Beatha, Gáire, Grá: Cumpleaños and Catacamas

Yesterday Jeff, Anne, Carrie, Kandice, Lacey, and I headed to Catacamas to hike to a waterfall with Oscar. We got up early so we could catch the 8 o'clock bus out of Juticalpa. There are two different bus companies you can go through when traveling the 45 minutes to Catacamas. The "chicken bus" which is a big yellow school bus that is always packed, or the Discovery bus that costs the same amount of money but is a much nicer ride and doesn't stop to drop people off along the way. Since it's the same price we decided to go the Dicovery root. We arrived at the bus station at quarter til only to find out that the bus had been delayed and wasn't going to come until 8:30 a.m. We took a group vote on whether to stay there or head to the chicken bus across the street. Since we had already missed the 8 o'clock chicken bus we decided to stay at the discovery station and wait for the 8:30 bus to come. But of course everything has to be harder than it needs to be, and by ten til 9 the bus still wasn't there. We were all super frustrated and anxious to get to Catacamas to start our day -- so I suggested that we demand our money back and run over to the chicken bus station. I don't know enough Spanish to have that kind of conversation so Carrie graciously agreed to do it. While Carrie went to get the money back Lacey and I ran over to the other bus to grab some seats and have the bus driver wait for everyone else. As soon as we got onto the bus I was doubled over in laughter because there was a man jammin on his guit in the middle of the aisle! I had a great time dancing to my seat and right away I knew the bus wait was worth it! I was bummed when the man finished his song a short minute later and then exited the bus, but much to my delight and horror two Honduran clowns climbed aboard. Check these guys out:

They started walking up and down the aisles screaming stuff back and forth to one another and then they performed this weird little skit for everyone:

After all was said and done they asked people to give them a lemp or two for their services. They rode with us for the first twenty minutes and then they got off. After that it was just a normal bus ride -- bummer! I was hoping for some more eclectic people!

When we got to Catacamas to we walked to Oscar's smoothie shop and ordered some burgers and fries to go before heading out for the day. Oscar had this sweet hat that I got to wear :).

Jeff, Kandice, Me, and Lace

Shortly after we started on our waterfall journey we came across a GIANT snake. It was the biggest snake I've seen in a nature setting. Kandice and Lace were screaming "Snake!" and I was so exited to see it I started to run towards it, which I guess wasn't the smartest thing since I wasn't positive yet if it was dead or alive. We discovered pretty quickly that it was dead though and Oscar pick it up for a picture. It was so long you can only see about half of it here:

Oscar hiked in jeans and carried a bottle of coke along. Oh Hondurans!

The trail was beautiful...

Jeff spotted this little guy, who blended in almost perfectly with the leaf...

We hiked for two hours only to discover the path to the waterfall had been blocked by a large rock, so this is where our journey ended...

But boys being boys couldn't stand not to climb it, so they figured out a way to scale the side of the large hill and made their way to the top...

SUCCESS!

While we waited for the boys to climb back down, we took a picture of all the girls...

Jeff was really excited to be back...

And here's the whole group...

After we got back home Kandice and I hosted a birthday party for Jackie!

Jackie and Andrew

The guys wanted to take some knive pictures...

Jeff, Andrew, and Dan

I felt left out and wanted in on the knife action so I grabbed my machete and jumped in, but I definitely don't look mean enough for this kind of picture. I'll have to practice my mean face!

Andrew spilt some of my raspberry lemonade on his shirt and I think this is the funniest picture of the night...

After a few rounds of Catchphrase, Apples to Apples, and some Liars Dice (A fun new game I'll have to teach all of you when I come back home) it was time for birthday cake...