Homecoming

The trip went smoothly--hooray. We managed a speedy early morning bus ride to San Pedro Sula (2 1/2 hours), and got to the airport by 8:45am! (you do the math--it was pitch dark when we got up...) My flight wasn't until noon, so we got to hang out for a while (and eat a perfectly ripe delicious mango) before I went up to the gate. And waited for Beth to arrive! The airport is set up in such a way that all the arrivals walk down a corridor separated from the gate waiting area only by a glass wall. And since she was arriving on the same plane that I would be leaving on, we knew that we'd get to see each other in passing--and we did! Even got to say hi through a sliding door that was slightly ajar...

The sight of all the perfect little (or big) suburban developments with their big, private houses as we descended into Houston was really depressing. In most places in Central America, people live so close to each other--their homes and their lives... It made me mourn our lack of community, of openness, of relationship; our isolation. We think it makes us happy and secure or something, but I'm pretty sure the opposite is true -- it's unhealthy!


Upon entering the cold, shiny light of the airport, I was immediately aware of how faded, dusty, and worn my dress was. I felt dingy, dirty, shabby, inside that clean, sparkling, pristine building. So different from Honduras... I changed my clothes so that I wouldn't feel quite so self-conscious.


Well, I didn't know Texas had so much water in it! The view out the airplane window was just amazing with the evening sun reflecting off a landscape filled with little pools of water. It positively sparkled with a golden glint. Astounding. It reminded me a bit of Minnesota, but the ponds are smaller, and they're everywhere! I've never seen anything like it.

The coolest thing about flying westward in the evening is that the sunset lasts for a really long time. =)

Home again.

It feels so comfortable and familiar. Almost as if I'd never been gone (especially since the weather's about the same as when I left). I'm going to have to work at not just slipping back into my old passive habits...