You Are Where You Live

So, you know the expression: "You are what you eat."? Well, I invented a new one for the purposes of this blog post: "You are where you live." The more time I spend in Honduras, the more Honduran I look. People told me that no one would believe that I was Honduran and I'm happy to report that those people are wrong. Amy 1, Honduras 0. 

Tourists think I'm Honduran. Hondurans think I'm Honduran. My friends who pass me by on the street, at first glance, think I'm Honduran. I'm like a chameleon who fools everybody as long as I stay very, very quiet. Case and point:

Ulises, Me, Karolna, Sandra, and Austin

This is a picture from the fabulous Volunteer Day that we had on Sunday, with all of the volunteers but one. (Yens is in Cancun at a Climate Change conference... yea right, my thoughts exactly). I look pretty damn Honduran standing next to our Honduran Volunteer, Ulises.

But back to the original statement: "You are what you eat." My diet is regular and I can feel that my body has normalized to living in the jungle and eating what grows here. I've been enjoying lots of raw fruits and veggies for the last several weeks (perhaps by accident due to my recent laziness in the kitchen). I think my body was made for really fresh, ripe, raw foods because I feel fantastic - meal satisfaction, heaps of energy, and no weird cravings. Amy 2, Honduras 0.

I've been doing the raw things for awhile and decided to switch it up last night. I went a little crazy and made a stir-fry of garlic and squash. Amy's tummy was not happy! So, a question for my health-nuts and foodies: What have I done to my body? How do I ease back into cooked food?

Things are getting crazy in Guaruma. Our classes are wrapping up next week and we have a end-of-the-year trip to Tela planned for next weekend with 20 of the best students. I think I'm going on that but nothing is set in stone yet. On top of our school year ending, we are also starting to sell our calendars, Guaruma's staple marketing piece. Every year, Guaruma creates a calendar based on the photographs taken by our students - and trust me, the pictures this year are amazing. All profits from the calendar sales go towards student scholarships. (Since Guaruma is free and we are here to support the education of the children in the cuenca, we help pay school tuition and transportation costs for 25 students who attend our after-school classes.) Each calendar sells for 170 Lempiras ($8.00), and if we sell all 500 calendars we printed, this covers the scholarships for an entire year. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Other than that, it's still raining. It's still chilly. And I'm still counting down the days until Schef arrives for our adventure to Guatemala. (19!) Someone should call the country and warn them now - they will need weeks to prepare.

Mosquito Bites: 1
Final Score: Amy 2, Honduras 0