I woke up at 4:30 and finished packing my suitcase. The bus arrived at 5:05. The morning was warm and dark. There were only three other people on the bus. I was the last person to be picked up. As we drove to the airport, I chatted a bit with the other girls. When we arrived at the airport, I went to the money changing place to see about changing my lempiras into dollars or quetzales, but the rate was horrible (about 28 lempiras for one dollar instead of the current rate of 19-20 lempiras per dollar). I decided to wait. When I tried to check my suitcase, the woman asked me if I had coffee in my carry-on. I did because it is a heavy item, but she told me I had to put it in my checked bag. I am not quite sure why. I went through security after eating my apple and juice box. I found my gate and wrote my journal on the computer for more than two hours before boarding the plane. Our bags were inspected one last time on the way to the plane. The plane left at 9:45 from Guatemala City. I had tea with sugar, and I didn’t like it that the stewardess spoke to me only in English, although she was speaking Spanish with the Guatemalan passengers. We arrived in Dallas at 2pm after a flight of 3 hours. I went through customs and security without a problem. I talked to Tammy and my mom. We entered the plane, but before we took off, the pilot informed us that there was a tiny problem with the plane and the mechanic had to come and check it out. We waited a half hour and I used my phone to text Tammy and my family. Finally, we left and I wrote in my journal and took notes from my Debbie Diller math stations book. I arrived in Chicago and found my suitcase. I called Tammy and she came in and helped me with my suitcase. We had to run quickly to where Brennan had parked because it was only a loading zone, not a parking area. It was wonderful to be at Tammy’s house with her. Laura arrived and we were together for the first time since December 12. It is so fantastic that Tammy and I get to spend six days together before she heads off to Costa Rica!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
el 20 de julio 2011
I slept rather poorly the night before. I kept waking up, I was cold, and my stomach hurt. The bed only had a sheet on it, so I tried to sleep under my towel, but it still wasn’t warm and the fan was blowing on me. I tried not to toss and turn too much since Amber and I were sharing the double bed. I woke up nearly every hour, and when the alarm went off at 5:30, my stomach was not happy. We got ready and I videoed Amber doing a Tato impersonation and we took a final picture. I took some medicine that Lauren had and went to the bathroom one last time. I was worried about being on buses (without toilets) for most of the day. It would have been better if I could have taken a shuttle at six. We left at 6:15 and we parted ways right outside our hotel. I headed toward the park and after asking a few people, I found the collectivos to the border. There was one waiting to leave, which was nice. I was feeling muy mal and spent the 20 minute trip to the border praying for easy connections for the four buses I was going to have to take and for my stomach to feel better. We arrived at the border at 6:45. I exchanged my meager amount of lempiras for quetzales and got my passport stamped. I walked across the border and found the Guatemalan customs office and paid 10Q to enter Guatemala and get my passport stamped there. While I was paying, a man came up to me and asked if I was going to Guatemala. I said that ultimately I was going to Antigua, but I was willing to take a shuttle to Guatemala. He told me that actually the shuttle was going to Antigua and that there was one seat available! What an answer to prayer and so fast! I climbed in the front middle seat, between the driver and a girl from UT in Austin who is getting her master’s in social work. Her friend was in the back and she is in the program, too. She is interested in working with people with disabilities. I got her email address so Emily can contact her. It was really windy because we had the windows all the way open. I talked to Nancy for about an hour and then she slept. I started feeling better soon after getting into the shuttle (another answer to prayer!) and I didn’t feel horrible again the rest of the day. We stopped at 8:30 for breakfast and bathrooms. I ate my peanut butter sandwich. We drove for another half hour or so and then Nancy and her friend Jennifer got out to take another shuttle to Coban. I now had the advantage of having the whole front seat to myself! I read my Bible and wrote in my journal. Then I worked on school stuff for two hours! I am so thankful that I can read and write in moving vehicles. Poor Amber feels carsick even if she is not reading and I don’t feel sick even if I am reading. There was a lot of traffic in Guatemala City and I think our driver tried to take a detour and got lost. Finally we made it out of Guatemala City and went to Antigua. We arrived about 12:30, which was hours before I would have made it taking four public buses! Our driver only dropped us off at one point, about a block away from the park. We drove right by where I needed to get off (about two blocks away from the house), but as my bag was on the roof, I could not just hop out. I met a family who had been in the back of the shuttle. Then I lugged my stuff to Elvira’s house.
Enrique opened the door for me and I went in and chatted with him and Elvira for fifteen minutes. I stayed in the room downstairs next to the kitchen. I put my stuff away and went to the bathroom. The only person who was still at Elvira’s from before was Alex. I met Luis from Quebec and Dexter from Minnesota who works at a school in Guatemala City. Rosa also ate with us. We had guisado de res (beef stew), rice, guacamole, and plantanos with mole. My Spanish was flowing nicely as I talked with the new guys, told Elvira and Enrique about my trip, and discussed recipes with Elvira. We all think that she needs to write a Guatemalan cookbook. After lunch, I stayed and talked for a while before heading out to do my errands. As I was preparing my purse for errands, I found 1,000 lempira in my other wallet! I was surprised that I had nearly run out of money, and now I know why. Ahhh! Why couldn’t I have found that before I crossed the border where you can get a great exchange rate?!
I needed to book a shuttle for the next day to get to the airport, but I had no idea how difficult of a task this would be. I went to an internet café for 15 minutes to make sure I knew what time my flight left (9:45am) and I chatted with Tammy and Laura for a few minutes. I then went hunting for a shuttle. I wanted to find one that left at 6, but there were not any, unless I wanted to pay big bucks for a private shuttle. I then settled on leaving at 5am, but most places only offered a 4am shuttle. The prices had gone up a lot from last year when I paid $5. This year I had to pay $10! After checking in about 12 travel agencies, I finally found one that offered a 5am shuttle (Ash Travel Agency). The woman working there (Maibely) was very friendly and gave me a 24 hour number in case of emergencies.
In between stopping at the travel agencies, I went to the grocery store and bought some unique foods that cannot be easily found in Indiana. I bought two pieces of milk candy from a little shop and a caramel ice cream from Pollo Campero in honor of my last day in Guatemala. I then passed by a Burger King, which I did not know existed in Antigua. In Honduras, I had seen an advertisement for green soft serve ice cream, and I was really curious about it. I wondered it if was lime or pistachio or fig. I went in to investigate, but this Burger King did not have that flavor and the ice cream cones cost nearly 3x the price of Pollo Campero ice cream! I went to the bank to see if it is possible to exchange lempira for dollars or quetzales (it isn’t). I went to the market and bought a few last souvenirs. In one stall, I talked with Tomas for a long time. He is from Chichicastenango and has 7 brothers and sisters. His father died and the three oldest all work in different cities to support the family. He only learned Spanish five years ago when he left his village where only Quiche is spoken. He also speaks two other Mayan languages and a bit of English. His boss is a pastor and Tomas earns $100 a month no matter how much he sells. I gave him the money for my purchase and a little more for him and his education. I bought an oil painting of Antigua for me at the next stall. The boy working there was named Jose. He really wanted me to buy his painting, but I liked his sister’s work better. I got the painting $15 when the asking price was $25. I need to find my oil painting from Hong Kong. I bought a tiny oil painting of Lake Atitlan last year. Too bad I don’t have a piece of art from South America. I guess I will have to go back sometime! I stopped a the Feria de Libros in the park and bought a book of kids’ riddles in Spanish. I headed back to the house to sort the clothes that I was going to donate. Our Spanish school collect donations. I left at 6:12 to walk all the way across town to the school. I got some atol de elote on the way since it was my last day. I needed Amber to share it with me, though, because I could not drink it all. When I got to the school, it was closed for some strange reason. I rang the doorbell, but no one answered. I booked it back toward Elvira’s and stopped in a tienda to spend my coins. I had actually accumulated a lot and bought candy. I got back just a few minutes before dinner, so I washed up and helped Elvira in the kitchen. Enrique did not eat with us because he was at a political meeting (maybe our joke about him running for office is coming true!). Dexter did not eat either. We had elbow macaroni with alfredo sauce and herbs, a hot dog with tomato sauce on it, and broccoli with lime juice on it. We talked about Lyme Disease at dinner. Alex has a friend in New Jersey who has it badly. After dinner, I headed to my room to pack. I say that I hate packing, but really packing up to come home is not too bad because everything must come. Luis had loaned me his travel scale to weigh my suitcase. It is really nice and small, too. Elvira came and said goodnight and asked me to turn off the light when I went to bed. I did a good job using stuff up and leaving stuff behind because my suitcase only weighed 40 pounds when I was finished! I moved some books from my carry-on to my suitcase. When I came, I had about 80 pounds of stuff not counting my backpack and when I weighed my stuff last night, I had about 60 pounds of stuff! I finally finished packing about 9:45. I rinsed off in the shower (good temperature, poor water pressure) and laid out everything I would need for the next day. I went to bed about 11pm.
el 19 de julio 2011
We woke up at 6, and the other girls. My stomach hurt and I spent a good portion of the morning in the bathroom. After an hour, I started feeling a little better. I have felt like this since the Saturday in La Ceiba. Maybe we ate something bad. I tried to check my email, but Gmail wasn’t working. I sent a message to Elvira to say that I would not be coming back until a day later. We ate hot ham and egg sandwiches. Amber still didn’t feel well. We took a picture with Tio Victor and we left for the bus terminal at 7:25. We arrived and bought our tickets for 130 lempiras each. Tio Victor insisted on walking us to our bus and he carried my bag. The bus arrived a little before 8. It was an old school bus with bucket seats. I sat in front of the other girls and put my bag above my seat on the rack. A man entered the bus and preached for a while. I guess this was to make up for the fact that we have missed church the last two Sundays. The bus left at 8:10 and was supposedly going to only stop twice, but, in reality, the bus stopped more like 10 or 12 times. Each time, vendors would climb aboard and try to sell their wares before the bus pulled out again. An old lady sat down next to me with a cat wrapped in a plastic bag (except for its head). His name was Javier, and his owner told me that he likes to travel by bus. I’m not so sure. I took a photo of him and then I peeked back at Amber and Lauren. They were both asleep with their mouths open. They both looked dead. I took a picture of them, too. The next time we stopped, the police climbed aboard and randomly began checking people’s IDs. They asked for Lauren’s and Amber’s passports, but for some reason, they didn’t ask me. They asked the girls about our trip: where we were coming from, where we were going, and other questions. I don’t know why. We arrived at Copan Ruinas at 12:15 instead of the scheduled 11am arrival. Amber had to go to the bathroom right away, so we stopped at Hotel Patty so she could go. Then we walked to a hostel nearby where we reserved a room for 210 lempiras at Hostal Posada Honduras. We paid and registered and went to the ruins. We found them easily. There were lots of semi trailers parked along the road. The drivers hang hammocks underneath them and lots of them were taking an afternoon siesta when we walked to the ruins. We didn’t have a lot of money with us, but we wanted to get a guide. The entrance fee cost $15 or L285 each and our guide (Obed) cost $25. We walked with Obed to the biggest estelas (I am not quite sure how to translate this word… basically it means the different temples and buildings that are there… the “ruins”). Amber sat down on benches or rocks whenever she could. She is such a trooper to participate with us even though she was feeling awful. The Mayan structures at Copan are incredible! I learned that the Maya constructed temples and houses over already existing structures. For this reason, there are four other temples under the biggest temple. There are still many structures that have yet to be excavated. The guide told us that the archeologists estimate there are enough structures to excavate that it will take 300 years to uncover them all. The Mayan had three main gods: the god of the sun, the god of the rain, and the god of the corn. It made me laugh to see the god of sun shaded by a roof to keep the sun off of him. We saw the giant stairway covered with hieroglyphics. The stairway is a “book” about the history of Copan. The stairway was ruined when it was discovered, and for this reason, the stones are not in the correct places. We saw the field where the Mayan played their famous ball game. It was much smaller than I had anticipated. The best players were sacrificed to the gods three times a year after the game. We saw the altar where they did the sacrifices. We also saw the “disco” of the Mayan people. It was interesting to learn that there were three classes of people in the Mayan society. However, it was possible for a person to change classes simply by studying or playing the ball game well. The women were honored in the Mayan society and had certain rights in the community. The women were the astronomers and dentists. Finally, the community and the land could not support the population of 30,000 people. There were diseases and not enough food. All the people either died or moved. There were 16 kings in Copan, all from one family. The first king came from Tikal, in Guatemala. The Copan river was very near the ruins and it was eroding the land and destroying the structures of Copan, so the archeologists changed the course of the river to protect Copan.
After the tour, we returned to our hotel and lay down for a while. The other girls slept, and I wrote in my journal. I decided to walk through the town. Lauren woke up, but since she wasn’t feeling well, she decided to stay in the room. I went to the park and found a street of souvenirs. I looked at the earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. I talked to an old man named Carlos who makes jewelry. He had a necklace made out of a Honduran coin. I liked it a lot, but I didn’t have enough money with me. I looked for information about a shuttle to Antigua, but there was no more space on the 6am shuttle. There was only one spot left on the noon shuttle, but that was really too late for me. I bought ice cream: one scoop of lime and one scoop of caramel in a cup for L25. I returned to the room, and we decided to go walking together. I asked in two more places about a shuttle to Antigua with no luck. Each time, the owner assured me that there was room, but when he called to check, there was not. I realized that all of these tour companies share a common shuttle. I went to look for souvenirs with Lauren and Amber. I bought the necklace from Carlos and took a picture. We asked him about a good place to eat baleadas. He recommended a restaurant near his table called Vamos a Ver. We went to look for more souvenirs and information about buses before returning to the restaurant. We ate humongous baleadas (flour tortillas with beans and cream inside) and licuados. I had a watermelon licuado, Amber had mango pineapple, and Lauren had chocolate (which had a flavor similar to chocolate milk). The baleadas and licuados cost L30 each. A child served us. There was a man at the other table that looked very much like David Durica. After we left the restaurant, we went searching for an internet café. We tried in four different locations, walking all over the town, but it seemed like all the places were either closed or did not have working internet. We went to a small shop and bought water and cookies for Jenny. Lauren and I went to the hotel to get Tio Victor’s number while Amber went to call her dad. Lauren and I found the place where you can make international calls. Amber was talking with her mom and Kevin since her dad was at a church meeting. Lauren called Tio Victor and tried to call her family, but they didn’t answer. It only cost ten cents a minute to call the U.S. I tried to call my mom, but she didn’t answer. I left a message and paid two lempiras. We returned to the hotel and I gave Amber a foot massage. I showered, and then she gave me a massage while we talked. We went to bed at 10:40.
el 18 de julio 2011
Amber woke me up at 6:30 because we wanted to take advantage of the morning. The plan was that Tato would come to the beach house to get us at 10:30. Amber wasn’t feeling well. I made scrambled eggs with cheese, and we also ate avocado and bread. We put on our swimsuits and sunscreen and went to the pool. I wrote by the side of the pool for more than an hour and a half. I finished Amber’s notes and I wrote in my journal. We rinsed off in the shower and finished packing. I cleaned the house a bit. Amber was feeling very poorly and was lying down on the bed until Tato arrived at 11:30. We left the remainder of our food for Sandra and her family. Tato had Homer with him. We put our luggage in the back of his truck. Homer sat in the back with Amber and me. He is a badly-behaved child. Tato told him to sit on the seat, and he wouldn’t do it. He doesn’t obey Tato at all. We arrived at Tato’s house and we left our stuff in the truck. We went in and greeted his family. After a short time, we went outside and ate lunch with Tato and his father, Roberto. We ate lasagna and plantains with cream and Coke and Pepsi. Amber didn’t eat much and felt worse. Someone gave her medicine (an antacid). It was white and she accidentally spilled a little on her jeans. She lay down on a bench. I saw my first avocado tree with huge avocados on it. I took a picture, of course. At 2, we left the house and went to the mall to see if we could find a Victoria shirt for Tio Victor. Victoria is one of the soccer teams in La Ceiba and Tio Victor’s favorite team. We stopped at a drive thru pharmacy on the way and bought Alka Seltzer Black for Amber’s stomach. When Tato had told us about Alka Seltzer Black, we all envisioned Alka Seltzer tablets that were black instead of white. However, when Amber took the Alka Seltzer, we were all disappointed to see that it was white, as usual. The package was the only part that was black. The actual name of the medicine was Alka Seltzer Extreme.
When we arrived at the mall, Tato forgot about our bags in the back of the truck. I asked him in Spanish if he was going to put our bags inside the truck before we went in. He replied in English, “That is already going to take place!” as he put the bags inside the truck. We looked for the shirt, but they do not carry them this time of year. We went to the bus station and we bought tickets. It was a really nice bus, which was reflected in the higher price. Each ticket cost 270 lempiras or about $13.50. However, it was well worth the extra price. This was the only bus I went on this time in Central America that had a toilet, and it was good because Amber was so sick. The bus had air conditioning (although it was actually too cold) and blankets and pillows. The stewardess gave us water, potato chips or a sandwich, and pop. Amber got sick about 40 minutes into the journey. I was so glad that we had a bathroom for her sake. She was really cold, so I stole another blanket off the rack. Amber and I sat next to each other, but we didn’t talk much because she was resting. The trip lasted three hours and when we arrived at the bus station in San Pedro Sula, we didn’t know where to find Tio Victor. Lauren went to look for information about a bus to Copan for the next day, and Amber went to the bathroom. I guarded our stuff. Tio Victor came to the bus terminal and found us. Lauren was still gone, so Tio Victor went to look for her. Amber and I waited with the stuff for them to get back. Then, Tio Victor drove us home and insisted on carrying our bags up to our bedroom. He is so thoughtful! He is a big man with a big heart. After a bit, Leslie came up to tell us that the dinner was ready. We went down and ate Honduran tacos. Amber didn’t eat very much. Doctora Vicky came down to ask about Amber’s symptoms. She sent Tio Victor to the pharmacy to get ciprofloxacina for Amber because the only Cipro we had was really old. Lauren used the computer when Victor finished. I massaged Amber’s feet and we talked. I went to bed around 12 and Lauren was still downstairs on the computer.
el 17 de julio 2011
I woke up at 6:30 and went out to read on the balcony. Amber and Lauren appeared around 7. We wrote in our journals for a while. I ate cornflakes, and then Amber showed me how to cut mangos and we ate two. Afterwards, we put on our swimsuits and sunscreen. However, when we looked outside, the church party had already started at 9am! Tato had told Lauren that there was going to be a retiro of the church at the beach house on Sunday. We thought that there was going to be a retirement party. However, the people outside were all teenagers. Later, we figured out that “retiro” means retreat, not retirement. We decided to go to the beach instead of the pool. The sun was very strong (bien fuerte) and we were hot. After an hour, we put our stuff back in the house and we went swimming in the warm ocean. Later, we returned to the house and I showered for the first time at La Ceiba. With all the extra sunscreen, my body felt very dirty, so I was thankful that we had water working. Next, we ate sandwiches with some questionable lunchmeat that we had purchased at the grocery store. We also ate carrots (some of the biggest carrots I had ever seen, I might add) and apples with peanut butter. We relaxed a while and then we went to walk on the beach, looking for a place where we could buy water. We were nearly out of bottled water, and it is not safe to drink the tap water. We left a note for Tato in case he came over. The sun was still quite strong, so I was glad that I had put on more sunscreen. We found children selling pan de coco (coconut bread) and we bought two for 20 lempiras. They were in the shape of a spiral (kind of like a flat version of a cinnamon roll) and very sweet. While we were walking, we came across the woman who had made the bread. She noticed us eating it and told us that it was her grandchildren who had sold it to us. We talked with her and then we continued on our walk. Someone had told us that there was a shop nearby where we could buy water. We walked to a restaurant that was similar to the one at which we had eaten on our way to the beach house and then we turned around, still looking for the illusive shop. There is a picnic area near the beach house with lots of tables and grass. Families come and hang their hammocks and enjoy the weekend at the beach. We asked a family about the shop. The mother offered to drive us in their truck. We couldn’t exactly understand her directions about the location of the shop, so we took her up on her offer. We awkwardly climbed in the back of the truck (as some of us were wearing skirts) and the man drove us. It was farther than we had anticipated. We drove by a soccer field filled with people. We were the only people that I saw who were not Garifuna! We bought a bottle of water, four bags of water, and three granizados (icy fruit drinks) that were delicious. We offered to buy something for the man, but he refused our offer and bought beer. He drove us back to the beach. We returned to the house and Tato was there. He had brought us lunch (it was probably about 4 at this time). Although we weren’t very hungry, we ate chicken, tortillas, beans, and Coca Cola. Sam and other friends came also. Lauren asked Tato if there are any hammocks at the beach house because she remembered some from the time before. He ordered the man who cares for the beach house to get out the hammocks. When it started raining, we relaxed in the hammocks under the house. Tato and his friends sat out under the roof by the pool. Lauren and Amber shared the big hammock and I lay in the other. I continued to copy Amber’s Spanish notes for almost two hours. The man left at 6:30. We played Rummy on the floor under the house. Sandra, the woman who cares for the house, came over to talk to us. She has two children, Susana (~4 years old) and Fernando (~2 years old). After they went back inside, we played a bit more, but the bugs started biting us and we decided to go swimming before going inside. I was surprised that the water felt warm, or maybe even cool. The teenager who lives here (some relative of Sandra?) stayed out near us because of the danger of bad people passing by on the beach. We returned to the house and rinsed off. We gave each other massages. I read for a little and went to bed at 10:45.
el 16 de julio 2011
Today is Lauren’s birthday. I woke up at 7:30 and read for a little while. I like the balcony a lot, from which you can see the ocean. Every morning there is tons of bright sunshine. Working together in the kitchen, we made scrambled eggs with spinach and onion, toast, and tea. We ate this elegant breakfast on the balcony. We talked about money, debt, and credit cards, an interesting birthday topic. We washed the plates and put on our swimsuits. We lay outside around the pool and wrote in our journals and read for a couple hours (covered in lots of sunscreen, of course). I have tried to be really careful about applying liberal amounts of sunscreen with frequency to avoid getting burnt, and so far, it’s worked! I copied part of Amber’s Spanish notes (her new words) but I still lack seven entire pages (both sides) to do. I spent some time in the shade of the roof that is over the table near the pool. Tato had told us that he was going to come over at one, but we didn’t think he would be on time. We stayed out by the pool until he arrived with his friends at 2:30. We went back inside and got dressed and then came back out. The next nine hours consisted of a big party at the beach house. We practiced our Spanish with Tato’s friends and they practiced their English with us. Most of his wealthy friends had attended bilingual schools and most had studied in the U.S. at some point. Four Garifuna children showed up while it was still light. They were trying to catch crawdads in the stream next to the house. We talked to them in Spanish and they tried to teach us how to count in Garifuna (abba, biama, oora, gahdrew, san-goo). The girl braided Amber’s and Lauren’s hair. Mine was all twisted back so she couldn’t braid mine. We tried coconut tablets (a Garifuna dessert) and casaba (a hard and salty cracker). We took pictures together and gave them orange pop and bug repellent. We were getting hungry and finally Tato had someone bring some food from town. We ate different kinds of meat and a little bit of beans with a tortilla. La Ceiba is known as the party city of Honduras. I found it interesting that three of Tato’s friends said that they want to move to another city because there are not many opportunities in La Ceiba to work or for entertainment other than drinking. However, other people said that they love La Ceiba and think that La Ceiba is the best place in the whole world. Tato drove home after the party, although he probably should have found a designated driver. He thinks that having a fun life is more important than anything else. Amber said something to him about what would happen if he had a wreck when he was driving when he probably shouldn’t be. He said that that it is not important if he has a wreck or even dies because he enjoys every day and that is what is most important. It is amazing how people can have such different perspectives on life. We stayed down there until about midnight. I went up at 11:30 and the girls followed within a half hour. I was in my bed munching on cornflakes when they came up. My stomach wasn’t feeling well, especially in the morning. I did a little bit of school work today, but I still have a lot left that I want to do before I return to the U.S. We gave Lauren her birthday cards, and I went to bed at 12:30.
el 15 de julio 2011
We woke us at 5:45 and got ready. I went down first and posted an update on the blog so everyone would know that we were not going to have internet access. Tio Victor came out and made toast and orange juice for us. That was the perfect breakfast because we were still full from the night before. We went with Tio Victor to the gas station at 6:25 but Tato did not arrive until 7. Tio Victor waited with us until Tato came. Victor is so nice. He didn’t act like it bothered him a bit to wait for so long. We talked the whole time we were waiting. At one point, Lauren invited him to stay with her family if he ever came to the States. He mentioned his wife and how she is too sick to travel. He said that he wouldn’t want to leave her. Instead of making it sound like he has to stay in Honduras to care for her, he made it sound like he was the one that it would upset if they had to be separated.
Riding in the minivan with Tato were his wife, his son Homer, and his father Roberto. Homer slept for the first hour. The three of us sat in the back seat. We stopped at a restaurant, but we didn’t eat anything. Lauren and Amber had coffee. When we got back in the van, Homer climbed over the seats up and down all over the van. The only time he stopped moving from seat to seat was when he was playing his DS. We talked about the use of technology by children. It is hard to believe that a three year old has a DS! Homer started being a little bit mean. He grabbed Lauren’s hair and dug his fingernails into my arm while making a mean face just a few inches away from mine. We stopped another time at a gas station where Tato’s wife works. Then they dropped us off at a grocery store to get supplies for the weekend. We had 40 minutes to shop. We bought what we needed for three days at the beach house. I went to the bank to try to exchange my quetzales for lempiras, but it was not possible. If I would have known that I couldn’t exchange them later, I would have changed more money at the border. If I would have not told my bank that I was only going to use my card in Guatemala, I could have taken out money in Honduras. (Can you tell I was practicing the imperfect subjunctive tense when I wrote this in Spanish?) Lauren took out more money from the ATM and loaned me some lempiras. Thank you, Lauren! I waited with Amber and the food for 40 more minutes while we waited. Tato came and took us to his house for a few minutes where we met his mother, Flor. She was going to be a candidate for mayor of La Ceiba, but she didn’t run (I think because of the coup two years ago). Roberto (her husband, Tato’s father) was mayor twice, I believe, and Tato told us he is thinking about running for representative (diputado). The thought of Tato running for office is a bit shocking. He lives to party and drink. After we left his house, we stopped at a bodega (warehouse store) where we waited in the van with Homer while Tato and his wife bought stuff for the gas station. Then we stopped at another gas station to drop those things off. We went back to Tato’s house because Tato was going to get a spare cell phone to give to Lauren, but the maid couldn’t find the charger. We went in the van for a short while and soon we stopped in a Garifuna community for lunch. It was a seafood restaurant and their grill wasn’t working, so I had fried chicken. It came with fried plantains (of course) and salad. I drank two glasses of lemonade. Lauren and Amber split a whole fish. Tato didn’t like the music that was playing and he asked the waitress to change it. Later, Tato was talking about his brother Mike who had been with his girlfriend for nine years before they got married and has only had her. With his wife sitting next to him, Tato remarked, “How sad! I can’t imagine life with only one woman. How boring!” We talked a little bit about the political situation in Honduras. Tato paid the bill and we went to the beach house. It was incredible! It is a huge house with an open area under the house for a party. There is also a smaller house for the servants who care for the property. There is a pool and the property is almost in the ocean, it is that close to it. There are covered areas and tables where you could eat or read. It is totally paradise and I can’t believe that no one uses it on a regular basis! We are staying here without paying a lempira and it is the most luxurious place we have stayed. Homer swam in the pool for a half hour until it started raining. They left and we read and relaxed. At 5, we had tea, a banana, apples with peanut butter, and Marias. We sat at the table on the balcony. It was raining, but the balcony is covered. We talked for a while and the rain settled down into a light rain (llovisma). We decided to walk on the beach. There is a stream near the house with cold water and the water in the ocean was warm. When we came back, we were wet but happy. We played cards: Rummy twice, the pile game that our friends from New Zealand taught us, and ERS. We ate cornflakes and candied cashews. I prepared the mystery fruit that was green and yellow and round. It tasted like an orange even though it was yellow-ish on the inside. I also had a piece of bread. During Rummy, a bat fell from the ceiling onto a rug. We took pictures and I picked up the rug and put it out on the balcony. After a while, the bat flew away. We continued playing, but twenty minutes later, suddenly we heard another bat fall to the floor. He began to climb the doorframe. I took a photo and used the rug to move him outside the door. How strange! We wondered how many bats were in the house, but we didn’t see anymore that night. We finished the games and went to bed. Amber and Lauren shared a bed in the room with air conditioning and I slept in a room with our stuff. We are very blessed to be able to use this house as if it were our very own!