Hey everyone! It's Leah! I'm really sorry for the late late post. You see... what had happened was.. we all had a full day and everyone was way tired, so us high schoolers and our ways naturally procrastinated the start of the blog until the late hours of the night haha. "Chel-bee", also known as Shelby G, apologized a million times for the late hour, but i didn't mind at all!! No problem Shelby :) . So I got on and wrote my little heart out until 2:35 A.M only to find out that the internet broke down on me and deleted all of my work. hahahhh. I was a bit frustrated, but I even shocked myself of how relaxed I was about the computer killing my blog. I guess the Honduran life-style really got to me! :D So here is my short blog about the hike to Eloisa's house. :)
It was like any other mornig, waking up at the early hours of the day, coming down to the pool to have some ...french toast. Don't get me wrong, food is great, but it was the first day after three days that my bowels weren't angry at me and destroying toilets. So i wasn't really feeling the french toast. Nevertheless, food os fuel, and not knowing whether i wanted to do the hike or not, I knew i would need some seriouus fuel this day either way.
We got on the bus and headed off to the hogar to drop off the cheerleaders for the soccer tournament. Stewart stood up and asked who was going to the game. I looked around to see who was going and contemplated watching soccer (my ffavorite sport of all), or going on this hike that i REALLY wanted to go on. Since i was too late to raise my hand to go to the game and didn't want to mess up Stewart's head count, I felt better knowing that i was going to get a good work out and a mind altering experience. we headed over to the base of the mountain and got out. To be honest, i didn't want to step off the bus because regardless of what my mind was telling me, i was physically and mentally exhausted. Little did I know, I would soon become emotionally exhausted as well...
We stepped off the bus, applied the usual gallon of sunscreen, two gallons of bug spray, and were off. We sort of broke up into 3 groups, a faster one (Stacey, Stewart, Brian, and Jesus), a reasonably paced one (Nikki, Bree S, Steve, Nick, Ryan, and I), and Glennon, Kyla, Aubrey, and McKenna, who dropped by a few houses on the way up to give out some more goods. (I hope I didn't miss anyone!) This hike was breath taking! Litterally. hahahah. The first third was super steep, with long stretches of steep, and in my mind i was just begging for a short break, but I kept on singing "she'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes", and trooped on. It was beautiful in the jungle. If you have ever seen "The Wild Thornberries", a kids show about traveling all over the world, it totally reminded me of that, but times 4,759,446. haha! It was amazing! I have never seen a view like that one. Lush shades of green as far as you could see, then looking up, a rich carribean blue with a bit of a mist in the air, and to the right a bright green rolling hill. Bree and i quickly snapped a shot of us and the view and were off. "Oh my Lanta", we suddenly came to a fork in the trails and had to decide which way was the way. we used common sense and took the more worn way. Thankfully, in the end we realized both trails connected, so eitherr way we were alright. Trucking along, we randomly found ourselves confused and walking through a family of cows along a barbed wire fence. Worried that we made a wrong turn, we concluded that we'd just stay put and wait for the others so we wouldn't get lost. Within minutes, Kevin, the boy who's house we were hiking to, surfaced from the jungle and showed us the gate that we were looking for. no wonder we didn't see the gate. It was sticks connected to barbed wire, and you just pull the wire off of one stick and hop on through the opening that was made. Surprised and relieved, we found ourselves at the house! they warm heartedly invited us in and showed us around. They had a muddy pond where they raised Talapia (a kind of fish), a cute box of kittens that immediately stole Stacey's attention, some dogs, cattle, and chickens.
A few days before, I had been talking with Paola's family, (another family in the jungle), and they told me about how pretty Eloisa's house was. With what they described to me about the beauty, I was expecting a small house, maybe like my own, with a tile floor, windows, and painted walls, you know what I mean. But when we arriived, it was a small farm house, 2 rooms, made of wood and tin that we would normally throw away here at home, and surrounded by barbed wire. I don't mean to sound rude, but it wasn't what I was expecting after all the beauty that one family described it to be. Anyone back at home would call it a shack, but the families in the jungle called it a beautiful house. The reason why it was so beautiful is because Eloisa's family owned the land. It really opened my eyes and my heart. These families are so happy and thankful with the little that they have, and cherish every little bit of it. The clothes and shoes they have are worn until they fall apart, and you don't see them complaining about what brand it is, or that it may have been a hand-me-down. It really opened my eyes to the materialism and attitude that we live in at home. All along the entire trip, we waved to everybody and said "hola" because we were so happy to see them smile and wave back. (A few of us discussed this on the bus, that most people at home, if you wave to them, they'd be like "what the heck are you waving at" , or "who the heck are you", or the most popular, a pissy, confused look with a not so nice hand gesture.)
But anyways, as we waited for the others to arrive, suddenly the gate opened and there emeerged McKenna Lux on a horse, and the others close behind. It was hilarious! Then, Eloisa's family, being so hospitable, decided to make us "baleadas". Probably the most popular food in Honduras. We didn't want them to make the food for us because we wanted them to have it and just ate not too long before, but they inisisted, so the least we would do was help them make the food with the newly acquired baleada making skills we learned days before.
While we waited for the food to cook, Nick, Brian, and I went up to play soccer with the kids on a small flat spot on the mountain, about the size of my living room. The ball we used was an old, flat, ripped, green basketball. If i could do anything differently, it'd be bring more donations. Soccerballs and shoes to be specific. These kids are gnarly at soccer. They are, how they described themselves, "chancheros animales", which the kids described to me as butchers, leaving you bruised after a short game! And so true!! Can I say that the top of my left foot is black and bruised, and my right ankle is swollen, also covered in bug bites.. hahaha! Nonetheless, it was a blast playing with these kids!! They were fearless, jumping in the dense trees and bushes to get the ball, or playing through the barbed wire. I wish I was just as tough as them! Just in time, the food was ready and we all ran down to get our scrumpdidliumptious baleadas. As we sat, our group was putting together a monetary donation for the family, which was for most of us, the last limperas we had, (which was a tad problematic when we got back our devastating laundry bills). We handed Eloisa's mother the money, and you could see the smile light up on her face. We put together about 55 dollars, which was more than a month's salary for this family. They were very thankful. It made us realize how blessed we are.
Soon, the time came to go back down to meet the rest of the group. We said our goodbyes, and hiked back down with a few of the younger locals who were just excited to hang out with us. Along the way, Glennon slipped and hurt her ankle, but she quickly recovered because she has the body of a 29 year old. ;) A+ in history class? Yeah? haha Just kidding :) Anyways, she was fine and we made it back down safely. It also came time to say our goodbyes to the locals and immediately, Ms. Glennon began to "sweat from her eyes", which got the rest of us to do the same. Who can watch someone cry and not cry themselves? Except for Nick, he was pretty strong, but he admitted to being extremely sad. It was really really hard to say goodbye to these kids even though we only met them either that day, or days before. As I write this, my heart is sinking. As I said goodbye to Diana, one of the local girls, I broke down and was surprised that she could understand what I was trying to say, and I gave her my BYU hat and told her that it's the university that I am going to attend, and that I wouldn't forget her and that I didn't want her to forget me either. It was a hard thing to do, while little did i know once again, that later that night I would practically use all the tears I had left in my system. We walked over to the Jungle School and waited for the others to meet up with us. We ate some food, but were still kind of full from the baleadas so we happily shared our meals with the kids and families around us. They were very grateful and thanked us with hugs and kisses. Brianna M, Harper, and Kylie showed us and told us that the others went in a different car and were waiting at the hotel. We left to the hotel, but didn't find them, so a few of our group took a taxi to look for the other girls. We were a bit worried, but not too worried because I knew that they wanted to use up their down time walking around or shopping. Thankfully, we found them at the hogar, unfortunately, a few of them were not too happy becasue they had sat there doing nothing for a very long time. Though, after everything they were safe and desperate to take some showers.
We all got ready by 3:45 and left for the saddest night of the trip. It was definitely hard. Shelby summed the night up very well. It was ..wow.. it was hard. Telling the kids goodbye was the worst. I became a pathetic sap and tried to talk while crying, but it was unsuccessful. Those kids deserve so much, and even though I did as much as I could, I was disappointed that I didn't do more. Ahhh, my eyes are getting watery!!! I will forever have their cute little faces ingrained in my heart. Though the goodbye was terrible, I know that I will see them again, maybe not in this life, but I know for sure with all my heart and faith, that I will see them again in the next life, and they will be so blessed for being the amazingly strong, faithful souls that they are.
Going on the hike really opened my eyes and my heart and showed me a lot of things that i take for granted. It showed me what some kids have to go through just to get an education..or anything for that matter. It was super intense. it has made me appreciate all that I have and all the opportunities that are open to me. i am so glad that i chose the hike because it has opened my eyes to all that i can do to help others. This trip has been an amazing expeience that I would not change for the world! Getting to know those kids and the group that we went down with was an amazing heart warming experience. There is hope for the world!!! :D
Oh yeah, i forgot to mention while Glennon, McKenna, Aubrey, and Kyla were on their way up to the house, a Coral Snake crossed their path, and some 9 year old local boys killed it with some rocks and threw it into the jungle. he...hee..heeee
Love you all and all that i have! :D Don't take anything for granted, because we are all so blessed!! :)
Leah Tangedal
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