From Utila we rode the ferry back to La Ceiba and then shared a taxi to a bus station with a Canadian retiree who spends her winters in Honduras as part of her retirement plan. I found this retirement plan very appealing and was interested to learn that she spends her time in Honduras volunteering at a mandated day care for working mothers who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford daycare and would have to leave their children at home unattended.
At the bus station we found that the price to Tela had doubled and while we were ready to pay the exorbitant fee, the outraged Canadian retiree encouraged us to follow her to another, more reasonable bus station. Thank God for this woman. After the unexpected diving trip, we were already over budget for our trip and were relieved to have her guidance. Once we reached Tela, we again shared a taxi and Ryan and I were the first to be dropped off at Hotel Mango. We had read about this hotel in Lonely Planet and were disappointed that it didn't live up to the description in the now outdated guide. For $20/night, it was cheap by US standards, but in Honduras, it should have been nicer. The next morning, we switched to the cheaper (and nicer) La Posada del Sol hotel and fell in love with the family that runs it. I couldn't find a website for them, but the address is 8 Calle 3 Av NE, opposite Ejecutivos and only a block or two from Hotel Mango.
This is my reaction when we made it to Tela:
When you leave paradise, I guess it's hard to adjust back to the real world and the poverty in Tela quickly brings you back down to Earth. It is beautiful on the beach and there are beautiful parts to Tela, but I felt an overwhelming sadness when our taxi first entered the city. (It doesn't help that it was rainy)
What we found in Honduras, is that even though the people are poor, they seem to be happy. That's not to say that they wouldn't appreciate the luxuries we take for granted every day, but they seem to find happiness with what they have and I think that's something we could all learn from. And, as you can see from the photo below, it's not all sad and depressing...there is beauty everywhere, we just need to look for it.
After exploring Tela for a bit the first day we decided to venture to the neighboring Garifuna villages that we had seen on the Travel channel on the second day.
We arrived at the village closest to Tela and found that none of the restaurants or little shops were open because it was so early in the day. We walked around for maybe 20 minutes and then, rather than wait for another bus, we walked to the next village which was only about 2 miles away. (I say "only" now, but at the time, I'm pretty sure I was whining about the walk) I'm glad we made the walk, because we were able to see some cows and chickens, including this baby moo cow:
In the next Garifuna village, we discovered that the only open restaurants were out of gas to cook with and so, after witnessing a Garifuna funeral procession, we caught the next taxi back to Tela. The funeral procession is worth mentioning because it seemed that the entire village walked the casket to the cemetery while singing and it was so mesmerizing that I wanted to film it or take a picture but didn't, of course, out of respect for their loss.
Tela and the Garifuna villages were interesting because they seem so foreign but if you're looking for a thrilling adventure, you're not likely to find it here. Unless you're willing to spend the big bucks for eco-tours and things like that. I wouldn't skip it, but I would want to know that before going.
On a wall in San Pedro Sula. I think it says something like "Outsiders rob our forests/land. Assemble law"...this is a poor translation and I'd love to know what it really means.
The next day we caught the bus back to San Pedro Sula with the intention of spending the day exploring the city. After walking around the central park and eating lunch at an air-conditioned McDonald's we felt that we had exhausted our options in San Pedro Sula. If we had more time or more money, we may have been able to do more...but we didn't :)
View from McDonald's (I generally make it a point not to eat at places available to me at home while traveling, but without a hostel or hotel room to leave our giant backpacks we had to lug them around the city and it was hot!)
Thinking we could hang out in a restaurant or internet cafe at the airport, we made our way there to spend the 13 hours before our flight.
Note to those flying out of San Pedro Sula on Spirit: Spirit Airlines flies in and promptly flies out of San Pedro Sula each night. During the day, they do not staff their ticket counter. So if you get there early, you are unable to check in until they arrive roughly an hour or two before your flight. This means that you cannot go through security and you're stuck with Wendy's, a cigar lounge, a souvenir shop and Baleada Loco, a baleada shop. Here is Ryan demonstrating how loco those baleada's were:
This is an excrutiating way to spend 13 hours but somehow, between a drink at the cigar lounge, a baleada and later a combo from Wendy's...we made it.
Note to those flying out of Honduras: You must pay an exit fee of approximately $35 to leave the country. Did I mention we were over budget for our trip? We worriedly paid the exit fee of about $70total for both of us and debated whether or not it was worth the overdraft fee to eat. We decided it was.
By the time we could go through security, the shops and internet cafe by the gates had closed and we had hard plastic chairs with arms or a linoleum floor to sleep on until our plane arrived at 1 am. Why sleep on the floor you ask? Because we had a few towels that we could lay down and completely stretch out on. With two bulging backpacks as pillows, this was a livable situation for our weary bones.
We slept through the plane ride to Miami and when we walked into Miami International Airport, we felt like we were waking up from a very long, strange dream. You forget that in the real world, the bathrooms are modern and buildings are hospital clean and air conditioned. In the dream world, it's always hot and steamy no matter where you are and things look run down and often dirty. You definitely appreciate all the things you take for granted, like a cell phone that also surfs the net and let's you post photos on Facebook.
On our way through customs before we caught our flight to Orlando, we grabbed some Dunkin Donuts and then realized how nice it was to have all of these little conveniences at every turn. It's also nice to escape them from time to time and experience how the rest of the world lives. That's why we'll keep the travel bug and be itching to put our passports to use again soon...
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