In celebration of surviving yet another week of teaching, only our second, the teachers
took a weekend trip. We left on
Saturday morning and headed by pick-up truck (yes we rode in the back) through
the mountains to the town of Santa Rosa.
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The view on the ride out of La Union...we were going through a cloud. |
We rode the last hour of the trip on a bus and were greeted
by loud music and crazy men as soon as we stepped off at the stop it was a very
typical Latin American feel. It
was a bit overwhelming for us coming from La Union and we all decided that was
almost sensory overload. They was
so much to look at and so much to hear we didn’t even know where to direct our
attention. We chose a hotel close
to the bus stop and the supermarket, but a little away from the town
center. After settling in to a
great place we took a taxi into town and arrived at the town square to find the
beginning of a parade. Apparently
it was Santa Rosa Day and the festivities were beginning. Of course our first instinct was that
it was some sort of protest or gathering because the picture below is what we
saw.
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After getting out of the taxi, this is the sight we saw. |
We found out that the colored gas was actually being
released by the military as we had thought but it was signaling the beginning
of the parade. The problem with
this situation is that the parade was traveling right down the street we needed
to cross to get to the bank so that we could receive our debit cards. Once we made it through the crowd and
across the street we were able to accomplish everything we needed to at the bank
and everything was in order for us to collect our cards (a surprisingly
flawless trip through the bank…a very rare occurrence because they are not very
efficient). Once we had taken care
of the business we were able to have a little fun. We visited a pizza place called Weekends, and the teachers
from Gracias met us there so we could exchange stories and catch up with
them. The pizza was delicious and
we had all been craving it! After
this we visited the teacher store to grab some materials and even found a
miniature department/convenience store where we were able to pick up a few
things for our apartments and some beauty products. Its nice to know that all of these things are available here
and I won’t have to go without…they even had a few of my favorite brands. Once we were shopped out we visited a
local coffee shop. This is a
favorite of Jakes because it actually sells local Honduran coffee. Surprisingly most coffee shops don’t
sell the local product but rather imported brands. I had a wonderful strawberry and chocolate smoothing that
cooled me down because it was a hot day.
The coffee shop was a neat area and was located right by the central
park.
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The streets of Santa Rosa |
After wandering around a bit we went back to the hotel and
visited the supermarket. And as
our luck would have it, it was the 5-year anniversary of the store, which means
that it was packed and very busy!
We were able to stock up on some of our favorite foods and things we
can’t get in La Union. I actually
got some Oreos, tuna, pasta sauce, macaroni and cheese, and Ritz just to name a
few. We were all very excited with
our purchases and felt very accomplished so we left our new purchases at the
hotel and went back into town to have dinner at a restaurant called Zotz. It was much like a TGIFridays and even
had the same décor…check out the Spartan sign they had.

This morning we caught a bus back to Gracias and then a
different one to La Union. Both
buses were packed and very hot, but it got worse the closer to La Union because
more people kept getting on and the roads are terrible. If you could picture the rockiest roads
through the mountains that lead to a small village then you would be thinking
along the lines of the bus we took, but even then you probably can’t quite
imagine how crazy it was. We were
all grateful to get home, but we were also very happy for the time away and
then chance to pick up a few things that we had been really longing for.
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The view |
One of my other favorite parts of the weekend was after
school on Friday. Jake and one of
the microfinance guys, Mike, took Brooke and I up to a lookout point on their
motorcycles. It was beautiful! You could see for miles and there was
even a storm rolling through in the distance that we could see. The area was so quiet and it was quite
the change from the week at school and all the kids yelling “Miss”
constantly. Jake pointed out some
of the aldeas (villages) that surround La Union and we took some time to chat
and take in the view.
I am feeling wonderfully refreshed after the weekend and
ready to take on another week with my students. Hopefully things will continue to go well, and the students
will continue to work hard. It
should also be noted that it is now September, which means that I have been
here for about month. It has gone
by so fast and hopefully it will continue to in the best way because I sure do
miss the people and comforts of home, but for now I know that I have a home
here and the students remind me daily of why I am here.
Yum Oreos! Were they double-stuf, my fave? Sounds like a great weekend! Loving the pics! Quentin thinks your house is a dump. lol Kirby is so jealous of your "the view" pic. If you do another year, he volunteers to go with you and wash your clothes and bring you lunch. :-) Love you bunches, keep up the writing, we love following your adventures! xoxo
ReplyDeletePS: skype this week? (just not Friday) imessage me.