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Archive for the 'Honduras' Category

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Stupid Beta

Thursday, November 10th, 2005

Tegucigalpa got old fast. It’s a big city, but there’s not really all that much to do. The real reason I went to the city was to change my flight out of Costa Rica…I thought it would be easier than doing it over the phone. I decided to give the city a shot, seeing as how I didn’t see any of Guatemala City, and I was curious about the big cities. I checked out an art museum that was decent, but nothing earth-shattering. I ran across some Garifuna dance troupe performance one evening, which was pretty cool. But mostly I just walked around the city stopping traffic or sat in the park making friends. It was exhausting. I thought I would stay two days – enough time to see the city, but there really wasn’t much to keep me there longer than that. Plus, Hurricane Beta was hovering off the coast of Nicaragua, where I was headed next, so tht would give me some time to see where it was headed. [read on]

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No, I don’t want your big wad of cash.

Sunday, November 6th, 2005

There aren’t really a whole heck of a lot of buses leaving Gracias a Dios heading south through the mountains. The roads are bad, the towns are small, the scenery is breathtaking…sounds like the perfect route to Tegucigalpa. The main method of transportation south is by jalón, which literally translates to ‘pull’ in english. Essentially, you just hop in the back of pickup trucks who are going in the same direction as you. Some people earn their living this way, others just take the extra money when they can get it, and others just have no problem allowing people to sit in the back of their pickups while they just do their thing. [read on]

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Gracias a dios

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005

I left the Garifuna village and went by taxi, bus, taxi, bus, bus to my next destination, Gracias a Dios (thanks to god), which is in the mountains in the western part of Honduras. I was absolutely after the second taxi driver charged me 50 Lempiras for a cab ride…I thought it was worth 20 Lempiras at best…the next bus I took cost 50 Lempiras, and was at least 2 hours long…how could a cab cost just as much? Now, 20 Lempiras is just over a dollar, and 50Lems is just over $2.50, so if you do the math, you can see that I got ripped off a whole $1.50, so it’s not all that big of a deal, I know. The guy needs that $1.50 more than I do. But, it’s the principle of the matter that he upcharged me 150% just for being a tourist. But enough of that… [read on]

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Arumuga beyabu quei mebebegui.

Monday, October 31st, 2005

So, I’ve done a little bit of research on the Garífuna culture. Undoubtedly, they found themselves here as a result of slave operations, but how? And I’ve learned that they have some indigenous carribean blood in them, but what’s the story there? So, apparently, they were deported from Caribbean islands (mostly, I think, the British island of St. Vincent). Most of them were either escaped or just stranded due to shipwrecks. On these islands is where they married and mixed with the indigenous Caribbeans (who I don’t know much about either; like, how do they differ from Central American indigenous, such as the Mayans?) [read on]

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I get off at the correct stop this time!

Sunday, October 30th, 2005

So, I did make it off the bus at Tela this time, and realized that I wasn’t asleep the last time, but rather remember the stop quite well, and thought it was strange that these white people were just getting off the bus in the middle of the highway…like, where were they going? Who special did they know? Well, apparently they just knew that this was the stop for Tela (as opposed to pulling into town and into a bus station, which I had expected to happen). [read on]

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Harold and Kumar go to Honduras

Saturday, October 29th, 2005

After leaving the Jungle River Lodge, we (the 2 Israeli couples and I) tried to take the ferry out to the Bay Islands. This was, after all, the reason I came to the north of Honduras – to learn how to scuba dive. The Bay Islands are supposed to have the cheapest diving in the world, so I figured if I was going to do it, might as well be here and now. Well, the ferries weren’t leaving for the islands, due to Hurricane Wilma, which was headed straight for that area. We all headed for the center of La Ceiba to grab a hotel for the night and decide our next moves. [read on]

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Rafting at the Jungle River Lodge

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

So, the Jungle River Lodge was a pretty cool place…electricity powered by solar panels, biodegradable toilet, a pair of macaws as pets, and a cool group of guys who run the place. When I arrived I was the only person there…two Israeli couples arrived within an hour after me. I did indeed have a few beers with the boys, and tried some ‘jungle juice’ offered to me by the owner, Oscar. This jungle juice is concoction of rum, wine, and honey with a whole bunch of herbs and plants and other floaty things in it. It was quite tasty, albeit a bit chunky. [read on]

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On the road to who knows where in Honduras

Sunday, October 23rd, 2005

So, the day after getting up at 5:30 in the morning to climb up a volcano, I got up at 3:30 to catch a 4am shuttle to Honduras. In Guatemala, things run a little behind (around 30 minutes), so I suppose the shuttle was almost a little early when it arrived at 4:20. When it pulled up, some guy opened the window and shouted “Only 4 people!”. Well, when I got on, it was quite obvious that I was the 4th passenger getting on this shuttle to Honduras, which means lots of stretching room, quite luxurious, if such a concept exists in Guatemala…this may be it: leg room + reclining seat in an uncrowded van = luxury in Guatemala. [read on]

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