The Down Side of Silver Lining

This last weekend I and three other volunteers were invited to attend the wedding of Alfredo, the Honduran music teacher at the school. It was to take place at Alfredo’s prospective parent-in-law’s farm high in the Honduran mountains. Apparently it was a two hour drive from Juticalpa, so Friday afternoon found me riding in the back of a truck with three other guys, two VERY large speakers for the wedding, as well as the groom himself. The vistas which spread out before us as we climbed higher and higher up the red dirt road were breathtaking.

We continued to drive deeper into the mountains as the daylight faded. The gray, heavy clouds came closer, enveloping the looming mountain tops in the twilight.

Soon after, it started to rain.

Now, bear in mind that I was sitting in the back of a pick-up truck, high in the mountains, in December. In no time at all I was soaked to the bone and shivering. As we went higher the rain eased up…not because it was raining any less but because it has less distance to fall. In fact pretty soon we were IN the clouds. As I said in the title of this blog, there is a problem with cloud “silver lining”, and that problem is that it’s very WET and very COLD. I couldn’t believe that there was any higher to go, but every bend in the road revealed another peak to climb.

About an hour and half into the ride we could no longer see the mountains around us. We could barely see 30 feet from the truck for that matter.

Then I looked up from our huddle in the truck bed and saw…nothing. Literally there was NOTHING beyond two feet from the truck. Daring to peer over the edge I realized that we were now driving along the ridge of the mountain (which also explained why the wind had picked up), and there was nothing but a sheer slope on either side of the truck. If it had been a clear day the view would have been phenomenal.

Eventually we arrived at the farm and disembarked. Wishing for nothing more than a hot meal and a bed, I was not overly thrilled to discover that Alfredo had had an ulterior motive for inviting me. He wanted me to utilize my artistic talents to arrange flowers for the table centerpieces.

Thankfully we did get something to warm us up. Two things actually. First was a hot plate of tortillas, beans, and MEAT! Turns out that in preparation for the impending nuptials that in-laws had, quite literally, slaughtered the fatted calf. And man was the fatted calf tasty! We washed the beefy goodness down with another warming substance, Plata. These two things cheered my up enough that I didn’t mind arranging flowers for the next few hours.

 The wedding the next day was fun. Full Catholic service plus the ceremony, followed by more beef, and loud music. Sadly, I could not enjoy the festivities, what with suddenly coming down with a nasty case of stomach flu. Needless to say, the ride home was not fun (although we did get to see the great views by daylight).

It’s now Thursday and I’m only just over the flu. We had Wednesday off for some local festival which takes place this time of year. I was just glad to have a day to sleep in. The countdown to Christmas break is now in full swing, and I cannot WAIT to go home. But before that we have a big Christmas community service project and some major presentations due in World History, so I’m not allowed to tune out yet.

Anyone who wants to come see me in at the airport, I’ll be flying in at 9:30 on the 18^th to Dulles, DC. Let’s re-enact the end of Love Actually!