adios honduras...

a few more pics...

what a week. full of fun memories. from clinics, to truck rides, to the market...
there were so many good times.



i LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic of me and my new (dentist) friends! santos, carlos, and abdi...
i miss ya'll! OBVIOUSLY!

friday was our last day at the compound. we woke up and decided to walk into downtown el pariso. it was hot. but fun! we were able to tour the new city hall (or something..) it was beautiful. but the best part about it was- the AIR CONDITIONING! seriously... it was the first time since we had left birmingham to be in the a/c! :) then we walked back to the compound to get ready for the pastors lunch! we were able to feed close to 30 pastors and their families. also, we sent a bag full of food and things home with each of them. it was a blessing to be able to serve the pastors.



the pastors listening to sister norma while sister ortilia was cooking spaghetti!!



i already miss this beautiful place.

after we fed the pastors... we went on an adventure! :) and in typical jamie fashion, i changed everyones plans on friday! ;) kristy, janet and holli had to leave and fly out early that morning. i knew the rest of us didn't really have plans except for the pastor's lunch. backstory: so on the way home from the clinic on thursday, carlos asked if i had ever been to the canopy. of course i didn't know what he was talking about. long story short... the copan ruins (about 2 hrs away) has one of the best ziplines (canopy) in the country!! of course i had never been, but i was pretty interested! so yeah... i mentioned it to norma, chris, and lisa. they agreed we could go, and the rest is history! :) we all loaded up and drove to the copan ruins friday afternoon... where we saw the most gorgeous scenery ever! a few of us risked our life braved the canopy tour, while the rest went to see the ruins. 

the view of the river from the mountainside

my jumpy pics... thanks SANTOS!! :-) these are my fav!!!!!

so i had to sign a waiver, basically saying i wouldn't sue anyone if something happened or i got injured. don't ya know that sorta kinda freaked me out a lot!! but i signed my life away!



funny story.. on the way up to where the zipline started, we were in the back of the truck. it was me, kristen, maria jose, rocio, and nick. and the 4 zip line guides. and hey wow, they were all super scrawny looking. i was totally not convinced if something bad happened they could save me! ;) so we were joking around and singing "if i die young!" kristen translated to them and it was sooo funny! they were probably like- omg, we should have charged these crazy americans double! haha! and then i totally asked the guy if he was a christian, and if we died would i see him in heaven. he assured me he would see me there should something bad happen! ;)

so if you know me, you know #1- i'm scared of heights. #2- when i get scared, i scream. a lot. #3- at times i can be a little dramatic. jajajaja! so yeah.. that makes for one screaming crazy gringa on the ziplines! i actually had an amazing time! it was so fun.. i wish i could do it again!! how about carlos and santos said they could hear me from below. true story!! :-) they knew it was me screaming. i wonder how?!? jeje

during the canopy tour, we were as high as 350 feet high and at some places we went 35 kmph!! there were 14 different stops along the way. on 4 of them the guides went with us, but the other 10 we were on our own! :) and i will say, the guides were great, even if they could have had a little more meat on their bones. they really were stronger than they looked! ha.

it.was.so.fun.

i'm SOOO glad carlos told me about the canopy- thank you!! and now would also be a fabulous time to say THANK YOU to chris and lisa for rearranging their schedules that day.. so that i could zipline! they were in the van like all.day.long. i do wanna say i felt horrible, but in no way MADE them change their schedules :)) they were just very accommodating! ;) however, they assured me it was ok, all the while reminding me yes, it was my fault they were driving all day. haha

some pictures with our new friends before we left the compound! :( so.sad.

saturday morning we rode back down the mountain to the big city. of course i was in the awesome truck! :D we got settled that afternoon and checked into our air conditioned hotel like place, called a hostal. can you tell this southern girl loves the a/c and hates to sweat? ;o) we walked to quiznos for lunch... then we (linda, lisa, nick and i) easily found got lost walking to the market! but it was ok, we were just enjoying the sights! :) anywho. i decided to be brave and ask the next person i saw for directions, and praise the lord, the man spoke english! so we finally found the market! after buying more souvenirs than i could fit in my carryon  a few things for the boys, we left the crazyridiculouslyscorching hot market!



ummmm. i totally love these pics! carlos and maria, and me and karla!



we met up with most of our group at pizza hut that nite for one last dinner. seriously, we had an incredible week. we made lots of new friendships and it really was so sad to know we wouldn't see our friends when we got up the next morning. there would be noone to say "buenos dias" to, and no bell ringing to signal our delicious breakfast was ready. no clinics to prepare for, no more bumpy truck rides. no more games of monopoly at nite, no more sharing my ipod. *sad*

BUT we had a great time at dinner and made the most of it! after tearful goodbyes, the group from argo headed back to the hostal.

i did get to see rocio the next morning at church. then norma and fares took me to the airport. i made the trip home by myself, since the others had either left friday or were driving to miami. amazingly, i got on the right flight, both in honduras and atlanta. when i landed in birmingham, i was greeted by the best sight ever... my awesome hubby, crazy boys, and my sweet parents! as sad as i was to be leaving honduras, i was ready to be back in bama. home.sweet.home.

adios honduras... see ya soon.