Along with being my thirtieth day of yoga, it was parent teacher day at school. All of the parents came in and got the kids' grade cards with their exams. I was so intimidated thinking about how I would talk to the parents about their behavior and grades and everything that was good or needed improvement. Turns out, I only needed help with two of the parents, and pretty much held my own speaking to the others in my Spanglish.
After parent teacher day, Matt and I hopped on a bus and headed to Omoa, Honduras.
We finally got there about two hours later than we expected, but were so excited to see the little town. We got to our hostel, Roli's Place and a guest there told us about a good place to eat near the beach. We had an amazing dinner, grabbed some drinks and headed to the pier.
The next morning we got up at 4:30 and grabbed the free kayaks from Roli's Place. With my headlamp on, pointed straight into the clear water, we pushed the kayaks out into the dark Caribbean Sea and paddled out. I was terrified. All I kept thinking was "why do I let myself watch sooooo much Shark Week?!" I just kept picturing a shark creeping up and bumping its head into the bottom of my kayak until I fell out. But, of course, that never happened.
I finally got comfortable enough to paddle out pretty far once the sky began to lighten. Then, the sun came up behind the mountains, it was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We just sat and watched the sky light up as fishermen came out onto the pier and everyone's day was beginning.
After kayaking, we rode around on bikes and had breakfast with a German lady that was staying at the hostel. We visited the Fort of San Fernando de Omoa and the weather began to get pretty crummy so we decided to head to Puerto Cortes to find one of my roommates.
We got there and had dinner with her, then headed back home Sunday morning.
On the bus back home, we picked up a lady with three young children and a baby that lacked nutrition and had no energy whatsoever. The lady kept staring straight into my eyes and spoke so quickly that all I picked up was that her child was sick and she was going to try to get to the doctor, but she had no money. I handed her the money that was left in my pocket from traveling as my heart broke. I finally understood why so many of the mothers in this country take their children to the orphanages for nutrition and pick them back up when they are healthy, because that was all I wanted her to do.
This weekend was an eye-opener to what is really surrounding us. The beautiful scenery can often mask the horrendous problems that are going on in this country. I know this is one of the most dangerous and broken countries in the world, but it doesn't seem that way most days in our little town.
"There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other...." Brian Andreas, StoryPeople: Real Reason
