My Roatan Vacation

So I just got back home to Catacamas yesterday afternoon from Roatan, one of the Bay Islands on the north coast of Honduras.  I left here on Saturday Feb 19th and took a 5-hr bus trip to Tegucigalpa.  I was so happy to spend the night at Dilia's house because the next day was an 8-hr bus trip to La Ceiba on the coast and then an hour and a half ferry ride to Roatan.  Honduras isn't a very big country but even domestic travel can be quite an ordeal.  My parents and my sister flew into Roatan from Houston on Feb 20th and I met up with them at our hotel later that evening.  It was really nice seeing my family again but it also wasn't some kind of gushy reunion either.  After all, it's only been six weeks!  It was strange saying good-bye yesterday though, since we won't see each other until Christmas- wow!

After spending a few days on the beach in Roatan, my parents were ready for a taste of the 'real Honduras'.  Of course Julie was just here in May for the King's Water Project so she already knew that the tropical vistas of Roatan didn't capture what it's really like to live in Honduras.  My family wasn't really interested in the 8-hr bus ride to Tegucigalpa so we flew instead.  Not to worry, the 5-hr trip to Catacamas following the flight was enough for them to get acquainted with the bumpy Honduran highways! 

We spent two nights in my house and my mom was very excited to do dishes in the pila – which was totally fine with me because that meant I didn’t have to do them! We only had time for one full day in Catacamas so we started off with a little tour of the Diaconía office.  Isaí made a valiant effort to give us a little presentation in English about DN’s work in Olancho.  It was great being able to share a bit more about my work here.  Now my family will have a better idea of what/who I’m talking about in my emails and phone calls. 

Next we went to the famous Cuevas de Talgua near Catacamas.  There was a bit of a hike up to the caves up it was totally worth it.  There are actually a lot of great caves in this area but Talgua is the only one that’s developed for visitors.  The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging around in hammocks, sipping cool drinks and eating this awesome hot bean dip with tortillas.   We left at 7am the next morning and instead of taking the bus again, Dilia was nice enough to take us in her truck.  In the end it was a lot of travelling for just one day in Catacamas but I think it was important for my family to see all of it.

I’d like to say that I spent all of last week lounging on the beaches of Roatan but I was sooooo sick.  I went to the clinic at least 5 or 6 times for tests, IV’s and prescriptions and I think my parents spent more on cab fare than my food for a week.  At first the doctors were pretty sure it was classic Dengue Fever or Malaria (both of which are spread by insects) but the blood tests were negative.  After about 5 days of antibiotics things seemed a little better so it must have been a bacterial infection.  I’m not 100% recovered yet but at this point I don’t really care what it was.  All in all, I spent more time in bed than in the sun but it was nice to have family around through it all.  I just hope I wasn’t too much of a bummer to ruin their vacation.  Fortunately I was feeling alright on our last full day in Roatan so I got to go horseback riding as little treat- yay!

So now I have to get back into my Catacamas routine.  Vacation time is over – time to get back to work!  I think I’m only in the office for another week and a half and then there is a work group coming from a CRC church in BC.  I’ll be joining them in El Coyolar as they construct latrines, pilas and concrete floors.  I think Diaconía has a North American work group lined up for each month until July so there’s a lot of work to be done in preparation!