I made it safely home. I was amazed at how much the Country had changed. The change was not so pronounced outside of the capitol as it was right in Tegucigalpa. When I got to Honduras I met a guy that was traveling in Honduras that also came from Utah. We walked around the capitol city for the day and looked for the mission office. We finally found it and then went and checked out the progress on the Temple that is being built.
http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/tegucigalpa/ We then went and got something to eat at a "Mall" by the hotel. I was blown away to be in a mall in Honduras. When I was there ten years ago there was nothing of the sort. Now they say there are five malls in the city. I slept that night on the floor of the hotel. The next morning Nerry Rodriguez picked me up and I went and stayed with them and visited for a couple of hours. I then caught a bus and headed to Siguatepeque to look for the man who had been building a helicopter. The bus ride was crazy and it brought back a whole bunch of memories. I began again to see the poverty that I had grown so accustomed to when I lived there. When I first got to Honduras in 1996 there was very little culture shock. I expected poverty and I got it. Within weeks I sat wherever I could, sometimes on beds that had probably never had the sheets changed. I began to not see anything but the people. I didn't care that they were poor. It was easy to love them and see past the conditions that some of them lived in. The hardest part of the whole experience ten years ago was not the culture shock of arriving but the cultural shock of going home and seeing the way we live in the US. As I drove around again on this trip those same feelings flooded back into my heart and mind and at times I just wanted to cry. I had all but forgotten the adobe one room houses the kids playing in the dirt streets. The men gathering wood and the ever present smell of burning fires that they all cooked on. I loved being back and I took in all the sights and sounds of the three hour bus ride.
When I got to Siguatepeque I was tired. I grabbed a taxi and told him to take me to the nicest hotel. He charged me $1.50, a rip off according to the locals, and dropped me off at Angelitos Hotel. It seemed nice enough so I paid my $4.00 and went to check out my room. It was small but nice. I grabbed some dinner and mingled with the loiterers outside the Hotel. I had a picture of the Helicopter man so I took my chances and asked the half-way to drunk men if they knew him. The first man said he didn't but that he was new to the town. He called over a young guy that owned a small store adjacent to the hotel.
"Yeah, I knew him, but he died seven years ago." My heart sank.
"Please are you sure?" I questioned. "Let me check." He made a few calls the first two affirming that they too thought he was dead. The third however clarified the scenario. The guy who died seven years ago had not made the helicopter but was related to the inventor. The Helicopter man lived up the street and was very much alive. I made plans to meet him again in the morning and he would take me to his house. I went to bed very content.
The hotel had a policy that if I had know about I would have sought shelter elsewhere. At eleven they closed the hotel door which was a large garage like door and then they padlocked it. Well at about twelve AM someone decided that they belonged in the hotel. So they began to try and remove the padlock with a hammer. I was terrified someone pounded the door and I was sure they were coming for me. I got dressed in case I needed a quick get away and I layed there staring at the ceiling wondering what I had done. I could have gotten myself killed a lot closer to home than Honduras. I fell asleep to my life flashing before my eyes.
The next morning I was groggy but excited. I found my friend from the night before. I have to say he was a little more excited about the prospects of taking me on the errand the night before when he was drunk. It took some coaxing but we were off. As soon as we stopped in front of the house I recognized it. It hadn't changed. the house I had lived in was now a small store but his was exactly the same.
We knocked and he instantly remembered me. He had
again. I took a lot of pictures and then I walked back to the hotel stopping at some friends shop that made leather goods.
I bought a belt and some tops for the kids and then got mys stuff from the hotel and jumped back on the bus. I haded back to the capitol and then on to El Paraiso. It was three hours back to the city, then four hours by bus to Danli a city close To El Paraiso. I got to Danli and with a little fear asked a Taxi to take me to the nicest Hotel. The is hotel was not as nice but I was relieved to find out it had an armed guard on duty twenty four-seven. I went to the closest Internet cafaged a lot and could no longer walk but there I was standing in front of him and the helicopter oncee and then paid $10.00 for more food than I should have ever attempted to eat. I went to bed tired and sick from eating too much.
The next morning I headed to El Paraiso. I was a little nervous. I was looking for a man named Eduardo Zelaya. I was afraid that I wouldn't find him. Well after about two hours I did find him and I knocked on the door. His wife answered and she was absolutely amazed. She let me in and I walked back to his
small workshop behind his house. When he saw me he began to cry and he gave me a huge hug. It was so nice to see him. We spent the rest of the day visiting old friends and catching up. At about four pm it started raining. We rode around town on bikes as the town began to fill up with water.
The streets turned to rivers and again I started wondering why I had traveled so far away from home to die. I missed the last bus out of town and had to hitch a ride in the back of a truck. It was pouring and after about an hour in the back of the wet truck I arrived back at the hotel. I went to bed without dinner. The next morning I headed back to the city. I spent my last day visiting friends in and around the city. I went to a barbecue outside the city in a small ranch, and visited with a lot of people. On man in particular was Carleni. I had baptized Carleni and his little brother Milton. Carleni was now married and had three little girls. Carleni and his family were preparing to go to the temple. Milton who was away, had served a mission in Guatemala. It was a wonderful way to finish my trip seeing that these two brothers had progressed. I flew home after I went to sacrament meeting that morning.
-Tyler
Miriam and Eli. Poor Liza having her face all squeezed!
Miriam and Eli. Poor Liza having her face all squeezed!
