Apparently you shouldn’t hitchhike in Honduras. It worked for us.
This month, my team and I doing something different. Instead of working alongside a ministry for a month we are traveling around the country looking for people, ministries, organizations to encourage and introduce to The World Race and AIM.
We talked with many people around La Ceiba who all gave us the name and number of a family that we “had to meet!” way up in the mountains. We called. We emailed. Nothing. So, with limited information we just decided to go up there ourselves unannounced. All we knew was the name of the town the ministry site was nearby, the name of the founder (Jason), that it was up there. We didn’t even know if he was up there.
My teammate, Anna, and I woke up bright and early to get dropped off as close as possible to the potential ministry site. We figured out later that “as close as possible” meant a 2 hour drive to go still (if you had a vehicle).
The public bus that went to the end of the gravel road (just where we needed to go) was just over our transportation budget. An old school bus traveled up and down the mountain, but nobody really knew it’s schedule. Even the locals. That did not dishearten us – we’re month 9 World Racers – what’s a schedule?
There was, however, a frequent amount of pick-up truck traffic. So, after a short side-of-the-road bathroom break we decided to try our luck, put out our thumbs, wave – frantically at times, and test if humans are innately good. We learned that, indeed, we are.
It took us 2 pick-up trucks and 1 cement truck to get to the elusive school/orphanage we were seeking. About 3 hours on the road. Along the way we were given some of the best views I’ve seen on the Race. Lush rainforest, massive mountains, and a river that cut its way through it all.
We made a friend on the back of the cement truck who spoke only Spanish to us. I caught the words “Muchas” and “Si”. And we were eventually joined by 2 women with a child. See? Everybody hitchhikes. It’s normal. But not for us. We did not speak Spanish. We did not know where we were going or where to get off. We were completely in the hands of the unseen driver in the cab and blind as bats, but I think the new comparison should be “Blind as 2 Canadians hitchhiking up a mountain road in Honduras.” (We’ll see if that one sticks.) Anna and I had no choice, but to trust in God and depend on Him to get us to where we needed to go.
The best part was when the driver stopped to buy snacks for his family. We picked up a man who immediately looked at us gringos and said “Jason?!” (Jason is the name of the man who founded the ministry we were looking for). In my fluent Spanish I said “Si!” God had sent his angel. 30 minutes down the road our new angel friend kicked us out of the truck and we were looking upon the front gates of school/orphanage we set out to find at 6AM. Although the family we were looking for was back in the States we were still received with open arms from the volunteers and workers. They made us lunch and the best lemonade ever. They even hung out with us for their whole morning.
I guess when you fully depend on God in life you get to a place that gives you ice-cold, freshly squeezed lemonade on a 30 degree day.
