Saturday, April 23, 2011

Adventures in Honduras

We're having a wonderful time in Honduras! Updating two days in a row...this is a record! But for all of you that are worried....we're staying safe!

I got to meet two of Venita's friends yesterday, Olga and Yvonne. Super sweet ladies and so friendly! Olga went with us downtown yesterday afternoon/evening. There was a big cultural event going on and its safer to take a local with you. They made rugs out of colorful sawdust and then they had a processional for the arch-bishop to walk down the rugs. They had these HUGE displays of the crucifixion, followed by the funeral, followed by Mary weeping. It was a neat experience, but I couldn't help but stand there and be thankful to have the Truth! There were TONS of people down there and we had to be really careful with our personal belongings. And most of the time, we walked arm in arm so we could stay together.

Lots of people, lots of incense, lots of smells, lots of sounds, but a neat experience.

This morning we woke up early and Olga came to meet us. We went down to the open air market, but they were closed. A lot of places are closed yesterday and today because of Good Friday. So we didn't get to go to the market, but there were some people selling flowers. Venita bought a couple of flowers and they smelled so good! Cheap too! 25 limperas is about $1.25 USD.

Now, we are waiting on Sarah to arrive on her flight. Remember I said that was another story in and of itself? Well, I have a little more time to explain...so here it goes. :) Yesterday, at the airport in KC, the airline had a different persons passport info on Sarah's airline ticket. Sarah never gave them her passport info so she's not sure how it got on there. There was obviously an error with the airline. They pulled her into a room because they thought she was a terrorist trying to fly with someone else's info. But get this. The odd name that was on there was with the name of George something. Seriously? So, by the time they got it all figured out it was 3 minutes past time she could check in and they wouldn't override it for her. Bah! So needless to say, Sarah is arriving today! Yay! We told her we were going to start calling her Georgie! We're such good friends! LOL

I'm not exactly sure what we are doing the rest of the day. I think we're going to a smaller quaint town. So I'm excited to see what the rest of this day holds.

So many, if not all, of you are probably wondering what Honduras is like. Things I've gathered so far....
  • They drive on the correct side of the road.
  • It's not very clean...liter everywhere.
  • Palm trees almost everywhere you go
  • They drive like crazy people
  • They have American fast food places everywhere! Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Church's Chicken, KFC. They even have Denny's and Chili's!! Venita said that Denny's ran out of pancake mix the other day. LOL I wasn't so shocked to see Burger King or KFC, but I was the rest...especially Chili's!
  • They have a couple of American banks...HSBC and Citi! They have about 20 banks on every corner.
  • They have a Walmart!
  • People walk on the street (even on BUSY streets) rather than the sidewalks.
  • They have random barrels sitting in the middle of the road.
  • Motorcycles can pretty much do what they want. They whip in and out of traffic...oh wait, the cars do too! It's no big deal though, just scoot over and drive on the side until they move out of the way. ha!
  • All their nice houses are built behind walls.
  • Their housing is random. One house could be a HUGE nice colorful home, and the next home could be a shack. In some areas of town they just pick a spot to build a home (more like what we would call a shack) and they don't even own the land. They just build it anywhere they can find room. Mostly of painted sheets of wood and sometimes metal doors.
  • They have American electricity!
  • You have to brush your teeth with bottled water! Having a hard time getting used to that one.
  • Their kids (especially daughters) don't leave home until they get married. And they are very close to their moms.
  • They have mango trees!
  • You can see the mountains driving around the city!
  • They don't have many side streets that are through streets. You have to go the roundabout way.
  • Their wiring here is CRAZY!! It's one BIG MESS!!! You'll believe it when you see a picture!
  • There are random guards standing on the street corners with massive guns.
  • They have nice shopping malls.
  • Their sidewalks are sometimes concrete, sometimes tile.
  • There is a guy that walks the neighborhood that V lives in yelling "AGUA"...he's selling those big 5 gallon jugs for 33 limpiras, which is about $1.50!
That's about it for now...going to eat some breakfast before we head to meet Georgie...er I mean Sarah at the airport! hehehe Hope she doesn't have any issues like I did getting through customs. LOL

Until next time...

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Love her heart. Poor Georgie. ;o) That really stinks. I hate KC airport. I don't think I'll EVER fly there again unless I really have to.

Hope you have an amazing time!