We arrived in Honduras and were immediately greeted by the 93 degree steamy weather. The flight into the airport was quite an experience. Tegucigalpa’s airport is surrounded by mountains. The pilots have to be specially trained to fly in to this location. The mountains are not the only concern, there are houses located near the runway as well. The plane descends and banked left on to the runway.
Our next step was getting through customs; we had to walk up an escalator that was out of order. It was a sight to see 7 people carrying all of their luggage up a flight of stairs. We made it through customs without any problems, but did manage to have one bag left behind at the Airport. From here we checked in at the hotel and proceeded to the local mall. We went to the bank and were greeted by guards. Each one us us had to be wanded down before we could enter the bank. At one point we were instructed to stand in a straight line so we could be seen.
After we had our Lempiras in hand we walked to Walmart for weekly grocery shopping. It was very crowded and while most of the food was the same we noticed local treats like dried fish. I dont think I will ever forget that smell! We headed back to the hotel for dinner and fellowship. We reflected on how blessed we are to arrive safely and discussed plans for the rest of the week with eager anticipation.