Bienvenido a Honduras!

(The next few blog posts are copied and pasted from Word b/c I have no Internet at my host family's house... so that is what I have been doing in my spare time!)

[Beware: LONG!]

Well, I made it to Honduras!  I am here.  It’s crazy. J 

Saturday was long, emotional and overwhelming, to say the least.  I had no problems with either flight and arrived in San Pedro Sula early.  The guys sitting with me were excited to be going home.  The one (I never got his name) lives in Atlanta but goes back and forth to volunteer his time.  He will be staying for a year.  It was pretty cool to chat with him (in English!) and to learn about his desire to make his country mejor (better).

When we landed, we had to get through customs.  I got off the escalator and saw a sea of people.  It was crazy!  I am sure that this is a common thing, but I don’t remember going through customs in the Dominican Republic… I was a little surprised.  I wish I could have taken a picture, but I didn’t want to be that girl and I wasn’t sure if I would get in trouble or something.

Once I got through, you have to go to your right and find your luggage.  I say find, because they only have two carousels and they just dump all of the bags together in the corner… so you just go and search!  It was incredibly overwhelming.  Luckily I saw a guy pushing one of my suitcases and went in that direction, and found my other one relatively easy.  The one suitcase that has four wheels now is missing one.  Fail.  So, it was a struggle to move it (on top of the wheels already being annoying).  I was getting frustrated and on the verge of a breakdown, and the lady checking to make sure you have the right bags, was telling me how tired I looked.  Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.

After the bags go through the scanner, sometimes they get chosen to be search (mine did not!) and then you leave that area, and again are welcomed by a TON of people, presumably waiting for their loved ones.   I would imagine this is what walking on the red carpet would be like, people just staring and waiting for you to do something, minus the cameras.  I think eyes were on me just a tad bit more, as I am a white, blonde chick with a lot of luggage. J

I asked one of many guards in the center, as I am walking down, where the Hedman Alas (bus company) window is, and he graciously let me go through the crowd.  I got my bus ticket and waited the next hour for the bus.  I met a nice Canadian couple that was coming to explore Honduras for a month.  When the bus finally got there, we got on and we were off to the main terminal closer to downtown.  We switched buses and then began our 3 hour ride to Copan Ruinas.

This was the only sign I found, leaving the airport.

This is my tired and overwhelmed smile.

The bus was a standard coach-type bus.  I upgraded, so I had more room and a snack.  My first exposure to Honduran food was a ham and cheese sandwich, water and chocolate cookies. Ha.

I think the mint just adds a little something, don't you?

The bus ride was a little bumpy and I thought we were going to roll over multiple times when we were taking corners fast.  It was the first time where I had time to just think for a while, and I was just overcome with emotion, worry and exhaustion.   I felt like (and still, do a bit) this was a dream, or I was watching someone else.  I opened up to Saturday’s date of the devotional Aunt Marie and Uncle Duane gave me, and these were the first two sentences: Make Me the focal point of your search for security.  In your private thoughts, you are still trying to order your world so that it is predictable and feels safe.  Well, that was incredibly appropriate (of course it would be, good job God!).  I hadn’t all day turned to Him about anything.  Maybe I prayed before each of my flights, but I didn’t really share my thoughts and deepest feelings.  So, here I am, on the bus, and I am just completely lost.  Of course, I would be (for obvious reasons), but I didn’t let the Lord help me out.  Now, I am not saying this is easy, but I prayed for the first time to really ask for God’s help and comfort during this transition.  Then, I kind of dozed off a bit.  Oops!  But, I needed to sleep.  I slept off and on for a little while.  I woke up feeling a little better.

Finally got to Copan.  I didn’t take any pictures, because the windows were dirty and that’s what my camera was focusing on. Ha.  Enrique’s (director of the language school) kids picked me up.  They showed me around a bit (I don’t remember much, as I was tired and overwhelmed with everything new) and dropped me off at my host family’s house.  Got a few questions answered (time for Mass… which will get it’s own blog post!) and they were off!  My host mom, Sara… I can’t read her.  I feel like she is still figuring me out, and seems to get surprised/frustrated when I don’t understand what she is saying.  Which then frustrates me (inside, of course) because I am here to learn!  My host dad, Ernesto, is sweet, and uses smaller sentences for me to grasp.  I also met Sonia, 24, and Dulce Maria (translates to Sweet Mary, and she goes by Dulce), 11.  Sonia stayed with me (the rest of them went to church… not Catholic.) while I ate the dinner Sara made for me.  Typical Honduran food, Sophia says, which was egg, plantain, beans and tortilla.  It was good.  We had a little conversation, I finished my meal and retreated to my room.  Unpacked a bit, got excited because my Kindle found 3G and attempted to use the “experimental browser,” but it practically froze (Ha, no wonder it’s experimental), and then went to sleep.  It’s noisy around here: the cars, the animals, the people talking… and the firecrackers always going off.  Ernesto was telling me it’s for Christmas or something.  I don’t really know!

My room:

It's pretty nice, it's definitely more lived in now!

My Christmas area! Gracias, Mama!

El bano. The water is heated electrically for the shower. 

And, that is my first day in Honduras!  Sorry for the long post… thanks for hanging in there!

I miss you and love you all so much.