Falls, Hills and Lakes

I returned on Sunday evening burnt to a crisp and happy as a clam! My amazing weekend began at 4:45am on Saturday morning when I got up to shower and eat before meeting Heidi (a volunteer from Australia working at the theatre) and Nanna (a volunteer from Denmark working at an orphanage) at the main paved street where they picked me up and were driven to the central bus station where we hopped a bus to San Pedro Sula. The bus was full of quiet sleepy people trying to finish their morning rest before they had to start working, but Heidi was at full volume, chatting about what we were going to do for the trip and how. We arrived in San Pedro as the sun finished rising and asked a bunch of people where was the bus to Pena Blanca. When we found out we would have to wait another hour for the bus, Heidi went to look for delicious Baleadas and fried plantains with sour cream. When she came back with food she also came back with news that another bus would take us directly to the waterfalls. We dashed to the bus at the other end of the block and jumped on. For the next two hours we past from big cities to small towns and farm land and the air finally got a little cooler.

Soon we were let off at Cataracas de Pulanpanzak. We walked with our bags up hills and around small town squares and finally turned off to a private park entrance. We entered what looked only like a dusty picnic sight when we were approached bye a guide, Alex, who told us h could take us behind the falls after we took some pictures. So we whipped out the camera like the good tourists we were trying to be, and passed the dying pine trees and brown grass and came upon a calm river. We past a bunch of bushes and walked down some packed mud steps and there appeared the epitome of Central American scenery: a stunning waterfall that got more and more beautiful as we followed the path which led us to a lookout nearly in front of the waterfall. The falls were not huge in width but the fall is about 147 feet and the water starts with one stream and splits as it falls on the other rocks and from those rocks fall in thing but strong rivulets that make the rocks look like the have hair. When the water reaches the first level, there is a pool surrounded by different levels of rock formations and beyond that, 5 more small levels of pools and falls. We stood forever just staring at the power of these falls, watching the blue hummingbirds and 3 different types of butterflies and wishing we were one of them so we could fly over the falls and dive down and take a dip.

After gawking for nearly 45 minutes, Alex came to get us and told us we should go behind the falls. We thought we'd be able to leave our bags in the restaurant but instead we passed down a huge length of steps and through a locked barbed wire fence, all the while getting closer and closer to the falls. Alex just pointed to a place where were should put our bags—a soft pile of plants and mud. He said we could change our clothes because we would get totally wet. We thought he meant splashed wet by the spray from walking behind the falls, so we left all our clothes and hiking boots on, grabbed our cameras and followed Alex…and before we knew it he had jumped into one of the pools below the falls and told us to follow him. The three of us looked for rocks to hop to, and he just looked at us like we were crazy and pointed to the water. So we hurried back up the hill, emptied our pockets, left our cameras and dashed back to the rock in our full clothes and boots to jump off into the pool. We plopped into the pool and were told to hold hands for the rest of the way. We pulled ourselves up on rocks that were being pounded by falling water, past behind spray and sheets of water where we couldn't see anything except our own feet, and all the while scaled rocks that had been sculpted by falling water. My heart was pounding and I was breathing fast and hard because I felt like at any moment a stream of water could hit me wrong and I might be knocked unconscious or my foot might slip on a rock or into a deep hole underwater and I would slip into the rushing water and be taken downstream. We shimmied in and out of the falls along the rocks and finally came to a small overhang and a round hole, 2 feet in diameter. Alex told us to climb though the hole so we ducked into it but immediately had to turn into snakes and head up inside the cave. Once inside the pitch black cave Alex told us that maybe the Mayas could have used it, though we couldn't see much of the wall carvings he talked about, even when our eyes adjusted. My cynical side said it was a story for the tourists. But he did tell us that he knew how to work around the falls and about the cave because his father is a fisherman and taught him everything.

Soon we went back out and had to do the whole thing backwards again. Once we gout out from under the falls Alex said, "Ok, lets go jump" I had no idea what he was talking about and had no plans of jumping off anything that I could see, but we got to three stacks of rocks all different heights surrounding the pools were we had originally hopped in. We climbed one of them and just took a big leap to the center of the pool, splashing and giggling about the whole thing. Alex said the pool is about 13 feet deep. And then he pointed to this huge overhang about 16 feet above the water. So Heidi and I gathered our courage and trekked to the top while Nanna stayed behind to take pictures. We stood at the edge and counted to 3 and just jumped. I screamed like Aunt Kathy and probably scared the other tourists and wildlife. After another bit of swimming, we slip-slopped back to the little fish restaurant and laid our cloths out in the sun to dry while we had a nice little picnic.

In only half an hour, our things were dry and we changed and walked back to a bus to Pena Blanca where a nice guy in a mini bus took us to the Lencan Ruins of Los Naranjos. Now these ruins are not excavated so they just look like HUGE mounds of dirt surrounded by beautiful forests and wetlands. As we walked around the park I managed to come up with a story about a Lencan princess who made a virgin sacrifice and was murdered by the kind and a prince but her peasant lover saved her memory by raising three children born of her sacrifice. Not a perfect story, but it kept us entertained. After the ruins we went back to Pena Blanca where we checked out a hotel that didn't have any rooms with enough room for three people and just decided to splurge on a hotel on the shores of Lago Yojoa.

We arrived at Agua Azul hotel in time to check out our beautiful wood-paneled room with an enclosed porch with a view of the lake and the mountains. We all showed up and went to the lovely dining room to eat a fresh fish dinner, topped off with Honduran fried bananas and margaritas. We were all exhausted and overly-full, so we headed to bed about 8:30 and slept a wonderful 12 hours when we woke up and had another lovely meal on the porch overlooking the lake with coffee and classic Honduran breakfast. Then we went down to the lake and rented a paddle boat, which we took a little ways into the lake and sat and had a nice theoretical discussion about different cultures. We also got really sun burnt since we were there at about 12, but that didn't do much to ruin our weekend. We came back and jumped in the pool for a refreshing dip and then to the deck to have some beers and cokes. While we were getting ready to head out a woman who spoke perfect English told us that there was a direct bus to El Progreso and that she would even drive us to the bush stop. She told us that when she had been in the States, she was with her baby daughter on the side of the road in the pouring rain one night and a woman stopped and drove her 2 hours in the opposite direction back to her house and that the woman had been on her way to work. We all decided we are going to "pay forward" the favor she did for us someday to some traveler in need. We arrived in Progreso about 3 hours earlier than planned, sun burnt, sore-shouldered, sticky, dirty-haired and so happy and content. It

Tela

Of course, with all the busyness of rehearsals, Jack being out of the country, trying to get my passport renewed, my power going out for 3 days, and trying to live a 'normal' life in another country, I managed to find time to go to the beach with Heidi, Tony, Rigo and Joel. We tried to borrow the theatre's bus from Edy but he said no. So we had to take the public bus. This was not really a problem for anyone on the way there, as it wasn't full, except for Joel who told me a bunch of times that he doesn't like traveling by public bus. After nearly 2 hours of a normally 2 hour ride (I think this is the reason Joel doesn't like it…he's like a little kid who just wants to get there already) we got to the town of Tela. What a yucky town! I have to admit I am glad I'm not stuck there for a year! We walked past all the closed shops (it was Sunday) and rotting trash piles and groups of beach drunks (which the boys informed us, are the worst kind of drunks) and finally got to the beach. It was PACKED! Every bit of shade was taken and all the good sand piles were being used, so we trekked a good ¼ mile down the beach to a place where we would have been totally unsafe as gringas alone, but with Hondurans we were fine.

Heidi and I both dropped trou and put on our bathing suits and dashed into the water. (Unfortunately without any comment from the boys about how hot we looked). Rigo and Tony followed, but not Joel. It was only then that I found out the real reason Joel was bummed we were going to the beach: he doesn't really know how to swim unless it is a shallow pool with sides to hold onto, and he's also scared of the animals in the ocean. No wonder he didn't get all excited to go! So he quickly became the bag watcher while the rest of us got on each other's shoulders and fought to stay balanced and swam against the small waves. Unfortunately, after only an hour or so, they were all burnt out of being in the water, while I just wanted a rest and wanted to go back in. But everyone was hungry, so we searched the beach for something more than fried chicken and hot dogs and finally found a little house that had fried fish and cold beer. After lunch we headed back to the bus station where we found the next bus back to Progreso completely full of people (and two baby chickens). We all started by standing around each time the bus stopped or the money collector came by. Heidi, Tony, Joel and I finally got a seat after about 45 minutes, but Rigo stood the entire two hours. The guy I happened to get a seat next to had worked in the US and Honduras as an engineer of some type and we started chatting. He basically restated every truth I've discovered in my life thus far, and especially with traveling to Honduras. He said things like "You have to leave your country so you can experience other cultures and learn to appreciate your own," and "you need to work with and for something you have a passion or else your whole life is a waste," and "When you travel and work and open your eyes you are always learning even outside of school and that is the only way to live a full life" and he continued with things I can't remember and can't translate. So, as fat or my Papa Lansing would have it, I got to sit next to someone who gave me a much needed re-affirmation of what the heck I'm doing here.

We finally arrived in Progreso after a good two hours on the bus. All were pretty sick of the bus, except Heidi and I who pretty much look at everything as an adventure. Again, another Sunday evening happy as could be.

In Hot Water

So Heidi and I thought it would be a good idea for us to have a little Sunday gathering to relax after a weekend of performances. My roommate has a little kid's pool which we wanted to fill up with chilly water and kick back with some cold Coronas, since it's getting into the 90s here every day with humidity at 60%. So Sunday rolled around and I had bought the beer and the lovely mangos and had the pool cleaned and ready to be filled, when it started to pour! It stayed cold the whole morning and at 1pm when my friends were supposed to arrive, it still wasn't pooling weather. So I got out the two small pots I have and started boiling water on the stove so we could make it more of a Jacuzzi than a Rocky Mountain lake. I had toted about 5 pots out to the pool, when Joel arrived and plomped down on the couch for a chat. Before I sat down, I wanted to hurry out the last pot of water. I was doing great until I got out to the edge of the pool and went to throw the water into the pool and tipped the pot the too much in the wrong direction and spilled boiling water on my right pointer finger. I tossed the water and the pot into the pool and dashed inside to drench my hand in cold water. My hand wasn't discolored or anything, but it hurt like hell. So Honduran Apothecary Joel told me to put toothpaste on it to cool the burning, which I did and it did for the most part. So now with the burning calmed down, he told me to wash it off and wrap the burned part in my hair…that should cool it even more. I found this hard to believe and asked him how he knew something like that, and he said all Honduran grandmothers teach you stuff like that. So I put my hand in my hair and sure enough, the burning sensation stopped. After a couple minutes in my hair I couldn't even feel where I had burned myself! However, Joel didn't have any idea about how to limit blistering and over the course of the next few hours a couple of large blisters began to form. I put some Neosporin on it, hoping only to keep it soft so it wouldn't crack, and by the next morning I had a blister that nearly filled the space between my bottom two knuckles on my pointer finger. I left it for two days hoping the swelling and liquid would start to recede, but it just kept filling, so I popped it on the second evening and filled a dollar bill sized gauze with liquid. Needless to say, I am now healing well, and so is my ego after all the jokes about my new ring, my leech stuck on my hand, my piece of Jell-O I forgot to eat, and jokes so vulgar that I will leave them to your imagination.

THINGS I'M PRETTY SURE HONDURANS ARE THE BEST AT

• Tying plastic bags, with or without handles, of any size, weight, and fullness, in a knot that holds everything in, but is still easy to untie
• Matching the color of hair clips to earrings to tank tops to belts to jeans stitching to stiletto shoes to eye shadow
• Being extremely beautiful and handsome without trying to be.
• Peeling and slicing a mango so you get as much of the fruit as possible but no skin
• Actually using up a Costco size jugs of hair gel
• Carrying boxes and crates full of squishy loaves of sweet bread three times the size of the motorcycle on which they carry them
• Finding more than five different ways to physicalize and sound like a donkey
• Replicating the actual crow of a rooster, not just the Old MacDonald kind of sound
• Creating and using any over 100 terms for 'penis' in each and every sentence
• Justifying having a wife and children and three different girlfriends at the same time
• Building kites with fallen palm branches and plastic grocery bags that soar better than any purchased kite
• Adding oil to even the most simple dishes: rice, eggs, and sandwiches
• Offering help even when someone hasn't asked for it.