Arriving in Honduras
I don’t know why, but when I signed up for this route, Honduras was
one of the countries that I didn’t care about. I was excited for
Guatemala because I almost went there before on a mission trip, and
Belize I know is like a paradise vacation spot, but I didn’t know much
about (and therefore could care less about) Honduras.
We had just gone through team changes (read previous blog for more on
that), and I wasn’t sure what we would be getting into.
When the set up sheet came, I had mixed feelings. The name of the
place was Rancho Oasis for Youth. Ranch- must have some kind of
animals… Youth-that part sounds promising… I think this could be a
good month. Right?
Reading further it said we would be staying in tents, and that they
were working on building a new place to host teams that might be ready
at the end of our time there. There was something about the water
going into the ground, so it would require special biodegradable
shampoos and such. There was a spot where they recommended specific
water filters for drinking water. Ok… It could be a fun adventure. I
haven’t really used my tent yet this far into the race, I guess one
month would be fun. And we would be doing a lot of praying over our
water filters.
When I looked at the part where it says what we would be doing for the
month it looked like a list of manual labor projects. I pictured
mucking stalls, building corrals, and a weekly sports camp. This
didn’t look like fun to me, but I’m an optimist. The name of the place
has that word “youth” in it. That means there has to be kids around at
least some of the time.
If nothing else, I figured I would have some fun stories to tell about
the trials I would have to endure this month.
We loaded up in a bus and traveled all day to reach the capital city
of Honduras. Then we hopped in another van to reach the city we would
be staying in. The driver parked in front of a church at close to
midnight. We didn’t know what was going on. I thought maybe they would
have us stay in the church for the night so we didn’t have to pitch
our tents in the dark.
But no, our host arrived a little later with yet another van. We
lugged our stuff over to His van and set off up the mountain. It was a
bumpy ride that I would never have attempted to drive with my car.
Winding, twisting roads, steep hills that looked difficult to walk,
but some how the van made it. The night guard opened the barbed wire
fence to admit us to our new home for the month.
As exhausted as we were, I almost couldn’t comprehend what our host
was saying when he pointed at the building that we would be staying
in. He walked us in and showed us the bathroom with hot shower, three
rooms set up with beds, and a nice kitchen for us to cook in. I’m not
sure we showed as much enthusiasm as we really felt. No tents!
I threw my stuff down and crawled in bed and promptly fell asleep.
The next morning I woke up early to the sun beaming down through a
skylight over my head. I snuck outside to have a look around in the
daylight. I was greeted by a dog, a cat, and a young goat. I sat down
by a tree and they all joined me as I took in the incredible view.
Next to Nepal, I think this was one of the most beautiful sights I had
seen on the race. The air was a little hazy that first few days, but
on a clear day we could see the capital from our mountainside perch.
At night the lights dotted the valley and the mountainside beyond it.
The other direction had a tree covered ridge. There were goats playing
in the field, and two horses grazing with chickens and guinea hens
scattered throughout.
I just knew this would be a good month.
