We Made It!

We made it! On Tuesday March 29th, we woke up at 5:30 AM in Chicago. We showered, finished packing our bags, ate some breakfast with our friends, and headed to O’Hare International Airport for our 10 AM flight. The first leg of our flight was almost 5 hours to San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador (which neighbors Honduras to the West). During our flight, a Latina woman came up and asked Hailey for a few diapers for her friend who had two young children and no diapers! Not surprisingly, Hailey gave away two of our last three diapers. We figured that every airport would have diapers for sale, but we were wrong. During our one-hour layover in El Salvador, I scavenged the entire airport for diapers, but found none. They had enough Wii games, cologne, and perfume for the entire country of El Salvador, but not a single diaper. Luckily, Micah didn’t have a wet diaper.

Finally, we boarded our last flight and after a short time in the air, we descended into the Tegucigalpa airport, approximately 10 hours after leaving for the Chicago airport. Luckily, there was a short line to get through customs. As soon as we arrived at the baggage claim, an anxious airport employee (he was probably anxious because we are Gringos, or white-skinned, which means we have money) rushed over to us and loaded all our bags onto a small cart. He helped us get our bags out through security and into the entry-way to the airport where we would be picked up. Once we told him that we didn’t need to go any further because we were waiting for a ride, he dropped our bags on the floor and looked at me with an “I’m waiting for my tip” look. It was his lucky day; I didn’t have any money except a $20 bill. After waiting 10-15 minutes, Glen arrived and we were off to our new home.

The car ride was a couple hours. Micah did pretty well, although he was very tired and hungry. The last 8 miles is very bumpy and slow, and I’m pretty sure Hailey was thinking, “What did Joseph get us into?” Once we arrived, the students welcomed us and we enjoyed a time of introductions, singing, and question-and-answer time. We unloaded all our bags into our new home and quickly headed to bed. Micah slept well until 5:30, and Hailey and I tossed and turned most of the night.

Today is our first full day here. We are excited to share more about our experiences in the coming weeks, but it is time to get to work here.

Adios!