Trip to Tela!

Hola!

A lot has happened since Nathan last posted on Saturday :

First, we finished up our work at the bilingual school at the end of last week. The work was challenging for many of us, and last week was filled with lots of rain and messy dirt moving, but I think everyone here can be satisfied with the amount of work we completed for the classroom. The classroom isn't completely finished yet, but the locals who worked with us throughout our two weeks of work are continuing to make final additions.

Sunday morning we left at around 7 a.m. to take our trip to Tela! We traveled in pick-up trucks from La Union to San Pedro Sula, and from there we caught a bus that took us right to our destination on the beach in Tela. It was nice to experience another section of Honduras different from the one in which we spent the majority of our time. Tela is a much more "tourist friendly" town that had numerous shops and restaurants for us to explore - a few of us even bought Honduran soccer jerseys, in preparation for the World Cup this summer!

Our two days in Tela were filled with much fun and group bonding. We lounged by the pool or the beach during the day, played numerous card games, and tried to find creative ways to go down the water slide at the resort. We even played a little pool volleyball and water polo during the afternoons. The whole group also went out for a nice dinner on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, we made an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and french toast in the kitchen of the house where we stayed. It was a nice reminder to us all of what breakfast food back in the states tastes like! (As a side note, Chuck took first prize in the who-got-more-sunburnt contest -- he looked like a tomato..)

We left the resort this morning at 5:15 a.m. to begin our journey back to La Union. It was quite the trip. We first took a bus from Tela back to San Pedro (approx. 2 hours). From there, we took another bus from San Pedro to Santa Barbara (another 2-ish hours). Finally, we took a bumpy, hot 3 hour bus ride through the mountains from Santa Barbara to La Union. We were all pretty relieved to be back at the familiar compound of Vida Abundante after our 9 hour travel experience.

Tomorrow will be spent resting and getting ready for our journey back to the States on Saturday. For me, I'm a little disappointed that the trip is ending already, but at the same time I'm ready to come back to life in Michigan. This trip has been an incredible opportunity to do God's work in a place that needs it and experience a culture and environment much different from Ann Arbor. I definitely have learned a lot of new things and despite the slight sadness I'm feeling, I can't wait to return home to share my experiences.

Tomorrow, one of us will try to post some pictures from the events I have referenced here!

Adios!