a typical day in our lives.

today, jenny and i took a personal day to go apply for a new passport at the US embassy in tegucigalpa. this was something that we've known we should do since we got our temporary passports in costa rica, and we were excited about missing school today to do it, as it means a 5-day weekend thanks to some honduran holiday.

when we got in the embassy, we were again pleased to see that being north americans, we had no line to wait in. neat.

but that's where our luck ended. we were talked to first about not having the proper official identification (note: we DON'T HAVE ANY). that problem seemed to resolve itself and eventually we got to the part where he let us apply for the passport. things were looking good, and he even let us sit down to wait for our interviews. but then just as he was letting us sit down, he pulled out a hole puncher and a stamp and mutilated our temporary passports. (note: as i mentioned before, we have NO OTHER identification)

we were slightly concerned about the state of our identification, but then we forgot about it for awhile as we were interviewed and told we could leave. but then we realized, without a honduran residency card, a united states passport, a united states driver's license, a birth certificate, or any identification at all, we're very much out of luck. the atm cards that are on our way? we can't get them because we need ID to be able to pick them up. residency cards? forget it--i'm doubting whether they will ever show up. we spent a good 2 hours in the bank trying to figure out how we could even access any of our money from our accounts. the answer? we can't.

it's so frustrating, because there seems to be no reason for killing our passports this morning. we paid good money for those, and they're still valid for about 8 months. people get new passports while having non-mutilated passports in their possession all the time. agh. i don't think the US embassy knows how much trouble they've caused.

here's a (censored) picture of my poor little fake passport.


(i can't figure out how to rotate it and i've just given up. turn your head.)

semana santa: FAIL(?)

this week has been the long anticipated semana santa, or holy week. schools have off, and so my housemates and i planned a trip to costa rica, thanks to wicked cheap airline tickets. sounds great, right?

we flew to san jose monday night and then rented a car tuesday morning to drive to the nicoya peninsula, which is about 4 hours away on the pacific coast. it was pretty enough--tropical with a beautiful beach. we packed our car up wednesday morning and headed to the beach. while we were parked there enjoying the waves and heat, someone got into our car and stole absolutely everything. well, not quite everything. but they got all of our clothes, except for kendra´s suitcase, all of our cards and money, except for bethany´s, and two passports. since it`s semana santa, all of the businesses and offices are closed until monday, which means that jenny and i can`t fly out today as planned, because we no longer have passports.

that day was just unbelievable. we had everything stolen, which we found out about by about 1:00. then we tried to get money wired to one of the girls who still has a passport, and then we hit the road. it took us about 12 hours to get all the way back to san jose, since we couldn`t get on the ferry we had been aiming for. then, while waiting in the line of cars for 2 hours to get on the ferry, a bird actually pooped on my leg. it was a thing. it happened. and it really worked to be a metaphor for the day.

basically, we havent had an amazing time in costa rica. we`re fairly jealous of our two roommates who get to go home this afternoon, while we`ll still be here for another several days at least. it doesn`t seem like a bad thing, and we`re going to do our best to make the most of it while also pinching colones and doing our best to not run out of money. we are considering a coffee tour which involves acting out the coffee making process. cheestastic? yeah, but it might just turn this thaaaang around.

one thing`s for sure. we havne`t been able to have taco bell yet because of semana santa businesses closing, but rest assured: we WILL have taco bell before we go back to tegucigalpa. probably many times.