Departure- Goodbye Los Angeles

I can’t believe this day has finally come. With my bouncy nature and all the past traveling experiences, I would have been all excited and anticipated at the departure gate at Los Angeles Airport, yet I burst in unstoppable tears. This time is different. A person stumbled upon my life months ago. For the first time, I was enlightened as to what love is, and for the very first time, I did not feel the urge for more personal space. Every single day of the past two weeks, aside from the time when he went for classes, we were barely apart from each other. We woke up, ate, hung out with friends, studied together, and hugged each other to sleep.  But as soon as this romance sprouted, I put it to test.  I gotta to what I gotta to. Nothing and no one can hold me back. It is not because I don’t love anyone enough to tie my feet down, but rather because I know more than anyone that in order for people to love me, I need to love myself, and In order for people to trust me, I have to fulfill my own promises. Completing this journey is one of my bucket-list projects, and here comes this perfect timing.

He was afraid because so much unexpected can occur in 5 months. Then I offered a condition. If we decide to not let go of this relationship, we will need to abide to rules. #1, unfriend each other on Facebook and all other social media, #2, we can only email each other once every Friday, #3, Skype once a month only. I told myself firmly if this guy declined the offer, I would break up with him now because I know the destruction of technology. I’d rather have my heart broken now than later. 99% of the long distance relationship fail because there is no rule and regulation on communication. We just have to accept the fact that we can’t treat the relationship the same way as if we were physically close. It is impossible to know every trivial detail of his everyday happening. Especially when I am going for a new adventure every day, I can’t have him worry about my safety every minute and lose focus at school. The world around us is so beautiful that we also shouldn’t be spending most of our time staring at the screen and waiting for some unanimated sentences to pop up. Excessive skyping would soon and inevitably turn into a chore in the midst of school work or in my case, venturing out. He agreed understandingly. I have faith that absence makes our heart fonder not wander.

We kissed each other goodbye at the airport and I set off for this world’s deadliest country, Honduras.  In terms of homicide rate, Honduras is doubtlessly second to none given that it ranked top of the list consecutively in the UN report in 2011 and 2014. Most research is in favor for the perilous and gang-oriented side of Honduras. It seems to be a territory where law and justice are not implanted as part of the culture. Police bend over backwards for gang leaders; people don’t need a reason to hurt you, and don’t worry about being sneakily pickpocketed, they prefer pointing a gun at your head and have you offer them as tribute. However, these hearsays don’t affect my determination. Danger lurks everywhere whether in Honduras or back in the States. True that the social politics account for higher possibility of a 20-year-old female foreigner being raped or robbed, but if I allowed the statistics to frighten me, I would be deprived from exploring the other side of the world. There are so much beautiful things about Honduras that I believe are neglected. This trip, I would like to immerse in culture, pursue and share them.

The flight from Los Angeles to San Pedro Sula is 7.5 hours. But with this cheap ticket for $311, I have a 19-hour layover in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I don’t complain, it is cheap and I have time to adjust my emotions, do more research on the country and write. It 5am here in Florida, I might as well go out for some fresh air until my connecting flight at 11pm.*Tip: Ticket for the capital, Tegucigalpa costs about $200 extra compared to that for San Pedro Sula. The domestic transportation from San Pedro Sula to Tegucigalpa cost way way way less than that!

¡Honduras Hasta pronto!