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!
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