http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rilla/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rilla en-us Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:25:14 +0000 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:25:14 +0000 FELIZ NAVIDAD MERRY CHRISTMASIt doesn't feel a bit like December with the gorgeous sunshine and heat but it's been a fabulous Christmas celebration It's also hard to beleive that I've already been here for TWO WEEKS Crazy And only 3 days and a wakeup left as my dad says ... although I hadn't been keeping track until I talked to him on Thursday and he http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-462914.html ... RAIN It started raining yesterday evening and just started to clear up this afternoon. I keep thinking if the temps were low enough then it'd all be SNOW I am missing the beautiful white stuff. It defintely does not feel like Christmas at all At least with the cold front that came through it feels less like midsummer. But I'm not complaining At least I got to wear flipflops and http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/blog-461869.html WhoohooI made it safe and sound to Honduras on Sunday Everything went superbien with the trip my luggage came through without a problem and I arrived at Copan around 630 Sunday evening.When I touched down at San Pedro it was 82 degrees F outside LOVE IT It was great to see the mountains chat in Spanish with the taxi driver and have a fabulous nap on the 3 hour bus ride to Co http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan/blog-460697.html I'm still rocking it out in DETROIT Whoopwhoop Busy at school tutoring teaching Bible Clubs and at camp about onceamonth.I leave on Dec. 13th for 2 12 weeks in Honduras SOOOOO excited I'm hoping to update at least a couple times while I'm there I'll be staying with my host family in Copan volunteering with a friend's afterschool program traveling around and visiting friends from Tegu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Detroit/blog-457851.html WOW It's been months since I've done anything travel blog worthy. Maybe I'm just getting old and slowing down But TA'DA ...here's something to add some LIFE I just got a ticket to visit Honduras from December 13 30th Whoohoo I can't wait to be back ... for a VISITI've also moved to DETROIT in the past month I'm interning parttime at a small Christian school help http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Detroit/blog-439788.html Hi EveryoneI made it back home safe and sound on Tuesday night. My bus trip from La Joya to San Pedro went well on Monday and I made it to the hostel in time to have dinner at Baleada Express That was a great last meal I also had some conversations with other travelers at the hostel. A couple were from the Netherlands another from Italy and another from Germany. I loved it when three of us wh http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/blog-381705.html Here are some photos of my last couple weeks here in La Joya I didn't take many from the clinic and medical brigade ... thinking I'd copy pictures from others. So we'll see if I can download some of them later. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/blog-379449.html The Medical Missions Team headed back to the States on Tuesday. It was great to spend the past week with them meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. Last week I helped translate with the medical team going up to the remote mountain villages several days and spending a couple at the medical clinic here in La Joya. For me it's sometimes a daunting task to translate especially http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/blog-379145.html Hello from La JoyaI've been here since Friday evening and still can't get over how BEAUTIFUL this place isThe medicalconstruction team arrived Sunday night and we've had two days of clinics and work. The medical team splits into two groups each day one stays in La Joya at the clinic here and the other travels up into the mountains to the remote villages. Monday I went up to the mountain and t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/blog-376618.html Here are a few photomemories of my week in Copn Ruinas. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan-Ruins/blog-375863.html Friday February 13The San Pedro Sula sun beat down on us in the tiny airport parking lot. Along with the gorgeous green mountains it was the heat that made me smile to myself and say April you're not in Michigan anymoreWithin an hour or so of landing I was in the bus station buying a ticket to Copan on the Casasola and counting down the minutes until I'd arrive in the town that I called http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan-Ruins/blog-375654.html Hello FriendsI'm packing my bags and heading back down south After being back in Michigan since August I'm just too homesick for Honduras to wait any longerThis Friday February 13th I'm flying from Detroit to San Pedro to spend 3 and 12 weeks in the beautiful country of Honduras I'm SO EXCITED to revisit my beloved Honduran friends and familyMy plan is to spend about a week in Copan whe http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/blog-372438.html SUNDAY Today we drove about 30 40 minutes to the beautiful city of Bamberg and spent a fabulous day thereBeth has joked that I know more people in Germany than she does When I arrived 2 12 weeks ago I said OK if it's possible we've got to visit these people and these people and these people... hee hee hee. Although we haven't been able to connect with everyone sometimes even 3 week http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Bamberg/blog-345907.html Another vet at the clinic met me a couple weeks ago and said SO you'll come ride me one day right Even after finding out I wasn't a vet nor a graduate of the sacred MSU she still wanted me to come with her. So today I got to be a vet student without even having to go through all the prerequisites Ellen is German but was an exchange student to Crystal Lake Indian for a year in high sc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/blog-345889.html THURSDAY FRIDAY and SATURDAY Fourteen years ago my older brother spent his Senior year of high school as an exchange student in Rmhild Germany. He lived with a fabulous family the Mendels. He has been back several times to visit them including ten years ago when I came with him and their daughter Juana has been to the states twice to visit us.So as I was planning my trip to visit Beth O http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Thuringia/blog-345897.html MONDAY Whew. OK just to let you know I didn't cover EVERYTHING from the tour. I did choose to skip some stops some photos some info just so I wouldn't bore you all to death. That's really just my excuse. To be honest I can't remember enough about all the other stuff to make it worth a post. Should have been taking notes or something rightBut Monday finally came and with that our train http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-345869.html This memorial is to remind us of the consequences of war not only for those considered the victims but for the soldiers and families as well.That's why buried in this memorial is a German solider and a holocaust victim symbolizing that it doesn't matter which side of the warline you're standing on you are affected. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-345864.html Remember pictures documentaries or stories of the book burning by the Third Reich on May 10 1933Well that was here in Babelplatz.25000 titles were burned. Many were original first editions. Irreplaceable. The titles chosen were pretty much anything that the Third Reich didn't agree with. Books and journals were taken from the university library by students and fed into the bonfires.Today the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-345852.html WWII is over ... it's the Cold War now. Red Berlin.Eastern EuropeWestern Europe. East GermanyWest Germany. East BerlinWest Berlin. And for an East Berliner life is pretty miserable. You do what you're told to do. You work where you're told to work and when you're told to work. You have quotas you have to meet. And then your quotas are raised by 15 but you get paid the same pitiful wage. Fair http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-345848.html If Em hadn't have told us we would have assumed that the empty corner across the street from some ordinary apartment buildings held any significance. In fact this was the site of Hitler's Bunkers and where he spent his last days.He was hidden away in one of his bunkers as the city was being bombed. To the end Hitler truly believed that they were going to win the war. Hitler was on a concoction http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-345847.html