How Alamo (Almost) Ruined My Vacation

The buses don't run during Semana Santa. The whole country takes a vacation. If we didn't have to meet two groups of people at the airport during the holiday, this would not have been a problem. But, because Regina's friends were arriving on Thursday and Friday, we didn't have much of a choice except to rent a car. SO . . . we reserved a car on the Alamo website. Then we called to confirm our reservation. Things we are all good until we showed up at the airport and the Alamo office was closed (CLOSED!). Frantic, we asked the security guard whether the office was closed for good or if the person was coming back. We thought it was a good sign when he gave us the woman's phone number, but she was the most unhelpful person ever. She said that she had run out of cars, so she went home. Apparently "reservation" in Honduras means, first come first serve. The next 30 minutes or so we went for car company to car company to see if they had any cars. It was semana santa. No one did. There were vans, buses, and SUVs, all of which were 3 to 4 times the cost of the car we reserved (and outside of our budget). We called the 1-800 number and after five people transferred me from one operator to the next, I got hung up on. We must have looked pretty pathetic because another woman, who had apparently "reserved" a car in Honduras before, told us that she had reserved several cars in case there were no cars when she got there. One of the company's had actually "reserved" the car for her, but her family had decided to upgrade to an SUV. She told us if we wanted it, the car was ours. It was a lucky save, but we still ended up paying double the price of the car we had reserved. I will NEVER patronize that company again.

Back to San Pedro Sula

After heading back to the town and grabbing lunch, Regina and I started to head to our hostel to grab our bags and head to the bus station to get a ride back to San Pedro Sula. Before we could make it, we ran into Regina's peace corp friend, Ely, a former attorney from Californian, and his friend Eve, a member of the L.A.P.D. They offered to drive us to San Pedro Sula. We quickly accepted (this would be a huge improvement to the bus) and ran to the hostel to get our stuff. On the way back Ely and Eve's rental car, Regina saw a car that was the same color as theirs. It honked, so she walked over to get in. As soon as she opened the door, she realized it was not Ely and Eve, but instead two very excited Honduran men. I laughed so hard, I nearly peed my pants.

After we found the right car, it was a highly entertaining ride to San Pedro. Eve had great stories about her job, and we all talked about life and choices. It is strange how quickly you can feel comfortable around people when you are travelling. I don't know if it is because you know you don't have a lot of time to waste getting to know each other or if you just don't care what you tell the person because you doubt you will ever see them again.

In SPS, we stayed at Los Molinas. As far as I know, it is not in any guide book, but it should be. The family that runs it is so sweet and friendly. It is only three blocks away from the mall (shopping is really the only thing to do in SPS), and there is cable tv and internet. We asked if we could watch a DVD on their tv and they let us take the DVD player into our room and watch. It was so comfortable. I highly recommend it.

As I mentioned before, the only thing to do in SPS is to shop. After dropping off our stuff, we immediately headed over to the mall and spent the rest of the day shopping. The stores were kind of comical. For example, there would be a store called Rampage (or Guess or Tommy Hilfiger), but none of the clothes sold in the stores were from Rampage (or Guess or Tommy) unless they were really obvious knockoffs. I did manage to find some really cute clothes at the local boutiques, but the prices weren't nearly as good as I would expect for Central America.

Copan

As far as ruins go, the bar has been set pretty high for me. It's hard to top Tikal and Machu Picchu. Copan may not be the biggest or most impressive ruins site that I've seen, but it was one of the most serene. For the first hour, we had the ruins almost entirely to ourselves. We could climb on nearly all of the exposed buildings. It is also much more intricately-detailed than any of the other ruins I have visited. There is one tower where each step is made entirely of heiroglyphics telling the Mayans' history. Almost as impressive as the buildings, were the incredible trees. The trunks were as big as a car and the branches reached over even the highest towers.

In the ball court, shown below, the warriors would play with a ball made entirely of stone, trying to hit stone macaw heads on opposing sides of the court. The "winner" would receive the honor of being sacrificed to the Gods. That sounds like one game I would be happy to lose.

The Cobbled Streets of Copan

This morning we hitched a perfect ride on a truck full of bath towels to Ceiba. Once in Ceiba, we took a very nice air-conditioned bus ride on Hedman Alas, the only bus company in Honduras that hasn't been hijacked/robbed. The bus stopped long enough in San Pedro Sula for us to check out the entertainment (an elderly lady giving Shakira a run for her money in the hip-shaking business) and shopping (strangely all trendy-looking stores selling used clothing from the U.S.) at the bus terminal. Then it was another three hours to Copan Ruinas.


Because the reason most people come to Copan Ruinas is to see the Classic Era mayan ruins of Copan, I expected the city to be a tacky tourist trap. It was actually a charming colonial city with cobblestone streets and a beautiful church and central plaza. There were plenty of tourists, mainly because it was the middle of Semana Santa and Copan Ruinas' fair, but the city has still managed to maintain its authentic feeling. It was the last night of the fair so the whole town was gathered in the Central Plaza to watch the coronation of the new queen. The "fireworks" (more noise than anything) kept us up all night.

La Ceiba to Naranjal

It was a very early morning back to La Ceiba. We tried to sleep on the ferry, but after getting completely soaked by a wave splashing against the sides (we were on the top deck), we were too cold to sleep. Ceiba was a very interesting city. It is big, and the powerlines evidence the fact that it got big too fast and without direction.

Due to a scary allergic reaction to the jellyfish we were stung by yesterday, Regina had to go to the hospital. It was a nice private hospital, patronized mainly by the rich and peace corp workers. It was frustrating at first because rather than let Regina go to the emergency room, which she needed, the peace corp told her to go see a specialist. After spending an hour being shuffled from one line to the next, Regina was informed that the doctor had gone on a lunch break and would be back after 2. At this point, Regina was having trouble breathing. Peace Corp finally relented and told her she could go to the ER. There, the doctor told her that the bumps covering her entire body were bug bites from little bugs, and he started to prescribe an anti-itch cream. Without getting too hysterical, Regina and I explained that it was not bug bites, that I had been stung by the same thing and did not have hives forming all over my body, that bug bites do not generally make a person unable to breath, etc. The doctor changed his diagnosis, and after a quick shot in the ass (Regina's, not mine), we were on our way.

After a couple of quick errands--grocery shopping, checking email, calling home, checking out apartments--we took the chicken bus back to Naranjal. It was a nice chill night. We made brownies for Regina's host mom and sister and hung out with Robyn and Patrick, two other peace corp workers who were passing through.

Another day, another dive

We started our last full day in Utila on a mission to find good snorkeling. We had heard rumors that a ten minute walk past the free beach, was coral snorkeling that rivaled the diving. The rumors were true, and the snorkeling would have been perfect, if it wasn´t for the damned jellyfish. If we stayed n the shallow water, there were plent of fish, but not very good coral, but within minutes of swimming over the most beautiful black coral shelf, Regina and I were both getting stung by nettles. We tried to go back to the shallow water and come out to the deep coral in another location, but same story. It was time to head back. Here is a picture of our beautiful post-snorkeling hair.


We grabbed lunch at Bundu, then headed off to get ready for our afternoon dive. This one was much more impressive than the previous day. There were still not a ton of fish, but we did see a huge dog fish and the biggest angel fish I´ve ever seen. The coral was also incredible. We swam along the Black Coral Wall, and I couldn´t help but think of Ünder the Sea¨. The coral was just so colorful. We had a little bit of time before our next dive, so we went to check out the beach you had to pay for. It was not that great, but the scarlet macaws we saw along the way made the trip out worth it.

We took a short nap after getting back, then headed out for our night dive.
This was my first night dive, and to be honest, I was a little worried. But I was fine, and it was such a cool experience. It was also my first wreck dive, which was also very cool and eerie at night. Unfortunately, the experience was tainted by a total jerk in our group, James. When we first went down, he didn´t follow us. The divemaster made Regina and me wait at the bottom for about 10 minutes while she went up to help him. He hadn´t put enough wait on his belt. Stupid mistake. I can forgive that. Then midway through the dive, James disappeared. He surfaced without telling anyone. We spent a minute looking for him, then we all had to surface. It was so disappointing to have such a cool experience cut short by an idiot. I would have felt bad for him, if had not been so unapologetic about it.

After a very highly-recommend dinner of barbequed fresh fish at Evelyns, we went to bed early. We had a boat to catch.

Diving

I may be a little jaded from all the big fish I saw in the Galapagos and Colombia, but I was a little disappointed by the diving in Honduras. The reef was absolutely beautiful, but there were almost no fish (big or otherwise). We didn´t see the whale shark, which is supposed to be abundant this time of year. :( We did do a little cave diving, which was a new and scary experience. I´m not generally claustraphobic, but I´m not sure I liked the feeling of being in a place that was not easy to exit with bought air on my back.

After two beautiful, but uneventful dives in the morning, we headed to Cafe Bundu (our new favorite restaurant) for the seafood soup. It came out with a huge lobster tail, and I could not have been happier. After lunch, we decided to be more productive with our day than yesterday, and decided to search for the locals favorite hang out spot, a freshwater cave. It was a long walk, so we thumbed a ride half way. It was a nice break from the sea water, especially since fresh water was running low on the islands and showers have been scarce. After hitching a ride on a four-wheeler back to the center, we went to watch the sunset. Then, we went back Bundu for dinner and live music from Pearl.

Utila: It´s all good

After our late night of rocking out to religious karaoke (and yes, it is as fun as it sounds), Regina and I hopped the first bus to Ceiba. By 12:30, we had managed to procure the last room at the very cool dive shop/hotel Altons, booked our dives, and found a place to get great fresh seafood. The island is crazy busy this week because of Semana Santa. We decided to spend the day relaxing. We started by falling asleep in hammocks at the end of the diving pier. Then we headed to Munchies and its iguana garden to sip banana smoothies. While I studied for my PaDI night diving course and Regina practice her iguana mating dance. We tried, unsuccessfully, to use the internet. Then we watched the sunset off of our pier. After all of this doing nothing, we were really hungry and we followed our nose to the fresh tuna steaks served at a local bar.

Finding Regina

After a quick call to Regina, I left Tela with a very vague idea of how to find her village. I jumped (literally) on the bus to Ceiba and told the driver ¨Naranjal, segundo desvio (the second crossroad), la curva (the curve)¨. When I got dropped off in the middle of nowhere, it was surprisingly effective to ask for La Gringa. Everyone knew exactly who I was talking about, and where she lived. She wasn´t there when I got there, but her cute little students came over to keep me company.

It was so great to see her when she got there. She is one of those friends that you can go for months without talking and feel like a day hasn´t passed the next time you see them. Regina and I met in the jungle of Bolivia, and spent a month traveling in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Since then, she has been traveling around Asia and now is doing a 2'year stint in the peace corps. She is such an amazing person and friend, and I´m so excited to see her. We quickly caught up, before her students came back over to paint. Afterwards, we had them climb Regina´s fruit trees to bring us cocoa (which is a surprisingly good fruit) and oranges for fresh'squeezed orange juice. Then Regina introduced me to her host sister. We walked around listening to religious karaoke (as fun as it sounds) and eating chocolate covered bananas. We ended the night sipping banana smoothies and planning out the next few days. This is going to be an amazing week!

A promising start

After a wonderful night´s sleep, I started my morning with a relaxing dive in the ocean. I had the beach almost to myself for about half an hour. The water was bathwater warm )much warmer than the shower I had waiting for me at the hostel). I walked about 300 yards before the water hit my waste. Normally I like to have much more exciting surf, but this was perfect for an early morning swim. At around 8¨30, swarms of people in school uniforms descended on the beach. It was time to leave.

I went back to the room, enjoyed a surprisingly refreshing cold shower. By this time Madeline and VAnce were awake and ready for breakfast. We wandered around until we found a place that served panqueques (pancakes) with honey and bananas. I could get used to this.

The Adventure Begins

Well, I´ve already set a couple of records on this trip. Time to meet travel buddies: immediately. I met Vance on the plane from Atlanta and his friend Madeline flew in 30 minutes later. Time to eat American Food: within 30 minutes of landing, I had a Frosty in my hands. Normally, I try to avoid American food for at least a couple of weeks before giving into the familiar, but it was hot outside and the bus to Tela didn´t leave for 2 hours.

We made it to Tela and found a hotel ($5 a night, but cold water showers only) just in time to watch the sunset. Then we headed to Cruces del Norte, a lovely restaurant on the beach, where I spent $5 to get a heaping bowly of incredibly fresh crab. Mmmmm. And there was, of course, the obligatory serenade.

Honduras . . . Here I come

I have been so incredibly busy with work and wedding planning lately, I can't wait to have 10 whole days to do neither. I don't usually plan out my trips, but I usually go for more time too. Here is a rough outline of my intended itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive in San Pedro Sula, immediately catch bus to Copan.
Day 2: Check out Copan in the morning, catch late bus to Tela.
Day 3: Enjoy beach in Tela, find was to La Ceiba to search out Regina.
Day 4: Check out Regina's place
Day 5: Who knows? At some point in time, catch a flight to Roatan. Spend several days relaxings, soaking up sun, and diving, diving, diving.

Return to Salt Lake.

Woo-hoo!

Map from Lonely Planet

The Not So Perfect Send Off

I know this is going to come as a big surprise, but after I got back from the Temple of Heaven we went to the Silk Market. We spent hours shopping for souvenirs, purses, and shoes . . . again. This time we had to buy a bag to haul around all of our purchases. We got some pearls for ourselves and our mothers, shirts for dad and the boys, and other odds and ends. The calligrapher drew up some names for Daniel and Brittany.

After a long hard day of shopping, we decided to get a massage. This experience was markedly different than our last massage. We asked the concierge to give us a recommendation. Her directions were not great so we walked into the first place that we saw that remotely resembled a spa. There was a picture of a woman with hot rocks on her back. It looked promising. We went in. They did not speak English (and the very limited Chinese I learned from podcasts did not cover massages). We pointed to a picture that we thought would be a relaxing massage. We second-guessed our choice, however, when they made us take off our shoes, walked us past a group of guys playing pool, and left us in a room with two beds and a tv. It resembled a rent-by-the-hour hotel room (not that I've been in one) more than a massage suite. They didn't give us sheets or instructions (not that we would have understood) so we just sat there trying to figure out what we were supposed to do. After about ten minutes, we opened up the door and looked out, debating whether we should walk down to the desk and remind them we were here. We realized that we would get lost trying and that we would have no way to communicate our predicament to them if we did find our way.

Before we could figure out what to do, two "masseuses" finally showed up. They motioned for us to lay on the bed. What happened next can only be described as amusing torture. There was some hitting, lots of jerking, and some very confused clients. To give you an idea, they started by making short firm multi-finger pokes to our head. When they worked on any of our limbs they started by grabbing the ends (for example my fingers) and jerked them quickly up and down as if they were trying to pull the limb out of the socket. When they finally got us on our stomachs they sat on our backs and pulled up our shoulders. To this day, I still don't know whether this was a serious massage or a trick they like to play on the tourists. If it was real, it was the strangest and most painful massage I've ever had.

Much like our stay in Beijing began, it ended with dinner at the Traveler's Den.

Our last full day

On our last full day in China, I let Jayde sleep in while I went to check out the Temple of Heaven. The temple had incredible intricate and colorful architecture and woodwork. Although the fake cows were disturbing, the temple's historic use as an imperial sacrifical building meant to promote a good harvest.








Incredible design



The fake sacrifical "lambs"


By far the most interesting part, though, was all the people "excercising" in the park. I'm not sure if there are not gyms or enough room in the houses to work out, but there were hundreds of people (mostly elderly) practicing karate, sword play, dancing, instruments, and so many more. I don't what was more interesting, the variety of "sports" or the old people practicing them. It was one of the most enjoyable cultural experiences I had in China.