Let's start with the first 4 days.
We flew into the capital city of Tegucigalpa. That was an adventure on its own as the city sits in the bowl between several mountains, so the plane has to bank and circle sharply, then drop suddenly, the stop quickly on a very short runway. Rumour on the plane was that you need a special certification just to land there! It was nice though because it gave a beautiful birds eye view of the whole place before we landed. The capital has at least (if not more) than the population of Toronto, but no skyrises, and mostly 'huts' built into the side of hills. Quite a sight.
From the airport out fabulous guides/translators packed us into pickup trucks, and drove out to the ranch where we would stay for the weekened. One stop along the way for 'juice' at the grocery store. wink wink. And one stop to visit an orphanage. What an amazing place - the kids were all so happy, and so polite. Most of them actually have parents but their moms are in jail and the way it works in Honduras there kids would have to live in jail with their moms unless there were places like this to take them.
The ranch was about an hour away, and more beautiful than I had imagined. It sort of perched on a hilltop and looked out towards mountains and across fields of sugar cane. The laneway up to it is about 3kms long, and the guides took personal pleasure in driving it as fast and rough as they could - especially if we were sitting in the back at the time!
Our weekend was quiet, with lots of time to get to know each other and bond as a team. We visited all the different projects that Amigos de los Ninos is involved in - the orphanage, Flor Azul (a farm for rural boys to come and be educated), Nuevo Paraiso (another orphange designed in small houses so it feels more like home), Montagna de la Luz (an HIV hospice for children) and also the closest medical clinic. I think the thing that struck me the most was how polite and respectful all the kids were. I can't imagine any of them ever throwing a temper tantrum, or complaining about the size or quantity of gifts they got. It made me realize what a blessing it can be to have a simple life.The ranch itself was a great place to start off our trip. The food was fantastic and all safe, they had loads of clean water, hot showers, and couches outside to read on. The only downside was that the women were in a dorm of about 12 of us (in bunkbeds) so getting any significant amount of sleep was hard!
Saturday we visited a tourist/artsy town called Valley of the Angels (well that is the translation, I forget how to spell the real name) and did some tourist type shopping. Then we came back to the ranch and packed all our supplies and drugs for the week to come. It was an impressive amount. A hockey bag full of clothes for each day. One full of school supplies and toys, and many many full of drugs (I think the estimate was $200,000 worth!).
Sunday morning we packed up bright and early, and spent 7 hours in the rain driving to our new home for the week - Sulaca. It is a small town in the mountains. Can't really tell you much about the town because I wasn't allowed to leave the hotel! Our first encounter there was at the gas station...where someone started firing their gun just for fun...so that kind of curtailed any walking and exploring adventures!
Stay tuned for Part 2 - the medical brigades.
Lots of love
Pamela
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