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Talanga, Honduras

Safety

Safety in Talanga, Honduras
What do other Racers need to know in order to be safe? Current safety protocols/precautions in place? Any relevant issues/concerns? Any precautionary suggestions?

People’s Opinions

  1. Don’t walk around at night. Leaving the compound during the day is fine in groups of 3 or more, preferably with a male present. Don’t use public transportation. Gracie has her own people that can take you wherever.
  2. We didn’t go to the city of Talanga that much, but some of the logistics and finance people went there to get wifi. The city is relatively unsafe, we think, so I would go in groups of 3 or more. On the street where Heart of Christ is located, we walked to the pulperria and to the chicken restaurant in groups of 3 or more. It felt relatively safe, but there is a LOT of cat calling by local men. We also weren’t allowed to leave the compound after dark.
  3. Talanga is relatively unsafe. We were never allowed to be out after dark and we always had to walk in groups of three or more, preferably with a guy present. We were allowed to make trips into Talanga during the day and we could get Tuk-Tuks back to the ranch for around 40-60 lemp.
  4. Our contact instructed us that Talanga is somewhat dangerous– we were instructed to walk in groups of 4+ girls or in pairs if there is a guy present.

Ministry Summary

Ministry Summary in Talanga, Honduras
Breakthroughs? Suggestions? Concerns? On a scale of 1-4 (1 being not at all, 4 being absolutely) how strongly would you recommend another World Race team go to this ministry location & why?

People’s Opinions

  1. We also were at Heart of Christ at Christmas. We packaged and delivered thousands of Christmas gifts to the surrounding cities with Gracie. We also had a rotation of other duties since there were 3 teams at the ministry. One group did chores around the house, such as washing dishes and tending the fire. Another group worked with the children in their classes. The last group worked on construction as the ministry was building their children’s home when we were there!I would give the ministry a 4. We loved being there and it was such a great month. Gracie and Papi Lee poured into us so well, and it was such a homey place to be for Christmas! We did find that there wasn’t enough ministry work for all 3 teams, so maybe less people there would be better!
  2. We stayed at AMOR with team Overflow. It was really great. I would say on a scale of 1-4, I would give this ministry a 3. We didn’t have much to do, ministry-wise, which is why I docked it a point. Our days consisted of waking up around 6:30, devotion at 7-7:30, ministry starts at 8-9 and goes to about 11:30 (maybe), then we have the rest of the day to ourselves. It was very relaxed, which was kind of nice. Our teams took weekly turns going out for ministry. Ministry at the ranch looked like doing a lot of storage sorting and construction work. We started to help dig the foundation for a carport and we also built a drainage alley. There was also inventory to do in the pharmacy. Outside of the ranch, we either went to the school to teach English and Math and we went to help at the local free clinic doing triage. Ministry time was fairly short and we had a LOT of free time. Vickie and Keith and their family was awesome though, as well as Pastor Ever and his wife Gladis. I felt like ministry this month was more focused on our hosts and the pastor and his wife, which was fine, but I would have liked to build more relationships with the community. Also, prepare to be at church 3-4 times a week and take this opportunity to give your testimony and a sermon. Pastor Ever is more than happy to let you speak.
  3. With Heart of Christ, we were there during Christmas time. So we helped prepare and deliver around 4000 Christmas gifts. When we weren’t doing that, we were helping out with the children that lived at the ministry. We would help them with school, or help take care of the babies – really whatever Gracie asked us to do. Other teams in the past seemed to help more with manual labor and construction around the ministry – however, our team didn’t do any of that.
  4. Ministry with AMOR (Aaron’s Mission Outreach):-Most of our ministry consisted of doing construction work around the Dakin’s ranch. We helped build a fence to keep the ranch safer for them and for future Racers.-We got a chance to work at a local free health clinic, organizing paperwork, restocking the pharmacy, and assisting the patients and the doctor in general.-We went up to some schools and fed children.-We went to an orphanage/safe house one day, which was my favorite day of the month.
  5. 4! More World Racers should definitely go back there! The Dakin’s have such a great heart for the Lord and the work that he has called them to do. They opened their home up to us and treated us like sons and daughters.

Lodging

Lodging in Talanga, Honduras
Where did you stay? What were the accommodations (sleeping arrangements, toilets, showers, etc.)? Cost (per person per night in USD), Contact info.

People’s Opinions

  1. At Heart of Christ, we stayed on the compound. Everyone had a bunk bed, and the leaders had their own “apartment” with a living room (with electricity). The normal rooms did not have electricity. There was also no running water, so we used water that was collected whenever it rained. This water was used for all hygiene purposes, bucket showers, flushing the toilets, and washing the dishes. Make sure to conserve the water and take showers every other day! (:
  2. We stayed at AMOR. There is a missionary apartment that has three bedrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. There are bunk beds in all of the rooms, as well as toilets and hot showers. There is also space on the porch to hang your hammocks if you want to sleep outside (it’s an enclosed porch so don’t worry about bugs).
  3. We stayed at Heart of Christ, and there we had the second floor of a building to ourselves. There was one living room (the only room with electricity), 4 bedrooms (each with 2 sets of bunkbeds), two shower rooms (bucket showers) and 3 bathroom stalls (where you have to get a bucket of water to flush the toilets). There is no wifi at the ministry, or anywhere in town. But there was an internet cafe in Talanga where you could use their computers to check email or facebook.
  4. The Dakins’ ranch has 3 rooms with 15 beds. It has Western bathrooms with warm water. There is also space in the front porch to hang up your hammock (most of our squad did this; it was a hammock jungle!), and since it’s a ranch there is also a lot of space to put up tents. There is a large kitchen and eating area. Our whole squad was here and we had enough space (at least most of the time!).
  5. We stayed with the Dankin Family. They were great hosts who make you feel right at home! Beautiful yard and beautiful views! Huge kitchen, tons of space to play soccer or kickball, warm showers, no WiFi.

Food / Meals

Food / Meals in Talanga, Honduras
What did you eat? Where did you get the food? Cost (per person per day in USD)? Contact info (if applicable).

People’s Opinions

  1. At Heart of Christ, we were provided all of our meals. We ate a lot of beans and tortillas, but the cook made spaghetti for us every week too! We also had a full Honduran Christmas meal with tamales and a full American Christmas meal with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole! There’s also a pulperria across the street that has ALL the snacks, and a yellow building down the street that sells good fried chicken and empanadas!
  2. We stayed at Heart of Christ and were provided all of our meals. It was all good food, but we loved going out into Talanga to try food, coffee, and wifi. Our favorites were Taviani and Food and Fun. The Nutella and fruit crepes and coffee were a favorite at Taviani. You’ve gotta try the strawberry smoothies at Food and Fun.
  3. So, the first Tuesday there Vickie and Keith (AMOR) gave us transportation to the local Price Mart in Tegu. We made mostly our own meals. When we needed to stock up, we would just go into Talanga to the Dispensa Famalia (a local grocery store) and take tuk tuks back to the ranch. Our teams made meal schedules which helped us to stay organized, on track, and getting food prepared on time. It was around $5 ppd, but we also had money left over at the end of the month. We ate food like spaghetti, tacos, breakfast for dinner, sandwiches, tuna, chicken . . . for easter our hosts made a turkey dinner that we all sat down and ate.
  4. Gracie is used to hosting teams, so she has a set menu that she has the cooks rotate through each week. The cooks would prepare and serve three meals a day for us. Breakfast was always cornflake and milk with some bread. Lunch and dinner would typically be pretty Central American. But we had hot dogs once a week, and spaghetti on some special occasions (graduations and such.)
  5. We ate mostly “normal” food. We had a huge kitchen in the Dakin’s home we used. Breakfast was cereal and fruit, lunch was served at each teams ministry sight, and for dinner each night a different team was in charge of preparing the meal for the whole squad.At the beginning of the month we made a big run to price mart, which was about an hour and half away and bought as much as we could in bulk that wouldn’t go bad. We had meals planned out all the way through the month. There is a a grocery store in town that was about a 10 minute drive. We spent $4 per person per day

Transportation

Transportation in Talanga, Honduras
What transportation did you use to enter the country? Where were you coming from? What transportation was used to move throughout the country? Be sure to include the cost per person in USD and contact info if applicable.

People’s Opinions

  1. We came into Honduras from Nicaragua. We used a school bus service that was recommended by Vision Nicaragua. The bus broke down, and we had a lot of trouble at the Nicaraguan border. Use Tica bus or another reputable bus line and save your squad a lot of trouble. (Greko Tours or Hedman Alas)
  2. Gracie provided all of our transportation for ministry in her truck and for off days in the bus to Valley of the Angels and the mall in Teguc. She’s a pro at hosting Race teams, so she will give a spreadsheet of all the financial information to the finance people on your first day there.
  3. Working with Heart of Christ Ministry in La Ermita, Gracie plans most of the transportation for your adventure days (the mall in Tegu and Valley of Angels). For your off days, to travel into Talanga, the family next door works a reliable taxi service that you can take for 60L.
  4. We rode a large charter bus from Costa Rica to Honduras. For local transportation we used tuk tuks and our hosts provided transportation as well. Tuk tuks cost anywhere between 40-60 lemp and I believe a trip into Tegu was $150 US for both of our teams.
  5. We were coming from Guatemala and used a bus to travel.

    As far as transport in country when we were doing ministry the Dakin’s would drive us where we needed to go. On our off days when we went to the mall logistics organized a bus for us to go on and we paid for that individually. For everything else we mostly walked into town and you could always take a little cab back to the house.

Medical

Medical in Talanga, Honduras
Information on local hospitals / doctors / pharmacies. Where would someone go in a medical emergency? (addresses and contact info).

People’s Opinions

  1. If you are sick definitely go to Centro Medico Diagnostico MGTelephone Number: 2775-8290The doctors take really good care of you. If i understood everything correctly the couple who owns the clinic spent 18ish years in the U.S. studying and practicing medicine. The clinic is very clean and looked pretty updated.

Communication

Communication in Talanga, Honduras
Did you have cell reception / Internet service? Where? Carrier / Provider, where did you get phones / SIM cards, cost? Country code?

People’s Opinions

  1. You can get Claro and Tigo minutes in town. As for internet, there may or may not be internet available at AMOR, and it isn’t very good. Also, it’s got very little bandwidth, and even splitting it up to just allowing two people per day on it used up all of the data and once that happens the internet goes out for 1-2 weeks. So instead, it is better to visit the internet cafe in Talanga. You can bring your wireless device and connect to the wifi there or they have desktops you can use. It is 20-30 lemp/hour and the internet is pretty decent. We went once a week to get internet at the cafe.
  2. There is a small store in town that you can buy minutes for your cell-phones (both Claro and Tigo). It is run by a gentleman named Alexis and his family. Alexis speaks english pretty well and is very kind.The store is located about 1-2 blocks or so north of La Dispensa and the east side of the street (the opposite side of La Dispensa). Like most stores in Central America, they have a “Claro” sign outside of their shop.
    Talanga
  3. There is an internet cafe with 2-4 computers and WiFi for 20 Lempiras per hour.

Financial

Financial in Talanga, Honduras
Location of banks or ATMs, notes about transaction fees, best places to exchange money, and other money related advice.

People’s Opinions

  1. There is a bank and ATM in Talanga, just ask Vickie/Keith/Ever/Gladis/Josjue/Maggie and they’ll be able to point you to it. They have the standard transaction fees (maybe $3 US) however if you have Schwab, you get reimbursed of those.

Translators

Translators in Talanga, Honduras
List any local translators – name and contact information, languages spoken

People’s Opinions

  1. AMOR has a live-in translator named Josjue (ho-sway) and Keith and Vickie’s daughters, as well as Ever and Gladis (the pastor and his wife), translated for us while we were there too.

Off Days / Fun Activities

Off Days / Fun Activities in Talanga, Honduras
What activities did your team experience? Recommendations? List locations/contact info. Any locations to be avoided? Any extra safety tips for off days?

People’s Opinions

  1. At Heart of Christ, Gracie plans for the teams to visit Cascadas Mall in Tegu and Valley of the Angels. Both are fun places to shop and get wifi and good food!
  2. Our first Tuesday (our off day at AMOR) we went to one of the malls in Tegu. The rest of the off days just consisted of going into Talanga to the wifi cafe or hanging out at the ranch. It is highly suggested that if you go into Tegu, you do not take the public transportation. The bus takes you into the most dangerous part of Tegu and a kid was killed a few months ago just for his iphone, not to mention taxis have been known to kidnap foreigners. The only way you should ever go into Tegu is if you Vickie or Keith can provide private transportation.
  3. Every Saturday we had the opportunity to visit a different mall. Most of us went for the wifi and to see a movie.

Other Important Contacts

Other Important Contacts in Talanga, Honduras
Additional ministry opportunities, local pastors, etc. Relationship & follow up suggestions

People’s Opinions

  1. Gracie Murphree with Heart of Christ is an amazing woman of God with tons of spunk! Such a wonderful and loveable family too! Our ministry involved taking care of the kids at the house, going into the villages to conduct a survey and pray for families, and construction.

Tips

People’s Opinions

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Additional Info

Additional Info in Talanga, Honduras
Anything we’ve left out? Any additional suggestions to make travel easier for others?

People’s Opinions

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