Monkeys, floods, and taxi strikes, oh my!

I have had a couple of very interesting days...I thought I'd share.

The day before yesterday early in the morning I was the official tarantula remover from my building. Why I was voted upon I am not sure why, but luckily I was able to draw on my vast prior tarantula experiences (sarcastic) and I managed to get it out of my building without it jumping or sending my kids running. Operation success.

Yesterday I took my kids on my first field trip ever, and after having to improvise everything before we left (since our chapel leader did not make it and I had to quickly figure out something to do for 45 minutes first thing in the day with 21 overly excited kids) I feel like the field trip to the zoo here was a success. And oh yeah, we had wild monkeys eat our food, which was in a basket outside by the picnic area. Even without opposable thumbs, those guys are able to take lids off of tupperware and unscrew lids off of drinks. Impressive guys, impressive.

After the field trip, I went out to dinner with Leah and a friend to celebrate their birthday when the heavens opened up and the deluge of the century wreaked its havoc upon Tegucigalpa. When the rain let up a little (although it would still be considered pouring) we walked to find a taxi and we saw cars flooded up to their windows in the streets. Most of the main roads were not driveable (since it is mountainous here and if it is undriveable in the lowpoints, the whole road is useless) and the phone lines were out. Needless to say, we walked quite a distance in the rain to try to find a taxi. I was just glad that I was not stranded down in the city with nothing but my wet clothes.

This morning, after being out late with the flood and all, I woke up extra early to finish my work and at 6:00 a.m. I was interupted from my work with the news that there is no school due to taxi and bus strikes. When there is no public transportation, the city is crippled. Yea for no school, but boo because I live 35 minutes up a mountain from anything and do not own a car.

The last and final interesting little tidbit is that today, according to Honduras, was supposed to be the hottest day in the history of the world. The hole in the ozone apparently was to be situated over Central America, causing temperatures to skyrocket and cancerous UVA rays to be outside, so we were not to leave our homes and prepare for the worst. I have been known to exaggerate certain things, but this was none of my doing. There were rumors of the Ministry of Education closing schools because it was supposed to be well over 100 degrees, rumors of electricity being shut off due to the extreme heat.....this morning I woke up after being drenched in the torrential downpour and I am currently wearing sweatpants and a sweater. Good job weather forecasters. Interestingly enough, only Honduras thought this to be true because there was no mention of it on CNN, BBC, Weather Channel, etc. The only source that we ever found giving any explanation for it being the hottest day in the world was La Tribuna (our newspaper), which had an article of a baby being born without a head next to it. Somebody please alert the officials for this award-winning journalism. Please.