Guatemala and Roatan Adventure- Take 1

Finally, after about 2 months, I finished writing all about the last 2 weeks of my time in Central America. Read on for the adventures!

Saturday, June 12th

We almost didn’t make it in time to the bus station at Santa Rosa because we thought our alarm was turned on. It was, but the volume wasn’t up loud enough! Good thing neither of us slept well and were up before our alarms. After quickly packing up we caught a taxi, headed to the bus station and caught a bus to La Entrada. From La Entrada we found a bus to take us to Copan Ruinas. When we arrived in Copan, I thought we’d have this hard time finding a direct mini-bus to Antigua…not so. We asked one of the guys at the bus station and he knew exactly where to take us to buy a ticket. We got two for noon to Antigua, so we had some time to burn which we filled with a good breakfast. We also had to pick up Mike’s (Tad’s friend) journal from this coffee shop he had forgotten it at. We made our way over there, ordered some coffee and were relaxing when Laura Beth comes walking down the stairs! Then Mr. Bran and the whole Spanish administration of our school! I remember them saying they were going on vacation after school was done, but it was crazy that we saw them at that time in that coffee shop! We all said our ‘hi’s and byes and good lucks, and then Tad and I headed back to our pick up point.

Our little van was pretty packed full with people, who we came to know pretty well for the seven hour trip. One guy, Jay, was absolutely hilarious and kept cracking jokes which made time go faster. We were quite close to the Guatemala border and when we arrived, we had to have our passports stamped and checked out. We also exchanged lempiras for quetzals here. Tad had forgotten his wallet in his duffel (which was on top of the van), so I exchanged about two thirds of my lempiras for quetzals, assuming I could do more of that in Guatemala if I needed to. I later found out this was not the case, but that’s on another day. We got back in the van and continued our trek to Antigua. We passed the time with conversation with other people in the van, listening to the US versus England World Cup match on the radio (in Spanish of course) and enjoying the landscape. By the time we reached Guatemala City though, I was more than ready to be done with the seven hour van ride. We finally arrived to Antigua around seven pm, were dropped off in the central park, said bye to our new friends, and tried to figure out where our hostel was. It had started to rain, but we walked a few blocks and found it. We checked in, got settled, and headed out for dinner. We found a cool place that had a bunch of different atmospheres (bar, restaurant, etc) and had an amazing dinner, probably some of the richest food either of us had eaten in a while! We were pooped from the long day so it was bed time right after dinner.


Sunday, June 13th

We woke up fairly early, had our free breakfast (included in our hostel) and we headed to a bank to exchange the rest of our lempiras for quetzals. I proceeded to ask about where I could exchange our money, and I got the same answer each time: lempiras can only be exchanged at the border. I had been the only one who had exchanged money so all the cash we had was what I had. I had already used a decent amount paying right away for our hostel, so we were a bit worried about how we were going to afford the next five days in Guatemala. I had a few credit cards, thank goodness, but not everywhere accepts cards. One of the banks said Citibank could maybe exchange them and to check tomorrow (Monday) and see. So we decided to use my credit card for the day whenever we could to save our cash. After kinda settling that matter, we decided to explore the city.



Antigua is absolutely beautiful and somewhat touristy while maintaining its colonial atmosphere. We saw some old gorgeous churches, some of which had been damaged by earthquakes, as well as colonial homes and other buildings.





We had lunch at Subway (tons of American food here) and started to watch another World Cup game. We finished up and decided to head to this cute restaurant/bar called Frida’s (in honor of the artist) to finish watching the game. We had some amazing, rich food for dinner and then went to the only Irish pub in Antigua (and maybe in Central America for that matter). It was like we were teletransported back to America or Europe. Almost everyone in there was speaking English and they were playing trivia. Tad and I both forgot we were in Guatemala for a few hours until we left and were back on cobblestone streets. It was a weird, awesome experience for the evening!

Monday, June 14th

Citibank opened at nine in the morning, so I made sure I was up in time to go check if they could exchange my lemps. Same answer: no, only dollars to quetzals. I came out of the bank superstressed about what we were going to do about money. Tad and I decided to sit in the park and try to figure out our situation. While we were sitting there, Froni and both of her boys (Marcos and Nico) came walking through the park. We both noticed each other and were surprised to see each other. Before we left for vacation, I remembered Froni saying she had to go to Guatemala to renew Marcos’ passport or visa (since he’s Dutch and living in Honduras), but it was still crazy we saw each other on the same day in the same place in Antigua. We chatted a little bit and mentioned our situation about money to her. She told us she had plenty of dollars if we wanted to exchanged lemps for dollars with us so we could get quetzals. She was a God-send; she had no idea how much that saved us! We took her up on the offer and exchanged lemps for dollars (as much as we thought we’d need), which meant I could go back to the bank and get quetzals. It was so nice to see the three of them and they seriously helped us out so much; God was definitely looking out for us. We headed back to the hostel because Tad had a meeting online for his Spain trip and then went to lunch at the best McDonald’s ever. It was huge, had its own room for McCafe stuff, and they had an amazing outside seating area/patio where you could sit and see the dormant volcano for a view.

Tad and I had decided to sign up for a walking tour around Antigua to hit some of the most well know sites from a renowned company and it turned out to be great. We had a guide and he told us great facts about the places we visited: a large colonial church that had been damaged by earthquakes, an old monastery that had been turned into a five star hotel, and a jade factory.






I found the most amazing ring at the jade factory and if I had had the money to drop on it, I would have! But not possible. We relaxed after all the walking and then headed to a well know restaurant for another amazing dinner in a great atmosphere. We saw Froni and her boys there again; she had recommended the place to us. It was really nice to see Nico and Marcos, since they had both been my students; Marcos was in fifth grade and Nico was in my ninth grade Bible class. We decided to have some dessert and wine at a unique little restaurant before we headed to bed to get ready for our next leg to Lake Atitlan in the morning.

Home

I am officially back home in Hudsonville, MI, USA. It feels good to be back, but definitely still trying to get used to things. I have so much to tell from my after school vacation to Guatemala and Roatan and I'll try to post that as soon as I can as well as how my last few days in Honduras went.

Friday, June 11- Last Day of School

Friday

Today was 2 hours of ‘school’ for primary school (K4-6th grade) from 8am to 10 am. The middle school stayed until noon. It worked out really well though because all the classes were able to have their end of the year parties, which included lots of eating and playing around. One of my kids forgot plates and spoons so we made due with napkins and forks for ice cream, cake, pizza, guacamole and tons of chips. We were all stuffed and on sugar highs. The last ten minutes I started saying bye to my kids, getting and giving hugs. My kids were giving my huge bear hugs and didn’t want to let go and crying. I didn’t cry; I was sad and emotional, but I didn’t cry. I think I’m one of those people that an experience like this often hits me later once I’ve processed things in my head and am reminded of my experience. At the end of the day I was smeared in the face with nacho cheese and frosting, which was a perfect fifth grade way to say goodbye I feel. Love those kids.

I stayed after for a while cleaning up my classroom, my desk and organizing everything so the administration didn’t have to do as much work. The middle school had been watching one of the World cup futbol games earlier in the day, so the big screen TV was still in the cafeteria when I ate lunch. I ended up watching some of the futbol game and then headed home with LB and Sarah. I finished packing at home, said goodbye to the girls (because I wouldn’t see them before they headed to the States) then left for Santa Rosa to begin my year end trip to Guatemala and Roatan. After Christmas, most of the girls had talked about traveling around Central America, but as the year came to a close, they decided to go home after school was finished. Therefore Tad and I decided to still go travel to Guatemala and Roatan for our year end vacation. Going to Santa Rosa on Friday night would save some time tomorrow going to Copan to catch a bus to Antigua; the less travel time I can do in a one day, the better. We stayed at this crappy hotel, but we could deal with it for one night. We got some great pizza for dinner and headed to bed early to be ready for our long travel day tomorrow to Antigua.

Wednesday and Thursday, June 9 & 10

Wednesday

I had a pretty easy day. We celebrated Mrs. Lopez and Tad’s birthdays by having cake after school, then we made our last Wednesday trip into town. We stayed there to buy some things and use the internet at Guancascos. Sitting at Guancascos, staring at the beautiful blue sky with a variety of clouds and a hint of sunset and the mountains, I realized how much I was going to miss this place: the tranquility, simplicity. There aren’t mountains in Michigan; it’s all flat. I feel like now that the time has come to say goodbye I want to do so much more, see so much more, take it all in so much more, but I can’t. It’s not like I’m never going to be able to come back to Honduras, but it’ll will probably be a while until I do. Definitely one of those moments I realized that I’m at the end. We headed back up to Villa Verde before dinner because with the end of the week coming, it also means grades and recuperation tests are due to the administration. I feel like there’s so much to do the next few days between finishing final grades, finishing recuperation tests and study guides for three different classes, packing and planning the last minute details for my trip, and preparing myself to say goodbye to my students and the girls.

Thursday

These last few days are very relaxed because I don’t teach as many classes and it’s the last few days of school. My kids had PE, so I was able to finish my grades and recup tests. I turned in my teacher curriculum which meant no more teaching per se. I just enjoyed my day with my kids by playing games and doing fun projects, like making our own planets in science. All of us found out Tulito isn’t coming back next year because his parents are separating. Almost all the boys and many of the girls started crying during the middle of our spelling bee, and they didn’t stop crying until the end of the school day! I felt heartbroken seeing them cry and it almost made me start crying. This also meant I had to say goodbye to Tulito as well as Adolfo because they wouldn’t be at school tomorrow. It was the first of many goodbyes in the next 48 hours. For dinner, all of us girls went down to Gracias for dinner at one of our favorite places, Bella Celaque. They give you so much food for like $2.50 and I was stuffed. We had some good conversations about our year in Honduras, what we’ve learned, what we’ll miss, what we’re looking forward to when we get home. Afterwards a few of the girls went to go get coffee while LB and I did some errands. There was a lack of working mototaxi drivers that we knew, so Laura Beth and I ended up just hailing a random taxi to take us up. It was dark and rainy and we told the guy we wanted to go to Villa Verde, but he would only take us up to the school. So here LB and I are, in the dark, in the rain, walking up the mountain with no flashlight. Sound familiar? Yeah I did this one of the first weeks I was here in Honduras with Jacki and Sarah, too. Full circle...

Monday and Tuesday, June 7 & 8

This last week is just going to fly by and it’s hard to believe that it’s the last one. I won’t be a teacher to these kids after this week. I’ll be done with this job at the end of this week. I’ll have to say goodbye to my kids at the end of this week or sooner. I don’t think I’ll be able to process everything until I’m back in the States and remember everything that is going to happen in the next few weeks. Sometimes it takes me awhile to process things and let them set in and reflect on them. I had that happened graduating from college; sometimes I still forget that I did because this is such a unique experience to have the year after college. I’m trying to be a little more relaxed with my kids this week while at the same time maintaining some order so things don’t go absolutely crazy. We went outside for a few minutes of science class today to look at the clouds we’ve been learning about and identify them as well as the strength of the breeze today. We also voted on the most popular and friendly. It’s some prize that each grade has to give out along with some other academic and sports awards. This week I have a ton of schoolwork to get done: grade everything, figure out final grades for fifth grade and all Bible classes, figure out kids who need to take recups, and make recup tests along with their keys for the administrators to give to my kids after the teachers are done on the eleventh. Not only that, but I have to pin down last minute details about my travels after school is done, pack for that, and maybe pack a few things for going back to the States. Crazy week and not enough time to process, enjoy, and take everything in.

Saturday and Sunday June 5 & 6- La Union Weekend

Saturday

Long activity filled day. We tried to sleep in, but I only made it to 8 am. We heard the buses honking their horns at 5 am, church music at 6 am, and then I drifted in and out until 8 when I decided to get up. Laura was up as well, so we headed down to their kitchen of their host family. Their host family is amazing; I had met the guy, Alvin, when I went to Lago de Yojoa, and his two kids. His wife just had another baby as well who is only 5 weeks old and beautiful. We drank coffee, at some pan, and played with the kids for a good hour. They are so full of energy and adorable; Josselyn is eight and in second grade at Abundant Life in La Union and her brother, Josue, is four and a little handful. There newest addition is name Diana Raquel, so Josue kept calling me that instead of just Raquel. So cute. We played some games Laura had made up with them and then went back up to see if Renske and LB were awake.

We decided to go for a little hike to one of their favorite places called Campo de Cerro, which is this pretty field up in the mountains that’s very tranquil. We had quite the time hiking up it since it had rained yesterday; it was quite slippery and I had flashbacks to last weekend climbing Celaque. We eventually made it up and chatted and relaxed, enjoying the quiet and the butterflies flying around. We started to head back down and as we were going over some slippery rocks, Laura fell right on her tailbone and badly bruised it. Poor girl...we slowed the pace and helped her down as much as we could, but it was hurting her the rest of the day. We were planning on going to some swimming pools with one of Renske’s friends, but she hadn’t called us yet, so we made our way to the school. It was so hot and I hadn’t really eaten lunch. On the way we stopped at the few comedors in La Union to see if they were open and had food, but all the women were at the same meeting , meaning no food. We decided to try after checking out the school. We bought something to drink at least and arrived at the school. It’s smaller than Villa Verde, but definitely has its own unique things about the school. The view of La Union from it is beautiful, so we relaxed there for a while before heading back down to find some food. At this point, I was tired from all our walking that day, hadn’t had a meal of sustenance yet, and it was hot…awesome. We eventually found a comedor, bought some tacos, and I was satisfied.

We made cake for Tad’s surprise bday party. We had forgotten to buy frosting so we improvised hard core and made a ‘frosting’ of fresh lime juice and powdered sugar mix together. It turned out alright and tasted good on the vanilla cake. After getting ready we ate dinner for Tad’s and one of the interns birthdays and the proceeded to have his birthday party. Afterwards, Renske, Laura, LB and I stayed up late. Renske and Laura had painted cool pictures on each others backs a while ago and Laura Beth and I wanted to try it out. So even though we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the bus, we stayed up til 2 am painting each others backs and talking. It was a great end to the weekend.

Sunday

Sunday morning came way to early at 4:30 am to catch our 5 am bus, back to Gracias. I hadn’t had any breakfast before we left, the roads weren’t paved and they were very curvy, so I was feeling kinda carsick. Despite that it was a beautiful ride through the mountains and we arrived back in Gracias around 8. We decided to have breakfast at Guancascos, then headed up to Villa Verde. I took a nap, relaxed, called family/friends, and went to church at night since it was our last Sunday with everyone. Last week of school!

Thursday and Friday, June 3 & 4

Thursday
I had a pretty good day at school; my kids are getting a little more touchy feely with each other and with me, probably because they realize I’m leaving. I also think it’s the age where they start to unconsciously flirt by hitting or annoying each other. Ah…fifth grade. I had a frustrating end of the day, especially during seatwork. They don’t seem to understand that seatwork means staying in your seat and working semi-quietly. And they had plenty to work on. My kids are up and down, yelling, messing around and bothering each other; I just want to give up sometimes and let them run wild instead of constantly having to get up and down from helping students who want it to tell the others to get to work, be quiet and sit down. I had tutorias after and made up some more stuff with some students for grades, then stayed til 4:30 correcting. I walked home by myself again and just relaxed and read for a bit before dinner. The rest of the night I spent packing for La Union and progress reports for Friday.

Friday
I was excited for this Friday because Laura Beth, Tad and I were leaving early to travel to La Union. This is another small town, smaller than Gracias, that has an Abundant Life Christian School. This is the school where Jake Compaan works, as well as Laura and Renske, the two European girls we have hung out with before throughout the year. Tad’s friends are also doing a microfinance project in this small town, so we had to go visit and see what the town was like where our friends worked and lived. The day went quickly until we had to leave. My kids were happy because I had to push back their spelling test to Monday since I had to leave earlier than planned. Rodrigo brought us down around 11:30 to catch the bus to La Union. The ride there was one of the more interesting rides I’ve had here. Interesting in the fact that you are literally riding a school bus on the side of a mountain on unpaved rocky dirt roads, going up and down and round and round and side to side, sometimes all at the same time. Not for weak stomachs.

The views though were amazing and I was able to see rural Honduras like I’ve never seen it before. The mountain views were gorgeous, but also seeing the people and how they live humbled me yet again and reminded me that I am currently living in Honduras. I forget at times, but am quickly reminded of the lack of resources many of these people have. They do not seem to lack happiness though. One boy I met this weekend had the biggest smile I have ever seen and I think he could bring anybody out of a bad day. Life may be harder here and more ‘inconvenient,’ but the Honduran people are not lacking in generosity, hospitality, and happiness. There are problems and stresses, but they seem to handle it better, especially the ones I’ve seen in smaller towns such as La Union and Gracias.

After arriving in La Union, we called our friends to see where to go and met up with Renske and Laura, who took us to their house to relax a bit before meeting up with everyone else. Laura Beth and I stayed with those girls for the weekend while Tad stayed with the guys in their house farther down the road. Laura Beth had left her wallet on the bus, but thankfully we know the guy who owns the bus station in town and we quickly retrieved it. Renske and Laura gave us the La Union tour, showing us the Vida Abundante church, some stores, places they hang out, and the boys’ house. We met some important people to them like the pastor of the church and some students and then ended at the boys’ house. Pat (one of Tad’s friends) had started making peanut butter balls, so we chipped in to help. We had chocolate left over so we bought bananas, then saltine crackers, then marshmallows to dip them in the chocolate. We indulged ourselves in that. Later that night we were invited to a student’s family’s house for carne asada, which we readily accepted. The meat was great and the rest of the food as well. We chatted and spent time with the family, a few students and everyone, but we were spent from the bus ride and long week at school. We headed out around 9pm and crashed.