Surprise, I'm in Honduras! I've been here for a handful of days with a study abroad group that I'm chaperoning/taking pictures of everything they do. (Because of that, I'm usually behind the camera and not in front of it, which is not a bad thing considering make-up melts off as soon as I leave my hotel room and after 'fixing' my hair one day I said "forget this" and it stays in a top knot.) I'm going to try my best to document my trip because this is truly a once in a lifetime experience that I want to remember forever.
Our flight took off earlier this week at 6am, which meant we had to be there at 4am! I didn't have a ride there, but luckily one of the students going on the trip had stayed all night in town with her parents the night before and they picked me up. Bright and early! I haven't flown since last summer, so I was somewhat nervous for the flight and just the overall trip to a country that wasn't America, but I was surprisingly calm the night before and didn't have any panic or anxiety attacks like I thought I would. (I packed a wash clothe in my carry on just in case I needed it, but nope!)
We flew from Columbus to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Tagucigalpa, Honduras. In Atlanta we met up with my former boss and five students from Utah State. This was my first flight over water, but I didn't even know that because I was on an aisle seat. The flight was 3.5 hours, but since it was an international flight, we had individual tv's. I watched a little bit of "How to Be Single" and thought it was really stupid, so I turned it over to "Sisters", which wasn't much better. I was worried about the landing at the airport because I had heard they really have to spiral down to land since it's in the mountains, but surprisingly we landed and didn't have to do that landing. Praise the Lord! I was so worried about getting motion sickness, despite have 3 Zofran in me!
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| The entire group, minus me because I'm the photographer. |
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| I snuck this picture while the girls by the window went to the bathroom. You can't tell here, but that's the ocean and I could see ripples in the water. |
We had to wait in line forever to go thru customs, which is totally acceptable. I am not complaining at all, but it was a long time and really hot. It's 100+ every day we're here. Once we got thru customs we exchanged some currency - $100 for 2200 limps. I've yet to use any of it. But we will be buying souvenirs on our last day here. After we loaded our luggage in the vans, we walked across the street to the mall where we had lunch at the food court. The mall was really nice! And the foodcourt probably had 20 places to order. I chose Wendy's. :) I figured I'd be getting a lot of true Honduran food while I was in country, so I might as well get a JBC and a Frosty while I could! The mall is where I saw the first armed security guard, which is now a common thing at police road stops, banks, and basically any store that has things of value.
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| The local news was in the lobby. For a bit, I was in the background while we moved in a line. Just into the country and I was on the news! |
We landed in Teguc around 1pm their time and then had a 3.5 hour drive to the city we're staying in. Luckily I got to sit very close to the front because that road had so many winding curves up and down mountains. I didn't sleep on the trip, but I may have lightly dozed off a few times. The only way to describe the houses that we passed are small shacks. Since we're in mountains, they're all along the road we were driving and right next to the road. So there were people just sitting 2 feet or closer to the road where people were driving. Also, this was my first taste of driving in Honduras. People don't obey traffic laws, they're just suggestions. Red light, NBD. Someone going slow, pass them. Passing is a really common thing here. For a culture that is so laid back and relaxed, they are always in a hurry when a car. There's no driver's ed courses here, just pay a fee for your license, or even drive without a license, because who is going to stop you?
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| All of those buildings are houses. Including the one in the middle that looks like a storage shed. |
There are also a lot of animals here just roaming around - dogs, cats, chickens, goats, horses - all which look malnourished, and since there is now spaying/neutering, there are lots of babies and mommy's that are nursing (animals that is, but also nursing humans too!).
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| Random horse. |
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| Welcome to Choluteca! |
When we got to the hotel, we got sorted into our rooms and then had a little free time before heading to the mission house for dinner and orientation. It's walkable distance from our hotel. The hotel is really nice, which I was not expecting considering the areas we saw on the drive. It's by no means a 5 star, but it's clean and has A/C! I get my own room, which is great. I will need my alone time after being with 30 people all day every day in very tight quarters.
Dinner that night was a traditional Honduran chicken taco dish type thing, but it was good. I was banking on sweating off a few pounds on this trip, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to gain weight from the amazing food we keep being fed. I actually feel a little guilty having so much to eat, when 40 minutes from here there is a school where kids won't eat all week.
We got to bed pretty late that first night. Even though it was only 7pm here, it was 9pm in Columbus and I had been up since 4am. I worked on our group blog a little bit (www.studyabroadhonduras2016.wordpress.com) and facetimed my mom before heading to bed. I took a much needed shower (who knew flying could be so sweaty!) and literally did not move all night! I was so tired.
The first morning in country we were here we had to be up by 6:15am for breakfast at 6:30am. They served toast and scrambled eggs. I ate few pieces of toast and some juice. We left and traveled to the mercado (market), which was a crazy experience. Not only do they have shops along the street, but they also go back these alleys. It's a lot like a flea market. Every booth has different stuff, but also the same stuff over and over. You could sell shoes, toiletries and vegetables all in the same 10x10 booth. And then the merchants that sell meat.....eek! It's just hanging in the booth. It smells and has flies on it, but people buy it! We did get donuts at this little bakery shop and the sugar donut that I had was delicious!!
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| Selfie on the bus and headed to the mercado. |
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| Seeds and spices that were being sold in the mercado. Along with a bunch of other things in the background. |
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| My donut and cold coke. Still an instagram girl even when I can't post. |
We walked back to Larry and Angie's and waited on lunch. While the group was preparing guacamole, a few of the boys and I went to the hardware store with Angie. It was a completely different experience than the mercado. It was just like an ACE Hardware back home!
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| Traveled all the way to Honduras for a picture at the hardware store. |
After lunch, we traveled to a village where we helped prepare food that would be served at a community education event. The group we're working with is creating a health education program and two of their male educators (which is really unheard of) spoke on nutrition education for the teens. A lot of the material they were covering was stuff that I learned in elementary school - like how many servings of vegetables to eat, etc. The food was prepared on an outdoor stove, which was really a fire pit. The house was a small, small house with trash and animals all over the place. The people were really friendly and welcomed themselves their home.
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| Cooking dinner outside the house in the 'kitchen.' |
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| A pig in the backyard. |
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| In line for the bathroom. Seriously, that's their bathroom. |
At the health program event there were a ton of neighborhood children there. One little girl they kept calling "Ag Comm" because she filmed the entire event on her phone (every has a phone, even if they don't have much else) and was taking a lot of pictures of us with it. We had a photo shoot with these kids and didn't even speak the same language. They would pose, then the kids would want to see the photos. Then they'd motion us to a different location to pose by a tree, then a bush, then a bench. It was so fun. These little kids were precious.
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| With Abbey and "Ag Comm girl" |
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| These are all of the health educators, along with their leader in the front. |
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| Some of our girls cheesing with the little girls. |
At the health program event there were a ton of neighborhood children there. One little girl they kept calling "Ag Comm" because she filmed the entire event on her phone (every has a phone, even if they don't have much else) and was taking a lot of pictures of us with it. We had a photo shoot with these kids and didn't even speak the same language. They would pose, then the kids would want to see the photos. Then they'd motion us to a different location to pose by a tree, then a bush, then a bench. It was so fun. These little kids were precious.
That evening we had dinner (grilled hamburgers!) and got smoothies after we got back to the hotel. I was so beat! I facetimed my mom when I got back and then I was out! Seriously, so tired from a full day!
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| Nightly debriefing at the hotel lobby. |
It's so hot here! We are constantly drinking water. You have no option. If you don't you'll get so dehydrated and sick. I brought along those flavored water packets to use in my water bottle, which helps when the water that was once ice cold is now hot. For some reason, hot kool-aid is better than hot water! :)
We have wifi at our hotel, but when all 30 of us are using it, it gets a little slow. I'll try to update every few nights so my mom can see my pictures :) and I don't forget things. Surprisingly, even after just a few days have gone by it's already hard to remember everything we have done and on what day!
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