We have been traveling a lot lately since the public schools have not started yet and we had a lot of free time. We went to Marcala, located in the southwest, to visit some other volunteers and had a great time. Marcala is known for coffee (too bad neither of us drink it), and it nestled in the mountains. It is cooler there and there are lots of pine trees instead of the jungle we live near. We had a nice, relaxing time eating lots of great food made by Rachel and hiking a little in the mountains. It was just what we needed and a nice break for Shannon from always hosting people. For once she got to relax!
After that we came home for a couple of days and then headed off to Trujillo. Trujillo is located on the north coast and is where Christopher Columbus supposedly landed when he discovered Honduras. It is a small, quaint town with beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear water. We had MARV, the married couple group, and met up with the other married couples there. We stayed right on the beach in a hotel owned by a New Zealander and had a great time. The water in Trujillo has phosphorescent phyto plankton which was amazing! We went swimming at night and every time that you moved the water looked like it was glowing! The only bad part was the sand flies and mosquitoes. Shannon had over 100 bites when we got home and was pretty miserable. The road from Catacamas to Trujillo is also pretty terrible. Distance wise it is not a long trip but it took 9 hours because the road is dirt and filled with potholes. Needless to say, we were covered with dirt (literally our hair looked gray) when we arrived. We went home on the 4:30 AM bus and the dust wasn’t quite as bad but the trip was still terrible. Our original plan was to hitchhike because it is much faster and less dusty but right before we left a town on the way had a series of 10 murders in a week so hitchhiking in that area was forbidden and the volunteers there were temporarily removed. Peace Corps actually put that road off limits the day after we got back but luckily we made it in time otherwise we would have had to go all the way around Honduras and our trip would have taken two days!
When we got back, our friend Elizabeth came to visit for Shannon’s birthday. Shannon had a great birthday filled with lots of food (good food is hard to come by here)! Kevin and Elizabeth made her breakfast of cheesy vegetable eggs with potatoes, our site mate Biffy made her gourmet pizzas for lunch, we ate some anafre and papas bravas for dinner, and Kevin made her jello cake for dessert! She did not have to lift a finger all day and it was the perfect birthday! Our next door neighbor that used to harass Shannon found out that it was her birthday and the next week threw her a party at our house (sadly Kevin missed it because he was at his project reconnect). He brought a cake that said “Feliz Cumpleaños Shanen” which is the best anyone has spelled her name without seeing it written beforehand. He also brought tons of drinks, a couple of friends, and a boombox with tons of music! It was the strangest night, but fun too!
Shannon’s birthday was also inauguration day. The new president took office without problems and the ex-president finally left the Brazilian Embassy and went to the Dominican Republic. We also have a new mayor in Catacamas which means that most of the workers in the municipality will also change (very productive we know). Hopefully things continue to get better here and the economy and tourism picks back up.
Sadly (and gladly) our retirement is coming to an end as schools are starting next week. Shannon has already been preparing for the new year and it looks like she will be pretty busy working with some of the teachers who graduated from her English class last year. Time to become productive again…
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