Getting there: a plane from Indy to Miami and then another to San Pedro Sula. Our plane arrived too late for the last bus to Copan Ruinas, so we took a hired car. This made for a loooong day of travel! We woke around 4am and arrived at our destination around 7pm (6pm local time). I exchanged some money, which seemed totally sketchy as it was exchanged by some guy standing in the airport holding onto a big wad of cash and a calculator, but this is apparently the actually official way to do it.
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| We had a cheap upgrade to first class! Woot! |
When we woke and took a look around, we discovered that our "homestay" was actually a small B&B. Hmmm. We had been looking forward to staying with a local family, as we did in Guatemala last year. We debated but decided to give this place a shot. The owner's 6yo granddaughter comes around frequently, which is a big plus for The Kid.
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| Our "B&B homestay" |
We took a walk and found that this parque centro had a lot of kids and a tiny bit of green space - major improvement over last year! Plus someone selling little ice cream cones for only 5 lempiras ($0.25).
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| The parque central as seen from the second floor of a nearby coffee shop |
Monday was our first day at Escuela Guacamaya. The Kid gets two hours of one-on-one instruction per day and I get four hours. Really, 3 1/2 hours and a break. Day 1 included each of our instructors trying to figure out what we know, which can't be easy with the odd hodgepodge of Spanish learning we've each had.
Throughout the week, we've been thrilled with the teaching we've had. The Kid already has the usual "kid basics" down - colors, foods, animals, basic nouns - and they've been working a lot on verbs, expressing opinions, etc. there's lots of game playing and she has "homework" for the first time. Most of the first week has been closing holes in my own knowledge, increasing vocabulary, and trying to work on my horrendous accent.
All of our meals are provided at our B&B homestay, but we have gone out for some snacks. Ice cream bars are available in most of the little stores for under US$1. We had this feast of a huge piece of torta, a cup of Honduran coffee, and a licuado (smoothie) for US$5 at a cafe downtown.
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| Torta and drinks |
On Saturday, the end of our first week, we visited the Mayan ruins that the town is named for. In addition to the ruins themselves, The Kid was thrilled to finally get her first tuk tuk ride of this trip! A tuk tuk is kind of like a three-wheeled, semi-enclosed taxi. They're cheap and plentiful, but we don't take many because it feels too lazy!
After the ruins, we had a late lunch at Pizza Copan. That's right, American food! I forget how awesome comfort food tastes after a week of eggs, beans, and tortillas.
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