My Trip to Guaimaca, Honduras

Hola! Here I am in Honduras! It is unbelievable how two short plane trips can bring you into a different world. On our way to Guaimaca from the airport in Tegucigalpa, we stopped at the cathedral which was very impressive.

 As we continued on our way, Sr. Sabitha was very excited to see many mango trees. We also stopped to pick up Sr. Gloribel and Sr. Marina at a retreat center which had little cabins for each of the retreatants.

 There were many things for me to learn about nature in Guaimaca. I saw what a coconut tree looked like and what a discovery it was to learn  that you had to break the outer shell to get to the real coconut inside.

 

The coconut water and soft coconut pulp were delicious. Other discoveries included the mango tree, lemon tree, papaya and banana trees. Now I know them all.

At the farm, I saw how broccoli, sugar cane, guayabana, and mustard grew as well as all the other usual crops. The farm was huge with different areas for different crops.

Sr. Gloribel’s Final Profession took place at the parish Church of St. Rose of Lima. The ceremony was beautiful. There were many people from the town who came for the ceremony and all were very enthusiastic and participated in the singing at the Mass. There were some lay Dominicans from El Salvador that came for Sr. Gloribel’s final vows and Sr. Lilia Alcira, the provincial of Mexico, and three other Sisters who came. All together, we were 13 Sisters at the ceremony. The priest who was the celebrant was a Dominican known by Sr.Gloribel since she had been present at his ordination.

The girls at the Marie Poussepin Center were very friendly and helpful. They all seemed so happy to be there. There was one small one that looked as if she was 7 years old but she is actually 12 years old. On July 8^th, the girls at the school put on a program of folkloric dances to celebrate Sr. Gloribel’s final profession. They were dressed very colorfully with long skirts and danced very well. You could tell that they put all their heart into it.

At the clinic, Dr. Robitaille, the dentist was there as well as Dr. Cheney, a Gastroenterologist. They were seeing many patients every day.

The last day in Guaimaca, Sr. Sabitha, Sr. Maria, Sr. Gloribel, and myself visited a small bordering town called Campamento. There we visited a Franciscan Church with a beautiful wooden cross in the sanctuary. It seemed to be approximately 6-7 feet tall. We also visited the town square and Sr. Gloribel treated us to some ice cream. Mine was raspberry flavor.

The time passed quickly and it was already time to come back home.  However the day before we had a treat at a small local restaurant. We could have fish or shrimp according to the menu. The meal was delicious.

The next day we left for the airport after breakfast. Our stay in Guaimaca had been wonderful.