Anyways, the important thing is I survived my 27 hour adventure/nightmare of traveling back to Gracias--from Chicago, to a nice long stay in Houston, to San Pedro, to a taxi, to a bus, to another bus, and finally home (where I found two dead cockroaches and quite a bit of dust and other dead bugs as well)--Happy New Year! In a side note, Hondurans do love their fireworks, so the NYE show was quite fantastic.
You know you're back in Honduras when....
(in the order of which it hit me upon getting home)1. ...the concept of an orderly line is lost...
Ok, so this was before I even left the States, but occurred to me in Houston as we tried to line up to board our flight to San Pedro. A majority of the passengers were Honduran, and something that is culturally not normal here but very accepted in the States is the concept of a line. Seriously, Hondurans can and will just push their way through at times, something that could be considered very rude, but here is normal. I'll admit it still gets on my nerves though. Anyways, it made the whole line up by boarding group quite interesting as Hondurans jumped in their lines at any place or time, and various Americans tried to find the end of the line and wait patiently or not so patiently (I was reminded of the cultural difference by two North Americans complaining very loudly about it).
2. ...you are packed into a bus like cattle...
Seriously, I mean packed. My first bus from San Pedro headed for Gracias wasn't as bad--I had a seat and was squished, but not unmanageably so. However, about 3-4 hours into the trip, for reasons unknown to me, we stopped and everyone on our bus was herded onto a new bus. A new bus that was already quite full. As seats were already full, people were packed into the aisle from the back of the bus to literally out of the bus. There were 3 people hanging on out the door. I was in a quite uncomfortable standing-spooning Honduran sandwich for a while--a woman in front of me, me breathing down her neck, and a man behind me breathing down my neck. The whole thing was ridiculously comical, definitely illegal somewhere, and awkwardly uncomfortable. I wanted to pull out my camera and take a picture or two, but there was no room for me to attempt to retrieve my camera.
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| our bus probably looked a little bit like this from the outside |
3. ...you have those awkward conversations again...
where people laugh at your for your lack of Spanish while you do your best to nod and smile and move on. Now that my already weak Spanish skills got rusty over break, this has happened more times than I care to admit in my short time back here.
4. ...you take a cold shower...
One of the best things about Christmas break-- hot, clean showers. They were amazing, and I couldn't even believe how much cleaner and nicer my hair felt after washing it just once in our water. Now I'm back to cold showers and I'm dreading washing my hair here-- I want to keep this soft "American" hair as long as possible before Honduran-Hermione hair takes over once again for the next six months.
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| what my hair looks and feels like in Honduras |
5. ...you take a cold shower with a possible cockroach wing floating around you...
yep. I don't know where the rest of it was, but I'm 99% sure it was a cockroach wing. I kept stepping around to avoid it as it floated toward me.
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| Cockroaches: Always when you're not wearing shoes, they will be waiting for you |
6. ...it is impossible to avoid catcalls...
If there is one thing I hate about the culture here, it is the catcalling. As a white woman, the hissing, whistling, hey baby's, and who-knows-whats in Spanish are seemingly unavoidable. Over Christmas, I was first doing what I do here--looking forward, crossing the street/aisle, keeping my head down, and wincing internally approaching any man in the store/street. Then I remembered it's not as prevalent in small-town Illinois as it is here. It was a relief to be away from it for a while, but for now while here, I'm back to my usual routine in regard to the catcalls:
7. ...the coffee is delicious and cheap...
I made it to one coffee shop while in the States--one in the Houston airport. And yes, my fancy-pants salted caramel mocha was tasty, especially after 8 hours of wandering around the airport/trying to sleep, but it was stinking expensive! Now I'm back to enjoying good, cheap Honduran coffee-- I'm currently sipping my $1 cappuccino at the cafe.
8. ...you feel cold in mid-70 degrees weather...
Why yes. I may just be writing this to rub it in to all you Northerners dealing with freezing temps. But unfortunately this is true...between living in California and now here, I have fully acclimatized to feel cold in what is actually really nice weather.
9. ...you see green mountains, blue skies, and fresh fruit again...
*cue Hallelujah chorus* The winter in the midwest is just plain depressing (at least without snow). It's good to be surrounded with living beauty again.
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