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.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
No comments:
Post a Comment