It has been a wild day, but at least the main contingent of the Greensboro team is home safe and sound. We left Keith, Cathie and Sherry in the airport in San Pedro Sula, as they were flying home on a different airline, and we left Kate and Drew in Atlanta where they were connecting to their flight to London.
Yesterday we were up early for our bus ride to Copan Ruinas, and the Mayan Ruins of Copan. We had a tour of the ruins with Marvin (yes, Marvin) our Honduran guide. It was really hot, and bit by bit we lost team members who decided to pack it in for the shade. For me it was the third time through the ruins and I still find it fascinating. I'll post some pictures later as I get them off my camera.
We had a picnic of sorts on the ground of the archeological park under the shade of huge trees. They were not the biggest trees we had seen by a long shot, however. There was one la cieba tree that was 250 years old that had roots as big as a man's waist -- 100 yards from the base of the tree. Another in the plaza was only 90 years old, but was even taller.
After lunch we checked in to our hotel, 16 out of the 21 of us headed out for the recreational highlight of the trip, the "canopy tour" via 16 zip lines down the high ridge east of the ruins. I will definitely have pictures of this, and possibly video if I can work it out. The zip lines are steel cables stretched between trees anywhere from maybe 200 meters to a full kilometer long. On the long one we calculated that you averaged about 50 mph riding a pulley down the cable, suspended several hundred feet off the ground. Normally you are harnessed into a leaned-back sitting position for the ride, but a number of our party were more adventurous on some of the lines. One alternative is to ride Superman-style, belly-down, arms extended out front, with a guide behind holding your legs and applying the brakes. The other, even more daring way, is upside down: belly up, with the guide holding your legs, head and arms down, hurtling through the ether. Oh, and the guides make sure you swing back and forth the whole time just for good measure. The last line takes you about a 1/4 mile over the Copan River before landing you safely back at base camp.
We had a nice private dinner that night at Casa de Todos (House of Everything), with traditional Honduran food -- quesadillas, chicken, rice, squash, potatoes, salad, mixed vegetables, Hibiscus tea, homemade hot sauce made with pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and jalapenos. Sandra, our hostess and the owner of the Casa de Todos, was charming and welcoming. The meal was awesome. We then retired to the Red Frog.
The Red Frog is a second story bar in Copan Ruinas owned by an American expat named Dan who bough the business sight unseen for $300 on the Internet. It seems the authorities caught the former owner choking his girlfriend over the second story railing, and gave him the option of Honduran jail time or leaving town. He left, then sold it to Dan.
One of the charming little traditions at the Red Frog is to write a note on a one-Lempira bill (worth about a nickel) and tape it to the wall. There are the usual love notes, notes about where people are from, colleges (a whole column of Carolina stuff), and best of all, smack talk from Greensboro Habitat teams to the Durham teams and vice versa.
Habitat teams from Greensboro and Durham have made the Red Frog their traditional watering hole for the last night in Honduras. Last night Gerard held court at the Red Frog, celebrating the completion of his 7th Honduran mission trip, surrounded by 14 other team members by my count. Our motto is "What happens in Honduras stays in Honduras," so I am not at liberty to share many details (so you're safe, Sue....you too Molly, Megan, & Claire). However I have it on good authority that certain team members did not arrive back at the hotel until...late.
We met at 6:30 to check out and load up for the 3-hour ride to the airport. We managed to get away at 7:10, thinking we would get to the airport in plenty of time. We made one bano break outside of Entrada, where we took out team picture and gave our driver and friend Carlos a present from a collection we had taken up. More about mi amigo Carlos later in the week.
Then it was off to the airport. The closer we got to San Pedro Sula, the closer it was looking on arriving in time for our flights. Then we got pulled over at one of the ubiquitous Checkpoint Charlie's the Policia Nacional have set up. Then there was a wreck...a severe fender bender...followed by another fatal wreck involving a car, an SUV and a bus that was pretty gruesome.
Now it was getting a little hairy. There are two potential complications in San Pedro airport -- one, the check-in lines can be long and slow, and two, you have to pay a $34 per person exit tax to leave the country. To pay the tax, you have to have your passport and boarding pass, and the line to pay the tax can be long. We also would not have a chance to eat again unless we ate at the airport.
So we worked out a plan. When we pulled up to the curb, the women were to get in line to check in to hold spots there while the men unloaded the luggage off the roof. The team members with later flights went to Wendy's to get food. Pat and I would shuttle passports to the exit tax line as people got checked in. Drew and Kate were our priority, as they had a connection to their London flight in Atlanta.
We pulled up to the curb at 11 AM for a noon flight and set the plan in motion. I'd like to tell you the plan worked flawlessly, but the fact is the Good Lord was watching out for us today. There was no line at Delta, no line at the exit tax window, and the flight was delayed about 20 minutes. We all made our flight and most of us got something to eat.
The rest of the journey was relatively uneventful, which is a good thing. We were greeted at the airport here by family and friends and bade each other warm goodbyes. In a month or so we'll all get back together again to look at pictures and tell stories, but for now we all go our separate ways.
It's hard to believe that nine days could pass so quickly. We all put our heart and soul into this trip and the work we were there to do, but we all received so much more, from both our Honduran hosts and from each other. We shared an intense experience and formed a special bond over those brief days that will be in our hearts for a long, long time.
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