Double Trouble

Leave it to Kiley and I.  Her and I just happen to get ourselves into interesting situations!  We can easily call ourselves "Double Trouble."  Kiley and I get along really well, and many people have called me "weird" in my life, and Jen even stated herself that Kiley and I are both extremely weird and have finally found one another.  We just had to laugh about it!

Here is a perfect example of what happens when Kiley and I are left alone.  Kiley and I both have the same kind of foam rugs in our classrooms, but Kiley didn't end up using hers.  So she brought them home the other day and we decided that we would use them for little mats to work out on.  Well, the rest of the girls left somewhere for a bit, and Kiley and I are extremely tired.  But instead of going to bed, we decided to become robot people.  We made robot heads out of the foam pieces and took pictures.  It gave us a good laugh!    Then, it just got better.  We pulled our two chairs in front of our house door, sat in the dark with our robot heads on, and waited for someone to come home.  We literally sat there for over 30 minutes chatting quietly until we heard someone at the door.  In walked Justin and Jen, and they turned on the lights and we got two reactions: Jen, immediate laughter.  Justin, "what...the...heck."  Priceless.  It was well worth the

one hour less of sleep we got that night! 

This weekend Kiley and I decided to head to Lago de Yajoa and meet up with some of the teachers from La Union.  We got a little bit turned around and lost on our journey there, but after 9 hours of travel, we safely made it to D&D's Brewery, where we were going to be staying for the weekend.   We arrived around 3pm, and it was just pouring outside!  We had planned to float down the Jungle River, but instead we just hung out at the brewery for the day/night.  We were stayed in a private cabin that held six people, and that night the hostel had a trivia night and live music.  It turned out to be a lot of fun, even though our team didn't win!  It was fun to be able to sit down and relax, and to try some of the freshly brewed beer.  In Gracias, we aren't allowed to go out to a bar or even purchase alcohol anywhere.  In Gracias there are two options mostly: either you don't drink, or you drink too much...there is no knowledge of a casual drink here and there.  If we were to be seen with a drink or purchasing something, word would quickly spread throughout the town and people would assume that you are an alcoholic.  So we just don't have the option to have a casual drink ever.  So sometimes it is nice to get away and have that opportunity.  We tested a few different beers and I really liked one light beer and also a blueberry beer; interesting but pretty tasty!

The next morning we slept in and ate a nice breakfast at the hostel.  We then traveled to the waterfall, which turned out to be quite the walking adventure!  Buses in the area were said to never be consistent, and we found this to be a fact!  We walked quite a bit (a beautiful bit) until a bus that was finally heading towards the waterfall area picked us up.  We got to the waterfall and enjoyed hiking around the area and seeing the beautiful falls.  We had the option of going behind the waterfall, but for this you needed to hire a guide, and no one really seemed too interested in paying to do this.  Luckily, I had the opportunity to do this twice in Africa (which was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had) so I didn't feel the need to push for us to do it...or I would have!  Still, the falls were beautiful! 

That night we just hung out at the brewery again.  We got to know the owner and manager a little bit from hanging out for the night, which was fun.  They even brought us a free plate of delicious crackers, cheese, and olives (YUM!) to enjoy, since we were all the last ones to be awake. 
Later that night two men walked in, wearing what looked like some kind of army gear.  Kiley and I were paying for all of our stuff and talking with the manager, who happened to be good friends with the two guys (twin brothers).  Also, the manager and owner of D&D's spoke English...my Spanish didn't magically get really good as to where I can hold in depth conversations...but one day it will :).  Anyways, we were talking with the manager and he told us how the two Russian guys were "hit men..." I kid you not, HIT MEN!  He said they had just come in from "fishing"...for people!! I wanted to ask so many questions, because it was just so crazy to me!  But they didn't want to talk about "details" because there were other people around.  Anyways, I can say that was definitely a first experience for me!  But they were very friendly to us and reminded us to "stay safe" always, and were in and out of the brewery quickly after eating.  Needless to say, good thing I wasn't on anyone's hit list! Yikes!

Finally Kiley and I went to bed, ready to wake up at 5:30 for our long journey home.  Everything was going fine until we were on our last bus home, less than an hour away from Gracias.  First, our bus got a flat tire, which took about an hour to fix.  After we got going again for about a minute or so, our bus stops again and everyone had to get off.  We didn't realize that up ahead the road was blocked by officers for some reason.  After figuring out that everyone was now going to walk, we started to walk, and then the weather decided to start raining.  So, soaking wet, with a bunch of grocery bags and luggage from the weekend on us, we walk a bit further.  We were able to pass the officers, and by asking questions in the little Spanish that Kiley and I know we figure out that there is some kind of protest going on.  At the point both of us were very nervous because no one spoke any English and we had no idea what was going on or if we were in danger (we have heard in big cities protests can become very violent and to just stay away from them).  All of a sudden an army vehicle pulls up and about 20 army men jump out with their machine guns and beating sticks, and they continued further down the road.  At this point my heart began racing quite faster than normal.  We stayed back for a bit, and then we continued to walk with some people close by and stayed by some women.  There came a point in the road where it was completely blocked off by people and we stopped to sit behind a parked vehicle and used my last seconds on my phone to call Kristi.  We let her know where we were and what had happened.  Luckily, her husband Shannon had been at a lawyers office earlier and heard that there was a protest going on in Gracias about the road conditions.  We were told that we weren't in any kind of danger, but to just stay out of the protest itself.  This was a relief to hear at least that we weren't in any danger! 

So we sat around awhile and then an elderly lady came up to us and told us that we were able to keep walking if we wanted, but vehicles just weren't allowed to pass through.  We didn't know if we were being set up for something, because no one else was moving.  So we made our way through the crowd just to see why they were blocking the road.  What we saw was a sight I will never forget!  About 50 army men now blocked the road further ahead with their shields in front of them and weapons in hands.  I wish so badly I had a picture of the image I have in my head!  The elderly woman and now elderly man said that there was no danger and that we could pass, and so the elderly man led the way and we followed him.  The walk seemed forever towards the army men, and was very awkward because close to a hundred eyes were on us two gringos, the only people making their way past the army men.  The elderly man told the guards that we wanted to pass and they said in English, "Oh! Of course," and let us pass by them.  I know to them, I looked like a deer in headlights, even with my eyes on the ground. 

We finally figured out that the whole time we were sitting and deciding what we should do, we were sitting in the protest itself.  We had no idea because everyone was just sitting and standing around, but I guess I am at least very happy that it wasn't violent at all!  We continued to walk a bit further, and Kristi and Shannon called to say they were coming to get us.  Soon after that call, they called again to say that there was another protest just past where we were and that they couldn't get past in in a vehicle.  So again Kiley and I walk through all the cars this time, and finally we see Shannon and Kristi up ahead looking for us.  It was such a relief to see them, especially since they have played a parental role in our lives here.  And praise God they drove us home safely!  But let me tell you, Kiley and I...DouBLE TrOUbLe!!