Another step team -another trip to Lake Atitlan

I took this toybox team to Lake Atitlan at the weekend -- always a great place to relax. Unfortunately this time, one of them got robbed and another twisted his knee amongst the rocks! But everyone survived to tell the tale!

Honduras - Politics and news

so Honduras has been in the news recently - with the 'military coup' that occured on Sunday 28th June. If you read the international news, it'll tell you that most of the countries around the world have condemned the military action which removed President Zelaya from office and from the country, and have made various calls for him to be re-instated in Honduras, sometimes backed up by threats to remove aid, or send troops to ensure his return.

Unfortunately what the news doesn't say -- or it seems, what other countries haven't taken into account is the back story, everything that happened to lead to this point -- and how the Honduran Constitution actually allows for this action in response to the President breaking the same constitution, as he has been accused of. Many people in Honduras would argue that this wasn't a military coup. Although it was the army who removed Zelaya from the Presidential Palace, they were acting under the direction of the Supreme Court and Congress, in accordance with the constitution. The military never attempted to put a military leader in place, and it was the Supreme Court and Congress who swore in the interim President and government.

Although the international community is calling for a 'return to democracy', many people within Honduras see the actions so far as exactly that -- in the removal of a President who thought himself above the law and acted against the constitution.

But it makes you think -- if the international media (and governments around the world) are only prepared to accept one interpretation of events in this case -- how many other global 'stories' have I accepted and never been given the opportunity to see the other side (regardless of which newspaper I choose to read.) Scary!

Holiday with Spring step team

So the step team have finished their project and spent a bit of time with me for their holiday.
We went up to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan for a bit of chilaxing!

Full moon - always brings out the best in step teams!!!!!!!!

The Extreme Cables course at the Nature Reserve was incredible!!

We arrived at our hostel to discover that not only did we have TV's in the rooms -- but also that the Wimbledon final was on!!!

More step team shenanigans

Well the step team are just finishing their project at GEU (Grupo Evangelico Universitario) in Guatemala City..... and they've had great fun along the way. Last weekend, GEU took the team to Iximche -- some Mayan ruins near Tecpan -- it was a great day of just having fun and hanging out with friends.

They invited me to Katy's birthday. Whenever a team member has a birthday, they get to make 10 birthday wishes which the rest of the team attempt to fulfil. One of Katy's wishes was to have a primary school style Disco. When I heard this I was thinking of the early 80's -- until I realised that most of them hadn't even been born in the 80's and that it was more like 2000 that they were leaving primary school! Anyway the disco was great - complete with decorations, glitter makeup and cheesy songs.