My Journal – Honduras 2005 with Pro Papa Mission
Dave Nedley
www.DaveNedley.com
Well, I’m off….After getting all of our luggage together and having a brief meeting, we loaded the bus with the medical and eyeglass items needed. In addition, we loaded our own individual luggage as well.
On the bus, I’m sitting with a retired Dentist named George. This is the eighth year for George to go to Honduras with Pro Papa. If I had to guess, George is in his 70’s. It’s rather dark in the bus right now. We will be stopping in Bedford to pick up a few more people.
Jennifer was one of the people that we picked up. She sat next to me on the bus. She’s a very nice young lady about 25 years old. She’ll be on the Dental Crew.
We are now all waiting in line at Baltimore airport waiting for the Continental Airlines. We have many good workers as we unloaded the bus; it was done in no time at all.
As we are arriving into San Pedro Sala, I have an awful ear ache. I’m writing to try to help keep my mind off of it. I’m sitting with Steve from our Habitat group and one empty seat….That’s good because I like lots of room.
I forgot to mention that when I was riding on the bus with Jennifer, she told me that her mom died from breast cancer at only 55 years old. Jennifer tries to do the Walk for Life in honor of her mom every year.
We’ve been hanging out at the airport for a few hours trying to get stuff straightened out. It reminds me of when I was visiting the Bahamas…No hurry! I still can’t hear out of my right ear.
It’s very muggy here today. The temps were in the 80’s when we arrived but now I’d guess that they are close to 90 now. Wearing long pants doesn’t help much either. I can’t wait to change clothes and brush my teeth.
I’m beginning to yawn and now I remember why. I woke up yesterday at 6:00 a.m. and have only ‘cat-napped’ about 10 minutes here and there. My eyes are burning and I wish I could take a quick nap. We’ll, were off!!
It’s now my first morning in Urraco. When I left the airport yesterday, I found that my group had already left while I was writing in my Journal. I was still able to ‘bum’ a ride with another group that was also going to the Pro Papa office.
I met up with my Habitat Group after about a 30 minute ride. We had a sandwich (something with tomatoes) and some watermelon juice to drink. We then left for Urraco. The mountains here are just beautiful! While we rode on this pot-hole filled dirt road, I saw many different sights. I can’t believe how many children there are everywhere….everywhere I look there are kids! Most adults ride bicycles….I’m guessing this is the main source of transportation. The farm animals like pigs, cows and horses roam in the front yards of homes and in the streets. Talking about homes, many of them are already made of cement blocks but the roof systems are made up of mostly steel sheeting. I’ve seen some homes that have tires thrown on the steel sheeting, I guess, to hold them down during heavy storms.
The place that I’m staying has windows and screens. We also needed a fan to help keep us cool at night so I’m thankful we have electricity.
The children were lined up waiting for us to play outside of the gate. They remembered many of the workers from last year….I think that’s neat!
Talking about our group, I’m getting to know them all pretty well now. Matt, Tim and Cal are the leaders. I get the feeling that they are pretty happy that I’m here.
My first night of sleeping was fine. I’m sleeping on a mattress laid out on a floor. There are six guys sleeping in our approximately 10x12 room.
Today we are starting off by having breakfast at Lupe’s Restaurant, the same place that we had dinner last night. I’ve learned that we have all three meals there on our work days.
We will begin to work today and I’ve heard that we will be mixing concrete…I’m ready!
It’s just about dinner time and I’ve completed my first day. We ended up putting a roof on a home and are getting ready to frame in the windows. They aren’t really windows…just wooden shutters that I suppose help shield from the elements. I just showered for the first time here. It felt great! The rain is collected off of the roof and held in a trough up outside the 2nd floor. It is then ‘gravity fed’ through a ½” pipe coming out of the wall. It’s not bitter cold but it’s definitely not warm.
I took many photos mainly of some of the kids. I taught some how to do the ‘Pittsburgh handshake’. They can say my name with more of an emphasis on the ending…Da vee! Other than that, I can’t understand anything else they are saying. There is a young boy named Nelson that smiles all of the time. He’s very, very active and helped me do some of the projects today.
There is also a little girl that has some kind of a worm in her stomach. Her stomach is swollen and she is the cutest thing. I think that she is about three years old.
We had breakfast and lunch at Lupe’s Restaurant. Every meal that I’ve had thus far has been very good. We ate something today that looked like bananas but tasted like a potato. I just heard some people talking and they thought that it was baked green bananas. I’m going to socialize now.
We walked down to see the river before dinner tonight. It is pretty big and the current is very strong. I was surprised to see two young boys jump in for two reasons….the current and the fact that is has crocodiles.
After dinner, we went to an Internet Café but the internet was ‘down’. There was a 2 on 2 soccer game going on next door and our two Translators were able to play. It was fun to watch a very competitive game.
We came back after awhile and sat to talk. It’s 9:00 p.m. now and I’m ready to sleep. Good Night!
It’s been a very long day today. I’m waiting to take a shower, then to dinner and after that we are all attending mass this evening at 7:00 p.m. At work today, we did doors and window frames. After the frames are in place, we used shims to keep them in place and then used mortar between the frame and the cement block. You actually throw the mortar off of a trowel starting at the bottom and working your way up so as to not have any air pockets. It’s neat!
I also worked with Jorge, the crew leader. Although I can’t understand Spanish, I seemed to be able to communicate with Jorge pretty well. He is 23 years old and a very good worker. He caught onto my facial expressions when I would mess something up. He’d also look at me if something didn’t go just right for him and I’d mumble ‘Oh Brother’ while rolling my eyes. He’d laugh…..
I also had my first attempt at speaking Spanish and it was understood. I was proud when I said ‘mas cemente’ and the young boy brought me a bucket full of cement. Jorge also had me do a few one-man jobs.
This morning I had a young boy named Christian (about five years old) insist on helping me take some rebar to the job site. I gave him one of my work gloves and showed him how to place it under his arm and into his hand to drag it. It must have been about 16’ in length and we walked about a ¼ of a mile to the job site without stopping. To look at Christian you’d think that he was younger because of his size.
On my work crew is Cal, Tophi, Jordan, Abby, Pastor Bob, Wambi, Jorge and one more Honduran but I’m not sure of his name. In addition, we can have as many as 10-15 kids ‘helping’. Abby tries to keep them busy when she has some down time. I’ve taken about 100 photos thus far…mostly of the kids.
I have to get ready for dinner now.
Tonight at dinner, we celebrated Steve’s 22nd birthday. Lupe made a candy and of course we sang to him.
After dinner, we walked to the Catholic Church. It was very interesting as well as entertaining. People came strolling in whenever and there was a dog walking up and down the aisles. Then a 2nd dog came and I thought there was going to be a dog fight. There was very little reaction from the congregation when there was a ferocious bark so I’m guessing that this happens quite often.
At the time for ‘sign of peace’, Tim leaned over to ask if it was over as people got up out of there seats to walk around to shake hands, laugh or just talk. It was great as we had many of the Honduras natives wanting to shake hands with us “Gringos”.
Near the end of mass, Sister Laurinda announced that it was Steve’s Birthday (In Spanish of course) so everyone turned to look and then began to clap. Not only that, Steve then was invited to the front of the church for his ‘special song’. He handled it well as the song went on forever. Another funny thing….there was a man with a video camera because of a Baptism….Well, he was taping Steve up front and then came back to tape our reactions….it was so funny!!
After mass while walking back to the house, we had many kids ask for ‘chick elets’. I’ve learned that means candy.
It was a very productive day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
It’s a beautiful morning this Monday. I was up in time to walk up on top of the hill to watch the sun come up with Pastor Bob and Tim. As the sun came up it was covered with soft clouds which covered the clear view. I also learned after a few minutes too late that I was being eaten alive by the mosquitos. We walked off the hill about 6:15 a.m. and there was already two children waiting at the gate. I went in and got the Frisbee so that we could play. The one was the little boy named Christian and I’m thinking his little sister. She kept saying ‘tu-tu’, which means she wanted up on my shoulders. She is absolutely gorgeous.
A few things I’ve learned about the children here:
1. They are very resilient to pain….they play soccer in their bare feet on gravel.
2. One little girl watching a pickup soccer game in the street was lined in the face with the ball and she didn’t cry.
3. They love the ‘Gringos’-Americans
4. They love to tease the dog at our house name ‘Oso’ which means ‘bear’.
Tim just yelled up to me on the balcony that it’s about time to leave for breakfast.
It was our toughest day so far. We poured all of the cement in all three rooms of the home. Talking about the home, I just found out today that the home we are building is for our crew leader, Jorge. I worked with him all day getting the house ready for the concrete. I helped him to determine the correct height of the concrete. I then helped him to float the concrete with a ‘wood float’ and drag the concrete. This part of the job is pretty similar to working with my dad when I was younger. Again, Jorge and I don’t speak the same language yet we communicate just fine when it comes to work.
Today was my first day of the ‘magic ball’ trick. It was a huge success. I started at the job site with a half of a cement bag. It worked well as the ‘ball’ would fall into the bag, dust from the cement would fly. I wish someone would have taken a picture. These kids were amazed. I think some of the workers were as well.
When I came back from lunch, a young lady was trying to explain something to me and of course I couldn’t understand. She took me by the hand and led me to the little bamboo hut behind the home we were building. In a rocking chair was a lady probably around 30 years old holding a little baby boy. The baby had a very large chest, a little facial deformation and was really struggling to breathe. The mom had tears rolling down her face and she talked to me in Spanish. She was begging me…I could see it in her face that she wanted me to help her child. I think that she thought because I was an American, I could do the work of a doctor. I had tears in my eyes and just rubbed the little baby’s arms and told the mother that I was very sorry but I couldn’t help. This was weighing very heavy on my mind the rest of the work day. I wondered if there was something that I could do.
I found out a few ages of some of the children. Jessica is 6 and Christian is 5 years old. Christian is the young boy who insisted on helping me carry the rebar from the warehouse on top of the hill to the jobsite yesterday. Amazing!
Its 20 minutes until dinner time, according to Pastor Bob-or ‘Gringo’ as the kids call him. He keeps telling them in English “not Gringo, my name is Bob” its funny!
We’re ready for dinner now.
I just came back from the viewing of the little boy…I can’t believe he died! I feel just awful that I didn’t do something. I’m crying right now and every time I think about it, tears begin to flow again. I don’t know what the problem was and I probably will never know. It’s just so unfair that the young child had to die. I have to change the subject now.
After dinner tonight I went to call mom and dad and then called Nate. It was nice to talk to mom and tell her how much I am enjoying this mission trip. She said that she would call everyone to tell them that I called and mentioned that maybe we need to have a party after I get home for me to show all of my pictures.
Nate told me that he is now all moved into his new place and likes it. His job is going well but still hasn’t received any ‘payday’.
After dinner, I went to see Wombi, Dan, Jordan and a few others play soccer. I met a young girl name Sadie, 9 years old, and her brother Daniel, 10 years old. They are both learning English and so they introduced me to their friend Cara, also about 10 years old. Cara speaks no English and so Sadie translated for me. I taught Sadie and Cara the magic ball trick and before I knew it, I had 20-25 kids and even some adults there watching. It was so much fun! All of the kids were trying to speak to me from every direction. I taught them the ‘Pittsburgh Handshake’ and I even had some of the kids ask me to come to their ‘Casa’-house. I had several of the kids walk or ride their bikes with us as we walked back to our house. As we would come to their home, they would proudly say ‘casa’. I would say “Pittsburgh” and they put out their fists to complete the hand shake. It’s great!
I now have more kids call me by my name ‘Da vee’. I like it! Also, Nelson is trying to fool me into saying some ‘bad words’ in Spanish. They all love to try to teach me Spanish. I’ve picked up a few new words.
1. Minyawna-Okay, they laugh when I try to say it but they know that I mean ‘tomorrow’.
2. chick elet definitely means ‘candy’
While I’m lying in bed, I’m thinking of the amount of work that we accomplished.
Tomorrow we are heading to the beach for a day off. The temp will probably be even higher than our approximate 100 degrees we had today.
Okay, time for bed!
The sun is just beginning to rise this Tuesday morning. We have a day off and will be heading to Tela Beach. I didn’t sleep all that well. I’ve thought quite a bit about that baby. While the mother just sobbed inside the hut during the wake, I couldn’t understand why the adult men were playing poker outside on a table. What ever the problem was that the baby had is now over and I’m sure he’s smiling down on Urraco watching the other children play.
Another thing that I’ve learned: The children here have very little but are so happy playing with a soccer ball, homemade kites, Frisbee and other things that the American children seem to have very little interest in.
The sun is about up now and I’m surprised that no children are yet at the gate. I’ll need to remember to get some candy for when I get back today.
We were so busy yesterday that I had no time to journal.
This is now Wednesday and I can’t believe that we are over half-way through our trip.
We spent several hours at Tela Beach Resort for a swim in the ocean and lunch. Many of our kids got sunburned where they were unable to put sun block on their backs. We were warned that this is a different sun and that we need to be very careful.
The bus ride was a little over an hour. During the ride we went through the mountains. It is mainly just tropical forest all along the highway with some huts and homes thrown in along the way.
After our return to Urraco, we had decided to take a walk to the home that was constructed last year by the Habitat team. It was quite a long walk and so I was able to show the magic ball trick to a new group of children. It went over well as it had outside of our house.
The family was so thankful and it was such a joy to see the children run to hug the workers from last year. Even the little three year old girl remembered Hanna and Abby.
This family was chosen for the home because the father had a rare form of cancer in which his whole femur (thigh bone) was eaten away.
On our long walk back we arrived at Lupe’s early so we walked back to the river for a few minutes.
Dinner was delicious as usual and then I was off to the soccer court. There I ran into many of the kids that now call me ‘Da vee’ or as the older ones say ‘Da bee’. In Spanish, the ‘v’ sounds like a ‘b’. Some of the kids when they recognize me hold up an imaginary bag and watch the ball fall in from the sky. And of course when I recognize one of them, I say ‘Hey Pittsburgh’ and hold out my fist for the Pittsburgh handshake. I’ve taught more people than I realized….I think that it’s taking over the town.
Joe, Hanna, Wombi and the two Translators, Daniel and Esquardo played soccer while I played ‘magic ball’ in the street. While playing, I saw a group of ‘not so happy’ teenagers and so I worked my way over to be near them. I picked out who I thought might be the leader and gave him a magic ball. His friends laughed and pushed him around. He laughed and proceeded to get off of his bicycle and decided to play. With his buddies laughing along with him, I asked him to throw it real, real high in the sky. His ball landed perfectly in the bag. He was hooked and so were all of his friends. I was passing out balls left and right. I was catching 10-15 balls at a time. I then took the leader and we turned our backs. I showed him how it was done and then I held my finger to my mouth and said ‘SShhhhhhh’. He laughed and then took over for me. He was very good! He shared the game with everyone there….more people were coming by the minute. I would cheer for him and then others would cheer for him as well. I showed him a little ‘acting’ with telling everyone to hold on while he’d wipe the sweat from his brow, do breathing exercises, muscle stretching…anything I could think of to be silly. And he was doing exactly what I was doing.
I had kids asking me to play soccer on their teams when I took a break from the ball-trick. They couldn’t believe that I don’t know how to play soccer. I showed that I am fat, slow, old….everything I could think of. They just laughed!
One of the kids, during a break from his soccer game, yelled for me—Da vee. I went over and he showed me a turtle in a pool. Then he proceeded to teach me ‘tortola’. Oh, I get it…I’ve been accepted as their friend and so they want to teach me es spanol. I had at least five kids teaching me words.
1. Candela- light
2. sing-ceiling
3. no ese-nose
4. zapato-shoe
5. carro-car
There were many more that I remembered last night that have now slipped from my mind. As they taught the word to me in Spanish, I would teach them in Ingles-English. They loved it, I loved it!
I believe that I am making a difference. The magic ball trick, my silly faces, the Pittsburgh handshake and just my individual attention will help them to remember me next year….I hope.
After we came back from town, it was about 9:00 p.m. and of course I wasn’t sleepy. Jordan was playing his guitar and singing so I went to get my kazoo. Jordan took a chair up to the inside of the gate and so I did too. He is so talented…he would sing a made up song using each child’s name in it. He also would translate songs into Spanish while he was singing. It was touching to see them listening to Jordan so intensively. Jordan played only a few more songs when the kids were called away.
We played a few hands of cards and just talked for awhile. Joe was able to teach the translators some American humor with the ol’ “Hurry, pull my finger’ trick. It was hilarious!
We are now off to Lupe’s for breakfast and then we’ll be back to work today.
It’s been a long day today so I’ve just showered and decided to take a nap in the hammock. While lying here, this is what I’m hearing:
1. roosters
2. kids yelling from the gate
3. the neighbor cooking over the fire
4. dogs barking
5. my friends talking downstairs
6. music
7. someone working with wood
8. different kinds of birds
9. opening and the closing of the squeaky, metal gate
10. people talking in Spanish
It was about 110 degrees today. I’m not sure but I think I’m losing weight.
After dinner, I went to the Internet Café. I was able to check my e-mail and the headlines or news back home. Matt and C.J. went with me. I love it here although I’m missing my family.
I was taught a few more Spanish words but I can’t remember them at the moment.
Today at work, we worked on Jessica’s home. Jessica’s mama does our laundry. She is very excited to have her new home completed soon. It is a 2-room home but no bathroom. They have 5 children and then of course the 2 parents.
I’m really feeling connected to our group. I really enjoy eating my meals with Pastor Bob and Tim. Bob is the Pastor at the Blough Mennonite church in Davidsville and Tim is a dairy farmer. We laugh a lot!
The translators are a bit homesick. Danny is in only 8th grade and Esquardo is in 11th. I talked to them a little bit so I hope that they feel better.
I’ve written this whole segment in the dark. It’s time for me to go to bed now…I really need it!
We had another good day of work. The temperature was a nice 90 degrees today. We laid block on the home and the whole time we worked while about 20 kids were running around. I can’t believe the strength of these kids. Jessica is only six years old and must have carried at least 50-6” blocks. Her cousin (I think) Darlene, about eight years old carried at least that many as well. It’s like the whole community of kids pitch in to help. I think that’s neat!
Today, I also worked with Alexis. He is really good at laying block. I think he enjoyed my company too.
My heart was really touched when Daniella, about age three, was hit with a rock and was crying. I stooped down and she crawled right into my arms and tucked her head in under my chin. I patted her back for awhile until I thought she fell asleep. I loved the moment!
I have about 250 photos now and I can’t wait to share them with everyone at home.
I did the magic ball trick today on the job site while waiting for ‘blocke’ to be delivered. It went over well…..
Also, I was moving some older blocks with Jorge and one of the blocks that Jorge was moving had a tarantula in it. I have a photo of it. It was funny; the kids were picking it up and carrying it around scaring the American’s with it.
The kids are really remembering my name yelling ‘Da vee’. It makes me feel good.
I’ve got to take my shower now to get ready for dinner.
It’s very early now on Friday morning. Today is our last day or work. Last night after dinner, I stayed in town while some people made phone calls. I ran into a lot of my new friends and they all put out their fists for the ‘Pittsburgh handshake’. They wanted to play ‘magic ball’ and I didn’t have any bags with me and then all of the sudden, Darlene pulled my bag out from earlier in the day out in front of the house. So I took the bag, handed out lots of magic balls and played for a few minutes. Some of the kids were hanging on me when I packed the bag away and the next thing I knew, someone had apparently taken my badge without me knowing. One of the boys came running back……
I was sidetracked this morning when Daniella came to the gate at 6:00 a.m. This gave me a few minutes of one-on-one with her. Russ gave me a puzzle to play with her but since it seemed to be the first time, it didn’t work out that well.
Within about 25 or 30 minutes, all of the children began to show up at the gate. Russ also had some bubbles and so I took them out to play. The kids liked them but I found myself refereeing more fights than actually getting to make bubbles.
Before I was finished playing with the kids, everyone had left for breakfast. I had to catch up to them….
When we came back from eating, it was time to start our last day or work. This morning, I was on ‘crowd control’, in which I kept most of the kids with me and out of the work area. I had a parade out on the street. My ‘band’ had about 10-12 members. We marched to a tune I made up with the kazoo. Jessica would start us out as she is the six year old with the attitude that keeps everyone in line. Uno, dos, tres….we’d march and finish about 30 seconds later with a hop on the right foot three times, hop on the left foot three times and then three bunny hops. After about 10 or so of these, I was out of breath. The kids held my hands and hung on my arms and we went for a walk around the block…a place I hadn’t been to. One of the kids was kind enough to tell me that I had ‘ca-ca’ on my shoes….probably from a cow, pig, horse, dog…or whatever.
The work crew seemed happy that although I didn’t work this morning, I did a nice job with the child care giving them the space needed to do the work.
In the afternoon, I gave up the crowd control for part of the cement mixing crew. It was rather hot today and the bites on my legs are very, very itchy.
Near quitting time, I had an English ‘classe’ for Jessica’s Uncle Chilo. Within a few minutes, Jessica, Jossi and their brother Lionel and a few friends were all learning English from me. I ended up staying about 15 minutes past quitting time while we all learned.
When I was leaving, Jessica’s mama told me that Jessica will be very sad when I leave and gave me two photos of Jessica for me to keep. How thoughtful!
The shower felt wonderful this evening. The could hear the pigs just outside my window while I showered.
The whole time I’m up here on the balcony, I hear can hear the kids yelling ‘DA VEE’.
I just remembered something from last night that I didn’t finish about my badge being stolen. My new friends are protecting me and the boy brought back my badge and pointed to the young boy who took it from my shirt. I didn’t recognize him though.
Also last night, Frank had Devotions in which he read Scripture and then discussed it. He was kinda funny explaining about somebody was getting ‘ticked off’ and about it was ‘cool’.
We then had a few people speak of why they were here and so I decided since nobody knows me, I’d explain my reasons, although I’m pretty unsure.
I talked about back during Hurricane Mitch and that I didn’t make it but always kept it in the back of my mind. My failed relationship with Tammy and that I’m doing some ‘searching’ in my life. I have a wonderful life, wonderful family but something is missing. I talked about the baby dying and questioned how in this time a baby could die from asthma. I cried while telling everyone about the mama asking for my help and all I did was rub the baby’s arm and say “I’m sorry”. I was blaming myself but soon found out when Beningo talked that the baby had actually gone to the clinic but it was too late. That eased my mind but not my heart.
Jessica is calling my name over and over again from outside the gate. I keep saying ‘momento’ and I think that she’s tired of hearing it.
I’m heading out to play now.
Today is my last day in Urraco. I was up early and Daniella was already at the gate at about 5:50 a.m. I played with her for only a few minutes and then the other kids starting coming. They all knew that it is our last day and began asking for American Dollars, my hat, bubbles, coins, chick lets, everything. I just kept saying ‘no mas’ but I did give Jessica my Irwin Builders Supply hat.
After breakfast, we did a blessing at all three homes that we worked on.
Jorge’s home blessing was emotional as his mama explained that when Hurricane Mitch came through, her home was wiped out and she had mud up above her knees. Jorge’s sister, Rosa began to cry and was unable to speak. We moved all of their belongings from their old hut into their new, block home.
The last home was that of Jessica and her family. Beningo spoke of how Jessica would ask him every day for a new home. Jessica’s mama does laundry for people and her father, I believe, works on a plantation. Cindy, about 14 years old, Jossi, about 10 and then Jessica, of course six and their little brother about four years old were all present for the blessing. Their brother Lionel about 16 years old was at work.
My roommate Pastor Bob did the blessings on the homes. He did an excellent job.
The kids are all still sitting outside of the gate even though it’s started to rain.
In about 30 minutes or so we’ll be loading onto buses and heading to La Ceiba. I know nothing at all about it but I hear that it’s a nice resort.
I’m going out to tell all of my new friends, Adios!
It was sad for me to leave all of these kids. I had a few give me ‘gifts’ to remember them by. They hardly have anything but they have it in their hearts to give me something. Jessica held my hand almost the whole way to Lupe’s Restaurant. I was a little disappointed that with only about 15 minutes left before we boarded the bus, the older kids were asking for American money, my gold chain, lempiras and just about anything else I had.
Today I reviewed over 100 photos of the children and I miss them. Although I’ve only known them a little over a week, it seems like much longer.
We had a two hour bus ride to Le Ceiba. It was a crazy bus ride with passing trailer trucks, cars and more on only this two-lane road. Ranchers have their cattle run right along the side of the road meanwhile we’re traveling 70-80 mph. We followed the mountains almost the whole way. They are just unbelievable and I have a few photos to show. Talking about photos, I’m approaching 500 but I still have some editing to do. I’m happy that I bought my new camera with the memory card.
Last night I had trouble with the bites on my legs. They were hot, sore and itchy all at the same time. A nurse with the medical team saw me and talked to one of the Doctors. She told her to give me a shot of a steroidal drug. I pulled down my pants a bit (she said shot in the hip but it was definitely my bum) She apologized when I flinched…the stinkin’ needle was dull!!
Today I felt pretty good this morning but now the bites are pretty itchy again. Even after swimming in the ocean…I was hoping the salt water would help.
I’m ready to leave for the Internet Café now. I’m looking forward to arriving home.
We had our Desposita last night in which we celebrate the departure from Honduras with the medical team and eye care team. It was pretty drawn out but the food was good. I’m really impressed with Beningo and how he helps the poor people of Honduras. He was presented a special plaque as he is the Founder of Pro Papa and is the President-Honduras.
Bob and I went up to our rooms a little after 10:00 p.m. and talked while we watched CNN. I began to get sleepy and so I called it a night. We woke up around 2:30 a.m. as we couldn’t find out the time as he misplaced his watch. We slowly began to pack for our trip home.
We left at 5:00 a.m. to drop off all of the translators in El Progresso. It was really nice to see Danny and Esquardo off.
Next we were off to a buffet breakfast in San Pedro Sala. It was really good and the service was excellent. Best of all, it was free…Pro PaPa picked up the tab for all of us.
We walked across the street to the market in which people sell their craft items and souvenirs. I bought mom a ‘throw’-blanket made in Capon and I bought Karen a JESUS cross made of wood. I also bought some vanilla for my mom. It was very cheap and the other guys were buying it as well. I’ll give each of the boys a machete since I’ve purchased five.
I’m now on my flight from Honduras to Houston. At the airport we said good-bye to Benigno and his son and also Sister Laurinda.
I feel like I’ve had some sort of religious experience although it’s not too clear just yet. Sister Laurinda says that ‘GOD is near the poor’….I somehow believe it!!
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