Life at the mansion.

  Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Friday, June 1, 2007

The first morning in the mansion was a loud one.  The renovation workers showed up on site at 7:00am on June 1, 2007 and the grinding of saws on concrete and hammers breaking out old tile worked better than any alarm clock we could have set.  The morning was cool in the mountains; however the sun was slowly starting to warm things up.  We showered and set out for the main level of the house to get an early start on breakfast. 

Patio view from the mansion.

We had brought in a box of pancakes and decided that there would be enough food for the three of us.  Noemi contributed the butter and maple syrup...imported from Canada of course.  The girls set themselves to the task of making breakfast as Michael sat quietly at the table and got down to work on updating our journal entries for the website.  We passed the time catching up on e-mails and website updates until it was nearing the noon hour.  In between working on the computer, we devoted time to the three Great Dane puppies that Noemi was raising for the owner of the mansion.  The clumsy puppies have oversized paws and legs that they trip over constantly.  The largest of the three is a female named Luna and she decides to get into trouble every chance she gets.  From eating food out of the garbage or off the counter to stealing toys from the other dogs, she is always busy having someone chase her around the massive shack.  The cuddliest of the three is the smaller female named Mercedes.  And finally, the sketchy and loner boy of the group is Orion.  We could go on for pages about the funny things that the dogs did, however just image three puppies acting like puppies do and you will have a gist of how our days were entertained.
 
 

View of Tegucigalpa.

Noemi needed to go into town and we joined along to get a glimpse of Tegucigalpa.  Tegucigalpa is the capital city of Honduras and houses somewhere between 1 and 2 million people.  Guide books and locals estimate completely different figures.  The entire city is set in a valley surrounded by pine tree covered mountains.  It is a busy town with all the amenities, including a wealth of fast food joints and shopping malls.  We are not sure how Noemi was as a driver in Canada, but she has accustomed herself well to the aggressive style of the locals.  Navigating around town and weaving in and out of traffic was no sweat.  We set our sights on hitting the Veterinary clinic where Noemi needed to get some prescriptions for the puppies.  This trip was quick and as luck would have it we were only a block or two away from a dry cleaning shop where we dropped off our well partied in and stained wedding clothes to get cleaned. 

Mall rides.

The final scheduled stop of the day was at the Canadian Embassy for Noemi to register herself as a resident of Honduras and for us to get official paperwork permitting the Honduran government to officially register our marriage.  Everything worked out without a hitch and we were back on the road in less than 20 minutes.  With time to kill we decided to hit one of the major shopping malls.  The massive shopping mall was reminiscent of the standard shopping centres we have in North America.  We found an internet café that had a fax machine and we immediately sent our paperwork to Señor Logan at the Municipal Building in Tela.  With all our official tasks crossed off the list we wandered around the mall and poked our heads into any shop of interest.  Michael spotted a grocery store and decided it would be nice to get some food and make dinner for all of us.  He was gone for an extended period, but when he returned he carried overflowing bags of groceries including food for the dinner menu.  The menu included pork tenderloin, potatoes, honey dew melon and salad with all the trimmings.  We reached the house later in the afternoon and spent some time calling family and friends from our internet phone before preparing dinner.

Gigantic moth.

  At one point while working the BBQ, Michael actually ran into the house with a look on utter fear on his face.  He believed that he was being attached by killer moths and needed Geraldine to go out onto the balcony and take care of the swarm.  Geraldine found one measly moth outside, however it was quite large and made a racket when it tried to get up and fly off the tile deck.  We amused ourselves with taking a few snapshots of the moth before he flew to the other end of the deck and was out of Michael's way.  A few stiff cocktails were passed around during the dinner preparation and a few bottles of wine disappeared during our actual time sitting at the table.  The dinner was late and we spent the remainder of the night chatting until nearly midnight.  It was another late night for all of us and we slowly made our way to our rooms for the night.  Michael could not leave the remote alone and we stayed up super late again watching old movies and sitcom reruns before falling asleep.
 
 
The morning of June 2, 2007, the girls woke up before 6:00am and walked around Villa Elena.  The gated community in the hills provides long windy and steep roads for an excellent morning exercise walk.  Michael decided that the hills would have to wait for another day and he stayed in the posh and comfortable surroundings of Casa Lajoya working on the journal updates.  When Noemi and Geraldine returned, they were both exhausted and ready for breakfast.  As they showered, Michael got started on cooking up eggs with a side of pork and fried potatoes.  With energy food in our bellies, we sat down at the computer and continued to reply to the over 300 e-mails we received in reply to our wedding announcement.  It was a time consuming process, but we loved every minute of it.  Around 11:00am, Noemi approached us and asked if we had any interest in being toured around the city by one of the workers named David.  We were not really anxious to leave the comfortable surrounds, but we saw no reason to pass up a free guided tour.  Quickly gathering some cash, snacks and water we met up with David in the garage and set out for some of the famous sights in Tegucigalpa. 

Tegucigalpa.

David is an ex-military man that now works as security/dog trainer for the owner of Casa Lajoya and he speaks very decent English.  This was the selling feature to taking the city tour.  We left our mountain retreat in a sport Toyota 4-Runner and headed for Tegucigalpa.  David took a turn off from the major road that we had traveled with Noemi and headed further up into the hills.  As he drove, he explained that we were taking the 'ring-road' that the Honduran government have been working on for 12 years.  Poor peasants have settled alongside the road and live in dilapidated wooden and metal structures that only recently received electricity.  Water to the village of thousands may never be delivered to the site and they continue to share one well located at the top of the hill, which is likely a cistern of collected rain water.  The road is still only 75% complete, which would mean that another 4 years of construction is still required.  This lengthy delay would never be acceptable in North America, but people here simply chuckle at how long it has been taking.  What a patient people.
 
 

Taking a break in the park.

From the poorest village our tour took us to the end of the ring road and up a mountain on the other side where ridiculously massive houses sit on the hillside like beacons.  The separation from poor to rich is disgustingly obvious.  David explained that there is a growing middle class that is speaking up for the poor, however the country is years or even decades away from truly dealing with the poverty. 

Resting in front of Confucious.

The road through the affluent neighbourhood led to the summit of the mountain El Picacho, which was the site of the Parque de las Naciones Unidas (United Nations Park).  We parked the truck and walked around the park which was filled with large pine trees and dead fallen needles covered the ground in a rusty hue.  We walked along the road like pathway until we reached a traditional Asian garden with a massive Confucius statue donated to the UN Park.  It was the most unusual sight in the tranquil picnic park.  Large steps of chunky rocks lead up a small hill under a massive concrete statue of Christ.  According to David, this statue is the only other one in Central and South America aside from the statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro.  Under the shadow of the massive Christ statue in the United Nations Park we could see for miles above the city and residents below.  The city is divided nearly in half by the Rio Choluteca.  The east side of the river is the more prosperous district of Tegucigalpa and on the west side is Comayaguela, which is the rough, tough, poor and dirty side of town.  It is not advised to travel here without a guide and definitely not after dark.
 
 

Circling vultures.

As we walked back toward the gate, a massive flock of vultures circled above our heads.  It almost felt like we were the prey and the vultures were just waiting for us to fall over from our exhausting walk around the park.  Today was not the day to get our eyes pecked out by filthy birds.  The park also contained a museum, which was more of a gift shop and display of critters and creatures found in the forest.  There was nothing really museum like about it at all. 

Hooked on lollies.

The display of insects did include some massive beetles that would measure nearly half the size of a human hand and they had large from pincers that were quite intimidating.  Our walkabout in the museum lasted all of 10 minutes and we were back on the path to the car in no time.  Near the parking lot we stumbled on a gathering of people around a tree.  On closer inspection, we found a monkey sitting in a nook in a tree about 5 feet off the ground.  The monkey had found a lollypop and was wasting no time in licking up the sugary goodness.  It was priceless to see the monkey hold the treat by the stick as if it was old hat.  The novelty was cute, but we wondered how much good it was doing to domesticate such a wild creature and how the monkey's digestive system would respond to tons of sugar.  We walked away after a short time and headed back into town.  

Sayura Cathedral.

 
 
Along the highway we passed by a massive Cathedral and cemetery and asked our guide to take us close for a look.  The place was all locked down, but we learned that it was called the Suyapa Catherdral and was a main attraction in Tegucigalpa.  Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to see anything by the exterior profile. 
 
 
Back at Casa Lajoya, we prepared dinner as we expected guests.  Noemi had invited the General Contractor Julio and his girlfriend Patti and they accepted the invitation.

Dinner party at the mansion.

  Michael and Geraldine tag teamed the dinner preparation and cooking and served up BBQ boneless ribs and potatoes, onions and garlic cooked in foil on the grill. A side salad and toasted bread rounded out the meal to serve up enough for everyone, including seconds for some.  The guests did not linger around long after the food was consumed, however we were all still ready for to keep the Saturday night alive.  Michael busted out a deck of cards and taught Noemi and Geraldine how to play Gin Rummy 500.  A few dummy hands and everyone was set to play.  Since it was a first time for the girls, the game moved rather slowly and it was not until 2:00am when we finally declared a winner.....Michael.  He was a humble winner and only ran around the table with his arms raised twice.  We had all consumed our fair share of alcohol and were ready for a bed when the game ended.

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