ready, set, barf.

Six of us teachers went on a little weekend excursion. We traveled to a nearby town called Santa Rosa. It's a town very similar to Gracias but a lot bigger… it's one of the safer big cities in Honduras. Most people say to avoid the big cities because there is a lot of crime but Santa Rosa is the exception. Little did I know that a one night stay would be such an adventure. So 4 teachers left earlier Saturday to go shopping for a new computer and the other 3 of us (Annie, Lauren and I) left a little later. There are 2 ways to travel to Santa Rosa.. by bus or hitchhiking. When I say hitchhiking, I mean sitting in the bed of a truck gettting sunburnt.. which is a common thing around here. So we weighed our options and after thinking a little too hard about hitchhiking horrors, we decided on the bus...So us 3 girls walk up the hill from our house to the bus stop at 4:30pm. There is supposed to be a bus coming at 5… well 5:10 rolls around and no buses come by. (Just a perfect example of how Honduran time works.. when someone says they will be at your house at 4, they usually show up three hours later. Time means nothing to these people.) There are about 30 people waiting for the buses. We watch some here and there hop in the back of trucks. So we start looking for the least sketchy trucks that drive by. We have several creepers offer us rides and turned them all down… trying not to get desperate. Everyone wants to give the gringas a ride around here. Then out of no where, this little red truck pulls up with this sweet little man driving. So Annie takes the lead and goes up to his window. Annie turns around and says "okay lets go with him, he's sweet!" . Lauren and I are heading for the back of the truck bed when Annie opens the back cab of the truck… Lauren and I are like "uh Annie…." And Annie says "no he wants us to get in" So in my mind I'm thinking there is no way am I getting in this truck… but my body some how follows the other girls into the back of the truck. I'm repeating out loud "I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared" as I get in the truck. Another Honduran family gets in the bed of the truck which makes me feel a little better. As soon as we start driving, dude starts talking in English! Then I'm like oh crap, I know he heard me repeating I'm scared. hahaha. We find out his name is Solomon and he went to a university in Louisiana and thats how he learned English. Sweetest man ever. He lives in Santa Rosa and makes that drive a lot during the week for his job. He said he likes to pick up foreigners to show them Honduran hospitality. Precious.

So Solomon drops us off at our hotel where the other teachers are waiting for us. We walk into our hotel room and it straight up looks like we just arrived at summer camp. Picture this: a long room with 4 queen size beds all in a row all made out of wood, separated by wooden bed side tables. Funniest thing ever. Only in Honduras would there be a room like that at a normal hotel. These people LOVE to cram as many people as they can into small spaces.

We get ready in our awesome hotel and head to dinner. We went to a restaurant that looked very similar to an Applebees. It was very Americanized which was weird to see around here. I ordered a club sandwich that was recommended by the others who had eaten there before. So we all eat dinner and are having a good ol time until sickness takes over my bod. I all of a sudden feel nauseous and dizzy. I get up really fast and run to the bathroom… I think I might pass out at this point so I sit down on this nasty toilet with my cute dress on… and you know I must really be feeling sick if I'm going to sit down on a toilet… I put my head in-between my legs like my mother taught me (shoutout Jill!) and sat like this for a few minutes. Then I thought I might be better so I sit up.. then the barf came. I threw up my club sandwich in the trash can. As soon as I finished barfing, I immediately felt better… as if nothing had happened. One of the girls came in the bathroom to check on me. We laughed about what just happened and went back to the table. Then I proceeded to learn all about the normal Honduran sicknesses that the American teachers get. Apparently Lauren barfed all the time the first 3 months she was here. I guess our stomachs just aren't used to the Honduran bacteria and they still get sick even after being here for 7 months. So I now know if I just randomly get sick, that it is normal. Great. Then I payed for my meal that was now sitting in the bathroom trash can. Awesome.

After dinner, we went to a dance restaurant kind of place. Hondurans love to dance. Everyone in this crowded place was staring at the gringos and gringos dancing. And of course, out of the 5 of us girls dancing I had to be chosen by the creeper who walked up and grabbed my hands to dance with him. This always seems to happen to me for some strange reason. So I dance as I'm laughing/panicking/being super awkward to some Latin American song. It would have been fine but then he decides to intertwine our fingers.. which at this point I am not okay with and get really creeped out. So one of the other girls tries to casually come save me and grabs one of my hands to dance with me, but the dude wont let her take me away and says he will pay her to let him dance with me for one song. woah. Anyway the song finally ends (the longest song I've ever heard) and he lets me go after kissing my cheek. At this point, I'm so over dancing.

The next day, Lauren, Annie and I left earlier than everyone else who stayed for breakfast. We went to a huge super market across from the bus station and stocked up on groceries that they don't sell here in Gracias like spinach leaves for salads, green beans, V8 juice and odd items like that. Then I was introduced to my first public transpiration in Honduras.. the bus. All I have to say is holy moly. Again, they love to stuff as many people in one place as possible. This bus was packed to the rim. And we found out from Solomon that you don't have to take a driving test to get your drivers license in Honduras… which is very evident while riding the bus. At one point I had to shut my eyes to avoid getting stressed out about losing my life. My arms and legs got a work out from bracing myself so I wouldn't fall out of my seat while the bus was going 70 mph around the curviest road ever.

Needless to say, we survived. It was nice to get away from Gracias for a night even if there was barfing and near death experiences involved.