...guessing who's back, back again

Mel is back, tell a friend.

So a school without functioning Internet is a secluded place to be. During one of my later hours, students suddenly became very antsy. Apparently Mel Zelaya's back in the country. You know, the ousted president who made so many of you concerned for the well-being of us teachers? According to news sources, he's chillin' in the Brazilian embassy here in Tegus. And somehow (illegal cell phone in class?) the rumor spread like wildfire in my class. After school, my fellow teachers told of anywhere up to six of their students in their class being taken out of school by parents due to this news.

Okay, sure, I think. Some parents are protective, and I do know that some kids are children of higher-ups in governments old and new, so don't take any risks. But this has little to do with me. I have a test to give tomorrow.

Then I get home. I'm biding time until my friends walk past, because we're planning on hitting up the grocery store. My roommates, who would be taking the late bus home an hour and a half later, end up getting dropped off by another teacher in his car 15 minutes after I arrive. Hmm, that's strange. I guess they were done prepping and the other teacher was ready to head out as well.

Dan and Al walk in. Apparently there's a 4pm curfew (it's 3:50 at this point). And it goes until 7am (school starts at 7:15). So school won't begin until 9:15 tomorrow if it happens at all.

Pardon my french, but shit just got real.

So much for the grocery trip.

10 minutes after Dan and Al arrive, the phone rings. It's for me. It's another teacher from our neighborhood, Sage. She just wanted to tell me that our aforementioned friends won't be coming around to grocery shop. "Oh, so they found out about the curfew, too? I just found out when Dan and Al got home earl-"

"Oh, there's a curfew? No, the girls were just robbed at gunpoint."

........

So they had been on their way. They were right in the middle of our neighborhood, in broad daylight, for Pete's sake. As far as I know, all the mugger got was a set of keys, a cell phone, and 20 Lempiras (see previous post for conversion information!) And they got away unscathed, which is all you ever hope for anyway. So they went to Sage's house, which was closest, and they're decompressing there.

Since then, it's been a bit of a frantic relay of phone calls and instant messages to make sure everyone is accounted for and most of all, safe. Of special concern regarding the "safe" part are the girls' two other roommates, who were dropped off at their house after the first two girls left, now with some malicious guy walking around the neighborhood with keys to their house (of course, it can be fairly common knowledge which houses are the "gringo houses). Cell phone service was dropped at some point in all of this, adding to the confusion and lack of communication (our land line won't make calls out, either - hooray for late phone bills!). Everyone is safe and accounted for after a tense hour, the other girls have been picked up and will spend time at other houses, and school is still either up for a late start or cancellation.

I've heard a few distant car horn sounds that sound as if they're part of some demonstration. Even the car alarms aren't going off with their stupidly regular frequency. It's rather suddenly mostly quiet. Only dogs barking from time to time around the neighborhood and the rap-rap-rap-rapping sound of the geckos accompanies the occasional sound of a passing car.

The girls are safe. We have pretty (and cheap) flowers on our table. The curtains are drawn. It's still quite warm, with a clear sky as the sun approaches setting.