Sunday, February 21

Today my parents came up to Villa Verde, but first I met them down in Gracias for lunch and to get a few things from town. We had lunch at Guancascos, ran a few errands and then my parents had their first mototaxi ride! I was afraid my dad wouldn’t fit in it because his legs are so long, but he fit alright in the back with my mom and I sat up front on our way up the mountain. It was a bumpy ride, quite jarring for my parents, but they made it. I brought them to my house, showed them around and brought them to the comedor to meet the Melgars and some other neighbors. They met all the rest of the teachers living up here as well. We climbed in Celaque for a little bit so my parents could see the beauty of it, but with the elevation and heat and hills, we made it about half way up to the visitor’s center. We had a family style dinner with everyone having dinner over at the comedor. They made(baleadas), which my parents loved. I had made them for my family over Christmas break, but Sonia’s are the best by far. I wanted them to stay for church to get that experience, but I didn’t want them to get back too late to town, so they headed back after dinner. It was awesome to have my parents actually come and see where I live, the people I live with, and how beautiful it is up here.

Later that night, we heard this HUGE boom outside and everyone came outside to see what had caused it. The neighbors were saying it was a bomb in the mountains somewhere. The kids and all of us were talking about it the next day, trying to figure out what this huge boom was. My dad told me that the space shuttle was supposed to land at Cape Canaveral that night and then all the sudden it made sense. The noise we heard was the shuttle entering the atmosphere! How cool is that…I got to hear the space shuttle enter the atmosphere in Honduras; another great experience to add to my growing list.