The picture shows the Guaruma compound.
At the moment my world is divided into two. Well, more than two because there is also my world in Europe, which comes in several parts there as well, but for now I want to focus on the two parts here.
The first part is Las Mangas where Sandra lives and I stayed for two weeks at the beginning of my time in Honduras. Las Mangas is a village in a jungle valley in a tropical rainforest.
There are all kinds of animals around nature and the house: lizards, geckoes, big spiders, scorpions, huge butterflies, cockroaches, many, many ants in different sizes, toucans, humming birds and other birds I don’t know the name of etc.
I have to say, I love nature, but I can do without all the creepy crawlies here. Although the thing I dislike most here are the mosquitoes, by far!
Oh, and sand flies, those are horrible as well. Nonetheless, the Cuenca valley is stunning and whenever I am there I go for hikes up jungle waterfalls and forest trails.
It is amazing.
On a hike we went on recently we found nuts which we cracked open with some rocks and which tasted like coconut. In Las Mangas Sandra teaches the children and youth photography and graphic design, and sort of runs the school there. She is in her element there and it is beautiful to watch. (If you have time you should check out the pictures some of the children here take, they are like professional photographers www.guaruma.org).
Sandra lives with two other volunteers, one from Poland and one from the US. Carolina from Poland is the marketing director and Amy the English teacher there. When I was up in Las Mangas with them we would do everything together and now that I live in La Ceiba I do miss their company, although I have met many nice people here as well.
Another cool thing in La Cuenca is a yoga teacher who lives in an AMAZING house right by the river in a jungle garden full of fruit trees and plants. Pinable, coconut, papaya, oranges, avocados, starfruit… and many more.
Once a week Sandra goes to classes there and I have joined her as well, the other volunteers go twice a week. It is an amazing experience.
You sit on her veranda facing the river, on the other side is a huge waterfall and otherwise only jungle. No houses, no cables, just water, trees and some animals.
The other time we saw toucans while doing yoga and we often see humming birds on the plants close to the veranda taking nectar from the flowers.
It is out of this world.
This picture is the view of the garden, river, mountain and waterfall from the exact position where I did yoga when I was in the Cuenaca.
I will leave the second part of my divided world for next week, because I want to keep my posts short and there is a lot to say about both.
Hope you are doing well!
Chiara