Day 12- El Presidente
Today’s trip to Guadalupe, a little town by Trujillo, was probably one of the main highlights of this trip. We were invited to a medical brigade event and ironically the army men who invited us were advised to not show up to today’s event because the president was planning on showing up. So instead of them, we got a chance to see the president. There, we got a real taste of lagging and Honduran time, approximately 3 hours behind schedule.
In the meantime, we befriended a couple of the little girls who we just ended up falling in love with. They found us very intriguing; I’m guessing I’m probably one of the only Asians they’ve ever met and Julia sticks out as well, so we attracted people and stares everywhere we went. I definitely found out that I am not celebrity material and didn’t really enjoy this type of limelight. However, it was exciting for a while.
Finally after hours of waiting around, we got to see Pepe, the president of Honduras. We got a handshake and a personal “thank you for helping our country”. Yeah, not many people get to say that. I definitely have luck and hopefully karma to thank for such opportunities like this. This trip has definitely got me into thinking about desk jobs and how much more fulfilling humanitarian jobs would be. However, of course there are pros and cons to both, but either way I’m glad I got a first-hand taste of this type of work. Our director was also volunteering there and it was nice to see that, especially since my first impression of him was that he just sat around being all director-esque. He is also a military medic and so I guess he’s always away from the hospital doing that.
In a couple of hours, we’re off to San Pedro Sula then Copan where we will visit the Mayan Ruins and some hot springs hopefully. This weekend is going to be spectacular!
