Fun trip back to Honduras!

I had a good trip to the states for the Christmas holiday. I spent three and half weeks in the states. I was great to see my friends and family, and also hang out with the guys at work. I got to see my little sis, Maddie, in her first play... Great job Maddie, I'm proud of you! And also got to hear a guy get tasered by the Gwinnett County police, right outside my dad's apartment. I spent Christmas at my brother, Tommy's house. The whole family made it there, it was really nice. But on the night of the 26th of December, I headed to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. to catch a flight back to Honduras.

For some reason, I know now why, but I had a bad feeling in my stomach that evening. Apart of it was the question of my bags weighing 50 lbs, or less. I was pretty sure they were good but my dad kept questioning me about it, so I started to worry more about it. When we got to the airport, I realized that I forgot the chocolate I bought for the girl, in the my dad's hotel room. And earlier I realized I left my tennis shoes at my brother's house in Tampa, so now he has both pair of tennis shoes I own. But when I got to the airport, it started to feel like a nightmare.

I got to the desk to check-in and when I told the agent that I was going to San Pedro Sula (SAP), he informed me that they had a luggage embargo until January 10th and that I could only check one bag. I had two bags close to 50 lbs. each. I gave the agent the sob story of the kids in the orphanage and how I have gifts for Christmas for them and I had to take a second bag for their sake. But he told me there was nothing that could be done for me to take two bags. So then I started the frantic process of reorganizing my stuff into one check bag and my two carry-on bags. I filled my bags a much as possible and my check bag weighed in at 50.5 lbs. Just enough to make it on the flight. But I had to leave a good bit stuff for the kids in the states. Luckily my dad and Paola, where there at the airport and they were able to take my bag back with them so I didn't have to trash the stuff. So one thing out of the way, I figured no else bad is going to happen... I was wrong.

I got back to the check-in counter and was feeling good, then the agent asked me if I was resident of Honduras, and I told her "no", but I'm applying for residence. She told me I had to have a return ticket with them in order for me to check-in, it was their "new" policy. She told I had to buy a ticket, even though I was planning to leave Honduras by bus to go to Belize in March. Thank God again, my dad was there. When I started to reach for my wallet to pay, he told he'd take care of the ticket. So $160 later, I now have a ticket to return to the states on March 25th. I made it through security without too much problems, other than TSA having to search one of my bags. It was interesting watching the agent try to repack my over-filled bag. The bag weighed over 35 lbs. I ended up having to gate check the bag, but I was fine with that, since I didn't have to pay anything extra for it to be checked at the gate.

As I was sitting in my seat while the plane was still boarding, I could see the pilot looking at a map in the cockpit. I came to the assumption that this was these pilots first flight to SAP. And my assumption turned out to be right. Everything seemed fine as we started our approach to the airport for landing. But then the pilot turning the plane left, then right, back and forth. Some turns were short and others were look, I could tell she was trying to find the airport. Then she started to speed up the plane and lift the nose, then slow down, then speed up. You could sometimes feel the plane trying to climb, as the engines roared. Finally, she found the airport and dropped the nose of the plane into a rapid descent. I figured it was going to be a hard landing, but she touched down, nice and soft. It was the most nervous I'd ever been in a landing, I actually said a quick prayer during all the searching. Luckily, the mountains in the area aren't right around airport and it's pretty wide open for a landing.

Tip for traveling to Honduras.... If you don't want to stand in the immigrant line for, forever and a day, seat near the front of the plane, so you can be at the front of the line in immigration. You're lucky if the is more than two agents working at immigration, sometimes there's only one to process everyone. And many people don't understand the forms handed out on the plane, so they're ready when they get to the counter. And that makes an already slow and long wait even worse.

But since I got here, everything has been great. I spent my first two nights at Sully's family house, only twenty minutes from the airport. Then I headed off to La Masica. It is so great to see the kids' smiles and receive their hugs.

I pray everyone that reads this is doing great and that you have a blessed 2009. Take care and God Bless to all.