we began the spring traveling season with our first long road trip with our wonderful neighbors and their trusty Toyota. on friday, february 3rd we drove to Gracias (de Lempira), where we enjoyed the thermal hot springs, a traditional Lencan dinner, and an adventure into the mountain villages near Celaque National Forest.
We also made a stop in La Campa, the Lencan pottery capital of Honduras...souvenirs galore! we drove home on monday, feb 6th since EIS was celebrating an all school "reading day" holiday. pretty sweet...we definitely read, um... some. :)
the following weekend jason and i trekked ourselves to a beach town, Omoa, on the northern coast of honduras. it's a short hour and half bus ride (give or take a stopping, animal crossing, bus mishaps, and traffic). we stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast, Suenos de Mar. although it rained the vast majority of our traveling and our time in omoa, we made the best of it. we toured La Fortaleza San Fernando de Omoa, a spanish fort built in the 18th century, and finished the night with a seafood dinner at sunset overlooking the caribbean.
we learned a little bit more of honduras' history, but mainly enjoyed the sun while we had it with a good ole' fashioned photo shoot.
the following weekend, from feb 19-26, eric witte came to visit us and volunteer his physical therapist services at the local "CURE" hospital. it was so good to have a friend come to visit, especially someone coming from jason's circle of relationships. we enjoyed long conversations, reminiscing and even a short trip out of the city.
knowing eric loves the great outdoors, and is always up for a new challenge, we took him (via chicken bus) to Panacam Lodge near Lake Yojoa. the hour-ish chicken bus ride took us to the base of the mountain, and then we miserly counted our lempiras to see what our remaining options were. somehow we mis-communicated about who was in charge of taking out cash, and we only discovered on the bus ride down that we had about L300, or $15 for the weekend trip. guh. not a great feeling. rapadito micro-bus to the rescue, for $0.40 we took the bus about half the distance (4 or so miles) and then set off on foot for the remaining miles...it was a long, hot walk...but leave it to honduras to provide a bit of entertainment. wild horses, curious honduran children following us for a portion of the walk, a friendly futbol game and exuberant greetings from passer-bys helped the time to go more quickly.
our time was mellow and relaxed. that it until the morning when we hiked up and down the Cerro Azul mountain range. 7 km and 2.5 hours later we were exhausted, refreshed, inspired and awed all the at the same time. after a delicious lunch at the lodge, we embarked on our trip home for the LOUDEST bus ride to date. jason's sound measuring app registered up to about 80-90 decibels. the max on our counter was 110. you do the math ;)
the week with eric was wonderful! we are so grateful for his sacrifice of time and resources to visit us...love you eric!
a few weeks later we went with our friends david, lisa and their daughter natalie to La Ceiba, where they have friends from home teaching in another international school. they generously hosted the five of us overnight, until we all went to the next beach town "Sambo Creek" for some fun in the sand... we stayed at another lovely hotel, Villa Helen's, a very short hop, skip and a jump from the beach. after a very sketchy cab ride when i was screamed at and threatened, "Helen's" was just the right medicine for the fear and hurt i felt from the "us vs. them" experience the cabbie was creating. i'd love to soon forget this exchange, so i won't go into too many details here...arriving at helen's reminded me of the security we have in walking God's will each and ever day (as well as the countless, caring honduran relationships we have developed over the course of the past 8 months.
more to come...roatan with wells and austin & guatemala for semana santa with liz. we are blessed indeed!
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