Mack's 2010 Trip #6 – Children's Day at Zizima

A post from Mack:
After changing into swim clothes, we started out the day playing on rings in the wave pool. I think that was the favorite activity for all of our kids, and they probably would've been happy staying there all day. The wave machine was turned on occasionally to add excitement, and about every 15 minutes, a big barrel filled with water and dumped down onto the heads of the children waiting eagerly below. (You can see it in action in the background of the photo of Victor's three boys)

Our "camp" was set up in the shade near the wave pool, where the mothers sat in chairs and guarded our stuff. We would return there for drinks, breaks from play, and (in my case) to switch out camera batteries. All was well until we tried to venture forth into other portions of the park.

I was afraid that my older kids were getting bored in the wave pool, so I petitioned the group to relocate to the slide area. Chaos ensued at that point … well, for me, anyway. I wanted to go down the water slides with my boys, but I also wanted to be on hand to document every moment of our park experience on film*. This task turned ugly, because now everyone was scattered hither and yon. Most of our group members were engaged in the cycle of zooming down a slide, then hiking back to the top to go again (happily, the lines to ride were nowhere near as bad as they get in the U.S.). But the slides were too scary for some of the younger kids, so Sam and Darwin disappeared into the kiddie area and Victor took Carlos on a float around the circular "river". Somewhere during all of this, little Wilmer was discovered missing. An immediate hunt took place, and he was quickly located playing by himself in "Laguna de los Micos". (I have looked up the Spanish translation of "micos" and have learned that it means either a long-tailed monkey or the external parts of a woman's genitals. I assume the park was aiming for the former definition, because their mascot is a monkey.)

*I should mention that I was using my scuba diving camera, so I was free to frolic in the water and take endless photos all at the same time.

We re-grouped and returned to the wave pool, while Victor went to order lunch for everyone. This was where the park's over-population problem really hit us. The line to order food was long, and the line to pick it up even longer. Eventually, though, we were all seated with our drinks and chicken boxes. Ick. At least it was inexpensive chicken, as I heard Victor saying that the bill for feeding 23 people was only $60. Sixty is the magic number at Zizima, I guess.

After lunch, I brought out about eight inflatable beach balls for the kids to toss around. First, they had to be inflated, which proved to be a difficult task. Jonathan was able to blow his up right away, and Axel eventually managed one. I'm not sure how the rest got done, but the kids had a really great time once the balls were round and ready to go! The older ones showed off their soccer moves, while the little ones just knocked 'em all over the place. At 15 cents each (on a post-summer bargain table), the beach balls were well worth the money I spent!

The kids were allowed to play for probably longer than they should've been … but all too soon, we were told it was time to leave …

To be continued …

Mack's 2010 Trip #6 – Children's Day at Zizima

A post from Mack:

Before we get started, here's a quick review of our group's Honduran sponsored kids …

I sponsor two boys: Jonathan and Wilson

Victor sponsors three boys: Axel, Carlos, and Wilmer (not to be confused with Wilmer in Guatemala).

Sam sponsors one boy: Darwin

Joining us on our day out would be a mother/relative for each child, plus a collection of siblings. I only know the names/ages of my own kids' sibs, but here's the breakdown:

Jonathan = One brother, Jimi (17)

Wilson/Axel = Two sisters, Sayda (13) and Soreli (9)

Carlos = One brother (13?)

Wilmer = One sister (7-ish) + one cousin (11-ish)

Darwin = One sister (teenager)

Our CI hostesses were Irene (the sponsor relations director) and Miriam, one of the women who accompanied us on our mall trip in 2009. Jessica, our other 2009 hostess, could not join us this year because she is expecting a baby, but I got to see her during my visit to the SPS headquarters.

We arranged to meet the CI reps and our children at the Zizima Water Park entrance at 10 am. This allowed me plenty of time in the morning to slather my entire body in ridiculous-looking white sunscreen. At about 9:30, we loaded the back of a taxi with gifts galore and headed to the park.

When we arrived, there was a line-up about a half mile long waiting to get inside. This was surprising, as the park had been practically empty when Victor took the boys in January. We'd expected a better turnout this time around, but nothing like the crowd that milled before us!

While Sam and I waited with all the stuff, Victor took a look around to see if the CI vans had arrived. They had, and he was actually able to spot our group amongst the masses. Fortunately for us, the mothers had staked out a position near the front of the queue waiting to enter the park. The only thing we lacked were our tickets, which I planned to pay for with my credit card. Irene went with me, and together we schemed to lie to the ticket agent about the number of people in our party – claiming that we had MORE, not less! We needed to purchase entry tickets for 23 people, but if we'd had 25, we would pay half-price for everyone. It wasn't entirely a lie when we told the park employee that we were a group of 25 … we simply bought tickets for the two van drivers, even though they had no desire to come with us into the park. With the discount, the total for everyone's tickets came to about $60.

To explain the crowds, Irene told us, "It's Children's Day in Honduras, of course. That's why you came today, right?"

We had to admit that we had no clue about the significance of the day we'd selected for our visit. It was complete dumb luck. Besides, I wasn't entirely sure we were lucky to be sharing the park with so many other guests. With the place so packed, it was difficult for us all to stay together and do things as a group. On the other hand, Victor thought that this second visit to Zizima was better than the one back in January. All park activities were in full swing and there was plenty to do. The other time, the staff had been reluctant to even turn on the water slides for such a small number of guests, and only one restaurant had been open.

To be continued...

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 9: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Chapter 9: Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

With four more people gone, we had plenty of room now and drove on to the town of St. Rita where Wilmer and Carlos live. Carlos remained glued to my side and every couple of minutes he would just look up at me with his eyes all wide and smile. I really can't put into words how that made me feel - let's just say it made me melt inside and leave it at that. When a kid looks at you like that, you are reminded just how important you are to them and how much of a difference you are making in their lives. I hope everyone on this blog who sponsors kids gets to receive that look at least once - it makes it all so worth it. Honestly, it made me to resolve learning Spanish better. I know enough to get by, but not to have a decent conversation with a young person. I'm told Rosetta Stone is the way to go so we'll see.

St. Rita is probably about twenty five minutes drive from El Progresso and Wilmer's house was the first stop there. I hadn't seen his before, so that was new. We had to park at the base of a hill and walk up. Their house was fairly decent as far as these things go; better than Axel's and not quite as nice as Jon's - probably about the same as Carlos'. Wilmer was very excited to see what all I'd brought for him and seemed just as excited about the clothes as the toys. He gave me some really tight hugs in the course of it all. If their house needed anything, it would probably be some better furniture and Miriam told me she was going to suggest to his Grandmum that they might want to use some of my next donation to do a bit of home improvement. She also told me that "You are like an angel to these families." I say that not to inflate myself but to reiterate that all the rest of you are held in just the same esteem by your own sponsored families.

Back in the van, it was now just me, the driver, the two translators, Carlos, his Mum and his siblings Jose and Mitza. He knew that we were soon going to be at his house and held me even tighter. We got to his place and I got out and went inside with the family. With various family members gathered around, I gave him his share of the loot. His dog Blackie made an appearance and I am happy to report that he's still looking quite healthy. Blackie, as you may remember from our last trip, isn't actually black!

I didn't mention it before, but I'd brought pictures for my kids of my home town and dogs and such. I also gave Axel and Carlos framed pictures of me and them from the last trip. In the case of Wilmer I just gave him a framed one of me. I stayed as long as I could, but knew that we had to go. I gave Carlos a big hug and then went and got in the van. Miriam came out behind me and told me that poor Carlos was crying because he didn't want me to go. Well, I had to go back and give him another hug and promised that I'd be back soon. Of course, 'soon' to me is a long time to an eight year old kid, but what can you do. I was ready to hide him in my now empty suitcase and he'd probably have been quite willing, but I think the translators might have noticed.

Oh, one other thing - I probably shouldn't say it because I'm sure you are not supposed to, but I slipped 250 Lempiras (approx $15) into the front pockets of the new jeans I'd got for each of the boys along with a note saying it was for them. That way, they will just discover it randomly when they are wearing them. Up to them if they want to tell anyone about it or just buy themselves something they want. Either way, I hope they indulge themselves.

Miriam, Jessica and I talked on the way back to El Progresso where they both live and then I was alone with Santos the driver. He didn't speak English and my Spanish wasn't good enough to carry on much of a conversation, so I just rested. It was now dark, anyway, so not much to see out of the window. Before too long, I was back at my hotel and planning the next trip. I had asked Miriam about the possibility of taking the boys to a soccer game on the next trip. She said that it had never been done before, but she called her boss and she said it could probably be arranged. I know the boys would have a blast and I'm sure I would too. My three boys and I all root for Olympia whereas Jon (and Mack) root for Maraton so the ideal situation would be to find a date when those two teams were playing each other. And, of course, Olympia will win!

That's really it for the CI portion of my trip. The next day I took a fantastic eco tour. If anyone is interested I'll do one more entry on that, but I'm not such a narcissist that I think anyone wants to read my rambling travelogues if they don't involve my sponsored kids!

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 8: I Tawt I Taw My Lord Jesus

Chapter 8: I Tawt I Taw My Lord Jesus

The van was a bit of a tight squeeze. There were six kids and ten teens and adults. Also, I had two suitcases with stuff for the boys (darn bulky soccer balls). I was expecting to have the bigger suitcase on my lap, but they wouldn't hear of it. Two of the mothers took them leaving me comfortable but feeling very ungallant . The one nice thing is that the main roads in Honduras are actually pretty good. No bouncing over potholes or anything like that. The drive was quite pleasant and I chatted with Miriam while enjoying the view. There is a conspiracy by the cell phone company Tiga to take over the country as evidenced by the numerous houses painted electric blue with the Tiga logo covering one wall. We had found out last time that they offer to paint people's houses for free if they agree to becoming a free billboard - hey, as long as you don't mind blue, why not? But if you gave directions, there would be no point saying "My house is the blue one with the Tiga sign on it" - your guest would be hopelessly lost.

In case you are wondering about my title, on this drive I saw the weirdest piece of religious art I have ever seen in my life. It was on the back of a bus; a drawing of Wiley E Coyote asking Tweety Bird, "Do You Know Jesus?" This raises all sorts of questions but also answers some. The fact that the coyote knows Jesus explains how he is able to survive falls off of cliffs and numerous catastrophic failures by various products of the Acme Company. I'm not at all sure that he's an ideal evangelist given his homicidal tendencies nor why he has chosen Tweety Bird to try and convert. Mind you, given Tweety's close calls escaping becoming cat food, he might already know Jesus. My biggest regret on the whole trip was that I was unable to get a photo of this provocative piece of artwork, but both the van and the bus were moving. Alas.

Last year, there was an earthquake in Honduras. Nothing like the one in Haiti, but at the time, I had read that the bridge crossing the river into El Progresso had fallen. I had worried at the time; particularly for Axel's family as their house is on the side of the mountain, but apparently there was not much damage beyond the broken bridge. I decided to play dumb tourist and get my picture taken on the edge of the fallen bridge. The first house we reached was Jon's - they live on the outskirts of El Progresso so we were able to unload three people and get everyone a lot more comfortable. They had been sitting in front and Carlos took advantage of them getting out to come and claim the seat next to me. He pulled my arm over his shoulder and snuggled up to me in a way that was most touching as we drove up the rutted, mountain road to Axel's house. Getting there, we all got out and went to see him. I found him sitting in the front portion of their house with his arm in a sling. I could tell he was very disappointed at having missed the adventure and I could hardly blame him. I sat with him for a bit, chatting through the translator letting him know how much I'd missed him and then I started to give him the various presents I had brought. I always start with the clothes first; that is what they are going to be the least excited over, so build up to the good stuff. He really liked the soccer ball, but his eyes totally lit up at the ball and bat. So did Wilson's - I'm sure between the two of them it will get a lot of use, though poor Axel will have to wait for his arm to heal.

They told me that the dog they had had last year (Pimpa) had gone to the great beyond which was hardly surprising given that the poor thing had looked to be on its last legs. They had a new puppy called Champion and I was struck by the oddness of the fact that my sponsored kids all have dogs with English names while my dog has a Central American Indian name (Cocoa). We hung around for a bit, but I could tell that we needed to get the show on the road, so I said goodbye to Axel and promised him I'd come again soon and that we'd make sure he got to go along on the next adventure.

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 7: Circumnavigation

Chapter 7: Circumnavigation

Yea, the title is a fancy word. As a boy I was fascinated by explorers like Columbus, Magellan and Prince Henry the Navigator. I'll use any excuse to use that word; sue me :) . One thing that we had not done up to this point was float down the lazy river. You know what I mean; every water park has one. This slow-moving river that rings the park. Being worn out from hiking up to the slide a dozen times, I talked the boys into going for a float down this. Miriam was being a tad overprotective (to be fair, it's her job, I know) and said that Wilmer was too small as he wouldn't be able to stand. She wasn't keen on Carlos going either, but I told her we'd go in a double float and I wouldn't take my eyes off him. In fact, the water wasn't too deep for him to stand, anyway. The older boys and a couple of the girls came as well, as did Jessica, the other translator. I suppose it took us about half an hour to float down the whole river and get back to the start. There was all the sort of stuff that you would expect; splashing, going under waterfalls, the older boys horsing around and dunking each other. Just as we were getting to the end, I could see Carlos starting to get cold, so it was good timing. Miriam said that we should start getting ready to leave. While the kids had had a total blast, I could see that some of them were getting a bit tired, so it worked out fairly well. I quickly changed and then told Miriam that I wanted to get a shirt from the gift store for Axel since he hadn't been able to come. Originally, my plan had been to get all three of my kids a souvenir T-shirt, but I wanted to do something special for just Axel given how things had turned out. I didn't think it would help much, but perhaps just a bit. His grandmother picked out one she thought he'd like and we went with that. We exited the park and the driver went and brought the van around. While I was very sorry that poor Axel had broken his arm, it accidentally made me realize the best strategy for maximizing time with the kids - have CI bring them to where ever you are going to take them and then ride back with them to their houses. That way you can see their home still, but without using up valuable time in the morning. Plus, you can give them whatever presents you have at the end of the day. Depends on the logistics of the area, I suppose, but for anyone planning a trip, I suggest you try to do it this way.

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 6: Sliding

Chapter 6: Sliding

Perhaps fifteen minutes after we had all finished eating, I led the kids back into the water. They STILL hadn't turned on the big slides, but they had water flowing over most of the small ones and that satisfied the kids - especially the smaller ones. Of course, boys being boys, several of them were soon doing things that they were not supposed to such as climbing up the slides after going down them. It took them a while to figure out that the guy with the whistle was blowing at them and telling them not to do it. For the most part, I was right there playing around with the kids. Wilmer in particular, seemed happy about this and he kept calling "Padrino, padrino!" ("Sponsor, sponsor!" for those who don't know Spanish) trying to get my attention to join him on one slide or the other. I keep meaning to tell the kids that they can call me Victor, but where I live it's actually considered rude for a child to call an adult by his first name and I don't know what it's like in Honduras. A kid here would call me Mr. Victor if he knew me well - I really need to ask the translators what's the best way to handle it.

It turned out that we were waiting for the water park staff to finish lunch to turn on the main slides and at last they got them going. Well, actually, they didn't turn them all on, they sort of rotated which ones were on, but that wasn't an issue. There was no line to wait as the park wasn't very full and you can only go down one slide at once. The trick was that you had to walk up a substantial slope to get to the top (while carrying an inflated tube to ride on) so you'd get tried pretty quick doing it over and over. Carlos was somewhat intimidated by the size of the slides, but agreed to go with me. Needless to say, Jon and Wilson had no hesitancy about it and went down repeatedly. Carlos and I went down a few times and then I found Wilmer and asked if he wanted to go as well. He was even more intimidated than Carlos, but I could see he wanted to try it too. He and I went down twice but after that I was more or less worn out from lugging the floats up to the top, so figured we should try something more mellow as we only had about an hour left in the park.

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 5: Really Greasy

Chapter 5: Really Greasy Chicken and Fries

There was a restaurant right by the pool we were at with plenty of outside seating. Miriam looked at the menu and suggested that the easiest thing to do would be to order the chicken meal for everybody. It was a 1/4 chicken with fries and all the kids liked chicken, so there was no problem. I don't remember what it cost, but it was quite inexpensive and less than what I was expecting. I know it would have cost three times as much (if not more!) to feed a crew of about twenty people in any amusement park in the US. Up to this point, I'd been spreading my attention around between Carlos and Wilmer, but now I had a bit of a dilemma - who's table was I going to sit at? The last time I'd done this, everyone was at one table and I simply had Carlos and Axel on either side of me - this time the families were all at different tables as they were too small for everyone. What I did was to put my stuff down at Carlos' table, but then sit as Wilmer's until the food came and then switched back to Carlos. I also did check in with Axel's family - Wilson was there of course along with Axel's grandmother and two of his sisters. That's when I got all the details of his accident. He had really wanted to come and I'm sure it was even worse for him that all his siblings got to go and he couldn't. I did feel very sorry for him and was even more determined to make it up to him.

The food came and there was quite a lot of it. No chance of anybody going hungry with a box full of fries and a 1/4 chicken. It was quite greasy, but in a GOOD way - you know when grease just tastes good? You know it's killing you, but you just don't care. I still have a few extra pounds from the holidays and I knew that this was not going to help me lose them!

I couldn't eat all of my fries, something that I felt vaguely guilty about. What example would I be setting for the kids if I didn't clean off my plate (or box, if you prefer)? But stuffing myself made no sense, so after finishing the chicken, I ditched the rest.

Miriam said that the kids should not go back into the water after eating. This is, in fact, and old wives tale and one I have encountered numerous times living where I do. Given that we were only there until 3PM, I wasn't going to waste a whole hour waiting for food to digest, but I didn't want to be rude, either. I told her that twenty minutes would be plenty of time and she - a bit reluctantly I think - agreed. We walked around the park for a bit, seeing what all else was there. Wilmer found a land based slide and talked me into going down it with him. It was kid sized, though I could fit. I knew I'd regret it the next day, but I went ahead and indulged him.

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 3: Splashing Around

Chapter 4: Splashing Around

There were two water parks in San Pedro Sula and Mack and I had debated which one was better. She'd voted for this one and I had thought another one looked best because it was bigger (one of the many uses of Google Earth - checking out water parks). We agreed to let CI chose and they went with Mack. Being there on the ground, I understood why. It was newer, for one thing, but also, there were a lot more trees and shade. Plus, with that many kids, you didn't want them to get all spread out. We seemed to be the first ones there and they had not turned on the water for the main slides yet. Everybody headed to one of the big pools. It had a very shallow 'beach' area that very gradually got deeper. This was perfect for the kids to get their feet wet, as it were. There were inner tubes to float around on and paddle around. We spent close to an hour there; I was spinning the younger kids around on their floats, getting Wilmer and his sister used to me. More people started to show up and gradually they began turning the water features on. There was a spot where you could sit and every five minutes or so, a huge bucket of water would empty itself on you. Needless to say, Carlos liked the look of that, so a group of us had a turn sitting under it. While Miriam sat with the mothers, the other translator, Jessica, had brought her swimsuit, so she was right there with us having fun.

I'd had breakfast but was starting to feel a little hungry. I asked Carlos if he was hungry too and he indicated that he was, so I suggested to Miriam that it might be a good idea to break for lunch. She polled the parents and all agreed that now was a good time.

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 3: The Flying Tackle

Chapter 3: The Flying Tackle

The water park was only about five minutes away from CI's new office. We pulled up in the van and I saw the kids and their various guardians standing around in front. I was barely out the door before Carlos came running up and hugged me so hard that he almost knocked the breath out of me. I got down on one knee so I could hug him back and he held onto me for the longest time. Then he went over to his mother, got something and came back to present it to me and hug me again. They'd had a picture of him done at a portrait studio somewhere and gotten it framed for me. Rather appropriately, the picture frame featured the WB cartoon Tasmanian Devil character. The picture had his name on it, as well as the date it was taken. It was a total coincidence, but the day it was taken was my birthday - January 10th, so that made it extra special. He also gave me a bag full of tamales that his mum had made for me.

I saw Wilmer standing there with his grandmum and sister. Of course, I only got him last year, so we had not met before. I went over and said hello - he was a bit shy as I had suspected, so I was careful not to overwhelm him. I knew the kids were all ready to head into the park, so I went and paid and everybody got plastic bracelets. I was also expecting to have to buy a lot of swimsuits, but in fact everybody but Jon's brother Jimmy had one. Miriam explained that CI had made sure that the families got swimsuits out of the last set of money that I had sent down, so they would all be prepared. Most of the kids were already wearing them, so a minimal time was spent changing and then we went into the park itself.

Victor's Trip to Honduras: Chapter 2: Unlucky Break

I got a call first thing in the morning. It was the C.I. office in Honduras to re-confirm that I would be picked up at 10, but also to tell me that the oldest of my sponsored children, Axel, had broken his arm the day before and would not be able to come. I later found out that he had been climbing a lemon tree to get some lemons for his grandmother and had fallen. The break wasn't too bad; the doctors thought that he would not need a cast, but the C.I. representative didn't think he should come on the trip. In any case, he wouldn't have been able to swim, so being there watching the other kids have fun while he could only sit might have been just as bad as not coming. I was disappointed of course, but more so for Axel. These kids don't get many chances like this and to lose it because of bad timing on an accident was just really sad. I'm determined that I will come back and make it up to him before too long.


The C.I. van did show up - in fact, 15 minutes ahead of time. Along with the driver was Miriam, the translator who is in charge of El Progresso - the town where Axel lives, along Mack's two kids - Jonathan and Axel's older brother Wilson. She had been there last trip and I was happy to see her again. She wanted to take me to see C.I.'s new office in San Pedro Sula, so that's where we went first. The office we saw last year was apparently a building that they were only renting. This was one that had been built new and was owned by C.I. Not that there was anything shabby about the last one, but this one was nicer. It was two story and had plenty of office space. The parking lot was kind of funny - space being at a premium, all the cars were jammed into a walled area with no extra space at all. Either the first one there has to be the last to go home or everyone leaves at exactly the same time. I met several of the staff, all who were very friendly. After that, I was ready to go see the kids, who I was told were waiting anxiously outside the water park. Off we went!

Victor's Trip to Honduras~ Chapter 1- The Loot

Victor's Trip to Honduras

Chapter 1: The Loot

I had been planning this trip with Mack for several months but the day before I was scheduled to leave, Mack called to say that she was too ill to travel. It was disappointing; more so for her than me, of course, but I was sorry not to have the company. I told her I would cover for her kids at our planned expedition to the water park - I wouldn't be bringing them gifts, but at least I could do that. I flew over to Florida the next day and hit Target fairly hard. I was going to hit WalMart as well, but the one closest to the house of the friend I was staying with had just closed down. I thought WalMart put other people out of business, I never knew that they went down themselves. Perhaps Target did them in - it was huge.

Either way, I was straight. I got a bunch of clothes, a soccer ball for each of the boys, racecars, markers, some other toys for the younger two and a bat, ball and glove for the older one. The politically incorrect side of me bought a camouflage shirt for Axel and Carlos as well. Fortunately, I didn't have too much of my own stuff because it took up most of my two suitcases. Tip when flying to Honduras - fly TACA - they let you take two bags with no extra charge. I got off the plane and I had left behind cold Florida (how often do you hear that!) for warm Honduras. I've no doubt that it will be water park weather tomorrow.

Anyway, I am in my hotel and the CI van is due to pick me up tomorrow at 10:00 - I can't wait!

And it only gets better!

Due to popular demand, Sara S has donated another 15 dolls!! If you look around at our fundraisers, you will see that these dolls have already given $88 to the 3 present families being helped!! (that all happened in less than a 24 hour period of time!) Check out the webstore (The deadline to order for Chile and the Dominican Republic is a week from today 1/22/10!)

The total number of dolls that Sara has donated for the children are 25, and 11 are already sold. We have 14 left, and all available 1st come - 1st served.

I, also, had one other person as if they could donate some items. For that, I want to tell one and all- If you would like to donate items for the store, you may send them to:

Make a Change
c/o Heather McLaughlin
P O Box 847
Anna, TX 75409

As I receive the items, I will photograph them & get them added to the store. Other than a small international shipping fee to get the items to the children, all of the rest of the money goes directly to our fundraisers! Any items that are not too bulky or heavy & in new condition are welcomed & very much appreciated!!

Our children are going to have so much fun with these packages!! We are going to have fun getting the letters & photos!

Two more small notes for this post:
1. I will be providing a post about how you can help Make a Change soon, I promise! Right now, I have some other exciting posts that I need to get up (including one from Victor who is presently in Honduras).
2. If you decide to donate items for these packages, please let me know if you want your donation to be anonymous- otherwise, I will be thanking you loud and proud (so stop me, if you don't want that to happen- you have been warned. LOL!)

Mack & Victor's Trip to Honduras Part 12

CI Day, Part 12 – Leaving the Mall:

After our shopping was completed, there was just enough time to get ice cream before we had to leave. Once we got outside the entrance, we discovered that our van and driver had gone AWOL. I think he had to pick up his own kids at school? Anyway, we got to spend a little more time with our kids + take some group photos while we waited for the vehicle to return. We just loitered in front of the mall, finishing our ice cream, until we could take the boys back to their respective homes.

Victor's thoughts: What would a fun day be without ice cream at the end? I didn't actually know the van driver was missing; I don't guess I was paying much attention at that point. It was nice to spend a bit of extra time with the boys because, to be honest, I had hoped we'd be able to spend more time with them than we actually had. Next time we are going to arrange things differently without the need for home visits and a lot less time spent traveling around. It would have been different if there were just one or two children as we would have all been able to ride in the van, but with a pack of us and a pack of them, it just wasn't doable.

Mack & Victor's Trip to Honduras Part 11

CI Day, Part 11 – More Shopping:

The only kid who had not yet received any gifts (except the ones I brought her) was Carlos' 14-year-old sister. Victor very kindly took her to a large department store to pick something out as a "thank-you" because she writes all Carlos' letters for him.
Whether you're a Honduran boy, or one of any other nationality, it is always totally boring to wait around while a teenage girl tries on shoes! First, we messed around some with my camera, taking photos into a mirror … but then the kids discovered the escalator! Up and down and around and around they went, following Connor's bad example and trying to run up the down escalator, and vice-versa.
Next, I contributed to the boys' delinquency by encouraging them to take the wigs off the mannequins and where them on their own heads. One of the sales ladies yelled at us to "stop it", but I just shrugged and told her, "Sorry, I don't speak Spanish. I have no idea what you are saying." We weren't hurting anything!
FINALLY, the women were done with their shopping and we could all move on.
Victor's thoughts:
In fact, this is where I got something for Carlos’ brother. I knew that all the boys would be playing with the toys so there was no need to get something specific for him. I hadn’t know about Carlos ‘surprise’ brother as Mack put it; the one who was a year younger than him, but also figured that he’d be getting to wear Carlos’ clothes in short order as he grew out of them.
We went to this store – sort of a Honduran Macy’s – because I asked Carlos’ sister what she would want. She wanted shoes – nice ones with heels – what is it with women and shoes, anyway? She picked out a pair, but then we went upstairs because I wanted to buy an outfit for Carlos’ 12 year old brother. That took a bit of time; I had sister, mom and the translator with me and the boys’ department wasn’t easy to find. Once that was out of the way, our shopping was done!
Mack again:
I just have to add that even as a woman I really don't understand the shoe obsession, either. I only own two pairs of shoes: beat-up sandals for when it's not raining + water-proof army boots for when it's wet out. If I have to dress up nice, I borrow flats from my mom. I got married bare-footed

Mack & Victor's Trip to Honduras Part 10

CI Day, Part 10 – Toy Store Fun:

We had seen a toy store on the way in through the mall, and we wanted to take the boys there to pick out something frivolous. The CI staff and the mothers seemed to be against the idea, claiming that the kids didn't need any toys … but we ignored their protests.
It didn't take long for all four boys to decide that they wanted remote control trucks. Meanwhile, my mother did some shopping for Wendy's three daughters back home. She felt bad that we had not known about the youngest girl, who'd been left out when I gave gifts to her older sisters (but was also too young to know it had happened).
I think, at this point, Victor also bought something for Carlos' surprise brother. I really never got that family straight, so I'll let him explain.
Victor's thoughts:
We had gotten the boys shoes, but I did want them to be able to buy something ‘fun’ for themselves as well. Of course, all the women said that they didn’t need anything more, but as King Lear said “Oh, question not the need!” They all picked out some decent sized remote controlled cars. I wondered about batteries, but apparently they had internal, rechargeable ones, so no problem there.
Again, prices were not that great in the mall store; cheaper than in the US but not considerably so. The advantage was that those were big toys which would have taken up a lot of space in my suitcase but buying them there meant that the kids could enjoy a big toy as well as all the little ones we have brought them as well.