Honduras Day 1

Saturday I headed to the airport with Mike and was very sad he was not coming with me. That is twice now that he has dropped me off and did not accompany me. (Worcester in Feb.) My flight left at 6 pm and landed in Houston, TX at 9 pm. I had a 12 hour layover and decided to get a hotel for the night. In the past we have had 12 hour layovers but during the day so we could run around the city (aka Budapest). My bag was checked all the way through to Tegucigalpa so I called the courtesy van to pick me up from Ramada Express.

The driver was super nice and dropped me off about a mile from the airport. I checked in, arranged a wake up call, and airport drop off for Sunday. I went to my room and got ready for bed. I turned on the water in the sink to brush my teeth and was welcomed with rusty water. Unfortunately I left my water bottle on the plane and had already started brushing my teeth. I hoped if I let it run long enough it would bleed out. 5 minutes later the water looked and smelled clean. I turned the shower on to bleed those pipes as well and waited until the rust was gone.

Setting the hotel clock, my cell phone and the wake up call you would think I would have slept sound. Nope, I was up every hour making sure I had not over slept. It was still better than being in the airport.

I arrived in plenty of time for my flight and settled in to read Jude the Obscure by Tom Hardy. I had finished Masada (we visited in January 2008) on the flight to TX. I would not recommend the book I read but the story is fascinating. I spoke to Mike and Tom, whose flight was delayed leaving Atlanta. I got the contact numbers of the people we were to meet in case his flight was cancelled.

The 3 hour flight was uneventful except the landing which was bumpy. I hate the flying part of traveling. I cannot wait until they can teleport us to our destinations. I walked through passport control quickly and was relieved that my checked bag had made it too. After customs I headed out to wait for Tom. The plan was to meet upstairs at McDonald's but the escalator was out of order and I did not want to carry my bags. I checked on their flight and it was an hour delayed. I went to the ATM to get some local money as there was no place to change US dollars. There was one machine by itself that I attempted to use but it would not accept my card. I wandered to the other side of the airport and notice 5 machines. There was a line of people waiting for one machine ignoring the others. I waited a moment and discovered this is the only machine that worked. The girl in front of me tried 3 times to get money out and I was nervous that it no longer worked. I asked if she needed help and she said yes it is in Spanish and I cannot read it. I stepped up next to her and guided her through the process.

The first question: entrez dans le nombre PIN - enter your PIN
Second question: savings, cheque, carte de crédit - savings, checking, credit card
Third question: entrez dans la quantité - enter amount

I felt like a genius. Ok it was easy but she was grateful!

I took out my 100 limpras which is about 5 dollars as I had plenty of US to change and did not want to have too much limps.

I sat and waited for their flight and noticed the airport which was immaculately clean and organized had 6 tvs. The first screen showed flights landing, 2nd passengers debarking, 3rd passport control, 4th baggage carousels, 5th customs, and 6th the exit. I thought this was great and had never seen it before. It helped pass the time.

As I was sitting there Steve came over and asked if I was Nancy. Steve was picking us up at the airport and we were staying with him for the first part of the week. He used to live with Tom and his family in MD while he was going to seminary school and home schooled Matt. He moved to Honduras 4 years ago to work with World Gospel Outreach (WGO), specifically Rancho Ebenezer. Rancho Ebenezer is an hour ride outside the city of Tegucigalpa. There are 90 acres and seven homes for the WGO children.

We chatted until Tom appeared on the first screen and we followed his process through the 6 screens. We headed out to the car and the boys stopped for a bathroom break. They placed their bags with me and Steve and headed into the toilets. 3 locals picked up the bags to help us out before we could stop them. They carried the bags about 100 feet and asked for American dollars. I said no and Christopher said in his best Russian accent: No tango American douleurs. He then gave him a quarter. They guy looked miserable and walked away. We later learned that he did not say I have no American dollars BUT I have no American pain! It was pretty funny and became the running joke.

Into the van we went and headed to Pizza Hut for lunch. Steve ordered for us and we had a great meal of American food. We then stopped at the store and picked up some things and headed up the mountain.

Photos from the airport to the ranch.

The landscape was very similar to Egypt and the trees and flowers were similar. Hibiscus (rose mallow), bougainvillea (Napoleon), and my favorite jacaranda. The poorer locals also live in the same style as Egypt as tout their wares on the side of the road.

I was impressed with the upkeep of the buildings and paint this close to the city.

The government claims forest fires are a social problem. Human beings are themselves the main agents, since they use fire to restore range land for extensive livestock-raising, to exterminate insect pests, to prepare fields for crops to meet their basic needs, or to dispose of agricultural residues. If the use of fire is not controlled, it spreads to the forests; many hectares of forest are burnt every year. In Honduras over the past decade there has been an average of 2762 fires a year, affecting an estimated area of some 68,000 hectares of forest land. It is estimated that in 30 percent of this area there is total destruction of the seedlings.

Water park

Once we arrived at the ranch Steve gave us a tour. The highlight for me was the coffee beans. I think Pat enjoyed this too.

Coffee plants like to grow in high altitude climates and under shade trees. Shade-grown coffee permits a much more natural, complex ecosystem to survive on the land occupied by the coffee plants. They have planted the shrubs under the trees on the hill. Trees last for about 50 years.

You can see if you look closely that the plants on the edge are drier and more yellow than the rest.

Did not expect berries or that they would be red and lush.

The ranch hires locals to pick the beans and then lay them out on drying racks next to the school.

The fruits, coffee cherries or coffee berries, most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together.

The outer skin tastes like a sweet pepper and was delicious. The juice was very yummy.

After their outer hull is removed, the seeds are commonly called "beans".

The locals will then separate out the good from the bad.

They are then roasted.

It was a cool process to see. Pat got up early the next day to see the rest of the process of baggin them and bringing them down to be roasted. I slept late.

The sunsets were pretty and they cooled down the day. The kids played soccer with the boys fro Steve's house and meet the other team that was there. Go gringos!