A Little Taste of Heaven

It's hard to believe that my parents have been gone for a whole month.  It's funny how the days drag by and yet time passes so quickly in hindsight.  Quite a few things have happened over the past few weeks, some good, some bad, but all experiences that have shaped my life.

After talking to some of my Honduran friends and co-workers, I learned that things in this country have not always been so bad, so unsafe.  Apparently, over the past 6 months, times have been getting worse and the level of safety has decreased.  We have begun to take extra precautions when we go to and from around the city and often don't go out as much as a result.  While many of the issues don't directly involve me or any of the teachers, it still brings a cloud of fear around our everyday lives.  Most of the crime and violence stays within the gangs and drug dealers, but just last week, on our way to the grocery store, we drove past a murder in our neighborhood minutes after it had happened.  Those kinds of things seems to be happening more and more, but I know the Lord has a plan and He has protected me this far and I am confident that He will protect me until I come home.  Please keep Honduras and specifically, Loarque (my neighborhood) in your prayers.

Sorry for the heavy beginning of my blog, I'll try to lighten the mood a bit.

Not that the past few weeks haven't been interesting, but I'm most excited about this weekend so I'm going to skip to telling you just about it. Yesterday my roommates (Laura and Jess), two friends (Diana and Danielle) and I went up into the mountains to a little cabin and spent the night. For future reference, Jorge and Monika (Germans who speak Spanish, English and German) are the name of the people who own the cabin and rent it to people for a night or two on the weekends. It's a tiny and can only fit five people max per night.  We left around noon and took a radio taxi up to a little city called San Juancito.  It took about an hour to get there, and then we had asked Jorge if he could pick us up and take us the rest of the way up the mountain.  We waited a few minutes in San Juancito, which was a quaint little town way outside of the city, and then Jorge pulled up in his little Toyota pick-up.  It was a tight squeeze as the five of us, Jorge and his dog Pita (not to be confused with Peter) piled into the tiny pick-up.  After we got the final door shut, we started up the bumpiest road I've ever been on.  It took about 10-15 minutes to make it all the way up the mountain, but boy was it worth it.  Once we got to their house (the cabin is on their property), we knew we were in for the time of our lives.  Jorge opened a cast iron gate that led to a steep, stone stairway.  Diana said it correctly when she asked us if we thought that we were in Teribithia.  It may have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  As we walked down the steps, we were surrounded by flowers and trees of all shapes and sizes.  The air was so fresh and crisp and everything seemed perfect. 

As we walked into the cabin, we realized that this was going to be one of the most relaxing weekends ever.  It was so well made and clean.  There were two hammocks and a little table and chairs on the deck with a beautiful view of the mountain.  The bathroom was separate from the cabin, but you could actually flush your toilet paper and drink the water! 

Cute little bathroom

We got settled in and headed out for a hike.  Their house is right beside the National Park "La Tigra", which has a waterfall and great hiking paths.  The hike was great.  It took us about an hour and a half to make it all the way up to the waterfall.  Some of the way was steep and hard, but other times was flat and peaceful.  I enjoyed getting to spend time with Diana and Danielle (and my roommates) and just talk to them and gain insight (they are both married).  We had so much fun just laughing and talking all the way up (and down).  Once we reached the waterfall, we all took turns drinking from it.  Don't worry, this waterfall was coming down in a trickle (quite unlike my previous waterfall experience)! 

Laura, Me and Danielle on the hike

The sign said "Cascada: UP!" so we decided to climb the tree!

When we got back from our hike, we still had a couple hours until dinner, so we played cards and just talked some more. At 7:00 Monika called up to us that dinner was ready.  We couldn't have been happier to hear those words, because we were all starving. We headed down to Jorge and Monika's house where they served us in their beautiful house.  They didn't eat dinner with us, but made sure that we were completely comfortable and had everything we needed. The food was delicious.  Jorge and Monika grow many of their own fruits and veggies and all of their meals are vegetarian.  We had rice with a savory coconut curry.  It had all different kinds of veggies and fruits in it, but what I know mostly is that it was amazing.  One thing I learned last night: I do NOT like wine.

After dinner, Jorge brought up lemon grass tea, which I also loved. We talked for a while and then realized, after filling our stomachs and drinking warm tea, that we were all exhausted.  So around 8:30 we headed to our beds, read a little, and all fell asleep!

We all woke up early and enjoyed the warm sunshine on the deck.  It was a relaxing and peaceful morning, great for reading and thinking.  The birds were all around and the sound of the city was far away.  It was just what we needed.

Around 9:00 we went down for breakfast, which consisted of homemade bread and all different types of marmalade.  My favorite was pina-colada, which I was able to buy and bring home with me.  We started walking down the mountain around 10:15 and made it to San Juancito about 11:00.  Once we got there, we caught a ride in the back of a Ford F-150 all the way back to Valle de Angeles.  Then we hopped on a rapidito that brought us to Tegucigalpa.  We were going to catch a taxi back for the final stretch, but we ended up being a couple cars in front of an IST bus, so we flagged them down and hopped right on. 

It was an amazing getaway, like a little taste of heaven.  Living in the city, I tend to forget how beautiful this country really is.  God is a creative designer, and it was good to be reminded of that and experience his beautiful creation.

81 days.