Honduras. Part 7
Hello again from the land of 1000 Mangoes.
Today we begun the day with Mass at the Poor Clares and then things got different.
Erica had scheduled a trip into Tegucigalpa with the group of Mothers that she ministers to. So Br. Matteo, Br. Damiano, Br. Justin and I joined 20 women and a few children on a 2 hour bus ride. It was wonderful. These women, though very poor and most of them either in horrible relationships or single moms, were singing and laughing and smiling the whole way there.
Our first stop was Cristo Paccu, a gigantic statue of Jesus that towers over the city. It’s similar to the statue that towers over Sao Paulo, Brazil. You can see this thing poking above the mountains for miles around. My favorite part? about 200 feet below it, the only other thing visible on the mountain is a “Hollywood sign” only instead of Hollywood it says Coca Cola. Beautiful.
We walked around the statue for a while and then I was honored to give my testimony to these women. It is hard to find the words to relate to these women who lead such hard lives compared to what I deal with. But there are things that run true in both cultures. People drink too much, Men treat women like objects to be enjoyed then put on a shelf and women get pregnant and men skip out rather than take responsibility.
Unfortunately I used to treat women about as well as some of the men in Honduras. I’ve never hit a woman, I’ve never slept with any of them so I’m pretty sure none of them got pregnant, but I used them. I took, I lusted and I tried to fill the emptiness in my own heart with something that I thought I could get from them.
Luckily for me, I found what I was looking for in my relationship with Christ. I realized the truth, that God loved me no matter how good or bad I was. He would always love me the same, unconditionally. Through that truth, I was able to get rid of the thought of taking and begin the search for the person I could give myself to. The person I could see Christ in and feels Christ’s love through. That person, to the best of my knowledge is Erica.
Sharing all that with these women was hard and I wasn’t sure if I was even making sense to them. Don’t worry, I had one of the Brothers interpret everything I said. But afterwards, I talked to some of them who said it really spoke to them. I’m telling you, each day God is shifting the ground under me.
After that we took them all to the Zoo. For almost all the women and the children, it was their first time at a zoo. This is not your typical Americanized Zoo where the animals are all safe distances away tucked behind concrete and plexiglass. This was a Honduran zoo where Crocodiles and Jaguars are kept behind chain linked fence at distances up to 2 feet. Sometimes even closer.
As we were at the Monkey cage, we noticed all the monkey’s jumping and moving about and then suddenly, 5 feet from Erica, one landed on the sidewalk. That’s right friends, the monkey’s were loose from their cage. It was the most surreal thing. We’re in a zoo, and the fences aren’t working anymore! There are animals among us! We followed him around, trying to get good pictures, but he was on a mission and kept moving. We decided to go to the Jaguar cage next where it was, conveniently, feeding time. The zookeeper, or more likely, groundskeeper that drew the short straw, laid a bucket full of meat on a raised platform. Behind him, in a cage that looked anything but secure, a Jaguar paced VERY anxiously, ready to be fed. The zookeeper left, the door was locked, the cage door opened and he pounced. He tore threw dinner in a few brief moments. Hoping that the Jaguar and the Monkey hadn’t been talking earlier in the day, we headed off.
The other main attraction was the crocodile. You know how most zoos tell you not to feed the animals or mess with their cages? Well apparently that memo did not get circulated down here. Have you ever seen a Crocodile messed with? They get mad. Real mad. And they hiss. Especially when members of certain religious orders decided to try and poke it with a stick. Oh did I mention the secure cage was a dilapidated chain link fence? Well that happened. I have photos to prove it. Now I’ve grown up with Alligators in Florida and they are scary. Crocodiles make Alligators look like Geckos. They are sleek, fast, teethy and they have devil eyes. Needless to say, I made my exit from that exhibit about as fast a Gringo exits to the bathroom after drinking the water down here.
Next stop was the Bascillica of the image of Supayappa. Supayappa is the Patroness of Honduras. Apparently this man was in a field a few hundred years ago. He looks down and sees a doll, thinks it’s kind of strange, throws it over his shoulder and then walks on through the field. He slept in the field that night and when he woke up, the doll was next to him. Again, he thinks, that’s weird and throws it over his shoulder. The next morning he wakes up, and there is the doll again. It was brought to the Cathedral and many people were healed. People have been venerating it ever since.
I don’t know the full story but people down here LOVE Suyappa. I’ve met about 10 different women with that name. Muy interesante.
We went into the new Bascillica as well which is beautiful! It’s huge with gorgeous stained glass windows. Again, pictures people. I’ve got the pictures.
Finally we took the two hour bus ride home. When we got back to Comayagua it was raining a little bit. We dropped some of the women off near where their homes were. One of the women, Daisy, had brought her infant girl and toddler son with her. Her son was one of the cutest little boys and he gave me a good taste of what I’ve been missing at home. He hit me. Constantly. But we had fun. He and I had played all day, tickle fights and carrying him on my shoulders.
When he got off the bus, he was crying. He kept saying NO! Over and over again he cried and finally he walked away with his head down crying and walking home behind his Mom. I know he was crying because it was a long day and he was tired and cranky. But all I could think about was him realizing that it was over. This amazing day where he got to see so many great things and had so many fun people to play with, and now he had to go back to his one room house. It absolutely broke my heart. That was nearly 5 hours ago and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I guess not every day here ends in victory. Sometimes it just hurts to watch the truth.
Tomorrow morning is my last morning here so I’ll give you the final recap tomorrow.
Buenos Noches
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