With a little over a week before I head to Honduras to see my boyfriend after 10 months apart (!), I've come down with a serious case of pre-vacation heebie jeebies. Okay, I don't think that this condition has a technical term, but it should. You all know what I'm talking about. An exciting vacation is coming up, you should be working like a dog to wrap up loose ends at work, but you find yourself accessing the travel blogs and googling photo albums of your vacation destination.
Making matters worse, there was simply nothing to do this weekend. I hiked in the park with my dog but this only killed a few hours. I washed all my blankets, sheets, and pillowcases because it was sunny. I lounged in my hammock and read while the laundry dried. There was a band playing in the plaza for the wrap-up of the week's festivities for the local instituto's anniversary-but attending one of these public gatherings by myself just invites creepy drunk guys leering and shouting inappropriate comments at me-in english. This makes for less than enjoyable festival-watching as you can imagine.
I got creative in the kitchen. I made peanut butter-this is actually quite simple: just get a pound of peanuts, put them in the blender 1/4 cup at a time, adding vegetable oil as needed and blended until you get delicious, all-natural peanut butter. I made a mint-cilantro peanut sauce for some eggplant I bought in Xela this week. It tasted close to the sauce my mom makes for thai peanut noodles, not as thick or creamy though. I made lemon bars-and ate them all....
Thankfully, my Peace Corps Program Director has asked me to do a herp survey in my friend Tara's site, in the jungle. He's been asking me to do this for a while and we just haven't coordinated on a time that works for both of us. So, I figured there's no time like the present to get out there, and am heading out tomorrow for a short introduction trip. The problem with guatemala is a lack of a comprehensive, recent field guide for herps here but I'm going to dive in and see what we find. She lives in the jungle which means herp central and I can't remember the last time I saw a snake..... Suffice to say I am very excited. I will be going tomorrow and coming back Thursday-which means I really have two and a half days left of work here in Sija to wrap up and set things up for when I get back.
Where am I going and what am I doing on my trip to honduras, you ask? (Ok maybe you didn't but I can't think about anything else hardly so indulge me?) I'm heading first to La Ceiba to reunite with my man, and we are heading directly to Roatan, the other Bay Island for some snorkeling, hiking, lounging in hammocks for a few days. Then we are returning to the mainland and heading to Lake Yojoa-we have both heard from different people that it is a gorgeous place to go. An expat from Oregon has set up a microbrewery on the lake and what with the decided lack of quality brews here in Guatemala it seems as good a trip destination as any. There is also amazing birdwatching there, hiking to waterfalls, etc. After the lake, we are headed to Copan to see the ruins (finally) which, while nowhere near the scale of Tikal, are supposed to have amazing stone carvings depicting the history of the settlement and its rulers.
Then it's back to Guatemala where Tony will be staying for another two weeks before he has to go home. We are heading back here, to Sija, so he can experience a little bit of the life of a PCV here, and maybe do a weekend trip or two before he leaves. The beginning of September is going to be doubly interesting this year-not only is the 15th Independence Day, but the 11th is Election Day, and the week leading up to elections is supposedly an increasingly chaotic last-ditch campaign effort by all parties. All this means lots of noise-and that we may seek solitude from the crazy marching bands, loudspeakers and crowds of people sure to accompany all of these events.
All in all, I am just trying to get through this week quickly because I can't really be asked to concentrate on anything else at this point.
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