Back in the US of A

I realized today that I had published this in the wrong blog. It was written a month ago, on May 28, before going on retreat. I have been back in Honduras since June 16. 

I've been in Iowa for a little more than eight days.

My Iowa driver’s license was about to expire, on my birthday, June 1. I have a Honduran driver’s license, but I think it might be helpful to have a US license so that I’d have fewer hassles when I get back to the US, especially if I want to drive or rent a car.

So, I decided to take a trip back to Iowa, especially since the prices were the lowest I’ve seen in ages – some as low as $500 for a round trip.

Once I made the decision, I pondered getting the COVID-19 vaccine while in the US. I have no idea when there will be vaccines available generally in Honduras. According to a May 22 online report in Contra Corriente,

"According to data from the Ministry of Health (Sesal), Honduras has vaccinated only 1% of its population. Only 5687 frontline health personnel have been vaccinated with the two doses, and 108,538 people, including health personnel and older adults, have been vaccinated with the first dose."

According to the online Proceso.hn:

The second batch of vaccine doses bought by the IHSS arrived yesterday in Honduras, another 81,600 doses.

There are about 8 million people in Honduras. 

There are promises of vaccines by the government, but they were promising vaccines way back in February. So, I decided to take advantage of my visit to get vaccinated. It is extremely easy to get vaccinated in the US and so I am, in a way, leaving a place open for a dose of vaccine for Hondurans by getting my shots in the US. I managed to arrange an appointment by internet and received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Friday May 21. My second dose is schedule for June 11. 

I am staying with friends who even offered me use of a car – which makes life even easier. From their house I was able to see the gorgeous sunset above as well as this photo of deer in a neighbor's yard.

I’ve been taking it easy for a few days, though I’ve gone out to get somethings I need as well as to visit a few people.

I discovered, trying to make a purchase, that my debit card had expired a year ago – and so I managed to arrange that fairly easily. Another good reason for the visit.

Sunday morning, I served as deacon at two Masses at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, where I had served for almost twenty-years before leaving for Honduras in 2007. It was very different – with all the bio-security measures, but I did see a few friends from the past. The twin daughters of two friends were baptized at the 8:30 am Mass and I was overjoyed to see them and their other three daughters, as well as members of their extended families.

I’m also visiting with a few people, including Fr. Kyle, the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames. St. Thomas is the sister parish of Dulce Nombre de María and has helped us greatly. It was good to share with him some of the stories and photos of what is going on. After the visit I got to the noon Mass and then went to the Department of Transportation office to renew my license – which will be in the mail shortly.

I have also been able to visit or arrange visits with other friends, including with one of the donors for the mural project in the church of Dulce Nombre.

There's also the culinary aspects of this trip. In May you can find two of my favorite foods - rhubarb and asparagus. I got asparagus once in Honduras from a roadside stand near La Esperanza, Intibucá, but rhubarb cannot be found. I ate asparagus three times already and I made a sauce from rhubarb which has graced both yogurt and ice cream. Yum. And today I found a food truck in Ames what has Salvadoran pupusas. Even though it was not on the menu I asked if they had pupusas with cheese and lorroco - and they did. 

I’m also trying to tie up some loose ends of my life.

I have a lot of books stored with friends in Ames and am slowly going through them. I also have a good number of these books that I want to give away and I’m slowly finding ways to do that. I sent a list to a friend to share and I have been able to share more than four boxes of books, sending packages all around the US.

I’m also going through photos and files, throwing out what I really don’t need and trying to find ways of storing the many photos – some from my parents and uncles. But I found a large number of photos that I didn’t realize I had and am going through them. In the course of this, yesterday I came across an interesting document from about 1954 – a notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Health that I was eligible for the second Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine! Now I am eligible for the second Corona-19 vaccine!

I got a chance to visit the new Catholic Worker in Ames, the Romero House. I brought them an image of Romero; it’s the least I can do to support this effort to serve the poor. It is amazing to see this work, initiated by a young Iowa State University graduate. I hope it flourishes. 

I had originally pondered going back to Honduras after the first dose and then coming back for the second, but a friend suggested that I look for a retreat for some of the time. Looking around the internet I found an eight-day Ignatian retreat at the Creighton University Retreat Center in Griswold, Iowa; I head there today, Friday.

But life is full of surprises. Wednesday I got an e-mail telling me that I had to get a PCR COVID test to go on the retreat, if I wasn't fully vaccinated. A quick run to a MercyOne in Des Moines and, by yesterday morning, I had the proof that I was negative.

When I booked my travel, I decided to return to Honduras on June 22, leaving enough time to assure I could get the second dose of the vaccine. But I got a June 11 appointment and so I’ll be returning home earlier. 

I was reluctant to leave and I'm anxious to return. I’m a homebody and travel gets a little harder as you get older. But I’m guessing that this will be a good opportunity to rest, to see some friends, to get somethings done that I’ve put off, and to have a retreat. I hope and pray that I can return renewed and invigorated for the years ahead.