Sprucing up the Place

Luke and I have been talking about different ways we can make la casa de Martin more ours and we decided today that we would spruce up the living/dining room area. We went to our local Carrione and picked up some curtains, a table runner and place mats. Wan Tzu really likes the curtains so we are trying to keep him from rubbing his head against them too much. We are excited to entertain anyone who wants to come see them in person. :)

Welcome to the Tropics Where Everything Grows Bigger!

As Luke and I were watching 'Friends' minding out own business when a giant moth came flying into our living room. Luke proceeded to shriek and I grabbed my ice tea and a book to defend myself. Let me just preface this with - we weren't sure if it was a bat, small bird or butterfly when it entered. Eventually, Luke was able to scare it out and he saved the day. Here is a photo (which doesn't do it justice), but like they say, everything is bigger in the tropics.

Sambo Creek

Today we went on a fantastic adventure to Sambo Creek. Sambo Creek is a small beach town about 15 minutes outside of La Ceiba, it isn't anything too fancy but a fun get away where the beaches are cleaner and so is the water. We had heard of a place called 'Helen's' that was supposed to have fabulous margaritas so we decided to start our adventure.

We left La Ceiba a little late because Natalie and Tyler had to sign the lease for their house that they are renting *exciting!* and so we met up with them around 11. Another teacher at the school, Erika, explained that we could get a cab to Sambo Creek by walking over to the north side of town and taxis will be there for that very purpose. Sure enough they were and $6USD later we were in our Caribbean paradise.

The driver dropped us off and we walked along the coast looking for 'Helen's', sadly...sort of, we missed it and ended up walking along the beach for a while. It was amazing because there was no one on the beach at all! A couple local people, but really, no more then 7. We walked until we found a bar/hotel with a pool and we decided to stop. It was a great place to jump in the water, sun bathe, eat and drink. We stayed there for two or three hours before continuing on our journey.

We asked the owner, a nice man from Boston, if he knew where 'Helen's' was, he laughed and pointed us back the way we came; it was right next door to 'The Canadian'. When we got their we knew why everyone raved about this place. It was very tranquil and the food and drinks were amazing! We will for sure be going back there.

It was a great day in our new home. It is nice to know that we are so close to a beach getaway and have a nice place to take people when they come to visit! Here are some photos.

Perros y Comida

Everyone has been asking 'how are the dogs?' so I thought I would throw a post out there for them. Wan Tzu is adjusting well but he does really enjoy the air conditioned room. Tofu is the same. Our friends Natalie and Tyler are bringing down a 'firminator' which helps strip the undercoat of long haired dogs, so we are going to do that to Tofu to see if that keeps her cooler. They are enjoying being pampered but I do think they miss their cousins at home.

On another good note, a lot of people we curious about the food down here. We have found that most of the food is either fast food (no Taco Bell though) or foreign food. We have a sushi restaurant, and Italian place, a steak house and so much more. Luke and I have been taking to cooking at home because it is more affordable and we can make staples like beans and weiners and so on. However, my gem of a husband came back from the market the other day with something so glorious I could not believe it....

MAC AND CHEESE!

Yes, I think I will do just fine here.

Mr. Martin

We stopped by school and we able to get into Luke's classroom. He seemed pretty comfortable as soon as he saw the giant AC unit in the back.

Newest Obsession

For all those who know Luke and I, you know we are Disney/animated movie nuts. When we first met we hit it off by talking about the movie Anastasia...romantic right?

Anyway, I recently watched the movie 'Tangled' by Disney and was so impressed! Recently, most Disney movies have been letting me down, they are tired and the music is not very good. However, Disney got this one right. Not only was the music fantastic, the story was a great take on the classic fairy tale, and there were a lot of funny lines in it!

I recommend this movie to everyone and hope that Disney keeps up the good work!

La Casa Martin

Last post for the day! As you all have guessed, because the company provides us with a living allowance, they hired a local man (Arthur or as we call him Arturo)to take us around to find a place to live. A live action House Hunters International if you will. So Luke and I were both very excited about this. Neither of us has really had a house before... let alone by ourselves, we felt pretty grown up as we set out in La Ceiba with Arturo, Natalie and Tyler.

La Ceiba is a very small town. Not too small, but you can walk anywhere you need to in the city in about 30 minutes. So Arturo decided to take us to a couple of the safe sections of the city to look at houses on the 19th. We walked through a neighborhood or as the call them here 'Colonias' called Naranjal (no idea how to spell that). It was an extremely nice neighborhood but there were no houses there for rent. We then walked around through downtown and saw a couple houses there. There was one that was right next to the futbol stadium that was promising, but we decided it would be too loud for us and the dogs. After a day of walking around and not finding anything, Luke and I were feeling a little sad. But we decided to keep our hopes up and decided that the next day would be our day.

Natalie, the new Kinder teacher, is playing on the volleyball team right now and was taking to a colonia called El Sauce (pronounced El Sao Se) and found a couple of houses there. We really liked one of them that was near a park that also had a small yard for the dogs. We looked at a couple more but nothing really struck us except for the one.

We decided to think on it for a couple days but on our anniversary I told Luke that I really saw us in the house. It was the perfect size (3 beds and 3 baths), large combined living and dining room area, room for the laundry, great sized kitchen and the neighborhood is really safe. He told me that he liked the house a lot and if I thought that it was the one we should go for it.

The next day we called the owner and were moving in! Before we did though, we had to go and buy everything! Rentals here do not come with anything...and that includes appliances! So Arturo took us to the second hand markets to pick some up. The only thing that we bought new were our bed and the table for our anniversary, everything else was as cheap as we could get. Luckily, we can use our credit card down here. lol.

Here are some photos of the house which include a napping Luke, don't mind him.

Last but not least, the fruit tree in the back! Luke didn't get a mango tree, but he did get a lemon tree and we do have some fruit on it. Not much but I am looking forward to some fresh lemonade (not really but Luke is). Cheers!

Awesome Tree

Walking around campus Luke and I saw this awesome tree and took a photo. Not too shaby working in the tropics.

Happy 3 Years

A couple days ago was Luke's and my three year anniversary. It honestly seems like so long ago, but not. I am so happy to be married to such a kind man who deals with all of my dramatics and plays cards with me (maybe that should be the other way around(lol)).

We decided to celebrate by going out to a restaurant called 'Super Baleadas'. Baleadas are like the local food that is pretty much a bean and cheese burrito with anything else you want in it - aka, awesomeness. We went with our new friends Natalie and Tyler (the Kindergarten teacher and IT teacher/guy). Once there we decided to continue on to 'Ex-patriots' which is a popular bar down here.

When we got there we met another teacher from the school, Erika and her boyfriend Ken. During the night there was a man singing who came over to asked what brought me to La Ceiba. I told him that Luke and I just got jobs teaching at Mazapan and he promptly said "my daughter will be a first grader there!' aka my student! One thing that we figured out very quickly was that everyone in La Ceiba knows everyone. It is a very small community, so I should have been prepared to meet someone I would be connected to at the bar.

Anyway, we decided to leave and Luke snuck away (I thought to pay the bill) but as soon as he returned, the dad asked if anyone was celebrating their anniversary... tricky husband. Luke asked for my hand and brought me up to dance. It was very sweet and romantic, he played 'I can't help falling in love with you' one of our favs and I felt very swooned. I am very very lucky.

The next day we decided to buy ourselves an anniversary gift. We went to a furniture store and fell in love with a dining room table made of Cyprus. It was a little more expensive then some other tables but we both just loved it and look forward to using it for years and years to come. Here are some photos.

Safe in Honduras!

Luke and I arrived safely to Honduras on July 18th! The trip was great with just one hiccup when it came to bringing the dogs into the country... They thought that the dogs were missing a shot (which they weren't). It was just more stressful then anything.

After customs we met our driver Hector in a Mazda truck who took us the 2 hour and 30 minute drive to La Ceiba! There we were placed in dorm 217A which was fabulous! They had a water, Honeynut Cheerios and a couple other things waiting for us there. Luke was the most excited about the air conditioning in the bedroom. lol. Below are some photos of where we stayed.

217A Our Temp House in La Ceiba

Bedroom

Living room with dining behind

More photos to come!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well the time has come for Luke and I to say 'adios' to our life in the good ole US of A again and head off to our new home in Central America. We fly out late tonight on the red eye to Houston. There we take our next flight to San Pedro Sula and arrive in Hondo. The school was very helpful and is sending a driver for us so I don't have to take another flight to La Ceiba. We decided it would be much easier with the dogs as well.

I think that Oregon realized it was our last day because I woke up the the sweet smell of rain. I know that it is because I am feeling sentimental but I do think in the humid weather I will start to miss the cool rain. However, I am sure that will take some time.

The other day we went to the final Harry Potter which was EPIC! Not only was the movie amazing, but we were with a great group of people and dressed up to boot. :) Sarah was also very nice and dressed Lamb Lamb up for Jojo and Joma as a little Harry.

Getting pretty anxious and nervous but at least the dogs get to come with us. :) I will post when we arrive tomorrow afternoon!