It’s taken me almost 2 weeks to finally write on here, but I guess late is better than never! There’s so much to say, sorry if I ramble = ) Obviously, I made it here safe and sound… although there was a horrible plane crash in Honduras (at a different airport) on the day that I travelled. Thank you to everybody who reached out to my family to make sure that I was not involved. It was raining when I arrived in Honduras and my travel plans consisted of 2 flights (with a short layover in Houston, luckily the first plane arrived early), a taxi ride to the main bus station in San Pedro Sula, a bus ride to Tela, and a taxi to my house… which was interesting because there are not clear addresses in Tela. I had some directions, but was still having trouble locating the actual house so my taxi driver actually called a friend who told him how to find the house. I later found out that the friend works for the SOS (the name of the village of children’s homes where I volunteer). It helped that my roommates had put a “Carly” sign up on the gate.
I met some kind people on both flights and the bus ride. On the first flight, I sat next to a man who sits on a board for a children’s home of some sort in Guatemala. On the second flight, I met a friendly woman who was with a group on a Mission Trip to San Pedro Sula. She was 70 years old, but looked much younger. She has been going to Honduras for many years to volunteer and she was very helpful with the paperwork on the plane. On the bus, I met a girl who lives in La Ceiba (a big city a couple hours away from Tela) and we chatted most of the way. She only spoke Spanish, but her boyfriend who sat behind us spoke English. She told me when we had arrived at my stop and she also gave me her phone number to get in touch with her when I visit La Ceiba.
It’s embarrassing to admit that my arms were sore the next day from lugging my suitcases around, but I can’t complain when I think about some of the things that contributed to the pain. Before I left the states, my coworkers at children services did a donation drive for new dental supplies. I brought the supplies to Honduras and have since given them to my Director (Dennis), who was thrilled. He told me that every single child got a new toothbrush and he was more than thankful. To my amazing friends from work, I can’t thank you enough!!
I slept less than 2 hours the night before I left because I was still packing. Mom and Dad—thanks for all of your help!! I couldn’t have done it without you guys = ) I had a lingering cold for the first few days in Honduras, but I had plenty of time to catch up on sleep. Between the cold and the flight, my ears did not pop all the way until several days later. Needless to say, not being able to hear very well only made it harder to understand people speaking quickly in Spanish. My Spanish has been coming along at what seems to be a slow pace, but I have been communicating better with the kids in the last couple of days. My roommates (Andrew and Colin, two 22 year old guys from Washington) have also been helpful, as they had been traveling through Central America for a couple of months before coming to Tela at the end of January.
We will be getting several new roommates in the coming weeks/months, but for now it is just the 3 of us (the guys are leaving in about 2 weeks). Our house sits on a dirt road and is sandwiched between two soccer fields. The house is pretty and I currently have my own room, while the boys share the bigger room. Our landlord’s house is right next to ours and their names are Dina and Roy. Roy works in construction and he speaks perfect English. In addition to his regular construction job, he is building an upstairs to the volunteer house. Dina sells homemade baggies of ice cream to the children in the neighborhood. Their front porch has decorative bars around it making it similar to a screened in porch. On the porch, they keep a parrot and it loves to scream Dina’s name throughout the day. They also have 4 dogs, one small dog stays on the porch most of the time (Nico) and the other three roam the yard. I think that two are Rottweilers (Rex & Ceiba) and one is a boxer (Max). They look tough, but they are all sweet. A wall encloses both of the houses with gates at the entrances. I feel very safe at home as the gates have padlocks on them and the windows all have decorative bars on them. The backyard is full of fruit trees including coconut trees, mango trees, and a tree that contains what appear to be clementines, but actually taste like lemons. The front porch has 2 hammocks on it and they serve as a good napping spot. Ours are two of the only houses on the block.
The SOS is almost directly down the street, but the main entrance is around the corner of the block, so it takes a few minutes to walk there. I was surprised at how nice the campus is… and the kids all work hard to help maintain its beauty. The complex has a fence around it and a security guard stays near the entrance 24/7. There are 14 homes in the complex and each includes a house mom and several kids. There are more than 100 kids in the SOS and I have learned/remembered about 1/3 of their names. Dennis is our Director and he is enthusiastic, extremely welcoming, and devoted to the kids.
There is also a soccer field on campus and some classrooms where we teach. Mostly, our teaching has consisted of English lessons and we help the kids with homework from time to time. In one English class for the older kids, we taught a lesson on directions. We transformed the room into a maze and teams of kids had to direct a blindfolded teammate through the maze. We have also made paper machete with the younger kids and we had a movie night for everybody. We have been trying different schedules consisting of teaching classes 4 days a week, but we generally play with the kids most days. For a while we had them split into age groups, but some classes didn’t have a big turnout so we have switched it again. We are also trying to do one bigger event a week (like the movie night). Tonight we played capture the flag and it was a big hit, especially because we bought face paint to distinguish the teams. We also plan to put on a talent show in about 2 weeks. The kids are always excited to see us and they are very loving—there is never a shortage of hugs, piggyback rides, and high fives or handshakes. One of my roommates plays the guitar and the kids gather around to listen to him whenever they bring the guitar out. We spend a lot of time playing soccer with them and there was a tournament last weekend at one of the soccer fields next to our house. The kids from our SOS played against groups of kids from SOS sites in other major cities and it was a blast to watch them.
Nearly every night, there are organized soccer games for adults at the other field by our house. Last night, we went out for a seafood dinner and watched some soccer on our way back. It was the first time I ate out down here and it was delicious! I typically buy groceries from a market down the street. Some other activities we’ve enjoyed include going to one of the most beautiful tropical beaches I have ever seen (that is located a short and cheap taxi ride away). Between lying on the beach and lying on my hammock, I feel like I’m in paradise. We also took a trip to one of the largest botanical gardens a few days ago. We swam in a gorgeous swimming hole tucked away in the forest off of one of the trails.
I feel like I’m adjusting well to the changes that come with living in Honduras as compared to my life in the states. For example, toilet paper goes in the trashcan and not in the toilet; we buy purified water and cannot drink out of the faucet; and our showers have one setting—cold water (yes Mom and Dad, my showers seemed to be a bit shorter at first… now I’m getting used to it). So far, we have been without water for most of one day and without electricity for half of the following day, but that does not seem to be common. I hardly ever realize that I no longer have a cell phone and although I love to drive, I don’t really miss having a car. We take taxis and buses (old American school buses) anywhere that we cannot walk. Tristen—spiders seem to be the least of my worries here… picture some geckoes running around on the walls and giant cockroaches hiding out in the laundry shed or on my doorframe right around bedtime. Before getting into bed, I’ve discovered a gecko in my bedroom window one night and cockroaches in my room twice. The guys have definitely come to my rescue a couple of times in that respect and I will miss them soon!
My time in Honduras has been amazing and I’m excited to see what else is in store, especially with new roommates coming and going over the next few months. One thing is certain: I already know that this will be a hard place to leave… I guess it’s good that I purchased a roundtrip ticket.
