Of luggage fees, transit strikes and soccer balls
Traveling to Honduras on a service team is always an adventure and this year is certainly no exception. Before we even left, I received a note from Erika Skafel, the lovely person who coordinates our visit, that there was a "transit strke" in Tegucigalpa, and that she might have trouble meeting us at the airport.
I didn't know exactly what that meant, but assured her that we could easily sit tight until she could meet us. I was quickly distracted from this as another curve ball hit us at the airport. The team - though traveling internationally - would no longer be allowed one free checked bag, but needed to pay the $25 fee. I had checked on this as recently as a couple of months ago, and complained politely to a not-terribly-interested-in-my-point-of-view American Airlines employee, but to no avail. So, those of us with credit cards scrambled around the checkin kiosks paying for bags. No trip to Honduras is without its curveballs, but this was before we had even gone through security.
The flights were very smooth and to our delight, Erika was able to meet us on time. But she did explain that the government has raised that taxes on gasoline to about $5 a gallon. All the commercial drivers - buses, taxis, truckers, and even some private drivers were staging protests throughout the city. They had done so all week, but were taking a break for the weekend. They would begin again on Monday. As a result, we may be spending more than a usual amount of time at the elementary school. Stay tuned . . .
Most folks I talked to about the strike were very sympathetic to the protesters, but admitted that shutdown of traffic was quite a pain in the you-know-what. I guess that's the point.
One last bit of astonishing news was that El Hogar is finally out of soccer balls. For years coming down here we were admonished not to worry about bringing balls, because they were the first thing donated by communities supporting the school. At one point, I think I counted literally hundreds of futbols in the bodega. But that was several years ago and it looks like the enthusiasm for the sport and finally run through the supply. Luckily, the team has brought a few of their own so we are set for now.
So, that's the initial report. I'll get the kids to blog from now on. I'm sure you'd much rather hear from them. But I can assure you that we are all happy and safe in this joyful place - thank you so much for lending them to me. It is a great privilege to be here with them.
Peace,
Jason
I didn't know exactly what that meant, but assured her that we could easily sit tight until she could meet us. I was quickly distracted from this as another curve ball hit us at the airport. The team - though traveling internationally - would no longer be allowed one free checked bag, but needed to pay the $25 fee. I had checked on this as recently as a couple of months ago, and complained politely to a not-terribly-interested-in-my-point-of-view American Airlines employee, but to no avail. So, those of us with credit cards scrambled around the checkin kiosks paying for bags. No trip to Honduras is without its curveballs, but this was before we had even gone through security.
The flights were very smooth and to our delight, Erika was able to meet us on time. But she did explain that the government has raised that taxes on gasoline to about $5 a gallon. All the commercial drivers - buses, taxis, truckers, and even some private drivers were staging protests throughout the city. They had done so all week, but were taking a break for the weekend. They would begin again on Monday. As a result, we may be spending more than a usual amount of time at the elementary school. Stay tuned . . .
Most folks I talked to about the strike were very sympathetic to the protesters, but admitted that shutdown of traffic was quite a pain in the you-know-what. I guess that's the point.
One last bit of astonishing news was that El Hogar is finally out of soccer balls. For years coming down here we were admonished not to worry about bringing balls, because they were the first thing donated by communities supporting the school. At one point, I think I counted literally hundreds of futbols in the bodega. But that was several years ago and it looks like the enthusiasm for the sport and finally run through the supply. Luckily, the team has brought a few of their own so we are set for now.
So, that's the initial report. I'll get the kids to blog from now on. I'm sure you'd much rather hear from them. But I can assure you that we are all happy and safe in this joyful place - thank you so much for lending them to me. It is a great privilege to be here with them.
Peace,
Jason
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