OK, I promised Iwould get my act together and report on Honduras so here it is. It was wonderful in every way.
When we left the mainland for Roatan, we took a ferry. I love riding on boats when I have no responsibility for them. Mike and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride - it was a beautiful day, but I can't say the same for the rest of the passengers. We noticed the staff was handing our Dramamine at the time of ticket purchase, and as soon as the boat left the dock they started handing out barf bags. (I took one thinking it was just a handy plastic bag. Mike said "Are you planning to be sick? I had no idea what he was talking about, at least for a few minutes.) It was a very calm ride, actually - very smooth. But all of a sudden people started getting sick right and left. I felt sorry for them (I have been really seasick and it is no fun at all), but at the same time it was funny. I think I felt sorrier for the staff. Interestingly, the ride back was actually much rougher, and there was no Dramamine, no barf bags, and no one got sick. The cab driver who took us to the dock told me that the ride to Roatan had everyone sick but the ride back did not. He always flew there but took the ferry back for that reason. Neither Mike nor I could figure out why. Interesting phenomena.
After we left Roatan, we spent three days at an eco-lodge in the La Ceiba area. We had to take a dirt road for about 30 minutes, and ended up in the middle of the jungle. We slept in a cabin that was screened in on three sides, and it was built on a hill giving the impression that you are sleeping in a tree house. Everything in the room - the bed, desk, chairs - were made by hand by the owner of the place. Mike described it as "rustic but refined." There were ceiling fans but no AC, and that worked out just fine. We were very comfortable. It rained at night, with thunder and lightning. It was wonderfully cozy to lie there and listen to it - like you are right in it but not getting wet. At other times there was thunder and lightning, but no rain. We sat in our room just listening with nothing but candle light. The jungle all around us seemed to be totally alive in every possible way. There were screeching insects all night long, and at daybreak the birds began to come out. We saw so many incredible birds with beautiful colorful plumage. I also saw an agouti - which looks like an extremely large mouse. They are sort of cute with mousy faces and nice golden brown fur with furry tails. I have been told I was lucky to get to see one as they are very shy. They are about the size of a raccoon. (Raccoon is Mapache in Spanish).
We went on several adventures while we were there. First, we went white water rafting. I have never done anything like that before. The rapids went from Class one to Class four. I am not sure what that all means, but some of the rapids we went over were scary as hell. There were huge boulders with a narrow line of water running between them, and you had to negotiate this really small looking channel. I was so scared at first that I thought I was going to throw up. But after we went down the first two drops, I found out what it felt like, and wasn't scared any more. The rest of the trip was just plain fun and thrilling as can be imagined. It was just me, Mike, and a guide in the raft, with another guide riding shotgun in a kayak. Because the water level was not appropriate for the usual trip, we also went what they called "Bouldering" which entailed climbing up the boulders along the river (named Rio Cangrejo, which means river of crabs. We did not see any crabs). It was hard because I have short legs and the boulders were literally huge. We then jumped from these high boulders into the river. We learned about swimming with and against currents, and how to use the current to your advantage. I have spent a good portion of my life engaged in water-related activities, but this was by far one of the most dramatic things I have ever done. I had such a great time! One of our guides was Irish and the other was a New Zealander. (He was not real happy when I mistook him for an Aussie. I did apologise.) The owner of the place, by the way, was a German.
The next day we went on a trail ride - on horseback! Now this was a big deal. I love to ride but I have never been able to get Mike to do it We did go once in Ensenada, with my sister and her kids when they came to visit us. But it was one of those kind of sad arrangements one so often sees in Mexico, with beat down looking horses and gear that doesn't really work very well. Here, the horses were very well cared for, and the tack was in great shape. Mike is (I can now say was) afraid of horses anyway. But he agreed to do this because he knew how much I wanted to do it. And what a raging success it was! Mike had a horse named Nugget. He was well trained, had a smooth gait, and completely changed Mike's feelings about horses. He discovered how much fun it is to ride on a trail instead of hiking - you can look around more because you don't have to spend so much time looking at your feet to make sure you don't trip over something. That is the horse's job. We rode on jungle paths, fording the river a couple of times. We stopped at a swimming hole, had lunch, and swam in the river yet again. While playing around in the water, I noticed that if you stood really still, these little tiny fish came up and nibbled at my legs. It did not hurt at all - it just felt like something touching you gently, like a feather brushing against your thigh. But then I felt a sharp poke - like a pin - and discovered I had been bitten by a small catfish! So that put an end to being fish bait for me. It is the first time I have been bitten by a fish. Mike did not believe me until it happened to him a few minutes later. It is wonderful to swim in fresh water for a change - I have been swimming in salt water now for months and months, not counting a few swimming pools.
I suppose I should interject here and tell you all about our driver. Ernesto is in his mid thirties and actually grew up in the US. He came back to El Salvador after getting divorced and (I suspect) fleeing child support obligations. We have been using him to get to San Salvador and back since we got here, and have also had him take us on some local expeditions in El Salvador - the volcanoes, the local ruins, and some other places. Ernesto is a mess. but I like him, child support issues not withstanding. However, he can be irritating. He never, ever, shuts up. Mike makes me sit in the front because he can't stand the jabbering. I know every detail about every car Ernesto has ever owned. I know his entire life story. He is a terrible gossip, and reports every detail of every conversation the other cruisers have when they ride with him. (We had a joke that "what happens in Honduras stays in Honduras" which he took to mean I wouldn't blab on him.) I know just about everything that happens with everyone else when they ride into San Salvador with him. Anyway, he decided to make a nice music mix for us all to listen to while we were driving, and told me it was full of oldies, which he thought we would like. I said yes, we love oldies. however, his idea of oldies and my idea of oldies are two different things entirely - we were treated to god awful 80s music the whole trip. It was actually pretty funny. There is a twenty year difference in our ages - and his oldies represent for me "the day the music died."
We had a difficult time convincing Ernesto that this was NOT a vacation for the three of us. We did take him with us on some stuff, but he was not with us on Roatan or in the jungle. He did stay with us at Copan, and we took him with us on the ruins tour. He seemed pretty bored by that - probably because there were no cars to look at and discuss. Oh - and we almost drowned him at one point. We had taken a tour of one of the national parks in Honduras and took him with us. Part of it was a jungle hike (where we saw and heard howler monkeys), and part was a boat ride on the Caribbean to a part of the park accessible only by water. When we got close to shore, the tour guide said that anyone who wanted to could take a snorkel and mask and swim the rest of the way. It was a couple hundred yards (I think, I am a bad estimator) so of course Mike and I jumped in. Ernesto piles out right after us, and off goes the boat with the guide and the rest of the tourists. However, it soon became evident that not only does Ernesto have no idea what to do with snorkel equipment, he can barely swim. He immediately started to panic and thrash about in the water. We did not want to get too close to him, for fear he would drag us under, so we kept talking to him, trying to get him to turn over and float. Since (like me and Mike) he is on the plump side, he would float like a cork if he'd only calm down. So we had to baby him back to shore. I asked him what he was thinking and he said he was a good swimmer but had not done it in ten years.
The three of us (!) then proceeded to the biggest lake in Honduras, Lago de Yojoa. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that doubled as a micro brewery. They had four or five different beers, and only one was any good, but they hit it out of the park with that one. The owner was a young American guy. We did not have a reservation, so they kind of stuck us where ever they could. The first night, Mike and I got a really nice cabin. Ernesto got a room (He was bummed that there was no TV or AC) and unfortunately, it rained hard in the night and flooded his room! His clothes in his suitcase got soaked. But the staff washed and dried them and comped him for the room. Again, the bird life here was incredible. the next two nights Mike and I had to change rooms as someone had a reservation, so we ended up in a tiny room with a shared bathroom. I have never been willing to stay at any hostel type places because I did not want to share a bathroom with strangers. I am old and I have to get up in the night. But you know what? It worked out fine! The bathroom was really clean, and it had a lock on the door so no one could walk in on you when you were on the toilet (my biggest fear!). I will have no problems with that sort of thing again.
While at the lake we saw some ruins from the Lenca Indians. They were similar to the Mayan ruins, but had their own interesting twist. We then went on a hike to the largest waterfall in Honduras, with the understanding we could actually hike behind the waterfall. Now I have done this before, in Hawaii. The way it was there, you went behind the waterfall and walked along this really really narrow path and stood behind he falls. it was scary because it was so high up and so narrow. That was what I was expecting this time. This, however, was very different.
We had to hike through the falls. And it was not easy. It would never have been allowed in the US, let alone be an attraction with a guide. It was slippery, and you had to keep your head down, eyes closed, and breathe (with great difficulty) through your mouth. We all held hands, and the guide pulled us through. The guide had Mike's hand, Mike had Ernesto, and Ernesto had me. All of a sudden, when we were in the middle of this raging torrent of water, Ernesto says to me "We have to go back. I dropped Mike's hand." So we went back to this little overhang. I was panicked! I thought Mike and the guide had gone over the side What to do? Who to call? This is Honduras, for heavens sakes, there is no one to call. But then the guide came out from under the water, and offered to lead us the rest of the way, to where Mike was waiting. We elected to wait where we were. As it turned out, Mike told me the force of the water and broken their hands apart. Again, it was a thrilling and terrifying experience. The water fall was 40 meters (about 120 feet) high. We were close to the top.
In Central America, a lot of food sales goes on along the sides of the highways. We stopped and got a bag of lychee fruit at one point, and passed little stand after little stand selling fish hanging from the ceiling of the place. I am totally pissed off that we did not have a camera for this. We also bought corn on the cob seasoned with salt and chili sauce, tamales, and little plastic bags containing ice, water, and coconut juice. In a town where we stayed near Tegucigalpa (Tegoos to the locals) we ate at a restaurant that had been built and in constant use since 1850. Only tourists eat there because the locals believe it is haunted.
Another interesting thing about El Salvador and Honduras (I haven't been anywhere else yet) is their buses. All the buses are old school buses made by Bluebird. Most of them are repainted in bright colors, with pictures and whatnot painted on them. Sometimes you see one that is still yellow and nt yet decorated. I saw one that still had the old school district printed on it - "Stevens Point Public Schools." Stevens Point is a reasonably small town in Wisconsin. Small world!!
Tegucigalpa is a bustling, smelly, crowded, hectic, noisy city. It is similar to San Salvador, in that there are old parts and new parts. The old part has a huge market, with stall ofter stall of everything you can imagine. We drove back to El Salvador after dark in the pouring rain (Something I would not do if we were driving) and sadly hit a dog that ran out in front of us. We did not stop. It was a goner for sure. I have never had that happen and it was disturbing, even though there was nothing we could have done to avoid it. There is no dearth of stray dogs running everywhere, and some of them have no car sense or street smarts. The trip ended with a shakedown by the Honduran cops just before we got to the border - they were giving Ernesto a hard time, and the matter was resolved by the quiet transfer of 100 lempiras, which is about five bucks. When we got to the border, the Salvadoran cops asked if we had been shaken down and we said yes. They ruefully told us this was an on-going problem, nothing to be done. I figure we can live with the five bucks. That was actually down from the 1000 lempiras (fifty bucks) they originally wanted. So we made it back, the boat handled our absence fine.
So - that was Honduras and I loved it. There is more to tell, but I have to stop now and start breakfast. More to come.
"Education is the capacity to confront the situations posed by life." (Henrik Ibsen)
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