Honduras 2010 - post 1 of I dont' know how many... :-)
I need to sit down and write about our trip to Honduras. There is so much to say and so many things going through my head. I am afraid this may turn into a 200 page book. I think the best way to present all that we saw, did and experienced in Honduras is to blog in installments. So here goes.
Of course, Brad, Trish and the girls could not have been better hosts. I am really grateful and appreciative of all they did to make our trip amazing. I am also so aware that if God ever called us to be missionaries in Honduras, it would be another ball of wax and I must admit that the language barrier is quite intimidating to me.
Preparations for our trip started in 2009 and snow balled in intensity until we were ready to leave. Originally, I had intended to go down with some other women from our church but due to many different issues ended up being the only one who was going go. After talking with Trish about it, we all decided that I would still go down which I was so excited about.
My prayer for going to Honduras and visiting with the Wards was to see how God was working in Honduras, how he was working in the Ward’s life, and that I would be a gracious guest able to know where help was needed and just reconnect with one of my dearest friends.
The plan was that I would go alone however Moriah was gifted a plane ticket so that she could join me. I am really glad because the time I got to spend with my girl was precious. She is growing up fast so I treasured this trip with her beyond measure. She makes a great little traveling buddy and is brave even when she is quaking in her boots. Having her come with me was so perfect. I got to see her grow and watch as her eyes were opening to the world around her. I think seeing a new experience through the eyes of your child is quite possibly one of the most awe inspiring things that God could gift to a parent. I felt privileged to have her with me and to be able to watch her heart grow.
We took 3 suitcases and a duffle bag for our checked luggage which we filled almost entirely with things going down to the Wards. I think the funniest part of the preparations was going over to Julane’s house and realizing just how many baby quilts needed to be packed and how many glasses needed to go down. It was astounding. I figured out that you can stuff a baby quilt in a gallon zip lock bag if you squeeze the thing as tight as possible. I also had towels and kitchen utensils as well as some sort of carborator or something. It looked a little like a small motor to me. Top all of that off with a gianormous amount of art supplies and you have a puzzle to pack and repack 3 different times. Oh, and don’t forget the baby clothes, Tupperware, m&m’s, crystal lite and a miriade of other odds and ends.
We got as much packed as possible and before we knew it the day arrived for us to leave. Moriah and I were both incredibly grateful that we could check those crazy suitcases and nothave to think about them again until we reached San Pedro Sula.
We boarded our first flight in Redmond kissing Todd, Caleb and my brother and sis-in-law goodbye. After a 2 hour flight we landed in San Francisco and began our wait. Our layover in San Fran was 3 ½ very long hours. We managed to get a bite to eat and Moriah got a tour of part of the airport as we tried to figure out where our terminal was.
At 10:15ish we boarded our flight to New Jersey which proved to be interesting. It was supposed to be an overnight flight so we were expecting to catch some zzzz’s however, the guy next to Moriah kept drifting over into her seat as he slept which upset her to no end. I finally changed seats with her and used my elbows and knees to move him over. The Momma in me came out I guess and I wasn’t horribly gently about pushing on him.
In the meantime, Moriah managed to sleep for a couple of hours. She wadded herself up and put her head on my lap as I tried my best to snuggle with her in the cramped space. As for me, well, I can sleep anywhere just about so I was nodding off from the time we took off to the time we set our wheels down.
We landed in Jersey at 5:00 am Jersey time and we were pooped. Our connection to San Pedro Sula was like stepping into a different universe in the New Jersey airport terminal. The chatter, laughter, screaming children, crying babies and general cacophony was, well, loud. At this point, Moriah was starting to feel sick from lack of sleep. The final flight was 3 ½ hours of screaming children and crying babies and my baby was one of them. Moriah was feeling so nasty that she was in complete tears which stopped up her nose which made her ears hurt. I was so relieved when we landed.
Before we landed, we got to know the lady sitting next to us. She was a Honduran woman who had been living in the States for 30 years. She was making her way home to see her sister and nephews and nieces. She was from the town of El Progresso which is right outside San Pedro Sula. I asked her if she had any tips for first time visitors and she gave a us several , of which I can’t remember a single one. Oh yes, the most important, don't go out after dark.

The view out of the Plane window - Our first glimpse of Honduras
Once the plane landed and we gathered our stuff, our new friend helped us get through immigration. She told us which line to stand in and what to do as we were interviews. We stood in line for about 15 minutes waiting to see the guy behind the counter. Moriah was starting to feel even worse from sleep deprivation and the heat so I had her take her backpack off and lean against me. That seemed to help her. Her demeanor perked up when we spotted the Wards jumping up and down and waving at us through the glass barrier.
We had to pick up our baggage and tote it over to the scanners to be checked. I was trying to make it as easy on Moriah as possible so I started stacking backpacks on suitcases. I decided to wait for the line to clear out a bit and so it was wonderful when a porter came and helped us get our stuff through the lines. He was really kind and wheeled our stuff through to the Wards and then Trish and Brad took over. It cost us about $1 per bag to have the porter’s help which seemed like a tiny amount to me.
Brad ran ahead and got the truck while Trish took me to a guy in the airport who changes money from US or Euro’s to Lempira, which is the Honduran currency.

Moriah & Sammey
The next thing we knew, we were loading into Brad and Trish’s truck and heading through San Pedro to our hotel. The air conditioning in their truck felt so good and I am so, so thankful that they had that available because adjusting to the heat and humidity was a stretch.
Once at the hotel – It was called Villa Nuria – we went through the guarded gates and checked in. Again, thank the good Lord for Brad and Trish because Brad was able to navigate check in and payment for me a bit. It was great because the hotel took a credit card.
The Wards had reserved a really nice room for us, with air-conditioning. It had a small kitchenette, 2 bedrooms and of course, a bathroom. Trish told us not to drink the water, that the hotel staff would bring a pitcher of filtered ice-water we could keep in our refrigerator. I’m glad she told us that right off because I was very, very thirsty.
It wasn’t long after we got all of our stuff into the room and Trish knocked on the door and asked us if we would like to go to a little store to get a soda and snacks. Moriah chose to get a sprite and I got a Coke Lite. We headed back to the Wards room and Trish had picked up a bunch of Honduran candy and chips. I think my favorite was the candy coated peanuts and the plantanos that are fried up like potato chips. We also tried some goats milk candy, some sesame type brittle as well as a few other things. All of which were good. Moriah being the trooper she is, gave everything a try and ruled the plantano chips yummy while the goats milk candy didn’t float her boat.
We headed back to our room and Moriah got her swimming suit on while Sammey waited and off they went to the pool. I took a few minutes to collect myself, sort through some of our stuff and get my head put back on straight.
![DSCN0160[1]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1011/4595066461_39aab71967_m.jpg)
As I sit here recounting the details of this journey, I realize I have already written a book even gotten through our first day in Honduras. In addition to all of that, I haven’t really recounted all that I hoped would happen between me and Jesus nor have I recounted my thoughts on it. To tell you the truth, I am still sorting and examining all of that. I don’t feel like I went into this trip with a lot of expectations. In fact, I worked really hard to go into this trip with as few expectations as possible and my ultimate prayer was one of begging the Lord to help me step outside of myself, be a servant and keep my eyes open for Him.
A couple of weeks before I left, 2 of my friends and I were studying Ephesians and a new concept came up that has been holding tight to my soul. The word Love, as in agape, is defined as a “love feast”. That kind of freaked me out a little when I saw that but then I went on to read about what that means and the closest thing I could get to was that of a mother who loves her child so much she just wants to “eat ‘im up”. You know, blow bubbles into his neck, kiss every square inch of him, hold him as close as possible…a love feast. Our God loves us, dare I say, he loves us in such an intimate way.
I went to Honduras with the love feast on my mind. My prayer was that I could be empty of me and show the people I know and meet agape. As an innately selfish person, I know that under stress, I tend to turn into a hag. I so badly didn’t want to go to Honduras and be that person. I wanted to go with the Spirit, ready to serve, sit, talk, listen, whatever that was requested of me at the moment.
I know that was a bit of a sideline from my events of the first day, but I thought it important to address. Now back to our regular programming. Oh, with the warning that it could be pre-empted at anytime.
After a few hours of rest, we all hopped into the truck and headed into San Pedro Sula to run some errands and get dinner. I can’t even tell you what I saw because I think I may have been on overload at this point. However, I did spotted some hammocks being sold on the side of the road. Brad kindly did a u turn, or as close to a u turn in crazy traffic as anyone might try and headed back so I could look at the hammocks. Come to find out, the hammocks were just outside the prison walls and were made by prisoners to sell in order to make money for food and clothing.
As we got out of the truck and walked down the sidewalk, the smell of cigarette smoke mingled with the smell of a city. The hammocks hung just outside of the prison walls. A lady come up to us and would gruffly tell Trish the price. As I looked into the womans bloodshot eyes I wondered how many days she sat out under her canopy selling ehr hammocks. It was intimidating to be outside a large prison in a foreign and dangerous city buysing hammocks.
What the Wards told me about the prison system in Honduras was chilling. When someone does something that lands them in prison, they may have to wait for a very, very long time to get a trial. In addition, those prisoners really depend on family and friends because they may not get fed or clothed if someone doesn’t bring them food and clothing on a regular basis. Trish said that some days, there lines of people that are blocks long as they wait to bring their loved ones inside the prison food and clothing.
Hearing that made me want to buy several more hammocks than I had intended. Moriah picked one out for herself that was black and white striped and picked another out for Caleb that was green and gray. We paid 400 Lempira for one and 350 Lempira for the other, approximately $20 and $17 US.
Once the hammocks were procured, Ace Hardware and dinner were the next things to tackle. We ended up at 2 different, huge shopping malls. The first one was where Ace Hardware was located. This is also the place that I realized that Moriah was drooping. We were talking about it and figured out that she had had between 2 and 3 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours. I was feeling like a really bad mom at that point. My poor girl was not feeling good and she continued to march on even though she was dead on her feet. I decided that we needed to get her fed and back to the hotel as soon as possible. By the time we got to the other mall, she was walking like a drunk sailor. I’m surprised she remembers any of this at all.
![DSCN0147[1]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/4595049073_07a2496924_m.jpg)
Tired Riah
The Malls were beautiful. They had marble pillars and tile, high end stores and couture everywhere, I think they may have rivaled something you would find in a large city in the US. I was not expecting nice food courts with McDonalds, Wendy’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Popeyes and a number of other US chains. To tell you the truth, at that point, I was a little comforted by familiarity as was Moriah I think.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and I barely got Moriah out of her clothes and into her jammies before she crashed.
![DSCN0154[1]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/4595670268_474e1f4bc4_m.jpg)
Sleeping Riah
The following day was Mother’s Day Sunday which, from what Trish told me, is a very important holiday in Honduras. It’s up there with Christmas and Easter. On every street corner were people selling flowers or something to give to the momma’s of Honduras. It was very heartening to see.
![DSCN0158[1]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3414/4595060085_ae5aee7500_m.jpg)
Trish & Rikki
We got up Mother’s Day morning and Moriah and Sam wanted to go swim. We made them eat breakfast first which they did quickly and they were in their swim suits and jumping into the pool. I felt a little funny letting Moriah just run off with Sammey in a foreign country that I had heard is dangerous. Brad and Trish seemed comfortable and Moriah and Sam both have good heads on their shoulders so I tried to relax and go with it. I did well I think but breathed a sigh of relief when the girls showed up to give us the room key back.
![DSCN0162[1]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1193/4595689190_7a096a41c5_m.jpg)
While the girls swam, we packed our suitcases and loaded them into the truck. We left at about 10am to head out of the big city. I felt like a gawking tourist the whole way. Brad and Trish must have gotten tired of hearing my questions as I had a thousand. They pointed out the African Palms, the bridge that had partially collapsed in an earthquake (we were driving over the uncollapsed part) and I realized as we drove that I was very, very, very glad that Brad was driving and I wasn’t.
In the states, our roads and traffic are so rule based while in Honduras, there aren’t enough police or money for police cars so there aren’t many traffic cops. The rules of the road seem to be more of a suggestion than rules and yet, through the craziness, people are courteous. Red lights are obeyed mostly but you have to have the senses of a warrior I think. I was impressed. The checkpoints were very strange to me. As you drive down the road you will see cones coming and know that you need to get your windows rolled down so the truck load of police with machine guns can see in. If they point at you, you pull over and they inspect your vehicle and documents.
As we drove I kept seeing buildings looked like a bomb had been dropped on them. Brad told me that because there are no building codes per say in Honduras, when someone purchases a piece of land, they start to build with the materials they have. He interjected in the conversation that as a general rule, Honduran’s tend to be wary of Banks so the idea of handing your money over to a bank makes them nervous. Because of this, as they get money they may buy materials to build a wall and that is it until they have enough money to buy materials to build another wall. This is the reason why you see a wall here and a half of a building there. Add to that the humid, hot weather and anything metal, like structural supports, rust quickly so it looks like they have been sitting there for 20 years in a heap of rubble.
Just outside of San Pedro Sula is a town called El Progresso. Trish needed to stop at the grocery store much to my delight. You can tell much about a country by what is in their grocery stores. I noticed that many things come in bags like mayonnaise, mustard, salad dressing, shortening, tomato paste and milk to name a few. Milk also comes in unrefrigerated boxes similar to the soy milk we purchase in the states. They also have US products but the prices for those things is extraordinarily high. For example a box of Stove Top stuffing was upwards of $5 U.S. I must have amused Trish with all my enthusiasm. There are so many different things to look at and exclaim over.
![DSCN0185[1]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/4597855486_8db1735628_m.jpg)
Bagged Milk
When we were done shopping we headed down the road. A number of other stops were made as we wound our way through the Honduran countryside. We stopped at fruit stands along the way to purchase bananas, bread fruit, pineapple and lychees. We got a bunch of bananas, as in 25 or more still on the stem for about $2.50 US. The pineapple we picked up were so sweet and yummy and the lychees were a new taste experience. Moriah really liked them and chewed on a pit for about 2 hours claiming it was helping her not feel so car sick.
![DSCN0173[1]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1093/4595721080_8fddfcff83_m.jpg)
The funny thing about the Lychee stop was that we were boogying down the road at a nice clip and Trish spotted the Lychee stand, told Brad to pull over so he hit the breaks and pulled off the busy road. Trish rolled down the window and there was a girl standing there ready to sell her Lychees. Trish didn’t even have to get out of the truck. It all happened so fast and it tickled my funny bone for some reason.
For lunch we ate at a Texaco gas station. It had a little restaurant connected to it and we were able to get a really nice lunch.
![DSCN0176[1]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3319/4597230923_3fedc5fa43_m.jpg)
Our drive was a long one, about 4 hours from San Pedro Sula to Brad and Trish’s front door. We passed through many little towns and the sights were varied and welcome to my eyes. Our final stop before we got to the last leg of our journey was in La Ceiba at another grocery store. The area the Wards live in is about an hour away from a grocery store so we needed to make sure we had everything we needed.
From La Ceiba we headed into a tiny little town and then down a very long dirt road. I enjoyed seeing the many trees and jungle mixed in with pastures and small houses/huts. Cows and horses roamed around. Some fenced and some free. I also noticed that it must be spring because many calves and foals were following their mamma’s around. Moriah and I cooed at the babies.
About 14 miles down the dirt road and a half hour later, we came to the Hospital Loma de Luz gatehouse. I cannot tell you how excited I was to be there and get aquainted with hospital grounds. Brad and Trish’s triplex and staff housing sits right next to the jungle. Walk out your door, turn right and you face big beautiful trees of many different varieties as well as all sorts of jungle sounds and sights.
![DSCN0186[1]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1178/4597240783_53c0e08399_m.jpg)
One of the first things I noticed were the ants. When we arrived, we saw a long line of ants marching across a sidewalk, through a garden area, up the side of a wall and out into the jungle. The Ward’s neighbors said that it had just rained and I guess that brings out the ants. Within 15 minutes the ants were completely gone.
The Ward’s welcomed Moriah and I into their home. It looks just like a home Trish would have. It was very welcoming and friendly. We got the luggage up and lined it up against the wall and then got a tour of the house and staff housing. Brad and the girls made Trish and I French Toast and the most amazing little sausages for Mother’s Day dinner. I really enjoyed it but it made me miss my boys at home.
I got an education on clean up that first night. In Honduras they have bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. Sugar ants are teeny tiny little ants that are amazingly fast at finding any little crumb left out so you do dishes quickly, put lids on food and if you have food stuffs to throw away, you throw it away in a sealed container until it can go to the compost pile. They are kind of part of life in Honduras and nothing to get excited about when you see a few on your counter.
Over the week we were with the Wards, I began to fall in love with the process of washing dishes. We all rotated through washing and drying dishes and I have to tell you that I really began to love standing there washing dishes and putting them on the drying wrack. This seems so silly to me being from the land of appliances, but there was a reminder in this experience that sometimes convenience isn’t necessarily more desirable, especially in the world of computers, texting and dwindling relationship building time. I cherished the time, not because of the chore but because of the people I did the chore with. It’s kind of odd that washing dishes in Honduras is one of my favorite memories.
After dinner the girls were invited to a girls movie night at the IT guys house. Well, his wife invited us. When we got there, it was a party in the making. Brownies had been baked and a projector had been set up so we could watch Young Elizabeth. I really enjoyed the movie and to be quite honest, it was nice to be able to sit in a chair, watch a movie in English for a bit.
That night, Moriah and I climbed into bed and crashed hard. We didn’t have air conditioning anymore so we both slept with no blankets at all and I even debated about getting down on the tile floor. Truth be told, if we weren’t on the bottom floor with an open window with blinds that didn’t quite close, I might have stripped down to my underwear to sleep. However, I was a little worried about the sight anyone walking by our window might have had in the morning.
Moriah came up with a great way to stay cool and that was to get 2 of her bandanas wet and lay them over her legs and on her neck. The fan blowing in the room kept them coolish which helped her get to sleep.
I took a cold shower before we got into bed every night and that helped me get to sleep. Speaking of showers, in Honduras the showers are called widow makers because they have water that pours through electrical coils to heat it up. I’m sure can imagine what might happen if one didn’t have a cover and you accidentally stuck your hand in it when washing your pits.
I asked Moriah how she was doing so far and she told me she was just so excited to be there. She was having the time of her life already and it was just like she and Sammey hadn’t been apart at all. I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.
Our first couple of days in Honduras had been like nothing I could have imagined. We were loving our time.
Stay tuned for more about our trip. I know it’s long but it’s worth it.
2 Comments:
I love reading about your trip. I will stay tuned for more. Luvs ya Cuz
Thanks Shorey. It was such an amazing trip. I can't wait to go back. Love you!
R
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home