Friday, February 13, 2009

Our First Day in Honduras




¡Hola! Buenas Noches from Tegucigalpa.

Today we traveled from Miami to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After rolling out of bed at 6:00 am, we headed for Miami International Airport where we started the day with coffee, breakfast, and an intense game of Catchphrase. We boarded the plane, anxious of the landing that awaited us.

We were able to all sit close together on the plane and it was an enjoyable ride. Thank goodness the landing was not as frightening as the youtube video. Of course with her eyes closed the whole time, Ms. Lynn could not see it. It took over an hour to get through customs. We did have to explain the toothpaste!

After we got through customs, we were greeted by our hosts: Raul, Rich and Barbara. Raul is the guest coordinator at El Hogar, Rich is the founder of El Hogar and Barbara is a physician who visits El Hogar and runs a clinic in rural Honduras. Rich and Raul drove us to the Hotel Honduras Maya. We were surprised by the agressive drivers and the variety of cars on the road. How funny it was to start our adventure driving through Tegucigalpa behind a car with a New York Yankees bumper sticker. When Rich said there were so many Yankees fans here we wondered how our Red Sox hats would be received. At least Mr. Harrison will be alright with his bucket hat from Italy.


We quickly learned that Tegucigalpa is a city of contrasts. As Rich pointed out a brand new mall on the right, we could not help but notice the shanty houses built into the hill on the left. We had a sobering moment when we saw a young boy (about 7) selling food in the middle of a busy street.

We checked into our nice hotel, spent some time at the pool (It´s 23° ... on the Celcius scale!), and had a team dinner at the hotel's restaurant. The more adventurous of the group sampled local cuisine, while others stuck with hamburgers and french fries.


Tomorrow, Raul will pick us up and take us to meet the children at El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza.

¡Hasta Mañana!
Angela and Kathleen

10 comments:

  1. Local cuisine? Que comieron? Queremos saber.

    Re: agressive drivers, eso se llama machismo.

    As for las afueras de Tegucigalpa, I have not been there but many cities in Latinoamerica follow the same pattern, con los barrios muy pobres en las afueras de las ciudades grandes.

    I wish you all well on your trip.
    Watch out for those Yankees fans!

    Have fun meeting the kids...

    Buena suerte,
    Sra. A.

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  2. Hello from Reading and Happy Valentine's Day!
    Mrs H

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  3. hello everyone.'
    Happy Valentines Day. What a wonderful day to be
    giving love and service to others. You are all so wonderful to give your hearts and time to these children. happy Valentines Day to Emmy .'
    Love Mom and Ian

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  4. Happy Valentine's Day to Kelsey and the entire group. It's wonderful to see and hear that you all are safely in Honduras. Keep posting the pictures and blogs. They're great.

    Love, Dad and Donna

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  5. Greetings from windy and icy Reading. Great picture! What did you do with your other two teachers? Are they still pale from the landing? Your details are terrific. Keep up the info. It's fun to follow.
    -Mrs. Dee

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  6. Good Morning from Reading. The sun is shining and the temp here is 28° (Fahrenheit). Reading your blog warms me up though. It sounds like you taking it all in. What a great start to your trip! Enjoy every minute, and keep those details coming. Hugs from all of us at home.

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  7. We want to know if Emmy was the adventurous eater. Cual es la comida tipica de Honduras? Good luck!
    The Wrights

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  8. That is awesome and i will check in with you, Ms. Lynn.

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  9. "After the tour, we were excited to play with the kids. From tickle fights,
    to intense games of soccer, to blowing bubbles and drawing with chalk, we
    had a blast. Before long, we were back outside playing tag and hide and
    seek." Kathleen, this is your kind of 'work'!!!

    Have fun.

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  10. Hi Angela,What a wonderful experience for all of you. I hope you enjoy every moment, as I'm sure you will. These are the things that memories are made of and you will never forget.
    Sunny today but very cold....I haven't even
    ventured outside today....maybe tomorrow.
    We had Brothers Dinner here yesterday. Ummmmm.
    Love Aunt Marilyn

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