the hottest parade EVER!

I have never quite seen an Independence Day parade like the one in Copan. Wow. It was so hot. There were so many people. It was so chaotic! We met at 8 near the park to line up as a school so we could march in the parade...or so we thought. It turns out that we met at 8am to line up (which takes so much time/yelling/moving kids) to march about 1/2 a block to the park so all of the kids could get out of line again and hide in the shade with their parents to "listen" (and by listen, I mean NO one, not parents/kids/participants on the stage, listened) to different speakers. Again, it was chaos! and did I mention it was so hot and there were very few trees to hide under?! and did I mention that the kids were scattered everywhere again?

It was funny though...different acts performed, different speakers spoke, and my favorite performance is in the video below.


After all of the acts and speeches, and after we also had wandered away from the stage to find some icecream ($0.25 cent cones!), we figured out that Mayatan students were starting to line up again for the actual parade. So we helped get our children back in line and proceeded to walk with them in a huge circle around town. Everyone was pouring sweat and sharing water. The parents are also hilarious on this day. They hire people to walk with their children holding an umbrella to help shade their child. They followed their children, pouring water into their mouths and wiping sweat off of them with a rag. I am thankful there is only one parade. :)





These are some of my students in my class. They got to wear their fancy dresses and represent the different "states" of Honduras. Aren't they cute?


Allan and I in front of the stage, with our "bag of water." Seriously, they sell bags of water here for really cheap, so we bought it and drank up!


A picture of what the video is about. The ladies in the back are teachers at the public school and dressed in traditional attire to do a dance. The horses and men...just hilarious.


Beth, Carolyn, Allan, Nash and myself trying to hide from the sun under an unbrella. It was a little small for 5 grown people! :)

Little did we know that after the parade, we would leave for the most gorgeous place ever!! :)