Rays touring Central America....part 1

Well, I'm taking over the post to tell about my trip to Honduras!  Little background story:  This past November, for my dad's birthday, me and Anna Ashley told him that we wanted to go down to Honduras with him and see what he does. We are the only 2 in the family who haven't been on a mission trip or on a Johnny Ray adventure. Mom jumped aboard and so did John Buck, the only grandchild (over age 6) that has not been on a trip either.  We have been very excited, planning and searching for the right Johnny Ray pants (as some prior mission goers had nicknamed), the right long sleeve shirt, the right shoes, that were dark and would dry quickly, being we were going in the rainy season and it gets quite muddy there (I have heard plenty of stories about the mud).  There were a few fears: AA & JB can be picky eaters, and I get very car sick.  I mean I get car sick riding with Dad in the states- so when I remembered ALL the stories of the rough bumpy roads and the crazy driving and passing 3-4 cars wide- I became very worried!! Then came my Driver's license debacle!  Had to get my "Gold Star" license- well, when I got married I dropped my first name rather than middle or maiden.  That wasn't a problem 26yrs ago - but TODAY in 2014 when rules are ridiculous-it is! So my name changed from Hayes Ray White to Sarah Hayes Ray White.  Well, my new name isn't on anything- such as passport!!! SO I had to legally get my name changed at a cool $300!! That's right, $300. AND it had to run in the legal section of the paper for 4 weeks, then a judge had to sign off on it, then I had to get a new license that now matches all other important documents.  GEEZ. So with all that taken care of (except the fact that now I have a paper license), and our clothes bought and we had our "packing practice" meeting-  We were READY!!!  Now Dad has packed and traveled many many times, so he has learned things to do and not to do, what works and what doesn't.  So we have been taught well, so we didn't want to disappoint.  We all took a piece of luggage - carry on- and a small back pack for day use.  I feel like we all did good.  I took 1-pants, 1-skort, 1-skirt (for church), 1-long sleeve shirt, 2- short sl, 1 for sleep.  I washed the pants and 2 shirts once - so everything was worn more than one time.  Dad and JB changed maybe once in the 9 days! We were leaving at 4:00 am, and at midnight we were still all awake sending messages to each other!  I was up at 3am, got ready early, sent Adam a text that he could pick me up (except I didn't hit send) so while I was waiting I remembered that I had boiled 2 eggs for my breakfast- so I peeled them and they were not quite done, so I put it in the microwave to finish cooking.  When I took it out, it EXPLODED on me!! ALL in my hair, in my face, on my shirt, to the ceiling, on the frig..... lawdy.  So I had to go change shirts, clean up myself and the kitchen - it was a good thing I had not sent the text.  Anywho - we were off by 4:00 am and all was good.  Excited, nervous, anxious, mainly excited!!!!
I'll start with a few quick notes on several topics:
     Weather: HOT when we landed in San Pedro Sula- like 100+, but the mountains were very pleasant- rest of time hot, but bearable; Belize- HOT.
     Travel/driving/roads:  WELL, it is crazy, that's for sure.  I know why dad likes it- no rules :)  But, I have to say that I wasn't scared or nervous at all -I was IMPRESSED!  I mean, these people work together, they just move over or slow down if too many are passing or passing when they shouldn't be.  There is no road rage, no too prideful to let someone pass you- or to let someone break in- They just go with the flow- I liked it (in a way).  I did learn you really have more time than you think to pass- just zip zip- I'm sorry I didn't video any of it.  The first 5 minutes of riding, we saw a car jump the curve and ride down the sidewalk, then cut back in several cars in front!!! Hilarious!  and Stop signs - ha! not sure why they even have them.  I kept telling myself, they are all alive, including Dad - the only wreck he had was caused by his car falling apart under him, but no one else involved.  And honestly- I don't see how a car last more than 2yrs there.   Between all the potholes, speed bumps, hidden speed bumps, and that's on the good roads. The bad roads:  think of the worst dirt road you have ever been on- got it... ok, their roads are 90% worse - they are rocky, big rocks, not gravel, and the road is full of them- Dad says the road is smoother on the edge, so now you're driving where you look like you could fall off! and it's not smooth by no since of the word.
     Crops: Being that my job is highly related to crops, I always notice them.  This is their rainy season, except this year the rains haven't come.  So the corn, which should be 5ft tall, is about knee high.  This isn't good, it probably is too late in the corns life for rain to help. Which means they will not have food, and many are almost out now.  It's sad, just not a going to be a good situation.  The coffee bean plants seemed to look good, but I have never seen them before so....  They grow the corn and coffee in such interesting places - like anywhere and everywhere!  Up the mountain, right by the road, small nook and crannies.  Because they don't use machinery, they can plant any place they have dirt, and they do!  The coffee plants were in the shade of large trees. Very interesting.  Also, banana trees galore!  This was interesting to see all over Honduras and Guatemala.  Chiquita and Dole have many fields there and all the good bananas are wrapped in bags on the trees to be shipped to the US.  Only the spotted and brown bananas get left behind for the locals.

This is Barbara, she is a hoot! She is showing us her corn.

View from Barbara's house. I will tell you more about Barbara later in this blog.

bananas grow curved up! Who knew

Banana Trees

Food: Well I wasn't sure what to expect in the food category.  I knew I always liked the food that Dilcia and Margot prepared for us, so that was helpful.  I ate each meal like it may be the last good one I would have- WELL, I didn't have a bad meal.  So I ate 3 good hearty meals each and every day!! Oh boy....(I had thought I could possibly loose weight on the trip, but there I was afraid I may gain 10lbs)  I really enjoyed the breakfast at the bus stop the best!  It was Typical Breakfast:  fried egg (Huevo frito), Refried beans (re frijoles refritos), avocado, fried chicken (pollo frito), plantains, corn tortillas, cafe con leche.  I liked it ALL, even the corn tortillas, minus the plantains, couldn't get in the groove of those.  We ate there twice!

Bus stop - I agree with Dad- its good!
We ate outside on the right of picture

Other breakfast were scrabbled eggs, pancakes, fried egg with toast, bacon, ham (not a fan of can ham), in Belize the Fried Jacks won a blue ribbon, but the refried beans.... lets just say, not good (just to be nice).
Lunches: quesadillas (several times, each different, each delicious), cheese bacon garlic crostini, (and ashamed...) but twice at Burger King while traveling, smh. Anna Ashley ordered a hamburger with ketchup-o, mustard-o, no mayonaise-o, no queso!  I thought I might die from laughing...hilarious.  (not sure everyone in the group appreciated our humor at inappropriate times :)
Dinners: anafre (nachos w/ beans and cheese), fish and chips, most meals come with french fries (papas fritas- which are just fun to say- I don't even care for them); pizza @ Jim's (Copan)- worth the trip! Chinese- yep, and it was delicious, Rice and beans with stewed chicken (Belize)- surprisingly good; and the best Fajita EVER @ Carnitas Nia Lola (Copan)- at this restaurant the waitress balances food on her head!  Note: in Belize they have rice and beans, in Honduras they have beans and rice - which I hear is a totally different dish.   FANTA orange was a Hit!  and found everywhere :)

Arriving:  We flew into San Pedro Sula, then traveled down to La Esperanza (about 3hrs), where we stayed 2 nights in a super neat hotel. It had hot water and no a/c, but not needed.  It had a nice open garden in the middle, with seating all around- quaint is the word that came to mind. Dad did good treating his daughters to this cool hotel.  Mom wanted us to know this was not a norm!  Thanks, Dad, we loved it, and loved the little town of La Esperanza!! Which apparently has improved tremendously in the past 20 years.  They have paved the roads, and now keep the streets clean. That was one neat thing going with mom, who hasn't been there in about 5 years, she couldn't get over the changes.  So with her mentioning them, we were able to realize the progress that was being made. (And then hearing Adam's recollection from 20 yrs ago was very interesting to understand just how far it has come)

Leaving La Esparanza- The top left is how they are going to pave this road.  Dad said they cut open all those bags of concrete, then come pour water of it- done, paved road!! 2- so they still have cows that walk in the road, that just adds to the specialness and quaintness :)

Sunday, we were up bright and early and off to eat at the bus stop, then went to the market.  This is where we ran into Ambrosia, a friend of Mom and Dad's- she was so excited to see them! (it's always neat to see how much your parents are loved by others)  It was really fun meeting her. Nice to put a face to her name! 

     (I have to admit, not sure I'm a fan of the market, and I know I'm not a fan of the food part - it would be fine if they put the smelly stuff in a separate section.  Seems like these markets are all the same from Honduras, to Guatemala, to El Paso, TX- I've been there done that- hope that's not rude-  I really do like the handmade/locally made stuff!!!)

That John Buck is a shopper!  Running into Ambrosia - I missed photoing all the hellos. AA and JB checking out the goods.

Then we picked up some fried chicken (for lunch) and headed to Santa Cruz for the day (all this before 10:00).  We drove thru Yamaranguila and saw where Mom and Dad lived (this is a much smaller town).  We went to church in Santa Cruz and then visited the children's church.  Dad then did some "business" with some of the boys who had found some arrow heads that they were hoping to sell to him. I had the best time watching this!  These children are precious :)

 We then went to some houses and checked on their food supply.  Meet a lady named Thelma. She recently had a pilla made by a group from Moultrie. This was huge in her life, being that this is where she washing clothes, prepares food, brushes her teeth, everything to do with water- takes place right here! Then we came across Barbara and her family.  Barbara was a character!  She was continuously talking to us- it didn't bother her one bit that we had no clue what she was saying.  She gave us a tour around her house and land.  It seemed like her children's family lived there also, and they had a bit more than Thelma. They grew corn, coffee, and bananas (at least that's all I was able to understand) She gave us some bananas, and then we gave her - a ride to a friends house- she was like a little kid, she was so excited. So fabulous!

The top 2 pictures are of Paster Jesus's house, which was recently updated by Martha Grice's team! (In picture with Mom is his wife.)  Groups also have been working on getting smoke stacks in all the homes, because people were dying from the smoke from cooking (Middle right picture is of Thelma's new smoke stack). Bottom left is Thelma and her precious children, standing by her new pilla.  Other pic are of Thelma's house.  Anna Ashley  and I noticed they had no closet- where did they put clothes. They only had a table in kitchen, bed in bedroom.  Where do they sit?  Wow- is all I could think!

1-Barbara with her bananas. 2-Some pretty scenery- look at the way the dirt just rolls.  The view are amazing! 3-This boy, who looked to be 7, guiding this huge bull down the road. 4- cool creek

We went and checked on some pumps that Dad has put in.  Well, they are not easy places to get to, you go down steep steep inclines, then have to climb back up to get out- whew, not for the weak and weary. The last one we checked on, didn't seem that different, but I realized that my chest felt like a heavy weight was laying on it, then when we started the climb out, I was out of breath!I finally had to say something about it, and come to find out, so was John Buck and Dad.  Now, I hate to bring up such a thing, but... we are younger, JB being much younger, than the ol' man, and we don't have a pace-maker!!  Needless to say, I am very impressed at the things he can do!!! (Just sayin' Dad) OK back to business: His water pumps, pumps water UP a mountain (using pressure, no electricity), so that the people higher than the rivers, streams or creeks can get water to their house instead of having to walk miles down to the water source.  Santa Cruz's elevation is around 7,000 ft. Which I could tell by the pressure I was feeling, and that my ears always popped!

1- Dad going down the mountain, 2- JB joining him, 3- the pump is on a deck built 50-100ft above the water,4-Dad teaching John Buck, 5-pump work, 6- me just tagging along :)

After checking the first pump, this cute little boy appeared out of no where! He had heard the pump start working and knew Dad was there, and guess what he had- some arrowheads!  And he was proud of his finds, and Dad was excited about them as well.  He did good, real good!! Love these pictures!

1- AA and me getting a close pic with this bull- he really was much closer than this picture shows, and much bigger- really!  2-AA and JB looking down a steep drop off. 3-Us with Henry L, a missionary friend of Mom and Dad's. They meet Cindy and Henry in language school, 20+ years ago. It was really nice to finally meet him, and we were sorry Cindy wasn't there. Maybe next time :)   4- Cool hammock tent.

One regret:  not taking more pictures of the people in Santa Cruz.  It felt strange to just take pictures of them and their stuff. But most of all, I wish I had taken pictures with all the sweet people at the church.  I have heard their name mentioned so many times.  They were so kind and sweet, and they were so excited to see Mom again, and to meet us.  You can tell that they love Mom and Dad, and appreciate all Dad does for them.  That was worth the trip right there !!

***Note: double click on any picture, then you can scroll thru and see them better :) Hope you enjoy!