mail from afar

Mail is not a simple process here in Honduras. No one really has an address (at least where I live) and there are only 2 places in the city where you can receive mail. I’m pretty certain you can only send packages or letters from 1 of those 2. The 1^st place is downtown in the center of the city. Only having been there once, it was a complicated process to find where you could retrieve your package.

The other place to pick up packages is the airport. And of course, it is neither a simple nor expedited process. But, last week at work I received a package slip that meant a box was waiting for me at the airport! (Another unsolved mystery is how these package slips arrive to your office). Of course, the package place is not open on the weekends (when one might be at the airport, say, dropping off their visiting friend…), so I bummed a ride from a friend who went to the airport on Wednesday.

First, you present your slip. Then they try and find your box in a crazy disarray of cardboarded-mayhem and postage paraphernalia. Then you must present ID to confirm you are the person on the slip. From the experience of my friend Allison, you can only pick up another person’s package with a hand-written  note of permission, signed in blood, completed with a DNA sample. (Just kidding about that last part. You don’t need a DNA sample). Then, they look up your name and package number in a hand-written notebook, of which there are several. I have no idea what kind of official process this is, but I don’t ask. Then you must sign your name in the notebook. Then sign another slip saying I received the package.

After all of this, you still must pay for your package (yeah, you’d think the postage should take care of that!)…so you must also sign the receipt and wait while the desk clerk runs around and asks every employee if they have change for you 100 lempira bill. I mean, people are paying for packages all day, but why would they have change? Silly me, no one in Honduras ever does!

But then…if you make it through all these hoops—you got to the airport (for free!), you had your ID (with DNA sample), you paid for the package (again!) and you signed your life away to the national post office—you are rewarded with the holy grail. The most coveted item as a foreigner living away from home. You have in your possession an 18 pound box of nothing but sugar, sugar and more sugar…and it is GOOD J

This delightful surprise was courtesy of my favorite youth group @ the Dillsburg Brethren in Christ Church, and it totally made my day! I can’t thank you enough for the love (and chocolate) that filled my box! It was so awesome. I mean, sending 3 cans of iced tea mix (more than one can humanly drink in a year, let alone 4 months) was a bit over the top—but I love it anyway!

Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated. I miss you guys so much! Thanks for reminding me that I am loved and thought of, even though we may be far apart .

the loot!

very excited!

you guys rock! 

[And next time, tell Jeff that the money he spent to send the 14 pounds of ice tea mix and 4 pounds of chocolate probably would have bought enough for the whole neighborhood ;) ]