Returning home from a trip like our past week in Honduras is always difficult. Their country moves at it’s own pace. From what I’ve seen, most countries outside of the USA operate like the Army – hurry up and wait. This was no vacation. In fact, for most of us who have been to Honduras before, it was an exercise in frustration. Once you’ve been to a certain place a couple of times, you come to expect certain things to happen certain ways. I believe this trip was designed to show me that I’m not in control and that I can’t presume to know what a mission to a third world country will look like…even if I’ve been on the “same” trip a couple of times. It’s like a banana. Once you’ve eaten a banana, you “know” what bananas are like. But most of us don’t think about the fact that there are more than 500 varieties of bananas.
Our trip started off hot and heavy with a major building project. 18 of us Cincinnatians joined a team of 8 guys from Victoria Texas to build a church. We spent the majority of our first day laying a 32 x 32ft concrete floor, creating rafters for a roof, and doing plumbing. There is no concrete mixer, and for a floor of that size, it consisted of mixing load after load of dirt, crushed rock, and water all day long.
We had created a church building and the people in town wasted no time getting use out of it. Once the roof was on and the lights were in, they held a church service where more than 75 people attended. Several people came to know the Lord because a bunch of ya-hoos came and mixed some concrete.
Although that town had electricity, we would have appreciated clean drinking water much more. Normally, we can filter water that is pretty bad and still drink it. Due to the water in Honduras being rationed by the government, and all the concrete mixing, we were terribly low on water. This was a seriously unexpected hiccup that caused us much trouble for what was to come next – our hike into the wilderness. It’s typically a must to bring 2 liters of water for each person during this hike. Most of us had less than 1 liter to begin. We would just have to find a stream in the jungle to pump water from.
Our destination for our next project was in a village called Agua Caliente. The hike would take us between 4 and 6 hours depending on which paths we took. The deeper you go into the mountains, the skinnier the paths get. Before you know it, there’s not a McDonald’s within 8 hours and it’s a wonderful feeling.
We rented mules and horses to carry in our food and supplies that wouldn’t fit into our backpacks. 250lbs of grub sounds like a lot, but there wasn’t a crumb left over after our 4 days in the mountains.
Our hike was delayed as well as our water search when our team was attacked by hornets. We thought we might be able to get through, but after a couple of guys got stung multiple times, it was obvious we would have to turn around and find another way.
Deep into our hike, at 6,500 feet elevation, we could see the village we were heading to. Just a few more miles to go before I saw familiar faces in a remote location. This is where we’ve worked before.
Up, down, up, down.
Eventually, we located water and we were able to filter some with a couple of handheld pumps. It never tastes as good as when you need it.
Once we arrived, we cooked dinner and settled in for the night. There was plenty to take in all around.
Lots of small projects filled our time in Agua Caliente. Landscaping, bricklaying, whitewashing, etc..
Some of the new people on the trip loved finding out that the only shower available was in the woods. Cold enough to take your breath away, but you beg for the chance to bathe here after a hard day.
Each day at 4pm we played a futbol game against the Hondurans. Let’s just say they were better than us and leave it at that. After soccer, we would immediately have a church service for the people who had gathered to watch the game. Talk about a bait and switch…the people seem to enjoy it though.
This jump knee tuck brought to you by Plyometrics in P90X:
Patrick on the left was a translator for us during our trip. In his spare time, he translates letters written to and from kids with Compassion International. I asked him if it pays well and he said, “Not really…but I’m not doing it for the money. It’s more of a hobby and it’s for God. I like serving the Lord and I want to do a really good job translating because I know it’s important to the kids and the sponsors.”
This trip was difficult, but I have to say, the incredible beauty we’ve seen made it a whole lot easier.
Now that was a week well spent…except for the Scorpions. I didn’t like that part.
– This is one of those items where I think you have to pay a little bit more money if you don’t want to be in agony. Cheap backpacks just don’t allow the weight of what you’re carrying to rest properly on you. We are carrying approximately 40lb packs and you don’t want to be dead halfway up the mountain.
– Since we are packing our sleeping bags with us, they need to be small. Many people make the mistake of getting a sleeping bag that is good down to zero degrees…are you really going to be sleeping somewhere where it’s zero degrees?? This will only add extra weight and size. A 40 degree bag is typically much more compact and comfortable to sleep in.
– Oh Lord God in Heaven…thank you for the blessed sleeping mat. When you’re sleeping on a rock, it’s absolutely critical to have some sort of sleeping mat under you. It helps to keep you warm as well as able to move the next day.
– You do not want to get up and pee in the middle of the night in Honduras without a headlamp. There are many other uses for this, but I will stick with my first point.
– Nalgene bottles are pretty much unbreakable and they allow for a variety of attachments for water filtration. We carry two of these with us during the big hikes.
– With a group of 18 of us, it might be good for 2 of us to have some sort of water filters. We WILL run out of water during our hikes in and out of the mountains. We need the ability to stop at a stream and filter water for the team. These pumps attach right to the water bottles.
– I thought these were a dumb idea at first, then my knees wanted to kill me when I wasn’t using them. They are much more useful when traveling down a mountain than up one…you’re poles can take the shock that you’re knees would be taking. Must have for those of us with knee problems.
– This stuff becomes an addiction. When there is no real way to wash your hands for several days, hand sanitizer becomes your best buddy. Plus, it keeps you safe from most of the stomach bombs that are trying to infiltrate your body.
– In an area that has a high concentration of Malaria carrying mosquitos, 100% Deet is a must.
– It says “triple action” and I think the three actions are; PREVENTS CHAFFING, STOPS CHAFFING, and SOOTHES CHAFFING. Once again, thank you Lord for whoever invented Gold Bond.
