Ceiba and Tela

7/19

Today we ordered the wood for Wilson’s house, which will be delivered on Sunday, and the sand and blocks which will be delivered today. A few of us volunteers were going to go over to Charlie and Amalia’s, but when we walked out of the gate from Vh1, a pickup drove by with a few guys with masks on (the ones that look like socks with holes for eyes and mouth) and huge machine guns…since we had no idea what was going on, and there were shootings in the neighborhood near the other PEP location yesterday, we went back into the house. We didn’t hear any shooting, so after a while we went out of the house and peeked over the concrete fence that surrounds the house. There were just a couple of people sitting in the back of the  pickup, and the kids that were waiting for the bus to go home from school were hanging out in the street, not really seeming like anything was going on. The only person that seemed upset about what was going on was one woman who was standing by the Vh1 gate, crying because she knew the people being arrested. After they all left, we walked over to Charlie and Amalia’s. Carlos later told me that it was just the Honduran equivalent of the FBI going to arrest two narcos and take them to Ceiba – which is why they weren’t dressed in usual police uniforms.

At about 1:30, I went to put out all of the clues for the treasure hunt, and then we waited for the kids to show up. We only had 5 kids today! They had fun with the treasure hunt – they had to find several in the school, then down by the beach, and at the campo. Gustavo kept running ahead of everyone, even after they were all worn out – he never runs out of energy! 

After class, I caught the bus to Ceiba and met Danny at the mall to go to Tigo to activate the internet for a couple of volunteers. After Tigo (which, as usual, took forever), we went to eat, but we were both so hungry that after eating three pupusas each, we went to the new baleadas place and each got a (big) baleada. Brittani and Playton met us there to see a movie (“The Amazing Spider Man”). It was pouring when we got out of the movie!

7/20

In the morning, we tested out the modems and internet for the volunteers, and then I took them over to them. I finally caught up on writing/blogging and photos.

In the afternoon, we took Luis to Ceiba to go to Pizza Hut. Danny was already in Ceiba for school, so called me when he was done, and I walked up to Luis’s to get him, but no one was at the house, so I asked a neighbor where they were and she pointed me to another house, where Luis’s mom and little brother were. She talked to Danny on the phone, and walked with me to get Luis, since he now stays with his Madrina in another house. Since we were going to Ceiba, they put him in the very best clothes they had and did his hair, and sprayed him with cologne.  We met Danny at Pizza Hut, and Luis played for a while we waited for the food. After we ate, we played the FIFA soccer video game for a bit, and then went across the street to the mall to look for shoes. Luis was really cute – he took the two last pieces of pizza to take back to his madrina, and when they made him check it when we went into the store, he was very concerned about getting it back! When we went down the escalator, he sat down on the stair for the ride – so cute! Danny got his insect box today, so he can start his collection!

7/21

We left for Tela in the morning. We took the bus to la posta and then caught another bus there to Tela. It dropped us off on the main highway, so we walked from there to Tela, about a half hour walk. When we got there, we got a hotel and then took a taxi to San Juan, where we ordered lunch and then hung out on the beach til it was ready. I got fish soup – it was alright, just not as coconut-y as I’d hoped. After we ate and let the food settle, we went swimming. After a while of swimming, we walked into town and took a taxi back to Tela.

We walked around the center of Tela for a little bit, and got some coffee at Espresso Americano. They had a sign advertising their new green tea smoothie – which is called a “Japuccino” -!! 

For dinner, we went to Cesar Mariscos. It was really nice – we sat at a table that was right next to the beach, and had a nice umbrella and a fishbowl with sand and a candle in it to light the table. The owner was really nice and kept asking how things were, was serving people and even busing tables. For dinner I got barbeque chicken which came with a baked potato and veggies, and salad and garlic pan de coco to start (I think the bread and salad were the best part, and I ate both salads and 5 of the 6 pieces of bread ;)).

7/22

In the morning we got breakfast (baleadas) and then got a taxi to Lancetilla. We left our bags at the info center and walked around through the botanical gardens. The highlight for me was seeing a wild toucan! At the entrance to the bamboo tunnel, a woman was selling fruit, so we got a couple – not sure what they’re called, but it was really delicious. It was so dark in the bamboo tunnel since the bamboo is so thick! Near the end, we found the river and went swimming. On our way out, we stopped to get some lychee and more of the other fruit that we got before, and then caught a bus back to Ceiba.

Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101388111021288.3001886.10735354&type=3&l=f5afa74d6d