I had actually been thinking about leaving on Monday but then I hung out with Wendy and Hans on Sunday night and they invited me to go check out this tree-house restaurant where they apparently had really good fish on Mondays. And, the more I think about it the more I think I'd like to stay here for at least a couple more weeks to practice my spanish, as I don't think I'll be doing much of that at the volunteer opportunity that I was thinking about going to do. I really enjoy both Wendy and Hans so I think I'll have fun passing time with them. I hope to spend some time “volunteering” a bit in the kitchen at La Terraza, working with Hans. :o)
The restaurant was pretty cool- the grounds were beautiful and there were tons of flowers and cool plants all around. Hans introduced me to a berry that tastes a little like gingerbread! The fish was absolutely delicious, and there was enough that I was able to take the second half to make a fish taco, which I ate for dinner last night with a little mango and avacado. YUM!
Although it was a fun day my Español was NOT in top form, further driving home the idea that I should spend a little more time here...
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| Wendy, Anjelica, Hans and me getting ready to dig in! |
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| Yay two-meals-for-the-price-of-one! |
Yesterday was my first day of working in the kitchen with Hans and two local ladies, Mary and Rayna, from 2-8 pm. I did a variety of things but the highlight was helping Hans make a blueberry marble cheesecake. That, and getting "paid" in delicious passionfruit margaritas!
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| Blueberry marble cheesecake! |
June 2nd
There weren't many people at the restaurant last night so I left there around 7:30 pm and came here to the hostel, rounded up a crew to go have one drink at La Terraza and then move on to Via Via. Had a nice time chilling there with Jerimiah (a guy from Texas who has been here at the hostel for about a week now) and a few other random people from the hostel and later met this Honduran guy named Oz, who I think I'll hang out with again as he is here in town for a few weeks or so, trying to figure out if there's enough tourism here for him to work here (he is a guide). Also did a little salsa dancing, mostly with Hans (who barely remembered it!).
I have to move to Via Via for the night because the hostel has a big group of 19 people coming in tonight and they need all the beds. (These people ended up never showing up.)
There weren't many people at the restaurant last night so I left there around 7:30 pm and came here to the hostel, rounded up a crew to go have one drink at La Terraza and then move on to Via Via. Had a nice time chilling there with Jerimiah (a guy from Texas who has been here at the hostel for about a week now) and a few other random people from the hostel and later met this Honduran guy named Oz, who I think I'll hang out with again as he is here in town for a few weeks or so, trying to figure out if there's enough tourism here for him to work here (he is a guide). Also did a little salsa dancing, mostly with Hans (who barely remembered it!).
I have to move to Via Via for the night because the hostel has a big group of 19 people coming in tonight and they need all the beds. (These people ended up never showing up.)
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| Alejandro, me and Oz (from left to right). |
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| Wendy and Hans |
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| Hans and Wendy salsa dancing. |
June 7th
For the most part my days have settled into a routine, though I'd like to change a few things about that. I really need to start running again but it's so damn hot here I just don't want anything to do with it! I guess I should start running first thing in the morning but I've never been one for waking up super early so I either need to do that or start leaving work for a couple hours after it's starting to cool off (meaning in the evening) and run then. I'd like to run the road to the ruins but there are some guys out there doing construction that make enough unsavory comments (and the whistling and kissy noises- I can't believe that ANY women find that attractive...) as it is so clearly I don't want to do that... maybe the road to the bird farm, though it's a pretty significant climb to get there... Also, there is a giant staircase right down the street from the hostel so that's a possibility too, and it's relatively secluded at night so I would be able to work out in peace... ANYWAY, right now my routine is that I wake up, usually between 7:30 and 9, and have until 2 to do whatever I want, which, besides making a small breakfast (almost always fresh fruit with yogurt and granola) and drinking several cups of coffee, usually consists of an hour or two of random crap online and then doing various things to practice my Spanish (I've been watching TV shows that have Spanish subtitling and that's helping a bit but I need to figure out something else. I DO feel like it's getting easier to understand Wendy and Hans but they use so much slang that it's still really difficult...), reading and sometimes writing in my journal. I'm trying to get in some poi practice too but I don't like to do it when there are other people around so that sort-of limits me a bit... I usually make a small lunch right before I head to work so I'm not hungry when I get there, and then I work until 10 most nights, unless it's really dead. I usually get some dinner at some point and an average of one drink per night, as some nights we don't drink while working/after work and some nights we do.
After work I probably go out every two or three nights, though sometimes I've been going out every night. I'm going to work on not smoking, which means going out less- a good thing because I don't need to be spending that kind of money anyway.
I went to the ruins the other day with Oz, to check out the nature trail. It was a really nice way to spend the day. :o) I think I got bitten by about 100 mosquitos that day (totally not exaggerating) but it was still a ton of fun. Found a vine to climb! Wheee!
For the most part my days have settled into a routine, though I'd like to change a few things about that. I really need to start running again but it's so damn hot here I just don't want anything to do with it! I guess I should start running first thing in the morning but I've never been one for waking up super early so I either need to do that or start leaving work for a couple hours after it's starting to cool off (meaning in the evening) and run then. I'd like to run the road to the ruins but there are some guys out there doing construction that make enough unsavory comments (and the whistling and kissy noises- I can't believe that ANY women find that attractive...) as it is so clearly I don't want to do that... maybe the road to the bird farm, though it's a pretty significant climb to get there... Also, there is a giant staircase right down the street from the hostel so that's a possibility too, and it's relatively secluded at night so I would be able to work out in peace... ANYWAY, right now my routine is that I wake up, usually between 7:30 and 9, and have until 2 to do whatever I want, which, besides making a small breakfast (almost always fresh fruit with yogurt and granola) and drinking several cups of coffee, usually consists of an hour or two of random crap online and then doing various things to practice my Spanish (I've been watching TV shows that have Spanish subtitling and that's helping a bit but I need to figure out something else. I DO feel like it's getting easier to understand Wendy and Hans but they use so much slang that it's still really difficult...), reading and sometimes writing in my journal. I'm trying to get in some poi practice too but I don't like to do it when there are other people around so that sort-of limits me a bit... I usually make a small lunch right before I head to work so I'm not hungry when I get there, and then I work until 10 most nights, unless it's really dead. I usually get some dinner at some point and an average of one drink per night, as some nights we don't drink while working/after work and some nights we do.
After work I probably go out every two or three nights, though sometimes I've been going out every night. I'm going to work on not smoking, which means going out less- a good thing because I don't need to be spending that kind of money anyway.
I went to the ruins the other day with Oz, to check out the nature trail. It was a really nice way to spend the day. :o) I think I got bitten by about 100 mosquitos that day (totally not exaggerating) but it was still a ton of fun. Found a vine to climb! Wheee!
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| miniature frog! |
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| I'm convinced that it is possible to climb this tree using the vines. |
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| Oz, giving it a bit of a go. :o) |
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| Caterpillar orgy? Not sure exactly what was happening here but they all had their butts together and were vibrating... Suspicious! |
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| Massive evil ant thing that stung Oz through his shorts AND boxers! |
June 15
Hans and I met this little orange kitty the other night as we were leaving La Terraza. It was really messed up looking because one of its eyes was all bulged out- it was hard to tell if it was something recent or not but it kind-of looked like a birth defect- of course I couldn't really check it out because I didn't want to freak him out. Anyway, I saw him on the other side of the street and called to him and he ended up coming over and gradually coming up to us to the point that, after a couple of minutes, he was rubbing all over us just like any normal cat would. When we went to leave he started walking with us! We thought he might follow us all the way to the taco cart (by Hans's house- the guy is from Guatemala and makes the best gringas [like a quesadilla with shredded pork] EVER!) and if he had we were going to feed him some gringas, but he ended up only following us/walking with us to the corner. SOOO cute!
Hans, Wendy, me, Carlos and his cousin Gabrielle were on the rooftop of La Terraza last night and had the funniest conversation. Wendy was saying something about carne of the calle (street meat) and how she doesn't really eat it much and I was like, “¿Que? ¿No le gusta el carne de la calle?” (What? You don't like the street meat!?) and she went on to say that she likes it but doesn't eat it too much, but at some point Carlos and her started laughing their asses off about it because it sounded like they were talking about hookers or something and so then we were all dying laughing. After we were able to breath again I was like, “pero, en serio, me encanta comiendo en el lugar cerca de la casa de Hans.” (But, seriously, I love eating at the place near Hans's house) and Hans was like, “las gringas son muy ricas” (the gringas are very rich), which sent us all into another bought of uncontrollable laughter. LOL Then I realized that half of the time when those guys are dying laughing over this thing or that thing it's because they making fun of the words themselves, or in how the people say the words. Which makes a lot of sense because there have been so many times where I feel like I understand nearly every word but I don't understand what's so funny.
June 16
We saw the cat again- who Hans has decided is named Peninsula (lol) last night. We saw him in the central park area and he walked with us to the corner before deciding to part ways. SOOO cute.
So, it was Hans, me and Wendy walking to Wendy's house. Hans and I were talking and when we got to Wendy's house we turned around and Wendy was nowhere to be found! She was right behind us only like one minute before! Hans and I started were frantic, looking for her everywhere and thinking all sorts of really unlikely things had happened to her- Hans almost twisted his ankle several times while running! We ran back to Tanya's and hadn't found her so we split up to cover more ground. As I walked back toward her house, there she was standing on the corner a block from her house with this innocent look on her face like, “What? Are you looking for me? Little shit! Hans finally caught up with us and I swear he was about to throttle her! I forgot to mention that there is an uncovered man-hole right in the middle of the intersection before Wendy's house so it could have been a terrible thing!
Today Wendy and I spent several hours at the pool, which was awesome- though the 100 L entry was more than I will be paying on a regular basis. Wendy worked out some kind of deal with the owner where he said he would let people buy a “membership” for 500 L each month. Which is still a hell of a lot more than I want to pay so needless to say I won't be purchasing that! I have apparently lost quite a bit of color in the past couple months because even my arms burned a little. Of course my legs are still white.
June 21st
June 22nd
Last night there was the biggest rainstorm! Hans and I walked Wendy home and we all decided to chill at her place and hang out a bit but I was having a moment of poor comprehension and the storm was so amazing that I just HAD to go outside and watch it and just be in awe of nature. Every time I would think about heading in the storm would intensify and there would be a flash of lightening or the sky would rumble with thunder. I felt incredibly connected, like the WORLD was saying, “look at me, listen to me!” I stayed outside for probably 15 or 20 minutes and the thunder and lightening were incessant! Practically every roll of thunder was at least 20 seconds long and some were nearly a minute in duration- lazy, long peals that made me think of giant beasts like the rock monsters in The Neverending Story slowly making their way across the sky, or an avalanche in the heavens!
As if that wasn't cool enough, while I was watching the storm a car went zipping past (in conditions that far from conducive for "zipping" of any kind!), heading away from the city center, then turned around and came zipping back and ended up driving RIGHT into the manhole in the middle of the intersection (which is now covered but was uncovered for like the first month I was here!)! Hilarious. Wish I'd been taking video!
Hans and I tried to wait out the storm but after a couple hours we decided to brave the weather and make our way to our respective homes, wearing garbage bags for ponchos. lol Wish I'd taken a picture!
June 25th
We hosted an art show on Friday and Saturday so there were tons of people in town from various places but many of the artists were from Tegucigalpa so I ended up hanging with them quite a bit over the course of the weekend. One of them was a girl from Portland who has been living in Tegus for the past year or so but when she's in Portland she lives on like Burnside and 45th or somewhere in that region- can't exactly remember but yeah- basically right down the street from where I lived for like 5 years of my time in Portland! Small world!
On Saturday (23rd) we had a wedding that we had to make like 150 desserts for, so that was fun. We made some little custard tarts, cheesecake with chocolate sauce and mango sauce drizzled over top, and some other things that were like pound cake sandwiches with a custard like filling. Then, that night we made sushi! It was pretty fun- we made a tilapia roll (with mango, avacado and tilapia), a “california” roll (cucumber, fried shrimp, avacado) and a tempura roll (inside-out roll with fried shrimp, avacado, cucumber and cream cheese that was deep-fried) and tilapia sashimi. We were going to make hand rolls too but Hans decided it was too much work so we didn't. It was a huge success and I think we'll do it again soon- maybe even make it a weekly thing? We'll see... The busy season is apparently starting soon so that should be awesome.
Hans and I met this little orange kitty the other night as we were leaving La Terraza. It was really messed up looking because one of its eyes was all bulged out- it was hard to tell if it was something recent or not but it kind-of looked like a birth defect- of course I couldn't really check it out because I didn't want to freak him out. Anyway, I saw him on the other side of the street and called to him and he ended up coming over and gradually coming up to us to the point that, after a couple of minutes, he was rubbing all over us just like any normal cat would. When we went to leave he started walking with us! We thought he might follow us all the way to the taco cart (by Hans's house- the guy is from Guatemala and makes the best gringas [like a quesadilla with shredded pork] EVER!) and if he had we were going to feed him some gringas, but he ended up only following us/walking with us to the corner. SOOO cute!
Hans, Wendy, me, Carlos and his cousin Gabrielle were on the rooftop of La Terraza last night and had the funniest conversation. Wendy was saying something about carne of the calle (street meat) and how she doesn't really eat it much and I was like, “¿Que? ¿No le gusta el carne de la calle?” (What? You don't like the street meat!?) and she went on to say that she likes it but doesn't eat it too much, but at some point Carlos and her started laughing their asses off about it because it sounded like they were talking about hookers or something and so then we were all dying laughing. After we were able to breath again I was like, “pero, en serio, me encanta comiendo en el lugar cerca de la casa de Hans.” (But, seriously, I love eating at the place near Hans's house) and Hans was like, “las gringas son muy ricas” (the gringas are very rich), which sent us all into another bought of uncontrollable laughter. LOL Then I realized that half of the time when those guys are dying laughing over this thing or that thing it's because they making fun of the words themselves, or in how the people say the words. Which makes a lot of sense because there have been so many times where I feel like I understand nearly every word but I don't understand what's so funny.
June 16
We saw the cat again- who Hans has decided is named Peninsula (lol) last night. We saw him in the central park area and he walked with us to the corner before deciding to part ways. SOOO cute.
So, it was Hans, me and Wendy walking to Wendy's house. Hans and I were talking and when we got to Wendy's house we turned around and Wendy was nowhere to be found! She was right behind us only like one minute before! Hans and I started were frantic, looking for her everywhere and thinking all sorts of really unlikely things had happened to her- Hans almost twisted his ankle several times while running! We ran back to Tanya's and hadn't found her so we split up to cover more ground. As I walked back toward her house, there she was standing on the corner a block from her house with this innocent look on her face like, “What? Are you looking for me? Little shit! Hans finally caught up with us and I swear he was about to throttle her! I forgot to mention that there is an uncovered man-hole right in the middle of the intersection before Wendy's house so it could have been a terrible thing!
Today Wendy and I spent several hours at the pool, which was awesome- though the 100 L entry was more than I will be paying on a regular basis. Wendy worked out some kind of deal with the owner where he said he would let people buy a “membership” for 500 L each month. Which is still a hell of a lot more than I want to pay so needless to say I won't be purchasing that! I have apparently lost quite a bit of color in the past couple months because even my arms burned a little. Of course my legs are still white.
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| I like that some odd trick of the lighting in this pic makes me look tanner than Wendy. Pretty sure she's tanner than me! |
Last night a bunch of us from the hostel bought a bottle of vodka and some Fresca (kinda like Squirt), fresh limes and ice and had a few drinks at the hostel before heading to Via Via to free salsa lessons. In total there were 6 of us- me, this guy David, these two Dutch (I think?) girls named Annja and Barbara, my friend Alyssa (from Lake Atitlan, who I was going to stay with in Tela, who ended up here a week or 10 days ago!) and this English girl named Kirsty. The total cost of the vodka, a 2 liter bottle of Fresca, a bag of limes and a bag of ice was about 150 L- so 25 L apiece. We each ended up getting two shots (we did the ones where you use a piece of lemon or lime dipped in sugar on one side and coffee grounds on the other- which I originally did in San Marcos la Laguna... pretty sure I already journalled about it...they taste like chocolate cake!) and two-three mixed drinks! For $1.25! Excellent! Anyway, we stayed here for a bit and then went out to check out the Salsa lessons. It was kinda happening but none of us were really all that interested so we just grabbed our free drinks and went to the back table.
After a couple hours Alyssa and Kirsty went home but the rest of us were still wanting to hang out, however, Annja thought she was going to die of hunger so we went in search of the Guatamalan guy's taco stand (it's mobile so, though he's usually near Hans's house, sometimes he is on the street near the center. We ran into Hans on the way so after we got our gringa fix we met up with all of them at Tony's.
After a couple hours Alyssa and Kirsty went home but the rest of us were still wanting to hang out, however, Annja thought she was going to die of hunger so we went in search of the Guatamalan guy's taco stand (it's mobile so, though he's usually near Hans's house, sometimes he is on the street near the center. We ran into Hans on the way so after we got our gringa fix we met up with all of them at Tony's.
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| Annja, me, Barbara and David, after Kirsty and Alyssa went home. |
Last night there was the biggest rainstorm! Hans and I walked Wendy home and we all decided to chill at her place and hang out a bit but I was having a moment of poor comprehension and the storm was so amazing that I just HAD to go outside and watch it and just be in awe of nature. Every time I would think about heading in the storm would intensify and there would be a flash of lightening or the sky would rumble with thunder. I felt incredibly connected, like the WORLD was saying, “look at me, listen to me!” I stayed outside for probably 15 or 20 minutes and the thunder and lightening were incessant! Practically every roll of thunder was at least 20 seconds long and some were nearly a minute in duration- lazy, long peals that made me think of giant beasts like the rock monsters in The Neverending Story slowly making their way across the sky, or an avalanche in the heavens!
Hans and I tried to wait out the storm but after a couple hours we decided to brave the weather and make our way to our respective homes, wearing garbage bags for ponchos. lol Wish I'd taken a picture!
June 25th
We hosted an art show on Friday and Saturday so there were tons of people in town from various places but many of the artists were from Tegucigalpa so I ended up hanging with them quite a bit over the course of the weekend. One of them was a girl from Portland who has been living in Tegus for the past year or so but when she's in Portland she lives on like Burnside and 45th or somewhere in that region- can't exactly remember but yeah- basically right down the street from where I lived for like 5 years of my time in Portland! Small world!
On Saturday (23rd) we had a wedding that we had to make like 150 desserts for, so that was fun. We made some little custard tarts, cheesecake with chocolate sauce and mango sauce drizzled over top, and some other things that were like pound cake sandwiches with a custard like filling. Then, that night we made sushi! It was pretty fun- we made a tilapia roll (with mango, avacado and tilapia), a “california” roll (cucumber, fried shrimp, avacado) and a tempura roll (inside-out roll with fried shrimp, avacado, cucumber and cream cheese that was deep-fried) and tilapia sashimi. We were going to make hand rolls too but Hans decided it was too much work so we didn't. It was a huge success and I think we'll do it again soon- maybe even make it a weekly thing? We'll see... The busy season is apparently starting soon so that should be awesome.
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| The dessert case, loaded with all the treats for the wedding! Oh, except the custard tarts- they aren't there... |
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| That's right people, that's an inside-out tempura roll you see in the upper left-hand corner. Which means... sushi nights just got even MORE awesome. Er... whenever I get back to wherever I end up! |
June 27th
Today I am making bread (Hans taught me how to make Ciabata bread yesterday!! It's super easy!!) and then hopefully at least some biscotti, if not my almond joy frozen pie.
Today I am making bread (Hans taught me how to make Ciabata bread yesterday!! It's super easy!!) and then hopefully at least some biscotti, if not my almond joy frozen pie.
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| Two batches of ciabatta! |
June 28th 3 am
Just got home from La Terraza- what an awesome night. It was just Hans, Wendy, Dor (Wendy's man, who has been away for the past couple of months or so), Alejandro, this guy Jose and his friend Melissa but it was a lot of fun. I really like Dor, even though I've only spent two days around him- we all work really well together in the kitchen and we've had some good conversations already. I was a little worried that he would be like "who is this girl and what the hell is she doing here?" but he's super chill and even when it's busy he's still relaxed, which I like. Spanish comprehension was good tonight... Or at least, it felt good in the moment, though much of the time when I am analyzing my conversations later I wonder if people were saying something completely different than what I'd thought!
July 1st
While I was working on Friday I got a phone call from the crew (Hans, Wendy and Dor), who had left an hour or so before. Hans told me they had seen a UFO and I had to run quickly to meet them at the German brewery, owned by this guy Thomas. When I began descending the stairs I was greeted by raucous cries of joy from my three friends and, although there were no UFOs in sight I forgot all about that at the sight of the mugs of dark beer sitting in front of each of them! I have tried a couple of beers in the German place before but it's been months since I have had dark beer and I haven't had a really GOOD dark beer since leaving Portland. Two beers later (four or five for everyone else!) we were headed back to work, expecting it to be dead. Turned out to be one of the busiest nights we've had in the time I've worked there, and there we all were, pretty drunk! It was all good though- the time flew by and we didn't drastically mess up much of anything! Wendy put herself to bed in the lounge around 12 (we were waiting for people to leave) but Hans and Dor and I chatted about any number of things while we chilled for a couple of hours on the terrace. Hans wanted to go to this new bar called 12 but I had a headache by that time so I called it a night.
July 1st
While I was working on Friday I got a phone call from the crew (Hans, Wendy and Dor), who had left an hour or so before. Hans told me they had seen a UFO and I had to run quickly to meet them at the German brewery, owned by this guy Thomas. When I began descending the stairs I was greeted by raucous cries of joy from my three friends and, although there were no UFOs in sight I forgot all about that at the sight of the mugs of dark beer sitting in front of each of them! I have tried a couple of beers in the German place before but it's been months since I have had dark beer and I haven't had a really GOOD dark beer since leaving Portland. Two beers later (four or five for everyone else!) we were headed back to work, expecting it to be dead. Turned out to be one of the busiest nights we've had in the time I've worked there, and there we all were, pretty drunk! It was all good though- the time flew by and we didn't drastically mess up much of anything! Wendy put herself to bed in the lounge around 12 (we were waiting for people to leave) but Hans and Dor and I chatted about any number of things while we chilled for a couple of hours on the terrace. Hans wanted to go to this new bar called 12 but I had a headache by that time so I called it a night.
Yesterday I spent much of the day looking for a new place to live, as I've decided to stay here until Sunjam, this trance festival I learned about from Wendy like a month ago that is held in/really near Utila the first week in August... I have narrowed it down to two places.
During a slow period at work last night I logged in to Facebook and my friend Rafaella told me that our friend Meg died on the 25th. I'm so glad I was able to reconnect with her, and all my other Bozeman friends, before I left on this trip. This is my first real experience with the unexpected loss of someone I care deeply about, and it's hit me pretty hard. I expect I'll be thinking about her a lot in the upcoming weeks, and about how important my family and other friends are to me as well.
During a slow period at work last night I logged in to Facebook and my friend Rafaella told me that our friend Meg died on the 25th. I'm so glad I was able to reconnect with her, and all my other Bozeman friends, before I left on this trip. This is my first real experience with the unexpected loss of someone I care deeply about, and it's hit me pretty hard. I expect I'll be thinking about her a lot in the upcoming weeks, and about how important my family and other friends are to me as well.
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| Clearly, this is not my photo but I hope it's ok that I'm reposting it here. If anyone is upset about it please let me know and I'll remove it. This is Rafaella and Meg (on the right). I met both of these lovely ladies while I was in college at MSU Bozeman, and even though they were only like 15 when I met them they were cool enough that we became friends during my time in Bozeman MT, and have remained friends these past 8 years since I left ther e and moved to Portland OR. Meg was one of the craziest people I ever met- she had things happen to her that shouldn't happen to anyone but she overcame them and became one of the strongest, most determined people I've ever met. She accomplished more in the 12 or so years I knew her than many people do in 20 or 30 years. Even being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27 (?) didn't phase her; the words "I can't" were not in her vocabulary. The world is less bright of a place without the light that radiated from this girl, and I will miss her dearly. |
July 2nd
Well, I ended up renting an apartment with Alejandro. It's a little less private, sharing a space with someone, and it is a small space- only two rooms and a bathroom- but I think it will actually be pretty cool. Splitting the rent means I'm now paying $75/month- a serious savings over the nearly $175 that I was basically paying per month at la Manzana Verde. I liked the hostel well enough, but I really thought it was ridiculous that I couldn't get a discount for staying longer- nearly every hostel I've been to so far offers that! Plus, it was a pain in the ass to be woken up every morning (before 8/9 ish!) at least once by the girls mopping, cleaning the bathroom, emptying the trash in the room, etc! Not to mention that the night guy ALSO empties the trash- at like 5 am! I understand that it's their job but this level of cleanliness is unnecessary! The floor gets mopped 6 times (6 times!!) a day- three times between 8 and 2, then three more times between 2 and 10! As far as I'm concerned, twice a day is already excessive. The owner is a nice enough guy but the couple of times I have tried to suggest changes to the hostel (that other people have also mentioned to me) he has not really listened so... what can you do?
We have a lovely balcony and it's a great place from which to do some people watching!
Well, I ended up renting an apartment with Alejandro. It's a little less private, sharing a space with someone, and it is a small space- only two rooms and a bathroom- but I think it will actually be pretty cool. Splitting the rent means I'm now paying $75/month- a serious savings over the nearly $175 that I was basically paying per month at la Manzana Verde. I liked the hostel well enough, but I really thought it was ridiculous that I couldn't get a discount for staying longer- nearly every hostel I've been to so far offers that! Plus, it was a pain in the ass to be woken up every morning (before 8/9 ish!) at least once by the girls mopping, cleaning the bathroom, emptying the trash in the room, etc! Not to mention that the night guy ALSO empties the trash- at like 5 am! I understand that it's their job but this level of cleanliness is unnecessary! The floor gets mopped 6 times (6 times!!) a day- three times between 8 and 2, then three more times between 2 and 10! As far as I'm concerned, twice a day is already excessive. The owner is a nice enough guy but the couple of times I have tried to suggest changes to the hostel (that other people have also mentioned to me) he has not really listened so... what can you do?
We have a lovely balcony and it's a great place from which to do some people watching!
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| The view from the farthest west point of our balcony. I expect to take many sunset pics from here! |
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| Really odd photo because this is actually like a 280 degree view from the corner of the balcony! But you get the idea! |
I can't really practice my poi here, which sucks. There is a space that's large enough in the kitchen (my room) and in the living room (Alejandro's room) but using either space will require me to move furniture so we'll see how much I actually practice.
I'm hoping to do some writing, as it's been on my mind more and more often recently...
July 9th
There are hardly any tourists in town so I've been spending a LOT of time at the apartment and hardly any time at La Terraza. Which sucks because I miss the gang but I've also been able to improve my Spanish by watching TV, which, though incredibly boring (when I don't understand much, that is), is actually helping my comprehension immensely.
I DID hang out with the crew on... Friday night, the 6th, with Jose (the guy I hung out with a couple of weeks ago when he and his friend Melissa were in town) and this English guy Ollie (who was, quite possibly, the most self-absorbed guy I've ever met in my life!) at "12", the new "underground bar" in town. Meaning, it's someone's house where they have no close neighbors so they sell beer there "after-hours". Although all Ollie wanted to talk about was himself, he did have a few good stories and there were a few other people there who I've met before, including Wendy's sisters, Faviola and Anjelica so it ended up being a pretty fun night.
Not surprisingly, I'm sure, I've been doing lots of cooking and other "domestic" things lately. I foolishly purchased 5 lbs of cacao at the mercado the other day (yeah, not sure what I was thinking!) so I had to toast and peel all the beans- a project that I worked on for the majority of three days, no joke (peeling while I watched TV- not like it was hard, just time-consuming, and boring!)! I'd like to get some cacao balls or cacao bars or something figured out, to sell to people... It's just, I am not sure it's cost-effective to make them to sell because so many of the ingredients are really expensive (prunes contribute a huge part of it and they are massively expensive). Not to mention that there are a lot of ingredients that require chopping so unless I have a blender available to use it takes me like 2 hours to make a batch of cacao balls. Though they are delicious, at that rate I'd rather just horde them all for myself! Though, I also don't really want to be packing around 5 lbs of cacao when I leave here either! lol
I'm hoping to do some writing, as it's been on my mind more and more often recently...
July 9th
There are hardly any tourists in town so I've been spending a LOT of time at the apartment and hardly any time at La Terraza. Which sucks because I miss the gang but I've also been able to improve my Spanish by watching TV, which, though incredibly boring (when I don't understand much, that is), is actually helping my comprehension immensely.
I DID hang out with the crew on... Friday night, the 6th, with Jose (the guy I hung out with a couple of weeks ago when he and his friend Melissa were in town) and this English guy Ollie (who was, quite possibly, the most self-absorbed guy I've ever met in my life!) at "12", the new "underground bar" in town. Meaning, it's someone's house where they have no close neighbors so they sell beer there "after-hours". Although all Ollie wanted to talk about was himself, he did have a few good stories and there were a few other people there who I've met before, including Wendy's sisters, Faviola and Anjelica so it ended up being a pretty fun night.
Not surprisingly, I'm sure, I've been doing lots of cooking and other "domestic" things lately. I foolishly purchased 5 lbs of cacao at the mercado the other day (yeah, not sure what I was thinking!) so I had to toast and peel all the beans- a project that I worked on for the majority of three days, no joke (peeling while I watched TV- not like it was hard, just time-consuming, and boring!)! I'd like to get some cacao balls or cacao bars or something figured out, to sell to people... It's just, I am not sure it's cost-effective to make them to sell because so many of the ingredients are really expensive (prunes contribute a huge part of it and they are massively expensive). Not to mention that there are a lot of ingredients that require chopping so unless I have a blender available to use it takes me like 2 hours to make a batch of cacao balls. Though they are delicious, at that rate I'd rather just horde them all for myself! Though, I also don't really want to be packing around 5 lbs of cacao when I leave here either! lol
 |
| Raw cacao beans |
 |
| 5 lbs worth... |
 |
| 4.5 lb bag of un-toasted cacao, skillet full of toasting cacao, bowl of toasted cacao waiting to be peeled, bowl of peeled cacao waiting to be bagged. |
 |
| Once the cacao bean is toasted, the shell comes off relatively easily... most of the time! |
 |
| Three days later, all the cacao is peeled! YAY! |
I've been working on making some “power bars” and have a pretty good recipe together that is delicious, relatively easy to make, and with ingredients that are cheap enough that I should be able to sell them at a price at which people will buy them and I can make some money too so... we'll see!
We haven't seen Peninsula in like 3 weeks. I hope he's ok.
Lastly, I've decided to report on any new music I come across and listen to for any significant amount of time, in case anyone's interested...
Lastly, I've decided to report on any new music I come across and listen to for any significant amount of time, in case anyone's interested...
So.
I discovered Belanova several months ago when I was still in San Marcos San Marcos and have basically been listening to them on a weekly basis ever since then!
Their videos are a little odd but the songs are awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ2lnHlmUpg&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHEJZzMaqjM&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A&index=10&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWaGVg3Mm08&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A&index=4&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqjmeM-RNmU&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A&index=8&feature=plcp
And more recently, these are the songs that will likely forever remind me of my time here in Copán Ruinas... The third one, especially. It's Wendy's favorite song, and more than once I have seen her hammered, BELTING the song out at the top of her lungs. :o) Ok, I may have been hammered and belting it at the top of my lungs more than once too... :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqaGZYDGcUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6dMFF_yts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssxM5sJAB1c
Lastly, I will post my favorite song as of this moment and wrap up this (typically, for me!) lengthy blog post. Thanks to anyone who made it all the way to here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_zZmsFZDaM
I discovered Belanova several months ago when I was still in San Marcos San Marcos and have basically been listening to them on a weekly basis ever since then!
Their videos are a little odd but the songs are awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ2lnHlmUpg&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHEJZzMaqjM&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A&index=10&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWaGVg3Mm08&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A&index=4&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqjmeM-RNmU&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DCNAuPTWTsAKQjkbSmBo-A&index=8&feature=plcp
And more recently, these are the songs that will likely forever remind me of my time here in Copán Ruinas... The third one, especially. It's Wendy's favorite song, and more than once I have seen her hammered, BELTING the song out at the top of her lungs. :o) Ok, I may have been hammered and belting it at the top of my lungs more than once too... :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqaGZYDGcUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6dMFF_yts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssxM5sJAB1c
Lastly, I will post my favorite song as of this moment and wrap up this (typically, for me!) lengthy blog post. Thanks to anyone who made it all the way to here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_zZmsFZDaM
I'm sorry to hear about your friend. She was so young to have breast cancer. I'm glad you've met people and are practicing Spanish. I know comprehension can be like a roller coaster. It all clicks one day then the next it feels like it doesn't. I think TV with subtitles and a dictionary is a great way to learn. Take care. I'll keep checking back for posts and badger you until you update :)
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