Before I came to Central America, I was warned many times over that it was going to be hot. The only long sleeves I brought are the ones attached to my hard shell — which I packed because I was also warned that it would rain.
Well, it has already rained. Interestingly, I have no desire to use my jacket. The rain, while heavy and loud, is quite pleasant. Even standing in it feels comfortable, but that might also be because I brought only light and breathable clothes.
I was warned that sleeping might be uncomfortable, since it’s warm even at night. Keeping this in mind, I slept last night under only the top sheet-like blanket on my bed. Strangely enough, it took a while to fall asleep. The bugs kept buzzing in my ears, the rain frequently changed volume, and my body felt sticky all over. After a while, however, the exhaustion caught up to me, and I fell asleep.
I woke to the sound of voices around 5:30 a.m. Feeling somewhat cognizant, but knowing it was way too early for me to get up, I assessed my surroundings and tried to go back to sleep. The first assessment I had was that my left arm was cramping right around the elbow. I then realized that I spent most of the night with my arms clamped close to my chest because (surprise!) I was cold. I desperately wanted to be beneath the thicker blanket-like blanket I was sleeping on, but I was in my stubborn sleep phase and refused to do anything about it.
Around 6:45, I arose and put on some clothes. At the requested 7 a.m., Ken came to check on me. Seeing that I was awake, he informed me of a very special offer: the sisters were doing laundry. I figured that would be as good a time as any to take a shower and put on clean clothes, so that’s what I did.
I had been somewhat putting off taking a shower, partially due to my experiences with culinary surprises, and partially because of the random exposed wires connected to the shower head. I bit the bullet, and after a little hesitation and a lot of faucet twisting, water came showering from the head.
It turns out the wires are part of a brand new hot water system, and my shower was quickly heated to what I would consider a perfect shower temperature. It was a wonderful experience up until the point where I had to step out of the shower into the brisk outside air.
By this time, the air had warmed up to a comfortable temperature, so once I dried off and clothed, I was doing fine. Not too long after that, we all sat at the table for breakfast.
Breakfast was a combination of pancakes, sunny side up eggs, and refried beans. Possibly because of Ken, everyone had coffee as well. Near the end of breakfast, a bag of Honduran treat was passed around, full of what appeared to be thin mini donuts. They weren’t.
I have no idea how they’re actually made, but here is my guess: Start with a recipe for a really bland, healthy type bread, except don’t add any yeast. Form the dough into O shapes the size of silver dollars. Let them sit out for a few days until they dry up, then cook out any moisture they might have. Stuff them into a bag and serve.
To be fair, they didn’t really taste horrible, but they were incredibly hard and dry. I could only bear to eat at most a quarter of one per bite. This was partially due to my biting abilities, but more because my mouth produces a limited supply of saliva. When i was politely trying to consume this treat, I imagined that it must taste similar to hardtack.
After breakfast and story time, there wasn’t much else that needed to be done. I opted to go with Ken and Daniel into the city for some groceries. Ken was looking for a particular coffee cup for Alan from Cafe Americano, one of his favorite coffee shops. After stopping by one which didn’t have the cup he was looking for, We drove back to the airport to try the shop there. The road goes right next to the runway, so I got an even better look at how ridiculous the landing is.
The coffee shop at the airport also didn’t have the cup, so Ken decided he might as well get a cup of coffee. Having already consumed one cup over my usual average of zero per day, I politely declined the offer for my own, and we all sat and discussed things of which I only had a mild comprehension.
After the airport, Daniel dropped Ken and me off at the supermarket while he went to get some cheese. While Ken and I were gathering the things we needed, I couldn’t help feeling a little familiarity with the experience. It was similar to a Chinese grocery shop, just smaller and less crowded. I even recognized a few obscure brands that don’t make it to the American market. It was also a nice feeling that I understood much more than in China.
On our way back to the house, we got stuck behind a few trucks that would in no way pass a smog test. Due to the quality of the vehicles and heat of the day, there really isn’t a choice but to drive with the windows down. At one point, I thought I could feel the carbon monoxide enter my lungs, but then I remembered that I can sometimes be overly dramatic. Either way, I’m still living, and I think a year in China would do much worse damage than a few weeks here. That’s right, I’m blaming my early death on China.
Now back at the house, we’ve been doing a few chores that come up, but there isn’t much preparation needed for the special meeting tomorrow. I’m trying to do everything I can, but I also get the feeling that everyone feels it is their responsibility to do work for me. It’s a strange struggle.
After a bit of that, Ken finally gave me a task that I could do and feel completely responsible for: getting some sort of whisper mic to work. There was a wireless system that had some broken internal wires, so I patched them up and managed to get power, only to discover that no sound actually transmitted. We’re going with a wired system.
Now, having run out of things to do, I have been told to relax before lunch, which should be any time now. I did what I do best when told to relax — write about everything that has let up to the relaxing. I’m sitting on my moderately comfortable bed with my feet wiggling in the air, sipping from a glass of papaya/pineapple juice that will likely give me diarrhea in a few hours. Go ahead, envy my life.
0 Response to “Sleep and Shower”