SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS.

San Pedro Sula really isn't very large.  We thought you might be interested in seeing where some of the major places we frequent are located.

Bus terminal

This picture is looking due north towards Merendon and Villanueva.  The bus terminal is the main hub of action for this city.  Literally hundreds of buses come and go from there every day.  It is the mail delivery system of this country. We put letters and packages on the buses and the missionaries pick them up at the local bus stop in their cities.
    The Catholic cathedral pictured here is the second largest one in the city.  Directly in front of it is what is called the statue of the mother.  It creates a roundabout for traffic.  Junior's grocery store is probably the second best grocery store in town.  We shop here occasionally.  The pyramid looking building is Banco Occidental.  Wayne does quite a bit of business there.  Directly behind it is the Intercontinental Hotel and a little mall.  The City Mall is beautiful.  It has just about every American brand name I can think of: Cinnabuns, Victoria Secret, Jareds, Florsheim Shoes, and just about every fast food place you can name, etc.  And then there is our office.  It is actually a Ford dealership.  Our office is on the third floor.  The San Pedro Sula East Mission office shares a reception area with our mission office.

Main Catholic Cathedral at city center

This picture is looking due west.  This picture shows the absolute dead center of town.  The Catholic Cathedral shown here is very large - a full city block.  This pictures shows it from the back.  Spanish culture always places the cathedral at the very center of town. Just to the right of the cathedral is the town plaza.  At one time it was probably a very beautiful place, but it is not kept up very well.  The Boulevard Morazán is what we would call Center Street in Utah. It is a very congested two lane road that runs east and west through the city. Both to the north and the south of this central boulevard the streets begin to number up from one.  Often banks are the largest buildings in town as is shown by the size of the main Banco Atlántida office building.  Every transaction involving money must be done inside of a bank.  Often - very often - the waiting line to enter a bank will be a hundred or more people.  We spend a lot of time waiting in bank lines.

This picture is looking south towards Fesitranh. The main road on the left is the road towards the bus terminal.  The other main road to the right is the Circunvalacion. (The belt way road that goes around San Pedro sula like a ring).  Our office is just barely outside of this picture to the left.  The white tower in the background is the Panarama tower where President and Sister Dester live.  Our house is in the trees just to the right of President Dester's tower.  It takes us about 15 minutes to drive to work.  It is about 6 miles - but only about two as the crow flies. 
    This is the city where we have lived and worked now for nearly a year and a half.  We have come to know its meandering streets quite well.  We know the areas to avoid and the areas that are relatively safer.  In just a couple of hours yesterday we drove nearly every single road shown in the pictures above to go to the post office, drop off some name tags, carry some papers to the Benque Stake Center where a zone leaders council was being held, pick up some office supplies, drop off a package at the bus terminal and more.  However, we spend the majority of our time right here in good old Bosque Real - our home away from home.  Our house is the one you see just to the left of the club house.  It is a wonderful place to live.  We need to take advantage of the pool more than we do, but by the time we get home from the office and cook some dinner we are usually too tired to swim.  Oh well, such is our life and our city - San Pedro Sula.