I got up at 5am to blog this morning since the wireless was working. I showered and began blogging before waking up Jen & Andrés. Blanca served us coffee, eggs, whole grain bread, beans and fried plantains for breakfast. She also set out a Honduran cream (or "crema" as we call it in our house) for us to put on the beans and eggs for flavor. Jen said she normally doesn´t care for beans, but the crema made it really good!
Luis drove us to the bus station at 7:30. We had issues once again with our carry-ons. Mine & Andrés´ were too large, so had to go underneath the bus with the checked baggage. Once we were checked in, all went well. The movie playing on the bus (it was a coach bus) was Anaconda. Jen says she´s been meaning to rent that one for the past month becase she´s only seen bits ´n´pieces of the movie...she slept through most of it this time too!
We stopped 1/2 way at a restaurant and store in a small pueblo called Sigatepec. When we got off the bus, Andrés said he didn´t feel very good (car sickness). We went to the bathroom and walked around a bit, and he got really hungry. Since the restaurant had a buffet, we sat down for a meal ($8 filled up the 3 of us!) Of course, when we got back on the bus...Andrés got sick again about 20 minutes into the ride. I never thought to bring dramamine, although Julie would probably strongly recommend it for Andrés when riding on a bus in the mountains in a 3rd world country (ask her about it sometime).
When we got to the bus staion, we got a taxi driver (who I was extremely disappointed in) to take us to the hotel. We checked in to the hotel and then took off for downtown to find a camera cord to charge Jen´s camera, some dramamine for Andrés and a cell phone for us to call home should we need it. Cheap cell phones cost $20-30USD down here and it costs about 5 cents per minute to call to the United States. I figured it would be worth it in an emergency. Unfortunately we got everything we set out for, except the camera cord.
Since the wireless didn´t work at the hotel, we grabbed a bite at a Mexican (yes, MEXICAN) restaurant before going to a ciber-café to pay $1 for an hour of internet access. Jen & Andrés needed to get their blog up. Then we headed to Café Milonga, a small Argentinan restaurant where Karlita works. For those of you who read this blog last year, Karlita was the girl who broke her arm and rode 2 hours on the chicken bus on mostly dirt roads to get to the hospital to have it set in a cast. She was the one who used Linda´s sling and whose "dorm children" I helped shower and put to bed each night. The expression on her face when she saw me was priceless! I wish we had a camera to get a picture of the two of us, but Jen used Andrés´so much, his batteries were dead too!
Andrés did buy rechargeable batteries in the "centro" but when we got back to the hotel, he realized that he left them in the taxi. We watched a movie and called it a night.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Our Day of Travels
Hello to all!
I wanted to get a blog out on Monday, but with our flights being stepped up we were running errands seemingly nonstop. Andrés was up to blog on Monday night and put a picture of our donations on his page as well. If you'd like to see all the details along with the picture of the 225 POUNDS of donations that were shipped down on Monday, go to Andrés; blog at: http://emmanuelexperience.blogspot.com/
We were supposed to leave out of O'Hare today at 6:20pm, but our flight got bumped up to 9:20am due to the national curfew in Honduras. This means we had to leave our house around 2:30am to get there in time to check in. I finally got to sleep Monday night around 10:30pm and set the alarm for 12:30am (so I could get a shower in before a day of travel and be sure we were ready)...so I was operating off of about 2 hours of sleep. My dad accompanied us down there, so that I wouldn't have to pay outrageous prices for long-term parking at O'Hare. Dad, Jenny & Andrés slept on the way down and woke up at the last toll when a huge plane went overhead as I was rolling down the window to throw the money in the toll booth.
At O'Hare, after we were unloaded, Dad took off for home. We arrived around 5:45am but were told that we couldn't check in until 7am, so we just waited around talking. The check-in went well at first, but after we got our luggage weighed and sent to the plane, we had to go with our carry-ons to the checkpoint. I went first, and my carry-on had to go through again because my Bible was too thick for security to see through to the rest of the carry-on. Andrés was next. When he carry-on came through the lady told him he had to send his carry-on through again and TAKE OUT HIS LAPTOP!!! Andrés was confused because he didn't have a laptop...I told him she probably meant his DVD player since those new netbooks are about the same size. He took his DVD player out and resent everything through and all was fine. Then it was Jenny's turn! Any liquids you have in your carry-on must be in their original 3-ounce containers and placed in a quart-sized ziplock bag. She had 2 Special K drinks, but although they were in the ziplock bag, they were much more than 3-ounces; so she was told to get rid of them. She quickly chugged one before pitching it in the trash and just threw the other one out. Then she also had some ranch dressing (for her celery to eat on the plane) which was in a Tupperware container that had to get emptied out. Good thing there was a McDonald's (which had packets of ranch dressing) on the inside of the airport after checking in!
We flew to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami. I was amazed by the Everglades!!! Bob & I like to watch CSI: Miami, so we always see clips here & there of the Everglades, but I didn't realize how vast they actually are! We didn't see any alligators though.
When we got off the plane, my knee started bothering me (an injury I got playing softball for church a few months back). It's probably because I was cramped in that seat for 3 hours, but it was the only part of my body that ached when I got off. I hadn't went to the doctor about it back then, but guess I'll have to now when I get back because I know it's not healed fully or properly.
We were at the airport for about 3 hours before getting on the flight to San Pedro Sula. Jenny and Andrés joked about how we got on the plane at 5:35pm and got off of the plane at 5:41pm, but the plane ride seemed like quite a bit more than 6 minutes! It was a 2-hour flight, but Miami and Honduras are 2 time zones away...those times above were Miami departure time & Honduras arrival time. Speaking of Jenny, she took so many pictures in the planes that she ran out of batteries before we even landed in Honduras! We´ll have to stop in Tegus (the capital) to see if we can find her a USB cord to charge her camera since she left hers at home.
When we got into Honduras, we went through immigration and Luis was waiting for us on the other side to take us to his place. He is the owner of a bed & breakfast here that has gotten great reviews online. While we were in the parking lot, a very small boy (probably about Noah & Alina's size) asked Andrés to put his suitcases in Luis' van for him. Although I specifically told Jenny & Andrés NOT to let anyone touch their suitcases, Andrés let the boy grab them and load them. I told Andrés that he'd have to give the boy $1USD out of his pocket. There's his first cultural experience!
Luis took us to the bed & breakfast, driving us by tons of Pizza Huts, Burger Kings, McDonald's, Little Ceasar's, KFC, Popeyes and even an Applebee's!!! America has really made their way down into this big city. They even got to see 2 shopping malls on the way as well (and a Sears)! This is not where we're staying, we still have quite a bit of traveling to do over the next 3 days, but I think they ALMOST felt at home. You could definitely tell the difference in the architecture and when you saw the houses though. They also noticed the crazy driving and said that everyone here drives like Joe & Bapa.
The street outside of the B&B was completely ruined. Due to the construction of all of the "American buildings" like hotels, restaurants and malls...the nearest mall had to build a reservoir in order to block a river that passed through where they wanted to go build. When it´s the rainy season (like now) the water builds up and they release what´s in the reservoir each night, which runs down the streets like a huge river. The front of Luis & Blanca´s home (where the B&B is located) is torn up really bad. Andrés took a picture of it.
We got settled into our room and Luis took us to a small local restaurant which served Yuca and Tacos de Pollo (chicken tacos). Everyone filled up for $5!!! The kids noticed that this kind of meal at Applebee's would've probably run just over $30. They really enjoyed it. We came back to the room and I went to sleep while the other two watched them movie Hitch on Andrés' DVD player.
I'm thankful that we arrived to this city first, so the kids wouldn't go into complete culture shock. This'll be a good transition for what's to come.
I wanted to get a blog out on Monday, but with our flights being stepped up we were running errands seemingly nonstop. Andrés was up to blog on Monday night and put a picture of our donations on his page as well. If you'd like to see all the details along with the picture of the 225 POUNDS of donations that were shipped down on Monday, go to Andrés; blog at: http://emmanuelexperience.blogspot.com/
We were supposed to leave out of O'Hare today at 6:20pm, but our flight got bumped up to 9:20am due to the national curfew in Honduras. This means we had to leave our house around 2:30am to get there in time to check in. I finally got to sleep Monday night around 10:30pm and set the alarm for 12:30am (so I could get a shower in before a day of travel and be sure we were ready)...so I was operating off of about 2 hours of sleep. My dad accompanied us down there, so that I wouldn't have to pay outrageous prices for long-term parking at O'Hare. Dad, Jenny & Andrés slept on the way down and woke up at the last toll when a huge plane went overhead as I was rolling down the window to throw the money in the toll booth.
At O'Hare, after we were unloaded, Dad took off for home. We arrived around 5:45am but were told that we couldn't check in until 7am, so we just waited around talking. The check-in went well at first, but after we got our luggage weighed and sent to the plane, we had to go with our carry-ons to the checkpoint. I went first, and my carry-on had to go through again because my Bible was too thick for security to see through to the rest of the carry-on. Andrés was next. When he carry-on came through the lady told him he had to send his carry-on through again and TAKE OUT HIS LAPTOP!!! Andrés was confused because he didn't have a laptop...I told him she probably meant his DVD player since those new netbooks are about the same size. He took his DVD player out and resent everything through and all was fine. Then it was Jenny's turn! Any liquids you have in your carry-on must be in their original 3-ounce containers and placed in a quart-sized ziplock bag. She had 2 Special K drinks, but although they were in the ziplock bag, they were much more than 3-ounces; so she was told to get rid of them. She quickly chugged one before pitching it in the trash and just threw the other one out. Then she also had some ranch dressing (for her celery to eat on the plane) which was in a Tupperware container that had to get emptied out. Good thing there was a McDonald's (which had packets of ranch dressing) on the inside of the airport after checking in!
We flew to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami. I was amazed by the Everglades!!! Bob & I like to watch CSI: Miami, so we always see clips here & there of the Everglades, but I didn't realize how vast they actually are! We didn't see any alligators though.
When we got off the plane, my knee started bothering me (an injury I got playing softball for church a few months back). It's probably because I was cramped in that seat for 3 hours, but it was the only part of my body that ached when I got off. I hadn't went to the doctor about it back then, but guess I'll have to now when I get back because I know it's not healed fully or properly.
We were at the airport for about 3 hours before getting on the flight to San Pedro Sula. Jenny and Andrés joked about how we got on the plane at 5:35pm and got off of the plane at 5:41pm, but the plane ride seemed like quite a bit more than 6 minutes! It was a 2-hour flight, but Miami and Honduras are 2 time zones away...those times above were Miami departure time & Honduras arrival time. Speaking of Jenny, she took so many pictures in the planes that she ran out of batteries before we even landed in Honduras! We´ll have to stop in Tegus (the capital) to see if we can find her a USB cord to charge her camera since she left hers at home.
When we got into Honduras, we went through immigration and Luis was waiting for us on the other side to take us to his place. He is the owner of a bed & breakfast here that has gotten great reviews online. While we were in the parking lot, a very small boy (probably about Noah & Alina's size) asked Andrés to put his suitcases in Luis' van for him. Although I specifically told Jenny & Andrés NOT to let anyone touch their suitcases, Andrés let the boy grab them and load them. I told Andrés that he'd have to give the boy $1USD out of his pocket. There's his first cultural experience!
Luis took us to the bed & breakfast, driving us by tons of Pizza Huts, Burger Kings, McDonald's, Little Ceasar's, KFC, Popeyes and even an Applebee's!!! America has really made their way down into this big city. They even got to see 2 shopping malls on the way as well (and a Sears)! This is not where we're staying, we still have quite a bit of traveling to do over the next 3 days, but I think they ALMOST felt at home. You could definitely tell the difference in the architecture and when you saw the houses though. They also noticed the crazy driving and said that everyone here drives like Joe & Bapa.
The street outside of the B&B was completely ruined. Due to the construction of all of the "American buildings" like hotels, restaurants and malls...the nearest mall had to build a reservoir in order to block a river that passed through where they wanted to go build. When it´s the rainy season (like now) the water builds up and they release what´s in the reservoir each night, which runs down the streets like a huge river. The front of Luis & Blanca´s home (where the B&B is located) is torn up really bad. Andrés took a picture of it.
We got settled into our room and Luis took us to a small local restaurant which served Yuca and Tacos de Pollo (chicken tacos). Everyone filled up for $5!!! The kids noticed that this kind of meal at Applebee's would've probably run just over $30. They really enjoyed it. We came back to the room and I went to sleep while the other two watched them movie Hitch on Andrés' DVD player.
I'm thankful that we arrived to this city first, so the kids wouldn't go into complete culture shock. This'll be a good transition for what's to come.
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