Mas Viajes (More Trips) in Honduras

 I expected that Allen and I would not have many opportunities to travel around Honduras, especially since we are living and working on the NPH Ranch, do not have our own transportation, and are discouraged from driving or taking public transportation. This is for our own safety as there could be a lot of dangerous situations outside of the ranch. However, this week I had the opportunities (2 occasions in one week!) to travel to other locations in Honduras. I was notified about the first trip by Allen on Monday in a What’s App Message:

Allen: Would you like to Chulateca on Wednesday? We’d leave early at 6AM and get back around 6PM. We’d be going with Rene, the engineer, and possibly the lawyer – to visit a casa there.

I was very surprised as Allen never invites me to work activities. Also, his messages sometimes have typos so it was possible that the message needed correction or clarification. I would have to get permission from my work group to be gone all day, but we had just finished our big Christmas card project the previous week so it might be a slow week. Altogether, I needed more information.

Me: What is chulateca?

Allen: It is a town beyond Tegucigalpa about 3 hour drive. Spelled Choluteca.

Me: Sure! Is there room for me? Or anything I can help with? (In other words: why am I invited? How can I contribute?)

Me: Also, why are you going?

Allen: Yes, there is room. Victor will be driving. I am going to get to know people better. The lawyer would join us in Tegucigalpa and she (I think) is not confirmed yet. Renee will confirm the times tomorrow.

I was still not sure where we were going or why, but visiting another part of Honduras is always appealing to me. I checked the transportation schedule and saw that a ride was scheduled by Rene, whom I had heard about but not yet met, for Orocuina which is actually a 4-hr drive each way from the NPH ranch and is in the Choluteca “Department” (like a state or province) of Honduras. This part of Honduras is in the far south of the country with close borders with El Salvador and Nicaragua as well as the Pacific Ocean. I also found out through the internet that this area is very hot compared to other parts of Honduras and also one of the poorest regions of Honduras.

Although we were still not sure of the purpose of the trip or why we were going, we agreed and were ready to leave at 4AM Wednesday which was the updated time chosen by our driver, Victor, to try and beat the awful traffic through Tegucigalpa. Victor was early and we actually left about 10 minutes before 4AM, but it was still not enough to beat the traffic. We ended up waiting for about 45 minutes just north of Tegus until we could get through the area where they are “fixing” the road. This construction has been going on for months and although progress is being made, it continues to put a choke hold on the northern entry/exit to Tegus and has affected travels to and from the NPH ranch for quite a while now and, it appears, for the foreseeable future.

We spent an enjoyable day with Rene and Victor, mostly in the car. Victor, in addition to being a very capable and engaging driver, was also a good tour guide and pointed out sights to us on the way. We made a couple of stops – for breakfast and to buy Rosquillas which are a traditional Honduran donut. Rosquillas are very crunchy with a cheese biscuit taste so not very much like the donuts that Allen knows and loves. He bought a lot of them to take back to the ranch to share with our hogars and with the other volunteers. Victor also bought some to take to his in-laws who live in Choluteca.

Rosquillas Stop

We discovered that the purpose of the trip was for Rene to visit a house that NPH is building for a family in the NPH One-Family Program. The 5 children in this family previously lived at the ranch, but were re-integrated with family about 4 years ago with continued support from NPH. I don’t know what home they are living in now, but the new home reminds us of those that we helped build in Tijuana with our church group. It is a very simple concrete block with rebar construction home with 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a main room. Once I saw the bags of cement, shovel, and wheelbarrow, I realized that that the reason we were invited was because someone had heard of our years of experience in Tijuana, Mexico with mixing concrete and making bucket lines to move the concrete to the right place, but unfortunately (or fortunately), we were not wearing proper attire 😊.

Allen in the Doorway of the House Under Construction

The Construction Materials Looked Familiar!

Gorge (Construction Lead), Victor, Rene, and Allen Under a Calabash Tree

Calabash Tree Locally Known as "Jicaro" (not to be confused with jicama).

On the way back, we stopped in San Lorenzo which is the coastal city on the Pacific of Honduras and enjoyed some local shrimp and crab seafood. Although it is on salt water, the sea is hidden by mangrove.

View from Our Restaurant

Nearby Beach

Alternate View from the Restaurant

Our way back was relatively uneventful except that we took an alternate route from Tegucigalpa to NPH which was unpaved with a lot of potholes. I am not sure we saved time, but at least we avoided traffic!

The second travel opportunity was another birthday celebration put on by the Padrinos. This time we were celebrating the kids over 12 years old with birthdays in September and October by taking them to Cantarranas, a small town in the opposite direction of Tegucigalpa. Cantarranas, chosen primarily to avoid the traffic choke point, has distinguished itself with beautiful murals and other works of art. I had heard about this village from some of the other volunteers and was glad to have the chance to see it on one of these “work” events. I had invited Allen to join us, but I think he felt guilty about taking all day Wednesday off from work and didn’t want to desert his maintenance group on Thursday as well. Here are some pictures of the artwork in Cantarranas.

I enjoyed walking around town with Dixie, Cintia and the dozen or so kids that were able to attend. We viewed the artwork, bought jewelry and other trinkets (I got some local coffee), and had lunch in the town square.  We also had a cake and all of the birthday kids got some money that they could spend on the trinkets or on food at a grocery stop on the way home. This is quite a treat for the kids as they do not have the opportunity to shop very often. The only downside to Cantarranas was the bumpy gravel road that we traveled for about 45 minutes to get there. But our driver Carlos noted that the road was actually pretty good compared to a lot of Honduran roads and it was better than the alternate route that Victor used on the way back the previous day.