With Julia
Luckily, the events of Wednesday the 4th did not repeat themselves on the 11th! Instead, the school sponsored an outing for Kara and me to the mariposario, which also has a pool! That was a nice way to chill out, literally.
The one on the right is a Jade butterfly
Thursday evening, the rest of the MCC Honduras team joined us in Copán for a mini-retreat (I also added 5 photos to the CCM Honduras FB page documenting the retreat; there are a couple duplicates but the photo captions have more info if you're interested in reading more about this past weekend). We hung out at their Airbnb for a while before going out for dinner as a group. Kara and I had one last class session on Friday morning at a cafe overlooking the central plaza so we could observe the Independence Day parades. Pizza with the team, then we met at the school for some discussion of the lecturas we'd read, mainly about the golden age (200s-800s AD) and collapse of the Mayan civilization (800s). Late afternoon, we headed over to the Ruinas for a guided tour.
Temple on top of an artificial mountain made of other temples
Central plaza with ball court and UNESCO-recognized Heiroglyphic Stairway (protected from the elements)
Keyla and Eliette were kind enough to cook dinner for us that evening, so we got an encore of crema espinaca and also got to enjoy Nicaraguan potato cakes with cheese inside.
¡Súper rico!
The next morning, we had some team-building and business meetings before getting pupusas for lunch. A bit more business in the early afternoon; then we headed to The Tea and Chocolate Place again:
Lars, Rudi, Sarah, me, Kara, Keyla, Eliette
On Sunday, I said goodbye to my host family as they headed out to see the parades around 9. I snagged a tuk-tuk taxi down to the others' house. Sunday was Independence Day proper, so before our late-morning bus, I went to check out the parades for a bit and take some photos.
The pine needles were new on Sunday
I dug the stripes
We got back to SPS mid-afternoon and said goodbye to Sarah who had to catch another bus back to El Progreso. Keyla and Kara headed to Rudi's with her for the evening, and Lars took me to meet my host family. But I think that fits better with the theme of... first week on the job!
I'm so happy to see your teacher, Julia, and to know about the butterfly place. Wonderful! I'm glad your sickness is well behind you. Your team and leaders seem to have planned a lot of important reflective and educational times for you all. Never a dull moment. Thanks for posting!
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