From Cataño to the World: Honduras

Hello and welcome back to my traveling blog.

Half of the group at the airport in Tegucigalpa. Can you find me?

Today, I will take you to my real adventure outside the island of Puerto Rico, one that I actually remember. I had the great opportunity to visit Honduras for two weeks during the summer of 2005. It was a mission trip that my church did to Honduras and it was the second year they did it. I decided to go because of two reasons; first, I wanted to go out and see Honduras and see Honduras and get their currency and second, because my sister, Valerie, The year prior and I was upset I didn't go because I was too young to go by myself. I know I am such a little brother. My church decided to go to Honduras because they were affiliated with another church in Puerto Rico and we were going to help them in spreading the love of God as well our sweat and tears to help them in anything that we could.

We departure to Honduras on July 11, 2005 and it was the longest flight of my life. We only had one stop, Panama City, and from there to Honduras. It was an 8-hour flight and I was really hyped about it. When we arrived to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, it was really sure!!! For the first time in my life, I had a cultural shock. First, we had to get off the plane by going down the stairs, follow by walking the runway to reach the airport building, where our luggage was waiting for us. This experience was a bit unusual given that I had never had to walk on the runway to get inside the airport. One of the first things our group leader said to us was: "DO NOT GIVE MONEY TO ANYBODY NO MATTER WHAT". At the moment I didn't understood why our group leader would say things like: "WE ARE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE AND WE ARE HERE TO HELP, RIGHT?... and say things like that!!" Well, to my surprise outside of the door of the airport over 50 children were waiting on every tourist to come out to beg for money and sell us things. In that moment it hit me...I realize I was not Puerto Rico any longer, and that I was experience for the first time what real poverty looks like. I just couldn't understand why, the kids instead of their of their parents were begging for money!! Non of us gave money to the children but, we witness a tourist giving money to one of the kid and next thing you know, all the children ran desperately like tornados around the tourist, who ended up with ripped pockets and no money. It was just surreal for a 12-year old kid to understand why at such a young age, children have to provide for their family instead of the other way around. This was an eye-opening situation for me. In that moment I understood that I my life was going to change forever in a good way

Waiting in the villa to get something to eat. Can you find me?

During those two weeks, I remember visiting three different cities in Honduras: Tegucigalpa, Yoro (a city in the mid-north side of the country) and an pedro de Sula (one of the biggest cities in Honduras located in the north near to Guatemala). We also stayed in other smaller town and villages (this was a long time ago) and I don't remember all of their names.

On our first days in Tegucigalpa, I remember they brought us to church to community service, as well as, to meet our chef while in the trip, which in the trip which by the way was amazing!!! I remember how I approached her... I needed to let her know things I didn't like to ear to my surprise, she replies: "Well you will have to eat whatever I cook, otherwise you will starve until next day breakfast. Those were the most hurtful words someone could have ever say to me. But I did ate everything she cooked, and because of her I stooped being picky with food-well  more than now! I'm still picky, but open to try anything. A few days into helping build a church, we learned that there was another group that was coming to Tegucigalpa and that we needed to wait for the bus at least three hours so the bus was late and we had to walk from the church to another village and we walked about 5 hours in a dirt street in the middle of the jungle. It was a strange experience but cool at the same time! We had things to do because the weather was nice and the view of the mountains and fields were amazingly beautiful. 

At a church making balloons for the children. Can you find me?

On all of our church visits, we were responsible for entertaining the children and teenagers at the church. Because I am a professional clown (I am serious!) and recently graduated from Clown School in 2005, I took charge of making balloons and face painting since nobody else knew how to do it. I had such a blast doing this, even though I wasn't dress like a clown. Those hours I spent making balloons and painting faces made my day. To see a child with a big smile and such joy over a ballon in the shape of a sword, hat, turtle, dog, or giraffe, made me realize that I needed to appreciate more what I had back home and not be ungrateful because I didn't get the latest thing. In my case it was a Nintendo DS.

During the trip I met my friend José. Like me, he was volunteering with the church and in a way, he was also our tour guy. He is one of the persons I met during I met during this trip that until this day, I still wonder what happened to him. He used to talked to me about how he tried to get to the United States multiple times and how he would got caught in the borders of Guatemala, Mexico and the United States while he was on a train that crossed the borders (except the U.S border). He explained to us how hard the move on and get a job in Gringolandia (United States), if you do not possess money or somebody to didn't understood a lot about immigration, but growing up realized the situation in Honduras and the struggle that my friend José was going through. I left Honduras saying good bye to my friend José wishing him the best and hoping I would be able to se him again with a  lot of candy and toilet paper, the two things he loved because he wasn't able to have it that easy. We left Honduras and two or three year later we found out that our friend José tried again to get into United States illegally through that train and made it. They told us he was in Miami but we never got a confirmation. I hope he is doing well and I wish him the best.

One of the things that impacted my life during my time at Honduras was that the regardless of the current situation at the time, people were so nice, happy, optimistic, and extremely humble. I had the opportunity to go and visit the house of one of the members of the congregation and it really opened my eyes. The house had only 3 bedrooms, one shower, no toilet, the kitchen was in the back of the house and it had a huge pan and it was build on top a bonfire surrounded by mud, and a living room that only fit 3 people sitting at the same time. The walls were made out of mud, the floor was made of dirt and their bathroom was 20 feet away from the house which was 4 panels of wood and the roof made out of zinc with a hole in the middle, which was really uncomfortable. Believe me it was! I have used it. Another thing that impacted me was how their broom was made of. The broom was made of a stick with wood and three branches. After coming back to Puerto Rico I was not the same kid that have left. I appreciated everything I had, even the broom because I didn't had to climb trees and swept the dirt. And as a kid I didn't had to go to work to provide to my family.


Random things that happen to me in Honduras:

• We did most of the road trip during the night. We always move around on a yellow school bus, and we all had our own seat. One night on our way back to San Pedro de Sula, as soon as we hit the road, I felt asleep on my seat, which was on the right side of the bus. It was a rainy day making the road muddy. Later that night, I woke up with the scream of everyone shouting my name, but I couldn't understand why. When I finally woke up, my face was smashing the window because the bus was almost falling down a cliff. Everyone was trying to make weight all the weight that almost made the bus go down hill. As you can see, nothing happen, otherwise, another person will be telling you the story. I move faster than Speedy Gonzalez, moving to the left side of the bus allowing the bus to move out the cliff and continuing our way to San Pedro de Sula. Very scary, but adventurous experience.
• We were really close to visit a Native American tribe in Honduras but I couldn't go because I was 12 and they didn't had space in the truck. Funny story; after they made it to the tribe, the messenger of the Native American didn't allow anyone to come close to the tribe outside the path. So, I didn't missed anything but I was really hype about knowing how close I was to a real tribe, just like a typical kid. 
• KFC chicken from Honduras taste way different than the KFC from Puerto Rico. 
• When you order a soda to go, they don't give you a cup instead you get a mini plastic bag with a straw. 
• On our way back to Puerto Rico, My mother, sister and I gave our passport to the TSA guy and he took forever to look over our passport. When he talked to my mother he said he only had two passport and that he was missing mine. My mom got into an argument with the TSA guy, she ended up grabbing my passport from where he was hiding it. I almost got didn't left Panama. 
• When I arrive to Puerto Rico,  I went straight to the ER because I was dehydrated from the trop. I drank tap water in Honduras the last day there and I almost die because of how many times I went to the bathroom in a 8-hour flight back to Puerto Rico. 

Things to know about Honduras before departing : 

• There is no vaccine required to Honduras, but recommended to have hepatitis, tetanus, and typhoid vaccine before departing to Honduras.  
• There is no visa required to visit Honduras with a U.S. passport. You have 90 days to enter and leave the country as a tourist.
• The north cost of Honduras has most humid period between September to February while the rainy seasons are between October to December. In the center of Honduras the drought season is during November to to April (this is the best tine to visit) and the rainy season is during May to October. 
• AS SOON YOU GET TO HONDURAS GO AND EAT SOME BALEADAS!!!! IT'S A MUST!! 

*****If you are interested in knowing how hard and horrifying was for my friend José to emigrate from Honduras to the United States by train. I recommend reading the book of  Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario is a really eye opening book. Is not my friend life story but it's close to every experience my friend went through every time he tried to leave Honduras. 

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I hope you all enjoyed todays post. Let me know what you think and don't forget to like and share! Coming up next the LESSER ANTILLES 2009! I will talk to you about the great adventure I had when I went on a cruise for 7 days. See ya, God Bless you all! Merry Christmas!