrelaya and then walked the last 15km on the beach. It was a beautiful walk, hot and sunny. We had been asked to play for the Ciriboya Basketball team in the tournament there. At the fairs women play basketball and the men play soccer. Wow, do these women play basketball. Thankfully in Batalla they have a concrete court not like our grass and dirt court in Ciriboya. Basketball here is sort of played like ice hockey. Three forwards, two defense and all the full body contact you can handle. Whoa. Fouls? The game turns into a giant fast break. Shoot, rebound, hail mary to the other end, shoot rebound, hail mary. If you don't huck the ball or shoot as soon as you catch it you will be pummeled. Not only do they play rough but they play a full four quarter of 12min in the blazing sun. Wow, I am so not in shape. But we had tonnes of fun and came out with only minor bruising. That night there was another dance - regatton style and it was loads of fun.
Work has been getting busy. The cultural center/shelter is progressing quickly and the grand opening for the building is April 23. This next month will be busy getting all the loose ends tied up for the big day. I have also been helping a local church plan construction of a new church building. It has been an interesting process meeting with the church leaders to roughly design a building and put together a budget for the construction. They are going to write a fundraising letter and we will help them to send it to some churches in Canada for support. They are very keen and involved in the process which is great.
What else... Not too much to tell. My time is coming to an end here with in the next few months and I am sad to think of leaving here. There are so many great people here and this place has found a special place in my heart.
Well, thats all for now.
Take care,
Allison
