re-turn

return: (v) to go or come back, as to a former place, position, or state.

Though I had recognized the places, the language and the scenery, it was the smell that brought me back. I've heard before that smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. Today the smell of burning garbage, Honduras dirt, and burning diesel brought my memory back to the country I left just over a year ago.

Andrea was the first teacher I met. We were both checking into our flight at the same time, which caused a computer error. She was at the next counter and said hello, recognizing me from my facebook profile picture. Computer error cleared and we proceeded to security. Andrew and I dragged our goodbye through the entire security process, finally saying goodbye once I had made it through the metal detectors and re-gathered my belongings from the x-ray machine. I assure you it was a long, hard and dramatic goodbye, and it took me at least another 30 minutes to stop crying. But I got it all out, so moving on...

While waiting at the terminal Andrea and I were approached by a sales woman for Spirit Airlines offering 3 free flights if you sign up for this and buy that and only travel on these dates, bla bla bla. We politely declined using the entirely truthful excuse of, "We're moving to Honduras... today." She couldn't believe it because she had just talked to another girl who had just told her the same exact story. That's when we met Maggie and her husband Tyler. We all sat separately but not far from each other on both of our flights. Andrea and I talked to Jeremy from Ohio most of the flight, telling him about how awesome Michigan is. Out my window to the right was the sunset and to the left was a giant thunderstorm sitting over a night time city, all in the same window view from 6,000 feet in the air. Our layover in Ft. Lauderdale was extended due to plane delays, which landed us in San Pedro Sula, Honduras around 2:30am eastern time, 12:30am Honduras time. Another smooth flight with a spectacular lightening show over the city as we landed. After immigration, customs and driving to the hotel it was 4:30am Eastern Time before my head hit the pillow.

The next morning we met 3 more teachers for breakfast Caitlin, Jennifer and Shelly. The short walk to the restaurant in the hotel was enough to remind me how intense the heat and humidity of San Pedro Sula is. On that note, we took the rest of the morning to enjoy the pool. Not as refreshing as we hoped since the water was about 80 degrees, but it did the job. We also took full advantage of the waterslides and water mushroom in the play pool. At noon we checked out of the hotel and drove to the airport where we picked up Tabitha, Jake and Laura Beth. Crossing the parking lot of the airport I recognized the dark blue Toyota pickup truck parked in the drive. I ran up to Albin and gave him a great big hug. Patrick was on the passenger side and peeked around to see what was going on. They were dropping of the UMF interns at the airport as we were coming to pick up the rest of the teachers. Everyone had lunch inside, I binged on Wendy's. Not something I would normally do in the states, to be honest I'm not sure why it was so appealing then and I felt like a whale afterward. So with a bloated stomach I boarded the bus along with 9 other teachers to start our journey to Gracias. I started to recognize the smells again. The mixture of dirt and dust from the city and mountain streets, the smell of burning garbage and of course diesel fuel from the bus, is a very Honduran smell. It was the smoothest drive through Honduras I have ever had though with paved roads the ENTIRE way. The heat subsided as we ascended into the mountains. I was mesmerized by the scenery once again and it moved me to considering an extra year in Honduras. As we came around the side of another mountain we could see the black sky ahead with a rainbow in the foreground. We drove right underneath the full arch of colors into a storm of lightning and flash flooding. It wasn't long until we arrived in Gracias. After settling into our hotel, Posada Linca, we walked down the street to Guancascos for dinner. The 10 of us were joined by a handful of staff from the Gracias school. It was close to 11pm before we returned to the Hotel to shower and...

Goodnight