Friday, Day 1

This trip sounded like either an adventure or a fool's trip. I was to leave Columbus, Ohio and 6:15am and fly to Washington DC. Then fly Taca (no, not taco, TACA) airlines to El Salvador. This was my first time at Dulles Airport in DC and also my first time on TACA and my first time in El Salvador. Quite a lot of firsts for an old lady. When I checked in at Columbus, they took a closer look at my carry on bag which was full of approximately 25-30 bars of Ivory soap for the children at orphanage. You know my daughter:) she doesn't want to pay the premium price for soap in Honduras. The trip to DC was quick and uneventful. At DC we had to go outside of security zone and get boarding passes for TACA. Well that means I had to go through security again and have carry on checked again. Well they do not do well in DC with carryons with multiple "bundles" and also did I mention that I had my phone charger cord in there too? Well they say that on xray it appeared the perfect bomb. so they took every last bar out and I had to re pack again. They did not smile much at me:( Boarded TACA and we were off to El Salvador. The really neat "God Thing" was that once we drug our bags into Columbus we did not have to claim and drag again until Honduras. Each one of mine was 50 lbs... Have you ever tried to get a garment bag on your shoulder full of shampoos, etc. that weighs 50 lbs? TACA was awesome and really nice plane and people. We were served breakfast of eggs and potatoes, yogurt and for those that could eat it, a danish and a roll with butter.
Then we reached El Salvador, a runway that appeared out of a lush looking jungle like area. The terminal was small but nice. I had four hours there. I had to buy me an El Salvador tshirt just to prove that I was there! I will try to load a picture that was taken of Joyce and myself in the airport with us in front of a window. An older gentleman stopped and offered to take the picture and I am not sure but what he said something about me not fitting in the picture. Joyce says he would not do that but I know these older guys!
Eventually, after trying to sleep in every imaginable position while still holding onto your bags our flight was called to leave for Honduras. This flight barely got airborne before we were descending again. The plane (Taca) was new and the crew fantastic! It was impossible to see the ground in Honduras with so much clouds and fog and rain. For those who do not know the runway in Tegucigalpa Honduras is very short and makes for interesting landings. This is the only place that everyone claps when the pilot stops before the end of the runway. Joyce was voicing concerns of the visibility (or lack there of) affecting the pilot. I did not have the heart to tell her that the Honduran lady on my other side was praying and crossing herself. The landing was awesome, just like any other landing on a big runway. We were finally in Honduras and my baby was near. We made it through customs in a snap and even found all of luggage! The problem was they would not let us take the cart out this secure area. So after around ten minutes of trying to position our bags so that we could crawl and drag them from secure area of airport out to where there was help, we made it and Karen had sent Marc and a teen Luis and three Casa children; Pamela, Marvin and Rudy. Of course the little children had no problems carrying our luggage! They raise them small but sturdy in Honduras! After about an hour drive we made it to Casa and received and gave hundreds of hugs and kisses. It felt so good to put my arms around Karen and Dorian. Actually Dorian made it to vehicle before Karen! It was dark when we left Columbus and dark when we arrived in Santa Ana but it felt good to be here!