October = the month of holidays

So in Honduras, October is the best month of all. There are about 10 different holidays that are celebrated throughout the month which means that us teachers get  A LOT of holidays. Over the last 5 weeks we have had four 3 day weekends. Not to shabby...

It's also a time when the rainy season has officially begun and you are ready to cuddle up under a blanket (70 degrees with rain seems really cold I swear) and watch movies or read a book while drinking tea or hot chocolate.

Last weekend, I headed to Tela with some friends for a night away from La Ceiba. Ken stayed in La Ceiba to try and figure out his tourist visa since his deadline was fast approaching to leave the country. We stayed at Maya Vista which is a beautiful hotel that is up on a hill and has a great porch that looks over the whole city. Last year when Ken and I visited Tela we stayed at the same place and were awestruck the entire time. We also went on an excursion the last time called Punta Sal which was a day trip out to an island to see howler monkeys, blue crabs, snorkel in the ocean, and eat lunch at a typical Garifuna village. This time around the group and I decided to check out Punta Izopo, the other main excursion that Tela has to offer.

You are taken about 45 minutes outside of the city to some mangroves where you partner kayak down the Rio Plantano for about 2 hours looking at wildlife. The main reason we wanted to do this excursion so bad was because you have the possibility of seeing manatees as well as crocodiles!!! It was a perfect day for it since it wasn't too hot and it was cloudy. We could tell rain clouds were coming in and we were hoping it would hold off until we were done. The only down fall to having all of this rain everyday was that the mosquitoes were horrendous! I must have put on bug spray 10 times and still had mosquitoes trying to eat me alive.

Within the first 5 minutes of kayaking we came across a baby crocodile in the water. It was so crazy to see since it looked like a log at first...but then you noticed its eyes just staring at you! Unfortunately this was the only crocodile we saw for the rest of the trip. We did however see some beautiful birds, specifically blue herons, and another bird that had a "witch cackle" call which was really cool.

Can you see the crocodile? Look into all of the leaves and you'll see him sitting there!

After the kayaking trip, and once we had hundreds of mosquito bites inevitably, we headed to a Garifuna village to have the typical fried fish, rice and beans, and plantains lunch. YUM! The rest of the day was spent hanging out and napping, reading, and overall relaxing while over looking the town of Tela.

This weekend, we haven't been as lucky with the weather and it has been raining almost non-stop for the last 3 days. I am happy with it though since it has given me time to get things done around the house that I have been putting off since I want to be out in the sun for as long as possible. I finally got the rest of my recipes put in my recipe book and tried out a few new ones this weekend (twice baked potatoes brought back the memories of Market Day in elementary school) along with reading a good book under my fleece blanket on the couch and listening to some great music.

Scooping out the baked potato

Mmmm....twice baked potatotes...

The whole meal: oven roasted chicken, twice baked potatoes, green beans, and homemade oat rolls

Ken was super excited :)

I decided to relive my high school cross country days yesterday by going for a run in the rain. I usually don't do this since when it rains here, it pours, but I decided what the heck, and laced up my running shoes and went for it. It was the first time I have ever worn capris and a long sleeve shirt to run too. There was a steady drizzle for most of the run and then for the last 10 minutes it started pouring. A quarter of the trail was completely under water and I tried dodging the deep parts in the beginning so I wouldn't be cold and wet but after falling in the mud while trying to dodge the water I just said screw it and went for it. This made me extremely happy and all I could do was laugh while I splashed in the big puddles and got poured on. It made me think back to OHS Cross Country and all of the times we had meets and practices in down pouring rain...these were some of my favorite times.

As for the end of our last 3-day weekend, we plan on relaxing today with blankets, books, and movies (and of course a little work to prepare for a full week of teaching!) while listening to the rain pitter patter on our tin roof. There is nothing better than the rainy season and all the holidays in the month of October.