Saturday, March 7

Day 8

Trip home. We left the hotel at 530am and thank goodness we were allowed to check out the night before because checking out that morning would have been brutal. Most of us had our last cup of Honduran coffee at the airport after shopping in the smallest duty free I have ever seen! It was sad we were leaving, but it felt great to get home. After a trip like we had, we all needed a couple days to recuperate. The trip was an amazing experience for all of us. I didn't know it was possible to learn so much and have so much fun in only 1 week. I would recommend this trip to every textile student as I'm sure we all would. Mr. Harazin, Mr. Dillo, and Laura put together one of the best trips I have ever been on. We went to El Salvador and Honduras to learn about doing business in Central America, but we ended up experiencing business first hand.

Friday, March 6

Day 7

Our last day in Honduras and Central America was memorable! We all slept in a little again. Then we toured Puerto Cortes as well as the Maersk facility located in the port. We were pretty lucky because Maersk was able to arrange a fantastic tour of the port. We started at their facility and watched a couple containers being moved around (which is an amazing sight because containers are huge!). Then we toured the actual port from the sea! The director of the port arranged a tugboat to take us around the port. That was pretty great except for the fact that most of us got some interesting farmer's tans! After the tour of the port we split up and half of us went to the market with Joao and half went to the mall with Laura. We went to the mall to get a little retail experience in Honduras. There was only one department store, but it carried everything from clothing to deodorant to craft supplies! For our last night in Honduras we had another dinner at Isabella..and it was just as good as the night before! The hotel is gorgeous! Mr. Harazin and Mr. Dillo gave us all "awards" that night. Sarah Margaret got the loud award because she is pretty quiet most of the time except for this night, Mike got the gooooaal award because he is slightly obsessed with soccer, Ms. Gibson got the most questions asked award because she had the most questions for everyone, and I got the I got a job award because I was pretty excited about hopefully getting an internship in Honduras! Dinner was fun, but we had to get going a little early because our flight left the next morning at 8am!

Thursday, March 5

Day 6

Today was such a great day! We were all able to sleep in a little bit because our first meeting was with VF and didn't start until 1pm. A couple of us got a little bored in the hotel and Nathan suggested we go see the local grocery stores. We ended up going to two, one upscale and one normal. The upscale grocery store didn't have very many Honduran products. The majority of the products were from the US or Europe. It looked like any other grocery store here in the US, but with many more guards. The other grocery store was more what we were expecting. I found the largest carrot I have ever seen! We found out the bag boys in the stores are actually only paid in tips. They don't get a salary but they do get lunch, and many of them go to school for part of the day and bag groceries the rest. When we got back to the hotel we had to get ready for the VF tour. We met with many of the managers at VF and even the man who started the facility! They had a short presentation prepared for us as well as a tour of the Red Kap facility. We found out that in that one facility they manufacture about 1350 lots (a lot is a sku, but doesn't include sizes)! After the tour we went back to the hotel to get ready for the reception Maersk and the NC Ports put on to celebrate the new link between Puerto Cortes and the Port of Wilmington! It was held at a new boutique hotel called Isabella. We met many executives from Maersk's sales department as well as two of their commercial managers. Overall the day and night were pretty amazing!

Wednesday, March 4

Day 5

Day five was suuuper loooong! It started with yet another fabulous breakfast. At 9am we had a meeting in the hotel with FIDE, the Foundation for Investment and Development of Exports. They help promote investment within Honduras. They had a presentation and short movie that was really interesting about the status of the economy, the culture, and the textile industry in Honduras. Then we met with CCIC, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortes specifically with Raul Reina Cleaves and Jouseff Mitri. They promote growth withing San Pedro Sula and the surrounding areas. This meeting was also very informative. One of them had even helped with the negotiations for CAFTA-DR. Next, we had lunch and toured the Hanes bra facility. This tour was extremely organized and efficient most likely because of the amount of tours they do world wide. We met with Roberto Mayr as well as many other managers of the different facilities. By the end of this tour we were all exhausted, but had one more meeting with the Honduran Maquiladora Association. We arrived and met with many of the directors there. They had much more insight into what the textile industry needs to do in order to survive in the Americas. We had a small reception with them and I think I might have a internship for the summer! By the time we arrived back at the hotel we were all exhausted! We had dinner and went to bed and got ready for Day 6.

Tuesday, March 3

Day 4

We woke up very very early to start our day! We left for the Copan Ruins at 7 am. The trip was supposed to take 3 and a half hours and we would get there at 11am or so. However, we didn't end up getting there until 3pm. The route we were supposed to take was too dangerous, so we took the bouncier route and went 20 mph the whole way! It really wasn't as bad as it sounds. We ended up eating lunch at a really cute little inn near the ruins. By the time we finished lunch it was 4pm and we thought the ruins closed at 5pm, so we rushed over. When we arrived the parking lot was empty and apparently the ruins close at 4 and it was 430! Laura and Joao sweet talked our way in and we were allowed to see the ruins for 30 minutes! They were amazing. We all want to come back and see the ruins again because you could spend at least 2 days looking at everything. We left for San Pedro Sula around 6pm and arrived at the hotel by 10pm. It had been such a long day and we were all exhausted! We had a small dinner and crashed!

Monday, March 2

Day 3

The started with another great breakfast. Then we all loaded the bus for a full day of business meetings & tours. Our first meeting was with Mike McGee & Alexander Gazis of the US Commercial Service. They lead a very informative discussion on the economic status of El Salvador. Soon after, Carmen Aida Munoz of the American Chamber of Commerce presented us with a presentation of the culture, economy, exports, and the state of the textile industry. Then we were off to tour Asheboro Elastics. Jeff Crisco lead us on a tour through their production, packaging, and shipping facilities, which was then followed by a great lunch at a local restaurant. Our last stop for the day was at the Gene Barbee facility. This facility manufactured high end outerwear. It was interesting to see the difference between the two facilities. Even though they were in the same industrial park, the layout of the facilities were completely different. Overall, it was a very informative and fun day!!

March 1 2009

Day 2

Breakfast at the Hilton Princess in San Salvador is fabulous!! Fresh fruit, tamales, cold oatmeal (actually very good) and so much more. Today started kind of early..we left at 9 am. Our bus driver, Daniel, got a little bit lost on our way to visit an artisan market, but we made it eventually! The market consisted of small shops and convenience stores and a cow tied to a tree in the middle of town! The architechture was amazing and had a Mediterranean influence. The church was gorgeous and actually wood inside. One small store gave us a tour of their workshop. All the pottery is handmade right underneath the store. Then we took the bus to Suchitoto which is a colonial town built next to a lake. We had lunch right when we got there at Pasada Suchitlan (The Inn at Suchitlan). The views of the lake from the restaurant were amazing. A small band was serenading us throughout lunch. After lunch we took pictures of the inn's grounds and a picture with Jesus, the armed guard. ´The bus ride back was much quieter than the bus ride there. I think we're going to have dinner in a little bit at a local restaurant instead of in the hotel. Can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!