Where else but here?

It all starts with the closing of the Tegucigalpa airport following a plane crash a couple weeks ago. This airport closing leads all of the incoming international flights to San Pedro Sula, a large city about 4.5 hours north of the Ranch. The flights typically get in after sunset, making it too dangerous to drive all the way to our home that same night.

I had made reservations at a nice bed and breakfast for just $25. Looked nice on the internet, and comes with breakfast. Perfect. They originally had written to me promising to pick me up at the airport, especially since I was getting in late. Very nice of them. The day before I left home, I received the disappointing news that their son was having his birthday party that evening, so they would no longer be at the airport. Ok, shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just get a cab from the airport. It’s definitely not favorable for a white girl to get into a cab by herself after dark, but I was confident it would be fine.

Once we boarded the plane in Miami, we were informed that it would be at least half an hour until take-off, as the inspection revealed that one of their tires was below regulation on the treads. Ok, fine…what could a half an hour hurt? It turned into about a 1 hour 15 minute wait, making us land in San Pedro at the same time three other planes landed. Now, this airport is by no means equipped to handle this increased flow of travelers, as it generally is not the main point of entry into the country. So it took a good hour to get through customs, making it pretty late by the time I was ready to take off for the hotel.

I get outside the airport, a man asks if I need a taxi, we settle on a price, and off we go to find his taxi. We come upon a tinted window SUV – his own personal vehicle, by no means a taxi. However after hauling 125+ lbs of luggage all the way to that car, there was no way I was going to turn around and go look for a different taxi. Lazy, I know. So I hop in, and try to direct this guy to the hotel. It also was not a bonus for me that the airport in San Pedro is in the middle of nowhere – a ways out of the city. So we turn down a rather dark street, and I start praying like I’ve never prayed before that I was actually en route to my hotel. I made small talk with the driver, as I somehow tried to get him on my side. I found out he’s actually been to Iowa, and from that moment on I had high hopes that he was a well-intentioned man, just trying to make a living using his personal vehicle as a taxi. My prayers had been answered when we were coming closer to the lights of the city, and I saw some familiar sights.

The hotel was nice, the couple really sweet. They had A/C and hot water – so one last night of living in “luxury”. The amazing breakfast that was advertised turned out to be toast and cream cheese, but it was good enough. I wasn’t going to be picky. The owner of the hotel and I then jumped in the car to head to the bus terminal to ship me in the way of NPH. After trying to get his car started for several minutes, it finally purred like a lion and shook like nobody’s business, and off we went.

All goes well on the bus, until we get within 30 minutes of Teguc, and I wake up to the attendant informing everybody that they do not know what the problem was with the bus, however it was clear to them that they could not continue driving the bus under those circumstances. I was happy I was completely oblivious to what was going on since I was so knocked out from the previous day of travel. They had called for another bus that should arrive within the next hour to take us into the city. I was relieved to know that they were smart enough to stop driving knowing something was wrong. That last half hour into the city is a pretty curvy one, with some pretty steep drops off the mountain side. Not the place I’d want the bus to break down at. So, we sat there for approximately 20 minutes, and all of a sudden we start moving again. Either they figured out what the problem was and were able to take care of it, or decided they just didn’t care anymore and wanted to risk it and just get to Teguc already. Collectively, the majority of bus passengers do the sign of the cross, and pray for the best. Ahh, we finally arrived in one piece.

As I prepared for my return to Honduras, there was quite the mix of emotions running through my system. I was beyond excited to be returning to my second family here at NPH, whom I have missed dearly for the past couple months…looking forward to that moment when I step into the home of the children I have worked with over the past three years, and get to see all of their smiling faces, and I willingly have to accept the fact that I soon will be mauled by fifty children with sticky fingers and dirt covered clothes from a long afternoon of playing outside. There’s nothing in the world more satisfying than seeing those beautiful eyes light up when they see that an ex-volunteer has returned to spend some time with them. Then come the hugs and kisses, and shortly they’re off playing again.

So, there’s that excitement, but also the realization of just how much work needs to get in such a short amount of time. I think I could live here year round, and not even make it half way through my “to dos”. As life goes, you start one large project, and 20 smaller ones develop out of that, and then there are those urgent cases that just need to be dealt with as they pop up.

When I finally made it to the Ranch after two long travel days, as we pulled up to the gate, a feeling of pure joy rushed through me, and a smile came upon my face, knowing I was “home” once again. It has been raining quite frequently down here lately, so the entire country side is all shades of greens, and just beyond beautiful. As we live in the woods in the mountains, you could imagine just how incredible it is.

It didn’t fail, just a short three hours after arriving I had already been sucked into work in the clinic. The health care coordinator here wanted to jump right into our meeting we had planned to have at some point during my first week. I managed to at least put that off until my brain was in a functioning state.

We currently have some pretty serious things happening with some of our children, and some organizational frustrations within the clinic (nothing too out of the ordinary). So, it sure has been a busy and stressful week already. Thirty five hours in three days. Not too bad.

I have spent the past two days in the city at the public hospitals with one of our youth. Oh, how I missed them! They really have become my second home. It was nice though to get to see some of the doctors and nurses that I’ve worked with over the past year and a half in the hospitals.

So, there you have it. I’ll do my best to keep this updated with the latest.
Miss you all.
Lots of love,
Annie