Sept. 24th – 26th, 2010
As you may or may not know, Honduras was one of the countries where Hurricane Matthew passed over. Those of us in the North Coast were consolidated to a point away from the potential danger. This meant that all PCVs of that region met up at a hotel and stayed there for a couple nights. It was nice to meet other people that I probably never would have met if it hadn't been for the storm. I made friends with my roommate, who did her service in the Dominican Republic first and then extended another year here. She turned out to be a great resource and I plan on visiting her within the next month to observe her English classes, because I also have to teach English to teachers who have volunteered their time to learn and teach students here.
During our brief "vacation" from our sites, a group of us went to a Mennonite community that specialized in dairy products. We probably walked a total of two or three hours there and back, with a short little bus ride too. We went because one PCV has been and said the ice-cream was amazing, and they sold other things cheese (they actually had cheddar!), yogurt, and banana bread. We all got ice-cream - I got chocolate/coffee, and then raspberry for the trip back, and a loaf of banana bread for my host family. The community was located on a fenced compound which housed living quarters, a school, a large common/kitchen area, and probably a church. The women inside were dressed conservatively and most were American who had learned Spanish. I spoke with one of them about what the community is exactly and she said that they are all Christian and follow the Bible literally. There are church groups organized in the states and whoever is interested in living overseas in such a community can do so for however long they wish. The adults on the compound were mostly American, but there were several Honduran children as well. I was happy to see a large trampoline out back, and the woman inside told me it gets used a lot :).
I went shopping at a large department store called Carrion (dead animal carcass anyone?) and bought a pair of genuine Havaianas flip-flops for about $8, and some nice sunglasses as well. It was super nice to be in a store like that but the enormous shoe department made me feel overwhelmed so I left that area for a minute then returned.
One night while there, I thought I had lost my luggage keys at the restaurant we ate dinner at. I had locked my bag that I left at the hotel so no one would break into it, and thought I put them in my pants pocket. Brad and I walked back to the restaurant, and the guy who had been piropo'ing him earlier called out again so Brad went over to talk to him. The first time, the guy called out, "Hey Eminem, what you doing in Honduras!" and we just ignored it, but that had to be the funniest piropo I've heard. I didn't even get it at first. I was thinking M&M's >_<. That's what being away from American pop culture does to you! Turns out the guy lived in the states for a long time and is Muslim and actually speaks English fairly well. Anyway, my keys weren't at the restaurant so my roommate Janet helped me open my bag without destroying the lock or the zipper, and lo and behold my keys were inside! Silly absent-minded me. We fixed my bag up exactly as it had been and I made sure I was pendiente as to where my keys were the rest of the trip.
All in all it was a fun trip, but I was sick the entire time so I ended up going to bed earlier than I wanted and probably was made even more sick by the traveling, but oh well. Oh yeah! I ordered pancakes for breakfast and look how they came! I was very pleasantly surprised by the bananas and maple syrup instead of honey (although honey isn't too bad)!
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