This morning I showered and threw the first of two loads of bedding into the washing machine (less to do for the girls who come in and clean the room after we leave), got the last of our clothes out of the dryer, then made some coffee for the morning and went to do devotions. I didn't really have time to type and upload any blogs I had missed from not having internet, so that will have to wait until I get to the capital later today. When Bob and Alina woke up we rearranged the suitcases so that Alina's and my backpack would fit into the suitcases since many people here were concerned with us getting robbed/attacked on the way to the bus station since we'd have "so much luggage". I have always taken the bus back to the capital since it costs less than $3 per person, but I guess volunteers just don't do that anymore due to safety issues and, I'm guessing, their lack of knowledge of Spanish and Latin culture.
When we were all packed, Bob headed off to say good-bye to the Big Boys and get his hat signed while I headed with Alina to say good-bye to the Small Girls, the Medium Girls, the Big Girls, and all those at the Toddler House. When we got back to the room, Bob was waiting outside for us on the steps since I had the key.
We left at 8am (saw Wade on the way out, so gave him the key to our room to get back to Andi who is the volunteer coordinator) and headed on our walk into Guaimaca. We had 2 suitcases and 2 small backpacks (with the big backpacks tucked away inside the suitcases), and I had my purse. On the way we decided to stop by Glenda's little store. Glenda (if you haven't ready my blog in past years) is a lady who has a store out front of her house with vegetables and fruits. We usually buy from her every year, but it just didn't work out this year. She was sitting outside so we chatted for a bit, long enough for a dog to walk by and pee on my suitcase (ugh, sigh) and then said our good-byes and let her know we'd be back again next year. The walk to the bus station was mostly on dirt roads, so as usual, one of the wheels on the larger suitcase broke. This will be the suitcase that stays down in Honduras next year!
We got on to the bus, but since the larger suitcase wouldn't fit underneath the bus, we had to pay for an extra ticket (4th passenger) since the suitcase would have to occupy a seat. So the total cost was $220 Lempiras...roughly $11 US dollars, for a hour and 45 minute ride in a nice air-conditioned mini-bus back to the capital. Not too bad. We arrived into Tegucigalpa and got a taxi to take us to the hotel. putting us at our hotel at 11am. Our room was on the 8th floor, and the only thing above us was an exercise room with really nice equipment and running track on the roof. I have never seen a hotel with this extensive of an exercise room! The hotel had a pool and a private exit/entrance with security guard to the mall next to it. We headed to the mall and Bob decided he wanted Pizza Hut for lunch. When we got back to our room, I started working on my blogs when we got a call from Doris who was outside our hotel waiting for us. I had sent text messages to the unrecognized numbers that had been calling me the past 3 days simply saying "we should arrive at our hotel by 12:30 if you'd like to come and spend time with us". I figured if any of those were Doris, she'd know which hotel and who was messaging since we had talked the week before and I had given her that information. If it wasn't Doris, there are MANY hotels in Tegucigalpa and I wouldn't have to worry about my safety. I never got a response from any of the 3 messages I got, but we were SO excited she came! She brought her friend Kenia with her (safety).
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Left to Right: Alina, Doris, LoriAnn, Kenia |
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View of Tegucigalpa from hotel roof |
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Hotel fitness center on roof |
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Hotel fitness center on roof overlooking Tegucigalpa |
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Hotel fitness center on roof overlooking Tegucigalpa |
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Left to Right: Doris, Alina and Kenia |
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Hotel pool and whirlpool |
We chatted with the girls for quite a while in our room and showed them photos of Noah at Disney World this summer and of the kids on their sports teams. Then we showed the girls the 9th floor exercise room, track and balcony, and the pool on the main floor, then walked over to the mall to take them to eat at TGIFridays. We had the left-overs boxed up and sent them home with the girls. When we got back to the room to drop off the left-overs, Alina gave Doris the bag of items she had bought for her back in the States...a really nice dress, shoes, necklace, earrings, make-up kit and nail polishes. Doris started her studies at a cosmetology school last week and said she had to purchase a make-up palette and nail polishes (white, black, gold, silver)...so Alina's gift was just what she needed at the right time, since she didn't have the money to purchase those school supplies!
We decided to end the afternoon by taking the girls to see a movie at the mall. The Fantastic 4 was playing. We didn't realize that there were no English subtitles to the dubbed over Spanish (poor Bob), but good thing he knows comics pretty well and was able to understand most of it by his knowledge of comics and superheroes. When the movie was over we went up to the room for the girls to gather up the left-overs and the bag for Doris and then we took them to the main floor for the hotel to help in getting them a taxi home. It was already dark out and we figured that this would be MUCH safer than taking a city busy home. We waited for the taxi and then said our goodbyes.
When we returned to the room, Alina and Bob headed to bed for the night. I ended up watching a movie since I was still quite awake from all of the action of the day, before finally falling asleep.