Acostumbrarse - To become Accustomed

‘Acostumbrarse’ is one of the hundreds of new words I have learnt over the past three weeks in language school. It truly captures what the last two weeks have been like for me as I have discovered daily life here in Copan, the little town in Honduras I currently call home. I have ‘become accustomed’ to the noises, routine and norms while also being able to explore the local tourist attractions. I hope you enjoy reading about a few things to which I have ‘become accustomed’.

Food:

While I would love to be able to share all the names of all amazing different foods I have eaten and all the different vegetables I have tried over the last three weeks, my Spanish word bank is usually full by meal times and very few of the names actually stick. Typical Copan food isn’t an instant meal that my host mother whisks up 1 hour before meal time… at times she spends hours cooking a traditional meal for her family and me to enjoy. The love and time she puts into the food shows so much in the taste and I really wish at times I had a wider vocabulary than ‘delicioso’ to thank her for it. It has been such a privilege to be able to experience the beautiful produce from fish from the local river to tamales and freshly made baleadas. While I have not eaten at any restaurants in my time here, I have experienced so much of Copan from my seat in her kitchen and look forward daily to what new food I get to try every lunch time. And yes, this is still the same person who just a few years ago would not even go to a Greek restaurant because it was ‘too different’.

Town:

My daily commute to my teacher’s house has become a lovely window into the daily comings and going of the small town - from the women and farmers setting up their stores in the market or along the very narrow sidewalks, to the elderly men who every morning sit in the main park overseeing the world. The main form of transport other than walking here are the little ‘tuk-tuks’ who have 4x4 capacity to get up and down the hills. They race around the town, keeping everyone moving from place to place – and if they get stuck in a pot hole, all they need is a quick push up from someone in the street and they are ready to go. An amusing sight (that happens more often than you could believe) is an old rickety car gets stuck trying to make it up a hill. With the streets being so narrow, this brings the whole street to a standstill, helping the impatient, speed-loving tuk-tuks practice some patience while the car negotiates a way up.

While I love walking around the town, watching people go about their daily life, one drawback has been the constant ‘catcalling’ I experience as a solo woman tourist who sticks out amongst the crowd – despite dressing modestly. While it is no different to what I have experienced in Sydney and South Africa – it a reminder to me of the disrespect for women still engrained into society. Please do not worry about my safety – the town is safe and it is nothing more than attention seeking. However, I do feel it is an important observation that has at times impacted my experience of this lovely town. Here are a few more pictures of the town.

Local tourist attractions:

Since my ankle has now recovered, I have had plenty of time and energy to do local tourist things in the town in my free time. This has included going to the ‘Mariposario’ (butterfly sanctuary), the Tea and Chocolate Place, Macaw Mountain Bird Sanctuary and of course, what makes this town so well known, the Mayan Ruins. It has been fascinating to learn about the history behind these Ruins as well as see all the detail and hard work that went into building them hundreds of years ago. Mayan civilisation was so different to any of the other history I have previously learnt about and these ruins have only been discovered in the last 40 years so there is so much more they are still learning. In the pictures below you will see the longest wall of hieroglyphics found at the Ruins as well as photos of the bird sanctuary where they rehabilitate Red Macaws and other indigenous birds that have been trafficked or are endangered.

Mayan Ruins

Weather:

With Honduras being so close to the equator, it has a very different seasonal pattern to what I am accustomed. When I arrived in Copan it was hitting 30 degrees every day and I could not believe it was 'winter' here. However, the last 2 weeks have looked a lot more like ‘winter’ with daily rain and much cooler temperatures. I have developed an effective strategy to walk down the steep cobblestone streets when they are wet. If today is anything to go by though, winter only lasted those 2 weeks and things are warming up again…

Spanish

And finally, the language which I have been spending many hours a day learning, over these last few weeks is improving… somewhat. I can understand more and more each day and can talk for hours in broken Spanish with my teacher all about our different lives, politics, history, our jobs and families. When talking, I often use the wrong gender, talk in the third person or in the wrong tense or use the completely incorrect word. However, they can now understand me enough to correct me… I think that’s a big win! In all seriousness, I have a good basis on which I can now build my language skills over the coming months and I am so grateful to my teacher who has pushed me to keep learning and been so encouraging. Below is the view from the roof where I take my breaks during my Spanish Lessons as well as a picture of my teacher and I having hot chocolate made from cocao grown in the local mountains for one of our lessons.

And so as life goes, just when you ‘become accustomed’ to something, things change. At the end of this week, I am taking the 10hr trip to Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras) where I will be collected and taken to the NPH Rancho 1 hour away. I have been so blessed to have spent so much time here in Copan learning from the local people about life in Honduras. My host family have looked after me so well and I am so grateful to them.

Please keep me in your prayers for safe travels and a smooth transition as I begin my work. You are all in my prayers. Please reach out if there is anything I can pray for you for – I love hearing from you all.

On a final note, I forgot to mention in my previous blog that I have a tab on this site that shares a bit more about my ‘Why’ and ‘How’ for doing this, the reason for the name ‘Faith over Fear’ as well as some information about the NPH organisation. Here is the link if you would like to have a look: https://christinehill700.wixsite.com/my-site

God Bless!