Some weeks are slow.

I don't have much to share about last week.  I had been fighting a cold for days and then apparently walking to the hot springs was a really bad idea.  Lety and I both had fevers the next morning.  Which meant that we were not allowed to go to the Wednesday night church service as usual because it was outside on this particular Wednesday.  They celebrate Day of the Dead on November 1 and 2 and held the church service in the cemetery.  It is chilly at night now, and usually raining, so that would not have been much fun to stand in anyway.

I went to the cemetery with Lety on Saturday though, as part of our weekend walk.  She wanted to visit her grandmother's grave and her aunt came with us because it is her mother as well.  The cemetery is relatively large and ugly.  There are no grass or trees, and there are not many flowers.  But Lety's aunt swept away the dirt from her mother's grave, which I guess is their idea of cleaning up.  On the way home, they showed me a giant rock with a Mayan carving on it.  Some people found it in the river years ago and the story is the rock really is from ancient Mayan times.  On Sunday, we did not go for another walk because we cleaned up the yard at my host-grandparent's house all day.  Yard work here is unlike anything most American's have ever done.  Mowing the grass is not with a lawn mower.  We are hunched over, whacking away with a machete for hours.  Trimming trees is not with clippers or any tool I have ever used, it is chopping with a machete or using your bare hands when there are not enough machetes to go around.  Thorns or no thorns.  The reason we did yard work from 8am to 5pm on Sunday is because the big surprise 67th birthday party for my host-mom's dad is this Sunday.  Xiomara (host-mom) has been planning this party and making elaborate decorations and invitations the entire time I've lived here, so I gather it is going to be a big party.  Now, I have never thrown a huge party, but I'm pretty sure that in America we would send the invitations out well in advance.  Here, Xiomara said she will send them out this Friday, two days before the party.  And everyone will come.  Because here, no one ever makes set plans in advance, just in case something better comes up, like a big party.  Which has been really difficult for me because it makes work extremely frustrating, and I really love being organized and having calendars.  That is impossible to do here.  For example, tomorrow the head of my entire Peace Corps Youth Development project is coming to visit with me and meet my counterparts and check on my progress.  Well when I first told the director about it, he said he had no plans so that should be fine.  But then he ended the conversation with "vamos a ver" which is "we'll see."  And I have tried to talk with the mayor every morning this week when he says he will be in the office, and he has not been in the office any of the times I have stopped by.  So I am just hoping that nothing better (more fun) comes along because this meeting is very important.  But then again, my boss is Honduran so I have hope that she will understand if they are traditionally late.  Vamos a ver.

Also, today being November 9....  HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY CARTER!!!!!  :)

There were two little dogs chasing the chickens through the grass for fun.   And of course the mountains in the background.

The little brown horse was running around and around in circles.  I thought maybe he was playing a game by himself.

Just pretty.

Little piglets wandering in the road.

The view from the cemetery.

The cemetery.  There are graves all in this big, brown bramble mess.

The rock with the ancient Mayan carving.  I have not found anyone who can tell me what this symbol means.  They all say "it is an animal."