Semana Santa

I'm home from a wonderful trip to Tela, Honduras on the Caribbean, and I've taken a day to be a bum and try to soak up some alone-time after about six days without any... I've considered writing a long, day-by-day account of our adventure, but I'm a little low on energy and patience for that right now. Instead, I can offer a bullet-point list...

Day One:

• Left at 4:30am on Saturday with Twana, Hannah, and Emily
• Took the Christina bus lines to Tela. It wasn't bad. Basically an old charter bus with open windows instead of air conditioning
• Arrived in Tela around lunch time
• Discovered buses weren't running on Thursday (when we originally planned to return)
• Decided to cut the trip short by one day to make it back to Tegus
• Saw a crowd gathered around a dead man (under a white sheet) on the beach
• Played in the clear, gorgeous water
• Found out Mom was right and that there are real reasons why sitting in the sand to play with the incoming waves isn't as fun as it seems in the moment
• Emily's wallet was stolen while she was reading and not paying attention
• Saw a person dressed in a dinosaur (gecko?) suit riding a bicycle
• Forded the river
• Ate shrimp and marked the obligatory seafood meal off my list
• Saw dogs, horses, and 4-wheelers on the beach
• Slept in a room with air-conditioning

Day Two:

• Woke up to the LOUD sounds of a Palm Sunday parade. Thought it was neighbors watching television at an annoying volume
• Most crowded day on the beach
• Was hit on by a young guy selling sunglasses who told us he is the perfect man
• While laying out, were asked by a dirty middle-aged man if he could take our picture. After telling him no, were disgusted and outraged when he did it anyway
• Bought a pink float
• Felt a little seasick while using the float in the waves
• Found a cute Honduran family to give the float to and thoroughly enjoyed the mom's excited squeal when I offered it to them
• Read, listened to my ipod, and slept in a hammock on a gorgeous porch overlooking the beach
• Ate really good pizza for a great price in a place that, based on the wall art, may have been a daycare at some point
• Sat with amazing girls on the top deck of my hotel enjoying the moonlight and gorgeous weather

Day Three:

• Woke up and found a LARGE ship anchored out in the water. Tried to figure out if it was a people-ship or a cargo-ship
• Saw LARGE iguanas in the trees around us during breakfast
• It was a GORGEOUS day and the beach was much calmer and more enjoyable
• We dug chair-like spots in the sand for perfect reading-spots and called them thrones
• Despite SPF 50, got a bit burned
• Had a bad lunch with bad service
• Ate at a hole-in-the-wall called The Bungalow owned and operated by a man from New Orleans
• Played a dice game called Farkle at the restaurant while attempting to wait out a tremendous rain storm
• Took a taxi just around the corner because the rain wouldn't let up

Day Four:

• Woke up to an overcast, rainy day (probably best for our skin...)
• The ship was gone
• Had to cancel our reservations for a day trip to Punta Sal for snorkeling, hiking, and exploring
• Watched a movie
• Read
• Got pedicures
• Ate baleadas at Tia Carmen's - a rough-looking old house without a foundation
• Favorite quotes from that dinner, "I feel like I'm eating in someone's house..." "I think you are."

Day Five:

• Walked on the beach to explore and collect some gorgeous stones (not shells - stones. Welcome to Honduras.)
• Had pizza again
• Took a much nicer bus back to Tegus
• My maturity almost ran out in the last hour of that long journey as the exhaustion set in

First Day at Home (Today):

• Crashed and burned and felt a little reclusive
• Thankful to have this apartment all to myself
• Glad to be home

Current Thoughts:

• I'm glad we have down-time between our vacation and our return to school
• I may try to go into the city tomorrow to see the sawdust carpets that are traditionally done for the Easter celebrations in Latin America
• The beach was beautiful, but the town was still Honduras. It was a little sketch.
• It's not like I'm into bungee-jumping or anything, but sometimes I can't believe the risks that my friends and I take. I'm glad the Lord is sovereign over our physical safety and our health.
• Feeling like something's missing - but not really sure what...
• Need to work on report cards
• Thinking about buying a desktop computer when I come home. Feeling old because of these thoughts
• Missing my family, but not really in the mood to talk.
• Not that talking is really an option. Something's wrong with Skype and/or my computer.
• Planning to upload some of Twana's pictures and call it a day.