Home Back Contact Us Go To: 11/7 11/17 Chicken Bus Gracias
11/1
We have been in Texas since September 8th enjoying our family and friends. We have one more week before we return to Valentina.
I think we are
missing
the sunshine
and beautiful
blue water.
We made our trip to West Marine to resupply some boat parts, varnish, and verified our 275' of chain being shipped to Valentina in Honduras. Peter, the Manager in the Lewisville office, is so helpful to us.
We rode around the Texoma area to see how low the lake is. We were told it was the lowest since the 1950's.
11/2 We took our varnish to UPS this morning, so it could be shipped to our shipper in Florida. Our chain is being shipped to Florida today. My doctor renewed my prescriptions so we went to Wal-Mart to pick them up.
Then, we shopped at Wal-Mart for all the things we cannot easily get in Honduras. We are getting things marked off our list.
11/3
We made dinner this evening for Stacie's birthday celebration. We cooked over at Garrett and Madonna's for all of us. 11/4 We've been told that a long-time friend of mine, Cherry Rice, is running a cafe in downtown Waxahachie named Courthouse Cafe. We had already eaten breakfast, but decided to drop in a see her. She is doing great and the coconut pie was a melt-in-your-mouth delicious treat. So good to see her. We spent the day with Claire and Chase, playing at the park and having fun.
This afternoon, we went to Kenneth and Leta's 190 acre farm, rode 4-wheelers looking for deer and fed the fish in the pond.
Leta and I went to Campuzanos Mexican Restaurant to celebrate Stacie's birthday with Bonnie, Neesha, Rhonda, Madonna, Savannah, Neisa, Valerie, Renee, and Kim.
11/5 We went down to Uncle Onie and Caroline's early this morning to return the drimmel we borrowed to drill holes in sea glass. Today is his 73rd birthday. He is a wonderful example for the family. We went out to Kenneth and Leta's farm again for a few hours. They are having a birthday celebration tonight with a fish fry.
This evening, we reunited with friends, Robert and Jayne, at their home in Ennis. They have been down to visit us on Valentina and we get together with them every time we are in the area. Good people, and future cruisers.
11/6 We got to meet Glen and Lee today for lunch. They live in Dallas and have been keeping up with us on our website, and sent an email to see if our schedules would allow us to get together. They own a Catalina 27, like our first sailboat, and are planning a trip soon to charter in the BVI. They are a very interesting couple and we are thankful we were able to meet them. Then, we went to Garrett's house and watched the Cowboy game with them and Gentry, Jennifer, Bailee, and Brody. I was so glad we got to see them again before we left. Brody is getting so big and has changed so much since we were with him the first month. A special time for us.
11/7
Our grand-daughter
Today was our last day in the States, so we were busy getting all of the final trips to Wal-Mart, the bank, and trying to fit everything in our suitcases.
Kylie, our grand-daughter, did a Veteran's Day project on my father, who served in the Air Force for 22 years
Billy, Sonny's brother, asked us to come eat lunch with them, so we did. We have not been able to spend as much time with them as we would have liked, so it was so good to catch up with them.
11/8 Early, I mean, early this morning, at 3:30 a.m. we woke up and Madonna took us to the airport on her way to work. At least, there was no traffic. We are so thankful and proud of our kids. We are so blessed and glad we got to spend some time in each of their homes.
We took a Continental flight out of D/FW, thru Houston, and on to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Very good flight, no hassles, and we even were served a breakfast on the flight. Unusual, these days. We did have to pay $40 for one bag, but that was good.
We arrived in San Pedro Sula around noon and Paul and Linda were at the airport to pick us up. Talk about wonderful people! They are the best. We went back to their house in La Ceiba with them.
Palm Trees planted to harvest palm oil and
you can see the property lines by the trees growing on the fence line
11/9 After a short walk this morning, we drove into town to see Valentina. She was covered with ants. So, we sprayed and sprayed. Hopefully a couple of strong doses with take care of them. I am afraid it will be a continual battle. Valentina is parked next to a big tree and leaves blow on the deck (probably with ants scampering all around). Other than that, she looked pretty good.
11/10 It's beer can chicken day on the grill at Paul and Linda's. It was so moist and tender. We all played Baja Rummy and Paul was the champion.
11/11/11 Wow.....11.11.11 remarkable......and we sure had a good day. We are so thankful for those who fought for our country so we have the freedom that we enjoy. When you have traveled in other countries, you do appreciate the States.
In Honduras, deliveries are made by cash-only. Security guards riding 'shotgun' on the propane delivery truck
11/12 Tonight we went over to Hass and Lori's home for a nice evening.
And a trip to the mall....
La Ceiba and
San Pedro Sula
11/17 This morning, Paul, Linda, Sonny, and I took a road trip to Trujillo. It takes several hours, as the road is filled with potholes. All along the way, locals hold shovels and fill in the potholes on the highway, for a donation. When we stopped at one of the police stops, one of the policeman motioned to Paul that his left front tire was low. We were several miles from anything, but stopped at the first opportunity. A new service station had a service area which Paul stopped at. He showed the gentleman his low tire and a nail. The gentleman jacked the car up and asked Paul to turn his steering wheel all the way to the right. We were a little confused, but he plugged the hole, and lowered the car on the jack without taking the tire off. He charged us $2 for the job. On the road again.....to Trujillo.
Christopher Columbus arrived in Trujillo Bay in 1502 during his last trip to the Americas. The town of Trujillo was founded in 1525 by the Spaniard Juan de Medina but it wasn't colonized by the Spanish until some 20 years later. After walking around, we ate lunch at the beach. A delicious lunch of fried conch, fried fish, fried lobster, and fried shrimp. Lots of fresh seafood.....
A family was gathered at a large table below us and one lady had on a UT Texas Longhorn baseball cap. I had to go talk to her and take her picture. Her name was Elizabeth. She was very friendly, and her daughter, Aminta, spoke English, so she was an interpreter. They had spent time in Dallas and I told them we used to live very near there and UT was our favorite college team. She insisted that she give me her hat. They were a very nice family, full of love and life. So glad we got to meet them.
Check out the playpen
for this young man
11/20 We plan to go to the mountains to the village of Gracias to spend some time with the locals. We are looking forward to it. We will keep the website updated and hope to have internet access while there. Paul and Linda asked us if we would like to house sit for them for a while during the time they are gone to the States to see their new twin grandbabies. Of course! While we work on Valentina on the hard, we can enjoy the beauty of their home. How nice. If you look in the dictionary under Paul and Linda....the definition says, "friends with wonderful hearts and hosts". On to a new Adventure.........
We left La Ceiba at 7 a.m. and Paul and Linda took us to the bus station in San Pedro Sula around noon for a 2 p.m. bus to Gracias Lempira.
Why Gracias Lempira? We went there for a few days in September and fell in love with the quaint village. Gracias is located in Western Honduras about 185 Kilometers (115 miles) from San Pedro Sula. Because of the road conditions, coming to Gracias from San Pedro Sula should take about 2.5 hours. Gracias is one the oldest cities in Honduras. Founded in 1536 and located in the highlands of Western Honduras it offers a well preserved colonial architecture that includes beautiful churches, buildings and cobblestone streets. And, the people are genuine, full of love and life. We do not know anyone there, but know we would love to spend some time in their village and get to know them.
So, at 2 p.m., our Blue Bird, yellow Chicken Bus departed San Pedro Sula. The school buses that the US retires, are used in Central America daily. So, ours was not the fastest bus as we notice other busses kept passing us on the winding, hilly road. But, we did have chickens on board....thus the name....Chicken Bus.
Around 5:00 our driver and helper kept looking out the rear window and side windows. Our bus is having problems....so we would pull over, they would grab some wrenches and try to make the repairs on a hose. After the fourth stop, it was not going to work. By now, it is very dark, out in between La Entrada and Santa Rosa de Copan. We are still about 1 1/2 hours from Gracias. The guys are working on the rear of the bus, in the dark, no lights on the bus, and using cell phone lights to work by. Not a good situation at all.
Some people started calling families to come pick them up. After sitting on the side of the road for over 2 1/2 hours, a young lady we met asked if we wanted to ride with them to Gracias. Yes....we would be most gracious to do so. So, we piled all the luggage in the back of their truck. The family filled up the front, so Sonny and I hopped in the back of the pickup, along with another girl, and all of the luggage.
We are told it is a beautiful trip, but it was dark and we were snuggled, covering our heads because it was getting cold, so we did not see anything.
Questions I kept asking myself as I sat in the back of the truck were:
- What would I say if my kids were doing this?
- How long has it been since I have ridden in the back of a pick-up truck?
- Who is the driver and do we dare trust him on these pothole filled roads?
- If we were to have a wreck.....well, let me just say goodbye now.
- How tangled can your hair get blowing in the wind for 1 1/2 hours?
- How thankful I am for a husband who likes to live outside the box.
But, that is all the beauty of Gracias. The people are just that...Gracias. The driver was excellent, the trip was an adventure.
We arrived at the hotel at 9:30 p.m. Frony, the owner, met us and welcomed us. She said they would prepare us a hot meal if we would like, and she would have sent a driver to pick us up. This is why we fell in love with Gracias. Wonderful people.
Good night...it has been a long day. But so thankful to be in Gracias...
11/21 We woke up and were out the door by 6:30 a.m. in search for a cup of coffee. The hotel restaurant was not open yet so we started walking down the cobblestone streets. We found one restaurant open, and went in. We met George, the owner, who speaks some English and his wife Sandra. They have two young boys, Joshua and Georgito. Both of the children are learning English in their private school. They are a wonderful family. After we ate breakfast, they invited us to come see their home and other restaurant. So, George drove us around town. He is also co-pastor of a local church.
George has an excellent business. He cooks the rotissery smoked chicken and sells them for 150 lps ($7.50).
In Honduras, everyone works.
After we went back to our hotel room, they called us and asked us to come to their restaurant. So we walked there, and they asked us if we wanted to stay with them in their house rather than the hotel. We graciously declined, but profusely thanked them for their kindness.
This afternoon, they asked us to go to La Campa with them. We were wanting to take a trip to nearby La Campa. It is home of the Linca Indians who make the famous orange pottery.
We went to some of George's friend's restaurant to eat in La Campa.
For all six of us, it was $6 for
beans, eggs, and coffee.
They are helping us speak Spanish and we are helping them speak English. They are a very special family.
When walking the cobblestone streets today, we passed by the door of the two girls we met when we were here last. When they saw us standing at the door, they came running with arms open wide for a hug and kiss.
This is why we like Gracias.....
11/22 This morning, we went and had coffee with Sandra at her restaurant, "Pollos de las Brasas" and then walked to the supermarket. We bought some paper goods for our room and some yogurt for our fruit.
We walked through the stalls at the local market then hiked up to see the San Cristobal Castle with an awesome view of the surrounding mountains.
And a young man playing with bottle caps
11/23 Today, we have no plans. Just to walk around the town to areas we have not been. So, after our morning coffee with George and Sandra, we went to buy our daily bag of ice for our ice chest in our room.
As we were walking, we passed another gringa lady. We traded hellos/holas as we walked passed and continued on our way.
At lunch, we stopped at George's other restaurant for some rotisserie chicken and the same gringa lady walked up. She teased us about eating our Thanksgiving dinner, of chicken and french fries.
After our introductions, her name is Trish. We then recognized her from a blog we had been reading.
Her family lives here as missionaries from Maryland. Her husband's background is construction, so their mission is to build bridges in areas where there are none, or have been destroyed by earthquake, rain, or mudslides. Some of the things they do is to provide motorcycles, horses, or mules for pastors in remote areas, and feeding stations for children. A very busy family.
When we chose to return to Gracias, our friend Paul had us look at the Sowers family blog before we came. So, we were familiar with their ministry and had hoped we could meet them and help, if possible, during our stay here. We were unable to contact them so we were afraid we would not be able to connect with them. But, we are so thankful we ran into her. We think it was divine intervention.
You can meet them too at http://sowers4pastors.blogspot.com
I had a camera with me today, but was too busy talking to remember to take pictures. So, I snuck a family photo off of Trish's blog. After we returned to our room, we went to the local market and bought some ice cream and headed to the city park, just in time for a rain shower.
So, we are back at our room, enjoying the tranquility. Now the rain has stopped, and we headed back to the park to people watch. We met a couple from La Ceiba and joined each other for a local snack in the park, an ice cream banana, then they came up to our room to visit. More very nice people. Thank you Rufino and Leonora.
11/24
It is Thanksgiving Day all around the world, and today we are in Gracias. The Hondurans do not celebrate Thanksgiving, as we know it, but we will in our own way.
After our morning coffee with our friends, George and Sandra, and our morning walk, we decided for our Thanksgiving dinner, we would eat at their restaurant. Sonny had chicken soup with rice and tortillas and I had chicken with salad, some kind of pasta, and tortillas. Not our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but is was good. For the first time ever, I did not make a pecan pie. That would be impossible in a hotel room, right?
Then, we did our traditional Thanksgiving pass-time....watch the Dallas Cowboys play football. So thankful our local TV broadcast the game...even though it was in Spanish.
Then, we went with George and Sandra to their church service. It was also in Spanish, of course, but we understood a lot of it. The building they worship in is shared by many different congregations. Each congregation has set different times and days for their services. George's church is on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.
When we returned to our hotel, Trish was in the restaurant with her family and a medical mission team from Maryland that had just finished a week at an abandoned hospital in a local village. They brought down supplies and treated over 2,000 cases during their time there.
We are thankful we were able to meet Allan and Trish and their family and feel they are truly genuine in their work and have a heart for the people of Honduras.
When we got back to our hotel room, the UT Longhorns were playing their final football game with our rival Texas A&M. It was an exciting game to the last second, but UT came out on top.
It was a very good day.
11/25 Last night, we did not sleep well, too many roosters crowing, dogs barking, and our neighbor in the room next to us....snoring. So, today, we just took it easy, walked around town, and took a siesta. 11/26 Tonight is the celebration of George and Sandra's daughter's 19th birthday, as we have been invited to the celebration. It was at their home with lots of family and friends. A wonderful meal was served, of rice, tamales, vegetables, turkey, chicken, pork, and birthday cake. Everyone enjoyed the pinata and all of the candy inside. 11/27
11/28
11/29
11/30
This morning, as we were having our morning coffee with George, an elderly lady came in selling bunches of flowers and some limes in the basket on her head.
If there was ever a Kodak moment, this was the time.
I fell in love with her and asked her how old she was. She said, "I think around 85 years old." She is still working, selling flowers on the streets. How amazing....She was just beautiful.
Then, while we were walking to the grocery store, we heard the church bells ringing and went to see what was happening. As we arrived at the Catholic Church, the priest was standing on the steps and people were lined up outside. I am not familiar with the Catholic religion, but the priest would symbolize the cross on each person's eyes, ears, voice, soul and spine. It was very interesting. Then, he invited them into the cathedral.
I beat Sonny in a game of Baja Rummy this afternoon our our porch overlooking the beautiful view of the village of Gracias and the surrounding mountains.
At 4 p.m. we walked to George and Sandra's church for the Sunday service. We are learning more and more Spanish, but still had to use our dictionary quite a bit. The Bible verse was in II Reyes....I could not figure it out. But, it was II Kings.....Oh, sure. A couple from El Salvador came for special music and to sell CD's.
After our morning coffee and visit with Sandra, went to the other restaurant to see George. One of their workers quit, so he had to spend the day there, cooking chicken.
We took some chicken to the other restaurant for him, then started our morning walk.
I found a place and got a much needed pedicure. It cost around $9 US. Sonny spent his time across the street at a tienda talking to Hernan. He is 46 years old, and a businessman who owns two restaurants. We plan to go to his other one tomorrow evening.
We started walking and just continued down a dirt street towards Mount Celaque. We walked for several hours, uphill, enjoying the beauty of the hillside.
We came up to a house and saw two children outside playing in the road. Sonny said, "Watch, when they see us coming, they will run." Sure enough, as we got closer, they heard our steps, looked up with big eyes, and turned around, running as fast as they could, to their momma. I don't think we look that strange. After giggling, we spoke with the family and the children for a while.
Then, we continued on....and on....and on.
We passed a lot of coffee plants along the road.
And, people working hard.
This lady is carrying firewood for her cooking stove and this man is working in the field. We finally came to the village named Villeverde. We were hungry and thirsty and found a small tienda in the front of a house. So, we bought a coke. I asked the lady if she had any tortillas for sale and she replied that she does not sell tortillas. So, we agreed on some chips to buy. When she brought us our cokes and chips, she had warmed up some tortillas and gave us. Very nice.
As we were sitting on her porch eating our lunch, we were watching the children and people gather around to get a look at the Americanos. The lady at the store came out and asked us if we would like some ensalada con pappas. We said, "Sure, some salad and potatoes....that sounds good..." So, she brought us both out a plate of potato salad. Ahhh....It was very delicious...or we were very, very hungry. When we left, we tried to pay her for the potato salad, but she would not take any money. So, Sonny left them with a tip. Very kind people and we were very thankful for the lunch.
Then, as we continued on....uphill....we saw people dressed up and walking in groups with their children in school uniforms. We thought we would walk with them to see the school.
After a while, we arrived at the local school. People were carrying chairs, and all gathering around. We were not sure what was happening. They said the school would last one hour and they would all just wait on their child. We still did not understand why all of these people gathered and walked with their child to school.
Finally, after we sat down inside the one-room classroom, I asked the teacher and she said it was the kindergarten graduation. That made more sense, for all of the parents and grandparents to attend and be so dressed up.
It was a nice graduation service. Each child was called to the front of the room, along with their parents and grandparents, handed their diploma, given a kiss from their teacher, a family photo was taken, and the mother would give the child a gift.
Then, it was time to head back down the mountain, walking to Gracias. We stopped at another place who had a sign out front, "Apartment for Rent". So, we went to talk to them, just to get some information. The gentleman, Marlon, had just returned from working in Austin, Texas for 18 years and built some apartments on his property. The small apartments rent for $75 a month. We enjoyed talking to him. He is building an oven in the front yard so they can cook pizzas to sell.
Back to our room, two tired Americanos, ready for a hot shower, as it was cold and drizzly day walking up in the mountains.
Another fun day in Gracias.
Today, two tired Americanos....just rested and walked a little around town.
At night, 8th Street is the place to be. The locals that live on the street cook local food all night. So we went and ate a baleada, which is beans, cheese, and butter on a tortilla.
This morning, we decided it is time to move on. Sonny needs to see a dentist so we will head to Santa Rosa de Copan on the bus early in the morning.
So, today we spent time with George and Sandra, went by to say goodbye to Hernan and spent some time reading about the places we would possibly go next.
We need to go to Guatemala for 72 hours, so we can return to Honduras for another 90 days, for immigration. Then, we can get a 30 day extension, so that will carry us through until April, when we will check out of Honduras, and go to the Hobbies. Balancing the immigration time limits in countries is always a challenge for us.
George and Sandra invited us to attend a graduation party this evening for a friend of theirs from church. It was Jennifer, who is 12, and graduating from what we call 6th grade. It was at her aunt's home, Sarah. After you walk in the door and be seated, they bring you a plate of food. Gifts are brought to the graduate. It was a very nice party. I think that is a far as most children go, if that far, as next, they call college.
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"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinion drown out your own inner voice; and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary". - Steve Jobs
