I MADE IT!

I woke up in Teguc to people clapping and cheering because they were happy the plane didn't crash!  Apparently, the runway in Teguc is pretty small, and is surrounded by mountains.  Since I fall asleep within five minutes of sitting on a plane, I missed it the death defying experience...next time!  Here's a picture of the mountains surrounding the airport.

I really had a never-ending morning though!  I didn't go to sleep until 1am because someone *cough*Mo*cough* wanted to go see the 10pm showing of the new X-Men movie.  I have to admit, it was pretty entertaining - go see it.  I woke up at 3am, was at the Philly airport by 4am, and then boarded my first flight at 5am.  I got to Houston at 7:30am CST, and then boarded the plane to Teguc at 8:30am.  I got to Teguc at 11am MST!  All this traveling, and it wasn't even afternoon yet!  So technically I've been awake since 1am MST.  Oh, travel days...

A little bit about who I'm here in Honduras with.  I'm staying with Janet Hines, who is one of the co-founders of Mi Esperanza.  She lives in a BEAUTIFUL house about 45 minutes outside of Teguc in a town called Santa Ana.  I'm also with Annie, who is going to be a Senior at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN this fall.  She is getting a double major in Biochemistry and Spanish.  Annie is one of Janet's niece's, and came to Teguc for the first time about three years ago.  Also staying at Janet's is Madeline (Maddie) and her dad, Rick and they are from NOLA.  Maddie is 17, her dad is leaving her here for three weeks so she can become more fluent in Spanish.  They've been coming to Honduras for several years now, but this is her first extended stay in Teguc.

Our first stop was Mi Esperanza!!  It's so awesome!  I got to see the main compound, which houses the office, the computer classroom, one of the sewing classrooms, and the store!  I met some of the ladies who graduated from the sewing school, and now work for Mi Esperanza (ME).  A mission group came to see the compound as well, and Annie, Maddie and I helped Janet and the other employees of ME out at the store.  ME just received another grant, so they will be expanding their main compound to include a beauty salon school and another sewing classroom I believe.  Across the street from Janet's house is the ME clinic, and another sewing school.

The sign above the front door of the office

Two graduates of the sewing school who now work for ME.

The store!  They just opened this section of the compound.  That's Maddie and Rick in the background.

Ladies - check out the Mi Esperanza website and let me know if there is anything you would like me to get for you!  Everything they sell here is handmade by Honduran women, and it is all so beautiful!  I already have a pile of things I'm going to buy, and I'm sure I'll be adding to the pile while I'm there tomorrow...and throughout my stay.

So now for some fun facts that I learned about Honduras today.  First, Hondurans have an unhealthy addiction to pop (that's soda for all you non-western Pennsylvanians).  So much so, that they have armed guards that man each Coca-Cola truck whenever they come to unload their beverages at stores/restaurants/etc!

Second, Honduras is filled with little convenience type stores that are called pulperia's.  This is a native Honduran word, and you can find these pulperia's everywhere - even in the littlest of villages.  That's where we'll be buying our water when we go out to build houses - don't worry Mama Nove, it's safe to drink this water.  Oh, and a bonus fun fact, bottles of water cost 7 lempira's, which is about 35 cents!  Good thing for us that it's so cheap!

Okay, my brain just stopped functioning, so those are the only fun facts I can come up with right now.  I will try to post pictures of Janet's house tomorrow, but I was just informed that we won't be getting back until closer to 11pm MST tomorrow night.  You may just have to wait until Saturday!