The Arrival

I have heard stories about the scary landing at the Toncontín airport but I didn't remember it being bad at all from my visit last year. The stories are in fact true! Due to the mountains around the capital city, Tegucigalpa, the airplane has to make a full circle around the city and fly in low. Then the plane has to make another sharp turn and begins to get closer and closer to the ground while the runway is out of sight. During this part of the landing I began repeating in my head “where’s the runway, where’s the runway, come on” and BOOM there it was! We bounced a bit and hit the brakes. I was surprised that no one clapped because that was some tricky landing. 

When the plane pulled up to the gate my adrenaline rush was crazy. I'm not sure if it was the coffee I had been drinking, the scary landing or the sheer excitement of arriving (most likely all three) but I was ready to get going. I was in the back of the plane so I was last out and unfortunately, that meant I was last in line at customs with a few missions groups in front. It probably took around an hour for me to get through everything and my awesome hosts were waiting right outside the baggage claim room.

We got some delicious pizza at a place called Price Smart which is a Honduran version of Costco. Then we started out drive to Danli. Since I visited last year, the roads have been fixed and re-paved in certain areas and the ride was so much smoother! We pulled up to the house that will be my new home for the next six months (I’ll post pics later) and I moved in! My room is off the patio of the top apartment and has its own bathroom. I was so excited I unpacked in one night.

We had a yummy dinner, played a monopoly card game (that I’m quite terrible at) and I got a great night sleep! Today I am resting at the apartment and settling in and tomorrow I will be shadowing the teachers at the Children’s Development Center. I can’t wait to get started.

       This was taken from my window. There is a path up to this cross on a nearby hill/mountain

 

My window looks out over the church! I can literally walk next
door to work each day