Yesterday I rested up during the day (my flight ended up being over five hours late). Last night, F and I went to an Italian place for dinner and caught up. Sadly, he leaves for the south of France tonight and I'll have to hang out at his place alone until N arrives on Saturday. Somehow, I think I'll survive.
My life is so hard and filled with challenges. :)
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Yesterday we went on a canopy tour. Ziplining is so fun! The weather was super clear yesterday and from a few of the lines we had a stunning view of the bay islands (cayos cochinos, Roatan, and Utila).
The place we went ziplining also had some hot springs and so after flying through the forest, we got to relax in the springs. It has been super hot lately and at first the thought of getting into hot water was not appealing. The pool where we went was nicely shaded and actually had two sources of water - regular cool creek water and the hot springs. This provided for a perfect combination of hot and cold. To make things even more relaxing we all got mud scrubs (a woman rubbed mud all over our bodies and then we jumped back into the spring after it dried) and fresh aloe on our faces. We spent a solid two hours just chilling in the water. So nice! Oh and something I should add: this was maybe the fourth time any of us had been in warm water the entire trip and was possibly the cleanest I've felt in the past month (even though I was in a hot spring with mud rubbed all over me).
By the time we got back, I was exhausted and hungry. Yesterday's food was kind of lacking: for lunch, we had pork rinds on a bed of yuca (like potatoes) and cabbage. I did not eat the pork and the rest of the lunch was straight up disgusting. For dinner we had grilled white bread with American cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup (according to our host mom, the ketchup in Honduras is super special). Just thinking of yesterday's meals makes me feel sick to my stomach.
Which leads me to my next order of business: I'm sick. I woke up the morning with a fever, aches and pains, and an upset stomach. At first I thought it was just the heat and being out of shape from ziplining so I got up and went to school. I only lasted about 1/2 an hour when I wandered home, turned on my industrial strength fan and passed out for 4 hours. I woke up feeling just as badly and decided I needed to see a doctor. Okay. It was just me who thought this: right now, there's an epidemic of Dengue Fever in Honduras and everyone is obsessed with it. Dengue is transmitted through mosquitoes and the symptoms are basically a bad flu (with some fun additions of retroorbital pain and an occasional rash: I had no eye pain but did have a rash from horseback riding in Copan). So what I'm saying is everyone thought I may have had Dengue so everyone was quick to take me to the hospital.
Rather than going to the public hospital where we had been shadowing for the past couple of weeks, I went to a private hospital, which is specifically for employees of the Standard Fruit Company (Dole). The contrast between the two places was striking. First of all, the private hospital looked like a hotel. We walked into the Emergency department and was seen by a doctor within 5 minutes. Compare this with the crowds of people waiting hours to see a doctor who shares his room with another MD and her patients.
My interview was kind of special since it was in Spanish and things got even more exciting when the nurse pantomimed to me that I needed to provide a sample of "poopoo." I had seen the doctor, given blood and poopoo samples, and got the test results within about an hour. All in all, with meds, it cost me about $75. Oh and it turns out I have a rotavirus (not Dengue!) and possibly some kind of bacterial infection.
In the waiting room at the ER K and S met a cute Honduran couple who gave us some tips of places to go in La Ceiba. We followed their suggestions and went to an awesome cafe right by the public hospital. The cafe was heaven: just the right AC, yummy food (not that I ate any of it) and a full library of books for exchange (I may have taken a little nap in the library at one point). We spent the whole afternoon there which was very relaxing. Now, I'm ready for bed even though it's only 8:30 or so. Big day!
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Okay. Little V has only gotten cuter during my stay and I can't take it anymore. Here are some more pics (S and I have decided that she's not very photogenic; she's much cuter in person). Oh. And now she calls my name ("yackie") whenever I enter the house and waves/says "Adios" in her cute 2-year old voice whenever I leave the room. Like I said before, her cuteness is almost unbearable and possibly a little freakish (I mean, how can one person be consistently cute all the time?!).
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Oh wait! I went to Copan this weekend! For those of you who don't know, Copan was an ancient Mayan city. It took us about 7 hours on a mini bus filled with Honduran teenagers to get to Copan from La Ceiba. Copan is only 11K from Guatemala so we got to see a lot of the Honduran countryside. Honduras is beautiful! It is very green with rolling hills. We passed various farms (bananas, corn, etc) with lots of cows... This was particularly exciting because a girl in our group is afraid of cows and kind of freaks out when she sees them (she thinks they're going to run after her and bite her arm). The roads are pretty bad (many rockslides and annoying speedbumps). There is also a fairly liberal passing policy on the roads here. Basically, it's perfectly acceptable for a minibus to pass a car on 1 lane curvy road with oncoming traffic.
The town of Copan is super cute. It's a little bit touristy and has a slight hippy feel to it. It seemed a lot cleaner than La Ceiba though there were more stray dogs roaming around. There also a bunch of tiny red minicabs (think covered tricycle motorbikes... I think they're little deathmobiles) racing around the cobblestone streets. There were a bunch of cute street vendors and cafes.
On Friday, after we arrived from La Ceiba, we grabbed lunch and explored the town. The next morning, we woke up early to go see the ruins. As some of you may remember, I was an anthropology major and took a Mesoamerican Civilizations class my sophomore year (thanks, Shawdog...). So what I'm saying is: like 8 years ago I knew something about the Mayans. And so walking around the Copan ruins was pretty exciting! The size and complexity of the structures were very impressive and we were even able to go in archaeological tunnels to see older ruins (each king would build a new city on top of the old one to signify his power).
After a full morning of ruins exploration, our group went horseback riding (don't worry I loaded up on allergy meds before the ride). Of course, my horse was the smallest and didn't want to move. I brought up the rear in true LRC fashion. Oh and not one but two horses decided to bite my legs (so random, I know). Halfway through the ride it started pouring down rain and we took shelter near an indigenous Mayan school where there were a bunch of cute kids trying to sell us handmade cornhusk dolls (I declined... sorry mom).
Our ride back to La Ceiba was treacherous and I wanted to kill myself because the highschool kids thought it would be fun to sing along to the bus driver's weird techno music and play clapping games. So so special. Anyway I'm exhausted now and it's almost time for bed (or last week of classes starts tomorrow!).
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After the morning's activities, we return home for a big lunch. Lunch almost always includes some form of fried plantains and rice and beans. Usually we have meat, too. It's definitely the biggest meal of the day and is a little heavy for my taste... especially in the heat.
Dinner is pretty small. We usually have baleadas (beans and cheese in a flour tortilla), pastelitos (fried dough filled with rice, beans and sometimes meat), or quesadillas on handmade corn tortillas. This may sound like a lot but each of these is served in appetizer sized portions.
Okay. You're probably thinking "wow, J! Thanks so much for that boring glimpse of your daily life. I don't care what you eat." To this I say: true, but I promise this is going somewhere.
During meals, our crazy host mother, G, sits with us and usually tells us about her menopause medications (they're all natural and she takes them twice a day and they're very expensive). When she's not talking about menopause, or the heat (another daily topic, which is shocking because it is almost always hot in Honduras), she likes to tell us that we're fat. "Oh! Que gordas!"
Last night we were super gordas because we asked for seconds at dinner: in total we had about the equivalent of a 6-inch subway sandwich with a light layer of beans and sour cream in it = not that much. After dinner, S and I were chilling in my room when G decided to come in and called us fatties again (okay, this time I may have been sprawled out on the bed like an obese person in a food coma after turkey day). She then convinced us to go for an evening stroll around the neighborhood. It sounded simple enough and the night was cool so we agreed.
The walk started off as expected. We went to a local bodega and checked out some of the local goods. Next thing we knew, we were getting into a truck with one of G's friends, cruising the streets of La Ceiba. Umm WHAT?! Good thing S and I had 1) no money 2) no ID and 3) no idea where we were. The first stop was the beach where a bunch of locals were chillin and kids were playing in the water. "Don't go in there!" G yelled at some child running towards the water, "there's poopoo in there!" hmmm. I'm also pretty sure it was the beach that the school director told us to avoid going to after dark because that's where "drug addicts inject and sniff drugs." sweet!
G and friend (who was a dude) clearly wanted to get a drink somewhere so we got back in the truck and drove to another beach on the other side of town. The bar was right on the beach and consisted of tables under a big tent. Patrick Swayze's "She's like the wind" was playing (yesss). Even though S and I had to be up early (5am departure the next morning) for a trip to Copan, we were persuaded to have a beer. As random as it was, the beach bar was pretty cool. We watched a crazy rain storm with lightening over the ocean and then walked along the beach. While S and I tried to avoid the crabs scuttling across the sand (and our feet), G (who is married) was making out with her friend (obviously). When we returned to the bar the friend ordered us more beer (twist our arms). Then, he unexpectedly got up, ordered us more beer, and said he'd be back in a bit. So now, S and I were stranded at some random beach bar, a little buzzed, with our crazy host mom.
Luckily the friend returned after about 45 minutes and we headed back to our neighborhood, Colonia El Sauce. Finally! We thought. (we still had to pack for our early morning trip). Wrong! Instead of going home, we stopped at the friend's store where some people were sitting out front drinking beers. More beer appeared in front of us (which we tried to refuse, which didn't work). So we sat around, joking with G: she made fun of my fat legs and S's big butt (she's a "chine especial" even though she's Korean) and we mostly laughed awkwardly. G spit some beer in S's face (accidentally, of course). Finally, we decided to walk home. Our short evening stroll, which began at 7 came to an end around midnight. At least we made it home alive!
I thought the excitement was over for the night when I heard S screaming from the other room: a cockroach! After an epic battle involving folded papers, a broom and lots of DEET, we prevailed and S could sleep the 3.5 hours we had before leaving for Copan in peace.
Yup. Just a typical night in Honduras. And it all started because S and I are gordas.
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Last weekend we took a trip to Cayos Cochinos which is a group of small islands off the coast. We took a small boat over there and then cruised around the islands. The islands look like the stereotypical tropical paradise with white sand beaches, palm trees, and crystal clear turquoise water. We stopped a couple of times to snorkel - there is a huge barrier reef off the coast of Honduras and so the diving and snorkeling is really good here.
Everyone had warned us to be careful about the sun because everyone gets sunburned on the trip, so I planned ahead and bought a longsleeved shirt to wear snorkeling (as we all know, I'm like a vampire and can't be out in the sun for very long/ever). At the mall in La Ceiba (which is strangely similar to malls back in the states... Including the prices) K, S, and I searched everywhere for a longsleeved shirt. Just when we were about to give up (there were literally zero longsleeved shirts at the mall... Maybe because it's ridiculously hot here), I came across a gem: a mint green shirt with the phrase "I can only guess where I'll be tomorrow" in SEQUINS!! Obviously I bought it and wore it snorkeling (and I'm proud to say that I didn't get burned). S and K also got them in different colors and we're looking forward to debuting them back at school (test days? Poster presentations during retreat? I can only guess...).
On Monday we started going to the public hospital in La Ceiba. We split our time between the emergency department (which is more like urgent care) and labor and delivery (which is more like a baby factory). The hospital has very little supplies and uses hardly any technology. I found the lack of technology particularly interesting because the doctors totally manage without it; I kind of think it makes them better doctors. In L&D they do everything by hand (finding/counting fetal heartrates, determining the position of the fetuses, counting contractions, etc.) some of which we would never learn to do in the US because we wouldn't need to.
In general L&D is crazy. The women receive no pain meds and have to walk themselves over to the delivery bed. The entire process is completely solitary: the woman has to labor alone (no family allowed) and there is nobody giving them support while they're delivering. The doctors barely even talk to the women or fill them in on what's going on.
Okay. Enough about the hospital for now. I'm actually on the island of Roatan right now (my view while writing this is pictured) and I think it's time to enjoy the beach.
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Ok no time to talk. We're out the door to get to a fiesta at school. Yay!
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As for the real reason I'm here (you know, learning Spanish or whatever) I had my first class yesterday. The classes are 1 on 1 with a teacher and 4 hours long. It's pretty intense but hopefully I'll learn some Spanish by the end. Right now I feel pretty lame with my lack of spanish skills. Basically I use a lot of hands and "si" while I'm at home.
Yesterday after class we went to a private property that was on the river but also on the beach. La Ceiba is on the Caribbean and the water at the beach is warm! The river water was cooler and a lot more refreshing (and in the shade) so we spent more time in the river. It was pretty calm and little fish would swim up to you and nibble on you if you stand still. Kinda creepy/funny. We also gorged on pineapple, canteloupe, and watermelon. The fruit here is super ripe and delicious.
Today we explored La Ceiba by taking a field trip into El Centro or the town center. Our neighborhood, colonia el sauce, is a little outside and very residential so going into town was a change. We explored the markets (including a kinda gross meatmarket) and ate at a local restaurant. We had pastilletos (?) which were like mini empenadas with ground beef and rice and beans inside. We also had horchata which is different from the Mexican horchata we know from home; the Honduran version has peanuts in it.
This afternoon S and I accompanied little K (9 year old in our host family) to the Museo Mariposa or butterfly museum down the street. The museum was basically the back house of this older American guy's property with his impressive butterfly/bug collection. umm I held a tarantula! Little K was super excited which was cute. We had figured that she had been a bunch of times because the museum is so close but it turns out she had never been before! Later, back at the house she comes into S's room (which is normally our host mom's room... Which is awkward) and announces that she is getting a new bicycle. Then she squirts on some of her mom's perfume, brushes her hair, puts on a headband and says "estoy feliz. I am happy." So precious.
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