San Pedro Sula

Side view off of Alfredo´s House, BH

Team 9 at Pulhanpazak Falls, Sunday

9/22-9/30

My legs were happy to learn that the flight would not be China-revisted; rather, the flight took just over 3 hrs. from Atlanta. I sat next to two people (a Doctor Art--who had a message for an ex-pat/ex-marine...a gringo who goes by the name of "Carlos"--and some lady who´s daughter, Sarah, works here in Honduras and recently had dengue. Fíjense...I learned all that and I was honestly exerting myself NOT to listen.). Anyways, from what I could gather, they were visiting to serve with another organization called Shoulder to Shoulder. Apparently, they are located somewhere close the the Guatemalan border. While they have visited the country several times, their lack of enthusiasm for the culture nearly burst my bubble of excitement. But, I held on despite their negativity. °°°Fun fact: after deplaning, it became obvious that there were about 5 or 6 other mission groups coming down to serve with various organizations.°°°

We arrived in SAP right before 1 pm local time. Customs was a bittersweet experience...they even opened up extra wickets to serve the influx of passangers. Yet, I was horrified when my lady pulled out a STAPLER and then proceeded to staple my visa into my passport...right through my Chinese Foreign Expert documents! Grr.

By the time we got down to baggage, Linwood had already retrieved most of the 28 duffle bags carrying the medical supplies. The Honduran airport workers brought us carts and helped load the duffels and push them to inspections. The men opened one bag and checked the expiration date of one bottle of Children´s Tylenol before letting everyone through customs. These same men even wheeled our carts out to the bus and helped load our duffels on the Barnabas bus.

Leaving the airport on the bus.

Old BH sign. Now, a garden ornament.

La Mica. First day out in the field. From the bus to the camera, you can see James (a fellow team member), Dr. Marco, and Elmer (our wonderful busdriver). I´m not sure who is in the foreground, I apologize.

La Mica´s school

So, we got to La Mica´s school and then unloaded the bus (we had filled all of the buses with tubs carrying medicines and others with glasses...maybe 25 or so in total.). We set up in the school and got going after Linwood gave a little intro. sermon and had the town leader say a prayer. Tuesday was the same deal in another town, San Ramón. The difference was that we didn´t have easy access to the school, and I had made a poor selection of footwear based on the prior day´s experience. We had to drudge through some mud, a small creek, and slippery slopes. I got through with minor between-the-toes mud which I washed off in the pila spill-off by the bathrooms. Others, like Eric, took a dive into the mud while carrying a box of Bibles. He managed to toss the Bibles to dry land before sliding into the mud/creek and soiling himself. Throughout the week, any task that might involve such a similar fall was cautioned against by saying, "don´t pull a Lasky."

Wednesday, we were supposed to go to La Puerta del Potrero, but there was a landslide from Hurricane Felix and the road was impassable with the van. We managed to get them a bag of flipflops ("chancletas") and vitamins in the truck, but we had to turn around. On the way back, we stopped at a sugar cane factory on the side of the road and learned about the process (and we gave them some headache medicine, toothpaste, and antifungal creams).

burning the old sugar cane stalks as fuel to reduce the sugar

pouring the extract into molds to dry into sugar blocks

We ended up going to the Caves. I translated for the group and really was impressed with the guide and myself...I understood almost everything except the technical verbs he used to describe how the river carves itself into the cave. But, obviously got the gist of it. And, as payment, Linwood purchased me a wonderful peach fruit juice. Then, we went to a restaurant on Lago de Yojoa and waited in the breezy afternoon shade as the fried up some tilapia plates for us. While we waited, I quizzed Dr. Joe on his Spanish (from some flip book he had...the questions became quite risqué towards the end...and I was reading RIGHT out of the pamphlet!!)

Thursday was our busiest day...a trip to La Masica. If it hadn´t been for our unexpected day off, I think I would have wilted. My bum felt like necrose tissue. Haha! I learned some new medical terminology... basically, imagine 3 days of riding a bike on a hard seat...bruising is only natural. That was the day I gave away my cross...to a sweet lady named Angelina. She came in praising FOBF and then apologizing profusely for the fact that she needed so many things from us. Her daughter has severe asthma and while Patti taught her how to use the inhaler, I chatted a bit with Angelina. Here they are (I´ve already forgotten the daughter´s name, I apologize).

Friday we visited Laguna Seca. It was a light day but everyone in the town seemed to have something missing in their eyes. I think we came to the agreement that they were hopeless. That was the first time I´ve ever seen that, and it was hard to see. After we got home, we had to sort through all of the tubs and take inventories.

Saturday morning, we were allowed to sleep in 30 extra minutes. But, so much for that. I was up 15 mins earlier than my normal 5:30 a.m. Linwood, Dr. Jim and I went to see Yosi (a double club-footed child) so that Dr. Jim could re-examine her. She hasn´t been wearing her orthopedic shoes and has regressed since her stay and surgeries in the U.S. After returning, we had a minor scare when the bus wouldn´t start. Thirty minutes later, however, we were on our way to San Pedro Sula. We arrived in the early afternoon and stopped at the market where most in the group purchased souvenirs. I began a deal and then the lady changed the price and I just got disgusted and gave up. Then, we went to Microtel (and on the way ran into a parade) where we would stay the night. Eric, Kathie, Kevin and I went in the pool. Hmm...the pool was...interesting. When we first got there, there were some kids and we taught them Marco-Polo, and they cheated just like any American kid would have! =) The picture of the pool was from the morning after when all the algae-like stuff settled. I had a rash on my back and face for a couple of days. But, heck, it was great fun and so I´ll hazard to say it was worth it.

Parade in downtown San Pedro Sula

blue + yellow = green water...

Saturday night we relaxed on the hammocks after dinner. This was a hammock hut. There is a central post with outlying posts. All of the hammocks are hanged from the central post to one of the outlying posts. Three was the most we could get on one hammock...they say they hold 200 kg! We left one person out to run around and push us all. Then, all of the outlying posts started to sway and then the roof and we got scared and stopped swinging....

Sunday morning we had a service with reflection and communion by the pool and then we headed to the airport. After a week of leading people in songs and blessings, I asked one last favor...we sang "Go Now in Peace" in a round. Then, there were hugs and tears and promises for reunions. All in all, I couldn´t have asked for a better week to begin this experience. Elmer and I drove back to BH and I was sitting in the silence left by my dear Team 9 and my 15 new friends!