Hola de Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Hola! WE MADE IT! We`re here, we`re safe, and we`re all having fun. Yesterday was a very long day, marked by running (and yes, I do mean running) to make our flight in Miami, struggling through broken Spanish with the Honduran border guards to get through baggage claim, and braving some dare devil-like traffic to get to camp (think Go-Karts-Gone-Wild). But we made it.

The camp is beautiful. To enter into the gated facility, one simply has to lay on the horn for about 15 seconds and a small little boy with a rag-top head will come running to open the door. Then when you drive in, you`re greeted by a small grove of trees providing some shade, beautiful murals depicting children holding hands beneath rainbows and messages of peace, and droves of little boys wearing jeans and t-shirts with logos like the Chicago Bulls on them.

The staff have been nothing but generous. They STUFF us with food (and it is custom in Honduras to finish everything on your plate), provide us with very nice (and cool) places to stay, and encourage us to play with the kids. And speaking of this kids--they`re amazing: kind, gentle, and generous. On our first day, we were told to un-pack, settle in, and then GO PLAY! This was a bit intimidating, as the kids knew how to play a mean game of Soccer and didn`t seem to need our help, but as soon as we made a gesture that we wanted to play, they welcomed us in with open arms. Slowly they warmed up to us, and by yesterday evening, they were climbing on Gracie (who was dressed up in a cape as Superman) and giving us all huge hugs goodnight.

Today was even more fun. We went to the Episcopal Church service with the boys at 10:00am (which was a bit difficult for Kate and I, considering that we don`t speak a word of Spanish) and the service was great--especially the lively music accompanied by a full drum set, back up singers and bongos. Then this afternoon we treated some of the kids (apparently the Honor Roll students) to lunch at McDonalds. Though they were really excited about this, I was still stunned by how politely the boys and girls treated those at the restaurant and how well the cooperated with the adults. When it was time to go--it was time to go!

Tomorrow we start our work at the camp. We`ll be helping to finish tearing down one of the old dorms in which some of the boys lived. That basically means hauling a bunch of wood from one spot to the next, pulling nails out of boards, and hopefully a little sledge-hammer action if we`re lucky (but don`t quote me on that).

We miss you all dearly and hope that you`re enjoying the blog. We just checked the score of the UNC-Duke game (which took almost 10 pain-stakingly momentous minutes for the page to load) and we`re THRILLED! The room erupted into screams and shouts of joy. GO HEELS!!!

Well more from the other team members will hopefully come soon. Just keep a lookout for updates. Adios amigos!

Liz Gilliam

PS--the quote of the day: (while braving the drive to church this morning...) "There is no sports bra in the world that could prepare me for this kind of driving." --Anonymous