This Global Walk Outside | Day 17: Honduras
Hello, my name is Alisa, and I live on the northern coast of Honduras. I work part time as a nurse practitioner at a rural mission hospital and spend the rest of the time caring for my two-year-old daughter. My husband and I get to live in a tropical jungle full of monkeys, toucans, and all kinds of natural beauty.
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Our mission hospital almost touches the Caribbean, and a large part of the hospital housing extends up a hill with marvelous views of the ocean. Every morning we can see rustic fishing boats setting out early looking for their catch of the day. Just in the distance we can make out a chain of small islands called the Cayos Cochinos, and during the summers the sun lowers over the ocean bringing us spectacular sunsets.
The hospital serves the rural poor, and sits on a large piece of jungle land that most days seems very far from civilization. Our outdoor area is spacious and fertile allowing for ample room to play, roam, and explore.
One of my daughter’s favorite places to play is under the large mango tree in front of our house. The full branches provide a lot of shade in this hot climate, and support various swings that all the neighbor kids enjoy as well. Currently, we are just ending mango season, and the kids have enjoyed eating sweet fruit straight off the tree.
All around the yard are various fruit trees and shrubs. Pictured here is one of our neighbors with a cacao pod, what is used to make chocolate. The kids like to suck on the sweet-tart coating on the seeds and then spit out the bitter center. There are various varieties of mango, grapefruit, rambutan, guava, and lemon trees in our yard. There is also lemongrass, aloe, pineapple and more. Full discloser, we have a gardener who comes weekly to help take care of all the plants!
During the sunset and in the hour before dawn we always hear howler monkeys growling and screeching. Their pack makes its way past our house most days, and sometimes takes naps in the trees next to our bedroom during the afternoons. Their funny antics and interactions with each other never gets tiring to watch. We also have capuchin, or white faced monkeys, in the area. Toucans and parrots glide by in the early mornings, and hummingbirds zoom in and out looking for food.
(Left Photo) Not all the jungle creatures are friendly or fun to have around! Here our intrepid gardener, Don Chilo, has killed a viper that was in the yard. We have also found snakes in our garage, and once even in our house (don’t remind me!). There are tarantulas, scorpions, and hordes of army ants that can swarm your home. Most Honduras do not keep any grass in their yards to protect against snakes and other scary creatures. They usually just have packed earth surrounding their homes. You can see in the pictures with the mango tree above, we cleared out all the grass below the tree and created a pathway connecting it to the house for the kids to run back and forth along an area that would be safe.
(Right Photo) We love using our side yard to host outdoor meal gatherings, bonfires, or put a sprinkler out for our daughter to run through. It has a beautiful view of the ocean and we’ve slowly added things like tiki torches, outdoor lighting, and a fire pit to the area to make it an enjoyable place to hang out. While we don’t have any animals, several of our neighbors have had chickens, dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, etc. In this area of the country there is plenty of space to include animals.
My favorite place in the yard is the butterfly garden. It is incredible that these colorful flowers grow like weeds in the hot and humid climate, and that they also attract the most beautiful butterflies all day long. With Don Chilo’s help we created a large patch of the flowers on a little mound of dirt, and planted some flowering trees and bushes alongside them. I never tire of watching the butterflies come and go, and it reenergizes my day after taking a few moments to observe them.
A lot of Honduran life occurs on the porch. During the afternoons many folks are lounging in hammocks outside where it’s a tad cooler and the breeze can reach them easier. It’s a nice hang out spot with the neighbors to drink some Coca-Cola and discuss the day.
We have a narrow porch, but as you can see the view more than makes up for it. We like to eat lunch outside on the porch and also use the area to exercise. On the opposite end we hang our laundry and keep a grill.
One of the only downsides of this outdoor area (besides poisonous snakes) is that it is so rural- the nearest bank is about an hour away, and the supermarket is 90 minutes away. You can’t change your cell phone plan without driving an hour and a half to the nearest Tigo store. We don’t have coffee shops or cafes. However, living in the jungle with all of its beauty more than makes up for it to me. I wouldn’t want to give up our proximity to the Caribbean, or space for my daughter to run and play. I never thought that as a poor missionary God would bless us with a million dollar view and a jungle.