My First Visitors! along with another first...

Well, I finally got to be a tourist! I had a great time with Mer and Jacque, who were such good sports to spend their vacation time visiting me in a third world country. We went all over Honduras, having adventures or just taking in the sights.

Of course, the adventure began at the airport, when Sor Eduviges and I waited over an hour after they were supposed to have landed for them to get off the plane. This wouldn't have been such a big deal had the airport been equipped with those screens that tell you if a flight is delayed or not. But, alas, it doesn't have anything like that. But once they finally appeared, it was super easy and we headed to the central plaza to eat lunch, and then home to Santa Rosa, just in time for the end of the big fundraising event at the school. They got to see our group of guitar girls in concert and the raffle too.



Sunday we spent walking around Santa Rosa, trying out a coffee shop and seeing the sights. Then, on Monday we went to Gracias to see the old Spanish fort. Jacque wasn´t feeling so well, but she was a very good sport and went along anyway. We took the driving tour of Gracias with Don Cristian, our wonderful Honduran guide. Later on, he took us to Aguas Termales, some supposedly medicinal hot springs. Jacque claims it´s not true though, since the waters didn´t cure her. It was a good time anyway.

Tuesday, Don Cristian took us to La Campa, a small town that used to be a center for Spanish silver mines, but now they make their money by preserving their indigenous customs and making pottery. One woman showed us how she made pots and gave us a tour of her house and her various ovens.

Wednesday began the real adventure, though. We all wanted to go to the beach, and since we only had a day, we decided to go to the nearest touristy beach to Santa Rosa, which happens to be Puerto Cortés. Dani, another volunteer here, went with us, and we took the bus. I´d never been on the bus without a Honduran with me, but since I had the most experience, I was basically in charge. And the bus system is definitely not like any I´ve had experience with in the US. When we got to the bus terminal in San Pedro, we just walked around until a man came up to us to ask where we wanted to go. When I told him Puerto Cortés, he got us a van, and then went around asking other people if they were going there too, to fill it up. And he actually did. It was raining that day, so we had a great time once we got off the van an hour and a half later in Puerto Cortés, trying to find the tourist office. I figured that would be the best place to find a good hotel (definition: cheap but safe). It was absolutely pouring and we were soaked from walking around, so we went into a Wendy´s to have lunch. It was so expensive and the food wasn´t as good as the Wendy´s in the US, but it was nice to have something familiar.

After that, we resumed our search for the tourist office, and for being a tourist town, nobody really knew where it was. Finally, a man told us we were on the right street and we just needed to keep walking a few blocks. Which we were very eager to do, until we came across the world´s most gigantic puddle. It was like a low water crossing in the middle of the street, and there was no way we were going to wade across it. So we hailed a cab to take us two blocks (but, of course, indirectly, since he had no idea where it was and had to stop and ask a few people where it was... turned out it was two blocks ahead of where we were). Anyway, after we got there, we met Roy the tourist guy, who turned out to be extremely helpful. He gave us a good recommendation for a hotel and a restaurant and warned us not to go walking around at night and that it was going to be raining the whole time.

The taxi guy waited for us and took us to Roy´s recommended hotel, where they were waiting for us with a discount, another gift from Roy! He´d called ahead. So we pretty much just hung around the hotel until dinnertime, when we went to a restaurant at the end of a pier. If it hadn´t been raining and not in the offseason for tourism, it was easy to see that it was resort-y and touristy. Our waiter seated us so we could all watch Honduras play Jamaica. And brought us some delicious seafood. It was so good! Then we went back to the hotel and hung out until it was time to go to bed. The next day, it was still kind of rainy, so we decided to head back to Santa Rosa. We called Toño, our trusty taxi driver, who took us to a great tourist trap (I bought a hammock!) and then showed us where we could catch a bus back to San Pedro. Of course, after we were already on the bus headed back to San Pedro, the sun came out. But we got back anyway, safe and sound.

This is what was on TV in the hotel before the game... one-legged soccer.

This is what was on our wall in the hotel... I think we had a leak, it was raining that hard.

Despite the rain, we had a fantastic time. Here´s Mer, proving how happy we are with the hotel.

I bet it´s gorgeous when it´s sunny.

On Friday, we got up early and went to the famous Mayan ruins of Copán! The sisters had arranged for us to go with the priest in the Dulce Nombre parish. Padre Efraín was a great guide, very funny and he practiced his English with us. We got a tour of all the ruins with a third generation tour guide who knew so incredibly much about everything. He was great. And he took a lot of pictures for us. After that, Padre Efraín took us to the museum that had more original pieces, preserved from the acid rain. Then, we went to eat lunch in a fancy hotel. I finally felt like I was in a touristy place, and couldn´t stop gawking at the tourists. It was a really weird feeling.

The ruins double as a sanctuary, and these macaws were the first I´d seen since I got here, even though it´s the national bird.

Our guide let me hold his staff for the picture.

Here we are with Padre.

Another tourist! at the wall that tells a story in heiroglyphics. Apparently, the archaeologists put it back together out of order though, so nobody knows what it says.

On the way back to Santa Rosa, Padre told me that he always gets really tired after lunch. I told him I´d talk to him to keep him awake, but he thought it would be a better idea if I just drove so he could take a nap. I pretty much knew where I was going, but I´m still not completely comfortable driving around in Honduras, especially when it´s pouring down rain, on highways prone to landslides and corrupt police that sometimes aren´t even real police, and meeting 18-wheelers around sharp curves. But I managed not to kill anyone, nor did I get pulled over, which was also great since I hadn´t brought my license or anything. After a while, Padre woke up and we switched back. And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, on Saturday, we left in the early morning to go back to the airport in San Pedro. Mer and Jacque and I all said bye, and they left for home... such a fun week!

However, I´d been feeling bad since we got back from the beach, with a fever, and just feeling achy all over and tired (even better for driving Padre´s truck). But I´d stuck it out to go to the ruins, because I was kind of embarrassed that I´d been here for months and months and still hadn´t made it over there. Anyway, as I found out a few days later, after finally going to the doctor, that it was dengue! I must have gotten bitten by a mosquito at the beach. The sisters had been telling me that´s what I had, but I didn´t really believe them. I spent all day in bed and didn´t really eat anything, so I guess I was pretty sick. It wasn´t as bad as I thought it would be though, since it was just being achy and having a fever, pretty much like having the flu. Anyway, I had to go to the doctor every day to get my blood tested to make sure my platelet level didn´t get too low. If they got really low, I´d have to go to the hospital, and since I´d already seen the hospital, there was no way I was going there. It is a very scary place, with people sharing beds, sometimes 3 or 4 to a single bed, and just blood on the floor that nobody has bothered to clean up. So I definitely didn´t want to end up in the hospital. They told me later on that there was another private hospital on the other side of town that I´d never heard of, but that it was super expensive. And, as I am a volunteer, I´m glad I avoided going there too. After a few days, I started to feel better, but then came the really itchy skin. That was way worse than the fever and achiness. But that went away fairly quickly too. So after about a week and a half, it had pretty much run its course, I had my last blood test, and got the clear from the doctor. So, for having been in Central America for about seven months, I guess I had pretty good luck for just now getting sick for the first time! I´m as good as new now, of course, but I don´t really want to go through it again.

Anyway, that´s what´s been happening here, and as the school year is now officially over, I´ll be travelling around more with the sisters and having more time to do things outside the school.

Adios!