Waiting It Out

April 17, 2008

In my life I have had to wait out many a storm --from on a hillside under a tarp far from my backpack with metal rods to inside a house with real protection. In either case the key was waiting. Today I am waiting again, but not on a thunderstorm. Today is the day of the nationwide protests here in Honduras, intended to paralyze the nation. I thought they would not happen because the new driving law had been revoked but as it turns out the protests have to do with wanting changes throughout the country in laws, food and gas prices, and social reform. Because my sister and friend arrive today from the US, I am camping out near the airport in case the roads are closed off. Thankfully I did not have to use a tent but have been able to stay with a girl from my basketball team in the town of La Lima. She lives in a secure neighborhood which is good because everyone else says to stay away from this town. I arrived after dark, in the rain so I could not see much.

From what I read on the internet this morning it seems like the airport should be operating as normal today. A lot of schools cancelled classes for today in expectation of the closed roads. According to the news this is supposed to be a non-violent protest. (By the way any spelling errors or missprints I am crediting to the fact that while I type I am listening to a 3 year old chatter away in an English, splattered with a Spanish word here and there, that I cannot understand.) My hope is that the girls can arrive without problem and then we can either hang out in the airport or La Lima for a couple of hours until the protesters desert the roads. If it is too late by that point, we will stay in the city at my apartment and head out to camp in the morning. Basically we will wait and see what happens. Like I am doing with most of this vacation. Still no reservations anywhere.

Last night I had a panic moment as I was following my friend to her house. We were in downtown San Pedro and all of a sudden I heard honking beside me and looked over to see two policemen on a motorcycle motioning me to pull over. I did not fancy the idea of pulling over in that part of town nor could I think of what I had done wrong. Nonetheless I pulled over and discovered that they simply wanted to see who was in the car since I have very tinted windows and it was rather late at night. Thankfully they let me go without a problem.