Thanksgiving 2006

I spent my first Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday in Tegucigalpa at the house of a US Embassy Official for a proper dinner – an evening I won’t forget. Let’s just say that the food was excellent and the conversation was, well, a bit stuffy!

I then took the first bus back to La Paz Friday morning to start preparing for a volunteer Thanksgiving dinner at my house! We hosted 33 volunteers who traveled from all around the country to be together for our first holiday in Honduras. A friend in La Paz cooked a turkey for us at his restaurant and everyone brought a dish to share – we had mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, squash, olives, pasta salad, bread and olive oil, pumpkin pie, and apple pie – just some of the things people were able to find in the markets around the country, but I think everyone’s tummies were happy and full!

19 of the 33 stayed in our house – it was a squeeze but made for a lot of fun, especially when we ran out of water and had to bucket bathe and wash the dishes outside at the pila! We went to the fair Friday night so that everyone could experience the toro fuegos – two of our volunteers even ran them in the streets.

Saturday was a much more relaxing day – For those who remained I led a tour of La Paz to see the parks, and market, and we hiked up to “La Hermita” - church in the hillside that yields pretty amazing views of the city! The church was built during the term of ex-president Roberto Suazo Cordova, who is from La Paz and lives here still. Then Saturday night, we ordered pizza and just chilled at the house. It was a nice cozy Thanksgiving – certainly good to spend with my new friends since we are all so far from home.