"Las cuestas cuestan"

"las cuestas cuestan" essentially means, "walking up the hills is a lot of work!" Not so glamorous and cute in english, but it still rings terribly true! Copán is a city of "cuestas" (inclined walkways, aka leg workouts). My favorite part about the cuestas is walking down them, not just because it's easier... haha, but really because the views are spectacular. The hills are blanketed in trees and the sky is a blue that perfectly offsets the green of the land.

This past week has been full of adventures, one of which was a scavenger hunt of the town. We set out with a map (it doesn't get any more touristy than that) and a list of things we had to accomplish. It was a very fun way to get to know the city. Another classic trait of Copán in the Fall is that it rains cats and dogs for about 10 minutes every afternoon because of the humidity. Out of the 8 days I've been here, I've been caught in a torrential downpour and soaked to the bone on 3 separate occasions. Each time, it was quite comical and spurred some nice conversations with the locals.

I also serendipitously was asked to take Spanish classes to learn the hondureñismos and local phrases. I'll admit that before I started classes, I was dragging my feet a little bit, but trying to have a good attitude about it. Little did I know of the blessing that was waiting for me--my Spanish teacher was a local girl my age and we got along like two peas in a pod! I only took one week, and by the end of the week, I was getting a little sad thinking that I wouldn't get to sit and chat with her for four hours each morning the following week. The nice thing is that the UPHonduras Staff hangs out with a bunch of the teachers from the school, so I'll be seeing her around. :) I was just so excited about that blessing that I was totally not expecting. It was pretty sweet.

Working with the UP Honduras team has been new and fun. This week, Alex and I spent most of our afternoons getting oriented with the ministry and getting ready for the After School Program (ASP) that we'll be working with Matt (UPH Staff and ASP director). The ASP starts this Wednesday in Nueva Esperanza, a neighborhood in the hills just outside Copán's center. We've spent the last two days visiting families and getting kids signed up for the program. It's gonna be goooooo-oooood!

I've been lesson-planning for the first week and a half and I'm really excited to see how all this turns out. I'll be teaching Bible, Cooking, and Discovery for the first two weeks and I'm stoked. UPH is all about activity-based lessons, so I'm trying to get the kids moving around and experientially learning as much as possible. We'll see how it goes!

Please be praying for us as we get going this week and work out kinks as it's a BRAND SPANKING NEW program. :)