This morning we woke up to the roosters calling at 6:30am. They run free around the yard. We all got ready for the day and Berta made some excellent bread and coffee. She and I prayed together for safe travels. She is very passionate in her faith. She wanted to show me so many things (in her country), but because of my flight leaving when it did...she could only take me to her sister's house (who now lives in the States). Her pastor drove us to the airport; but rather than taking the highway, they chose to drive on the country roads, so that I could "see the country better". Of course, that took longer and we didn't arrive to the airport until 11:30 (remember, my departure time was 12:47pm).
The check-in line was VERY long, so Patti's cousin stayed by the suitcase of items her mom had sent along with me while I ran to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands, I heard my name called over the airport's intercom system...to come to the front desk immediately. This, of course, made my heart race! Was there a time difference between Honduras and El Salvador that I missed?...Did they change the flight time and I missed my plane?...or What??? I ran back to the Delta area and Patti's cousin was still standing in line with the suitcase - holding my spot. When I went to the front desk, a lady reassured me that they were just making sure I was in line to get on the plane. Whew!
I checked in the suitcase (which came out to EXACTLY 50 pounds) and Berta invited me to eat with them at a restaurant in the airport called "Pollo Campero". Her nephew told me that "it's sort of like KFC, but much better". It was now noon (& I wasn't sure I had the time to eat, since I still hadn't went through the police check to get into the flight gates). Before the food came, Delta announce they were beginning to board for flight 404 - my flight. We had to get a bag "para llevar" and I said my "goodbyes". Patti has such a wonderful and supportive family!
When I boarded the plane, I was extremely surprised to see my seat was in the business class area. I have NEVER sat up there before on an airplane! When the food came, it was all on ceramic plates (rather than the plastic containers I am normally accustomed to), and the drinks were served in actual glasses (rather than plastic cups). The steward and stewardess were SO pleasant, offering us the local newspaper (which I kept).
We got in to Atlanta on time, but I still had to go through customs before catching my connecting flight. When I went to get my 2 suitcases, one had been 1/2 ripped open! Thankfully, Delta had "suitcase bags" for these events. As I was about to enter the customs gate, an officer looked at me and said "Excuse me, miss, but you can't take that Pollo Campero through customs." I said "really?...should I through it in this garbage then?" (I hadn't even gotten a chance to try it!) He got a BIG smile on his face and said "I'm just kidding you!...go ahead." I told him not to scare me because I didn't know all of the rules, since I hadn't traveled internationally in over 10 years! The next guy that I had to deal with (when you put your stuff through that x-ray machine) asked me if he could have some of the Pollo Campero, so I did offer him some...but he responded by saing, "If I took some, I'd have to have it all". Apparently they are very familiar with Pollo Campero in Atlanta!
When I got to terminal B-20 to Chicago-Midway, I sat down and began to read. I saw a girl put a quarter into a pay phone only to not be heard by whomever she was talking to - and not get her quarter back. She leaned against the wall, sunk down and started to sob. When I asked her what was wrong, it only made her more upset. She said she had been trying to call home and had tried different phones in the airport, but none had worked...and now she was out of quarters. I asked if she'd like to use mine (knowing full-well what it's like to miss your family, since I was feeling that too), but she refused. I took it out of my bag and handed it to her, insisting that we don't use nearly all of the minutes we're alloted each month...so she took it and made the call. She was so grateful when she handed the phone back, but just the look of relief on her face in being able to tell her family that she was okay was enough for me.
I got to talk to Bob, Andrés and Noah as I was waiting for my last flight. It was delayed by a 1/2 hour. On all of my flights from Honduras back to the States, I've been occupying myself with reading "The Shack" by William P. Young. It is, without a doubt, the best book I've ever read in my life to date! At this point, I'm not even able to put into words my feelings on this book. I have about 1/3 of the book left to go, and may blog a little more about it when I've finished.
When I arrived to Chicago-Midway, the baggage came quickly and I was out the airport doors in about 20 minutes from the time we landed. Jim & Jeanne pulled over to pick me up almost right as I came out. They said they had only made 3 loops around the airport (hopefully that wasn't a lot). We went back to their place, where I got a great night's rest!
Monday, August 18, 2008
August 16th - Meeting Berta
I woke up around 3am to discover there wasn't any power in the house. I was hoping to pack quickly and use the rest of the time to update yesterday's blog and write a letter to Doris before leaving Orphanage Emmanuel (Doris had written me a long letter and gave me a photo of her yesterday). Instead, it took me MUCH longer to shower and pack since I had to do everything in the dark. I received a small glimpse of what a blind person must endure on a daily basis.
I met Kim outside of her house at 5:30am as planned and she took me in to town to make sure I got on the right bus. Anita came along to get familiar with where the bus does its "pick up" so that when she heads out in 2 weeks, she won't be as nervous. It was a 2-hour ride to Teguc and a very short taxi ride to the Hedman Alas station.
I read this weekend that Tegucigalpa comes from the Nahuátl tribe. I didn't realize they came this far south as so many cities near México D.F. are also derived from the Nahuátl language.
This time I got a window seat on the Hedman Alas bus, so was able to enjoy God's beautiful creations on the way...for a little bit anyway. Just outside of Teguc, the bus broke down and we had to wait for the 9:00am bus to come by to pick us up. I went all the way to the back, so still ended up getting a window seat (which was great, since I didn't get a window seat when I came in to Honduras).
I saw a small waterfall among the many mountains we went through. Although a mountainous country, there are no volcanoes or earthquakes in Honduras. The rural people here plant cornfields into the sloped mountain sides. It's quite the sight to see if you're used to our flat fields in Wisconsin. I also saw many rural houses put together with plywood, metal sheets, loose boards, big tree trunks...even plastic sheets (for walls). Many of these houses were the size of my bedroom...or smaller! Due to the poverty here in Honduras, there are many houses for sale and many more houses that have had construction on them started, but never finished.
We stopped for a 20-minute break in Siguatepeque (another Nahuátl name). There was no bathroom on this bus, or refreshments...so this bus generally stops here as a 1/2-way point on the 4-hour trip. As you are riding between San Pedro Sula and Teguc, you'll notice many horses and donkeys standing alongside the highway eating. This is perfectly normal as their owners ride them to work and then let them graze while they work. Occasionally you'll also see cows alongside the road as well (although I don't believe they ride the cows in). The government in Honduras sounds just about as corrupt as in México, because if a police officer feels like taking a horse on the side of the road for himself - he can.
Many people have cell phones down here. There are 2 companies you can go through - Tigo and Claro...both of which operate off of calling cards which you must purchase. Tigo (the less expensive of the two) sells their phones for about $20USD and calling the U.S. costs about $1 Lempira/minute, however I was told that these phones will ONLY work in Honduras. Claro phones and service will work anywhere in Central America, however calls to the U.S. cost about $2.5 Lempiras/minute.
The international airport in San Pedro Sula is about as small as (or smaller than) Outagamie Regional Airport in Appleton. The plane to San Salvador seemed to have a sort of "dry ice" substance being sprayed from above the luggage compartments. I'm not sure what this is for...perhaps a cheaper way of cooling the plane down? I was in a seat all by myself (2 empty seats next to me), so a stewardess asked me to move to seat 14E. That seat was next to a many from Fort Lauderdale, Florida who had his 20-month old son, Dillon, with him. He said his wife was from Honduras, so they travel there about 3 times/year. They own land and are beginning to build a house so they can retire there. When I had mentioned my interest in retiring in a Spanish-speaking country, he had lots of good advice to offer such as:
I met Kim outside of her house at 5:30am as planned and she took me in to town to make sure I got on the right bus. Anita came along to get familiar with where the bus does its "pick up" so that when she heads out in 2 weeks, she won't be as nervous. It was a 2-hour ride to Teguc and a very short taxi ride to the Hedman Alas station.
I read this weekend that Tegucigalpa comes from the Nahuátl tribe. I didn't realize they came this far south as so many cities near México D.F. are also derived from the Nahuátl language.
This time I got a window seat on the Hedman Alas bus, so was able to enjoy God's beautiful creations on the way...for a little bit anyway. Just outside of Teguc, the bus broke down and we had to wait for the 9:00am bus to come by to pick us up. I went all the way to the back, so still ended up getting a window seat (which was great, since I didn't get a window seat when I came in to Honduras).
I saw a small waterfall among the many mountains we went through. Although a mountainous country, there are no volcanoes or earthquakes in Honduras. The rural people here plant cornfields into the sloped mountain sides. It's quite the sight to see if you're used to our flat fields in Wisconsin. I also saw many rural houses put together with plywood, metal sheets, loose boards, big tree trunks...even plastic sheets (for walls). Many of these houses were the size of my bedroom...or smaller! Due to the poverty here in Honduras, there are many houses for sale and many more houses that have had construction on them started, but never finished.
We stopped for a 20-minute break in Siguatepeque (another Nahuátl name). There was no bathroom on this bus, or refreshments...so this bus generally stops here as a 1/2-way point on the 4-hour trip. As you are riding between San Pedro Sula and Teguc, you'll notice many horses and donkeys standing alongside the highway eating. This is perfectly normal as their owners ride them to work and then let them graze while they work. Occasionally you'll also see cows alongside the road as well (although I don't believe they ride the cows in). The government in Honduras sounds just about as corrupt as in México, because if a police officer feels like taking a horse on the side of the road for himself - he can.
Many people have cell phones down here. There are 2 companies you can go through - Tigo and Claro...both of which operate off of calling cards which you must purchase. Tigo (the less expensive of the two) sells their phones for about $20USD and calling the U.S. costs about $1 Lempira/minute, however I was told that these phones will ONLY work in Honduras. Claro phones and service will work anywhere in Central America, however calls to the U.S. cost about $2.5 Lempiras/minute.
The international airport in San Pedro Sula is about as small as (or smaller than) Outagamie Regional Airport in Appleton. The plane to San Salvador seemed to have a sort of "dry ice" substance being sprayed from above the luggage compartments. I'm not sure what this is for...perhaps a cheaper way of cooling the plane down? I was in a seat all by myself (2 empty seats next to me), so a stewardess asked me to move to seat 14E. That seat was next to a many from Fort Lauderdale, Florida who had his 20-month old son, Dillon, with him. He said his wife was from Honduras, so they travel there about 3 times/year. They own land and are beginning to build a house so they can retire there. When I had mentioned my interest in retiring in a Spanish-speaking country, he had lots of good advice to offer such as:
- Get to know the area years in advance and bring donations down with each visit so that the community can get to know me.
- Most Americans are getting a 99-year lease on a piece of land in Honduras rather than to trying to purchase land. It's easier and there's a lot less paperwork (red-tape).
- Visitors to the country (non-citizens) are only on Visas, which expire every 90 days, so they need to leave the country for at least 3 days before coming back in. This gives "retirees" to go back to the States every 3 months to visit children/grandchildren...or they can simply cross the border into Belize for a short 3-day vacation as well.
Although I didn't catch his name, this man was SO nice and informative that the hour plane ride to San Salvador flew by (no pun intended). When I came out of customs in San Salvador (it costs $10 to go into the country), Patti's son found me right away. He approached me and asked, "Es usted la patrona de Patti?" I'm not sure I like being called her "patrona", but her family was SO nice. I was thinking we were going to spend the night in a hotel in San Salvador since my flight was supposed to leave at 12:47pm the next day, but when we stopped at a hotel (and it cost $140USD/night), Patti's cousin (who flew in from the States at 9:00pm) suggested we travel the 2 hours back to their house to spend the night. He assured me that we'd get up early enough to head back to San Salvador in the morning. I agreed, and that made Patti's mom (Berta) extremely happy.
We all (Berta, her husband, her son, Patti's son, Patti's cousin & I) all had a "cozy" ride back to her house in Chalatenango. We got there around 12:30am and went to bed at 1:00am. She lives in the country in a simple 4-room cement house. If you'd like more details on what "simple" means, please ask me personally, since putting that kind of information all online would still not be completely comprehensible to most Americans.
August 15th - Saying Goodbye
Max led the circle this morning. The 3 photographers from the California team were taking individual children's pictures. But due to the rain, the big circle needed to end early. I made wheat pancakes when I got back to the volunteer house, but made a few too many...since I haven't cooked "for one" in a while.
When I got to school this morning, I chatted with Doris a little before classes began. I opened the door to the storage room and WOW! I was so amazed by what the team had done yesterday afternoon. It will for sure be finished today! :-) Merethe only gave me one girl today to help out, but there's not much more to do. Since I am not an "artsy" person, I asked her to organize the 2 shelving units of arts and crafts while I went to one of the 7th grade math classes.
The students were reviewing their multiplication tables, and subtracting/multiplying/dividing mixed numbers. In all three math classes I've been to, I've noticed that these students are not given NEARLY as much homework as our students in the States.
I went back to the storage room and Melissa (one of the California volunteers) & I had finished organizing it by noon. We ended by scrubbing the termite nests off the walls, and sweeping & washing the walls and floors. Of course I took pictures of how the storage room finally looked. :-)
I came back to the school as lunch time was finishing to get pictures of the kids waiting on the steps to go to class. There I met Amparo. She asked me about my family...and since my sister Mari had left a few pictures of my children on the camera she lent me, I showed them to her. Of course, she was particularly interested in Andrés! :-) Most of the girls I work with are very young (Alina's age), so they usually ask about Alina: what her favorite color is, what chores she does around the house, etc. I haven't met many teenage girls (although there are MANY), so I haven't had to "field" questions about Andrés. I guess this is more confirmation that when he comes down with me next year, he'll be out working with Todd...FAR away from the girls!
I went to talk with Katja at 1:30 about leaving tomorrow morning. Kim will take me to the Chicken Bus (as a lot of Americans call it) at 5:30am. It's a yellow school bus that runs back and forth between Guaimaca and Teguc, a 2 hour trip that costs $38 Lempiras (about $2USD). In Teguc, I'll have to take a taxi to the Hedman Alas bus station, which should cost $50 Lempiras. My bus at Hedman Alas, which will take me on a 4-hour ride to San Pedro Sula will cost $17.50USD, but again...it IS a coach bus. Katja reminded me that I will need $35USD in cash to leave the country, and she gave me her cell phone number in case there were any problems.
I went down to the restaurant for my last "taco de pollo" from Elvia & Verónica. I was sure to take their pictures too! I got something special for Kaylyn, but it is really meant to be shared and appreciated by all of our family.
Towards the end of supper-time, I went to the young girls eating area for the last time. I got them all bathed quickly because Anita was coming over to play with them. After getting them dressed, a girl took a pictures of Doris, me, Carlita and all of the young girls in their room: Paola, Michel, Nani, Blanca, Yenci, Evelyn, Karol, Cindy & Reina. Afterwards, I spent an hour outside with Doris & Pamela, just chatting...before I had to leave to do laundry for the night.
When I got to school this morning, I chatted with Doris a little before classes began. I opened the door to the storage room and WOW! I was so amazed by what the team had done yesterday afternoon. It will for sure be finished today! :-) Merethe only gave me one girl today to help out, but there's not much more to do. Since I am not an "artsy" person, I asked her to organize the 2 shelving units of arts and crafts while I went to one of the 7th grade math classes.
The students were reviewing their multiplication tables, and subtracting/multiplying/dividing mixed numbers. In all three math classes I've been to, I've noticed that these students are not given NEARLY as much homework as our students in the States.
I went back to the storage room and Melissa (one of the California volunteers) & I had finished organizing it by noon. We ended by scrubbing the termite nests off the walls, and sweeping & washing the walls and floors. Of course I took pictures of how the storage room finally looked. :-)
I came back to the school as lunch time was finishing to get pictures of the kids waiting on the steps to go to class. There I met Amparo. She asked me about my family...and since my sister Mari had left a few pictures of my children on the camera she lent me, I showed them to her. Of course, she was particularly interested in Andrés! :-) Most of the girls I work with are very young (Alina's age), so they usually ask about Alina: what her favorite color is, what chores she does around the house, etc. I haven't met many teenage girls (although there are MANY), so I haven't had to "field" questions about Andrés. I guess this is more confirmation that when he comes down with me next year, he'll be out working with Todd...FAR away from the girls!
I went to talk with Katja at 1:30 about leaving tomorrow morning. Kim will take me to the Chicken Bus (as a lot of Americans call it) at 5:30am. It's a yellow school bus that runs back and forth between Guaimaca and Teguc, a 2 hour trip that costs $38 Lempiras (about $2USD). In Teguc, I'll have to take a taxi to the Hedman Alas bus station, which should cost $50 Lempiras. My bus at Hedman Alas, which will take me on a 4-hour ride to San Pedro Sula will cost $17.50USD, but again...it IS a coach bus. Katja reminded me that I will need $35USD in cash to leave the country, and she gave me her cell phone number in case there were any problems.
I went down to the restaurant for my last "taco de pollo" from Elvia & Verónica. I was sure to take their pictures too! I got something special for Kaylyn, but it is really meant to be shared and appreciated by all of our family.
Towards the end of supper-time, I went to the young girls eating area for the last time. I got them all bathed quickly because Anita was coming over to play with them. After getting them dressed, a girl took a pictures of Doris, me, Carlita and all of the young girls in their room: Paola, Michel, Nani, Blanca, Yenci, Evelyn, Karol, Cindy & Reina. Afterwards, I spent an hour outside with Doris & Pamela, just chatting...before I had to leave to do laundry for the night.
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