Honduras 2013 Dia 7

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Dia 7

Can't believe this is our last day here in Honduras! While many of the kids are looking forward to being back home, eating American food, sleeping in their own beds, and especially taking hot showers, most of them will miss being here with the people of Villa Soleada. I know I am not ready to go home yet. I feel like I missed a good part of the trip with the clinic visits and taking care of the kiddos. But no matter, it was and always will be an experience I will never forget.
The last full day for the volunteers is always a trip to the Playa Tela, one of the most beautiful beaches and popular vacation spots in the northern region of Yoro. I am not a huger beach person, but I was still looking forward to going, since there is so muh to do. At Tela, aside from lying out on the beach, you can visit the many shops, get hair wraps (which I did NOT, I learned my lesson after last year), take rides on the banana boats, snorkel, jump off the pier into the turquoise water, or buy fresh coconuts, coconut bread, etc. But just as we were about to leave, Dara got sick! 2x! I couldn't believe it. And because she didn't feel well, she wanted to stay back too! Fortunateli Ana Lucia talked her in to coming along with us so she could keep and eye on her, and if needed, we could get to the clinic, as there really would have been no one in Villa to take her. I told Dara that if she started to feel worse once we were there, I would go back with her in a cab. Luckily she started to feel better and we were off!

Since I did not do many of the available activities last year, this year I decided not to be such a party pooper. After hanging out in the PERFECTLY TEMPORATE water for about an hour, Matt, Dara, Hunter, and I went for a ride on the banana boat, which I missed out on last summer. It was so much fun! Even though I fell off before we even left the shore just trying to get on it! After the boat ride, a bunch of us plus the Hondurans took off for the pier. It was about a half mile walk in the sand, which was so unbelievably hot we walked along the water, until that was no longer an option. Once we got to the pier, we had to walk ALL THE WAY to the end, on burning hot wood, and I swear I got at least 1st degree burns on my feet! At the end of the pier the water is deep enough to jump in, and I was absolutely jumping this year! It was probably a good 20 feet high, so definitely scary, but exhilarating at the same time. I have jumped from higher anyway, off Black Rock in Maui, when an unnamed person and I both scaled the rock and I jumped but he chickened out and climbed back down. My how I love that memory! :D Needless to say I was one of the last of us to jump... Everyone before me said it wasn't that scary, and the hardest part would be climbing back up the ladder. Dara was the offical action photographer, so once I was ready I just needed to do it. I wasn't leaving without jumping, so after about 15 minutes I went for it, and everyone cheered! Lol. I guess because I am the old-head on the trip, they were entertained by me. So once down in the water, I figured, I'm pretty strong, I have been working out, lifting cement buckets all week, it shouldn't be too hard to pull myself up that ladder. HA! Took 2 Hondurans to lift me by my arms! In the process I lost my watch, which I didn't care too much about anyway, since it got pretty destroyed by the 99% deet bug spray I had been using all week. Ironically, while I could see the effects of the Deet on my watch and sunglasses, the amount of bug bites on my legs and arms makes me question its effectiveness! The walk back to the beach on the burning hot pier and then sand nearly brought me to tears!
When we finally made it back it was lunchtime. And what do Hondurans get us for our beach day lunch? Chinese food! Lol. Chicken and shrimp fried rice and lo mein (which they referred to as "chop suey"). I stayed away from the shrimp just in case! I wasn't actually that hungry due to the heat, and maybe the fact that I had 3 baleadas for breakfast. So I only had a little. I had to have the dessert of course, which was the most delicious ice cream EVER! Tiny little scoop of some kind of coconutty chocolatey chip goodness on a cone for 5 lempiras, about 20 cents american. You can't even get a lick of ice cream for that little in the US! Especially when they are out of f*#&ing chocolate! (#dadsfavoritejokeofalltime)
I may or may not have also gotten a watermelon smoothie, but that's ONLY because I needed my serving of fruit for the day! The smoothie was actually made only of fresh frozen watermelon blended with purified water. Mmmm, riquisimo! I went with the girls to get their hair wrapped but just hung out and took some pics, maybe shopped a bit too 😊 Then since it was so hot, and yes, I was reapplying my sunscreen every 5 minutes, yes, I know the sun down here is much stronger than at home, I headed back into the water. At this point, while the water still felt nice, it was so warm, and almost like bath water. I hung out a little with Megan, one of the volunteer teachers who is here for a year. Really nice girl, and since it was the first time we talked we had plenty to share! Once I had enough of the water for the day, I joined Gracia and Sarah to play some football with the boys, Oscar and Darwin. Maybe showed off my throwing skills a little too 😉
We weren't leaving until 4, so some of the group went back down to the pier again for some jumps, (one was enough for me) another group went snorkeling, and a few went back out on the boat. I just hung out and relaxed a little in the shade. 6 hours is a really long time at the beach. Too long, in my opinion. We had to wait before leaving as some of the girls needed to be rounded up near the end of our time, because they were off flirting with the Hondurenos. They actually got in a little trouble later, as they needed to be reminded that 1- we are her on a service trip and representing our country, and 2- a lot of the boys here fall very quickly for the gringas, and since we were leaving the next day, didn't want any broken corazones.
Everyone was so tired on the way back to Villa, sleeping on the bus, but I was wide awake trying to soak in every last second of this beautiful country, with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Our goodbye dinner was at a very special place, Mr. Taco, one of Progresso's famous Mexican restaurants. We were all under the impression that we were going out for salsa lessons after, so we all dresses up, did our hair and makeup, and got back on the bus. But then we realized that dinner was the only thing planned for the night! So we convinced Shin to move the dance lessons back to the volunteer lodge in Villa following dinner. I guess Shin was not paying much attention on the bus to dinner, since he accidentally sent a sexuallyy explicit text message to the owner of the restaurant instead of his intended recipient, his girlfriend! Gave us all quite a laugh! He was so embarassed too.
Dinner was tacos, but not the kind of tacos most of you will be picturing when you are reading this. Tacos here are soft flat corn tortillas that you fill with meat, pico de gallo, and guacamole. I had about 5. There are really small. I think Shin had 9 or 10. Since he had another birthday in the house, we got cake again! This one was soooooo good. Loved it but we all could have only a small piece as there were more than 40 of us and it was a small cake. After dinner was one of the moments I was looking forward to the least; saying goodbye to my AnaLucia. 😞 Love her so much! I know we will talk on Facebook and I will be back next summer, but it's still very hard. Especially after spending sooo much time with her this trip due to the clinic visits and what not. Lots hugs from everyone and few tears, and maybe a pouty lip or two, and then we boarded the bus for our last ride into Villa Soleada.
'Back at the lodge were our dance lessons we were promised. Shin and Christine were the instructors, as they both know all the Latin dances. We started with Merengue (Dara was my partner), moved into Bachata, and ended with Salsa. It was so hot and we are all dressed and made-up so we got pretty gross. Lotta fun though! I had already packed most of my things and gave away what I was planning to leave here, so I stayed in the lodge as long as possible to extend my night. I know once I fall asleep, our departure will be only a few hours away. Next and final entry from the USA!

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Comments

[mom]

guacamole?
Loved your blog. Could picture everything with your wonderful descriptions. Makes me want to go with. Bugs, and heat? Reminds me of E. Africa..but a great experience. Love you, hija