On Thursday, Oskar, Allie, Katrin, Viktoria and I went to an ICYE gathering at Ruby Tuesday (an American restaurant). During Happy Hour, it’s buy one get one free for appetisers. ICYE were paying, so we thought we would order 5, and end up with 10, as we had no idea how big they were. Rodolfo told us to choose 2; we all started discussing what main meals we would order as 4 clearly wouldn’t be enough for the 5 of us. In the end we ordered: cheesy fries, mega nachos, coconut shrimp and Buffalo wings. Within about 3 minutes of it arriving, we had demolished it all; including 2 extra ICYE plates...the ICYE staff had barely touched theirs. And yes, 4 plates were more than enough! Gluttonous Westerners!
It was really good and so, on Friday, Josh, Allie, Viktoria, Oskar, Katrin, Perla and I went to Ruby Tuesday again for Happy Hour. The boys ate; we just tried some of the £1.50 cocktails. We ended up in Habia Una Vez which is the nicest bar we’ve been to so far. It’s small, busy but not too full, they play good music and it’s not too expensive...it’s no Teachers though!
I got home on around 2.30am (all the bars shut at 2am). I was then woken up at 3am, 5am, and 7am and finally, 8.30am; Saturday morning lie-ins don’t register with small children! I was exhausted! I plan to sleep on the beach all weekend...although at the moment, thunder storms and rain are forecast!
Saturday picked up considerably with the discovery that Allie also loves Criminal Minds; cue hours of viewing, so far season 1, episodes 1,2 & 3. I love it! In the evening we went to see Contagion, with Matt Damon which is pretty good, and for £2, an absolute bargain! I actually like subtitled films, it’s good language practice, although the subtitles are invariably wrong! However, I’m going to avoid anything dubbed as the voices are always intensely irritating! Although I might make an exception for Tintin. We invited Oskar and Katrin, who both said no...we later met them in the food court...we’d unintentionally gatecrashed their date! We love ICYE love; genuine intercultural youth exchange!
On Sunday, Oskar, Allie, Katrin, Viktoria and I went to El Cristo del Picacho, the Christ which overlooks Tegus. It’s really beautiful, situated in the pine-forested Parques Naciones Unidas. You completely forget that you are in city; there’s no smog! The park area was full of families; birthday parties, BBQs and football games – very Honduran. We also went to the zoo. It is a zoo of sorts, just not the kind I’m used to visiting. The cages and the animals are all pretty ropey. It’s sad to see animals like that. Louis is convinced that the crocodiles are dead, as they never ever move. It was really busy and the Honduran visitors were maddening; hissing at the animals, spitting water into the cages, shaking the fences...and not just the children! The ignorance is really frustrating. The zoo’s home to a strange collection of animals; a tiger, 2 leopards (one with 3 legs), goats, guinea pigs, monkeys, racoons, a coyote, a tapir, deer and birds. It’s an odd place, and more than a little depressing. The highlight was the keeper with 4 teeth! I'm not sure what language he was speaking; it definitely wasn't Spanish but he was really happy and chattered away to the funny pointy nosed animals (see previous blog).
On Monday, we went to AGAFAM, aka, an English County show of sorts; tractors, cows, horses, food stands etc. It was a little surreal; I felt like I’d just stepped into a rather run-down Devon County Show. It is part of the festival of the Virgin of Suyapa, Honduras’s patron saint. It spans 25th January to 3rd February, the feast day of the Virgin. In the evenings they have rodeo events and it gets really busy. It's meant to be good fun but pretty dangerous as everyone gets smashed!
I really want to go to Chiminike next week. It’s an interactive children’s museum, with large replicas of the human-body, the environment, the solar system, a grocery store and Honduran culture...it sounds amazing!
Today has been a good day; we now have limited internet at home, I’ve got a ton of new music from Allie, I learnt to stitch felt to make camera/phone etc. pouches...and we had pizza for supper! I didn't manage to book my diving but you win some, you lose some. I'm determined to conquer the bank and do it tomorrow!
Tomorrow we're going to make baleadas in our Spanish lesson. They are one of my favourite things; a tortilla filled with mashed fried frijoles, scrambled egg and cheese. They are delicious! My other favourites are pupusas; a thick tortilla filled with soft cheese, quesillo, and pork (effectively ground pork scratchings) and catrachas; fried tortillas topped with mashed fried frijoles and cheese. So basically, everything good in Honduras is fried and filled with cheese! This isn’t even special occasion food, it’s typical, every day food. Plus all the fast food restaurants and advertisements here are a nightmare! On the way home, I drive past 4 or 5 signs for Pizza Hut’s Cheesy Bites Pizza...I’m usually pretty hungry by this point...queue ridiculous cravings for pizza! Hence why I desperately need to join a gym!
Baleada
Pupusas
Catrachas
I've found a good gym and I'm going to join next week. It's a 10 minute walk from work which is great as I finish at 3 but can't get a lift home until 5.30; I may actually go as I will have nothing else to do! On Friday I was the only person in the whole place so I spent a good 50 minutes on the treadmill watching CSI New York; ideal! The only problem yet again is the lack of air con; January is probably the coldest month and it wasn't exactly cold! Oh well, who needs a sauna!
I think that's about all for now. Here's a picture of where I will be on Friday...
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