...whats the name of this animal in english again?!....

If you have seen our list of "things to do" you know that the zoo is on there - we have been talking about going ALL year, so finally found a good saturday for a day trip! We couldn't talk anybody else into going with us so it was just me and my riding buddy Steph on this adventure! We caught a busito (little bus) downtown and headed about an hour towards our next stop - oh how I had missed riding public busses - fortunately for us this year we have had a lot of friends with cars so we don't have to ride the bus much, haha. We got off on the side of the road in this place we thought was right, talked to a lady at a pulperia and found out we were in the right place so caught a taxi up to the next town where we ended up at a pretty nice hotel, as we waited for a bus from the zoo to pick us up. Turned out they had just sent two bus loads full of ppl right before we got there, so they sent the security truck with two armed guards with vests and all after us. As he made room in the front seat for both me AND steph, he had to move his guns, but I half sat on his handgun, which was pointed straight into his leg as we went over all these bumps and turns, me and steph just kept looking at each other and laughing. 

Finally we arrived at the zoo paid our $10 bucks and started walking around. The animals looked pretty healthy and well taken care of, they just looked bored to death, there wasn't neat cages with water and lots of land, just iron bars and fences. We got to see a bunch of different animals, buffalo, lions, zebra, puma, cheeta, macaws, ostrich, monkeys, and more! When we got to the spider monkey cage - we saw one of the monkeys had found a frog - and was carrying it around and cuddling it like it was a baby! It was the cutest thing ever! Anywhere the monkey went, he would carry that frog around in one hand, making sure not to crush it or hurt it! After the animals we had a nice little swim in the pool and did some reading for an hour or so before we needed to head to town to find a bus to take us back to Siguatepeque. 

The guards had told us they would take us back into town so just to walk to the front and have somebody call them over - however, they were conveniently waiting for their gringa friends right as we left the pool, so we asked them if it was a good time and they were nice enough to stop whatever they were doing and take us back into town. This time, he folded up his gun (it was a big one, not a hand gun) and put it beside my leg at my feet with the handgun still on the seat in between us. Once back into town, we caught another bus back down to the highway - once to the highway, we saw a bus on the side of the road dropping ppl off so we took off running across the highway hoping to get on it - however they started moving as we were catching so i banged on the back of it to get their attention, then they let us on. There was only two seats, one in the back and one in the front, I ended up in the front seat with the bus driver. After about 15 minutes the driver started talking to his "helper" the guy that opens/closes the door for ppl about ME, they were talking about how old I was and were betting against each other! After a few minutes, the driver asked me how old I was, when I told him there was a funny reaction from both of them as I found out which one had won the bet - so he had to pull over and buy the door man a coke because he had bet that I was 25 or under. hahahah it was pretty sketchy but funny at the same time. I gave him an english lesson the rest of the way back to Sigwa - he was a crazy man thats for sure - at one point, he stopped on the side of the road and stole a cart full of nice flat rocks that were being sold, but left unattended, so he stopped our bus, hopped out and stole them - as he was getting back in he looks at me and says "nobody!" so thats how i knew he had stolen them! Another funny story, when the busses pass each other they give a honk or a flash or a wave or something - but for one bus, the both flashed at each other and then both drivers took their hands off the wheel and pointed at each other for a few seconds leaving the bus driving itself - it was funny and scary all at the same time. Finally we made it back to sigwa - alive and well - after a great day traveling to a new city and seeing a new place. It was so much fun, Im glad we got out of the house on a saturday and got into some adventure! Pics to come....