Honduras: Play by Play

Here's my best effort at logging a more detailed version of our trip (as much for my recollection as anyone else's). It's going to be long, so it might be best for multiple sittings. Apologies in advance for the gory detail...

Day 1

Having spend the first day of our vacation in Houston with the fam, we got up early the next morning and Pam gave us a ride to the airport. Things were off to an auspicious start: on time for the flight, sunny weather, and hot food on the plane! When we touched down in San Pedro Sula, right on time, we saw what would turn out to be a few of the only raindrops to fall that week. Tracy remarked that she should've brought a raincoat, but that was certainly unnecessary.

Our first task was to get money and find a bus to our next destination, the town of Copan Ruinas. This turned out to be easier than expected. The luxurious, air-conditioned motorcoach brought us first to downtown San Pedro, where we disembarked and waited in their "modern" bus terminal for our connection. Our luggage got transferred much like with an airline. Security for the buses seemed ridiculously thorough (ditto for every bus trip). They would wand us and search our carry-on bags prior to entering the bus.

The ride to Copan was a 3-hour trek along a well-maintained (although very windy!) road up into the mountains near the Guatemala border. Copan is a town of a few thousands whose claim to fame is the Mayan ruins nearby, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After arriving at the bus terminal, we weren't sure how to get our hotel, so we chose one of the eager taxistas crowded around the exit, who told us the ride would cost 20 Lempira (about a dollar).

The taxi turned out to be a three-wheeled glorified golf cart, with a back seat. The driver sat in the middle of the front seat, and crammed one person on either side of him, and three into the back. I was in the front, barely hanging on as he sped along the unpaved roads, my right side hanging entirely out of the vehicle. When we arrived at the hotel, "four blocks away", he charged us 40 Lempiras, and for Tracy's benefit, I capitulated. :)

Our hotel, a bed and breakfast run by an American and his Honduran wife, turned out to be an unexpected treat. They had overbooked, and as a result, we ended up getting the "annex" across the street. This was more like a townhouse, with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and a full kitchen and back patio. Of course, we didn't need this luxury, but it certainly didn't hurt. After exploring our new digs, we headed out for an unremarkable dinner before retiring for the night.

Day 2

The plan for the day was to tour the ruins in the morning before it got terribly hot, and then leave the afternoon open for adventure. Located about a mile outside of town, the ruins are a big, living archaeological park. I got the sense, from our guides that day, that only a small portion of the ruins in the area had been uncovered. After paying the entrance fee to the ruins and the museum (a surprisingly expensive $22pp), we chose to hire an English-speaking guide (an additional $15) for a tour of the grounds. His name was Juan, and he was very good at what he did.

The ruins were impressive, even though they were a mix of original items and reconstructed ones. They dated from the last parts of the first millennium, and the first few centuries of the second. I spent some time (see: pictures) trying to get a GPS fix so I could log the site as a Waymark. Turns out it had already been done.

The town of Copan was quite endearing. The narrow streets were of cobblestone (or nothing at all), lined by local shops or small restaurants. It had a square in the town center, which was a popular gathering spot for the locals. Overall, we didn't see many light-skinned people there, perhaps due to its remoteness. Here, more than anywhere else on our trip, we needed to rely on our Spanish.

After the ruins, we spent the afternoon on horses. This involved accepting an offer from one of the guys hanging out in the street, who wooed us with talk of horseback riding for $15 per person (ridiculously low relative to anywhere else I've been). After getting picked up at the hotel (in horses), we were introduced to our guide, Margarito, who spoke little English (and had few teeth). This was going to be a challenge. As we wandered through the streets toward the edge of town, before crossing the river and heading up into the hills, Margarito stopped a few times with some locals and seemed to be doing some "business" while we (and the horses) wandered on.

The ride was entertaining. Margarito spoke in as simple and clear Spanish as he could about the town, the history, the vegetation, or anything else. For the most part, I understood him. He was the father of 14 children (a very high percentage of the town!), and seemed to take enjoyment in showing us around. We passed banana trees, coffee and pepper plantations, a guy washing his car in the river, and lots of beautiful countryside. Our destination was one of those typical rural tourist traps, populated by local artisans and full of kids running around partially-clothed. There were artisans for Honduran crafts as well as a seamstress showing us how she did her work. Of course, we were asked to buy something, and Tracy obliged. We also visited some more Mayan ruins, where the common folks lived, which hadn't been excavated to the same degree as earlier in the day. One such ruin was a hospital, where -- through a mixture of Spanish and charades -- Margarito convinced Tracy to go through the motions of giving birth. It was priceless.

Day 3

The third day of our vacation was a designated travel day. From the western frontier, we took a bus 3 hours back to San Pedro, where we transferred for a few hours before boarding a bus to La Ceiba, on the northern coast three hours away. La Ceiba is known as the eco-tourism center of Honduras, bounded by two national parks, a river on which to raft, and numerous lagoons and beaches nearby. We were scheduled to stay at the Omega Jungle Lodge, about 30 minutes outside of town up-river.

As scheduled (and it is worth noting how many things went "as scheduled"), a lodge employee, Scott, picked us up at the bus depot. Scott was American, and provided us with the important Anna Nichole Smith news, while also informing us that SI had shot some of their swimsuit issue at the lodge a few years back. Tracy loves pop culture. :)

The lodge itself was a treat. It wasn't the least bit luxurious -- much like a hostel -- but it was in the middle of the jungle on the banks of the Rio Cangrejal, with fruit trees galore, a naturally-fed swimming pool, and a naturally-warmed outdoor shower. The bugs weren't even that bad! Our dinners consisted of a choice of five home-cooked options prepared by the lodge's kitchen, served at our desired time. The lodge was run by a German couple, and as you'd expect, had an international flare to it.

Day 4

The Jungle Lodge offered numerous day excursions, from rafting and kayaking to mountain biking and horseback riding, and all were very reasonably priced. An added bonus was that with each excursion came a free night of lodging. So our first full day there, we chose to go rafting. Since it was nearing the end of the dry season, much of the river was unrunnable, but they compensated for this by taking us on other diversions.

After hiking 5 minutes down to the river, we got some lessons in how to swim across the current. The water in the river was the perfect temperature, even though it wasn't terribly hot outside. The guides then took us to jump off some very big boulders into the river below, sometimes as much as 8 or 10 feet. It's amazing how much the river can change after a big storm, with huge boulders being tossed around like they were pebbles. It's never the same river twice.

The rafting was excellent, albeit short. Tracy and I got our own raft with a guide from Germany, Ben, whose lasting impression on me was him telling us to "GET DOWWWWN!" in a thick German accent not unlike the Terminator. There were 4 or 5 sets of decent rapids, and in each set, Ben milked it for all it was worth, by backing up and letting our raft get flooded as we spun around at the bottom of a short waterfall. By the time we hit the last one, he seemed determined not to leave the rapid until someone was swimming. After about 3 minutes of trying, Tracy got flushed and ended up floating downstream about 50 feet. All in all, an excellent trip!

That afternoon, like most afternoons on this trip, we spent reading in hammocks. Early on, I identified the sun as my enemy, and avoided it any chance I got. Fortunately, the lodge was a cool place to be anyway, and the outdoor shower was wonderful. I even looked up and saw toucans in the trees!

Day 5

Our activity on Day 5 was a kayak tour of Cacao Lagoon. Our hope was to spot some exotic birds and monkeys, while floating through the mangrove forests on our way to the beach at the opposite end of the lagoon. Since we had planned on staying in town that night, we had packed our luggage with us and allegedly had it delivered to the hotel (this didn't actually happen as planned).

The lagoon is located about 10 miles outside of town, at the end of a long, one-lane, unpaved road lined by a local community. Since Omega Lodge was a regular in this area, they had made friends with some of these locals, and we picked up a teenaged boy who would watch the truck while we were kayaking. Shortly after picking him up, we noticed some unexpected civilization near the lagoon. It turns out the Italian version of Survivor was filming, and the whole cast and crew was stationed near the lagoon, making motorized trips back and forth to the beach. It was a little surreal. Additionally, the entrance to the lagoon had been decorated with faux Mayan statues, and lighting hanging in the trees above. What a production!

The actual tour was very relaxing. Flatwater kayaking is hardly work, and it was cool having to bend and weave around the mangroves. We didn't actually see much wildlife at all, but it was still a nice trip. We were accompanied by Scott and two women from South Africa.

On the way back, we ran into a bit of a traffic problem. All the vans for the Survivor show were parked in the middle of the road, in the opposite direction, leaving no room for a pickup truck loaded with 5 kayaks to pass through. After about half an hour, though, Scott convinced them to move and let us by.

That night, we took a taxi to the Hotel Cocopando, on the beach on the opposite side of town. The hotel was all but empty with the exception of the owner, an American. The restaurant there, Iguana Bar, served us up a sumptuous meal, though, and eventually we got our luggage delivered to us after a mix-up with the Jungle Lodge folks.

Day 6

We woke up early to get a ride to the ferry dock en route to Roatan. This day was a scheduled day without electricity for the region, which is about the only evidence we saw of third-world status in Honduras. Fortunately, it didn't effect us, since we were just going to take the ferry 30 miles out to Roatan, a Caribbean island and our final stop.

After a pleasant ferry ride, we eventually got our luggage. They used a very strange system for checked luggage, where they would pull all of it out and keep it behind a counter, and then the passengers would try to get the attention of the baggage handlers. Naturally, neither Tracy nor I were forceful enough to get our message through, and we were basically the last ones out of the terminal. After a 20 minute taxi ride, which ended with a brief stretch of driving along the beach, we arrived at our hotel, the Luna Beach Hotel.

This was perhaps our biggest indulgence on the trip, probably the nicest hotel in that part of the island. The hotel -- as with Roatan in general -- is known for it's diving, and there were some wonderfully-priced packages that we didn't take advantage of. It also happened to be where the show Temptation Island was filmed a few years back. They even proudly displayed this on a plaque. Seriously.

I was planning on diving here, but after getting a minor cold halfway through the trip, I was afraid the congestion might prove too much for my ears. As it turned out, once Tracy indicated she'd be interested in diving, I wanted to go along.

The resort itself was gorgeous. It was mostly cabins with two units, about 200 feet from the beach. The water in Roatan was crystal clear, and very calm with no waves. The sand was white and soft. A 10-minute walk in one direction, along the beach, brought you to West End, where there were plenty of restaurants and other small lodging options. A half hour walk along the beach in the opposite direction brought you to West Bay, home of perhaps the best snorkeling on the island.

Day 7

Our plans for this day were to dive -- Tracy getting her introduction during the morning and I would join her for an afternoon deeper dive. Unfortunately, though, the weather was extremely windy that day, and they canceled Tracy's introduction. Even worse, the guy who does the intro dive course had the next day off, so it looked like no diving for us. We instead agreed to go snorkeling in West Bay the next morning.

In lieu of diving, we chose to do a zip line canopy tour, of which there are numerous pictures in our slideshow. For those not familiar with zip lines, it basically consists of going to a high place and rigging a series of wires from tree to tree, always heading downward. Eventually, we would end up on the beach.

Since Roatan is a growing cruise ship port, it was not at all surprising that prices there were higher than in the rest of Honduras. Just as predictable, operations at these places were slick, well-organized, professional, and oriented around tipping. The zip line tour was no different.

After donning our protective helmet and harness, we were introduced to the three guides who would be accompanying us -- two Latino names and a guy who called himself "Jellyfish" (though we never learned why). Roatan has an odd language history, having been British territory for much of the colonial period, as well as a landing point for a lot of Africans. Consequently, the locals there are more African looking than Latino, and most speak English (or some patois version thereof) and Spanish. Here, as throughout Honduras, American dollars were just as acceptable as Lempira.

Then we went zipping along amongst the trees. It was somewhat scary at first, but the guides did a good job of putting us at ease (and having us pose for some unusual photos). At the end of the tour, they showed us all the pictures they took, and asked us (of course) to buy some. Again, Tracy obliged (she's good like that).

For an additional $5, we were treated the the nature park they had on the premises. After a brief historical reenactment in some fake caves, we crossed a rickety bridge to the bird cage. Several macaws and parrots lived in there (we were told they were all free to roam at least once per day outside their cage). Our guide took out one bird and put it on my arm. Immediately, it hopped its way up my arm to my shoulder and plucked the button off my cap. After a brief skirmish, we got him to spit it out. Tracy also posed for pictures before we headed over to the monkey area.

The monkeys were about the size of a cat, and had a lot of personality. We were allowed to hold them and let them crawl all over us, while they pretended to pose for pictures. One of them was even known as a pickpocketer, and tried as much with Tracy (see pictures).

Day 8

Our last day in Honduras was very mellow. We spent the morning snorkeling in West Bay, seeing some amazing reefs and exotic fish. The water was quite shallow -- about 5 feet max -- and the parks people did a good job of preventing people from touching the reef.

The other cool part of the day was taking the water taxi between West Bay and our hotel. Since there were numerous docks positioned between West End and West Bay, you could just go out to the end of any of them and hail a passing boat taxi, who, for $2, would take you to the other end of the beach. In the hot afternoon sun, this was very welcomed!

Day 9

Travel day. Get up early and fly from Roatan 15 minutes to La Ceiba, then 25 minutes to San Pedro, then 3 hours to Houston, then 4 hours to Seattle. It was a very long day, waking up at 6am Central Time, and arriving back at my house in Seattle at 11pm Pacific Time. But it was worth it. What a wonderful trip!