After living in an ambulance for a solid month the team recognized the vehicle in numerous news reports – working flat out in ferrying burnt and injured prisoners to Escuela hospital.  Sometimes, when Go Help has donated an ambulance to a hospital or clinic, getting news of it and updates is sometimes difficult, especially when a lot of our ambulance placements are in remote locations.  Everyone who is involved in donating an ambulance – whether a team, sponsoring company or the volunteers at Go Help,  personally invests in it and believes that it will be used to save lives. The two ambulances donated last year to Honduras are monitored locally and we have reports that they are used everyday.  It still comes as a shock to see one of them in the headline news in the frenzy of a horrific large scale medical emergency.

An event like this cannot show any clearer, and more shockingly, what this donated working ambulance means for the health of the local community and the city of Comayagua.  This is the only ambulance in a large city and it’s the only ambulance they have to use every day.   We also send our thoughts and wishes of support to the medical staff, many of whom we were honored to meet in the summer and that are trying to deal with an event that none of us would ever hope to witness or be a part of.

So, without looking at our blog your just going to have to imagine some of the wonderful crazy adventures we had on this wild trip down to Honduras and Guatemala, I won’t go into the volcano climbing, jungle river canoeing, night time mountain driving or stories about the amazing people we met…

We put a heck of a lot of planning into the endeavor and we threw our trust in with a load of strangers who had all promised to undertake the journey and complete a mission of delivering two working ambulances to a hospital and clinic in Honduras.  None of us had done this trip before and none of us knew what to expect.

What I can say, is that the handover was an eye opening and humbling experience.  It made everything we did completely worth while. I’ve dropped in here a couple of photos from the speeches and handovers.   We’re going to be kept up to date as time goes by to see that the ambulances keep working industrially to save the lives that they were built for.  Finally, as well as thanks to the volunteer team and Growers First, a massive thanks must go to AMR who, without whom – there would be no ambulances to donate.

The hospital in Comayagua, Honduras serves a city of over 80,000 PLUS a larger surrounding area. This ambulance is the ONLY ambulance in service at that hospital.  We got a tour of the hospital…

The second ambulance donated went to a hospital in Siguatepeque, Honduras, and is working as the only transport they have for a women’s clinic, helping the women who are having critical need deliveries. After cleaning up the ambulance we had tour of the clinic…

I am proud to know that the work involved by so many people is clearly going to a great purpose. I cannot express enough appreciation to the 2011 teams and everyone else involved for their help, generosity and support. You have touched countless lives.

We are preparing now for another trek down with donations to Central America. Be a part of this! Message us to get more information on how to join the 2012 adventure.

Murray.

After arriving at the Honduran border too late to cross, we headed west to Rio Dulce to stay in the most amazing eco hostel.

We woke up early to explore the jungle waters in rickety boats. We are now off to Honduras and hopeful to have an uneventful crossing. Not likely...

We rushed (relatively speaking) to arrive at the border early, only to be informed the bridge to Honduras had washed out. Another delay became another adventure as we talked to the locals and made the most of the time waiting. Hours later a temporary path around the bridge was complete.

As we waited for the temporary bridge to open, we cooked massive amounts of Ramen Noodles with Ragu sauce. We then served it to anyone and everyone who would eat our concoction. It seemed to buy good will as when the route was opened they allowed us to pass in front of the hundreds of people and be the first to cross

Oda looking at the local handcrafts in Xela, Guatemala.

Mudslides and tropical storms in Guatemala add the challenge to our adventure.

Mudslides closed off our route. Time to find a new one.

NOW we look like a rally car!

Rainy day in Antigua, Guatemala does not keep us from making the most of the city. And no one can lead a dance party as well as Stuart.

A pick-up game with the local kids and our new friends at the base of a live volcano just before hiking up

Hiking across the active volcano Pacaya. Adventures abound.

Ryan and Oda evaluating the power steering repairs. 8AM repairs became 3PM and finally ended up being 5PM so we enjoyed one more night with our new friends in Antigua.

An early departure was delayed after more engine problems, but a quick repair and we were on the road to Honduras. Along the way we replaced mudslides with landslides.

Happy Team Chupacabra exploring Morelia, Mexico.

Team visiting Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Delicious food in Tehuantepec, Mexico.

Meeting with Rolando of Grower's First in Tehuantepec, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta stop just before finding out about the incoming hurricane.

Nothing quite like a pre-hurricane sunset!

Hurricane preparations

Hurricane party

Some don't do well driving through the tail end of a hurricane.

Well-deserved break for Team Chupacabra in Cholla Bay, Puerto Penasco, Meixco

Lunch break at a Mexican roadside restaurant

Crossing the Tropic of Cancer

So here we are a day before launch, the test team are arriving in San Diego, ambulances are prepared, paperwork is all ready and we are waiting to hit the road! The official launch of the Mesoamerica test-rally will be tomorrow, with pictures and hopefully video to follow. Stay tuned to follow all our adventures delivering two ambulances to a fantastic cause – and remember that we plan to open in 2012 for a full rally so you all can take part!

One ambulance goes with us down to Honduras, the other resides in Murray’s driveway until October when the other team takes it down.

We piled our stuff into the back of our ambulance, and after a brief stop at bottle shop, headed down to La Mesa to pick up the stickers (for the sides of the ambulance; as pictured in the header and footer of this website) and get some grub.  From there we made a stop at the hospital so Murray could say hello-goodbye to Danielle.  While he was visiting, we packed stuff away in the endless compartments.

Before:

After:

Serious storage.

Once we departed La Mesa we set out for Arizona.  There was a brief stop at a service station for diesel (and beer for Will and I in the back).  Afterwards Will strapped himself down to the bench (pictured), while I curled up in the bean-bag.  We expected to be woken up crossing into Arizona by border-patrol, but apparently they’d all gone home for the evening, so the both of us slept solidly through until we arrived at Murray’s farm in Buckeye at 2am.

Another busy day today, with lots more prep work to do before we cross the border into Mexico and drive to Puerto Penasco.