FRIDAY
Our day started at 4 am traveling to KCI where we would board a 6am flight to Houston, and on to San Pedro Sula Honduras by 11 am local time (Noon CST) Our driver, WJC Chaplain, Dr. Andy Pratt, braved the early morning hours to take Campus Minister, Jeff Buscher, Chemistry Professor, Dr. Lori Wetmore, and Alumni Mark Buhlig to the Continental gate and send us on our way.
( Photo - Latrines built by our group in January )
Our flights were both early, in fact the pilot on one flight joked, “So the next time you are delayed you owe us 20 minutes before you can start complaining!” Upon arrival something totally unexpected occurred – 2 out 3 bags arrived – somehow mine did not make it. They knew it was missing before we got to the counter. Mmm? Anyway we submitted a claim and they indicated it would be delivered to our hotel the next day? We’ll see how that goes. I was truly surprised because over the last 5 years we have never lost a bag on this leg of the trip. As I write this I realize that our video camera and my medicine is in that bag… I’m sure it will arrive tomorrow… Now that I'm posting this note - Everything arrived just fine. In fact the good folks of Continental delivered my bag to our hotel in La Masica - Three hours away from the airport. Thank goodness, another day in those clothes would have been challenging.
Renting a car was an adventure: Avis said their car was not working, so she took it on herself to send us next door to “Econo-Car” Where they rented us a Hyundai Santa Fe for the same price we were quoted by our friends at AVIS. We signed some papers and we were pleasantly surprised with a shiny new Hyundai. It had a few dings and scratches, but it will be ideal for touring this part of northern Honduras. The important thing is that the AC worked just fine. We then exchanged our cash and made our way to La Masica.
Following Thursday’s earthquake the drive was not too bad. There were back ups at the Bridges. The bridge near El Progresso was the worst damage we saw. As we approached the bridge there were some cracks in the highway. We crossed on the good bridge and made our way toward San Juan Pueblo where we would stop in and pay a visit in the colonia where we have built homes and a church over the last 5 years. It was great to see the families that we have worked with over the years, including the high school student – Rosita, who our CSM group sponsors by sending funds for her school supplies each year.
From there we drove another 15 minutes into La Masica where our base of operations… Hotel Media Luna (Half Moon Hotel) stood waiting for our arrival. After a few minutes of tracking folks down at Senior Antunez Hardware Store, we finally found a fellow that could hook us up with keys for the rooms. And we got settled in for the night. I have to stay up and wait for Donette, Tono, and Dani to arrive from Guatemala. They finally arrived around midnight.
Some of the things we will work through on this trip: How do we appropriately assure that our partnership with the village folk of Embarcadero is intentionally reciprocal and can we ask our partners to be vulnerable with us by telling us their story. And then how do we communicate the big picture of our Village Partners Project? I look forward to re-connecting with the folks in Embarcadero tomorrow – For now I think our friends have arrived, I’ve got to give them their room keys.
More Manyana - Jeff
