Honduras: Days 15 and 16

We had to be on the bus at 5:45am to leave Choluteca and begin our travels to Tegucigalpa and eventually the USA. One one hand I was ready to come home, but on the other hand, I really did not want to leave at all. I was having a wonderful time and would have for sure stayed another week or so.

When I got outside the hotel with my luggage, the little children from across the street were waiting on us! It was 5:45am! They knew we were leaving really early and got up to say goodbye to us! All. The. Tears. The oldest little boy just cried, and cried. I felt so bad for him. He really took to one of our students. Their dad is working in the United States, so they don't see him. I can't help but think he was really happy to have an older male figure around for these last two weeks. Vanessa and Joel didn't cry. We teased them that they weren't sad to see us leave, but they just told us they were strong. :)

Zach and Angel crying and hugging. (Zach had given Angel is sandals.)

Amanda was the first from our group that these kids talked to. Imagine that, Amanda making friends with a child!!

The night before I had given Vanessa a stack of tank tops that I had planned to donate to the mission. I pulled out all of the ones that were really small. There was one tank top that I threw in the pile despite it being one that I brought to wear on the trip and occasionally wear to the gym. It had been given to me and I had 20 other tank tops at home that I could wear tot he gym. I had seen the need a lot of these people had, so in the pile it went and I probably would have forgotten I even did that except I walked outside and Vanessa was wearing it! Of the 20 shirts I gave her, she had on the one that I somewhat had second thoughts about giving. She said it was her favorite. That right there confirmed that I did what I was supposed to do.

We're going to keep this one in B&W so you can't see my red, puffy eyes. 

Angel in my CFAES sunglasses and Joel in my Cabela's hat.

Adios Gomez Family!

No, gracias Choluteca. Te Amo!

We got to the World Gospel Mission guest house, put our luggage in our rooms for the night and then loaded the bus for lunch at the mall and then we traveled on to Valle de Angeles. It's a town that's basically full our touristy gift shops. There hadn't been anywhere to buy souvenirs in Choluteca, so we knew we were going to be here on our last day. While I was there I got a t-shirt, a few hot pads and bowls. I really wanted a nativity scene, and I saw a ton of them, but not one that stuck out enough for me to buy.

Once an angel, always an angel. :)

There are so many stray dogs in Honduras and they all unfortunately look very similar to this. :(

On our way back to the guest house, we had a tire that blew. Luckily there is an autoshop on every corner or around every turn, so we were able to pull of the side of the road and get it fixed very quickly. While we were stopped we sat in the driveway of a very nice house that had a very friendly dog. Beside that house was a very poor house and four little girls climbing a steep hill to get to a well. The would carry water down the hill in empty containers and then go back up to fill them again. One of the smaller little girls clung to Amanda (No surprise there! Kids flock to her!) and she ended up holding little Michelle and feeding her a granola bar while we waited for the bus to get fixed. So precious.

Waiting in the fancy peoples driveway.

Amanda was making friends still. 

After a few minutes she trusted her.

Driving in Honduras is a whole blog post in it's own. If there are rules, they aren't followed! ha. You pass and cut people off and drive fast. Surprisingly, there are no accidents because everyone is a crazy driver, so you know to expect other crazy drivers! I love the picture below that I captured of Dr. Cano (and Amanda on the left) putting their hands up after we had been cut off!

This was on a t-shirt in a gift shop. Everything is true!!!

Judy would not have survived the driving.

We had a little downtime when we got back to the guest house, and then we had dinner with great conversation. And then the lights went out! For about an hour. We had planned to do the photo voice presentations right after dinner, but we had to wait a few hours. In the meantime, everyone just sat in groups and chatted. Some of them got creative and put water bottles on top of their flashlights and continued talking or playing games.

Everyone's photo voice was very good and I am going to have them all printed to hang up around our campus. The conversation afterward was great too and there were a few tears shed as well.

Our entire group of OSU and USU.

Of course we had to have a funny picture too!

The guest house didn't have A/C, so I slept like a true Honduran that night - minus the hammock part! We had breakfast early the next morning and then loaded the truck and headed to the airport!

Breakfast in the courtyard.

I was so happy to have Dr. Straquadine on the trip! I had missed him.

The two leaders of the trip. So thankful they let me go!

Waiting on the luggage to be loaded.

Everyone wanted to take selfies with us apparently!

The international travel line at the airport was pretty lengthy and a process. It wasn't bad. Just a lot of standing.

Waiting at the end of the check-in line with my boys!

We had time to eat lunch before we headed thru security. Unknown to me at first, but we were sitting at a table with all of the Honduran National Soccer Team. So that was cool. They were traveling to Argentina for a friendly game. I didn't want to be *that* person and ask for a picture, but after they all started leaving I thought it was now or never! One guy had played at Ohio State (he wasn't with the team that day) and the others didn't speak English.

Honduran defender Brayan Beckeles and me!

I ended up having an entire row to myself, so one of the students moved back with me and I took a window seat. It was really cool to watch outside the window while the plane took off (I hadn't taken my meds early enough and for the first time flying, I felt all the bumps). I watched the movie Creed off and on and next thing I knew we were flying over Tampa and landing in Atlanta.

As I was walking to board the plane.

Flying high above Tegucigalpa.

I heart looking out plane windows at the sky.

We had dinner at TGI Fridays in the airport, then took our Utah State friends to their gate, before heading to ours and loading onto our plane. The flight to Columbus was also pretty empty, so I was able to move up a row after we got in the air and played on the in fight wifi that mysteriously worked for me for Pinterest only. :)

Our final group photo in the Atlanta airport.

I was the annoying #tripmom and took lots of pictures - including one on our flight back to Columbus at 11pm!

My mom and Vonnie picked me up at the airport when we landed at midnight. We got a sweet tea on the way home from McDonald's (they don't have sweet tea in Honduras, only tea with lemon. Yuck) and I stayed up until around 3am showing them pictures and talking.

It's so hard to believe the trip is already over. I know it probably sounds cliche and there is a whole instagram parody account dedicated to mission trips, but I really can't wait to do another. The people we met were so friendly and appreciative and it's going to be a big adjustment to being back in the USA where people are not friendly by culture.

Thank you Honduras for everything you did for me! You didn't need me, I needed you.

Honduras: Day 14

Our last full day in Choluteca was an off day because it was a Sunday. Even though we didn't have any tours or projects because it was a day of rest, we still had lots to do. Last week I went to the Catholic Mass and this Sunday I went to the Morman church for my first LDS service. Four of the students from Utah State are Morman, and since my great-grandparents on my dad's side were Morman, it was really special that I got to attend a service. Except, it was all in Spanish and I had no idea what was going on! ;) The service was very similar to a church services I've attended back home. I was expecting it to be different because it was LDS, but it wasn't at all. We even met a missionary who was from Texas, so we were able to converse with someone we didn't know in English!!

Me, Abbey, Nick and Audrey attended the LDS service with the USU group.

After church and lunch, a group of us went to play soccer with Armando and his cousins at a local turf field. Most of the soccer fields we had seen were dirt, so that's what I was expecting. It was very surprising when we pulled up to this complex that had two turf fields and nets around it that prevented the ball from going out into the road.

Before we were murdered in a game of Honduran football.

After we were murdered in a game of Honduran football. 

Playing soccer was probably one of my favorite things from the trip. Even though our team were all gringos (as we were affectionately called by Armondo and his friends) and our soccer skills were about a -22 as a whole on a scale of 1-10, it was one of the few times where I didn't feel like a "tourist" or someone special because I was white. There was just one other time we were in Honduras where we ran into another group from North Carolina State at the Maxi and saw someone with the same skin color as us. Of course, we immediately started to have conversations in English because up to this point, we only spoke English among ourselves.

The Honduras were obviously very good in soccer. My soccer experience ended in 1997 when I started cheerleading as a 7th grader, but I like to think I know the game pretty well because Tyler has played for the past 23 years and I have been to a lot of games at all levels. A lot of games!

I tried to be really aggressive and not just a flaky defender like I had been in youth league. I so badly wanted to score, but it didn't happen. It was also so stinking hot. Like 110 with humidity of 90%. We rotated pretty regularly to get water breaks, but even then it was pretty tough to stay out there for more than 4-5 minutes. For me anyway. 

After a bit the girls all sat down and the boys played a more aggressive game. Then the girls go our chance as well. Lacy wore my GoPro, so I have some great video footage which includes Jessica's kick and fall. :) I felt like we had been running for at least 30 minutes and when I went to turn off the GoPro we had only been out there for 7 minutes! The heat was just so much that I felt like I couldn't inhale and take a breath because I was suffocating. Huge props to those guys and gals who can play in this weather all of the time. I am not one of them!

I don't think they expected Hope Solo to be on the USA team, but there she was! ;)

After our soccer game we had a few hours to clean up, cool off and get ready for church at Larry and Angie's. It was super hot again, but it was worth it to be there and listen to the message even if I couldn't understand it. I was hoping the little girl who I sat with last week would be there again, but she was not. David, Nick and I sat and literally sweat of 10 lbs each during the two hour service.

Following our final dinner at Larry and Angie's and our final reflection in the hotel courtyard, we ran over the the Maxi for some of the students to get coffee. I don't drink coffee, so instead I got the Honduran version of my favorite beverage of choice - Kool-Aid. It's "Tang" in Honduras and their Hibiscus flavor is my favorite. I also got the sweat tea flavor and this other flavor of this nut/fruit thing we picked off of a tree one day. 

When we got back from the Maxi I knew it would be our last evening to play with the little kids across the street, but I did not expect to be greeted by homemade letters from them. They were in Spanish, so we had Dr. Cano translate them for us and they said things like "You are our very best friend," "We can't wait for you to come back and visit us," "We wish you did't have to leave us" and my favorite "Te Amo Emily", which was "I love you Emily". All. The. Tears!!!!!

That evening we just hung out reading the letters, playing soccer with their new soccer balls (the one we got them the night before exploded from the heat!) and cherishing the last evening together. This is one of the things I will remember most about my trip. These little ones were so friendly to us, hugging us every time we left the hotel to go somewhere and just being precious all the time!

I had brought down a bag of clothes to donate to the ministry, so I sorted out all of the really small clothes and gave them to Vanessa and a pair of sunglasses, a hat, and a t-shirt for the boys. She and her mom had on two of my shirts the next day and the boys sported their new clothes as well! I am going to miss these guys a lot!

Selfie with our favorite Honduran nina.

Those of us that got letters from the littles. 

A bigger group photo with the three kids and their madre.

I had already packed a lot of my things up because we were told to be ready to board the bus at 5:45am the next day! That is early!!! I was able to hang out with the students for a little bit in the courtyard before heading to bed for my last night of sleep in Room 5 of the Rivera!

Honduras: Days 12 and 13

On Day 12 we were scheduled to spend the morning at the Nacaome Agricultural High School in Nacaome, Honduras. Nacaome is the hottest city in Honduras. Fantastic. We left at 5:15am and Linda, Sarah and Angie had packed bananas and cinnamon rolls for us to eat on the bus. Originally there were going to be hardboiled eggs on this bus and I said "nope, no way!" was I going to sit on a 30 passenger van with 28 people on it eating hardboiled eggs. The thought of the smell makes be ill.

It was about an hour drive to the school, so we arrived right as the students were getting to school around 6:30am. Well, the #1 thing we were told to do before we arrived in Honduras was to be flexible, and that's what we had to do. Apparently the night before there had been some disagreements between the students and the teachers and the students went on strike!

Originally our students were going to be paired up with a high school student and they were going to shadow them for the day. If they were in class, we were in class. If they were working in the fields or the barns, we were working in the fields or the barns. Obviously with not that many students there, this wasn't going to be a typical school day, so our plans were changed.

Instead of shadowing, we were given a tour of the campus. We saw their horticulture area, the livestock facilities, their machinery and feed mill. It was really cool to see all of the facilities they have for their students. Some of the students are local students and they attend the school for free. Some students ride the bus each day and pay a small tuition. Other students live at the school full time and pay a larger tuition. When you figure the comparison to US dollars, it was just about $150 a month. But for those families, that's a lot of money! They are in school and work for 12/13 hours per day!

The school crest.

The "E" in escuela had been covered up with paint, so Nick made me an E.

Our students with the Nacaome bus. I took the picture.

Some of the students and faculty of the school. Country farm boys are dress the same no matter where they are! haha.

The pig and their pens looked very similar to those in America at this school.

Some of the poultry projects that were growing to be harvested at their school.

A view of the garden plots at the school. They have a variety of crops in the garden to learn about all of them.

Saturday was supposed to be the "special surprise" day, but instead we took a tour of a community near the city dump and the private hospital.

The houses that were in this community were mostly made of sticks, mud and black tarps. Most of the people that live near the dump also work at the dump. You would see piles of trash in their yards that they would collect to then resell - pop bottles, plastic, metal, etc.

A mud and stick house.

A house that is collecting an item to sell for money.

The village soccer field with tires around the outside to keep the ball in bounds.

After we did the drive-thru tour of the dump community, we toured Semesur hospital. It was a completely different experience from the public hospital. It was very quiet, pretty empty and very clean and private compared to the public hospital. Patients have their own private rooms and they have areas for their family members to stay with them. They have modern technology for testing and treating disease and injury. If I was sick, I would want to go to this hospital, but it's private and you have to pay for it, therefore many residents cannot afford to pay for health care and have to go to the public hospital.

Bus ride selfie.

The front of the private hospital.

The chapel in the private hospital.

I like to think of this hospital as "light at the end of the tunnel" for health care in Honduras.

One of the larger suites at the hospital.

The emergency room has private areas too.

We went to the city mall for lunch and to walk around. It was a mall equivilant to what we have at indoor malls in the United States. Some stores were the same, but most were different. A lot of them were just a hodge podge of things they were selling - kind of like a dollar store. There would be wrapping paper, skillets and lingerie all within a 3 feet circle. There was the Honduras version of Marshall's there, but they didn't really sell any of the same stuff. The make-up they were selling was used. One mall kiosk was selling Bath and Body Works, so I thought that was cool considering it's just up the road from Columbus.

While we were at the mall, Audrey had an idea to buy a soccer ball for the little children across the street. She and Amanda had been playing with them every night for about a half hour and I somehow joined in on the fun. They would teach us spanish words and we would teach them English. The boys would always want to play soccer, but the girls would hang out with us and get their hair braided. We swapped notebooks and we'd write letters to each other. It was adorable. They were such polite kids. So we got them a soccer ball and I found a coloring book that had maps of the entire world in in. So I drew pictures of where Ohio was in the United States and where Choluteca was and we wrote them a cute letter in both English and Spanish. They were really excited about the ball and Joel sat and read every word on the title page and the copyright information. Precious.

Based on what I was wearing that day, no one was going to be shopping at my boutique.

Our letter to the littles across the street.

The map showing where we all live.

A little sideways, but take a look at the Ohio and New England area of this map. Not accurate! #wheresVermont?

Me with a few of the OSU students and the Gomez children.

Just a few more days to go before we head home! Church on Sunday and two travel days.