November 2, 2010
Puerto Barrios, Guatemala
9:00am – time we were supposed to leave
10:30 – we left. All six members of Team B.R.A.D.Y., one Hineni member, one Squad Leader and five Shofar Ministry staff members – complete with backpacks, daypacks and instruments – piled into a Yukon and Jeep and headed to Honduras.
11:15 – we stop. They’re repairing the bridge to Honduras from Guatemala. Word on the street is that it’ll take 3 hours to finish. What do we do? Worship. 🙂 Walter, one of the Shofar guys, makes a rather astute observation: “Whit skin doesn’t work in Guatemala. Because of sun.” …uh, thanks for the info Walter! ahah ;p
12:45pm – get in car to cross bridge.
1:00 – actually cross the newly repaired bridge.
1:11 – stop at border crossing/migration.
1:20 – done with migration and on the way to Puerto Cortez, Honduras.
1:50 – get stopped at the police checkpoint. packs are searched.
2:00 – on the way again…
2:30 – get in a fender bender while crossing the street to get to Pizza Hut. contact pays the other driver a decided amount and all is well.
2:45 – mmm, Pizza Hut!! With FREE refills on cokes!!
4:05 – get in car and pull in to “bus station” to get us to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Immediately, our bags are unloaded by the men there yelling their different bus routes and prices. It was slightly chaotic.
4:20 – Tell our Guatemalan friends , “adios!” and are loaded into the bus.
6:00 – arrive at “bus station” in San Pedro Sula.
6:10 – go to purchase bus tickets for bus to Nicaragua leaving at 5am.
6:30 – ticket place closed; hope for best in the morning. Try to figure out lodging for tonight and how to get to Supermarket. We manage to get everything sorted out due to Hilda (Shofar ministry contact) and her brother (Austin; lives in Sula). We even get to walk around the mall for a bit and found a Cinnabon!! ;p
9:30 – get to Austin’s church. They’re gracious enough to let us sleep on the floor that night.
10:45pm – finally wrap up the conversation with the pastor and say goodnight.
10:46 – crash! on the tile floor with no sleeping pad, my backpack as a pillow and ants to keep me company.
November 3, 2010
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
3:15am – wake up and stretch my back. it’s not so happy about the hours on the hard floor.
3:50 – load Austin’s van and head to bus station; praying all the way we can get 8 tickets to Nicaragua.
4:10 – arrive at station…..YAY!! tickets are available!
5:00am – board bus and find out it’ll cost $15/person to get into Nicaragua. Dang taxes!
5:15 – depart for Nica!
9:30am – stop in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to pick up more passengers. Including, Mary Magoni & Allen Boehme’s teams!!! Yay for random reunions with other Racers!!
10:00 – depart again
1:50pm – stop at Honduran border…and wait….
2:00 – board bus and leave
2:05 – stop at Nicaraguan border …and wait….
3:10 – load bus again; leave border
4:20 – stop at Chichimanga, Nicaragua. Allen’s team unloads.
7:00 – pull into Managua bus station & unload
7:20 – Greg, Cara and Tim go to find a sim card for Greg’s phone and talk to our contacts in Jinotepe
8:00pm – they come back; need to find taxis to take us to Jinotepe (an hour away). They go to find these taxis.
8:20 – two taxis loaded with 8 people, two drivers, packs, backpacks, instruments and junk…on the way to Jinotepe
10:00pm – arrive at Casa Mateo (hotel that’s part of the ministry in Jinotepe)!!! It’s not where we’re staying the entire month, but it’ll be home for the night! There is much shouting and rejoicing.
…the next day…Michael and I left to go to Granada, Nicaragua to plan the Squad Debrief happening at the end of the month.
Praise God for travelling….right?! ;p
