Hello Honduras

After about a month of getting things together with an incredible amount of help from my dear mother....

packing boxes, packing suitcases, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, figuring out if I would really need that in Honduras or if I could make do without for the first 6 months.

We departed to Honduras Monday morning...

We received much needed help from my Dad on the first leg...

Transporting 7 pieces of luggage, 2 backpacks, a diaper bag, a purse, 2 car seats, & a stroller.....

Then finding out that the airport would NOT check our bags thru to Honduras, and then find out that they would NOT keep them in the airport overnight & expected us to haul ALL of it to the hotel and back.  And then they were saying that we would have to pay to check the luggage twice (the airline we flew only allowed ONE free bag for this international destination) ....  Thankfully we ran into a VERY VERY nice gentleman who not only kept our bags in unclaimed luggage (thank you) he also forwarded them onto our final destination (THANK YOU!!)  

Dad was great... helped keep the kids calm,  I even got to read a couple of chapters in my book.

Dad even planned his morning flight returning to Seattle to go after we left so that he could help us get settled on the second leg.  They didn't let him on the plane, but it was great having him there so we could tag-team the kids (and luggage)  Maria LOVED the escalators, elevators, and moving walkways.

Upon arriving in Honduras we had some amazing people help us...people helped me get off the plane, pack up the stroller (all this time Maria was asleep...  I put her in the baby carrier so she would sleep as long as she could.... nobody likes a cranky toddler) others helped me all the way down to customs, thru to baggage claim and then on thru scanning the bags and over to where Marco could finally help.

I met some of Marco's family.  They were all so nice and welcoming.  I'm glad I married into such a nice family.  I met most of his immediate family last night (I still have two sisters to meet) and they are all so great.  Maria has taken to her Tio Jorge.

Flying into Honduras gave me some beautiful sights.  We landed in San Pedro Sula and flew over the ocean to get there.  I saw some really pretty reefs which were followed by lush green mountains covered in trees.... it was really quite beautiful..... a tropical paradise.  Driving thru San Pedro Sula to our final destination (about 4 hours away) was interesting.  I did expect most of what I saw....although I do have to admit there is more poverty than I thought there would be.  There were lots of little metal outbuildings (shacks) where people lived.  I wasn't quite prepared for the quantity that I saw.  The roads are.... different.  Sometimes they have lines, sometimes they don't.  Lots of times there are pot holes and people swerve to miss them.  The main highways are one lane each way.... the lanes are wider than average ones in the U.S.   It could potentially be 3 lanes if it had lines.  People pass like crazy.  I only had to close my eyes once, which I thought was good considering the number of times we passed cars and I'm not a big fan of passing. 

Because we are so much closer to the equator the sun is in the sky for roughly 12 hours.  It sets around 5:30pm.  Right now I'm not exactly a fan of that, but we'll see how it goes. 

I am enjoying our little place down here so far, there has been lots of unpacking and organizing going on.  I will take pictures and post them soon.