first day in honduras

the wifi is weird here.  and currently not working.  i know this because i was recruited to do tech support for a man sitting by the front office, he couldn't figure out how to connect.  he's french but he bought his computer in germany, so navigating through the network options took a bit of effort.  all the options had words that were several inches long with lots of h's and z's.  i finally grabbed my computer to check the connection and there was none.  i don't have enough spanish to explain to the honduran girl at the front desk that she should reboot the modem, but in a very roundabout way i got it understood.  turns out that the phones aren't working so no internet.  

they also cut off the wifi at 8pm, and don't turn it back on till 8am.  boo.

anyway, i finally got a look around this morning while out searching for coffee, roatan is very beautiful.  dirt roads, docks, clear blue water, hot hot hot.  considering trading in my cute little cabana for a hotel with air conditioning.  

the trip here was better than expected.  i did break down and pay a man $200 to set up my entire trip and it might have been the best money i've spent so far.  i left my hostel at 6am for the docks and took an hour boat ride to puerto barrios, and there was a man standing there waiting for me.  hopped in his van, just me, and off we sped through miles and miles of country.  the border crossing was very easy but if i were by myself it would have taken hours.  samuel knew everyone along the way, buddies with all the guys and flirting with all the girls.  at the guatemalan checkpoint they stamped my passport, then we found the money changers.  a 10 minute drive and we entered honduras, and instantly samuel was a bit different, seat belts on, behave yourself, etc.  there were 2 lines at immigration with about 40 people waiting but samuel took me to a 3rd window that was closed, shouted 'hey hermano', grabbed my passport and cash and it was done in 5 minutes.  the guy never even looked at me or asked me questions.  samuel probably saved me an hour of waiting in line.

after police searching the van (but not my bags) and getting sprayed down with antibacterial, we went through corintos, san pedro sula (with a wendy's and burger king every 50 feet), and lots of little towns all the way to la ceiba for the ferry.  outside of san pedro samuel pointed out the poorest town in honduras, miles of corrugated metal cobbled together into shacks.  throughout the ride there was a rambutan stand every mile or so, acres and acres of banana plantations, semi trucks sharing the 2 lane highway with horse drawn carts and bicycles.  

without samuel and his van i don't think this trip would have been possible in a day.  besides the time saved at immigration, i didn't have to walk the mile between leaving guatemala and entering honduras, and no sitting at bus stations wondering if i'm at the right place.  and samuel knew where the good food was along the way.

at the ferry station i had a couple hours to kill and found a cafe nearby.  i asked for a menu and they only served one dish for lunch and one for dinner so that's what you get.  it was fried chicken, spaghetti, avocado, rice, beans and fried plantain.  

back at the station i encountered the first security i've seen in my travels, they actually scanned my bags and walked me through a metal detector.  and took my knife.  i was a little upset at first, and honduran spanish being different than either mexican or guatemalan i had to ask a couple times, but turns out that i can claim it at the other end.  i've really become fond of my switchblade.

the ferry was great, one of those gigantic boats with a/c, tvs and comfy seats.  it could probably hold a few hundred people but it was pretty empty.  the ride took about an hour and a half to roatan.

the cab ride to my hotel cost almost as much as the ferry and it was dark so i couldn't see anything.  i found dinner at a bar filled with american expats, watched a garifune group doing a tribal dance in the street,  and called it a night.

during my wandering this morning i found yoga, paddle boards, dive shops everywhere, spanish classes, enough to keep me busy for a week or 2.  as i was walking past the dive shop at my hotel they were writing the days trips on the board and the 11am dive is at 'melissa's reef', so i took that as a sign that i should dive today.  gotta go get ready.

turtle shells for sale in livingston.  ugh.