Semana Santa

Wow, sorry about the lack of posts. I really tend to lose track of time here. I wrote this on Easter but am only posting it now...

Well, my dad’s visit (and Semana Santa) is over. Easter week is definitely celebrated differently in Honduras than in the USA! It seemed like most people observed Good Friday as the holy day, and today things are back to business as usual. Coincidentally, my dad and I were in Gracias on Thursday and Friday when there was absolutely nothing open. The streets were empty and all of the stores were closed. But today, everything is hopping again. But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. This entry is about the adventures I had with my dad! So here we go…

He arrived in Honduras last Saturday night, and we headed to Lago de Yajoa on Sunday morning. Yajoa is the only lake in Honduras, and it is spectacularly beautiful. I had never been there before. I wasn’t exactly sure which bus to take to get there, so we had a bit of an adventure. We actually overshot our hotel by about half an hour, so when we finally got off the bus, we were in the middle of nowhere…although next to the huge lake! We stopped for some lunch at a restaurant on the lake. Here was our lunch:



I’m not sure if that looks good to you or not, but it actually tasted delicious. After we ate, we jumped on another bus and finally found our hotel… we stayed at the only brewery in Honduras, called D&D.



It was really small and modest, but it was great! The beer was absolutely delicious, and it was so nice to have a break from the normal local beers (don’t get me wrong- Barena and Port Royal are good, but it’s always refreshing to switch things up). So we hung out at D&D, drank some good beer and hung out with the eclectic owner, Bob. It was also great because Jacki and Chad were there at the same time, so dad had the chance to meet some of my friends we all had a grand old time. We went fishing on the incredibly beautiful lake, explored the town and dad bought a Honduras shirt. It was great.

Our next stop was Copan. This was my third time at Copan, but that’s fine…I really love it there every time I go. It’s nice, there’s good food there, and any visitor to Honduras must see the ruins! So it was really fun.

My dad put a little twist on the normal Copan tourism pictures… as a die-hard Evertonian, he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to talk to some visitors about how much he hates Liverpool and take a “Red Shite” photo in front of the ruins.



Then we headed back to Gracias. As I said before, everything was totally silent so we just came up to Villa Verde, and dad was finally able to see my backyard!



We also had the chance to hang out and play football with a couple of my students in the park.

It was a relaxing time, we visited the river and took a little hike in Celaque and cooked with the minimal food that we had. Then yesterday we headed back to San Pedro.

It was awesome having my dad here. He pointed things out to me that I just don’t really notice anymore- like the guys with machine guns that guard the banks, grocery stores, and some pulperias. He loved the buses, especially the people trying to sell us stuff and the organized chaos of the schedules. The trip boosted my confidence a lot. My dad can’t speak Spanish at all, so I was responsible for planning and getting us everywhere, and it was a really good experience for me. I feel confident in my Spanish now. It took a while, but I finally feel good about it. Organizing big trips like that and calling just about all of the shots is also confidence-building- it made me feel like a competent traveler. I guess I hope I could consider myself a competent traveler by now! After several months in Europe and a year in Central America, I better have some wits about me.

Unfortunately, during the week I developed a bad cold, and now I’m here, back at home, being bummed about dad leaving and bummed about my head, which feels like a brick. I have one more big thing to look forward to, and that’s that my best friend, Alex, is coming in two weeks! And that is a really, really big thing for me to look forward to. Alex is my other half and knowing that she’s coming is definitely comforting to me.

It’s funny how much I stressed about leaving, because right now I feel anxious to go home. I am always careful not to wish experiences away. I usually go the other way- I get really, really nostalgic. But I’m kind of hoping to walk the line for this experience. I want to enjoy my last few months, and then when things are over, allow myself to be excited about what’s next.

Because what’s next is going to be amazing also.

This blog entry is like a novel. Thanks to those who got through it!