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Thread: My Journey to Honduras

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    Kscott's Avatar New and Improved!
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    Default My Journey to Honduras

    I got bored writing history, so I decided to change up the pace a little bit and write about my travels, or in better words my travel. This is really my only interesting travel, but hopefully others will share stories of their own. Kind of like the historical article phenomena in the VV.
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    Part One: Into the heart of the beast.
    As much as I dream to be, I am not a traveler. I love traveling, but as a boy of just seventeen I still must live at my parents whim and parents are not travelers. I have seen much of the eastern United States, but my experience is really limited there. As a lover of history, culture, nature, and art I was thus devastated that I had never seen a country other than my own. Despite all my reading of the lands beyond I could never really claim to understand them.

    It must come as no surprise then that I jumped at the first chance to go to Honduras. Honduras is not exactly known to be a tourist spot, but that did not deter me. Anything was better than spending the summer at home. So when my friend told me about the church's mission trip to Honduras I was filled with excitement. This was something that my parents would agree to and this was something that would fulfill my wildest dreams. I was finally getting out of the the U.S, I was going to Honduras.

    I will skip all the planning stages of the trip for they are of little significance to my narrative, but just know that I was not going for purely selfish reasons. Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and I truly did desire to help them in some way. If only I could help one child to live a more enriched life then my trip was a success. And adventure would be nice too!

    Sometimes you should watch what you ask for. This was one of those times. The airport in Tegucigalpa is one of the most dangerous in the world. We soon found out why. Right in front of the single runway is rather tall building. This means that the pilot must stay high above the building and then immediately descend to land. It is not pretty. As we hit the runway the plane bounced violently. My life flashed by my eyes. This was it, we would make the news, the mission team dies in plane crash. We were fated to be part of the statistics that make this airport so infamous.

    Ok, that is all probably all an exaggeration, but it is hard to look back and not exaggerate. For a westerner used to living in suburbia Tegucigalpa was a nightmare. The poverty is instantly noticeable by the the dilapidated state of all the buildings and the electric lines that cannot possibly pass any form of regulation.

    Regulations, what an interesting concept. Perhaps they should introduce it to Honduran driving. The roadways are essential free-for-alls and the passing cars show it. The only real rule here is to get out of the way, often signaled by the horn. If this was not enough to scare me, as we raced down the highway I saw another thing that seems to lack regulations in Honduras; guns. We passed a local dominoes where the local manager sat outside with a shotgun. I was soon to find out that this was a common occurrence in the city. It was a rough place and you had to be tough to survive.

    Fortunately though our journey was not in the city, at least not for now. Now we were headed to Piedra Gorda, a small farming village in the north. There we were to spend the week, to do our work, to live in the village, to eat their food, to use their bathrooms, and to play with their children. We were to become Hondurans.
    Part Two: On the road

    It was a long drive to Piedra Gorda. The distance was not terribly great, but the Honduran road system is not something to be envied. Just a few paved highways and dirt roads through the rest of the country. Of course, I was not complaining. After the congestion of Tegucigalpa the scenery quickly transformed. The hustle and bustle slowly died down to the point where there was nothing. Just us, the road, and the trees. It was serene.

    Some of my fellow missionaries passed the time by talking, but I just sat glued to the window of our bus. I was just absorbing this strange new world I found myself in. The forest, the mountains, and the occasional farming village all bewildered me. They were like nothing I had ever seen before. I have seen mountains and many forests in the U.S, but nothing like these. They were different. This was unconquered wilderness, the likes of which simply cannot be found anymore in the U.S.

    And the villages! I had seen plenty of national geographic, but that cannot prepare you for the reality of things. Villages were cramped, littered with trash, and filled with buildings that were falling apart. Everything you would expect of a poor nation by tenfold. But there was one quality I had not predicted. These villages were beautiful. Everyone on the bus recognized this. There was a sense of home to everything, a sense that we seem to have lost in the west. Here man had not yet separated himself from nature, but rather had learned to live with it.

    We passed village after village and I was beginning to get anxious. When would we reach our village? The answer was soon, but first we had to travel over a mountain. This seemed simple enough, I had driven over many mountains in the states. Of course those mountain roads were paved, but the dirt road did not really bother me. Everything seemed fine. And that is when the heavens opened! Without warning we were suddenly in a downpour. It was the worse case scenario, an old dirt mountain road, with a heavy storm.

    Thankfully we had a local driving our bus that was use to such trying conditions. He made over and down the mountain without apparent ease. We were thankful for him. Now just a few more villages and were at Piedra Gorda. The small village I was soon to call home!
    Last edited by Kscott; March 27, 2008 at 04:11 PM.

    Patron of Basileous Leandros I/Grimsta/rez/ Aemilianus/Publius/ Vizigothe/Ahiga /Zhuge_Liang Under Patronage of Lord Rahl
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    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    I look forward to reading more, Kscott.

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    Kscott's Avatar New and Improved!
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    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    Part two added, soon I will be getting to all the good stuff

    Patron of Basileous Leandros I/Grimsta/rez/ Aemilianus/Publius/ Vizigothe/Ahiga /Zhuge_Liang Under Patronage of Lord Rahl
    MY TWC HISTORY

  4. #4

    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    I like this. Really good post! I know how it feels when you leave your home and go somewhere that has a completely different climate, culture...etc.

    Can't wait for part III! +rep.

  5. #5

    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    So did you meet Carlos Mencia there?


    "When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." -- Robert Pirsig

    "Feminists are silent when the bills arrive." -- Aetius

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    Kscott's Avatar New and Improved!
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    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    Lol no, though I did meet several locals. Most should be in the next part, though that may take me awhile.

    Patron of Basileous Leandros I/Grimsta/rez/ Aemilianus/Publius/ Vizigothe/Ahiga /Zhuge_Liang Under Patronage of Lord Rahl
    MY TWC HISTORY

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    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    Good to know you liked my native coutry. Your writing make me see everything in a different perspective.
    Under The Patronage Of Leonidas the Lion


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    Kscott's Avatar New and Improved!
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    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    A truly beautiful country and the people are very friendly. In Tegucigalpa some passing truck yelled "Gringos go home", but aside from that I couldn't have asked for better hospitality.

    Seeing as you say native, I guess you have since moved?

    Patron of Basileous Leandros I/Grimsta/rez/ Aemilianus/Publius/ Vizigothe/Ahiga /Zhuge_Liang Under Patronage of Lord Rahl
    MY TWC HISTORY

  9. #9

    Default Re: My Journey to Honduras

    Well, I was born there,was away for a couple of years, then went back. Did you eat the famous "Baleada" or are planing to visit Copan or Roatan?

    BTW, your still in Honduras?
    Under The Patronage Of Leonidas the Lion


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