Annie and I are safely here at VIDA Internacional. Honduras is awesome!
The trip from Matteson to VIDA was about 42 hours. From Oslo to Miami, things when as expected. The trip from Miami to VIDA, got interesting. The descent into the Tegucigalpa airport was awesome. They had to fly right up into the curve of the mountainside to make a clean approach to land. Tegucigalpa was NOTHING like Havana. New cars, Burger King, Wendy's, Mc'D's, etc. Took us about 4/5 hours to get out of the city, because we got lunch, and had to meet someone to pick up a generator(remember, we are on Hispanic time here. "I'll meet you in 30 minutes" means 3 hours). We drove to VIDA in a small Toyota pickup, most of us in the bed with our bigger suitcases. The fabric suitcases and bags were inside in case it rained, which it did. Well, it poured. And sprinkled. And poured. For most of the 2 hour ride to Suyatal. Someone at a gas station gave us a tarp, which we crawled under and used to protect us from the rain. The whole way, the wind kept it blown up like a parachute. What fun.
We arrived around 8 pm, and got to bed a few minutes after that. Ever since I haven't gone to bed past 8:30 pm. I also get up around 4:30 in the morning.
There is a mountain close by, which is the only source of decent internet, if you have a 3G phone, or Thumb-drive Data Device(also 3G). Otherwise it works on EDGE network, which is next to dialup speeds. Its about a 30 minute hike to the point where the internet is on the mountain. Everything else is pretty much dead-zones.
There is no electricity on campus, unless you have a personal solar station. The other option is to go to the office in Suyatal and power up there. No, there isn't internet in Suyatal.
Tegucigalpa is the largest city in Honduras, about 2 million residents. Telanga is the second largest in our province, and it has 30,000 people. Telanga is 30 minutes away.
Its my job here as Public Relations designer, to create project proposals, design publicity paper stock (Rackcards, Postcards, Info brochures, logos for different projects) take photos, and update the website. That is, until the current PR director and assistant leave in December. Then, its my responsibility to fill in many of their chores until they find a replacement. I will be taking over the Newsletter, web design, and all the other unspoken tasks of this department. Oh yeah, and to some degree, I'm managing the two mission trips along side the director of VIDA.
