Honduras

I recently came back from an Airline Ambassadors Escort Trip. I went to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to travel with a little girl named Kelin Artica to St. Louis. This is the third time I have traveled with Kelin. The first time she was a shy 7 year old who spoke no English and now she is an outgoing 11 year fluent in English and Spanish!

She has been receiving treatment in St. Louis for scoliosis. She is back in the states for the summer for some follow up treatment.

This trip was a little different from the others because our travel out of Honduras was on Continental Airlines. I had to travel the day before and spend the night in Tegucigalpa instead of just turning right around on the same flight and heading back to the states.

Cadena de Amor (Chain of Love), the medical organization that arranged for Kelin to come to America, is run by a great lady named Dr. Lilia Larios. She has a mission home that her medical teams stay at when they come to Honduras on medical mission trips, so I stayed there for the night.

Dr. Larios' brother was kind enough to take me around Tegucigalpa, so I could see some of the sights. We visited the Basilica Suyapa, the largest cathedral in Centra America, and he took me to a local restaurant called El Gordo, for some Honduran food. I had steak with chimichurri sauce (a mix of garlic, olive oil, and parsley) and some Honduran soda called "Mirinda" - kind of like Sunkist.

The next day, after breakfast at Burger King (how very Honduran!), Elizabeth, who works at Cadena de Amor, and I met up with Kelin and her parents, Santos and Edith. I was surprised to see how much she had grown up since our last trip. The airport was crazy busy, but we got checked in with Continental with no problem.

Our first flight was from Tegucigalpa to Houston was about three hours long. The flight was pretty full, but uneventful. Customs and Immigration in Houston is such a breeze compared to Miami, where everything is crazy and everyone is always stressed. We had about a hour and a half wait before our flight to St. Louis.

We arrived in St. Louis right on time and the Sly family, who host Kelin, were waiting outside security as usual. They were so happy to see her. It really takes special people who open their home up to a complete stranger and over the years Kelin has become a special part of their family.

I will fly back to St. Louis in August to travel with Kelin back to Honduras. They had a military coup right after I left, so I hope that things have stabilized by then.