Saturday, September, 29, 2012
Today was an unexpected day, not in a bad way, just a day where we threw the plan book out the window and enjoyed what surrounded us. After being on a trip for 6 days and traveling all over a country you can imagine the exhaustion; and the anticipation but also sadness with the thought of leaving this new place and returning home.
As we savored our day and went our own ways, Joy, Dr. Wilson, and myself decided to enjoy the community where we were staying, along with the beach and the pool. Just some time to savor our current place of being.
The city of Tela is medium sized in comparison to others, it is not large and scattered like Tegucigalpa, but not as quiet as Copan. In any case it was still new territory so without a guide or driver we were unsure of what direction to go in and were at breakfast trying to make a plan. Then, as luck would have it Joy recognized a guy who spoke English that she and the others had met the night before. So with Dr. Wilson giving her a little nudge, she went over and asked him what area of town he suggested would be safe for us to walk to and if it was okay to walk in town by ourselves. And what do you know, he offered to be our personal guide and join us for our walk.
We met in the lobby at 10:30am and as we walked towards town learned that he was an intern from the University of Richmond. His internship is with the resort manager for the fall semester, but this has got to be one of the coolest internships ever because he lives at the resort, has weekends off, and had a week off not that long ago! It sure beat the heck out of my internship of milking cows all hours of the night and mowing hay. Anyways, moving on, we learned that is parents are from Honduras, but live in the US and were a typical blue collar family. He attended a boarding school in Connecticut and now in his last year of college, still trying to figure out exactly his plans for the future. Although on an internship for international business management/travel//tourism he has realized real quick that managing a hotel would not be his future plan.
In town we all found a few local shops that were interesting and one with some great local goods. Dr. Wilson was on the hunt for leather belts, and it just so happened there were several in this one shop. So we were all meandering around the shop when we hear Wilson say to our new friend, "What size pants do you wear?" Joy and I literally busted out laughing!!!! Then it became a comical moment for the books on this trip. You could see him get just a little embarrassed but he laughed right along with us. This turned into what we told him would be great for his resume as he now got to be our official "belt model." I think Wilson had him try on at least 5 belts to determine which ones would fit her son and her husband. May not seem as comical in this blog as it was in person, but just imagine meeting a young man, from the States, in Honduras at a Tropical Resort, who then gave you a tour around town and you asked him to try stuff on for you.... Hmm maybe a bit creepy, maybe a bit odd, but a whole lot of humor for our morning!
As we continued in town it was great to have the opportunity to just talk with a new person, learn about Honduras, see the local vendors and their market place, and just be casual. In education there is not always a time when you can relax, reflect, and re-energize. When in fact it may be what you need more than anything.
A few hours passed an we were just dripping in sweat, and let me tell you, the idea of "glowing" went out the window last Sunday when we melted in the airport parking lot in about 5 minutes. Today we experienced a bit of a different kind of heat though, there were intense rays and little air movement. An occasional breeze went by but was only really noticeable if you were in the shade. However, at our disposal were an entire beach or resort pool with a water-slide and all. So why pass up such opportunities? Well, being that I did not bring a bathing suit I was really hesitant about the idea of enjoying these luxuries... However since Joy and Wilson both said, who the heck is going to remember what you had on here or ever see you again here, it was enough to give me a boost. So, I went back a few decades and enjoyed the water in my tank top and shorts... Obviously by sharing that on a blog it no longer becomes something people can forget about, but it was an experience, and it wasn't terrible, so why not share it. Plus maybe this will help with the packing list reminders for my next travel. You never know when you might experience it too!
The ocean was absolutely gorgeous! Now, if you plan to be visiting the North Coast of Honduras, this is a great new area that is trying to develop into a tourist attraction, however do not expect those turquoise blue seas that you might experience in the other Caribbean areas. It appears much like an East Coast beach, minus the shells and strong undertow. The temperature was honestly warmer than most showers that I took this week and salt content very high. After an hour or so, it wasn't really refreshing anymore so we tried the pool. But in all honesty I think Joy and I could have chilled at the beach for a week and been perfectly content... Only if it were a vacation of course, I mean we surely don't want to give an impression like it was better than all the agricultural sites we had seen this week ;-)
The pool was as warm as bath water as well, but it had a slide, so it had to be experienced. After all, this trips is all about exploring what Honduras has to offer!
Lunch at the restaurant on the beach was enjoyable as we met back up with the group and there were 8 of us together again. Joy and I indulged in a Cheeseburger, which I have been hankering for about 3 days now and after having the one I had today, I will probably not be hankering for one for a very long time since it was so incredibly gross!! Remember all the media craze when people were complaining about "pink slime?" Ya, that's nothing compared to this mushy, pressed patty that existed somewhere between a bun and tomato. However, this was one of few meals that wasn't real great so it's okay.
Then as the afternoon rolled around we once again loaded up in the green van and headed for another new town. Tonight we arrived in San Pedro Sula, a popular city and the location of the other main airport that we would be traveling from. We have a morning flight so we are at a nice, modern and quiet hotel just a few blocks away from the busy areas of the city. We checked in and as we went to our rooms learned about some new energy efficient practices that the hotel had in place. I say this, because we at first thought our room was without power, but then after trying all the switches and remotes, I noticed a slot on the wall for the room key, it had a red light on it, but no real directions or anything saying what would happen if you did put a card in it. Without knowing if I was calling for room service or dispatching someone, I put the card in and all of a sudden all the switches that had been turned on began to work and we could set the air conditioner too! So much ingenuity in a place that we questioned development in so many ways.
As a group we made a quick trip to the mall, checked out local stores and had some snacks at the food court. When our driver dropped us off a the hotel it was time to say goodbye to our new friend Julia, who was beyond helpful this week. I could not imagine having come here, knowing so little Spanish, and nothing about the physical aspects of Honduras and she not be with us to guide us and ease the language barrier. A thank you seems hardly enough for a person who gave up so much of their time to explore with us and have the patience for our thousands of questions.
Joy and I returned to our room for a few hours of synthesizing and reminiscing about our trip. We can hardly believe it has been a week, it went by so quickly, most days not really even knowing what day of the week it was or what time it was. We recapped about how we spent less than $200 on food for a week, but spent more on snacks and bottled water than we even realized. Thought about where our money had went and not went, and how each souvenir has a story or bargain behind it.
Honduras has been an amazing experience and I pray that tomorrow we have an easy travel to the airport and a safe flight home.
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