More random thoughts on Honduras.....

Things I still haven't gotten used to (maybe never will) in Honduras:

1) The gigantic and loud trucks and buses that plow through our street all hours of the day, usually at night and early mornings. Especially since my room faces the street, it sounds as if they're headed straight into my bedroom! Many of these trucks also conveniently have loudspeakers attached to them, blasting at ear-piercing octaves, various announcements, most of which you can't even hear because they speak too fast and their loud voices get all jumbled together. It reminds me of the announcers you'd hear at a racetrack, except for it's right in front of my house! We also have a speed bump literally in front of my window, so all the cars and huge trucks (which are many) that don't slow down in time, either step on the breaks really fast so it makes that annoying screeching sound, or they don't slow down at all, so they completely scrape the bottom of the car, which makes an equally lovely sound!

2) The extremely unpredictable weather. Sara and I, twice just this weekend, were at the beach laying in the warm sand with the sun shining down on us, with nothing but clear skies above. Then a second later, dark clouds roll in and with it comes strong wind which blows sand everywhere, and it begins to rain. Or other times (and this happens a lot) we'll be riding our bikes home, and then all of a sudden it will start pouring, and I mean POURING rain, and it always happens when we're quite far from home, so we always end up completely soaked, laughing out of shock the entire time!

3) HAND WASHING CLOTHES!!!! I absolutely dread it! Half the time I don't ever feel like I'm getting anything clean, more like I'm just swishing around my dirty clothes, in soapy dirty water. Not to mention how backbreaking this entire process is, hunching over in our shower and scrubbing my clothes the best I can. It takes me about an hour to do one small load of clothes! Oh, and washing our WHITE uniform shirts is special treat!

Then I get to hang dry them, which always means nice crispy, crunchy, hard clothes!4) The fact that no matter how many times I sweep my room or shake out my sheets there is ALWAYS sand and dust in my room, in my bed, and just about everywhere in the house.

5) The random moments when we have no water or electricity. At first we thought the electricity was only turned off during hard rain or storms, but we were quickly proven wrong! And the water has been turned off almost every afternoon, sometimes not turning on again until the morning.


Things that make me happy to be living in Honduras:

1) I know it sounds so cliche, but it really does make me extremely thankful for all the conveniences I have in the US that I so easily take for granted. It always takes me back when I realize how little people can have here, and how simply they can live their lives, and they are completely happy.

2) How friendly and nice everyone is here.

3) How gorgeous and unspoiled the beaches and countryside are. In practically every direction I look, I can either see white sand beaches and blue (and very warm) water, or bright green trees and hills.

4) The kids in my class. How welcoming they and their families are and how happy they are to have us here. Being able to teach them all day, and then when I'm not at school, hearing them, or their families call out "Ms. Dela Cruz" with smiling faces and waving, while I'm in town or biking around. It makes it nice to live and work in such a small town, brings it a step closer to actually feeling like home, instead of a random foreign place I'm visiting for 10 months.

5) About 2 weeks ago Sara and I started to volunteer at a day care in town. All of the kids come from very low income families and range from little babies to toddlers. We go usually twice a week before work. We love playing and interacting with the kids there, it's nice to get in some time with younger kids. Also, it's nice to be able to help out the other adults that work there, who are all very welcoming and thankful of the time we spend there. These kids are the most adorable kids you can imagine, and from the moment Sara and I walked in on the first day, they were all over us, touching and hugging us, and asking us questions all while pulling us in different directions.

6) We have a banana tree in our backyard! Yes, I know it's really random, but we were so excited to find a gigantic cluster of ripe yellow bananas, and all for us to enjoy, for free! To make things better, they weren't just normal bananas, they were a special kind called "manzana bananas." They were short and fat in shape and were deliciously not too sweet. We indulged in banana pancakes, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and an average of 3-4 whole bananas each per day! It was great! Where else would you be able to cut down and eat bananas from your very own backyard!

7) Cold bucket showers. This was of course on the"things I didn't like about Honduras" list at first, but after realizing how incredibly hot and humid it is here, I've grown to like them and even look forward to them. It's the only real time during the day when I get to cool off (besides going in the ocean of course)!

8) Not having any familiar American fast food restaurants, or anything American and familiar for that matter within an hour from Tela. Sometimes it does make me homesick, but more times than not, it's really nice not to ever see a Starbucks or McDonald's. It's hard to believe that in two months I haven't had a bite of fast food! Yay me!!

Nature At It's Best...

Sara and I had this past Monday and Tuesday off for Independence Day and Teacher's Day. Our plan this weekend was to take a trip where we could relax, take in all the amazingly preserved nature around us, and enjoy good freshly brewed beer at a D&D Bed and Breakfast and Brewery. After the parade on Friday, we were able to catch a bus to San Pedro Sula which is where we arrived just in time to catch the very last bus headed to Lago de Yojoa. Lago de Yojoa is Honduras' largest natural lake, it' s on the western side of the country, about a 6 hour bus ride from Tela. Near the lake are two huge national parks and Pulhapanzak Falls, and a number of different caves. Needless to say, we had a fully booked four days ahead of us! ....As a preface, this weekend was seriously filled with the most amazing things I've ever done or seen in my entire life. I'll try my best to save all of you from complete boredom, and I apologize for how lengthy this is, if you can believe it, I'm still leaving a ton of things out! There really is no way for me convey to you what an amazing trip this was, all the pictures in the world, and me babbling about it, could never in a million years do it any justice. The only way you could really know how great it was, would be to come and visit, so you can see it for yourself!:) So here is my best attempt:

Friday:

We arrived at the D&D late at night after a long and scary bus ride. It was scary because during the last hour or so, Sara and I couldn't see out the windows of the bus. The entire area around the lake didn't have any street lights, and we were winding up a very narrow mountain road. On top of that, Honduras doesn't believe in street names, or street signs, so our directions to the hotel basically said to take a left after the soccer field in a town called Los Naranjos. I anxiously looked out the window into a massive sea of black in panic that we might miss our stop and end up being dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we made it there safely, and we were welcomed by Robert, the American owner of D&D, warm food, and his freshly brewed beer. The D&D had the most perfect and relaxing atmosphere, all of the small cabins and grounds are nicely placed within the lush, green surroundings, instead of it feeling like it was a huge hotel just picked up and dropped off in the middle of the forest. This is a picture of the small pool, main office/kitchen, and outdoor eating area. They had some amazing food here too, like blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie, chocolate cake, and yummy grilled fish, beef kabobs, and hamburgers! Sara and I had a private room in a small cabin. The entire cabin had four rooms, all attached by a communal living area in the center. Friday night we met the eight other people who were staying in the same cabin as us. They all arrived together, all around our age, and most were also volunteers from the US, except one from Australia (Carly), and another from New Zealand (Tamsyn). Luckily they were planning to visit the Pulhapanzak Falls as well and Sara and I were able to join their group, hence getting a cheaper price for the tour, as well as enjoying the company of new friends! Carly is the girl closest to me, and Tamsyn is the girl next to her. I'm forever thankful to both of them, you'll see why soon...

Saturday:

The Pulhapanzak Waterfall (the first picture on the top of this blog) was by far one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. There was a hiking tour that you could pay extra to take, that leads you behind the waterfall. Although I was EXTREMELY hesitant to join in the hike because of my major fear of heights, I sucked it up and told myself to give it a try, if it got too scary I could always turn back. Carly and Tamsyn, both more experienced at hiking and rock climbing, assured me that they'd help me, keeping me in between them, so that if anything went wrong they'd be close by. So reluctantly, I followed the entire group and the guide slowly up a very slippery rock pathway leading up to the side of the huge 43 meter waterfall. We climbed along the side until we reached a small pool with smaller waterfalls. This is where I saw other people jumping off extremely high boulders into the pool. I immediately thought to myself I wasn't even going near the edge of the boulders, as I felt my knees begin to tremble. Tamsyn assured me that I could just go around the other way to avoid jumping. However, after I watched everyone else do it twice, and some three times, and I could see me hating myself later for not at least giving it a try. I slowly walked up to the edge, and looked down at the water and all the rocks at the bottom. That made me even more scared that I could land on those rocks instead of the water, but I tried to ignore that part as I felt my heart racing faster. Carly said she would go ahead of me so I could see her go first. Everyone was down at the bottom, cheering and calling for me to jump, as Tamsyn waited behind me, trying to talk me into taking the leap fast before I gave it too much thought and chickened out of it. Before I knew it, I was flying through the air, my stomach flying up into my throat, falling for what seemed like forever, until I hit the water, and I had done it!!!! One step closer to getting over my fear of heights!!! But I only jumped once, once was enough for me, I didn't want to push my luck too much! On the hike, the guide also took us behind parts of the larger waterfall, where we got to climb into small caves! The park also had large swimming holes at the top of the waterfall where you could wade around and swim. The picture on the left shows all the gorgeous green forest surrounding the waterfall, and one of the pathways leading up to it. You can watch a very short video on the waterfalls by clicking on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4wVpKvscAQ



Sunday:

Sara and I headed out bright and early for a hike in the Cerro Azul Meambar National Park. The path we wanted to take took an estimated 4 1/2 to 5 hours to hike, but for us, it took 6 hours, most of which was uphill! All I kept thinking the entire time was that my family and friends would never believe that I'd do this, but surprisingly I did, and I made it out alive! The hike, though very difficult, was well worth it. The views of the massive green forest and the lake below were breathtaking, and there were also two beautiful waterfalls, and many cute (and scary) bridges to cross.

Sara and I came up on some "bumps in the path" during our hike. Hurricane Felix had left it's mark on the hiking trail, and along the way we had to literally climb up and through many fallen trees and debris, some of which had actually fallen on the bridges(the picture below), and others that were dangling off the edge of the trail, which basically meant if we slipped off the trees, we'd fall straight down many feet. After the 6 hour hike through the forest Sara and I were faced with the problem of how to get back down the mountain from where the park was located. (the town at the bottom of the mountain was where the bus stop was). This trip was about 7km (about 5 miles) one way. One our way up to the park we were lucky enough to hitch a ride from a nice man and his family that took pity on us after we told him we didn't have much money, and the we were teachers volunteering in Tela. He even took us by his store where he offered us free sodas. Our way back down however, was a totally different story. The people from the park wanted us to pay $8 US for a ride back down, and that was way out of our budget, so Sara and I decided to start walking down the hill, thinking we would be able to find another ride along the way. I know what you my all think, $8 is nothing at all, but when you make only $200 a month, that means you only have about $5/$6 a day. Unfortunately, we didn't think about the time, and it was going to get dark soon, so within about an hour, it started to get dark and of course it started raining, and it was on a dirt road! So our 6 hour hike we had began earlier, was now extended to continue on for another 3 hours! Luckily, everyone that we had meet in the towns around the lake were some of the nicest people I've ever met. After walking about halfway down the mountain (another 2 1/2 miles), we eventually came across a man and his two kids, who brought us to a friend's house who owned a taxi service. His friend was able to give a ride directly back to our hotel, and just in time because that's when it really started to pour!

Monday:

Sara I sent out to explore one of the caves in the area, we were so exhausted from our hike yesterday, that we chose to pass on exploring the larger caves. Those would have been amazing, but also would have involved another 4 hour or so hike. So we decided to go the "Cuevas de Taulabe" which was a much more manageable 30 minute hike.

The cave was said to

have stalagmites and stalactites shaped like Buddah and Jesus. I did see what looked like Jesus' face, but there was no Buddah to be found. After we headed back to our hotel, we decided to walk to a nearby botanical garden. It turned out to be even more beautiful than we imagined, there was a gorgeous river surrounded by a large green park and many amazingly lush plants.

Tuesday:

On our last day, we decided to take a boat ride on the lake, called "Lago de Yojoa." Robert, the owner of the place we were staying, set us up with a small boat, and even had one of his employees row the boat for us, which was perfect because I was already surprised that I had survived all the hiking, I didn't want to push my luck, and attempt rowing through the gigantic lake. It turned out to be an even better idea than we thought after we realized we had to help scoop out the water that continuously collected on the bottom the boat (there's a picture of Sara scooping out the water using the bottom of a plastic liter bottle). So, doing this on our own, while rowing at the same time would have been a recipe for disaster! The lake was so peaceful and so relaxing! The picture above is of a house along the lake. The family that lives there is isolated from the rest of the world. In order to get anywhere, they have to row a boat across the lake to get to the nearby towns, there are no roads that lead to the house.

So... for those of you that are thinking of coming to visit while I'm here, we were able to do EVERYTHING this weekend, all the food, buses, tours, and hotel for a just about $100 each! It's pretty cheap to travel in Central America...*wink, wink*

Independence Day Celebrations in Tela

Wednesday of last week we had our very first field trip. Unfortunately, this wasn't at all an educational field trip, this was yet another waste of time dedicated to the Independence Day parade which was last Friday, Sept. 14. Our entire school, along with all the other elementary schools in town, went to visit another school in town, where they elected a Independence Day Princess. Sara and I were irrigated to find out that it was pretty much a smaller version of a Miss America pageant, the only thing missing was the bathing suit competition! It amazes me that the entire town thinks that it is normal to waste so much time on superficial things like this! Of course the kids didn't get any time in the classroom, the entire day was spent watching this "show." The little girl form our school was voted as princess, and as you can see by the pictures our students were very excited. The other pictures from the day show how our entire school squeezed into ONE BUS, including all the teachers and students!The bus clearly states maximum capacity is 71 people, but as I'm quickly learning, nobody here ever pays attention to safety when driving, mind you, these pictures were taken WHILE THE BUS WAS MOVING!!Friday was the big Independence Day Parade for all the Private Elementary schools. Sara and I woke up bright and early to meet the kids at one of the big parks in the center of town, where the parade was going to start. As I said before, so much preparation was put into this big day. The last hour of school for the past 3 weeks was spent practicing how to march, and on Thursday, the day before the parade, we had to practice from 2:30-5:00!! Needless to say Sara and I were pretty fed up with all this time being wasted, and as for the kids, those poor guys were just as tired of marching as we were! We both tried to hide out in our classrooms and actually teach for as long as we could before someone came to our door to remind us that it was time to practice! So at 8:00 Friday morning, Sara and I were anxious to see how all of this preparation was going to look! I was in charge of marching with the Honor Roll Students along with the first grade teacher, Marlon. Sara was in charge of walking with the princess that had been elected from our school a few days earlier. The parade took 4 hours to walk about 8 blocks! We were going so slow because all the schools, including ours, had different band and cheer leading routines where the kids had to stop and perform. Let me highlight this very vital part......THE KIDS WERE NOT EVEN MARCHING, THEY WERE WALKING because the parade was moving so slow!!!! So, basically all the hours we spent practicing how to march, were even more a waste of time than we thought!! One thing that made things even worse was the intense heat! I myself, was about to pass out just walking, but all the poor kids had costumes, many of them with long sleeves and gloves, and they had to dance around the entire time!
The saddest part is that this has been a tradition year after year, meaning that the same huge amounts of time are taken from learning in the classroom , to prepare to "march" for this parade. And year after year, the kids end up walking instead of marching, and everyone thinks this is normal!
After the parade Sara and I were able to look forward to our long weekend. We had the following Monday and Tuesday off for Independence Day and Teacher's Day. More about the rest of our weekend coming soon......

Dia del Ninos

So unfortunately, this week has been filled with very little teaching, and a lot of celebrating, marching, and other nonsense that takes time away from the classroom. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but this Friday is Honduras' Independence Day, which is a HUGE deal here. All the schools in Tela march in a big parade, so for the past three weeks, yes I said three weeks, we've been practicing how to march for the last HOUR of school! A complete waste of time!! Anyways, more of that to come soon ....After only having two days of work last week because of the hurricane, we started off this week with the "Day of the Child" or "Dia del Ninos" on Monday. This is also a big deal here, just like Father's and Mother's Day. Monday began with tons of food and treats being brought in by parents and family. I tried to teach a little bit of math in the morning, to try to squeeze in at least a little bit of education for the day, but that was quickly put to a halt when I heard loudspeakers blaring music in the hallway, right outside my classroom! Oh, and this wasn't just any music, the totally inappropriate play list consisted of songs like Fergie's "Lovely Lady Lumps" and 50 Cent's "Shake That Ass." And this continued on and on for the entire day! I was completely upset and appalled at first, frustrated because we weren't really told what we were supposed to do with the kids all day, and there seemed to just be chaos all over the school. Every time we tried to ask for information, no one could really give us any answers. One teacher would say we don't teach all day, the kids pretty much eat and play games, and dance instead, meanwhile the principal told us we need to teach the first two classes, which wasn't possible anyways because of the loud music! As you can imagine, good communication is really not a priority here! After a while I decided just to make the best of it, this was something important to all the parents and teachers that were there, and a tradition for everyone here, so I thought I'd better just go with it! Plus, I realized it was probably only chaos to Sara and I because we couldn't ever in a million years, see schools getting away with this in California, but I guess it really didn't seem like chaos to anyone else, this was clearly normal for them! So, I sucked it up, cleared away the desks like the other teachers, and let the kids dance and enjoy their day.......The only thing Sara and I were told was to prepare some sort of song or dance for the kids. All the teachers were supposed to perform something. Sara and I weren't really sure what to do, so we figured we might as well try to involve the kids in it, and at the same time make it somewhat worthwhile by teaching them something. So we opted to sing "Down By the Bay" with the kids. We made signs with the words, and pictures to match to help them build vocab. I knew we were in for it as soon as they announced us to come up to the stage, and they introduced the song as "Down Be the By". Sara and I couldn't stop laughing, but fortunately the song went well and the kids did a good job participating. Other events of the day consisted of eating tons of junk food and sweets, hitting a pinata, and dancing, inside and outside of the classrooms!

Just an update.....

So the hurricane came and went without leaving much of a mark. Besides a stormy and windy night, and the electricity being turned off, there wasn't much change. The weather has been a little bit more bearable though, less humid and a little more windy, although I'm thinking that won't last long. And if you can believe it I actually got goosebumps for the very first time in Honduras on Tuesday night!!! We went back to work today, which is good because Sara and I were getting a little bit bored being stranded at the house. But we did only work two days this week, nothing I can complain about!


I didn't get a chance to tell you guys about our experience with our "1 week roommate." James, another American teacher from Connecticut, who was supposed to join us for the rest of the year as a roommate, and he was going to teach junior high and high school. He arrived last Monday, and Sara and I already started to question whether or not he was going to end up staying the whole year. He started work last Thursday, and after only 2 days of work, he was already talking about possibly taking another job in Nicaragua. We all went out to dinner last Friday night, and after some talking, he informed us that he was about 90% sure he was not going to stay in Tela. Sara and I said we understood, he had wanted to live and work in a smaller, more remote type of village, and Tela was not what he had expected. We encouraged him to tell Vanessa and the school sooner rather than later, as he would be leaving them in a tough position of having to find another teacher to replace him on such short notice. And unfortunately teachers here as I've said, are very hard to find, qualified ones anyways. He assured us that he would let them know by Monday, and wasn't thinking of leaving until Tuesday at the earliest.
So after dinner, we all agreed we were too tired to go out, and decided to head back home, Sara and I on our bikes, and James said he would hail a cab, and then meet us at home. When we arrived at home we were surprised to see that James wasn't there yet, but didn't think twice about it, thinking he probably just stopped to get a drink somewhere. However, when a few hours turned into 5pm the following day, and we hadn't heard from him, we began to worry that something bad had happened to him. He hadn't been in Tela for very long, and he was by himself, so we decided to call Vanessa and let her know the situation. She was just as concerned as us, afraid that he could have possibly been robbed or seriously hurt. Just when she was about to call the police, James comes walking into the house. We were so relieved to see him, and just so happy that he was ok. Apparently he just stayed out all night at a local club, he didn't really elaborate much, and just went into his room. Sara and I asked him if he wanted to join us on Sunday, we were planning to take a day trip to San Pedro Sula. He said that he was really tired, and that he would just see us later, when we got back. Then on Sunday, when Sara and I arrived back home after our trip, we walked into the house only to find that he had left a note. The note basically said that he had already left for Nicaragua, and that he had left some things in his room that we could donate. There was no explanation at all. We called Vanessa, and apparently, he hadn't even called her to let her know that he was leaving. She didn't even know he was thinking of leaving! That jerk left Sara and I to tell the school and explain to everyone why he left! He didn't even have the decency to explain to them why he was leaving or at the very least, leave a note for them! I can't even begin to comprehend what would drive a 26 year old adult to do something so selfish and irresponsible!!! On top of that, he had the nerve to leave his room a complete mess! There were dirty towels, socks, clothes, shoes, and bedsheets all over the room. There were even random unopened bottles of toiletries and a empty duffel bag! Anyways, the saddest part is really, the students he left behind. I found out today that the only "teachers" they could find to take over his classes were 2 high school graduates from last year. High School only goes until 11th grade so these "teachers" are only 17/18 years old!!! Can you believe 17 year olds teaching junior high and high school???!!!! So this is all we're left with to remember our very irresponsible, inconsiderate, and very odd roommate by.....

A day off work not because of Labor Day, but because of Hurricane Felix

So, just as I finally gained enough energy to get ready for work today, thinking about everyone back home that had the day off today because of Labor Day, we received a phone call from Vanessa, the principal, letting us know that school had been cancelled because Tela had been put on hurricane watch. Vanessa was nice enough to come over and pick us up so we could get supplies and food and prepare for the hurricane. Not to worry though, we have had more than enough time to prepare, and the hurricane isn't supposed to come until Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. So just in case you guys can't get a hold of me, it's just because the electricity and water will most likely be turned off for at least a day or two. To help prepare, we had to fill up the "pila" (our outdoor "laundry tub") with water. This is the same pila Sara and I have been too afraid to wash our clothes in because of how dirty, green, and slimy it looked. We've resorted to washing our clothes in the sink and in the bucket we use for showers. Anyways, we were told we had to clean it out and fill it up with water, so reluctantly I climbed in (with shower slippers of course) and scrubbed the inside of the tub with soap and water to try to clean it out as much as possible.
We are pretty excited to experience our first hurricane, but of course at the same time we hope it's not going to be too scary and that it's not going to be too big of a storm. I can't imagine what it would be like if our house got flooded, although Vanessa assured us that the flooding if any, will be a lot less than other places because we're located on higher ground. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Our trip to San Pedro Sula

Yesterday Sara and I decided to try out the public transportation, and hopefully end up in San Pedro Sula. It is a bigger city, about an hour away from Tela, that is if you're taking your own car. On public buses we were told it would take an hour and a half, but it was more like 3 hours one way! So Sara and I stared out on our adventure at 6:30 am, we walked over to a nearby gas station that is located on the main highway. We were able to flag down one of the buses within 15 minutes. Below is a picture of the public buses here. As you can see they are old American school buses, nice and yellow! They don't even strip down or repaint any of them, so most of the original words are left behind on the buses. So as Sara and I made our way to San Pedro we were pleased to find out the far was cheaper than we had expected only 24 limperas (about $1). I was such a nice drive staring out the window I could see green everywhere I looked. It was nice just to look around and take in the country, we passed many smaller villages, numerous random cows and horses grazing, and many abandoned buildings and homes. It's really sad to see how much trash is alongside the highway, even on the streets around our house, there is literally trash everywhere! I couldn't believe how many times I saw people throw garbage out the windows of the bus while we were moving! Just when I thought to myself how peaceful and relaxing this trip was going to be, an elderly woman stood up in the center of the bus and began preaching. That's right, preaching! For almost an hour she stood, yelling out and praying while closing her eyes, crying, and moving around her hands. I was surprised to see how many people gave her money afterwards, made me wish I could understand what she was saying. I would only catch every 5th word or so, not nearly enough to make sense of anything. Needless to say, it was really annoying, especially since she was standing right near our seat, basically yelling in our ears. The bus stopped at what we thought was San Pedro Sula, but it was actually a town called Progreso, about a half hour away from our destination. Apparently all the buses had to stop here,and we had to transfer to another bus. When we finally arrived in San Pedro Sula, we walked around the central park (right), found the Catholic Cathedral (the 1st picture at the top). We also stopped by the Anthropology Museum (2 bottom pictures)which was conveniently free on Sundays. While we were at the museum I found a familiar looking scale. It looked just like the one I had seen the man at the post office use a few weeks ago! :)There were many American fast food places, like McDonalds, Wendys, Pizza Hut, KFC, and even Cinnabun! We walked around the local market, which was pretty much like a gigantic swap meet, and fortunately we found our way to a large tented area set up with many table and chairs, live music, and numerous food stands.

Iwas SOOOO excited to see all the delicious local food! I dug right into my first official freshly made meal with meat in it!!! I ordered a combination plate with carne asada, homemade tortillas, salsa, rice, beans, and fried plantains.......this was by far the most delicious meal I've had yet!!

After only a few more hours in town, we decided to start our long journey back home, we were both really tired from all the walking around and the heat. We had to stop again at the town, Progreso where we stopped by a Wendy's to indulge in a chocolate Frosty....yum,yum!!! Then we grabbed another bus to Tela. After about 10 minutes on the bus we had to pull over because the bus had broken down. We had to sit around and wait for another bus to drive by. About 10 minutes later we were all piled into a different bus. Sara and I had to stand, the bus was completely packed, the seats and the aisle, people were sitting 3 to a seat, babies on laps and all! Just then, Sara saw the sign on the bus that said the max. capacity was 84 people, haha we thought! We were WAY over that!! To make our adventure even more interesting...who do you think I saw sitting in one of the seats next to us?! The elderly woman who was preaching on the bus from earlier that morning!!! What were the chances!!! I thought to myself, at least she wasn't preaching! I couldn't imagine having to listen to her all the way back, especially while being crammed up against other people! And of course just as soon as I had thought that to myself, sure enough, she stood up and began preaching all over again!!! Lucky by then, Sara and I had finally fought for a seat, so even though we did have to hear her all the way home, at least we could rest our legs for a bit! All and all, it was quite an adventure!!