Y-mela? Y-not?

So, first of all, I´m so sorry for taking so long to post another blog...I´m currently living in a teeny, tiny town with no internet, and no grocery store, and well basically, no nothing. It´s called Yarumela, and has a population of approximately 1,500 people. 8 of us are living there, and the other 8 in our health group are living in La Paz, which is where I am at the moment, using the amazing, fantastic technology called the internet.
Things are going pretty well here, but it is definitely a different world than Santa Lucia. Our host families in Yarumela haven´t hosted any ¨gringos¨before, so I think it has been an adjustment for pretty much everyone. My host family calls me ¨la princesa¨(I don´t think I need to translate that), and won´t let me help with any of the household chores, which makes me feel pretty bad. My host mom and I also don´t have the best communication, I don´t understand her Spanish, she doesn´t understand my Spanglish, so its been a bit frustrating. An example of a conversation:

Host Mom: What would you like for dinner tonight?

Me: Whatever you´re making for the family is fine for me.

HM: No, I want to make what you want

Me: Um, I´m ok with whatever you make.

HM: But tell me what you want me to make.

Me: Well, I´m not really familiar with the food here, and you´re a good cook, so whatever you´d like to make is fine.

HM: But what do you want???

And it goes on from there. This pretty much happens for every meal, and for every time I leave the house (when would you like me home? whenever you´d like. What are we doing tomorrow? Whatever you´d like to do.)

Besides that though, the family is super nice and have been great to live with. They put up with my garbled Spanish and gringo need for privacy, so I appreciate that.

This week is Semana Santa, so we have had 4 days of glorious, glorious vacation. We have been able to do a lot of fun stuff, so I´ll run down the week with you:

Wednesday: Cultural Day in La Paz with our families; they cooked all of the food and we brought the finer points of American Culture to Honduras, such as the Electric Slide and Easter Egg Dyeing. Fun was had by all, and the food was delicious. Photos have been posted on flickr.

Thursday: We went to the rio, where there was swimming and barbecuing and general hanging out. I felt like I was back home, and loved it. Later in the day, we were witness to a time-honered tradition in Yarumela: The Running of the Jews. No, not kidding. Flashbacks of Borat were running through my mind, but thank goodness, none of them laid an egg, so I guess we´re safe for another year. In all honesty, I was torn between being completely appalled at something so offensive, and also having fun running from them as they chased us and, of course, demanded money. I guess this is what they mean by adapt and integrate.

Friday: The best day, by far. The Yarumela trainees were able to score a bus to Comayagua, thanks to Sarah´s, another one of the trainee´s, family. They drive one of the buses between La Paz and Comayagua, and though the buses normally don´t run during Semana Santa, they gave us our own private tour. Pretty sweet. Its a tradition in a lot of Honduras to create alfombras (carpets) out of colored sawdust on Holy Friday, and then have the stations of the cross throughout the town. Comayagua is famous for theirs. We had a great time, and then went and had Pizza Hut after, then watched I Am Legend (yay for pirated movies!!!). All in all, a fantastic day.

Saturday: In the big city writing to all of you, will hopefully buy some fruit to take back to the fam this afternoon, and who knows what will happen tonight...

I´ve also had some requests for care package ideas lately, so if you´re thinking about sending one my way, the following are ALWAYS appreciated:

Magazines (The economist, paste, national geographic, mother jones)
burned cds and dvds (any new music that you love is most welcome)
girl scout cookies
books, books, books - anything you loved that you have laying around the house is perfect
travel packs of tissues
single use packs of hair conditioner (the kinds you find at Sally Beauty)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!