Our last camping trip before school was spent at Maggie Valley. The girls were able to go tubing in the creek. They had a blast! Emma was loving it from the start. Sara had to warm up to it and then she loved it! We went putt-putting as well. It was such a nice weekend. We had fabulous weather!
We had been working with the senator's office, trying to get expedited passports to try to go to Honduras before the girls went back to school. After our trip to Maggie Valley, we got word the passports were on there way and we could purchase our airline tickets. For those who do not know, one of my brothers, Glenn, moved to Honduras several years ago to manage a screen printing company there. The lure for him was tax-free money! Since he has been there, he has gotten married to Katty and has a new baby boy, Sebastian.
My mom, our girls and myself went. Chris couldn't get away for this trip. The airport scene leaving was really heartbreaking. Emma decided when we were checking our carryon luggage, she wanted to stay home with daddy. At this point, Chris couldn't come to us, we couldn't go to him. It was so sad! This was the first time any of us had been away from him like this. I do not want to do it again without him.
The girls were excited about flying. My brother told me it was only a one hour time difference, it is actually two. So we were flying longer than expected. I made the mistake of not eating breakfast. I was really sick on the flight. When we got to Atlanta, I bought some dramamine and ate something for breakfast. The next flight was still terrible with a weak stomach.
In Atlanta, this guy kept hitting on me. Little did I know, he was on the same flight from Atlanta to Honduras. It was terrible when we landed in Honduras, I didn't see my brother and everyone around us was speaking spanish. By the time we went through customs, the mystery flirter, was trying to get me to go out with him. I was trying to get my luggage, so he went to my mom asking her about me. I finally gathered all of our luggage, along with my girls, and here he comes again. I was starting to get irritated, so was SARA! She was not happy.
Well, I'm looking around for my brother, and all of a sudden, these men come flying by us and grabs our luggage, six pieces. I'm freaking out, I don't know if I'm getting robbed in this mob of people, still not knowing spanish, or if they were with my brother or what! I found out later, they worked independantly from the airport and wanted to make some "good" money. I tipped the guys five dollars each and they were mad! I thought that was a good tip, I didn't ask them to run off with my luggage, and the average salary there is $150 per month. He was expecting much more money, from an American, especially a woman.
Look at this precious baby! This is Sebastian Christopher. He turned six months old while we were there. Isn't he the cutest! He is so precious and so rotten! He kept his mama busy, walking him around. Poor Katty was sick while we were there. She was a wonderful host and is a great mommy.
With a poverty rate of 80%, their mall blew us away. It had a parking garage under it. It was three stories tall. This ride was on a track in the food court. This is one like you would see at a fair here.
I thought this was interesting. The guy was weed eating and there was a crew that followed him and held up a banner.
Nice road conditions!
This is a great picture to show you can have how many lanes you want on the road. There are no lines and everyone passes you on everyside. I think I heard honking horns in my sleep for a month when I got back.
This picture shows some barefooted homeless children.
Did you notice there is an armed guard at Little Caesars?
This is a Kentucky Fried Chicken. All the fast food restuarants there have amazing playhouses to get your business.
This was the view outside of our window. All of the "nicer" homes had concrete walls, 10-12' high. It also had barded wire and electronic fencing.
This is a picture of a street vendor. They come up to your car window and try selling you everything from car phone pouches to fruit and vegetables. We have been warned by everyone to lock our car doors and to leave the windows up.
Did I mention guns yet? Everywhere you looked...any store, bank, restuarant, everywhere, there were security guards. If you notice the far picture on the right, the guy has his finger on the trigger.
We went to Punta Sal and stayed at this awesome hotel. It was so beautiful. The room was huge!
The girls had to pose with Uncle Glenn and Aunt Katty.
One picture shows Sara looking down. Why? The guide told us to watch where we stepped because there were huge holes in the ground and he didn't want us to step on a snake. The middle picture shows a banana tree growing in the jungle. The next picture shows a monkey being lazy in the jungle. So cool!
I loved experiencing the jungle, but we were ready to leave!
This is when we experienced paradise!
Isn't it just breathtaking? How can you NOT know God created this and know how blessed we are? We are so undeserving.
Sara enjoyed the coconut milk!
I didn't get a picture of this, oh, I wish I had. While we were there, we had a traditional meal there. They served a whole fish, even for the kids. Emma was stroking her fish, apologizing to it because they cooked it. She mustered about three bites, apologizing the whole time for eating it. She had to give it up to her Uncle Glenn.
Emma also loved scaling the rocks. Nannie Betty enjoyed lounging around. Look what they cooked our meal on! There is no electricity on the island.
The flowers just blew me away. They were all just bold and beautiful. Can you believe the
purple flower was growing in the ocean?
The rock formation is all natural in the ocean.
The girls enjoyed snorkling with their Uncle Glenn.
They also loved the hammocks.
This is a coffee truck. Kind of like the ice cream trucks we have.
This is ice cream on wheels!
Notice the little pepsi truck. Look at the guys in the middle of the road with wheelbarrows.
This was school on Sunday!
This bridge was terrible. It would really make you appreciate what we have here.
at that pinata! You know what we get here in the states for a $20.00 pinata.
Look at our uninvited guest that showed up the day before we left, on OUR luggage in OUR bedroom! They said this was a baby! I am so thankful it didn't visit until the day before we were leaving or I would have been in horrible shape!
We were so fortunate to travel to San Pedro Sula. It was an awesome experience for our family. Next time Chris will have to get away!
How is this for some crazy hair for Crazy Hair Day at school? It took me about three hours to add all of those sipping straws! I wish I had taken a picture when I picked them up from school. They had taken the straws out and looked like Shirley Temple.
