Another Excellent Adventure

Question: What do scorpions, baked beans, and dead beetles have in common?
Hint: It's not what I had for dinner last night. Although that would be pretty awesome....
Answer: Keep reading…

If you haven’t already heard, for the next six weeks or so I’ll be down here in the tiny Honduran village of Balfate, volunteering at a missionary hospital. What on earth am I doing down here, you ask? Well, I answer, lots of stuff.

Basically, there’s this modern hospital sitting out in the middle of the Honduran jungle. (Actually, it’s at the edge of the jungle, since we’re just a few hundred yards from the ocean, but that’s beside the point.) This modern hospital has a modern computer network with modern phones and a lot of other modern electronic stuff. And there’s one guy stuck with the full-time, 7-day-a-week job of keeping it all running. I’m here for a while to take on some of the normal, everyday stuff so he can work on some much-needed upgrades, and maybe get a bit of a break in as well.

And so…. growing restless after staying in a single country for more that six months, I stuffed my battered backpack with the bare necessities, donned my well-worn “travel-pants” (don’t ask), and set off on another Excellent Adventure (cue theme music… maybe that awesome Rocky III song…).

After a nice series of red-eye flights and a mildly hair-raising car ride across the Honduran countryside, I arrived yesterday at the hospital complex. Kenton (the guy I'm working for) showed me to my room and helped me get settled in. As he was leaving, almost as an afterthought, he gave me some advice I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon: “Hey…at night, before you slide under the sheets, you might want to check them for scorpions. And make sure to keep your backpack zipped shut tight at night.” Oh boy.

Immediately following that, I discovered I had a guest at my sink:



One other thing that happened yesterday…. on the way out of town we stopped at a surprisingly modern supermarket to pick up some groceries (I’ll be doing a lot of my own cooking… scary, I know). As I was grabbing some bananas, a middle-aged, white (gringo) lady stopped by my cart, peered in, and announced, “Single American guy, huh?” I looked in the cart… I had peanut butter and jelly supplies, cup-o-noodle, cans of baked beans, breakfast cereal, and a box of microwaveable chicken nuggets. I guess some things don't change.

So, what do scorpions, baked beans, and dead beetles have in common? Nothing, really. But they do pretty much describe my first day in Honduras.

PS - I just watched a gecko snatch up a moth from my window screen. I think I’m going to like it here.