Advertisement
Published: March 18th 2009
DSCF3675
Waiting for our strawsThis past weekend will always be one of the most memorable weekends of my entire life. I know that I am still young and I have many more memories to be made, but this weekend was filled with so many moments that I will never forget.
On Friday, Annie, Leighanne, Anthony and myself left school at last period to catch the rapidito to Siguatepeque and then from there catch the bus to Tela (Tay-la). We just made it to the rapidito as it was getting ready to leave. It was packed. Packed, meaning they had to add extra seats, which is always safe. So picture 18 people in a van all cramped up together and sweating. The four of us were the unlucky ones that got stuck facing everyone else in the van. I felt like a tour guide without a megaphone. It looked as though the four gringos were on on display at the front of the van. To make things even worse, we had ot keep the windows shut because of all of the dust coming in.
There has been a serious accident involving a truck carrying gas, so the only highway was shut down. In true
DSCF3672
My first look at the Carribean Sea Honduran fashion, that truck ended up leaking gas and lying on the highway for two days because nobody could or would clean it up. We had to take this horribly bumpy back road through villages with dirt roads to get to Sigua. But we eventually made it, just in time to catch the Cristina bus to Tela. I was so happy to be on a real bus where I wasn't sticking to Leighanne and Anthony. The trip in total took about three and a half hours and it was worth it!
We grabbed taxi to the hotel we thought we would be staying in. That was until we pulled up and saw that they had apparently closed for remodeling. That would explain why they weren't answering the phone when we called for reservations. We easily found another hotel, as there are tons of them. Not great hotels, more like rooms with beds. Our first night there we only grabbed one room with two double beds because Katie and Charles were supposed to arrive the next day. The girls were going to share a room and the beds and the guys were going to get their own room and beds.
DSCF3673
Anthony, Leighanne and Annie So, for the first night, Anthony and I were bed mates and Annie and Leighanne bunked up. Even though I had to share the double bed, it was still better than my single bed back at the house.
The first night there we went out for a couple of drinks and some dinner. It was already 7pm and we didn't want to party too hard because the other two would be there tomorrow. At least that was the plan.
I had somehow forgotten my phone at the school so I couldn't get a hold of anyone to find out what time they were coming. Luckily, Annie had her phone. But still, I felt kind of lost without it. Charles got a hold of us while we were having dinner to say that he was having a very hard time getting to Tela. He was stuck in San Pedro Sula and had to stay the night. It later turned out that his phone died during his seven hours stuck on a bus that was crawling along a dirt road. We spent the next two days wondering where he was and if he was okay.
I have never been
DSCF3674
Leighanne and Annie on a real vacation in my entire life, nor have I ever even seen the ocean. I always told myself that no matter what, there is no way I would ever go in the ocean. It is just way too scary a place for me to be swimming around in it. That was until I walked onto the beach Saturday morning. I fell in love with the sound of the waves crashing into the shore, the smell of the salt in the air, the sun shining on me. It was so beautiful. Everyone was kind of shocked that I had never been to the ocean, let alone been in the ocean. I let them know how completely terrified I am and that even back home I rarely go swimming in lakes. But just being there, having all of my senses completely filled by this magnificent ocean made me change my mind.
I first only went in up to my calves but it just wasn't enough. Within minutes I was completely in the water, letting the waves take me under and push me to the shore, just to come all the way back out again. I was elated, ecstatic, every
DSCF3677
My favourite coconut guy. his were the best! happy emotion all wrapped up into one.
Not only did I go into the water, I actually went on a Banana Boat. It reminded me of tubing, but way bigger. The boat pulled Annie, Leighanne and I pretty far out. I was terrified, but tried to keep my shark fin watch to a minimum. I remember holding on for dear life, begging with myself and God that we didn't get tossed in that far out only to make a lovely dinner for a shark. They have told me countless times that there are no sharks in those waters, but I have heard of alligators finding their way into lakes, which makes me not very trusting. The boat did end up dumping us over, but it was closer to the shore so I felt much better and actually laughed the whole swim back.
There are Garifunas on the beach selling things like coconuts, pan de cocoa, cinnamon buns, pretty much anything. I opted for the coconut and am now hooked on them. They chop the top part off and put a straw in it for you. For someone that has never been on an exotic vacation, sipping juice out
DSCF3678
My first coconut on the beach of a fresh coconut is pretty incredible. They come back around when you are finished and chop up the coconut so that you can eat the inside. I am pretty sure that I could spend the rest of my life lying on the beach sipping on coconuts filled with rum.
Just behind us on the beach was a gorgeous cabana. Leighanne and I went up there to check out their drinks. Our waiter had a Canada flag on his name tag and asked us where we were from. Once I told him I was Canadian, his eyes lit up. I am not quite sure what the fascination is with Canadians here, but I like it either way. Our waiter Anastacio made us the best Daquiris in the world and then just to make our day gave us a 30 Lempiras discount apparently because he is in love with me. He gave me the line that was common theme for the weekend. "You are my soul mate. I am in love with you. You are my one true love." Sure I am. Although I am pretty sure I am not Anastacio's soulmate, he did give me discounted drinks whenever he
DSCF3679
Leighanne working hard to get to inside of the coconut saw me, which was pretty sweet of him.
Late Saturday afternoon, Katie arrived. We still hadn't heard from Charles so I took the other room with Katie. I got my own double bed! We all headed out for dinner at this restaurant along the beach. It turned out to be a disaster. After almost two hours of waiting for our food, we noticed a table that had come in after us, getting their food. Apparently they forgot about us. The food wasn't worth waiting 2 hours for at all. After dinner, we went into some shady area of town and grabbed abig bottle of rum and some mix and then headed back to the beach.
The five of us sat on the beach until around midnight drinking rum and talking. I loved hearing the sound of the waves crashing into the shore while enjoying some cold rum and cokes. After our time on the beach we headed to La Igauna. The bar was beside our hotel and seemed like a hot spot. Hot wasn't even the word for this bar. The cover was 100 Lempiras and there was no way I was paying that until I saw a
DSCF3680
Leighanne enjoying the best Daquiri ever! Honduran pay it. But apparently, they were serious about the cover because they did make other people pay it. Anthony was in a lot of pain because he got sun burned so he went back to the hotel, leaving us four girls on our own for the night.
We got inside, grabbed our drinks and within minutes the dancing stopped and everyone's attention was on the stage. The four of us were pretty sickened with what we saw. If I had wanted to go to a strip club I would've. I wanted to dance, not look at four girls wearing next to nothing, shaking their asses into any camera phone that came their way. They took off their skirts and all I could think was oh please leave the little tiny underwear you're wearing, on. Finally, they stopped dancing, but that wasn't the end. Then came the chocolate syrup wrestling in the middle of the dance floor. The ofur of us just sat down and waited for it to be done. Katie wanted to leave, but me being cheap, there was no way I was leaving after paying that cover. Luckily, it stopped after another twenty minutes and we
DSCF3681
On my way back from the beach were back on the dance floor.
I am getting used to be asked ot dance by a lot of guys since being here. But nothing can compare to this particular night. I must have been asked to dance 50 or 60 times. I kept telling them that I just wanted ot dance with my friends, but more guys just kept asking.
We got invited up to the stage. The stage is what they use for their VIP section. People who buy entire bottles get to go up on stage so that there is more room and of course, so everyone can see what they are missing. These guys asked us to come up and have some drinks with them and me never being one to turn down free drinks, was up there in a flash. The drinks were flowing, the music was awesome and we were all dancing having a great time. Leighanne and the guy she was dancing with fell on top each other which was pretty funny, expect that they spilled my drink off of the table. The next drink I had, was then knocked out of my hand by another guy, Jose, and it landed
DSCF3682
The sunset all over Leighanne. Then they pulled out this dirty nasty mattress from the corner of the stage and Leighanne and this guy fell on t op of it. Not Leighanne's fault, it was the guy that pulled her down on to it. Who knows what was in that mattress. It was looking pretty gross though. Lucky for me, I dodged the whole mattress episode.
The guys were asking us if we wanted to go to an after party on the beach, and of course, we wanted to go. We left the club just after 4am and the music was still going. The beach is only a couple of minutes from the bar so when they walked towards a truck and told us to get in, I being drunk but still inquisitive, I asked why we needed to drive. The guy who will from hereafter be known as Toolbox #1, said it was for music. We all piled into the truck and took off. After driving for ten minutes and heading down a dirt road that looked like it was in the middle of a forest, Leighanne asked where we were going. They again said the beach.
We ended
up on the beach alright. Just not in Tela. Toolbox #1 has a beach house in some town that I can't pronounce let alone spell. Everything was fine though, at first. We were drinking and listening to some music. Some of the girls were making out with some of the guys. I was standing there thinking that if one more of them even attempts to touch me I was going to knock em out. I have no clue how long we were there, but it had to be a few hours because the sun came up and it was day time.
We told the guys they had to drive us back to ur hotel because our friend was probably really worried about us by now. We got in the truck and thought we were on our way back to the hotel. not the case at all. We drove up to some huge yellow house and Toolbox #1 put it in park and walked up the stairs to the house, never to be seen again by me. Toolbox #2 said that we had to stay there. By this time, I had drank myself sober and knew what they were trying
DSCF3686
From behind our hotel to do and I wasn't having any of it. We all had a huge argument with them and still they refused to drive us back. I was ready to start walking and let everyone know it. I didn't care how long it took, I was not staying at a house with drunk frat boys. No thanks.
Just then, out of nowhere I see a taxi going along to dirt road. I took off my shoes and starting booking it. All I can hear int he background is "Ya Janet! Go! Go! Go!." I have never ran that fast in my life. I am running down the dirt road behind a taxi yelling for him to stop. I didn't really realize where I was at that time until I ran a little bit further. I was running down a dirt road in a Garifuna village, chasing a taxi. I asked a little boy on the street where the taxi went and he pointed in it's direction for me.
I was a hero that day I tell you. I arrived back at the yellow house in the taxi and he let me out. He assured me in Spanish that he
DSCF3687
The lagoon would be back for us in 40 minutes because he didn't have any room in his taxi. As it turned out, he is the only taxi to come that way to pick up a lady once a day. The four of us start walking down the road, waiting to meet up with the taxi. Of course, at the time we were pissed. Oddly enough, it only lasted about 10 minutes.
Out of nowhere, comes a man and donkey down the street and we all look around and at the same time start busting out into uncontrolable laughter. It was then that the humour in the situation hit us all. Here are four Gringos, walking down a dirt road in a Garifuna Jungle at 7am saying good morning to a man on a donkey, in last nights clothes. Katie was wearing a nice long dress, Annie a jean skirt and Leighanne a dress that could pass for a daytime dress. Not me though. I was wearing this pink and black dress that is strictly meant to be seen only at night. Not in a Garifuna jungle village at 7am. To top it all off, we all had on our very
DSCF3688
Anthony, Leighanne and Annie bright VIP bracelets. Running after that taxi and laughing until I cried is something I will never forget. It was one of the funniest moments in my life to date.
The taxi did come back for us and he only charged us 25 Lepmiras each, which was so nice of him. He could've easily taken advantage of the situation and charged us anything and we would have paid it. The drive was about 15-20 minutes, which means we would've been walking forever.
When we finally made it back tot he hotel, as we figured, Anthony was awake and waiting for us. He had said that he was worried about us considering it was almost 8am. We tried to tell him about our hilarious ordeal but just as I am typing it now, we just couldn't do the story any justice. It was way funnier then can ever be explained.
We all went to bed and got up for 11am. That's right, 11 am. I actually felt perfectly fine and so did Katie. But poor Annie and Leighanne were ILL. Annie actually left us at breakfast and went back tot he hotel and Leighanna just kept throwing up.
DSCF3691
Me, Charles and Anthony messing with the camera I felt so good that I wanted to eat everything in sight.
After breakfast we headed back to the beach to chill out for the day. Again I spent the day drinking coconut juice, Margaritas and swimming. Great day altogether.
That night, nobody wanted to go out partying because they they had had their fill the night before, plus we had to catch a bus the next day back to Comayagua. We were headed out for dinner but wanted to stop on the boardwalk to see if we could find some cute jewelry. I ended up buying these gorgeous earrings made out of coconuts. Katie bought these really cute dangling earrings, so we had to wait around for 10 minutes for the lady to fix the length for her. I ended up running into a guy from the bar from the night before and talked to him for a bit. But we were all getting impatient by this time, waiting for these earring to be shortened. Just then, I see Charles walking up to us with a glass in his hand.
We all screamed and the people that were sitting at a table started clapping, though I
DSCF3692
Me, Charles and Anthony having beers outside of a restaurant. didn't know why. It was surreal seeing him because we had all given up seeing him and we were just worried more or less. he told us about his horrible trip and all the sequences of events that prevented him form being there when he was supposed to. The truck accident really screwed things up. He got stuck in San Pedro for the night, with no phone and then ot took hours and hours to get to Tela. He had been walking up and down the beach the whole day looking for us. But, we had gone to a secluded area and that's why he couldn't find us.
We all went for dinner and then headed back to the beach. We had some drinks, took some pictures and actually played duck duck goose. One of those things you just had to be there for. Not quite sure how it came about but it was hilarious. I fell in the sand and trampled over Leighanne. It would've been nice if Charles has been there for the whole weekend, but we were all just glad that he made it at some point. The next day we make the long 3.5 hour
DSCF3695
Anthony, Leighanne, Annie and I sitting on the beach having a drink bus ride back to Comayagua, even though we all considered not coming back.
While I was in Tela, I saw a few bilingual schools and I am seriously considering relocating. Not that I don;t love Comayagua, but Tela is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I was able to walk down the street with a camera in my pocket and not really worry about it. There is crime there, but not as much. Plus, they have hired extra Police because of some incidents a few years ago.
I cannot wait to go back there. In the meantime, I am looking for job opportunities there. I may just have to move there. Something about working during the week and then sitting on the beach, sipping on rum in coconuts, really appeals to me.
All in all, this was an absolutely incredible weekend. One that I will always be thankful for. It's times like this when I think to myself that I can't believe this is my life. I have the coolest life ever.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.163s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 7; qc: 54; dbt: 0.101s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Tina
non-member comment
You make me green!
I think this now will be my fave story. I know you will outdo this at some point though. Again reading this I am pissing myself laughing as you are chasing behind this Taxi to try and get it to stop. Hell you don't even know where you are and now you are trying to hail a taxi to bring you back to where you are supposed to be. Silly girl I cannot believe you Janet got into a vehicle with people you didn't know to be taking to someplace you have no idea of where you are. So they are taking you to a beach to party and like you said why are we going in the vehicle when the beach is walking distance. Always listen to your gut instinct you all should have said no way. Glad to know you had your fellow teachers with you. Otherwise I would have to go there and kick your tanned ass. BTW love the outfit you had on with the pics with Charles. Glad to see you are having so much fun. Also I notice the tan lines on you and that makes me jealous as well. You stated you may be looking into apllying at Tela as it seems a little more civilized. Well keeping your options open is always a good plan. You are a very smart lady and I have no doubt that you will make the best decision for yourself. Know that we all think of you constantly here and that I personally look forward to your blogs. Stay safe g/f and no more hitching rides with strangers for petes sakes you have more brains then that. I know I am shutting up now. Take care Janet. CHEERS!!!!