Toque de queda... that's Spanish for 'curfew'. After the damage caused last night in Tegucigalpa by the Zelayistas, the government decided to lift the curfew during the day, and start it up again at 4pm today. At first we thought it was a partial lifting, so that people could get groceries, medicine and gas, but as we were out and about today, pretty much every business was open, except for schools.
We have two ladies visiting here from North Carolina, and let's just say that their visit has been less than ideal. They arrived on Saturday afternoon, to be greeted by -- no one. Currie and Sandi were stuck in traffic, causing them to arrive at the airport almost 3 hours after the ladies arrived. Then, it took another 6 hours to get them back here to Enlaces.
On Sunday morning, we were getting ready for church and found out that the power would be out all day. They weren't necessarily prepared for that, either.
Then, on Monday, Zelaya sneaks back into the country and because of that, we've been under this curfew. So, when we heard the announcement, we jumped on the opportunity to at least go to the grocery store. Wow! It was packed. Jam packed! I saw one of my students and met her mother and also saw another missionary and her two daughters there. I guess it was the place to see and be seen today. While we were driving there, we noticed that people actually seemed peaceful. There wasn't a sense of panic to get groceries and the shelves were very nicely stocked. I picked up a few things, including a bag of rice to throw in the freezer, but overall, my kitchen is pretty stocked with food. That's North American thinking because most Hondurans shop on a daily basis and rarely have much more than just what they need to get the next meal or two on the table.
We got back to Enlaces, had some lunch and went back out. We drove down to the Parque Central and cathedral. The cathedral was open, so we took the ladies in. Then, we were able to go up the clock tower and let them see the inner workings of the world's oldest working clock. The view from the top of the bell tower is incredible!
We stopped for ice cream and went into a few souvenir shops. That was pretty cool because the owner of one of the shops recognized me from being here before. When we went back to the truck, we drove through the mercado because Currie was looking for an inner tube for Samuel's bike. Mission accomplished. At some point, Sandi started driving. Then, she drove us out in the country to where she used to live when she first moved here. We also stopped at the gym so that Tammy, who owns a very successful gym in the US, could see it.
Before heading back to Enlaces, we ended up going to Del Corral again. We were going to buy a bunch of pineapples since Foxy likes them so much and it seems to be one of the few things she will eat here. Well, by now it was 3:40pm and the curfew was supposed to start back up at 4pm. If I thought the grocery store was packed before lunch, I hadn't seen anything. This time it was so packed you could barely move. By the time I got into the store, Sandi, Tammy and Foxy were no where to be found, so I just stayed put at the front of the store, knowing that they'd have to come by me to leave. Within a minute of us entering, the store started keeping more people from coming in so that they could close somewhat near 4pm, so I guess our timing was perfect. It was after 4pm when we left, but we made it back to Enlaces just fine.
At this point, I haven't heard what the deal is for tomorrow, with respect to the curfew. I also don't know if we'll have school.
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