The Arrival

I have to go ahead and admit that the goodbye at the airport was much harder than anticipated. I don’t think it hit me that I was moving to Honduras until I was riding the escalator down to security and away from my family. The suitcase shuffle (silly scales and bag weight limitations…) sucked up enough time that I didn’t have much of a wait at my gate before getting to board.

Had a lovely seat-mate in a new friend named Sandy for the flight to El Salvador. She was headed to Peru for 18 days of bird watching, and we spent some good time chatting. I may or may not have been crying when she arrived at the seat…but once we established that I wasn’t afraid of flying and wasn’t weeping because I was leaving a boyfriend behind we were able to share some conversation… they were of course happy tears, but I made the mistake of pulling out some cards and letters as soon as I boarded the plane. Silly girl :)

The flight from El Salvador to San Pedro was quick and easy. Of course we flew on a tiny little plane, but I didn’t have anyone in my row so I didn’t feel squished. Luckily I packed a baggie of Keighty’s “Courtney Friendly” peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, because I was too anxious to get food during my layover. They served food on the flight to El Salvador (thanks, TACA!) but of course the food on the flight was…well it was airplane food, but I was thankful for every little bite. Landing in Honduras I think I could have skipped from the tarmac all the way to customs had a group of slow-pacers not been in front of me. Didn’t they know I had big things to see?! I had no clue who would be awaiting my arrival, just knew ‘someone’ involved with the school would be there. Once I got through customs I was scanning the faces in the little receiving area (for lack of a better term—what would that be called? The place where people wait for arriving/returning travelers? I’m sleepy and void of poetic reasoning right now…) Anyway, I’m looking around the crowd of faces anxiously awaiting the return of friends and family and of course recognize no one. Not sure who I thought I might see. I did see a young lady with a hand-written sign showing someone’s name and something along the lines of “Bienvenidos” so I perked up a little. Until I saw said person’s name started and ended with all the wrong letters. I’m not sure how long I waited, but it couldn’t have been too long before I saw a smiling Allan and Marvin (Chele—pronounced Cheylay) holding a sign welcoming the phonetically spelled me to their country. Couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome!