Two Dollars Later...

I have been in this internet cafe for two hours. I´ll probably stay here for another hour and then I will have to pay $2 for the whole time. Isn´t the exchange rate great? Actually it´s pretty bad right now, but still good in Honduras.

I´ve had a lot of trouble sleeping recently. It was stormy and humid the other night. Lightning was flashing across the sky like crazy and everything was deep purple. I probably would have gone outside to watch, but the sheer drudgery of the air was almost oppressive. I couldn´t make myself get up and move. Instead, I just watched Cosmo sleep and picked bugs off of her whenever they landed on our bed. Pretty sweet, huh? Or creepy. I guess both.

Last night I finally got some decent rest. We have been running around like crazy the past few days, looking at land, meeting with lawyers, meeting with NGO heads. I feel like 1000 things happen everyday, but getting work done takes SO long. That juxtaposition can be frustrating. We´re working on patience.

Shin left today so it´s just Gaku, Cosmo and I. Every time someone leaves, we take a picture. We have like 15 pictures in the exact same spot in the San Pedro Sula airport. But there are less and less people. At least when I leave, it will be at some sketchy bus station. We´re still staying at the orphanage, and the kids have calmed down a lot. They only tackle me every 10 minutes as opposed to every 5 minutes before. They are consistently pulling out my hair and leaving bruises all over me. I think they think they´re a lot smaller or a lot weaker than they actually are. Whenever we leave, the kids ask if we are coming back. It´s cute, but the reality behind that question is kind of sad.

I have been trying to help SHH with everything that needs to get done here, but I am also trying to complete forms for Fulbright. I have virtually nothing that I need and no access to basic infrastructure except for when we come into town. I always remember (really quickly) how much I take easy access to EVERYTHING in the US for granted. A process that would have taken an afternoon in the States has taken me 4 or 5 days here. The people at this internet cafe love us. It can be good sometimes (like when they help us find other things in town that we need) and it can be bad sometimes (like when they want to take 500 pictures together on my camera, or sit next to me and watch over my shoulder while I work online...like what´s happening right NOW).

We´ve been working pretty hard for the last few weeks and decided that we deserved a break. Today we bought tickets to La Moskitia. It´s one of the ¨last frontiers¨ in Central America. A pristine, untouched rainforest full of animals and diseases. We got malaria pills (although I feel like I could already be infected...it takes two weeks to incubate) ad will be leaving on Sunday. Cosmo, Gaku, Marcio (our Honduran bus driver), and I will be traveling together until the following Saturday. I´m pretty excited because I don´t know when I´ll be able to come back to Latin America. It feels good to really take advantage of this opportunity.

I just realized that I´m hungry. I didn´t have lunch so I´m going to go buy some baleadas off the street now...