Awoke to the sounds of many birds and bright sunlight. I wanted to get up before I slept in too late. Washed up, got dressed, meditated and walked out into the living room to find it was 10 till 7a. So I went back to bed and slept some more.
For breakfast, two homemade crepes with Shurfresh cream cheese and Guava jelly from Guatemala.
I went out for a walk, after getting some instruction and finding a map of the city in my Lonely Planet. Only as I was walking down the road did I realize that there was a distinct possibility that I would not be able to find my way back. Since, I am in fact, unfamiliar with the area, don´t have a phone and didn´t bring along the address of the hostel. And I also found out the small streets aren´t marked. So I walked straight until I got to the first major intersection (which also didn´t have names), memorized the landmarks-- a McDonald´s, a ceramics store, and a big billboard advertizing water-- a kept going following the instructions I´d been given (in Spanish).
I was looking for 12th Street and amazingly found it. And luckily, the city is laid out in a grid, avenues going N-S, streets going E-W. So it was really no problem to navigate, once I located the streets with signs.
I walked to the center of town to find a boxing ring set up in the Park. It seemed like the kind of traveling circus thing where locals pay money to get in the ring with a good fighter. One man (the professional) wasn´t wearing head gear, while the other needed to have it on. And they were wearing jeans, which is not what I´d expect them to wear if they´d planned to do such a thing when they got dressed in the morning.
I did decidedly encounter more noises than in Washington DC. Though perhaps that´s because there are more square blocks of Latino men here. And there are different sounds, the kissing ones, the hissing ones (which I didn´t get so much in DC) and car honks- which were sometimes taxis seeing if I needed their services.
I also learned something about language that I put into practice on my walk. Last night I heard people say, "Buenas" as a greeting, shortened from buenas tardes or buenas noches. Interesting the Americans condense the greeting to "evening" while hondurenos shorten it to "good." So today, I took such delight in saying, "Buenos" (buenos dias). Obviously with that kind of grip of the language, I was in no danger of being detected as a tourist!!
Beautiful day. Wearing a tank top, but forgot sunscreen. So many things to remember! Also, people here don´t wear sunglasses, or bike helmets. But the women do wear high heels. Their feet and eyes are tougher than mine!!
Snack at Mister Pan: Budin de banano-- a banana bread pudding for 13 lempiras. Very tasty!
