It's always something

I am officially back in Honduras! Safe and sound. I had a few mishaps getting here but all turned out well. At this moment however the volunteer house has no power. I am relatively sure that the company cut the power, which makes me unsure if Cristy paid the bill.... I would much rather have satisfaction in the knowledge that the entire neighborhood is out, which would at least allow me to hope that it will come back on, but no- my neighbors house is glowing like a Christmas tree. Awesome. So I have no access to Internet for the night, no tv, and no one to keep me company. I guess I'll read. Which I am more than happy to do. I also still don't have gas so I can't cook anything, and my plan to use the microwave was obviously foiled. Looks like its peanut butter for dinner. I am bummed though that the milk and veggies I just bought will probably spoil. Looks like peanut butter for the morning too.

My last days in Costa Rica were very enjoyable. I didn't make it out to the beach, but we went to a third volcano called the Poas and I could see inside the crater perfectly. It was super neat because the pool in the crater was spewing steam. I kept imagining the column of lava that lays underneath it. Kinda exciting. On my last day I had some time to read and relax, drive up to a super high point above the central valley where there were picture perfect views of the city and cow pastures and everything, ate some amazing food and then headed to the airport. In a summery, my time in Costa Rica consisted of Rainbows, Waterfalls and Volcanoes. I even had a rainbow to send me off as I drove towards the airport. At the entrance I tried to pay my exit fee with my card, but it was denied. I was thinking, shoot the company cut it off because I didn't tell them I was going to Costa Rica! Jorge was so nice and paid it for me, and then I went into the airport to wait, because I was a tad bit early. I checked my account and  there was exactly $2.10 in my account. No wonder it was rejected. 4 days before I had received an email saying that my mom transferred funds, so I assumed they were in my account, but as it turns out it takes three days to process and the past three days had been a weekend and then a holiday. At this point I got a little worried, because in my wallet I had about $3.00 worth of Lempiras, so in all $5.10 to my name. ( feel free to check my math). When you are traveling that is never a good thing, and as it turned out it wasn't. My trip back to Honduras was probably the worst planned travel leg I have ever made. I didn't bring a phone that would work in Honduras, I didn't have my keys, I didn't have the phone numbers of people I would need stashed somewhere, and I was operating on a single email that said they would get someone to pick me up at the airport at nine at night when my flight got in, but never confirmed who. So when I got into San Pedro Sula it really shouldn't have been a surprise that no one was there to pick me up. I wandered around a little bit, fished for phone numbers, and then tried to figure out what to do. Normally I wouldn't have had a problem, because I could take a taxi and get a hotel for the night, but since I had no money that wasn't a choice. I tried to call Cristy (who is on a mission and therefore unavailable- which also doesn't help my power outage problem) but that didn't work. Lenner didn't answer either. So I stood around waiting for something to present itself. Normally I wouldn't consider that the best strategy, but as it turned out it worked. My fuzzy plan was to try to find a cab with the three dollars I had to take me to the Hilton where I could either convince them to rent me a room and let me pay in the morning when my mom transferred funds, or have them help me get a hold of Lenner. When everyone was clearing out someone came up to me and said that I looked lost. Well, I kind of was. He was from New York and had his whole family there, and was waiting for an uncle to get off the plane. He offered to help and recommend a hotel, so I went over to see what his family recommended. They passed my test of whether I should trust them because first it was a family, second they were obviously waiting for someone, and third I had a gut feeling it was okay. So when they offered to give me a ride to the Hilton I figured it was safer then taking a random taxi, which I wasn't even sure I could secure with 3 dollars. To me, they were basically a God send. Someone was watching out for me that night and an opportunity somehow presented itself. They let me use a phone where I got ahold of Nancy and told her I was headed to the Hilton. She said she would call Lenner, and to call when I got to the hotel. I was thinking she would pick me up from there. The family turned out to be Chicken farmers, and were very kind and funny. They dropped me off and I went in to see what would happen next. I was ready to bargain for them to let me stay the night, but Lenner had already set up a room for me. They asked my name, handed me a key and I went right up. Once there I could relax a little. Things had turned out almost as good as they could have. I'm not saying that I'm proud of planning things as I did, but it worked. My next step was to get a hold of my mom. I had no money to make a phone call, and of course the Internet cost money. I went downstairs and eventually convinced the guy to let me use  the hotel computer. Facebook is very much my friend. The chat wasn't working, but I sent a little post out for someone to help me contact my mom or sister, got two responses in a minute, my sister messaged me and then she told my mom to sort out the money issue. She deposited the money in the morning, I went to the atm, grabbed a cab to the bus station and hopped right on. Finally.

Since I didn't have keys, I went over to the hogar first. Oh my gosh it is good to be back. Hahah as I walked up to the gate, Carlos ran up and screamed out "es Kyla es Kyla!!!!". A huge smile lit my face, and I was impatient for them to unlock the gate. I gave lots of hugs to the 6 kids who were there, because the rest were on an outing. Later I played basketball with Carlos, and Littlest Petshop with Paola. After about 3 hours the rest arrived and Rosa gave me a huge hug jumping up and down. Haha hugs for everyone, and then I settled back in to normality. I delivered Natalie's letters to Gerson, and he kept her picture of her family close and out of harm. He told me that he missed his Madrina a lot, and Ethan also. All the kids related to me how they ate tamales for Ethan's going away party. Just thinking about it makes me sad. It's so strange to be in the house alone! Especially without light hehe. I was so tired when I got back yesterday which made me semi grumpy. I was feeling funny and maybe missed my family a tiny bit. But I skyped my sister last night and after that, the feeling passed, coupled with watching Mama Mia. Its very difficult to be sad while watching that. And today I feel much myself again, and happy to be here.