Last Days in Honduras

Wednesday, June 23rd

Today consisted mostly of packing, cleaning, and hanging out with Paola and the other neighbors all day. The US had a World Cup match versus Algeria in the morning in Honduras as well as England playing Slovenia. The US had to win and I think England had to lose or tie for the US to advance. Tad really wanted to watch the game, so him, Paola, and me went down to town early and had breakfast at Don Juan’s (nice hotel/restaurant) to watch the game. We treated Paola to breakfast; she could pick whatever she wanted and she chose the typical Honduran breakfast haha. She’s so cute! The game was super intense and we were being kinda loud when there was a missed goal or something. It was still 0-0 at the end of regular playing time, so they added their additional minutes. In the 90th minute, Donovan from the United States broke away and made a goal!!! It was amazing and Tad and I were yelling and clapping and then settled down a bit when we realized how loud we were being. But it was a great game nonetheless and we got to hang out with Paola, too.

We did some things in town and then headed back up the mountain. The girls had left the house pretty clean when I got back yesterday so I just had to pack up all my clothes and things in my suitcases. The problem was trying to figure out what to bring home with me and what to leave there since I knew LB was coming back and she could use some things. That pretty much took me all day, between packing, organizing all that stuff, cleaning the bathroom and the frig out, and making sure everything was ready to go and where it needed to be since I was the last one in the house. Sonia made me and Tad a going away dinner of barbecued pork chops and beans and some other stuff; it was really good! Then again, Sonia makes really good food, too! Since I was mostly packed after dinner, I spent time relaxing at the comedor with the Melgars, Paola, and Tad, saying some of my goodbyes before I had to leave tomorrow. Tomorrow it was off to San Pedro and then United States on Friday!

Thursday, June 24th

This morning was sad. We had figured out the direct bus to San Pedro left Gracias a little after 9am, so we got up at a decent hour, finished packing, and started to say our goodbyes. We wanted the direct bus to avoid having to take all our suitcases off one bus and put them on another and the direct buses are nicer. Anyways, Tad and I said goodbye to the Melgars and the kids. It was hard to say goodbye to Paola, especially for Tad since he lived with her. She was crying and burying her face in our chests and hugging us. Sonia and Dona Angela were teary-eyed, too. After we pulled ourselves away, Juan Carlos and Samuel brought us to the bus stop and helped us to find the right bus. We said our goodbyes to them as well, our faithful mototaxi drivers. Tad and I were stoked because not only did we get the direct bus, but it was a nice, fairly new bus, too! We settled into our seats and the trip to Santa Rosa began. We were both on cloud nine realizing this time tomorrow we’d be on our way to the US after six months of being away.

There were three stops the bus had to make in Santa Rosa. During the second stop, a girl selling stuff turned to me and asked me for change for 100 lempiras. I didn’t have it on me, it was in my backpack above my head across the aisle. I pulled my backpack down and realized the zipper where I had my wallet, passport and ipod was open! My heart raced; I started shaking and crying and frantically started searching for my wallet. Tad was immediately like “What’s wrong?” I kept thinking, ‘This can’t be happening, maybe it just fell down somewhere else in my backpack or something…” but no, my wallet AND ipod had been STOLEN!!!! I started freaking out, crying, shaking, asking as best as I could in my Spanish if anyone had seen the person who did it. One lady said she thought it was this guy who had sat behind me. And as I thought back to this guy she was talking about, I realized I had noticed him moving seats during the ride. He had been in front of us, then across the aisle (sitting in the seats under my backpack) and then moved to the seats behind us. He must have seen where I put my wallet when I got change for my ticket back in Gracias and so he knew where it was. ALL of the money that had remained in my Honduran bank account (around $500 USD!!) was in my wallet as well as my license and two credit cards. I had been stupid to carry around that much cash in one place because I didn’t need it all that day; that was my fault. All these should’ve, could’ve, would’ves went through my head.

After this lady said that, I ran up to the bus driver and told him and asked if there was anything they could do; not very helpful. The next stop a little up the road a policeman got on and so I went up to him and explained in Spanish, crying, what had happened and then tried to understand what he was telling me in Spanish to do. I was so flustered that it was hard for me to understand but I think he had told me he was going to tell his friends who were around there to come and help me search for the guy and they were on their way. So after he had communicated that to the dispatcher person and the bus driver, the bus stopped on the corner of the road by the gas station. The bus guy told us to follow him and said they had to keep going, helped us get our suitcases out from under the bus, put them on the side of the road, said something like God will take care of it. Then there Tad and I were: on the side of the road, with all of our suitcases, I had no money or way to get money, Tad had little money, and I wasn’t exactly sure what the policeman had said about the other police coming and when. I completely lost it and started bawling. I wanted to crawl into a hole, disappear, start the day over and go back to America. I DID NOT want to be in Honduras at that point; I despised Honduras at that point. Tad comforted me as best as a person can in that situation and we just sat on the road, waiting to see if these other policemen were going to show up. Thank God, the guy hadn’t taken my passport or my phone, but I didn’t have a lot of money left on my phone and neither did Tad. I called my parents and told them the very short story of what happened and to cancel my credit cards. Tad called Mr. Lara and let him know the situation and if there was anything they could do to help us out. By this time it was about noon and we HAD to get to SPS that day because our flight left for the States late morning on Friday. A

fter about 20-30 minutes of waiting, here comes this four door, flatbed white pickup with 8 policemen, fully decked out and each one of them had a gun; not just a handgun, a GUN. It was almost comical. They asked us what happened, threw our stuff in the back, let us sit in the cab, and took off. I think that was the safest I had ever felt in Honduras haha. But they kept asking what had happened and again, the language was a barrier, especially with my stress clouding my mind. I tried to explain what happened and the urgency of it. But like typical Honduras, they had to go to this building to drop off some food for their buddies, then they took me all the way into Santa Rosa to the police station there, AWAY from the bus station where my stuff had been stolen about 45 minutes ago. I knew the more time passed, the less likely it was I would have any chance of seeing my stuff again. We got to the police station; I went in to repeat my story again to these women who were in charge of something; and they told me to wait for this guy who was like an undercover cop or something to take me BACK to the bus station and look for the guy. SO frustrating the lack of efficiency and urgency in the system here!! Meanwhile, Tad is making phone calls to his friend Mike, Mr. Lara, and Jake to try to figure things out of how we can still get to SPS that evening. I took off with the undercover cop guy and we checked out all the bus stops and stations in Santa Rosa; I went into a bunch of buses to see if the guy was there and nothing. We rode around the area and downtown Santa Rosa and nothing. I had basically lost hope of recovering my things.

Back to the police station, I sat around for a while, wondering if there was anything else I could do or should. Tad had been amazing calling people and found out Jake and his parents were staying in the same hotel we were that night, so they were willing to pay for our hotel and meals in SPS; thank you God. And Mr. Lara called us to tell us that Mr. Rodrigo (bless his amazing heart) was willing to drive us in his truck to SPS directly to the hotel. We just sat there then at the police station in Santa Rosa and waited for Mr. Rodrigo. I was completely spent and done…with everything. Mr. Rodrigo finally came, loaded our stuff, and we were off to SPS. He tried talking to us and we did our best to respond, but we just had no emotional strength left. He took us straight to the hotel entrance and we met Jake and his parents there. They paid for our hotel and our dinner that night and then everyone turned in early.

Today was probably the worst day I had in Honduras; the second was the day I came back from Lake Yajoa; our bus broke down; and we had no running water when I got back to Villa Verde. But I digress. Looking back on the day, while it stunk to high heaven to have all that crap happened, God provided through all the people in my life: Tad making calls and being there for me, Mr. Lara helping, Mr. Rodrigo bringing us there, Jake and his parents paying for our hotel, meals and our airport fees tomorrow. In spite of the violation I felt from having my HARD-earned money and ipod stolen from me, God had still been there, looking out for me in various ways. Tomorrow…finally back home to America.