Jewel in the Rough

I got my first case of food poisoning this weekend!

I went to back to Copan Ruinas to pick up a lost ATM card, before heading back to Antigua for a spell of hostel and bar work. I was in town for just about 24 hours, but I managed to eat the wrong thing for dinner. Quesadillas with a bit of cabbage and cilantro on the side. Never eat the vegetables. I woke up at about 11pm not feeling so hot. I woke up at 2am vomiting. It was a long night in the hostel bathroom. Luckily my dormmates claim that they slept soundly through it all, and by about 7 in the morning I was able to keep down some ginger ale. I convinced the dorm manager to let me stay an extra hour after checkout, so I got to sleep til 11. Then I hoisted my pack and stumbled over to the shuttle to Antigua, bought a ticket, and promptly collapsed in one of the chairs. Once the shuttle came I rudely stretched out in back seat, forcing all the others in the van to double up in their seating, but luckily it wasn’t that crowded. After sleeping most of the way to Antigua, I dropped my stuff of at the dorm…and went to work! It was supposed to be my first day training at a bartending job at the Monoloco (Crazy Monkey). I tried my best, but the bar manager was very understanding when I only managed to stay about an hour. I have my first real shift today but it should be easy: it’s ladies night, and I am working the ladies bar. Basically just lots of cuba libres, and other mixers.

I am actually going to be busy now, after months of doing whatever I wanted. I am working at the hostel that I am staying at (the Black Cat), which is 6 shifts a week, 4 1/2 hours each shift, and then I work 4 nights a week at the Monoloco. So, basically, my food, lodging, and booze are all paid for, and I am getting some cash from the bar job. If I really get motivated I am going to try to sneak in a few hours of Spanish a day too, but that might be a little ambitious. It will definitely feel good not to have a steady stream of outgoing cash for a while. It is amazing how easy it is to spend and spend and spend.

 Wish me luck tonight.

I felt like I was made miniature, and floating in one of the fish tanks at Dangerhouse. shrimp, anemones, urchins, hermit crabs…Plus a few giant groupers, barracuda and pipefish. Snorkeling was really cool, and definitely made me want to try scuba diving.

Well, the North Coast of Honduras was a bit of a bust. Bad weather, no people, sinister vibe. I spent about three days trying to do something interesting and then gave up and decided just to head straight to Roatán. Luckily I picked a good morning to leave, the sea was calm, and I just sat outside in the back of the boat and basked in the sunshine. Apparently on the boat before and the boat after mine, the crew went around handing out sick bags to everyone. There were only four backpackers on my ferry, and we all ended up in the same hostel: Valerie’s. Cheap, yes. Clean, no. It was disgusting, but since all the other backpackers were there I chose filth over loneliness. The first day there was pretty chill, until about 9pm. Then the guy running the hostel had his “birthday” party (it was unclear if it was actually his birthday, or just the excuse he was using). Lots of people came over, they grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and then went out for Ladies Night at the local bar. I tagged along for a free drink, but unfortunately Ladies Night ended about the same time they saw four girls all heading into the bar. Apparently they weren’t actually expecting any ladies. I got caught talking to an American bachelor party, and left about as soon as I could extract myself from that conversation. The next morning I was scouting around for a better hotel, and ran into two of the surfers that I hung out with in El Salvador. It felt like seeing old friends again. I spent the rest of the time in Roatán hanging out with them, snorkeling, exploring the island, and watching two people go to 2000 feet in a homemade sub. Check it out at www.stanleysubmarines.com All in all, a good couple of days.

So, through some fortuitous circumstance, I was in Copan Ruinas for Halloween weekend, and all I gotta say is, State Street had nothing on Honduras. Craziness.

Apparently this is the third year in a row that this party–organized by Peace Corps volunteers–has been happening, although I think this year may have been a little better organized than past Halloween’s. It was a spectacle. I think a lot of the “success” of the party comes from the isolation that the PCV’s live in for most of the year, but man, they were ready to party. By 8:30 on Friday they were all hammered, with one guy passed out on the floor. I left early, but when I wandered through the central park the next morning, there was a large group of them standing around, looking really, really hungover. They were all silent, except one girl who had her hand on her stomach and was saying “I really don’t feel good.” Then I realized why they were standing in the square. It was almost time for the hash run–a 5 km run, with a beer stop in the middle. You have to admire the dedication to their drinking.

 I spent a while getting my substitute teacher costume together, and it looked pretty good. Paper airplane in the hair and everything. I was staying with some of the teachers from Mayatan, so we went down to the party together. It was stupid crazy. Copan in full force. The costumes looked good, my favorite being a giant bottle of Imperial Beer, that reminded me of the Duff beer from the Simpsons. At midnight there was a parade to the afterhours bar, where things continued in the same vein. I think that every single gringo in Copan was hungover on Sunday, and the Evangelicals had held a vigil the night before, praying for our souls.

Sunday I skipped all the events, although apparently they included drinking at a pig roast in the afternoon, and then drinking some more while ostensibly watching the football game. Apparently the last partiers quit at 2am.  I managed to have a decent conversation with two of the PCV’s in the dorm room, and went to bed at 9:30.