I made it!

Barely.

Only because when I arrived at the airport this morning at 4:00am, I started digging through my bag for my passport and sheer panic rushed through my body when I realized I couldn't remember putting it in any of my bags. After digging through each of my neatly packed bags, the truth set in and I had a slight heart attack. I had to go back to my apartment, search for it, and come back to the airport by 5:30.

So at 4:20 I ran outside searched for a taxi (which was difficult because it was so early), found one (body drenched with sweat), asked him to drive as fast as he could to Washington Heights (scary, scary), buzzed our doorbell until Tovah woke up (I didn't have keys), found my passport, (still in the copier) got back in the taxi (super stressed), and made it JUST in time for my flight.

Although it was the worst and stupidest mistake I've made yet while traveling, I learned my lesson and it made for an exciting start to my trip!

Now on to the good stuff!!

When I arrived in San Pedro Sula, Rosie's mom, Thania, and her driver were there to meet me, which was such a relief as the airport was really crowded and obviously I don't (yet) speak Spanish. I feel so lucky for her generosity in helping me out! We all had lunch and then her driver, Amilcar, drove me the 3 1/2 hour drive to La Ceiba. He spoke enough English for us to have an interesting conversation and when we ran out of things to say we sang Michael Jackson and Marc Anthony together. (Ok, he sang Marc Anthony and I car-danced).

All I could think about the whole time was how normal everything was for him and how unreal it was for me. The landscape is beautiful. Dark mountains and bright green grass. Horses and cows roaming freely. Bright pink, purple, and turquoise houses. I'm not exaggerating when I say EVERYTHING was a photograph, and I was bursting at the seams wanting to capture it!

We met Amilcar's friend in La Ceiba and took a quick tour (the beach is unlike any other I've seen, in that the water and the sand are both dark. It's almost eerie except that the surroundings are bright and loud). The sea is warm and there are random white horses running and playing on the beach basically unnoticed by the people there. When I expressed how weird this was to me, the guys laughed and we discussed how completely different my follow-the-rules city is compared to here.

They dropped me off at the Spanish school and I hung out here for a minute, with an adorable 6 year old with whom I discussed colors in English and Spanish, and then walked a couple blocks to the house where I'm staying. I'm living with a woman, Rosalita, her 10 year old daughter, Pamela, 3 guys who are also studying at the school, and Rosalita's parents. In greeting, the grandma said to me, "Hola, you must call me Abuela." and that's it. Cute.

I'm choosing not to comment on the comfort level of my bed and the condition of the shower...

I played with Pamela for a little bit (of course) and then one of the guys gave me some insight to living here which was really helpful, as the people here are not really "explainers." It's kind of every wo/man to her/himself.

My first Spanish class is at 7:30 tomorrow, can't wait! So immediately after this I'm going to take my cold shower and attempt to sleep!

In conclusion for this lovely blog (never thought I'd ever write a blog) let me say that I chose the name "Banana Land" because a.) the roads on the way here were lined with banana trees and b.) Dora the Explorer often says "Banana Pants" a similar phrase that Josie and I always (equally) thought was a pretty funny sounding combo.

More later!!