Hi! I'm soooo happy to be back in civilization...welllll almost like it, back in Copan! We just didn't have internet or an outside connection to the world pretty much for the entire weekend. It was very relaxing and calming to not be so connected, but then coming back it's so much to catch up on in the news, my celebrity friends lives, the Bears and what was probably an embarassing game to watch because reading about it was not eventful. So we went to a place called Omoa this weekend! It was on the Caribbean Sea, in case you missed that on facebook because you didn't stalk me for that hour baahahaha. Ok, so by "we" I mean all the teachers, minus the couple with kids and two of the older teachers. There were 16 of us total, great people for a great weekend. So we left right after the parade Thursday, like 2 o'clockish. Sorry, I'm giving a background, gotta get through the boring to get to the good stuff. It took about 5 hours to get there. We were lucky enough to just rent a van, so we had our own and didn't have to worry about getting robbed. We also then got to stop when we needed to use the bathroom, of course I was the first who had to go on the way there, we were only like 2 hours in, but luckily others went, so I didn't feel so bad. Side-note....just like in any Central American city/town, it was just like Mexican "rest stops/gas stations", the bathrooms are outside, no toilet seats or toliet paper and you have to pay to use them. However, me and another teacher were the first to go in and kinda just bolted out and were so confused with what was going on, we didn't pay, oooo well. Even though they are pretty crappy bathrooms with creepy people all over, the local food you can buy at one is amazing! You think gross, but you've never tried it. We bought these fried plantains, which are like potato chips, only wayyyyy better. Also, it's cheap. We bought 3 little sandwich bags for 20 lempiras ($1). It's pretty awesome. So after that we're on our way, passing through San Pedro Sula, which is great during the day, big city, it was nice to drive through it and see many people. Then we get out by the coast and only got a little lost looking for the hostel. Yes hostel, don't worrryyy there's plenty about that. So we pull up, it's like 7 and we have to check in. There's 3 couples who each get a seperate room and then that leaves 10 of us, so me and Mandy want our own room because the others are put into a shared room with bunk beds, like a room you think of when you think hostel. So we want our own, less bugs and theres a lock. So we get our own, which we were a little disappointed we wouldn't be with everyone, but on the other hand, we controlled the bug population, which was zero and could sleep without being disturbed. So we throw our stuff in, pay for one night and of course the only thing on my mind, for about the past 3 hours, was eating. We go down to a restaurant to eat, it's all open air everywhere at the restaurants because, duh, we're on a beach, the weather is always nice except the few rain showers. The food was mainly seafood, obviously, but I was still a little weary of eating it because I was still living by the rule of Mexico, don't eat anywhere that doesn't have a table cloth. Welllll most places don't down here, and I still eat there, but I usually get something safe, like fried chicken. Which is exactly what I got, dedos de pollo. (chicken fingers, of course!) I haven't had any since I've been here! Just like my chicken nugs in the states, only not as fried, they were delicious! and fairly cheap. So dinner was nice, then we went back to our hostel, and to kinda unwind, which meant we doused our room and the area outside with bug spray. One thing no one took into consideration in this tropical climate we were in was mosquitoes. Luckily some of us, like me, managed to throw in the bug spray. So we covered the place, and ourselves. Also, the owner brought out these coils to help with it. We didn't do much the first night, we did walk down the pier to look out, there were locals fishing, probably for our dinners, but we couldn't see much. So we went back and pretty much just all crashed, it was a looonnggg day of marching in the heat and being crammed in a bus. So the next morning we wake up at about 8am. Which is sleeping late compared to our 5:45am wakeup calls for school each morning. The first thing I want to do is find coffee. The plan for the day was to relax and go to a beach. We find a resturant that's open and they give us a decent price for breakfast, couple eggs, beans, cheese, tortillas, nice and hearty for like $3. O, plus the best coffee I've had since I've been down here, I think it was chocolate coffee or something. So after breakfast we figure out where a nice beach is. Well Mandy and Ashley go to a hotel we heard would let us use their beach if we bought drinks or food, however, when they go check it out, it is crap. Garbage, which I forgot to mention, this town was probably a great great getaway like 10 years ago. But now it's run down, looks like maybe a hurricane or just really bad storms have battered it up, and they also have a gas company that put a barge into the ocean and a plant right there, so I bet it ran alot of people/tourists outta town. Anyway, so the beaches we see from the pier and at the hotels are filled with garbage and small, nothing we could use. So we go for a walk to another beach we heard about that's like 15 minutes away. We get there and are verryyyy disappointed/shocked. I thought some people were going to cry (I'll put some of the pictures on here later, but most will be on facebook because what, you think I have all the time in the world to just sit on the computer? Some of us work for a living) The beach was covered in garbage. There was like a row of garbage between the sandy part and the actual Sea. Also, there was a nice view of the barge that has gas or oil things in the water, one of the other teachers told me what it is, but I can't remember the names. So we're all bummed out about this, and most of the teachers decide it's not worth staying and decide to go back to the hostel and do something else. But Mandy, Ashley, Kristen, and Me figure what else are we going to do all day? There was a little part of a beach we could lay out at and there was a restaurant right behind us, and I didn't plan on going into a big body of water anyways, just another little quirk of mine, so we figure, let's stay for a while, we brought our books and want sun. Here's a view of the beach......
So you might have guessed, storm clouds rolling in, and after about 30 minutes of sitting on this nice view of the garbage, beach, we decide to wait out the storm in the restaurant behind us. Well, obviously someone above us was watching and praising our patience of the situation because we discovered the most amazing thing! A POOL! Yes, it was a nice little lounge, with a hotel behind it, and this lounge had a pool! It was gorgeous! Well gorgeous for where we were! The 4 of us were soooo happy! We waited and for once in my life I was rolling with what was given and it turned out to be a glorious pool, with no one else around! So even though we came across this miracle, it's still raining, pretty hard, so we go sit under the restaurant and get a drink. It cost 100 lempiras for the day to swim, we find out, which is roughly $5.....sold! We had the most amazing, relaxing day!
We layed out, got only a little sunburned because we practically bathed in sunblock. We literally walked 15 min and already had a tanline. But we are close to the equator so the sun is that much hotter. We also met 2 new friends, of course they were 8 and 14 haha. They were sisters from the capital and go to a bilingual school. They were sweet and full of questions for us. They helped us with Spanish and we with English. Overall, after the start to our day, it turned out to be probably the most relaxing one I've had here (in Honduras), not a worry in the world. So after a day of baking in the sun, one of us coming out literally like she was cooked, it looked so painful, we made her sit in the shade the last hour we were there, we walked back to the hostel to see what everyone was up to. Everyone was down at this pizza joint so we showered and went down there for dinner. They said the pizza was awesome, so we figured it's gotta be good food. Wrong. Mandy and Ashley got a burger, which was terrible and I got a burrito which had beets inside. Who puts beets in a burrito? This place, it was awful. But we were starving, so we ate it. Deciding we probabbbllyyy wouldn't be back there. So Saturday we planned on going to this waterfall we heard about. It was a hike, which I was super excited about. We get up, have a nice hearty breakfast because then we didn't have to spend much during the day for lunch, I get my delicious coffee, and we're off. All but one couple go on this hike, and Kristen who has a torn ligiment in her foot. So 13 gringos (americans) walking around these back roads, looking for the path to the waterfall. We finally ask some locals and find it. It's literally a hike. We're climbing over boulders, crossing the rivers and small rapids, through this jungle-esk forest to find this stupid waterfall. And remember back last week I wrote how I totally wiped out walking into a place? Well apparently all this up and down bending is not good for a tailbone because it hurts like I've never felt before. I've had bruised tailbones I'm sure, but the pain was rough, luckily I was in the front of the pack so we had quite awhile to rest. Might I add while resting, I was tending to some red ant bites on my foot. Yup, definately stepped in a patch. It didn't hurt like I though, they just itched like mosquito bites. However my leg was starting to turn rashy and it felt funny, so of course I start to get panicky because we're in the middle of this river/rapids in the the jungle, and I'm going to need a leg amputation. I'm sure it was all a figment of my imagination because everyone else said my leg was probably just sunburned because duh, we were in the sun, so why would I put on sunblock? So we're sitting waiting for everyone, then when everyone catches up, they tell us one of the girls stayed back to wait, she couldn't make it any farther, she didn't wear the right type of shoes. Well, this was a grand idea leaving her in the middle of nowhere, by herself, while we all were still white, in the jungle, with wild animals and locals with machetes..... So I decide to call it quits, we have no idea where this waterfall is, we've been walking like 45 minutes, and a few others jump on board, so we go back, grab the girl and head back to the hostel......to take a nap. A much needed nap, because we're in a hostel, so I was lucky enough to sleep 4 hours in a row the first two nights. I kept waking up because 1. The pillows were terrible. 2. I drank so much water my blatter couldn't handle it, which was fine, at least I didn't get heat stroke or dehydration 3. we were IN A HOSTEL, ever see the movie? Yea, you try sleeping, even though we had a pad lock on our door. For being our first hostel though, it wasn't terrible. So, after waking up from our nap, everyone was gone, thanks. But whatever, we just asked the creepy other white foreigner, not from the states, he was from Ukraine or Bolivia or something European it sounded (side-note, he wassss, different...we went on a hike, we all had water, hiking clothes/shoes, cameras, you know..he was barefoot, had a large hat on, and brought his mini guitar, not a yukelayli, and not a guitar, I have no idea what it was, not to mention he was a true backpacker and didn't like showers or deodarant). So he told us they went to Henry's, the pizza place. Well we weren't too thrilled because that was what we had for dinner last night, and it wasn't good, and we wanted to try something new. So we went over and the power was out, this was the only day and it was only for like an hour, that the power went out, pretty awesome. So it was getting dark and almost dinner, we were hoping people had other plans for dinner, and luckily they did! They wanted to get seafood from this place we saw on the way to the hike, that had table cloths! I was stoked! We obviously said yes, and we went back to pick up others who had gone to shower. Now we hadn't showered all day, and didn't want to, but everyone else put on nice clothes, so we conformed and put on bathing suit coverups. We didn't want to stand out, duh. So we go to dinner and I get shrimp and it was probably the best meal most of us had....on the trip and definately my top 3 of my entire time down here. It was soooo good! Afterwards, we just go back because like I've said before, you don't want to be a gringo out late, well you don't want to be anyone out late unless you're a drug lord or prostitute, but we are probably the bad peoples first target. It wasn't late, but it was dark, pry like 8, so we just went back to hang out and play cards.
So our last full day, Sunday, we need to see the oldest fort in Central America, and go to a beach.....a real beach. So we decide to go early to the fort. It was really cool. It was the only fort with 3 walls built down here. It was to protect the coast...wellll because it's right on the coast. Here's a picture, but most of them will be on facebook because I got things to do, like I said before.
Here's a picture of our room and another room and the bathroom. our door is on the right, the middle one is the bathroom, and the left was one of the couple's room's. It looks small, but it was quaint.
Where we ate the first night, everything was open at all the restaurants, cute...and buggy!
a view from the pier by our hostel....GORGEOUS!
inside the room, two twin beds and a shelf to the right....but we had a light & ceiling fan
The fort
picture in the museum
model of the fort
Here's some sinpits explaining some of the fort stuff
I thought it was interesting to learn that the curved roof of all the rooms was because it stands against hurricanes and terrible storms. Never knew that......probably because I've never had to build something to withstand a hurricane.
So the fort was pretty awesome, we got a tour guide that cost about $1 each. He told us the history and little stories about the rooms. Which most had bats, so I didn't go in very far to some of them. But it was awesome to see, and now I have more random facts to add to my list!
So after the fort everyone was in desperate need of seeing a real beach. So after asking around, we figure out the bus to take. We get on, it's about a 10 minute ride and only cost 32 lempiras each, which is roughly under $4 bucks. The bus drops you off on the highway, it looks like the middle of nowehere, so I'm not expecting anything.....again. So we walk down some roads, for like 7 minutes. We then see these buildings and hear noises. There's people....in the water! Not surrounded by garbage! There's a nice, new looking, pier to jump off. There's restaurants! We were sooooo happy! We were in heaven. Here's a picture:
It was another nice, relaxing, day! A really nice end to the trip. When we got back, we all went to the seafood place again to eat. Why not? It was delicious and priced very well. This time everyone was with, which was nice, we played a little duck duck goose while waiting for the food.....mind you, we're all sober. We're getting good at coming up with things to do while waiting for food, since it takes forever to make 16 people food. So the food comes, we're all enjoying it, everyone really liked it, except one girl who got the a mix of seafood for soup. There was a whole fish in it, she didn't mind that but, she said the broth was tasted weird......probably because there was a whole fish in her soup. After dinner we walked back, in the dark. If it was light, we probably woulda been able to see the 2 random cows/possibly bulls, walking down the street.
So after getting by them, verrryyy carefullyyyyy, we get back, play some more cards and hit the sack. In the morning was departure time and mandy & i got up early to go see the pier in the morning and get some pictures. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend.....and we were all ready to come home, which we thought was kinda weird because home is Copan, which still seems like a vacation to me. Wait! Before we got home, we stopped in San Pedro Sula. This is a bigger city, I would compare it to Guadalajara, remember when I studied abroad in Mexico? That's the city I stayed in. It was a city, it had a mall, fast food, stores, grocery stores...and all the prices to come with it. Most stuff was priced with US prices. We bought a few things, like chocolate chips and crushed red pepper and brown sugar, things we can't get here, but for the most part I figured if we've gone a month with out it, we don't really need it. I almost caved and bought dunkin doughnuts bagged coffee, buuutttt I figured I can wait and bring some back at christmas, it's not a neccesity. After the store people were done, we met up with people who just went to the mall. It was time to eat! Immediately walking in the door, there is a Dunkin Doughnuts/ Baskin Robbins. I sprint over, of course. I have my first sip and it was amazingggg! I loved every drop. I had to get some doughnut holes too because, well I couldn't get dunkin and no doughnuts. So I drink and eat that as I'm waiting in line for Wendy's. I got a double cheeseburger, which I have never had a cheeseburger from Wendy's, not to mention never a double from anywhere (except big mac's but they don't count). It was like heaven in my mouth going down. I forgot how much fast food is just delicious! (If you think just those 2 are bad, this other teacher went to 4 or 5 different fast food places in the mall, she went crazy. Pretty sure she'll be paying for that this entire week). After a nice little lunch, back on the bus we went to home. We got back around 5:30 and since we had stuffed our faces, we didn't need to eat dinner, but went to bed because today was back to reality. I had a wonderful weekend, but don't worry, if you come visit, I'll hunt for a nicer beach place to go! I hope you all had a good weekend and aren't tired from reading this novel! Have a good week! (Look at facebook for the whole album of pictures!)
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