Yesterday was a great, exhausting, long day. Like I said, I was up just after five to get ready, say goodbye, and trudge all my stuff to the park, where I was the second aspirante to arrive. By six-thirty we were all there though, and didn’t have to wait too long for the bus. The loading and fitting everything somehow went way better than on our ride to FBT, which is strange because we all had more stuff. I guess, live and learn. But before we knew it, we were off to Cantarranas to pick up MD!
It was great to see them all. While we had seen people occasionally since the start of FBT, this time we all knew our sites and had a million different things to talk about. I got to talk to my two future neighbors and we all got to brag about all the cool facts about our sites and planned work and future families. It was a great ride, typically Honduran though, of course. At one point, we stopped in a bus terminal. We didn’t really know what was going on, since it was supposed to be a straight shot to Teguc at this point. But then all of a sudden the bus driver opened up the floorboard part on the front of the bus where some bus parts are (I think the motor is under the hood, but I don’t really know how busses are built) and was getting help from other random bus drivers at the stop. We figured he was just adding oil or checking something, but someone brought a blowtorch and other tools and they were actually welding something. The bus still made some terrible-sounding noises throughout the entire day, but was strong enough to last us. We later stopped to add air to the tires before finally heading back to Zarabanda. We found out the PAM bus had stopped at least once so the driver could take care of some personal errands.
We also had some unexpected amazingness when we stopped at a gas station en route to Teguc so people could go to the bathroom (I went, but was not one of the ones who wanted to stop). At this random bus stop near Valle de Angeles, we found peanut butter and Mountain Dew. Not really exaggerating, it felt like Christmas to me. I spent all the money I had on me to buy one container of peanut butter, four cans of Mountain Dew, and some snacks for the rest of the day. It was money well spent, even though I’ve been spending like crazy lately. I’m still within my budget though and haven’t dipped into any US money. But yeah, totally a wonderful, happy surprise. Surprises -- good and bad -- are not something Honduras lacks.
Anyway, otherwise the bus ride was uneventful and we arrived at the immigration office pretty early. It was open just for us and I was surprised by the efficiency of the whole procedure. They had several employees there, one of our training officials was there to help us, and it was all pretty organized. It took forever, but only because there was 57 of us needing to do all the same things. But the waiting wasn’t too bad; it was fun to catch up with everyone, snack, and read. After a few hours, our busses headed to a part of Teguc that included a Popeye’s Chicken, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Domino’s, Café Americano (basically a Starbucks), Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, and La Colonia (big grocery store) all within walking distance. We were all kind of in heaven.
The group split pretty evenly between Pizza Hut and Wendy’s. I tried the Hut (ahhh, memories of two very special dates there) but it was really expensive and just seemed like a bad idea. It would involve seating a table of like 15 people, splitting pies and checks, and lots of waiting. As much as I wanted pizza, I was not in the mood for that. Instead, one other person and I headed to Burger King, got an amazing deal, and took our meal over to sit with everyone else at Wendy’s. Good decisions all around, because afterward I got to have a Frosty too. I had to concentrate on not inhaling my food so I could really taste it and enjoy it. It was fabulous. It was also funny to see the different signs in another language and also have different aspects thrown in. A Frosty is still a Frosty, but there is also a “Desayuno Tipico” (typical breakfast) which includes tortillas, beans, platanos, and queso, all Wendy’s style. It actually made me start accidentally speaking in English for a second when I went to order the Frosty.
After eating and sitting around talking for awhile, we headed to the supermarket (I didn’t buy anything but some people went crazy) and then hung out with a few people as they got coffee. Instead of coffee, I eventually went back to Wendy’s to use their free internet and had an apple pie as my last American sample of food, probably for months. Everything I ate between Wendy’s and Burger King tasted exactly like it does at home. It was very reassuring. After the internetting and everyone had a chance to do what they needed, we finally headed back to the busses to make our way back to Zarabanda. I had help from Brad -- Hi again, if his mom is still reading! -- to drag all my bags a bit up the road to wait for my host dad. I was very lucky, because I would have not physically been able to make the trip up the huge hill to my house with even half of those bags, I don’t think. But my dad saved the day, coming in his new, roomy car, and being his same, affectionate, happy self. It immediately eased my anxiety about returning, along with being able to speak in easy Spanish with him.
The rest of the night I opened up my bags (can’t really call it unpacking), caught up a bit with the family (one of the cats had three kittens!), and mostly relaxed. I had a small dinner and got some reading and writing and computing done before trying to go to bed early.
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