June 14, 2011 etc.
Leaving Dallas after the wedding was difficult. With a solid week of teeth followed by figuring out the best way to dispose of FB looming in front of me, I would much rather look forward the future. Two months of family (writing a thesis), friends (writing a thesis), and the best city in the world (Austin) (writing a thesis) sounds soooo much more appealing.
I left Dallas on Monday and had an overnight layover in Houston. I booked that flight in a haze of end of semester panic, but it worked out well because I got to spend the night hanging out with Liz Sladecek, my former roommate from college and a truly fabulous lady. She indulged my paranoia about getting to the airport absurdly early, and we left the house at 6am. As a sign of gratitude, I bought us both some Starbucks on the way. This was fortuitous. As I got out my credit card to pay for our white chocolate mochas I discovered that my debit card was missing. My stomach dropped to my knees, and I started frantically searching my purse. I knew it was gone. I never use my debit card in the US, and I had noticed in the airport that my cards were sliding precariously out of my wallet from time to time. Unfortunately, that debit card was my only source of money in Honduras.
There are many reasons Liz is amazing. One of the lesser reasons is that she, without blinking, loaned me a couple hundred dollars to finish my trip. There was an ATM in the same parking lot as the Starbucks. I boarded my plane later that morning with my debit card canceled and an uncomfortable amount of cash in hand. I suppose that could have been worse.
When I got to Honduras, Tim and Gloria picked me up. They offered to let me stay at their house for the night, and I accepted. In Tegu, I can almost pretend I’m still in the US. We went to their office where I had reliable wifi for the entire afternoon. Then we went out to a track where they exercise every day. I ran a few miles on the track and no one looked at me like I was crazy for exercising (in the mountains this is literally a foreign concept – only the mission team does it).
In the morning, I discovered that the game plan was for me to wait in front of the house for the bus to come. I had taken the bus to their doorstep on the way in to Tegu, but somehow it seemed a bit more daunting to flag down the correct bus in the middle of a highway with two giant and fully loaded suitcases. Luisa and I dragged my suitcases across the highway and waited. Several buses passed. Eventually one to La Esperanza was among them. It flew past without stopping. I was starting to sweat this idea. It’s official. I cannot handle not having my own, reliable transportation. It drives me crazy. My stomach started tying itself in knots and stubbornly refused to listen to my pep talk about how life would go on if I didn’t make it to Las Mercedes that day. After an hour and a half of vigilantly keeping my eyes peeled for my last chance to leave that day, we managed to flag down the right bus.
The ride was uneventful, and I arrived at exactly the time I had told my ride I would be there. I called her when I pulled into the bus station, and she told me she was leaving to come get me (ya vengo). She works 3 blocks from the station. After an hour of baking in the sun during the hottest part of the day, she finally showed up. I’m grateful for the ride – the bus to the communities is a couple miles from the bus to La Esperanza, and the unpaved roads would have been rough with two suitcases and a backpack – but I kind of wish I would have known I had time to find shade and some water.
When I finally made it to Las Mercedes I tumbled into my hammock and tried to psych myself up for one last week and a half of dental surveys.
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