Omoa trip

This last weekend we had a three day weekend and went with a co-worker teacher of ours to her home town of San Pedro Sula. SPS is the second largest city in Honduras and is the industrial capital of Honduras. It's about 4 hours Northeast of Tegucigalpa. There were 12 of us on the trip - 8 of us North Americans, Rocio (our friend/guide) and her two children - Alejandro (4 years old) and Valerie (8 months old) and her nanny Emily. Alejandro and Valerie were a highlight of the trip for all of us - we all got to feed bottles and play cars all weekend. :)

We left Friday right after school and drove until about 7:30pm. The road wasn't too bad for most of it but there were some very big potholes in spots and by the time we got there, we had lost all our hubcaps and broke the sliding door on our van. The road is very curvy and there is not such thing as a bad time to pass - so Tristan was pretty stressed during the drive - especially because nobody uses carseats here and we had both kids in our car. When we got there, Rocio's mom had dinner waiting for us and we sat out in the yard and each got at least 20 mosquito bites. We then slept at their house and her sisters.

The next morning we got up and Rocio's mother had made us breakfast (pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup and fresh squeezed OJ). We then took off to the Omoa fortress. It is the largest fortress in Central America and was used first as a fortress and then as a jail. We got a guide who explained all about the history and it was very interesting. We then went to Rocio's friends house who lives on the beach (North coast - into the Gulf of Mexico). She has a beautiful house and this is where we stayed the next two nights. Rocio's mom continued to cook for us 'real' Honduran food the entire weekend. Rocio showed us around the city of Puerto Cortez which is the biggest port in Central America, and where she grew up. The food that we tried was incredible! They caught fish the night before and fried fish for us, we ate these really great empanada things that they tried to show us how to make, and they taught us how to cook 5 of the many different kinds of bananas that they have here (some you boil, some you fry, some you bake, some you broil).

Omoa Fortress

Tristan and Alejandro stuck in one of the jail cells at the Omoa Fortress

Beth - attempting to cook :)

The house we stayed at was very nice. We slept in a tent in the yard or in Hammocks. She had three hammocks out and we all enjoyed a nap in one. It's a lot more humid in Omoa. Omoa is a small town without the modernism of Tegucigalpa. There are not big supermarkets and no fast food. All the little restaurants close by 6pm and everyone knows each other. The beach was so beautiful - we all spent quite a few hours swimming and playing frisbee in the warm water. The surprising thing about this beach was there were very few waves. It was very calm.

One afternoon we were told about a waterfall up a creek by her house so Tristan, myself, Sarah, and Vanessa took off up the creek - crossing back and forth and through the water to get up to the source. The water was beautiful. There were tons of fruit trees including banana trees that lined the river. There were a couple small villages by the river so we crossed some kids catching fish and playing on the rocks. When we reached the top, we were amazed! We were all alone, surrounded by amazing shrubbery, a blud sky above us, and our own little waterfall (about 15 feet tall). It felt like the scene in Jungle Book - like we would see Baloo coming down the waterfall and Moagli in the tree watching us :). We swam in the cold water and were just amazed about how creative and beautiful God's creation is. wow. Unfortunately we didn't know what the hike would be like, so we didn't bring the camera, afraid we'd get it wet. We walked back through the dusk just in time to watch the end of the sunset over the ocean.

On Monday we drove home to Tegucigalpa. It was a much longer drive because we stopped so many times - we stopped to buy oranges (100 for 3 dollars) and then to buy and bunch of bananas, and then for coconut candy, then for Hammocks..... so it was a very long drive :). It was really great to hang out with each other outside of normal everyday routine. I feel like we became a lot closer to each other and got to know each other on a different level. We definately came home more as a family than when we left. We were also refreshed to start school again. It was really neat to get to know Rocio's family and how a family works here. Her entire family spoke English so we were able to have some really great conversations and learn a lot from them. They were incredibly hospitable and we're hoping to see them again this year.


This is just one of the 20 banana stands that were in a row.

Unfortunely we came home to a house with no power. Apparently our breaker was somehow turned off from outside our apartment on Friday or Saturday because even our ice in the freezer was just warm water. We lost all of our food from the fridge and freezer - so we ate Pizza Hut that night :).

It was a really great trip overall! Honduras is so beautiful! The next question is...where too next!