Just a Sunday in Honduras

Hey guys, I´m trying to get a better feel to my blog with more stories and less reporting, thanks to some other blogs I read and have been inspired by.  I guess that´s my writing style though, one of my old teachers called my style "folksy."  Whatev...

Yesterday 11 of us took a trip out to the Painted Caves, as they´re called in my friend´s Lonely Planet.  It´s probably about a half hour drive if you have a car.  We don´t.  First you wait for one of those old school buses in the town center to roll by.  Then you wait as it passes through town and people will make it stop every 100 feet to get on instead of there being a bus stop.  (Even our Honduran teachers have said Hondurans are lazy when it comes to that, but I´m just saying make your own conclusions!)  So we hop on the school bus which has been pimped out with some air brushed paint all over the inside roof featuring an American flag and a Confederate flag, with the loudest sound system ever blasting 90´s rap and hip hop.  In our short ride we heard Bone Thugs N Harmony, old skool Dre and Snoop and even some that I didn´t recognize.  Now, mind you 11 gringos hopping on the bus causes quite a few looks.  Imagine what happens when at least 3 of those gringos start singing along with all this music quite loudly.  Yes...it really was hilarious and yes, Hondurans have NO SHAME in staring, so we were watched pretty much the whole ride.

Once we got to La Cruce, which is the Central American highway 5 towards Teguz or the South we hopped off the bus and started walking towards the caves.  According to one friend who had been shown the way they were only about a mile down the road.  Well, we started walking and 20 minutes later, we still hadn´t gotten to the point to enter the caves.  She said it seems a lot closer when you´re in the car with our director who drives about 100mph.  Anyway, at that momemt a nice Honduran gentleman stopped and offered us a jalon, which is a free ride.  Four of the guys jumped in front of the twin cab pick-up and the other seven of us piled into the bed.  Yes, it´s not the safest thing, but it´s probably the most common way to travel around down here and when you make about $3 a day, you do what you gotta do to save money. 

Once at the site of the caves there was some confusion on which trail to follow.  Our director had said always stay right, yet the group of Hondurans we passed had said to go left.  After wandering about (no, we weren´t lost!) for maybe half hour we all decided to stop and have lunch.  I feasted on the amazingness that my dad had sent me in my last care package.  Salmon from a pouch on Tabasco Cheez-Its.  Yes, it was amazaing and one of the best things I´ve eaten since being down here!  After refueling we made a game plan to split up (insert scary movie reference here) and try to find something.  Luckily, one guy encountered a Honduran who showed him the caves and then he was able to show us. 

The caves were greatly underwhelming.  They were more like big holes in the side of the mountain.  Despite the disappointment, it was still really fun to get out and do something.  We did find one cave that went back maybe a couple hundred feet only to dead in and it was quite small so we had to do the duck walk all the way down...and yes Mom, you would have freaked out! :)  It was dark and those of us who brought our headlamps-flashlights got gold stars!

Post caving we got a few more jalons and didn´t take a single bus.  We got dropped off closer to Santa Ana, which is the town just before Ojojona and did have to walk that little strectch, but it was well worth it when we were followed by the conos van.  That´s the Honduran version of the ice cream man.  Here it´s this really sketchy van, where one guy sits in the back and scoops cones from a big ice chest while his friend (aka co-worker) drives.  It´s only 6Lps for a double scoop, neopalitin cone of goodness which is about $0.50.  It´s definitely one of the most amazing things Honduras has to offer.

We proceeded into town to stop at Don Ricardo´s house, who is probably the richest guy in Ojojona and he lets us chill at his house most weekends.  More on him and his house later...

After a stint at the Don´s we went to the circus that´s in town for 25Lps ($2.25).  It was ok.  The clowns were more of a comedy act and they talked really fast.  I think I got maybe 30% of it.  The "ballerinas" were basically girls dancing like girls would dance slutty at a club in nothing more than a bra and boy shorts.  It seemed quite inappropiate for the number of young kids there.  The oddest thing would be the circus mascot of a buzzard which flys-hops around uncoltrolled during the show.  He spent most of one clown act attacking them, which in itself was more annoying than funny.  I do have to give props to go woman who did some Cirque du Solei type stuff on a metal ladder to Hotel California by The Eagles.  It was the most interesting.

So, there you go guys.  I hope this is a little better chance to see what I do in some down time instead of the previous boring recap of what school type stuff I did in three weeks time!  Next Wednesday, May 5, we find out what our sites will be, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for something good and pray it´s somewhere I´ll be able to do good work in two year´s time!  Thanks for reading!

Hasta la proxima vez...