We have arrived in Honduras! The trip itself was fairly interesting. Lauren’s family dropped us off, some hugs and tears were exchanged and from that point forward, Lauren and I were on our own—well Lauren, myself and God of course. We used the self check-in which was way shorter than waiting in those other lines to receive the assistance of an American Airlines employee. We then had to have 4 of our bags checked so we waited in a short line for that. When our bags were weighed, we were informed that 2 of them were over the 50lb. limit set forth by the FAA and were asked to fix it. We stepped aside with all of our luggage and began shifting luggage between bags in hopes of keeping all of them under the weight limit. After some strategic movement, two of our bags were a couple pounds under while one was 49.5lbs and the other was exactly 50lbs. We squeezed right by the weight limit and went through the security check-point upstairs.
Our plane left on time and Lauren’s head went right for my shoulder to try and catch some shut-eye during the flight. I tried also tried to get some sleep, but wasn’t as successful as Lauren. We arrived in Miami, Fl at 6:30am east coast time. I have had a cold recently and I believe that contributed to my left ear staying plugged during our assent and descent during our travels. It felt like someone was pushing a knife deeper into my ear. Lauren called her father (a doctor) to see what he recommended we do. He suggested purchasing a decongestant such as Sudafed to alleviate my ear pressure. Lauren and I started wandering around the airport looking for somewhere that had a decongestant such as this. It felt like we walked all over the airport before, at the last place we were going to look, we found a pack of Sudafed! We bought it and gladly paid the $8 it cost. On the flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa I didn’t notice the painful pressure building in my ear, so I’m guessing that it did its job.
Our flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa (commonly referred to as “Tegus”) was shared with the entire Honduran men’s soccer team returning from winning the national title against Chile in Miami. I sat next to one of the players, but since I know nothing about soccer, I didn’t bother him with questions or autographs. The flight was quick and little sleep took place between take off and landing. We waited in line to go through customs in Honduras and were both granted a 90 day visa to remain in the country. All of our luggage arrived safely (with the exception of some broken glass) so all we needed to do now was put our bags through the x-ray machine and find our driver Norman.
It was difficult to find our driver because the lobby was packed with people and media that had come to see the Honduran soccer team that shared our flight. We kindly asked people to move by saying “Con permiso” as we walked by. We found our driver, exchanged some cash for the super market, and left the airport.
The supermarket was only about a mile from the airport and our driver simply waited in the car while Lauren and I shopped. We kept tabs on what everything cost so that we could stay under the limit of what we had on hand. Since we need to get cleaning supplies as well as food, we were very limited on what we actually bought. Much of what we had on the list was not purchased (i.e. cereal, eggs, etc.) We spent L2,120.00 which converts to about $112.50 U.S. We wanted to be sure to still have the money we needed to pay our driver, plus money for food on the way back in April. We loaded up the car and began our 1 ½ hour drive to the orphanage.
Driving in Honduras is very different than driving in the United States…depending on what part of the country you live in I guess. There are no painted lines on the road and people commonly pass each other while driving on the wrong side of the road. The fastest driver is king and it would seem that people are earning points in an unseen videogame each and every time they honk their horn. There is probably one dog on the street to every car on the street so they become obstacles on the road. Many people in Honduras ride their bike as a form of transportation so that is another thing to watch out for while driving. We were stopped at only one police checkpoint during our drive to the orphanage and we were let go after about 3 minutes.
Norman got us to the orphanage i
n a timely fashion and we were met by Katja (one of the long-term volunteers) who gave us the keys to our home for the next 3 months. We’re staying in a two bedroom apartment duplex on “the farm”. We unloaded our luggage and gave Norman the $80 U.S. he required to drive us to the supermarket and orphanage. We met our neighbors—Tammy and Chris as well as their son and students that came with them. They gave us a few tips to Honduran living at the orphanage and told us to come by any time if we had questions. After unpacking most of our luggage and situating our room, we went over to the short-term volunteer house as we were invited over for dinner. I had never been so excited to eat in all my life! We had a chicken/vegetable soup, rice, roll and some canned mixed-fruit. I ate up knowing that we didn’t have much food in our house. The orphanage owner and his wife also provided us with a cake that was baked in the town (Guaimaca) outside the gates.
We went to a bible study put on by the visiting group at 7:30pm and felt at home because their group is about as big as our Sandals group was in August. They also had fun personalities like our group did. They made jokes and just enjoyed each other’s company. Their group is from Georgia and will be here until Sunday. I felt bad because I was nodding off from time to time de
spite my attempts to stay awake. I had been going on only a combined total of a few hours of sleep and was ready to hit the hay. When we got back to our house, Lauren and I got ready for bed. We put in an episode of “The Office” on my laptop and watched it on our California King (i.e. two twin bunk beds pushed together) under our romantic mosquito net. I pretended to be awake when Lauren would pick up her head off my chest and look at me to see if I was awake. I made sure to wake up when the episode music began to play at the end of the show so that I could turn off the computer.
That will be all for now, but stay tuned for the next blog which will include some interesting stories about animals…you won’t want to miss that! We appreciate your prayers as always.
Our plane left on time and Lauren’s head went right for my shoulder to try and catch some shut-eye during the flight. I tried also tried to get some sleep, but wasn’t as successful as Lauren. We arrived in Miami, Fl at 6:30am east coast time. I have had a cold recently and I believe that contributed to my left ear staying plugged during our assent and descent during our travels. It felt like someone was pushing a knife deeper into my ear. Lauren called her father (a doctor) to see what he recommended we do. He suggested purchasing a decongestant such as Sudafed to alleviate my ear pressure. Lauren and I started wandering around the airport looking for somewhere that had a decongestant such as this. It felt like we walked all over the airport before, at the last place we were going to look, we found a pack of Sudafed! We bought it and gladly paid the $8 it cost. On the flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa I didn’t notice the painful pressure building in my ear, so I’m guessing that it did its job.
Our flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa (commonly referred to as “Tegus”) was shared with the entire Honduran men’s soccer team returning from winning the national title against Chile in Miami. I sat next to one of the players, but since I know nothing about soccer, I didn’t bother him with questions or autographs. The flight was quick and little sleep took place between take off and landing. We waited in line to go through customs in Honduras and were both granted a 90 day visa to remain in the country. All of our luggage arrived safely (with the exception of some broken glass) so all we needed to do now was put our bags through the x-ray machine and find our driver Norman.
It was difficult to find our driver because the lobby was packed with people and media that had come to see the Honduran soccer team that shared our flight. We kindly asked people to move by saying “Con permiso” as we walked by. We found our driver, exchanged some cash for the super market, and left the airport.
The supermarket was only about a mile from the airport and our driver simply waited in the car while Lauren and I shopped. We kept tabs on what everything cost so that we could stay under the limit of what we had on hand. Since we need to get cleaning supplies as well as food, we were very limited on what we actually bought. Much of what we had on the list was not purchased (i.e. cereal, eggs, etc.) We spent L2,120.00 which converts to about $112.50 U.S. We wanted to be sure to still have the money we needed to pay our driver, plus money for food on the way back in April. We loaded up the car and began our 1 ½ hour drive to the orphanage.
Driving in Honduras is very different than driving in the United States…depending on what part of the country you live in I guess. There are no painted lines on the road and people commonly pass each other while driving on the wrong side of the road. The fastest driver is king and it would seem that people are earning points in an unseen videogame each and every time they honk their horn. There is probably one dog on the street to every car on the street so they become obstacles on the road. Many people in Honduras ride their bike as a form of transportation so that is another thing to watch out for while driving. We were stopped at only one police checkpoint during our drive to the orphanage and we were let go after about 3 minutes.
Norman got us to the orphanage i
n a timely fashion and we were met by Katja (one of the long-term volunteers) who gave us the keys to our home for the next 3 months. We’re staying in a two bedroom apartment duplex on “the farm”. We unloaded our luggage and gave Norman the $80 U.S. he required to drive us to the supermarket and orphanage. We met our neighbors—Tammy and Chris as well as their son and students that came with them. They gave us a few tips to Honduran living at the orphanage and told us to come by any time if we had questions. After unpacking most of our luggage and situating our room, we went over to the short-term volunteer house as we were invited over for dinner. I had never been so excited to eat in all my life! We had a chicken/vegetable soup, rice, roll and some canned mixed-fruit. I ate up knowing that we didn’t have much food in our house. The orphanage owner and his wife also provided us with a cake that was baked in the town (Guaimaca) outside the gates.We went to a bible study put on by the visiting group at 7:30pm and felt at home because their group is about as big as our Sandals group was in August. They also had fun personalities like our group did. They made jokes and just enjoyed each other’s company. Their group is from Georgia and will be here until Sunday. I felt bad because I was nodding off from time to time de
spite my attempts to stay awake. I had been going on only a combined total of a few hours of sleep and was ready to hit the hay. When we got back to our house, Lauren and I got ready for bed. We put in an episode of “The Office” on my laptop and watched it on our California King (i.e. two twin bunk beds pushed together) under our romantic mosquito net. I pretended to be awake when Lauren would pick up her head off my chest and look at me to see if I was awake. I made sure to wake up when the episode music began to play at the end of the show so that I could turn off the computer.That will be all for now, but stay tuned for the next blog which will include some interesting stories about animals…you won’t want to miss that! We appreciate your prayers as always.
1 comment:
There's no need for a mosquito net there in Honduras! LOL
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