J and I woke up disappointed to find a thick cloud
cover on our morning off. We had planned
to dine out for breakfast at Earth Mama’s for a repeat of banana pineapple
pancakes and then some sunbathing on our dock.
I headed out the door for a quick run on the beach, giving J PLENTY of warning
to get up and going. I ran along the
beach until I saw a couple of homeless dogs kicking it on the beach, waiting
for a helpless American lady like me to spread their fleas or rabies to, so I
headed back. I felt like I could have
run a bit longer, but J and I had made a plan to be out the door by 8:15 (rain
or no rain), so we stuck to it.
After arriving at Earth Mama’s, J suggested I go
for another run while she sipped a cup of coffee. So I tentatively set off in the sprinkling
rain with the fresh memory of us getting soaked from the downpour the other
week. I ran like mad, getting back sooner
than I wanted, but just in time to beat the downpour. We enjoyed our pancakes while listening to
the rain pitter patter and the fresh breeze on our faces. A nice change from the stagnant hot humid
weather over the last 3 days.
Instead of sunbathing, we did some souvenir
shopping and replenished our mango and avocado supply. As we were walking down the street, I heard a
taxi driver say, “You wanna ride?” We
get lots of comments from taxi drivers (like the one time they called J “baby”),
but when I turned my head was very surprised to see Peggy driving by, taunting
us with her deep voice. Ha, too funny.
Just as we were ready to leave Ed’s to get to the
clinic early so I could work on my community medicine project, M gave us a call
requesting our company for lunch. He
wanted to go to Earth Mama’s (we should have invited him for breakfast), but
talked him into going to Marco’s instead.
It had been awhile since I’d had a baleada. Turns out M saw me going for a run this
morning EXCEPT he saw me JUST as I was turning onto my street from the main
road and had stopped to walk for my cool down.
The joke is that I’ve been meaning to exercise the whole time I’ve been
here, but I guiltily admit that I’ve only been running twice since I’ve been
here. He gave me a hard time about
walking and that I need to start running.
If only he saw me running up that steep hill just prior to my street, he
would know I mean business.
It was a GOOD day at the clinic today. I saw 7 patients completely on my own and
only had a few questions to run by the hondureño doc. J had an interesting patient from Denmark
that was planning to fly back home on Monday, but had broken her foot and had a
cast on, which just happened 4 days previously.
Her doctor in Denmark wanted her to remove the cast before the flight
because he figured her foot would swell up and might cause a DVT (look it
up). A little overboard, but
whatever. We tried to reason with her,
but off it came. Check this out… after
the hondureño doc looked at her x-rays, turns out her foot wasn’t actually
broken. Whoever put the cast on at the
hospital just did it for some extra cash on the side. What a corrupt system. It has to be hard not knowing if you and your
family will have enough money to survive next month, let alone next week, but if
the medical system in third world countries operates as such, just imagine what
the political system is like… No one is
to be trusted.
We had a night out with M, B, E, and G since E and
G were flying back to Utah the next day.
We all met up at Sundowner’s (beach bar) for some drinks, then made our way
to Cannibal Café for dinner, then dancing at Blue Marlin. It was a very entertaining night… lots of laughs
over dinner and E (who is Asian) out dancing another Asian on the dance floor. The music this time around was more up my
alley, but due to the humidity I kept it simple. I really like both E and G. I was hoping to hang with them more this
week, but they were staying so far away and working so hard they hardly had any
free time. Maybe we can be friends if I
move to Utah. But if not, I made plans
with E to take a trip to Cuba this fall.
Yep, that’s right… Cuba!
So you of course know I LOVE to barter. It is by far my FAVORITE activity when
traveling abroad. I don’t usually like
to buy souvenirs, so fortunately I’ve had the opportunity to barter for taxi
rides and even food. I think everyone is
duly impressed with my skills. I can get
what I want :) Example #1 – we had a
taxi driver in an Xterra (SUV) which is only 1 of 2 SUV taxis on the whole
island. Of course, gas is more
expensive, thus prices are equally more expensive. The going rate from Sandy Bay to West End is
25 lempiras each ($1.25) and he wanted 30 lempiras. Well, I talked him down to 20 each. Booyah.
Example #2 – for lunch one day at The Lighthouse (our favorite place to
dine), I ordered a blackened fish sandwich that came with one side, either french
fries or fried plantains. Well, I wanted
both. So I talked him into doing half of
each. Then he told J “no” when she
proceeded to ask for the same. Example
#3 – I fetched E and G a taxi at the end of our night dancing for $10 when the
driver wanted $18. In all instances it took
some work to talk them down, but that is the best part AND is equally rewarding
when they agree to your price. Well, I
failed at dinner… everyone was ordering the “fresh juice” which was orange and
pineapple. Another option was a mango
smoothie. Well… I wanted mango pineapple
juice. Seems logical, right? They had all the right fruits, but our waiter
just wouldn’t do it. I guess because the
mango has to be blended to make juice… added cost of the fruit? Or added cost of electrical usage? I put a lot of work into that one, but came
up with orange pineapple juice just the same.
Oh well, it was good entertainment for everyone listening I’m sure. I’m going to miss my bartering opportunities here!
