4/10/2012

Day Sixty Eight

Hey everybody it's been a while, but man has this past week been eventful! I missed Easter back at home with my loved one's so much, nonetheless I am so grateful for having holy week off and gotten the opportunity to visit the places I did. Ok so last Friday most of the girls were uber excited to get to go home, few stayed the weekend but by Sunday all had left. So one of them Guendy Lorena invited both me and Nicole back to her home in Santa Barbara for the weekend, it was so interesting to me to see how different "real" life (outside of the institute) is compared to life back in the US. It was an eye opener to me to see that the girls living at the school really do live in necessity, yet they open their home to two guests. And we were truly treated as guests, her mom would always offer us drinks and food making sure we were comfortable. We watched spanish soaps the entire two days we were there, which I don't mind I can personally sit and watch spanish soaps with the best of them, I don't know if I can say the same for Nicole though lol. But anyway yeah lifestyles are much slower paced, everyone kind of just hangs out. The neighbors all would come to the house, sit, and watch the soaps with us, it was like the thing to do. I'm really glad me and Nicole got to share our first visit to one of the girls home together.
Guendy Lorena's
Ok so once we came back to Santa Rosa we packed and got everything ready for the next morning to leave at 5:30am to catch our bus to San Pedro where we would have to catch a second bus to Puerto Cortes, where we would then catch the ferry to Belize. We had it all planned and figured out, or so we thought. Turns out the so called prestigious bus we had just bought tickets to like three days prior cancelled without any type of notification or anything! The ferry left at 11am only traveled out of Honduras on Mondays so if we missed it we were pretty much deserted. Against all odds, because there is no slower system as to getting anywhere from point A to B than the Honduran bus system that stops every 10 minutes to pick up people, we took a regular bus to San Pedro. From there the Puerto Cortes bus took forever and a half to get to the port and dropped off us like 5 blocks away from the dock, so with our luggage and all we ran to the dock racing against time to catch the ferry, because God knows we were determined to make that ferry! And thank the Lord we did!! :)
After a two hour bumpy ferry ride and unnecessary immigration wait alas we had arrived in Placencia. But oh boy was it all worth it. It is such a beautiful undiscovered gem I feel, there were hardly any tourists around, yet so many friendly locals waiting to greet us and make our visit the best possible. There was so much to do and see, 4 days just didn't seem like enough time. A couple of hours after our arrival, Nicole's mom and sister arrived, and oh my goodness they were the sweetest people! I seriously felt a part of family around them, it was awesome meeting them! We went to the monkey river saw an abundance of nature's beauty, went snorkeling on beautiful island beaches where we saw ginormous turtles and sting rays, ate flavorful delicious foods, and met a bunch of down to earth, good people in Placencia. I honestly HAVE TO go back there sometime in my lifetime, it was just a great place to be, not only because it's naturally beautiful but the people, the culture, and the relaxation one feels there truly makes it a blissful experience. 
Island we snorkeled off
After all that when we came back home we still made another trip to El Salvador the following day! It was really nice though all the sisters went which is a first, one usually stays behind. But this time all seven came and we enjoyed a nice day at the park, ate way too much food, and laid out on hammocks! Oh and saw a "mini" zoo, and I'm not using the term mini lightly here. There were literally like 4 animals, it was totally pleasant though and I'm really thankful for the sisters inviting me and Nicole to go. 
Nicole's amazing family
The sisters!!



Now it's back to school time, and lesson planning. I love teaching though it's a lot of fun surprisingly. I only have a little over three weeks to go, I can't believe how fast time has passed! I will try and make the most of my time left here god willing :) thank you all for your prayers and best wishes!

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