Honduras in a Large Nutshell
We began our “great adventure in the southern regions of the northern hemisphere on the western side of the world” (Sam) early on Friday, the 28th of December. Sam’s flight was delayed, and mine left first, even though he was told I probably wouldn’t make it out that day due to the snowstorms. We had the rest of our flights together, with little to no layover from Denver to Dallas to San Salvador to San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba. I found it interesting traveling with another person; time went by much more quickly.
Honduras is a deeply intriguing country. When we deplaned in La Ceiba, I instantly noticed the air, heavy and rich like a vaporized silk. It was like walking into a rainforest sauna! Howard Pandy, an employee of La Hospital Loma de Luz, and his wife picked us up at the airport, took us to Quiznos to pick up some dinner, and dropped us off at our hotel. We ate and watched TV for a bit before I returned to my room and fell asleep once more to the sound of the chicharras.
Our luggage didn’t follow us all the way through our no-layover connections, but Norma and Charity, (Sam’s sister), came to pick us up in the morning. We shopped for food briefly and took the long, bumpy road to Balfate.
Our first full day in Balfate, a girl-24 weeks pregnant-started having contractions. The biggest danger was that, rather than having 90% oxygen saturation, she lived with hers at 65%. For all the skill and heart at Loma de Luz, they do not have the facilities to deal with this sort of trauma. But, “the prayers of the righteous man are powerful and effective” (James 5:16). They were able to get an ambulance with oxygen form San Pedro Sula (5 hours away) to come and take her to a bigger hospital with better facilities to care for her. I was amazed that the ambulance had no attendant, only a driver. I think the mother rode with her to San Pedro. The last I heard, she is stable and the baby is still developing inside. Yay God!
We went with Norma to her church on Sunday. It is very small and very young, pastored by a Guatemalan missionary and his family. Charity and I helped one lady with children’s church, while Sam helped another missionary, Penny, with her class. We taught basic hygiene paired with a memory verse. We talked this time about the importance of brushing one’s teeth and Psalms 51:10 “Crea en mi, O Dios, un corazón limpio, y renueva un espíritu recto dentro de mi.” We taught kids from 3-9 years old. It opened my eyes again to the paradox of whitewashed decay from Matthew 23:27. Sam mentioned a similar thought: how do we love people genuinely and help them see need for God, without trying to change their culture and force them into our preconceived molds? It is not our position to change people, nor should we be shocked by their lifestyles. We should love and care for them regardless.
After lunch, Norma and I went to the beach to swim and read. It was glorious! Think the Caribbean is the prettiest body of salt water I’ve ever swum in. I floated about out past the swells on the shore and reflected on life and love and happiness (Houseplant Song, anyone?). In the evening, we went over to Josh and Linzy’s to watch “A Christmas Story.” The following morning, Sam and I woke up at a decent hour and walked over to the Brownings’ to help. We started trying to create a rain gutter for their porch area. I felt fairly inadequate at this, but I wanted to do something. Later on, I got to paint…something I’ve done much more of. J I enjoyed this part a lot, in spite of having to clean off a layer of gecko dung from the tops of the cabinets. Yes, there are geckos all over the place here, and I love it! They make this crazy barking/chirping sound every once in a while. Honduras, land of barking geckos!
We went to the missionary New Year’s Party at the hospital. I met a newly engaged couple, Kara and Luke, with whom I chatted for quite some time. She was a fellow English/Spanish double major. She and Luke had both studied abroad in Costa Rica, so we compared stories and tastes in literature. We had a small campfire in the parking lot. To welcome the New Year, we toasted marshmallows to various degrees of doneness.” Some went for the “Carbon Delight” and others for the more delicate “Honeyed Heaven” shade. Sam and I had a chance to talk a bit at the fire about where we were both at. It was good to see more of what he thinks.
On New Year’s Day, we accompanied Norma in her visits to several families. I felt bad for Sam, since all the visits were in Spanish, but he patiently sat through them all and every once in a while, brought out his Book of Wisdom and Knowledge-(notebook of Spanish words/phrases he is learning)-and had me translate. Norma and I hiked up to the water tower and then the radio antennae further up the hill. The view of the Caribbean coast was stunning. The jungle breaks into sandy beaches lapped gently by azure waves. Farther out, dark islands rise out of the sapphire distance. ¡Qué hermosa es Honduras! ¡Qué arte de Dios!
After our walk, I met Sam at the bodega (shop), where he was cleaning up. I helped him sweep, and then Dr. Jeff gave us the job of driving his dune buggy back to the rancho. Ai yi yi! The jobs we must do! ;) The ride was pretty much awesome, and I got a bit of extra protein out of the deal…BONUS! The firebugs were glimmering like stardust all around the buildings.
We got up at 6 AM Honduras time (5 AM Mountain Standard), and met up with Mike and Josh to work. We took most the time getting all our materials together to start building the tebanco/loft/second floor in the Larson’s house up on the hill. First day of real work…first day of sweating like a fire hydrant. First of many to come.
Card playing is looked down upon in the Christian community in Honduras, but we were rebels and played cards after dinner. Sam almost always won, the chump! He’s like Caleb and his Monopoly! Ridiculous! (Bro, I WILL beat you some day in Monopoly…some day….) The power went out, so we played by light of lantern, and read by its light later on.
The electricity still didn’t work the next day, but I didn’t care. We had generators to power our tools at the work site. I went with Mike and Ian MacKenzie in the morning to pull one of the missionaries out of la plancha (river crossing). Sam and I ate at the triage (abnormal use of the word for a place down by the security gate where people wait and can eat lunch) before returning to work. I really enjoy working construction, though I have very little experience or skill of this sort. But the guys were most patient and forgiving of my error, and because of their grace, I actually learned a ton from the experience.
My luggage finally arrived on the 3rd. Sam’s was still MIA. After the Thursday evening worship service, I went back to the house and did laundry/unpacked my bag. The jam I so carefully wrapped did not make it. Next time, I will use a bazillion ziplock bags and duct tape.
Friday after work, we went to Josh and Linzy’s and watched The Island, since they finally had power again. Josh leaned his dirt bike to Sam, so we bummed around on that when we needed to travel. We slept in slightly the next day, had a good chat, and then went over to hang out a bit at the MacKenzies. Charity, Sam, a few of the kids, and I watched The Saint. In the afternoon, we took the bike into Balfate, (7-10 miles away over soupy, bumpy road), to make reservations at the only comedor in town. We drove over to the Mike’s and invited him and his wife, and then made our way back. We stopped for a pop during a brief rainstorm and then Sam dropped me off at Norma’s. She was finally home, so I talked with her as she got ready to head back to work. Jeff’s father-in-law, Bob, is very sick with something that hit him out of the blue, and all the staff had been working day and night to pull him through. Norma stayed with him a lot, so we didn’t see much of her during the last week we were there.
Anyway, after talking with Norma, I realized how late it had become, and went over to the hospital to find Sam. We got to the Brownings’ too late—we had forgotten to inform them of the later reservation time. After several failed attempts to reach anybody on the radio, Dr. Jeff graciously invited us over to the rancho for dinner. So we passed a most pleasant evening with the McKennies. Hanna, the youngest girl, is a very devoted card player, so she engaged Sam in many rounds of Speed.
After a French toast breakfast on our own, we moseyed over to the church at the hospital. After lunch and another chat, we collected Charity and went down to a different section of the beach. Still beautiful. I swam around for a while before going back to shore to attempt bodysurfing. OK, so Sam succeeded. Charity got it a few times, too. I only got it about twice. My timing stinks!
Monday arrived again and we started laying down tongue and groove decking boards, so I got a lot of practice with a hammer and nails. It was my favorite part of the whole project. J We left at 5:45 AM with Mike and Ian for Ceiba, where we caught the Utila Princess out to the island. We got a room at the Mango Inn, (my recommendation for anyone who ever goes there), and then wandered around trying to find a dive shop with snorkeling. We found one on accident, en route to another, and went out with them. Snorkeling was fun, although the waves kept on filling the top of the snorkel and I had to empty it fairly often by hand, because just blowing didn’t clean it well enough. I saw some pretty cool fish, including several parrotfish, and I could hear them scraping food off the coral reef. As an added bonus to the experience, my curiosity about how a jellyfish sting feels is satiated. We all got several minor stings.
On the boat, we met an Irish woman, Kristen, who was scuba diving. On her recommendation, we went to Evelyn’s BBQ and Grill for dinner, and had a great time talking with her about world travel. We wandered about a bit more before returning to the little bar area outside our hotel. They had a hummingbird feeder there, and I thought, that’s nice. And then I thought, that’s strange that they have nocturnal hummingbirds here, but, hey I’m in a foreign country. They were bats. Little bats kept flitting about, sucking up the nectar in a most methodical manner.
We took the ferry back to Ceiba the next day, and the Brownings met us and dropped Sam and I off at the bus stop. Charity stayed with them in town, since she was flying out at 6 AM the next morning. We talked again during our 2 hour bus ride back to the hospital, paid our $1.70 fare, and checked out the hospital goings-on. Bob wasn’t doing well.
We quasi-finished the tebanco on Thursday morning and ran the electric for the lights/fans as well. We went to the Thursday afternoon service and started doing laundry and packing. Bob was doing much better by evening, and had opened his eyes once and began to have some reflexes. I hung out for a while with the Lilliards and McKennies, said my goodbyes, and returned once more to Norma’s. I hate goodbyes, but unlike some of my past trips where I felt incomplete, everything felt finished for the time being. We packed and cleaned up a bit before grabbing a quick wink for a few hours until we got back up at 3 to begin the journey to Ceiba to catch our 6 AM flight. We made it back to Montana without incident…WITH our luggage. And now to jump right back into the swing of things…classes start tomorrow! ¡Hasta luego, Honduras!
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