Marc and a Honduran Map

I fully expected to have a blog or two to post about language school and/or Copan and/or the missionary conference. I never thought about needing to post after driving up here. Everything, the internet, the guide books, everything says the best way to Copan from Tegucigalpa is to come through San Pedro Sula. But Marc has a map of Honduras and his map says there is shorter (in miles) way. His map also said we would be on a major highway all the way. But remember this is a third world country and major highway does not always mean paved. It does not always mean open. We were trucking along pretty well on CA11 when all of a sudden the highway turned to dirt. That was ok at first, but it continued to get worse. Then we had to stop because of a barricade. You don't think a little wooden gated barricade stopped Marc do you. He unlatched that gate and through we went. The road continued to worsen. At one point, Marc got out of the car and walked a ways to see if he thought we could make it in a car. You already know the answer, don't you? Of course, we could make it. When I was little we drove down the rail bed right after the train tracks had been taken up on the way to Cripple Creek, Colorado. The road was every bit as bad as that and worse. Oh Janet, you would have loved some of these steep roads. We drove through mud holes half the size of the car. One bridge that had to be crossed Marc sped up. He said he wanted to be going fast enough that we would be airborne if the bridge didn't hold. We had so much fun as we bounced along. And the scenery we saw. It was undescribably beautiful. At one point, we saw ever shade of green known to man and then some. Smith and Binney would have a heyday thinking up names for some of those colors. I saw large cornfields. A first in Honduras, not just the usual row or two. I do not know how they plant or harvest corn on sides of hills that steep. We saw orchards and banana plantations and some coffee plants, too. Oh my, God is so good to have thought up all that beauty. At one point, we saw a sign that said pelegro zona de derrumbos. Knowing that pelegro meant danger, I said where is that dictionary, I want to see what that word means. I couldn't reach the dictionary. I later learned that meant demolish. That made sense, since there huge chunks of road that had caved in.

Our goal was to get to Copan before dark. We didn't quite make it. In fact, it was a couple of hours after dark when we finally got to Copan. It only took us 8 hours to drive that 300 miles.
I think we might put the map away and go home through San Pedro Sula.

Copan is going to be great. The streets are cobblestone. I can't wait to see it in the daylight. Our hotel room is exceptionally clean and exceptionally small. We get hot water, a/c, high speed internet, or so they say. At least it is internet. I guess we can't expect a large room for $34.00 a
night.

If getting here was so much fun, just think of what the experience of being here will be.

Terri