It Has Been Another Day In Honduras

Today is one of those which I have several choices about what to blog.  I chose two of those things. 

Sunday, we found out the mayor's wife was visiting this morning.  And, in all likelihood, she will be the next first lady of this country.  Lucretia is a friend of Marc's and this was quite an honor.  She was going to be visiting at a time most of the kids were in school.  But the preschoolers were going to be here.  Nicole was busy getting the preschool room in tip-top shape.  All of  a sudden, I realized to get to the preschool, everyone was going to have to go through a room that has more or less become a storeroom.  Nicole was not the only person in high gear.  I transformed an absolute mess into something pleasing to the eye. 

At 10:00, pickups, trucks and SUVs came up the alley with blue flags flying.  I made a quick check to see that no one had on a red shirt this morning.  That is the opposing party's color.  We welcomed the mayor's wife and her entourage to Casa de Esperanza and gave them the grand tour.  Lucretia Alvarez is quite the lady and most gracious.  It was a pleasure to have her visit Casa.  And, she was pleased with what she saw. 

After the tour, it was time to visit Nicole and the preschoolers.  The kids were not impressed the possible next first lady was in their presence.  They were impressed that she had cake and pepsi for them.

Before the kids started on cake, we got a picture of Lucretia with the children.  That was a good thing because after they plowed into cake, she might not have wanted to be in the same picture.

Then Reina got up and got her folder, walked over to Lucretia and handed it to her.  Lucretia took the folder and graciously looked at every piece of Reina's work and complemented her on it.

It was a pleasure and an honor to have her visit, but Karen and I breathed a sigh of relief when the group left.  As they were leaving, Karen's phone rang.  Dorian says, don't worry about anything, everyone is ok.  Of course, neither Karen nor I had a clue about what he was talking. 

Matt, Karol Kelin, and Daniel left here at 9:00 to go feed at the dump.  Matt got the food from Anita and was turning into the water place to buy the water.  As he was turning, the truck was rear-ended.  The van that hit the truck was traveling at a high rate of speed.  The three people in the van all had broken bones.  Our crew sustained minor injuries.  I called and talked to Kelin and to Matt.  Then I walked over to preschool to tell Nicole.  She already knew and she was really tranquil.  Being six months pregnant, Nicole is rarely tranquil about anything. 

I came down here to start some work.  Marc called and asked me to take Karol and Kelin to the hospital.  When I arrived at the water place, all I could say was Thank God no one was hurt worse or killed.  The red truck was in horrible shape and the van was in worse condition.  And the big rice and bean pots were ruined.  Since our group was on the way to the dump, Kelin said it rained beans and rice and Karol said tortillas was EV-ERY-WHERE.  I can only imagine.  I did not see tortillas or beans and rice, but I had my mind on getting to the hospital.   Kelin had a nasty bump on her head and Karol had hurt her back.

We arrived at the ER and the doctors took Karol and Kelin immediately.  Karol had to have a skull and neck x-ray and Kelin needed a CTscan.  Always, in Honduras, these things have to be paid for in advance.   I was paying and they were keeping my receipts.  I thought, like in other places, I would get them all in the end.  Karol's x-rays were read and all is well.  She does have to go back tomorrow for one more test. 

We were allowed to watch part of the CTscan.  Can you imagine that happening in the US.  Both of the girls had to have injections.  While they were receiving those, one of the doctors took me on the grand tour of the clinic.  It was interesting.  He was quite proud of his clinic.  Then we were told Kelin's results would not be ready until 4:00.  Two and a half hours away.  We were essentially done and I had not receipts except the ones from the pharmacy. 

In one of those Honduran experiences that always give me a headache, we discovered if you want a receipt, you have to ask for it when the first one is printed.  The clinic keeps what they print.  So they pawed through all the receipts for the day and found the four receipts we needed and reprinted them for us.  By the time this happened, it was just 2 hours until Kelin's results were ready.  We all walked to Wendy's and I bought lunch for everyone.  We got our food and Kelin says we are not about to eat this food without thanking God that we are all ok.  She said the sweetest prayer.

We walked back to the clinic at five minutes til four and were told 20 more minutes.  That 20 quickly turned into 50 minutes.  Praise God, Kelin's scan showed everything was normal.  We got out of there before the 5:00 traffic.  I was so thankful that everyone was ok and that we were not hours in traffic. 

I got the girls home and walked in the door and said coffee shop.  Marc was ready.  We walked up to our little haven, Cafe El Gringo and had our favorite smoothies.  It tasted so good and I felt so refreshed.  On the way home, the queen of klutz, me, fell.  I not only ruined a good pair of jeans, I really tore up my knee.  Marc helped me limp home.  Matt, Karol, Kelin, and Daniel may not be the only ones who are quite sore tomorrow.

This has definitely been enough for one day.  I am calling it quits and going to bed.

Terri