Travelling Home

Hi pictures of Thomas with two army colonels at Puerto Lempira airport and the Rainbow hotel in La Ceiba.

Have a 7 hour layover in San Pedro Sula so staying in a little hotel with pool and internet.

Home soon

Travel to the Miskito people June 2010

Itinerary
• Sunday June 6, 2010 10.pm arrive La Ceiba 10pm
o Stayed at Rainbow Lodge – wonderful little place, swimming pool was really a hot tub without bubbles.
• Monday June 7, 2010 4.00am plane to Puerto Lempira
o Stayed at Pinaris hotel – travelled to Tumtumtara by canoe.
• Tuesday June 8, 2010
o Caught a plane to Raya airstrip, then a canoe to Karis Watla.
• Wednesday June 9, 2010
o Left dock very early for village meetings Kalhpua and Tikarui, ten hours in a canoe, on the Rio Kruta River.
• Thursday June 10, 2010 7.00am we take flight to La Ceiba
o Stayed at Rainbow Village – wonderful place after Puerto Lempira (two bedrooms and
o kitchen lounge)
Why are we here
The Miskito people are an Indigenous people living in Honduras on the Mosquito coast next to Nicaragua. The people are very poor and are very worried about being able to feed their family, to drink clean water, to educate their children. All the houses are on stilts as in the rainy season the water under their houses will be often 3 feet in depth. This means that life is very hard for these people. Travel to the local town Puerto Lempira (very small) could take a week, to deliver vegetables that might bring them a few dollars.


My dad was there to make sure that the Miskito people had made a plan so that they could have a better life, that they could start their farms, help with education, clean water and communication and travel. During the rainy season they need a boat, so that they can travel and rescue stranded villagers and take them to a higher point in the surrounding land. At this point they would also have stored clean water (in tanks collected from the roof) and a stock of food.


I travelled with my dad in canoes with an outboard motor often for 6 to 10 hours a day to meet the people. One day the village was so far away it took ten hours, there and back. The other day we had to fly on a 6 seater plane, we landed on Raya grass airstrip, narrowly missing the cows.


This is a very difficult area as there is a lot of narcotic trade. At one time we saw a house guarded by two people with M16 and a very large machine gun. Luckily the people know we are working with the Miskito people and are not a threat.


At the four villages we met with 38 chiefs, in schools and churches. The meetings were very successful and the plans that the villagers put forward were great.
My job was to take audio and video of all the meeting. I think it was a very fun trip I got to go to two new villages and meet my friend Raimundo who is a chief of one of the villages. I also go to ride on the scariest 6 seater airplane, my name for it was kangroo airline. The pilot was very bad. First in midflight we heard a ringing it was the pilot’s phone. He picked it up and started to talk. Then at the end when we landed I thought I was going to die, the pilot went nose down to the dirt air strip when he got there he went back up. Finally he nearly got us arrested. When he landed the armed soldiers told him to stop, of course he kept going. I even saw then take off their safety catches on their guns. This trip has been amazing for all the crazy things we did.


Fun facts

• 22 hours in a canoe
• We took 10 planes
• Army Colonels we met 2
• Dirt runaways we landed on 4
• Hours we had to wait to get dinner 4
• Nights without power 3
• Chiefs we met 38
• Villages we went to 5
• Temperature around 100
• Bug bites – dozens – but we are taking ant malaria tablets
• Safety challenges – several – maybe
pool temp 90+

Thanks to Lana from the Karas Watla chief Raimundo – most children do not have any shoes, so this gift was important.
Thank you everyone,

Thomas