KB in Honduras: Falling in love with Honduras

Since I forgot my camera at home, let me paint a mental picture.
It is a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon in the mountains of Honduras, and I am walking through a field of waist high grass in an over-sized shirt and old jeans tucked into giant rubber knee-high boots. I meet the lady who lives next to my host-dad's property and cares for his cows. She has a 60 pound pig running through her house and across her yard, chasing her dog and roosters. We spend a while chatting, in Spanish of course, while my host dad fixes the syringes of medicine to give to the sick cow. We head towards the field, tromping straight through mud puddles and piles of cow and horse manure, and climbing over and under barbed wire fences. Of course the sick cow is all the way across the field hiding behind a clump of trees, meaning we have to walk past all the other gigantic cows and horses to reach her. Well. Did you know that cows like affection just as much as the normal house hold pet? I'm standing still for just a moment, taking in the view of the clouds and the corn fields on the mountain side when a massive cow (the top of her head is taller than mine) ambles up to me and nudges me the shoulder, almost knocking me over, and looking to be pet. For the first time in my life, I lovingly stroke a cow's neck as if she is a horse, and scratch her ears as if she is a dog. I walk away to catch up with my host-dad, but this cow follows me all around the field. After giving medicine to a skinny, sickly cow that will hopefully save her life, we trudge back across the fields as it begins to rain. Who would think that sloshing through mud in the cold rain in a field of cows in the mountains of Honduras would rank as my number one afternoon of the past four months? It did.

I hope that even without photos, you were able to imagine what that afternoon was like for me. An incredible experience. Definitely a first; I've been having a lot of firsts in Honduras. The Saturday night before that adventure I went to my first Honduran dance with my host family in the central hall in our town. The famous band of Santa Barbara came to play and I danced merengue and punta with my family all night long! I also played in my first soccer game in years, with my town's women's soccer team. We play five-on-five and the goalies are guys, and the games take place at a little indoor court with a lighting system and all! It is pretty fancy for Honduras, and there is a big snack shed with tables where people can come and watch the games. Our game lasted for almost 2 hours and I scored 3 goals, which I was very proud of since I haven't played soccer since I was about 10 years old. It was really fun and I hope to keep playing with those girls because it is good integration into the community as well as exercise. I also run every day, which is a lot more difficult here in the mountains than it is on the flat roads of Charleston. But usually after I run, I walk up the mountain road and back as my cool down, and lately the neighborhood children have started to follow me. I walk all the way up to the top of the mountain where the road ends and every day more and more kids walk with me. It is really cute because all of the mothers and grandmothers lean out of the windows to wave as I pass by, and the children ask me to translate words into English for them. I am definitely lucky to live where I live because my town is beautiful, my family is wonderful, and my neighbors are friendly. I couldn't be happier!