Day 239 April 3
James and I met up and got breakfast at ViaVia while we waited for Jesse. A few kids stole a tip from the table behind us and the nice tourist we ended up seeing all over town for several days tried to chase them down. He said they hang out here a lot.
When Jesse arrived, we headed out and as we did James mentioned wanting a machete. We stopped off in a store and bought one, carrying case at all. It was to be James’ for the week and mine when he left (until I bring it home to him.)
We hiked up to Hacienda San Lucas and hung out in the yoga pavilion while Jesse paid the trail fee and got us Jamaica tea. It was a beautiful spot.
We went to Los Sapos Mayan fertility shrine and then headed up toward the waterfalls. Because it’s the dry season, we skipped the waterfalls but found a waterhole to jump in to cool off. We then went to lunch at La Pintata. The kids that were there sang for us and waited very patiently for us to finish so they could have our leftovers.
We hiked back down to the zip line, where we met with Cid and a couple (the woman wouldn’t go alone and screamed a lot.) We had a blast and it went a lot quicker than I think it did the last time I went. One of the guides told me I’m very strong. My favorite part was the last line when we zipped over all the people swimming and picnicking at the river.
We took a truck back but stopped off at the bar in the river, which is only up and operational during Semana Santa, I think. Beers were had and we helped one of the locals we know track down his runned-off daughter. He then offered us a ride back to town, which was a bit of an awkward ride with her right there, fuming.
James and I took showers when we got back. While we were at my house, my roommates came back. Poor Abby and Allan had tried to go to Omoha, which was so packed they couldn’t even swim so they came back early. Sierra came back also after a rough break-up filled vacation.
James and I had dinner at Isaac’s mom’s restaurant and we were both so exhausted that we didn’t talk much. Hopefully Jaqui doesn’t think we hate each other.
We went to ViaVia and Jesse and some friends had a paid show which I really wanted to see, but as it approached 9 I lost all faculty over my mind and couldn’t even help James with the most basic Spanish. (“How do you say,”Inside?” “I don’t know.”) We both decided it was best if I went to bed. I apparently missed the cops breaking up the show because one of the players owed a hotel money.
Day 240 April 4
I was up early for early church at Megan’s house. We ate pancakes and listened to a very good sermon. We sang a few Easter songs and talked over the sermon. It was very nice and, though it was just Megan, Francisco, and me, it was nice to be with the little community we’ve built here.
James and I met in front of the church at 9:55, as agreed. The printed schedule and all word of mouth confirmed that the procession was to start at the top of the hill at 9 and mass would start when they got to this church, at roughly 10. However, when we were about to walk inside, I was alarmed to see the priest run out of the church, hop in a taxi, and drive away. James, who didn’t know it was the priest didn’t understand my confusion. The church was closed and it we waited a while before determining that it could easily be hours before mass would start. We grabbed computers and went to Casa Villamil, where we were able to watch the procession an hour and a half later.
We met Jesse in Picame, bought green mangos-which James had fallen in love with- and hopped on a very crowded bus to Santa Rita. We got there and started down the path to El Ruby, one of my favorite waterfalls. Two boys joined us, which was slightly unnerving, but they were fine and split with us after a while. Jesse did most of the talking with them and I translated amusing or relevant parts to James. When I said, “See, I could be a translator.” One of the boys, who claimed to know me, laughed and looked back.
We decided to go up to the top of the main falls and rock climb back down. James’ new machete came with us and we practically spelunked down the cavern of rocks and waterfalls. James almost lost his leg when he moved a friggin bolder into the river, but all ended well.
When we got to the jumping point, with 25-30 foot jumps into the water below, a lot of Hondurans were hanging around and joined us in a few jumps. A dog that was sniffing around them followed us for the rest of our journey. Sometimes, when she felt like the water was too deep for her, she would whine until we encouraged her to keep coming. When we did leave on the bus, she was heart broken. Also, James got his finger stuck in the mouth of a water bottle and we had to cut it and twist it off to help. He was afraid it would dislocate, but the whole situation was hilarious.
We got back and James took a nap. I showered, bought toilet paper for the house, did some laundry, and tried to call Sierra when Josue came over looking for her.
James and I met up to have Easter dinner at Twisted Tanya’s however, they are apparently always closed on Sundays. Instead, we went to the Marina Copan and were waited on my student, Fernando’s, mother. It was delicious.
We went to ViaVia, and I left James for a while with my buddy Mark to meet up with Kelvin as it was his last night in town. Kelvin wanted to go back to ViaVia, so we did and then he left about 10 minutes later. I didn’t stay out late, as I was worn out again.
Day 241 April 5
I was up at 7:30 and James came by early. The power had gone off at 7, so I showered in the dark. James and I caught a rushed breakfast at Vamos a Ver before going to his hotel to catch our ride to the coffee tour. Our guide was an aquantance of mine from town named Edgar.
The tour was a lot of fun. I learned more about my good friend coffee and discovered that I already knew a fair amount more than I realized. The plantation was beautiful. Like I do on any type of tour, I’m sure I confused my guide with the types of pictures I took, though I also took pictures of coffee related items, I mostly focused on the ants.
The van ride back was blasting some 80s classics and James and I had fun with those. We went by Villamil for a coffee. On the way back to his hotel, I stopped by the correo to pick up the package I had known about 10 days ago, but had been unable to get because the correo was closed the whole time. We took it back to James hotel, and he opened it on his bed.
This, we would soon learn, was a mistake. One package of peeps had been discovered by a colony of red ants who had moved into my package so much that they had eggs. I never spotted a queen, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there. We killed about 200 on his bed and I took the package out to slowly pick through the salvageable items. Everything but that one package and the plastic bags was fine.
Luckily they were already planning to change James’ room. We explained about the ants and went to ViaVia, across the street, to wait for the owner to come back so we could switch rooms. While we were there we briefly ran into Cid, invited Mark to join us, and Heidi came by to tell James how special he is to me.
We went back to change James’ room and as I left him to set up, I ran into Jose. He said he was hungry but didn’t want to come over to have me make him something. I saw Edgar in the park and asked how his other tour had gone. Apparently, they always go well.
Once home, I finally started planning for the school week. I cleaned up my room a bit. Memo came by, looking for Megan, and this time I could help him. I dropped off copies myself for the first time and then went to get James.
We went up to the Fort, but the museum was closed. We did however see a beautiful sunset.
I took him to Katia’s mom’s comedor to have the best baleadas in town. He agreed. We then went back to town to watch the Hurtlocker at ViaVia. When we left the movie, Cid was sitting downstairs, but I simply didn’t have the energy to not be in bed. I went home and collapsed.
Day 242 April 6
I was up at 4:45 and left by 5:25. I put up my new spring time decorations from Nana and Granddaddy and prepared for the day. The kids started out really talkative, but calmed down and we had a great day. By the end of reading groups, James had arrived. (When they first arrived at school I was bombarded with, “And your brother, Miss?”s)
He set up for a little lesson during recess and it was really nice to have a second person to help manage all activities. We had a lot of good activities and they loved James.
James said if he had to keep a pace like that all day he’d be exhausted. Yes, that is why I go to bed at 8:30. I had prior permission to leave at 1:45 during the two days that my brother was in town, so I was able to skip the “emergency meeting” that apparently then turned disastrous. Sierra came home while James and I were preparing our next move and was near tears because of the fight she and Mr. John had as a result of the meeting. Oh dear.
James and I went up to the fort again and climbed up in one of the towers. We decided to skip the museum and went back to town to do a little tourist shopping. I helped him pick out something for his girlfriend, but I just showed him the sort of thing he wanted to look at. He did the picking.
We broke open the Johnnie on my roof. We then tried to have dinner at Twisted Tanya’s for the second time, but they were apparently vacationing in Tela. Instead we went to Llama del Bosque, which was fine.
For a variety of reasons, all the usual bars were closed, so we went to the Lost Monkey and met up with Cid and a couple of tourists. Shortly after the couple went to bed, I departed, leaving James and Cid at the Lost Monkey.
Day 243 April 7
I left for school at a more normal time. We had a good morning and the kids did well on their first ITBS test section. I only had to teach one real class and then they had PE or Library. However, the second ITBS was pretty horrible.
It was a reading comprehension test, 25 minutes in length. I had about 7 kids refuse to read the passages and finish before 10 minutes was up. I tried to explain they needed to go back and read the passages…to try. I can’t force them to do it, though and they can’t keep still and quiet for that long (I’m not supposed to let them talk, read, draw, or do anything except work on the test.) We had a long talk after about the importance of trying on these tests, which was particularly important because in the morning they’d have the second part of the reading comp and I wanted them to do better.
The last class of the day was okay, but not great. Though, in the closing meeting Yoela said, “Today, we were bad Miss and I was very bad.” She and I talked about it some and hopefully things will get better.
I rushed past other teachers to get home and found James waiting in Picame. He had gone hiking and had gotten back about 15 minutes ago. He was hungry, so we went to Jim’s Pizza for lunch. When we were done eating, we went down to the Hedman Alas station to get him a bus ticket. I was afraid he’d have to take the 7, get to San Pedro at 10, and wait until his flight at 5:30, but there was a 10:30. Much better.
We caught a taxi to the bird park and as we pulled in another taxi was pulling out with tourists who explained that it wasn’t open. I have no idea why. We went back to town and I set up a massage appointment at Casa de Café.
We saw Mark on the way over and chatted for a bit. I was afraid of being late to the appointment, but that was silly. I obviously forgot what country I’m in. I had my computer so I continued trying to figure out the ins and outs and setting it up how I like it.
James loved his massage. It rained and thundered some during it, which added to the effect. We went back to town and I hung out in Jesse’s store while James showered. We went for a second round of baleadas at Katia’s mom’s place and found Travis the Peace Corps volunteer eating there. We sat and chatted for a while. He only has 2 weeks left in his time here.
After dinner, we made sure James had everything from my house and I got the machete. I set him up at ViaVia, where he later ran into Mark. We said our goodbyes and I went to bed.
Day 244 April 8
The kids did much better with the ITBS reading comprehension section. It seems as though they actually read and tried. Lecture success.
We were doing an “Up and at ‘em” math activity when Megan came by for a 5 minute observation. It’s the first one of those that I didn’t feel like I was floundering.
I had spelling tutoring after school, but still wasn’t tutoring for Isaac. We had talked about how my brother had been in town and I couldn’t this week, but his mom called because he didn’t understand the spelling words. I told her I still couldn’t come, because I had a prior obligation, but was also frustrated because studying for spelling is something anyone can help him do and he could, were he motivated enough, so it on his own. He’s not that motivated, but she doesn’t need to know English to help him study for that.
My prior obligation was to help Urban Promise clean up their new office. I tackled a bathroom and, if I do say so myself, it was beautiful when I was done with it. We made baleadas, which were the greasiest I’ve ever had, but very good. Abby came by at the end and we talked for a while.
I headed home with her and grabbed a shower. There were about 12 people coming over, which I hadn’t known, for dinner. After about 2 weeks without much time to myself the idea of 12 people, several of whom would be children, in my face seemed terrible. Maybe had it been a different day I would have been happy to stay.
Hsuan arrived while I was still in the shower and he was in need of a shower, so when I was done we offered it to him. I left as the others started arriving. I ran into Marlon, from Hsuan’s orphanage on my way out and he wanted to know where Hsuan was (after a big hug, of course). I brought him to the house, asked Abby if she had enough to feed one more mouth, and then left. As I turned onto the park, Marlon was there, running from the other direction (he had apparently done a circuit looking for me as he didn’t understand why I was leaving.) I explained that I had already eaten and was meeting a friend. He went back to the house. I love that kid.
I went to Casa de Café and hung out with Cid until I needed to go to bed. I headed home and saw Hsuan and Marlon leaving. They both looked happy and full. We chatted for a moment and Abby was impressed with my timing as everyone had just left.
Day 245 April 9
The kids behaved well considering the length of today’s tests. I promised them that if they were good we’d have a Fun Friday and we almost didn’t make it, but we did. I passed out their report cards before they left. I spent my free periods grading and working on the new computer.
I didn’t stay long after school because it was so hot. I got home and showered. I met Megan for granitas to go and we went to the seamstress’ house to see if Megan’s things were reading and drop off mine. Megan’s were not, and I showed her all the things I wanted work on, which were many.
I stopped by UPH on my way back to talk to Francisco about game night. I headed home to cook for said game night only to discover the veggies I had planned to cook for my brother and never had the chance were molded. I read for a while and had a 30-45 minute conversation with my 4 year-old-neighbor through my window. She is cute as can be.
I met several of the teachers at Twisted Tanya’s, which was open again. I only stayed for half an hour and then I left.
I picked up chips on the way to Francisco’s house and called Luis to see if he wanted to walk together. I haven’t heard from him in so long, either. He said he’d be coming late, so I went on without him. No one else came for about an hour, but Francisco and I had a lovely chat. Luis ended up not coming at all and Megan, Jorge, Allan, and Abby all arrived at about the same time.
We ate chicken and potatoes and played 4 rounds of Mexican Train dominos. I won the first round and was 3rd of 6 in the over all scoring. It was intense at times and a lot of fun.
I left to head back into town and saw Sierra with a crowd headed to Jesse’s house. I stopped in for a bit but didn’t stay long. I met Mark and Cid at Barcito. We sat and chatted for a while. Sierra came by later for my keys and to ask if some people could sleep in our downstairs. I said sure. A while later, Nash, Theo, Vanessa, Jesse, and a few tourists came by. Theo had a bottle of Jameson’s which I haven’t seen in a while.
When Barcito closed we all migrated to Papa Chango’s. We were the only people there for a while. I actually got up the nerve to dance a little. Eventually, I got sleepy and headed home.
There were a variety of people sleeping downstairs and I used to my phone light to get to the kitchen and back to the stairs.
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