Mission: Possible

With Ben as his platform, Jeremy paints a hard-to-reach spot.

After another morning of my favorite combination, sunshine and coffee, we all went to the school to finish up around the building. It was a beautiful day and a great day to paint.

One of my favorite moments of the morning was when we were looking at a spot that seemed out of reach to everyone. There was an alarm and some wires sticking out so we wanted to be careful to paint around all of that instead of over it and making a mess. It seemed like a great idea at the time to put Jeremy on Ben’s shoulders and have him paint that elusive, hard to reach spot.

Looking back at pictures, you can see that the spot actually wasn’t THAT high and one of our resident giants, Julie or Brian, could have reached it – or we could have used one of the many ladders laying around.

Nonetheless, it provided for a great moment.

The Incident – by Ben

After spending the morning working at the school in Lagunas, we packed up and headed out toward the school in Ocotillo, where the teachers there would provide us with lunch and then we would start painting that afternoon.

Brian, Steve, Denny, and I had taken one excursion with the Professora to the school and the drive was uneventful. We expected the same of our first trip there with the whole group. But life had decided to throw us a few curveballs that day, and what should have been a relatively easy 20 to 30-minute drive from Lepaera was anything but.

Roughly 10 minutes out of Lepaera on a small dirt road we came to a fork in the road, and the two cars stopped to figure out which road to take. After some discussion, and with the assurance of one of our hosts, Magdalena, we settled on the left fork. We continued driving for another 20 minutes or so, but in the minds of a few of us (myself included), doubts were forming as to our decision. The scenery looked different, and we were not passing the landmarks that we had picked out our first time to Ocotillo.

I should also include a little information to help people understand what happened next. Driving in Honduras is like nothing one would encounter in the United States. The roads are shoddy in most places, filled with potholes, divots, washouts, etc. And around Lepaera, it is mountainous, which means the roads are narrow, windy, and there are steep grades in many places.

In addition, all manner of vehicles are using the roads during the day: pedestrians walking to work, people on horseback, cattle being moved, dogs, trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, and any other means of transportation one can think of. All of these things come together to make for a very interesting driving experience (and talking to a few people in the back of the van), an interesting riding experience.

Stuck on a Honduran mountainside, Mission Possible teamsters contemplate their predicament.

Eventually Brian stopped so we could discuss the wisdom of our previous decision. I, driving the van, pulled up alongside the SUV as I had back at the fork. Only this time we didn’t stop. After a small period of confusion, which then devolved into a small period of crisis, we got the van stopped. We all hopped out to figure out what was going on.

It turned out that as we had gone down a series of long, steep grades, the brakes had become extremely hot and would not stop the van completely. Luckily the condition had an easy fix. Throwing water on the brakes (an action that sent billows of steam into the air) cooled them down, and after a few minutes they were working again. We were almost ready to get back on the road. All that was left was to get the van turned around so we could drive back up the mountain to the place we had made the wrong turn.

Unfortunately, turning a 15-person van around on a narrow mountain road is easier said than done. Somewhere around point six of a “10-point” turn, I backed up the van a little bit too far. The rear wheels of the van thanked me for my bold move by sliding off the road and falling into the small trench at the side of the road.

To call this trench a “ditch” would be disingenuous at best, although it was located where one would normally expect to find a ditch in relation to the road. The wheels were spinning freely; the van was thoroughly stuck.

Luckily a couple locals came upon the group in our unfortunate situation and agreed to help us out. With some people pushing, and someone who had driven roads like this his entire life in the driver’s seat, we freed the van and were back on the road. We loaded some people into the locals’ pickup and the rest into the vehicles and were on our way. The locals offered to give us a ride as far as our wrong turn; it was an offer we promptly took them up on.

Finally on the road again, we made it back to the site of our wrong turn safely. After thanking our Honduran rescuers, we headed out on the true path to our destination. The rest of the drive was blessedly uneventful. And although we arrived an hour or so late for lunch at the school in Ocotillo, as we all found out, the locals run on what we came to refer to as “Honduran time.” And according to Honduran time, we arrived right on time.

Hot Springs

After our fun and exciting day of painting and adventure, we decided to go to the hot springs. It is a welcome addition to the week, a chance to relax in warm water pools and also wipe off some of the grime from the week. We decided to order pizza and bring it with us for dinner. The pizza was much better than expected by the way!

After a quick dinner, we all jumped into the hot springs to swim. The water is so warm and wonderful. Plus, the atmosphere of the facility is very tranquil and almost jungle-like. There are plants everywhere and it feels very secluded. Our host family joined us as well. It was fun to have some down time just to relax and play.