Showing posts with label Backpacking in Honduras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Backpacking in Honduras. Show all posts

Monday, March 25, 2013

Nicaragua, here we come!!

From our last journey to Central America (Tela, Honduras)

Well, here we come....in 6 months :) The plane tickets for Ryan and Brandy's 4th Wedding Anniversary Trip have just been booked! With this purchase comes a challenge: living out of two small backpacks from Sunday-Sunday. If you have flown Spirit Airlines, you may know how this challenge came about. Spirit, while being about $200 less than the next cheapest flight from another airline, also charges for both carry on and checked luggage! Boo! I decided to spend the luggage money on trip insurance since we're booking so far in advance of our trip. I think it's money well spent for peace of mind for the next 6 months but I'm sure there are plenty of people who would rather have the extra luggage. The way I see it, it's less stuff to lug around....especially since our preferred mode of transportation will be hoofing it and public transport. When we went to Honduras, I over packed because I wanted to be prepared for anything that could happen. Turns out, even with our massive bags, we didn't have baby oil for the no-see-ums that are just awful in Utila and something we had no way of knowing about before we left (We didn't even know we'd be going to Utila before we left). What I learned from Honduras is that you can be prepared but packing everything but the kitchen sink isn't necessary. Clothes, toiletries, 2 beach towels and some comfy shoes. That should do it. Oh, and maybe one of those light sleeping bag things...that would have been nice in the San Pedro Sula airport when we spent 13 hours there. This time around, our flight doesn't leave Managua until around 1:00 am, so we should have plenty of exploring time during the day that we don't get to the airport quite so early. I'm also going to make sure someone will actually be at the ticket counter to check us in when we arrive. I wonder if they stop letting people into the airport at a certain time? I have some research to do!

Have you been to Nicaragua? What are your recommendations? All we know for sure is this: We want to hike a volcano, Ryan wants to do some surfing (he's a little leery of renting a surfboard but for our trip, it just makes more sense this time) and we want to be around actual Nicaraguans. This is our favorite part of traveling abroad. We want to feel like we have actually left the US! No resorts, no air conditioning (unless that's part of the general experience), and NO CHAIN RESTAURANTS. I'm sad to say that we have broken all of these rules but it's something to strive for ;)


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

San Pedro Sula and Copan Ruinas, Honduras


Hola! That's about the extent of my Spanish, but I managed to get by in Honduras with Ryan as my interpreter :) Being in this lovely country encouraged me to improve my Spanish but I don't know if I'll ever get past the basics unless we move to Central or South America! Pointing to things you want and saying "Quiero" may be adorable for a 3 year old, but for a 25 year old married woman, it doesn't quite have the same effect.

We started off our journey flying into San Pedro Sula at 1 am in the morning. Lucky for us La Posada B&B has a car to pick up guests from the airport(1 am in a developing country is an intimidating first impression). La Posada was by far the nicest place we stayed on our trip and the a/c in our room was a nice transition into the steamy sauna that is Honduras! The Cafe Maya coffee in the morning, along with the home cooked breakfast by the pool was very luxurious as well :)

The kind gentleman who picked us up from the airport was also our complimentary ride to the bus station, where for a few dollars we hopped on a "chicken bus" (old U.S. school bus) to Copan Ruinas. (We forgot to tip our lovely chaffeur and felt like terrible tourists, but we were able to redeem ourselves in La Ceiba when we saw him picking up La Posada guests from the ferry station...I like to think that took us off the "American jerks" list)

**IMPORTANT TIP** make sure you eat and drink water on long bus rides with no a/c. It is true that you won't have a bathroom break for a few hours, but you'll be sweating out all of your H2O, so bathroom breaks really aren't as much of an issue as you might think. I didn't know this important tip before our day started, so once we made it to Copan Ruinas, checked into Hostal La Manzana Verde and promptly took a moped taxi (known as tuk-tuks in Thailand, not sure what they're called in Central America) to the ruins that Copan Ruinas are named for....I discovered the hard way that a day in the heat, without adequate hydration and feeding, leads to dizziness and the distinct notion that one's death is near. Other than the brief time I spent thinking I wouldn't live out the week, I really enjoyed the ruins! It's amazing to imagine these ruins as the bustling cities they once were. Just try to picture people walking around, gossiping about their Mayan leaders and worrying about the quinoa harvest...

After the ruins, we decided to check out Twisted Tanya's for their "Backpacker's Special". The food was amazing and it was a great deal! The view from Twisted Tanya's is breathtaking and I highly recommend this as a must-see.

After we ate, we were both exhausted from the travel, heat and long day and decided to nap before heading out for drinks with our hostelmates.
(From left to right: Michael, 2 people I can't remember what their names are, Hillary, Che, Ryan)
At La Manzana Verde, we made friends with the 3 other people staying in our room as well as a few others from adjoining rooms. There was the very liberal and informative Hillary from Arizona who was making her way through Central America on the "Gringo Trail",Che, the dancer/charming Aussie from Vancouver on his way to visit a friend in Utila, and Michael from the UK, who was also making his way on the Gringo Trail and had some hilarious/disturbing jokes. We actually ended up traveling with Hillary and Che to Utila the next morning at 6 am to catch the cheapest bus to La Ceiba, from where we would catch the ferry to Utila.

Ryan and I were planning on staying in Copan for a few days, but after a few hours, we had pretty much had our fill and were anxious to see more! Having only 7 days to explore an entire country definitely gives you the itch to keep moving. On to La Ceiba!!