Our first adventure

The other day Nicholas and I headed out in search of Cortitelas (fabric store).  Cortitelas has a nice website, and even offers a map to their 2 locations in San Pedro Sula.  We decided on the location that wasn't in el centro to make things easier.  I studied the maps and thought I had it figured it out, and off we went (with our iPhone of course - we would need that website and Google Maps!)


I bet you can guess that we got lost.  Really lost.  We drove around the entire downtown for 2 hours. 

(On the bright side, while we were "exploring" I found a Keymart and a Super Xtra (think Big Lots-type stores) as well as a ton of junk stores - all of which I pinned on my Google Maps for later.)

We drove and drove and drove.  At some point Nicholas fell asleep and then I didn't feel as rushed.  I started to just enjoy the adventure, and stopped paying attention to the street signs as much.  As I approached one stop light, I suddenly realized I needed to turn left, but because of the flow of traffic it seemed like it might be an illegal turn.  The light was about to turn red so I took advantage of the stop in traffic and went ahead and turned left anyway (I mean, that's what all the other Hondurans do, right?).  Immediately there was a motorcycle with 2 cops behind me honking for me to pull over.  GREAT, I thought.  I stopped right in the middle of the street and rolled down my window.

Officer 1, in Spanish: Do you know that turn you just made was illegal?
Me:  Yo no hablo español. (with the gringo accent way up!)
Officer 1: No habla español?
Me, in English:  What?
(Officer 1 looks at Officer 2 and smirks)
Officer 1, in very broken English:  Where are you from?
Me, in English:  OH you speak English!  I'm from Kentucky!  Can you help me find Cortitelas???
Officer 2, in Spanish: Do you have the papers for the vehicle??
Me, in English:  What??  My license?  Here's my license.
Officer 2, in Spanish to Officer 1: Just let her go, man.  She doesn't understand.
Officer 1: Looks at my license and says "cheque, que le vaya muy bien." (Ok, have a nice day!)

(I'm telling you, this works every time.  I will never speak Spanish to another police officer again!)

Afterwards I felt kind of guilty for lying - I really did break the law this time and they were just doing their jobs, but....you never know when it could turn into a bribing situation (or something more dangerous!).  Also, I bumped into 2 cars on 2 different occasions and sped away (I was scared of having to get out of the car downtown!) so I guess I'm also guilty of hit and run.

After breaking the law 3 times (that I know of) I decided it was a sign to give up and go home.

The next day, we headed out to try again, and look what we found on the FIRST TRY...