A Series of Misfortunate Events...

Our weekend adventure started with a seven-hour journey by bus and ferry to a resort at Playa Tambor. It was pretty relaxing, once I found a quiet spot on the beach where I could read away from the bars and and pools and cheesy DJ music.

On Sunday after lunch, we headed back to Santa Ana, planning on returning in time to eat with our families. But when we got to the ferry, it was full. The next one wasn't coming until 7pm. So we drove our microbus north to another beach (Playa Naranjo) where another ferry with a different schedule arrives. Unfortunately, the bus driver got lost, so we turned around and headed back towards Playa Tambor for the 7pm ferry. Right after we passed our hotel (4 hours after leaving it), one of the tires exploded. The bus driver, Gerardo, changed the tire in the blazing sun...and then we headed out again. Two hours later, we were waiting in line for the ferry--car #122 out of the 140 that can fit on the boat. Hooray!

At 12:30am we reached our little white house. We had keys to get in, but our housemate from New York had put down the extra bar to secure the house for the night, and we couldn't open the door. So, after timidly yelling "Upe!" a couple times (the customary greeting used to see if someone is home, rather than knocking), we rang the doorbell. Waited. And then rang it again. Finally our host mom straggled to the door in her nightgown. We felt so awful! But, por dicha (luckily), we didn't have to sleep on the patio last night. Wow!

Today I don't have any classes, so I'm catching up on mi tarea de casa (HW!). In other news, we had my (so-far) favorite food for lunch, potatoes and spinach in this milky sauce... Eliet's washer is broken, so she is washing the clothes of five people by hand... And a Red Cross ambulance delivered a phone book into my hands this afternoon complete with siren and loudspeaker (freaked me out at first)! Hope everyone is doing well. Hasta luego!