Guest blog from mom

This weeks post is a guest blog from my mother. Here, she recounts our family trip across Honduras. In my opinion, we had a great time and I loved showing the fam my life here.  I hope you enjoy her post.  Oh and don’t worry. You can still find my snarky commentary after the  *

Thanks mom!

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Upon arrival, we were glad Sarah advised us to rent a car so we could control our destination and travel at our own pace. Since Randy and I don’t speak Spanish, Sarah and Brent met us at the airport, thank goodness, to help us through the rental car process (totally in Spanish) and get us out of the airport. It is definitely important to know the language here or have someone with us who does. By the way, both Sarah’s and Brent’s grasp of the language was incredible. They understood the lightning fast conversations, replied fluently, and used all the appropriate hand gestures (finger wag means “no” was one of the first that I learned).

Even though Sarah tried to warn us about the traffic, there is no way we could have been ready for the driving in Teguz. It is insane. Traffic is heavy and moves fast. There are no road rules-just a lot of honking, streets are not marked, and there are no road signs to direct you to another city.

We we impressed with Brent’s move - the cab manuever. Because cab drivers know the streets Brent decided to jump in a taxi cab. He told us to follow close behind (if possible) so we could find our way from the airport to the Olancho highway. We did that, followed his cab til the turn-off to Olancho, then Brent jumped back in our car and we were on our way. Whew! Then the next hard part of the 4-hour drive to Olancho was up to Randy, focusing on the road despite the huge pot holes in the highway, gaps in the pavement, speed bumps appearing in the middle of nowhere and animals on or near the highway. As Randy described it later, in Honduras it’s not simply driving, it’s a thrill ride.

We loved Sarah’s site, the town of Santa Maria del Real. Everyone we met was so warm and friendly and happy to share their hospitality. Highlights there included lunch with her host family and sitting on stools with a Diet Coke at Javier’s Pulperia getting to know him and his family. Also meeting Julian, Sarahs sitemate, and other neighbors as we walked through the neighborhood. Since everyone in town seemed to know Sarah we felt that they were looking out for her and helping keep her safe; some of them assured us that they have guns and were prepared to use them to protect her. I guess this is somewhat comforting…

We stayed at the Villa Paraiso, a fish farm/hotel/restaurant that was modest,but fine, and I felt a little guilty that our accommodations included hot water. Most people in Real have running water most days, but do not have running hot water and no one has treated water that you can drink from the tap. All water for consumption has to be boiled or bought.

We knew that the long drive to Copan Ruinas would be rugged so we got up and hit the road early on Thursday. This town is way across the country near the Guatamala border. The drive was scenic, but the road was winding and hazardous in many places. Horses, cows, motorcycles, buses, trucks and people were vying for right of way at any particular time, and on a very narrow road.

We arrived at Copan Ruinas in eleven hours*. The dinner we had there with Sarah’s Peace Corps girlfriends, Kyla and Kat P. was one of the highlights of the trip. Hearing about their experiences and their work was scary, funny, and inspiring. Another highlight for me was visiting the archaeological Site at Copan Ruinas, some of the most important Mayan ruins in the Western Hemisphere which we toured on Friday. Cesar our guide, was terrific. He spent over two hours with us and gave us quite a thorough history of the Mayan civilization that lived in this place. Cesar was patient and cheerful answering every question-and we had lots of them.

We loved seeing all the exotic trees and birds, beautiful Macaws as well as the aguti, a rodent about the size of a small cat. By this time I was jotting down all these details, knowing I’d never remember it all on my own.

Another highlight and a first for Randy and me was the Canopy Tour (Zip Line). I had always wanted to try this. We bought our tickets at the hotel front desk, then left everything in our room except for our cameras which we were to give to the tour guides who take the pictures, so I didn’t even wear my sunglasses so I wouldn’t risk losing them. This required a lot of “letting go” which doesn’t come easy for either of us.

Once I was past the stark terror of being trussed into a harness, helmet, and leather gloves, standing on a platform way up above tree level and flying across the zip lines I really enjoyed the view. It was frightening and exhilarating at the same time.

 The only casualty of the day was Randy’s camera. Between platforms 3 and 4 one of the tour guides took Randy’s picture as he was zipping across the wire, but the guide hadn’t put the camera’s safety strap around his wrist. He dropped Randy’s camera- down, down down it went into a 250-foot gorge. The guides were as shocked as we were; I guess this doesn’t happen too often. Randy wanted to go look for it, but the guides talked him out of it. We do have some pictures of this trip on my camera, thank goodness, and Randy made the tour manager promise to look for his camera when they could.**

Losing his camera was a jolt but Randy didn’t let it ruin his whole day. That night we enjoyed the best cocktail of the trip at the bar at the Hotel Marina. We asked the bartender if he had a specialty and he made us a tasty drink although he never told us its name. It consisted of rum with lots of fresh lime, lime juice and a simple sugar syrup.

Our next road trip was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We made the six-hour drive to Tela – a quiet coastal town, and stayed at Telamar, a beautiful resort which hugs the best stretch of beach in the area. This hotel was gorgeous with lush landscaping, nice, new rooms, and an enormous pool with slides and fountains. Our room had a beach view from which we could see big ships come and go.

But the beach was the main attraction by far. There were all kinds of vendors along the walk to the beach- ladies doing braids for 10 lempira each (Sarah got  a headful of them), kids selling coco bread and coconut water, hats, necklaces, and earrings. After a delicious day of sunning and people-watching we cleaned up and went to visit Sarah’s friend, Emily, a Peace Corps Volunteer at Tornabe.

Tornabe is one of the largest of the Garifuna villages in the area. The Garifuna people (I looked up the history because it is so fascinating) are descendants of Arawak Indians and West Africans who escaped from slave ships in the 16th century. Emily is a health educator and she teaches yoga, works with women’s groups and with young people. She walked us around her town which sits right on a scenic beach and is quietly rustic with horses lying in back yards, chickens running free, and men playing soccer on the beach.

Back at Telemar we ate a great dinner, had drinks at the poolside bar, and watched the evening’s entertainment at outdoor stage which was some lively Honduran Folk Dancing.

Monday was our last full day at Telemar, but it was a great one. The weather was perfect-high 70′s and not a cloud in the sky. Brent came from his site to join us and we sat by the pool, had drinks at the swim-up bar and spent the afternoon at the beach. For dinner we went to the Maya Vista, recommended by Emily.

The taxi there was another thrill ride straight up very steep streets to the top of a hill where the restaurant sat perched like a big tree house. We ate outside on the breezy open air porch and admired the view all around. Dinner took a while (Sarah had warned us that Honduran hospitality was friendly, but not speedy) so we didn’t get back in time for the entertainment at Telemar, but we were happy to enjoy a drink at the poolside bar.

On Tuesday we had to pack up and head back to Teguz to head home. We were sad to leave the beach. I would recommend Telemar to anyone spending time on the North Coast of Honduras.

 I had loved our rental car from the beginning but on Tuesday I was doubly glad that it was big enough to comfortably hold five. Brent rode with us as far as Santa Rita where he caught the bus back to his site, and Emily rode with us all the way to Teguz. The drive back to Teguz was uneventful, but breathtaking as we neared the city and the road was full of steep climbs, sharp turns, and sheer drops as you looked out the window.

 Even though Sarah admits her sense of direction is poor and navigating the streets in Teguz is a nightmare, amazingly we found “the Guad” or the Guadelupe Hotel where the Peace Corps volunteers stay when they are in Teguz, and dropped off Emily. But jumping back into the city traffic was like boarding Mr.Toad’s Wild Ride as we tried again to get through town to find Leslie’s Place, the B&B where Sarah had made reservations for us for our last night. Finally we found it, but Leslie’s Place was closed, as in gone-out-of-business closed. Bummer.***

 Fortunately, there were several nice hotels on the same street as Leslie’s Place and we were able to get a room at the first one we tried, Hotel Plaza del General. It had an elegant old-Europe feel, and even more importantly, had a nice bar just off the lobby. We enjoyed 2-for-1  cocktails there while congratulating Randy on safely getting us to all our road trip destinations and back to Teguz. Sarah contacted some of her Peace Corps friends who were also in town for various reasons. We arranged to meet Nicki, Emily, Kyla, and Catie at the Sushi Bar a few blocks away for dinner.

 

Dinner with these young women was probably one of the highlights of the trip. All four of them were pretty, whip smart, funny, and charismatic in their own unique ways. Listening to their stories and hearing them describe their lives and their work here in Honduras was just amazing. We especially enjoyed their descriptions of how to direct someone to their house when there are no street names, how they manage to traverse the country on buses, some of which are six-hour trips with no bathroom stops, and the importance of understanding Honduran sign language (with demonstrations).

I wish I’d had a tape recorder; there must in a movie in there somewhere. There is a show on American TV called “Off the Map” about doctors in a fictional South American country and the bizarre medical cases they handle. That show’s got nothin’ on these girls! Spending a little time with these ladies helped me better understand the frustrations and complexities of life in the Peace Corps as well as the amazing bond of friendship that they share. The strong comradery that they developed during their training really connects them so that even their rugged existence and sometimes lonely situations are brightened by the times that they can re-unite.

Sarah may edit this out if I get too mushy about how proud we are of her and her friends and the work that they are doing. We admire their courage and dedication. And we will keep them in our prayers every single day.

Wednesday was our day of departure. Since our plane didn’t leave til after noon Sarah took us to the Peace Corps office which was a bonus activity not on our original itinerary. It was just a few blocks from our hotel so we could walk there and we got a brief tour and even got to meet Emily, the Honduras In-Country Director. She invited us into her office and shared some of her insights on life in Honduras. We especially enjoyed seeing the conference room and the big map of Honduras with color-coded markers on it for each site with a Peace Corps volunteer. 

We were impressed with Emily’s experience (a seasoned professional), her demeanor (friendly, calm, knowledgable) and her awareness of everyone who reported to her and where they are (we saw Sarah’s pin on the map!).

 Sarah used Brent’s “cab maneuver” to get us to the airport. She jumped in a cab and directed the driver to the airport, then Randy gamely followed right behind him despite speeding drivers turning around in the middle in the street, cars driving up on the sidewalk and vendors who appeared out of thin air right by the car every time traffic slowed a bit. Sarah, who by this point must have been totally exhausted physically and mentally from translating every single transaction for us, successfully got us through one last hurdle with the rental company who tried to charge a good bit more than had been stated in the contract. By the way we put over 1700 km on our Hyundai with no dents, fender-benders, or flat tires – a miracle! 

 It was pretty hard to say adios to our girl. I’ll save my emotional thoughts for her eyes only, but anyone out there who has a friend/child/relative in the Peace Corps should be busting a gut with pride over your strong, brave young people and the work they are doing. Randy and I would encourage anyone to visit Honduras if they can possibly go. Honduran people are enormously polite and friendly, the country needs the tourism dollars, and your PCV will love an excuse to show you this amazing and beautiful country.

 

 The important thing to remember is that when you visit Honduras anything and everything can possibly go wrong along the way. (I have not included details of the occasional stomach issues or squabbles over directions**** etc) You just have to remember that the adventure is really in your attitude.

We love you so much, Sarita! Muchas Gracias!

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Recommended hotels and other places we visited:

Copan:  Twisted Tanya’s restaurant  – always a PCV favorite and amazing food and drinks

Hotel Marina in Copan – has a pool and workout room and a really great bar.

Hotel Yat Balam – rated among the top “boutique” hotels in Central AND South America. There are only four room but it is centrally located and has a great bistro on the first floor.

Tela: Resort TelaMar - seemed to cater to the European crowd but really nice resort.

Maya Vista - A nice place on a hill in Tela, both a restaurant and an upscale hostel

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*Had we taken public busses, it would have taken upwards of 18 hours to get there. Keep in mind that Honduras is around the same geographic size as Virginia, yet it could take days to get from one side to the other.

**Yea right. That camera is a goner. I don’t care what the Honduran teenagers told us.  I will be shocked if they actually go look for it deep down in depths of the jungle where there arent even footpaths. And then if they DID locate it, it will be shattered and they will sell it for scrap.

***For the record, I made reservations at the very reputable B&B about a month in advance. But in true Honduran fashion, they went out of business, closed down and moved out without so much as a phone call to let me know. Que raro, no?

****While meandering our way through San Pedro Sula, my father informed me that my sense of direction is akin to the “braille method” and he couldn’t figure out why I wouldn’t just roll down the window and ask some rando Honduran for directions.  I’ll pass on the spontaneous car-jacking thank you.