Honduras Day 2

Friday, December 21, 2007.
We were up early to be picked up by our tour guide, but the pick up was fairly useless, because we went right back into town and hung around the tour office while the rest of our tour mates joined us. Jen and I were the only USers--Mark is from Canada, and our other tour mates were from Italy and France.

The point of the trip was kayaking on a river and swimming on a beach. The beach was a deserted, quiet place in a town called Triunfo de la Cruz. It's a Garifuna village, all dirt roads and wandering animals, but that doesn't stop Pepsi and Coke from plastering their names on every available piece of property.

We took a long winding way through the town, and finally arrived at our entry point on the river. From there on it was kayaking and seeing all kinds of cool things. We never saw a really big crocodile, but we heard an ominous splash as we came around a bend in the river--a big splash. We did see baby crocs, birds, and monkeys! For the rest of this post, I'm going to rely completely on photos. And videos, if I can get them to load.

Breakfast at the hotel before we left on our tour


Pepsi is Omnipresent


Pig in the Road


The Africa Discotec.
I wonder if we could really have danced here.


Kayak entry point

Video of kayaking through the river


White-faced monkey in a tree!


The beach


Thatched cabanas on the beach

Where do I begin . . .

First things first: I need some plans for New Year's Eve that do not involve me sitting alone in my house (or being alone anywhere, for that matter). I'm not great fun at parties, but I don't get drunk and try to makeout with someone's boyfriend, either. So, if calm and drama-free is a plus for your gathering, please let me know. It's gotten to the point where I dread this holiday simply because getting something together requires effort, now that my college friends seem to have abandoned our New Year Reunion tradition.

Okay, on to Honduras. I haven't blogged in 11 days, but that was mostly because I was lazy, not because I didn't have a computer. So I'll be posting in stages. First, Day 1 and 2.

December 19-20, 2007.
I had to take a little side jaunt to Chicago on my way to Miami to catch my flight to Honduras (did you catch that) and I had just taken my seat in the plane from DC to Chicago when the flight attendant announced that the plane was "out of service" and we all needed to get off. We all looked at each other like she must be kidding, but nope. Off we went. And I called and rebooked myself (after some stress) on a flight directly to Miami, bypassing Chicago altogether, which is what I wanted all along. Trouble is, I had to abandon my luggage and hope for the best. But . . . a Christmas miracle! When I exited customs in San Pedro Sula, there was my luggage. Both bags! So, I grabbed them and went to meet Jen.

Jen splits her time between life in the city (San Pedro Sula) and the country (the camp where she works). We were spending the night in SPS because it was already 7:30 by the time I arrived, and because of safety issues, giant potholes, and ridiculous dark tinting on her car windows, Jen prefers not to drive anywhere at night. She did drive me back to the house she is currently living in (while house-sitting) in the dark, and I got to see a little of the city. Mostly I counted US restaurant chains: Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway, Wendy's, etc. When we got to the house I was introduced to Baxter and Biscuit (dog security) and the giant metal gates, padlocks, and concertina wire that seem to surround the houses in SPS. Robbery must be a major problem, because the house we stayed in had all of the above, plus a neighborhood watchman armed with a handgun.

San Pedro Sula is very much like the bad future in Back to the Future 2--the one where Biff is in charge and there are bars on the window of Marty's old house.

Biscuit and Baxter



But . . . I digress. We stayed at the house (very nice, by Honduran standards) that night and then got up and drove to Tela the next morning. Tela is a beach town, and we stayed in a very tall pink hotel on a hill, with an awesome view of the water. It reminded me of the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. We walked into town to buy sunscreen ($11!) and then laid in the hammocks at the hotel for the rest of the afternoon. Later, a friend of Jen's named Mark joined us, and we went to dinner at a local restaurant near the beach where we were entertained by a fire-breather.

Me in a hole-y hammock


The three hammocks


Part of the pink hotel


View from a hammock

it's never easy and it's never clear

RIP, Dan Fogelberg.

Lifetimes

About forty years ago, when my dad was a teenager, he and his friends would travel to downtown Lancaster to go to the movies. Being conservative Mennonites, movies were forbidden by the church, so these rebellious boys would stand in line outside the theater ducking down behind other patrons “just in case” their bishop drove by. If the bishop saw them, there would be confrontations and issues and discussions with parents, but because they wanted to see such forbidden fare as The Glass Bottom Boat starring Doris Day, my dad and his friends went out anyway. And hid.

Last night I went out to an area restaurant. We were waiting for our drink orders when MY bishop entered the place. I smiled and waved at him and his wife, and they sat right behind us. The waitress brought my white russian, and as I took a sip, I heard a waitress reciting the beer selection behind me.

I have no idea what he ordered; I’m pretty sure it was a beer, and I certainly felt no qualms about finishing my drink in front of him as the two of them said good-bye to us and headed out the door.

I guess it doesn’t really need to be stated, but I’m going to state it anyway: a lot has changed around here.

Feliz Navidad

This is the week at work where piles of chocolate, truffles, nuts, cookies, and various other stuff from clients appear on the table in the kitchen . . . and of course, we all eat them. Today I had a really interesting cream puff cookie and a yummy bitter chocolate truffle--both highly recommended. Then tonight I went to the gym to try to counteract all of it.

Hard to believe that a week from tonight I'll be in another country. I don't think I've really talked about it here, but in a week I'm flying to Honduras for Christmas. I'm going to spend the week with my cousin Jen, and see another country. I'm excited about both of those things, but I'm weirded out by the idea that Christmas isn't going to happen the same way this year. I could go home and spend the holiday with my parents, alone, and although I love my parents, that's not exactly appealing either. I'd miss the big family Christmas either way, because this is the year that all of my married cousins and brother are with their in-laws.

Tonight Jen called to go over some logistics and she mentioned sunscreen--which is a good thing, because such a thing never would've crossed my mind at this point. Sunscreen seems like it belongs in a faraway place. It's been raining here for days and days, and tomorrow there's supposed to be ice (Ha! Yeah, right).

So, that's the plan. I will go spend Christmas on the beach--well, probably not on the beach, more likely with the monkeys and strychnine trees in the subtropical jungle. No doubt there will be pictures to come.

whatever bubbles, bubbles up

Because I write ad copy, I subscribe to a bunch of marketing newsletters. Because I subscribe to a bunch of marketing newsletters, I hear all about the latest and greatest in social networking, search engines, online marketing, etc., etc. And because I hear all about the latest and greatest trends, I find this video to be particularly amusing. Also because I love We Didn't Start the Fire. (in fifth grade I loved it for real, now I just love it ironically.)

Lazy Sunday

I went to our work Christmas party on Friday night and then spent most of the rest of the weekend sleeping, or so it seems. And watching a bunch of episodes of 30 Rock on DVD. And going to church today. It was a completely lazy weekend, although I did manage to clean up my kitchen tonight while I was on the phone with my parents.

For this year's party, we were in the Nigerian room--the room where they ask you for your social security number and bank account so they can send you the fortune of a former high-ranking official. (Zing!)

Anyway, the party was fun; I posted some pictures on Facebook, but they're mostly just of people eating. We ate, drank, danced, and won things in a raffle. I didn't win anything, but many from my department did.

And now back to work tomorrow for plain old job stuff. Whoo-hoo.

Snowed In

After all my complaining about weather hype in the last post, it actually snowed several inches today! And the weather people hadn't really gone forecasting crazy, that I noticed. Maybe they were chagrined after their weekend failure (isn't chagrined a good word?). Despite the lack of weather mania, the milk case at Weis was still pretty much cleaned out at noon today.

I blame December 5. I think in the last six years it's snowed on at least three December 5ths. I'm not sure why I know that, but it comes from my high school attendance secretary days. Snow was always such a Big Deal. I'm glad I don't have to deal with multiple teenagers stopping by to ask "are we getting out early?" for the millionth time. "No. You're not. Go back to class." I wasn't very sympathetic.

So I came home, "shoveled" my sidewalk, put on sweatpants, and spent the rest of the evening being lazy. Because it's impossible to drive anywhere in these treacherous conditions, right? So of course the gym is totally out.

December Dabbling

I'm flipping back and forth between a really stupid show on NBC (I think it's Life, and it's really annoying me) and the Patriots-Ravens game, which is also really annoying me. If the Patriots even lose to the Ravens . . .

So today I almost killed my boss by turning left into an intersection when the LIGHT WAS RED. What is my problem? I mean, she was talking and I was listening, so maybe that says something about my listening skills. On the other hand, it says nothing about my multi-tasking skills. Because clearly I can't listen and drive at the same time. Sometimes my brain goes on hiatus when I'm driving, and I completely miss things like red lights. Fortunately that's rare. Today it just happened to take place when my boss was sitting in the passenger seat. Thank God nothing happened. This takes place only a few weeks after I set off the smoke alarm in the company kitchen, promptly summoning the fire department. Flighty is about the last word you'd use to describe me, though, so I think these are just random incidents. Unless I'm developing frontal lobe dementia. In which case I'm actually regressing.

Last week I was worried because I thought I was gaining weight. This week, I'm back to normal. How do you gain three pounds one week and lose them the next? Ridiculous.

I have a small crush on a guy at work, but not for any good reason. It's not even a crush. He's an insensitive frat-boy type, very funny, somewhat shallow, occasionally obnoxious. And yet, I feel like if I could get him to acknowledge me in THAT way, well, I will have won something. Like it would be some kind of triumph. So this "crush" is nothing but combative, and I mostly laugh at myself. Sheesh.

Last weekend there was supposed to be inches of snow and freezing rain--a mild apocalypse, crazy treacherous roads. Guess what happened? Absolutely nothing. Today's forecast: 50 mph winds and resulting horrors. Again, nothing too extreme took place. A few flurries. Local weather forecasters should be banned from TV. They do nothing except create mass hysteria--and giant letdowns when nothing happens.