"This wasn't a strange place; it was a new one." ~ The Alchemist

Hi-diddly-ho, good neighborinos! That's a phrase that our dear friends and neighbors Justin and Lisa use every time they see us (namely Justin). They have an adorable little 6-month-old named Jonas, who looks remarkably like Jack-Jack, and who really likes Dad. They have been kind enough to help us through our move here, including letting us use their phone and internet (and now their books) at our whim. They are very nice and live just a few houses down from us.
But, let's start from the beginning. I'll try to be as detailed as I can, but I have some pictures to help chronicle the adventure that was our move to Tegucigalpa, Honduras! Also, please excuse any typos, as it's hard to stare at a computer screen for so long without losing a little focus. But first of all, we spent two nights in Miami, Florida before flying out, and they were remarkably unexciting. We went swimming in the hotel's very small pool, saw the bay at Coconut Grove, and ate at a cool restaurant that was right next to the airport. Other than that, we mostly slept and made sure we had our passports and luggage all ready to go.

Here is a picture of all of our luggage waiting to go to the airport in Miami, ready to fly out to Honduras. Twelve suitcases in all. You can imagine how annoying it was to drag those around two airports for three days. Luckily we checked all of them except for our carry-on's. It was still a pain.

We got to the airport at about 11:30, and our flight was scheduled for about 1, but when we got there, the woman who checked our bags told us that the flight was boarding at noon! Ah! We still hadn't eaten, so we were planning to go through security, eat our lunch, and then be ready to board the plane. So we rushed through security as quickly as was humanly possible (which wasn't very quickly, as you can imagine) and when we got to the counter for our flight, we found out that the plane was delayed and wasn't even going to be there for another hour and a half! At least we had time for lunch. We didn't get on the plane till about two, sat on it for about an hour, and then we finally took off. Now this plane ride was far from pleasant. First of all, there were three very small boys sitting behind Mary, Melissa and I, and they were banging their tray tables around and kicking our seats until I was ready to burst. It really wasn't that bad, because once the plane got going and the movie started, they quited down soon enough. However, I would have taken the kids any day over what else we had to endure. As soon as we took off (literally, as soon as we took off), the man in front of Melissa (who was in the middle) began throwing up. And he threw up the entire way there. I felt sorry for him, and I felt sorry for us, and I especially felt sorry for the people sitting next to him. We got the sound, and the smell, and it was just awful. I can't stand that sound, so I had to plug my ears every time he threw up. It was extremely unpleasant. So I would have much preferred the kids kicking my chair the whole way rathar than have that guy in front of us. Luckily, it was only about a two hour flight. Which also means, that we left Miami at about 3:15, and arrived in San Pedro Sula at about 3:30! Honduras runs on Mountain Time, so don't get confused.

When our driver's came to pick us up, we flew threw customs, waiting about a decade for all of our suitcases, and promptly found out that because we had arrived so late, and because it was such a long drive to Tegucigalpa, we had to spend the night somewhere about half-way. Apparently they didn't want us driving at night, because it's extremely dangerous and there is barely any visibility.

We were told that we were going to spend the night at a hotel called Las Brisas del Lago, or the Breezes of the Lake. However, no one could seem to tell us where it was, so we drove back and forth (in the dark, literally and figuratively) for about an hour, asking at least three people where the hotel was, before we were directed down a dark and sinister side street, and thirty bumpy and nerve-wracking minutes later we finally found the hotel. It looked like it had once been a very nice place (in the 70's, probably), and there was no one there. I guess since it's rainy season there aren't many tourists around, but it was still a little disheartening. After a quiet and small dinner in the large dining room (with a huge window where you could see the lake, when it was light outside), we retired to our room, where I was delighted to find this clock hanging on our wall.

Unfortunately, the flash blocked out the words, and I can't remember what it said, but it was pretty cool. I definitely felt protected all night. There were also these two completely inexplicable paintings on the walls of the rooms. The rooms were connected, with a big entryway in between (no door) and above Melissa and my beds was a pastel painting of flowers that looked like it had been drawn by a five-year-old. However, the painting above the parents' bed is impossible to describe. It was pink, purple, and light green painted in a sort of hilly pattern with strange black dots periodically dotting the borders. We really couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be, even after throwing ideas around every time we happened to glance at it, so we just ended up trying to ignore it as best as we could.

There are a couple things that are vital to know about this country. First of all, in this (the rainy) season, it gets dark at about 6:30 in the evening and light at about 4:30 in the morning. The second thing to know is that there are many beautiful and interesting birds in this country, that make the most obnoxious noises known to man. For example, while staying at this hotel, we were all rudely awakened at about 4:00 in the morning by a bird whose melodious timbre was extrodinarily similar to that of an alarm clock. I, for one, could not imagine why anyone would set their alarm for so early, until I realized that it wasn't stopping and that it must be some ungodly creature from the natural world. I covered my ears and tried to go back to sleep. Here in Tegucigalpa, while not only finding it impossible to sleep at all, the birds begin their song at about 3:00 in the morning, and I can't close my windows because I don't have an air conditioner in my room. Ah well. Such is life.

On with the story. Despite being old and inhabited with obnoxious birds, the hotel offered a view of the lake (Lake Yojoa) that was very beautiful. This was the view from our hotel room.

While Melissa and I were getting ready for the second leg of our driving tour through Honduras, Dad and Mary took a walk and took these lovely pictures. This is a ginormous grasshopper that they found chillin' on the cement.

This is a gorgeous picture of the lake from the back of the hotel.

I love this picture. I especially love the horse in it.

Now, mind you, not all of Honduras looks like this. Zamorano does, but we'll get to that later. I wish it did, but there are many places where people just dump their garbage on the side of the road and create car dumps on the sides of mountains. At first I had the thought that most of Honduras looks alike (with the old, tin roof houses and the laundry hanging out in the rain) but I soon realized that even though it was all of the same nature, every little village and every little town we passed through was different. I never got tired of seeing the kids in uniform, the horses and donkeys tied to the side of the road, the chickens, pigs, and cows wandering loose, and the skinny dogs lying in the shade. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but sometimes it was raining so hard you couldn't see out of the windows, and sometimes we just drove by too fast.

That's another thing about this country. There are zero driving laws. Actually, I think that the only thing you can get a ticket for (let alone be pulled over for) is talking on your cell phone while driving. Which I really haven't seen any of here. Everything else is legit. Lanes are really guidelines, people are always honking (though it's really to let you know that they are there) and speed limits are non-existant. I've heard someone describe it this way. "In Honduras, it's not like people are angry drivers. It's not road rage. It's like a mathematical problem. They are just trying to see how many cars can fit into a given space." And that's pretty much it. It's really more confusing than dangerous, anyway. The city has no plan. Someone just built a house here and someone else built a business there, and it all just kind of sprang up wherever it wanted to. Our task of driving around isn't quite so bad, because we have a set area that contains everything we need, and we are strongly recommended to not drive around those other areas. Yesterday, we went on a driving expedition (it's not so bad Saturday mornings and all Sunday) and Mary made sure she could get to our primary destinations: the Embassy, La Colonia, Paiz (grocery stores), Larach (a huge hardware store that sells anything you could imagine), PriceSmart (which is like a big Costco), and the mall. That's pretty much the extent of where we go. Larach is on the very edge of where we're recommended not to go, so we have to make sure we don't get lost over that way. Oh, and there are no street names. There are four main roads that take us where we need to go: La Paz (where the Embassy is), Juan Paulo Segundo (John Paul II), Morazon, and Suyapa (affectionately known to us as Sula-Pula, because Mary couldn't remember what it was called). But we have a lot of landmarks to get us around, like Ruby Tuesday's, the Inter-Continental Hotel, and Texaco. And the Embassy families have made up names for the other important roads, like the American School road, which we live off of, and the McDonald's road, which has a McDonald's at either end of it. Bear in mind, however, that if you're ever going to be driving around Tegucigalpa, never use a Dunkin' Donuts as a landmark. There are at least six in the mall alone, and I've lost track of how many there are in the city. At least two on every block. It's like Starbucks in San Francisco. Literally.

But on to more exciting things. We continued our journey through the hills on the way to Teguz, and were surprised to see the sort of vegetation they have lining the hills. Namely, pine trees. I don't know if you've ever seen pine trees growing side by side with banana trees, but it's a pretty bizarre sight. The countryside is very pretty, but I heard that in the dry season everything turns brown, which is a shame. I don't know where that is or for how long, but I like it better like this.

This is the view from our descent into Teguz. It's quite a magnificent sight. We got into the city in the early afternoon (two or three, I can't remember) and our drivers took us around for a bit before taking us to our house, which is on a hill right by the American School, in a gated community called Loma Alta. Oh, and about twenty minutes from the city, in the hills where we came from, is a wicked looking water park. We have to go someday.

Before I go on, let me apologize for the length of this blog. I'm proud of you for reading this far, and just now I have decided that once I'm finished talking about the house, I'm going to save the rest for another entry. This is just getting ridiculous, and I don't want you to get bored and stop; not when there's still so much more to tell you about! So the house, and that's it for today. I promise.

This is our house, from the outside. It's really quite nice, well-furnished, and has lots of space. There aren't any carpets on the floors, and since we don't really have much in the way of decoration, it's quite echoy. It's fun to sing in there, but when the tv is on, it's really loud. Mainly because the parents are deaf and can't hear it. We still have cable from the last people who lived here, which includes a few English channels not dubbed in Spanish, some sort of Japanese or Korean channel (with equally unfathomable Japanese or Korean or something subtitles), a German channel, an Italian channel, soap operas filmed in Portugese and dubbed in Spanish, and about 90 other Spanish channels. I must admit, however, that they do have quite a few good American movies on, that are very nicely dubbed, with very good voice-over work. It's always an adventure to see what's on in English. The other day I watched the Fifth Element. Good movie.

This is my room. It's really big, with a high pointed ceiling, and no air conditioner. I have a fan, but I keep my windows open all day and I have to keep my curtains open during the night so I can catch the breeze. Which becomes a problem when the birds start going at 3:00 and the sun soon follows. But I manage. There are closets all along the left side of the room (when you walk in) and cupboards above them. It's quite a large room, so it's kind of awkward because there's only those two small dressers, but it's all right. This picture was taken before I had unpacked. The other awkward thing about it, is before our sponsors gave us pillows (they are very nice and were very, very helpful; the sponsors, that is, not the pillows), all we had were these awkward plastic pillows that came with the furniture. They were extremely uncomfortable. And the funny thing is, when they replaced the mattresses and bedding to get rid of the buggy ones, they took away the gross plastic pillow, and replaced it with another one. So I have a nice pillow that I use for my head, and a weird plastic pillow that I use for between my knees when I'm lying on my side. It's awkward.

This is my bathroom. Notice the lack of counter space. Melissa kindly offered this room to me so that I wouldn't have to have the pink bathroom (which has ample counter space) but I'm glad I have this room, a reason which I'll get into in a moment.
There's me holding the camera while it flashes in the mirror. The shower is to the right, a large, square thing that didn't have a shower curtain at first, but luckily we got one the day we arrived. It's really quite nice, and I keep all of my toiletries on a shelf in the closet closest to the bathroom. Ha ha. Closet closest. That's hard to type. Anyway, we are fairly happy with the layout and location of the house, but there was only one small problem when we moved in. BUGS. A phenomenon that was totally inexplicable to everyone who we spoke with (mainly Lisa), the house was obviously not cleaned very well before we moved in. (We arrived on Friday, the people had moved out on Sunday; these people apparently had two live-in housekeepers and a stay-at-home mom and no one seemed to know about the bug problem). The Embassy hires some people to come in and clean the house, but it wasn't done very well, because the appliances were filthy, it wasn't really swept or dusted, and there were ants everywhere! I was lucky, and I only had ants in my bathroom; my room was clean but for some spiders hanging out on the ceiling. Melissa's room, on the other hand, was infested, not only with these teeny-tiny Honduran ants, but also with centipedes and spiders. The parents' room had all of these, plus big red ants. So we scrubbed everything down with a high concentration of bleach to cover their trail, but those ants are stubborn, and came back to the exact same spots. Since last week, we've used Raid (which killed them all in my bathroom; in fact, they're all still dead on the walls. I should probably clean that up), bleach, and had exterminators come spray outside the house. They sprayed a little bit inside, and placed ant traps, and there haven't been nearly as many ants as there have been. There are still some here and there, and we really need to tear off the baseboards, because that's where they're nesting, but at least it isn't what it was before. We also have had very few encounters with mosquitos, which is good, because dengue is becoming quite common in this area. We've had some other small problems, that no one else seems to have, like running out of water (just once, since the city is supposed to be pumping it into our cistern periodically) and people forgetting to pick us up for motor pool, but other than that we've been quite lucky. We have a car that we bought from someone who left last week, our UAB is here going through customs, so we should have that soon, and we should be getting our telephone and internet installed this week. So we really are doing all right. We'll probably be in this house for about three more weeks (keep your fingers crossed!) while the other family moves out of the house we're going to get and while they do repairs before we can move in. I have a full-time job, even if it's not very interesting, and I'm trying to learn more Spanish every day! One final picture, and I'll let you get on with your lives.

This is the view from my bedroom. Through the bars and over the razor wire, it's really a very beautiful view at night, since I can see all of the lights on the hillside. I hope that the next house has an equally pleasant view.

Well, I suppose that's it for today. I'm getting tired of typing, so I'll leave you to your various activities, and hope that this has helped you gain insight to life in a foreign country! Tomorrow I'll be sure to add more, with lots of pictures, and I wish you all happiness and success in your lives, wherever you may be! Shalom!