Monday, July 30, 2007

Monday...wow

Today I had to get up soooo early...8.30! But at around 9 I got a call from Beverly in Mississippi. She and her husband work with me in La Esperanza and she's visiting her family here too. She's been there since the end of May and I won't see her till the 20th of August, so that was a nice treat to talk to her!
Then my mom and I were off to run a crazy amount of errands! First stop...DENTIST! It wasn't so bad. I actually like it. She's really gentle, and today I think she was really hungry because the visit was really short and to the point (and I could hear her stomach growling!) I will have to remember to go just before lunch time from now on!
Then we visited my aunt romaine and uncle bruce and their adorable new dog ivory. She's jsut a big violent beast! quite the opposite, really. Despues, we went to the post office and next door was a used book store where i bought about 23.5 books for less than $13! I'm going to sell them in my bookstore(God-willing) in Honduras.
By that time we were both hungry and went to eat at Pick Up Sticks by the Lakewood mall, but they officially open tomorrow and it was by invite only today. My mom told them I live in Honduras now and REALLY NEEDED to eat there, but they didn't get the hint, so we went next door to the Corner Bakery. Mmm.Mmm!
Finally we went to Bed Bath and Beyond. Oh my word! That should be a prize on Wheel of Fortune or something....30 min. get all you want. Well, we got some much needed stuff for my apt. in Honduras, like a Pineapple decorer/slicer, but I decided to pass on the talking bottle opener. I already bought like 5 of them in La Esperanza. They're really popular there. We saw Linda Cron there. Hi Linda!

It's great to be here!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

More pictures of La Esperanza!




Us ladies in the smallest taxi in the world, with all of our luggage (3 big suitcases, 2 backpacks, and 3 other types of bags.)

Beto taking a picture of A.Glenda taking a picture of our room in La esperanza.

Just call me "Mama's Mule". Just Kidding. I love to help!



2 real mules...a popular mode of transport. Mom, Beto, and A. Glenda waiting for our bus to take us to Teguc. to go to the States the next day.


Notice the lady with the basket on her head. Totally normal. I plan on learning that soon.
In the blue truck...cheese, anyone?

and another ox cart parked by a valet.

Shelby's party and Seth and Ben's last night





Grandma with her favorite East Coast Gangstas!

I made the cake! Not professional, by far, but scrumpteously delicious!

Kinda blurry, but Seth with some of his favorite California girls! We drove to the top of Signal Hill to see the lights, and it was a beautifully clear night!

Seth and I at Shelby's party, and with their adorable dog, Jazmin.

We miss you Seth and Ben!

We love Seth and Ben

This morning my mom and I left at 5:30am to take Seth and Ben to LAX. Since we were already up, we went to Bake n Broil for breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal and Bake n Broil is my favorite restaurant. I'm going to have to buy new bigger pants after my one month here in Cali. I had blueberry pancakes, the "short stack" of just 3 huge pancakes. we get a lot of fruit in Honduras, but no blueberries, well, in the capital, yes, but not in my town.

We saw my mom's cousin there and had a nice breakfast together. Now I'm about to go back to bed till 11-ish when we leave for a King's Kamp meeting. I'm so excited to go to Kamp this year. I don't even remember the last year I was there. I'd have to really rack my brain to think when that was and I don't even like to rack my brain on a good day, let alone in a half asleep state.

I'm sad to see Seth and Ben go. It was an absolute RIOT to have them here. I hope my own kids are half as funny as they are some day. And they are considerate, strong Christians, and very helpful, just all around great young men.

Last night we drove out to the Riverside area to my sisters "new" house (my first time there) for my neice's 11th birthday party. It was a lot of fun, a lot of kids watching amovie, but we had Dominoes...mmm...,cake and ice cream, and she gave me a special party bag which wasn't a bag at all, but a leopard print chinese take-out box filled with girlie goodies! I love kids' birthday parties. Why don't adults hand out party bags anymore??? Filled with, like, phone cards, or starbucks gift cards, or movie tickets. hmm...getting some ideas...

Friday, July 27, 2007

Tijuana




Today, Seth, his friend Ben, and I drove to Tijuana, Mexico. We parked on the U.S. side and took a shuttle across. This is the way to go, except that on the way back there was still an hour wait at the border crossing. We walked around, ate, and shopped for about 3 hours before heading back. We're at the border under the arch. That helped us many times to get "unlost". Ben and i trying on hats, and a sign that says all you need to know for a visit to Mexico (except you gotta watch some tacos, know what i'm sayin?) We had a lot of fun but were exhausted!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Back in LA

Today was my second real official day back in Long Beach visiting the fam and friends. My nephew Seth is visiting from Florida with his friend Ben. Today, we, my mom, my neice and nephew who live here and Seth and Ben all took a tour of LA, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills.
As we drove past the Kodak Theater, we could tell something big was going on. There were news cameras, vans, and a large crowd of people standing around, but we couldn't really see anything. So we parked and went across the street for coffee. Then we walked across the street, went in a gift shop, and looked at the hand/footprints of some stars. Finally we reached the crowd and saw that it was Matt Damon getting his star on the walk of fame! It was so cool, but crowd control was...out of control. We couldn't seem to ever stand in the right place, but eventually we found a place about 10 feet from his SUV, so when he went to get in it to leave we were close and go some great pictures.

We also saw Johnny Depp just walking along the street in his pirate costume, coming out of a mini mart. REally it was a wanna be, but i rolled down the window and yelled "Johnny! Johnny!" He waved, smiled, and I took a picture as we slowly rolled by. It was awesome.

We didn't have a lot of time, but it was an amazing day...perfect weather, lots of laughs, and unexpected surprises!

Later we went to my aunts to swim and then to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner, where one of my nephews played a trick on Seth by telling the waiter it was his birthday, which really isn't till October, but Seth had to wear a "crown" and walk around the restaurant waving to his "fans" as we all sang "Happy Birthday!"

Happy Birthday Seth! We love you!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Vacation fotos







You can find Pepperdine fans ANY where!

Yummy .25 cent pineapple popcicle.

Us in front of our beach cabin in Roatan. Sooo hot and humid, but very fun, well, except for the sand flies! yuk!

All the iguanas just chillin'.

Me after translating nearly constantly for 2.5 weeks! Oh! And here specifically, I was trying to translate Italian to Spanish to English. Let's just say I had an appetite for dinner!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Snapshots




Just a few highlights from the trip. Mom and I (always sporting Waves pride, baby!) on the bridge over non-troubled waters at the bird park. I had the best cheeseburger in all Honduras. It's actually charbroiled, perhaps only 1 of 2 places that does that here!
The HOT MAMAS in our rented jeep! Look out!
At the iguana farm. The man and his wife have had the farm for over 25 years and it's a refuge for them (the iguanas, that is). People in Roatan burn hillside fires to drive them out, then kill and eat them. They started the farm just taking in a few and now have over 4,000! I got to feed them. We got there right at lunch time, so it was neat to see how they all scramble for the leaves. It sounded like pouring rain when they all walked (ran) at once. It was one of our highlights!
We've been having a good time relaxing in La Esperanza. Last night we moved to a smaller 2 bed room becasue the 3 bed room we had the first night was already reserved for these last two nights when we reserved our rooms. The bigger room had a nice big coffee table, a chair like a throne, a large cushioned bench for 3 people, and a mini fridge, with drinks!
This morning we were awakened by our neighbors and their tv at 7am. The hall isn't insulated like in a Marriot or something, so I had to politely tell them to please SIMMA DOWN NOW! The whole country seems to awaken at 5am, but at least they,for the most part, go to sleep early.
Later we enjoyed Beto's homemade Guatemalan tacos, and tonight we're dining with a colleague of mine who's making Honduran enchiladas. Tomorrow we leave for Teguc. and Monday for Cali! HOpe to see you there!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Almost done!

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in La Esperanza. We decided to fly back half way this time to save 5hhours, but we didn't expect to havea 3 hour delay in the airport in Roatan. We miraculously made it in time to catch the bus to La Esperanza and were at he hotel here around 4pm. We had a nice dinner there with Beto and got to sleep in today!

Our last few days in Roatan were really nice of course, but I don't miss the heat or the biting insects, flies and mosquitos. It's good to be home! Today we've been relaxing. Did some laundry and mom and aunt glenda helped me pack up my apt. which only took an hour instead of 3 days like we thought. it's going to be painted while I'm in the states. white instead of peachy pink. ehg to peachy pink.

we had so much fun in roatan renting the jeep and snorkeling. Aunt Glenda and I got burned on the backs of our legs and our backs, but it was worth it. If only we'd had an underwater camera! We were going to swim out to the reef but it's a long ways, so we took up a guy on his offer to take us out in his boat for an hour for $35. It was really worth it. He took us to one of the best spots where we jsut jumped out the boat and he stayed close to us the whole time. We saw tons of beautifullly colored fish, coral, and went to the drop off of the coral to the deep blue abyss. next time If i go again I'm definately taking a diving course. It's expensive but well worth it. I was just so anxious to go below the surface and keep seeing stuff. It's addicting!

In our jeep we rode around the island 2 days seeing lots of scenery and stopping whneever we wanted. it ended up being cheaper and "funner"than taking taxi's everywhere, and i hate knowing we're getting really ripped off on the taxi's prices. We went to a butterfly farm, which had cages of them and birds you could walk through. we also went to the iguana park where we walked through 100's of them on the ground. they also had some monkey's and an enclosed part of the sea with huge fish and turtles. all amazing.

we dined at some pretty nice places. well, nice isn't doing it justice. the restaurant sat high atop 70 stairs and the weather was perfect at dinner time. sometimes during the day we'd just be sweatin just sitting there. we definately needed some sweat bands from the 80's!

we did a lot of shopping and reading and napping in the a/c cabin which was a big hit with the ladies. it had a porch with chairs and an outdoor shower to rinse off before going in, and a mini frdge it was my 3rd time staying htere. they were the first hotel in that part of the island 35 years ago so they'know what theyré doing and are really nice, family owned.

when we went snorkeling we droke over the the best beach on the island and afterwards since we rented chairs for the day we stayed and read and ate and just were luxuriously lazy. the most embarassing thing happened to me though. I had bought a bikini only to wear there, i never wear them but i'd forgot my other suit. anyway, the back snap of plastic broke, but luckily i had quick hands and a tshirt over it, but i kept he top on underneath as best as i could becasue the tank top was white and you know how that is when it's wet. after we went snorkeling the captain, Gary, was pulling me into the boat. all of a sudden they all start laughing and saying my name and to look down. my top was dangling down around my neck. i just took it off and put it down. I was so anxiuos to get out of there when we docked i forgot it. Then Gary asked,"did you want me to keep this?"I didn't understand till i looked up and saw my top in his hand. it was all i could do to not grab it out of his hand and run away! Luckily it wasn't any worse!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

een dee eye-lan,mahn!

It's saturday night...and we're exhausted.
yesterday we got up at 4am and our taxi was at the hotel at 4:45. That's right, we had our own personal taxi man the whole time we were in Copan Ruins. He was randomly selected to take us from the bus station to our hotel when we first arrived and he gave us his number, so we called him everyday to take us around. he was really sweet and didn't make mom or a.glenda nervous with crazy driving, so he was a keeper.

We rode the bus 3 hours and then had about a 1 hour, 45minute layover in San Pedro Sula, where A.Glenda and I walked to a mcDonald's to get breakfast. i'm not a huge fan unless I have it once or twice a year, and i think this may have been the second time of 07, so it was yuuuummmyyy!!!

Then we rode another bus for another 3 hours to the port, where we took a taxi about 15 minutes and waited at the port for about 2 hours. Lunch was microwave popcorn. yes, things were going a little downhill, but we weren't to be detered!

We boarded the boat and took a little bit of a choppy ride 2 hours to the island. They had to show the movie, "The Guardian" about scary Coast Guard rescues in dangerous seas. I tried to avert my eyes.

At the port they had the worst set up for people to get their luggage. It was all kept behind a waist high wall and behind it were only about 3 men working to get about 200 or more peopl's luggage. When we checked it we were each given a little ticket stub with a number, so the workers then had to go find our luggage with the matching number card attached to it. We just waited about 20 minutes till most people had cleared out. i was too tired to be pushy or aggressive at that point, something you learn you have to do sometimes in lines here or you'll stand in line aaaaaaalll day! We took about a 20 minute taxi drive to our cabin on the beach and have been relaxing ever since.

it's really hot and humid, but we got rain this morning and a lot this evening which helped to cool it off. This morning we found a really good New york deli, owned by New Yorkers, with good bagels, and the owner told us they had their first location on another part of the island. So we took a taxi late after noon to eat some snacks, but it closed about 2 minutes before we arrived. We paid $25, yes dollars! , round trip for the 40 min. taxi ride. You can pay for anything in dollars here and everything is so expensive. It's been such a shock for me to come from the poorest/cheapest part of the country to the most expensive! It's really hard for me to not feel like we're being taken major advantage of just because we're white, but at least I can "argue" in spanish if i absolutely have to.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Some pictures




At the bird park...mom guarding the mayan ruins, us in our taxi in front of the hotel, at a restaurant, mom and beto enjoying lunch, and me and aunt glenda having fun at Baxter. We miss everybody but are having a great time!blessings!








Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Macaw Mountain and Mayan Ruins

Yesterday we spent most the day relaxing since we traveled all day the day before. Yesterday afternoon we spent a couple hours at the famous Macaw mountain bird park, the only enclosed park of just birds...and a couple watch dogs, one named Ben Affleck. No resemblance.
We had a great English speaking guide included in the cost and the tour lasted around one hour. it´s a beautiful park with a creek that has a natural pool to swim in, and the restaurant sits on the bridge over it. We saw hundreds of different types of absolutely beautiful birds native to this region as well as some that are native anywhere from Canada all the way down to Argentina. We got some great pictures but unfortunately the computer here at the hotel is difficult to size them down in order to send. We each got a turn with a big Macaw on each arm and on our heads! Our guide was really funny and a great photographer! Afterwards we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee in the coffee shop. The coffee is locally grown and amazing, if you like that sort of thing.

Today we were up and at em almost as early as soldiers. Our tour guide, Juan, arrived at 7.30 and we took the local golf cart taxi one Kil. to the Mayan ruins. our tour was all walking and our guide was English speaking and very energetic. It lasted over 2 hours but it was amazing as well. When we arrived we were the only ones in the 25 mile square park and it was so cool and peaceful since it was only about 8am. The dew was still on the grass and it was cooler since it had rained the night before. We had a great time. All the people here, at least our tour guides, have all been very friendly, down to earth, and laid back, just like the culture.

After the tour we had brunch and played in the pool a bit, read our books, then did some shopping and had dinner. Tomorrow we can sleep in, thank goodness!

Thank God we are all healthy and able to enjoy so much of His beautiful creation!!

Tim Archer...my mom says hello! Hola

Monday, July 09, 2007

In the old world ruins

Today we are in the mayan Copan ruins in Northwestern Honduras, very close to the Guatemalan border. This town reminds me a lot of Antigua, Guatemala. Very touristy but absolutely beautiful! They have little red taxis like golf carts. the streets are cobble stone, narrow, and steep. Our hotel is old world hispanic style, just gorgeous. The people are very hospitable, like most hondurans, but this place has a different feel from the rest of the country, like going back even more in time than my town. I would put my town in the old west period, and this place at the time of the indigenous.

The girls, my mom and aunt, are doing very well despite all the traveling by bus i am putting them through. They are being real good sports. This morning we left the hotel around 8 to catch the 8.30 bus but it was already full, so we waited an hour for the next one. We took it 3 hours north to a big city and from the station took a taxi to another bus station. That bus we took another 3 hours to Copan. The second bus was much more luxurious. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it a 12, but others were not so generous.

Our hotel in La Esperanza and here in Copan were very luxurious to me but all I remember being said is that they wont ever complain again about staying in MOtel 6, whatever that means.

We will stay here a few days exploring the mayan ruins. I am so excited because i have never been here but have always heard about it. It has been a great way to see so much of Honduras to travel by bus, also, especially since they only run during the days.

Sunday, yesterday, we relaxed. In the morning we went to church and in the after noon we ate out. For dinner, Beto made pizza and I made salad and dessert. We invited over my neighbor Mr. Ken and our pastor. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of walking in my town but I am giving the delux tour o f everything. That is why they pay me the big bucks.

Beto preached yesterday about the forgiveness of God. It was really good and mom and a. glenda enjoyed it even though it was in spanish.

I am so blessed to live in this country. I just love it and am so happy to be able to share it with mom and aunt glenda. God has been really gracious giving us near perfect traveling times and experiences, keeping us safe and healthy. Thanks for your prayers. God bless you.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Fun with mom and auntie

Hey Everybody...

Well, after the end of all the end of year activities, I had 3 days at home to clean the apt., wash clothes, and spend precious last moments with my apt. friends before we all went our separate ways. My windows were a huge job in themselves, being that my apt. is closest to the dusty street so it gets the brunt of the dirt. Last Thursday I headed to Teguc. where I stayed with Amber and had about 5 days to hang out with friends before my mom and aunt Glenda flew into town. Their original flight was cancelled so they've been here since Tuesday. We've done so much in the last 5 days, and we have about 2 weeks left! Our first night together in Teguc. we took Jeanne and Steve White to TGIFriday's for burgers. It was 4th of July! Ironically only mom and aunt Glenda got fajita's with little United states flags stuck in the meat with toothpicks!

Wednesday we took a city tour, private in a minivan. Our tour guide spoke english and was really knowledgable and sweet. the tour was only supposed to take 4 hours and we ended up taking about 6. He took us all over. Since we went so late we invited him to lunch and he took us to a typical Honduran food place. Very tasty!

Thursday we left the city around 7.30am for a 3 hour bus ride to Catacamas, east of Teguc. That is where the Christian ministry Predisan is. My mom and aunt wanted to see it because the directors have spoken at Pepperdine Lecture's before. It is an amazing medical clinic working to heal the whole person...spiritually, mentally, physically, and it is very modern, especially by Honduran standards. We went out to lunch with the director, Doris Clark, and another volunteer she had visiting her after our tour of Predisan and Cerepa, a drug and alcoholic rehabilitation center a little outside the main part of town. That same day we took the 3 hour bus ride back to Teguc. That night my old roomate Amber met us at the hotel and we ate in the restaurant there. That was a lot of fun!!! I'm enjoying the luxurious hotels and "free"food.

Yesterday we slept in and took a noon bus for my house. We arrived around 4, had a couple hours to relax, and went to my apt. complex to have homemade beef veggie soup with Mr. Ken. It was a good time of fellowship. It was fun to try to get a hotel room here yesterday. I guess Im used to how things are here. we looked at four rooms till finally the hotel clerk personally showed us the suite...the LARGEST ROOM IN THE CITY!!! It was just good enough for my mom and aunt, so we took it! I am thoroughly enjoying my time with them!!!

For the weekend we are staying here in my town, relaxing and enjoying a lot of time with Beto. This morning he made us homemade rools, refried beans(not homemade), eggs and coffee. I brought bacon and we all enjoyed a brunch at my apt. It's a lot of walking here in town from the hotel to my place so we take it slow. We've been at the internet now over an hour but are enjoying coffee's and ice creams. Beto is speaking a lot in english and entertaining us with funny stories.

God is so good. We';ve had great weather and safe travels, food, shelter, and of course wonderfully happy times with each other and other friends. Praise be to Him for His grace, love, peace, mercy, and joy! May you feel and enjoy Him today!