Sketchy Taxis, Dead Birds, Empty Wallet, and Naturally.. Death... *Week 15*

For the start of week 15 Misael and I had some work left in town so we headed out to do that. We knew it would take all day and I told Mike that we would for sure be done by 3:45. Mike told us he'd pick us up at 3:45 on the dot, then left ‘Misa’ and I some money for lunch and we got to work. It took forever for the operator of the machine to show up, so we started working without him. When he got to work though, he must have looked at us and decided we didn’t need help because he only stopped by to check the blade then went off to do something else all day. Even though it was just Misa and I, we got about half way through the rest of the pile by lunch. For lunch we went to the same place we had gone to on Saturday but this time they were serving fried shrimp and spaghetti🤤. While eating, Misa and I watched a family of three Americans enter the restaurant, which was really random because we were in a really random part of town. Misa and I had a little fun with it when I asked him why he thought the Americans came to this restaurant and he said “because they’re hungry,” he then assured me that he didn’t see me as a typical ‘American’ anymore, but as a Honduran since I’ve devoted myself to his home. That meant a lot to me, especially since Honduras truly feels like a second home for me. After lunch, Misa and I headed back to work and ended up finishing at 3:48, 3 minutes off😭.

On Tuesday I got really sick because of all the smoke in the air. All of Honduras has been shrouded in smoke this past week. So, I stayed inside on Tuesday to rest and pack for my trip to Cancún. I had to pack up my entire house, since when I come back from Cancún I will be in a different house. At night I felt healthy enough to go and play soccer with the Grandecitos for the first time since I started watching movies with all the houses. The boys loved having me and it was good to see them before I left early the next morning. Wednesday morning I moved one of my suitcases to the office where it would stay for the week that I’m gone. Then I moved other accessories like my fan and refrigerated items into my new house and got to look around the place a little. After that, I had a bit of spare time to say goodbye to the small girls who were raking leaves behind my old house. Even though I assured them that I would only be gone for a week, they still told me that they were going to miss me a lot and as I was trying to leave, one of the girls held onto my leg and said “please don’t go dad,”(in Spanish of course) but it melted my heart and I knew full well that I was going to miss them all during my week away too. Eventually the girls let me go and I got in my taxi and made haste to the airport.

The first thing I have to do at the airport is Minor Migration. So, right away I got in line but had to do a double take on something I saw out of the corner of my eye. It took me a while to process the strangeness of what I saw, but eventually came to terms with the fact that I was looking at that same family of three that I saw in the restaurant a couple days earlier. I really wanted to talk to them since it was just so random that I had now seen them twice in completely different parts of Honduras, but they were too far ahead of me to talk with them there. So when I finished Minor Migration, I got myself a coffee then went through security. After I found my gate I decided I had enough time to go and talk to the family that I had seen. So I approached them but realized I had no idea what to say: “Hey, not like I’m stalking you or anything but what were you doing in Guaimaca?” sounded kinda creepy to me. So I walked right past them and told myself I would keep walking, touch the back wall of the terminal, then turn around and try again. So I did that. However, the most mind blowing part is that when I turned around I saw a man that I swore I recognized. I knew that if I saw his wife it would cement that thought. And sure enough I saw a woman I recognized as well, so immediately I walked up to the lady and asked if her husband was from Honduras, to which she replied yes. Then I asked her if her husband grew up in Guaimaca, and she replied yes. And that's when I told her that I've actually had a conversation with her before.

I mentioned in my week nine blog post that two years ago(my last summer down here with my family) we missed our flight due to lack of paperwork and that we had to reschedule to leave two days later. Well… on that day, at our gate in Chicago, my mom had a conversation with a friendly woman and her husband about each other's trip. As it turned out, not only did they miss their flight two days prior just like us, but they were also headed to Guaimaca, again, just like us. It was so mind blowing back then that we were en route to the same place but fast forward to May 15th, 2024 and the story gets even crazier. It turned out I was right, I did know the wife and husband and I got to have a quick conversation with them. As soon as I told the wife that I knew them, she immediately threw candy my way, she offered me money, she gave me a burrito, and even handed me the book of Mormon which she hesitated to give to me because she said it was really important to her. They told me that they were in Honduras for the husband’s father’s funeral(93). But unfortunately, the conversation was cut short because they had to board their plane. We swapped phone numbers and she swore she would call me, but she hasn't yet. That was still just such a small world occurrence.

After I walked away, I kept my end of my own deal and had a chat with the family of three. They told me that they are Americans, but they moved to Honduras to spread God’s word and that every Monday, they go to that restaurant to preach. They were headed back to America to try to get more sponsors because money had been really tight for them recently. That conversation also got cut short because it was now time for me to board my plane, and I was off to Cancún. Upon arriving, I was certain I’d be able to order an Uber but the app told me that there were no drivers available, so that meant I needed a taxi. There was a group of very persistent ‘taxi salesmen’ who waved me over. I told them I needed a ride to my house that was 20 minutes away. The man gave me a very friendly discount of 80 dollars for the ride. I told him I wasn’t paying that and that I’d like to go inside, but he persisted and said “for you my friend, i’ll do fifty.” I was so tired I just decided to take it and eventually got to my house. As soon as I got into my room, I hit the hay and fell asleep.

I wanted my first full day in Cancún to be all about resting. I planned on staying in the house all day and maybe finding a movie or show to watch. But before I did that, I decided it’d be best to go grocery shopping so I had snacks and drinks for my show. The following day was my first day at the beach. My house was more towards the center of Cancun, rather than by the beach, and since I had a rough run in with the taxi system, I decided it’d be best just to walk. So, I walked for about an hour until I got to a really small beach. It was very underwhelming but I just wanted to get in the water, so I settled for it. While being in the water I decided on walking down the beach to maybe find a better spot to chill. I walked through many back yards and a bunch of hotel beaches and finally took a seat on a beach chair just for a security guard to tell me to buzz off. So I walked probably a mile-ish back to where I was, chilled out in the water for just a little longer, then started walking back to my house. On my way back, I passed an entertainment district with a pretty mall in the center. I stopped in the mall for a couple much needed cold drinks after all the walking I did, then continued walking back home. After the whole taxi scam and disappointing beach, I felt really discouraged to be a tourist. So I spent the whole weekend in my house and at restaurants around the neighborhood.

Monday of week 16 was my last full day in Cancún so I thought I might as well make the most of it(and include it here in week 15). While walking back from the disappointing beach the other day, I remembered seeing Bird electric scooters parked along the sidewalk(for those of you that don’t know, Birds are electric scooters that you find in big cities that you can rent and you pay by the minute). Riding scooters around Appleton was something I loved doing with my buddies back in Wisco, so I thought I should give it a go in Cancún. The other thing I realized was that I had to do some research on larger beaches to visit. After researching, I made the decision to go to ‘Playa Delfines’ which was a four hour walk from my house. So I decided I would try to get a Bird. When I got to the Bird’s parking spot I was lucky enough to come across free wifi because without wifi, I can’t pay for the Bird. However, I still had trouble getting the Bird because my card refused to work until I got a text from fraud alert asking if I was really the one making the purchase. As soon as I texted yes, I was able to buy the ride and I was off. About halfway to the beach though, my Bird died(🥲) which I didn’t think would be a problem, but what I came to realize was that when you are done riding, you need to “end your ride” on the app, and you can’t “end your ride” if you don’t have data/wifi, and, on top of that, your Bird needs to be in a dedicated parking zone. Birds also have a security system in them that when it isn’t ‘activated’ the front wheel locks and when it detects that its being moved, it beeps really loud and flashes its headlight. This really sucked for me because I had to carry my dead Bird to a place that both: had wifi, and was a parking zone, in order to end my ride. And because I couldn’t end my ride without those two things, I paid for all the time that the scooter spent riding me as well. Definitely wasn’t my favorite part of the trip, but the day only got worse from there. Eventually I got the scooter to a place where I could end my ride and I got on another scooter to finish my trip to the beach. Even when I got to the beach I had to find the right spot for my scooter. Eventually I made it though, and it really made my day because the scene was so beautiful.

While in the water, I made it my top priority to find only the best seashells for the small girls house. I only ended up finding five really good ones before deciding just to enjoy the waves, not knowing that the waves actually planned to enjoy me… While I was sitting in the waves, I wanted to test how far out I could go while still touching the ground. It wasn’t long before I realized that every time a wave blew by me, I was pushed further away from shore. Soon enough, I found myself in a spot where I couldn’t touch the ground. I wasn’t really concerned about it though because I knew I could just tread the water, then swim back whenever I pleased. Then a wave hit me. I realized I actually couldn’t just tread then swim back to shore whenever I wanted and made the decision to start swimming towards shore. The problem was, every time a wave hit me, I got dragged further from shore, so I was essentially stuck in one spot trying my hardest to swim to shore. Then, if it wasn’t obvious by now.. I died.

Obviously I was pretty shook about almost drowning, so after sitting on the beach for a minute, I started my journey back home. The story still gets worse than almost drowning. To get back to my house, I loved the idea of using a Bird. So I went back to the parking spot, picked up my Bird, and carried it to a free wifi area to start my ride. I made it maybe a mile and a half before my Bird died. So, I got a new one and carried it into another free wifi zone which happened to be a luxury car rental booth in front of a high end jewelry store that was literally named ‘Luxury’. Which seems weird to write about, but just to paint a picture, it was dark out, and this tall American guy comes walking up to a building named Luxury with an obvious rental scooter in his arms that's beeping very loud and flashing its headlights(as if stolen) and he is very obviously scrambling for free wifi. Was not my proudest moment. Especially since right when I was about to purchase the ride and leave.. my phone died. So, this desperate American boy just dropped the scooter in front of “Luxury” and walked away with his head down. And it was then that I said, “how could this day get any worse?” Yeah, biggest mistake of my life.

Losing my Bird left me at a 21 minute drive back to my house. I soo would’ve walked, but I had to pack and be up early the next morning for my flight back to Honduras. So, I found a taxi driver and was finally on my way back to my house. My taxi driver was super nice and even offered me a charger for my phone. Upon arriving at my house, I told my taxi driver that I ran out of cash and asked if he had a card reader. Luckily he did so I gave him my card. He inserted it but told me that it declined my transaction. I got a little nervous but knew not to worry because the same thing happened at a Dominos a couple days prior and with my Bird too. All I had to do was wait for fraud alert to text me, and then respond “yes” to the text. So I asked my taxi driver if I could walk up to my house to use the wifi and he agreed. After five minutes I still didn’t get a text. Then my taxi driver told me we could just drive up the road to an ATM and all would be peachy. After stopping at six different ATMs, all was not peachy. My card wouldn’t let me pull money out for some reason. The taxi driver and I drove around town for somewhere around 30 minutes before he told me he couldn’t waste any more gas driving me around. The whole thing was just so awful because I really needed to get home to shower and pack but I really wanted to pay the guy. He wrote his phone number down for me and now I have to find a way to get him his money. It took me a while to pack so I only ended up getting two and a half hours of sleep, but I got to the airport by Uber on Tuesday morning. As it turned out, Uber does run in Mexico, I just didn’t have wifi or data when I first arrived, so I didn't know. Which means that the whole taxi problem and even the entire Bird story, never had to happen. Since I’m already in week 16, I could soo keep writing. However, I know week 16 is going to be filled with some exciting stories since as soon as I land in Honduras, I will be reunited with some of the Union team members. It's going to be great!! To be continued…