Semana Santa with Gilbert was absolutely wonderful! This was the first time I had to wait for him to arrive at the airport; my heart was racing. I paced the small airport multiple times. When I saw him exit the security doors; we head nodded then embraced at a place I pointed to away from the crowd. The first day Gilbert was exhausted (he had an over-nighter in Houston) so we relaxed and went out for a nice Thai dinner. We also, walked into one of my favorite cafés, Cinefelia.
I created a list of places and sites that I wanted to visit with Gilbert- it’s true, I’m ridiculous like that. During the week, we were able to cross out about half of the activities on the list. There were a few times where I was frustrated because things didn’t turn out like I had envisioned it, because places were closed, because the movie was dubbed, because the taxi driver was a jerk, etc. but these things are to be expected when you live in Honduras. Gilbert was not at all fazed in these moments; he always remained patient and positive. He said that this was just like Mexico. Even when he was stopped in the middle of Centro by two guys who went through his pockets and stole my cell phone and some liemperas, he remained calm. I was shaken up a little but glad that they didn’t even bother to touch me. I was the one loaded with the money.
The highlight of our trip was our expeditions to Comayagua and La Tigra. On Thursday morning, we took a bus to Comayagua which was Honduras’ original capital. The city reminded me a lot of Antigua. Comayagua is well known for the traditions during Semana Santa. We met up with some of my couchsurfing friends and enjoyed the festivities of the night. At midnight people create carpets using sawdust and other natural elements to design imagines. The carpets are constructed until the morning. At 9:30 am there was a procession that walked on top of the carpets thus destroying the beautiful images. In Central America unlike the U.S., Holy Friday is a bigger deal than Easter so on Friday everything including the buses was closed. Gilbert and I ended up hitch hiking back to the city with a trucker named Elvis who spoke perfect English. (This was Gilbert’s highlight.)
Our next adventure was La Tigra. One of my good friends at IST, Jean and her fiancé joined us on our journey to La Tigra. It was very relaxing to sit around and have fun conversations. We stayed at a gorgeous lodge owned by a German couple, Jorge and Monica, who served a delicious vegetarian meal. After dinner, we talked about cross cultural encounters we’ve each experienced being a foreigner. The next morning we hiked a little bit and went to Valle Los Angelos. We found lot of souvenirs for his family and a hammock that he’s been obsessing about since enjoying the one at my friend’s house.
All in all it was a great vacation. Gilbert said that it was the best one he’s had. I’m sure he’s partially saying that because he missed me. It was so good to introduce him to my daily routines here in Honduras and also the people that I’ve met and love here.
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