Lago Yojoa to Tela

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The rain was incessant last night. Non stop. I imagined a flood outside.

Perfect day for a bus ride out of town! We had a breakfast burrito & met Peter (from Vancouver, BC) & Alex (SF, Ca.) & we all swapped insight into our travels. Peter just came from Nicaragua so it's always great to get insight into where to stay, what fun stuff they did & then we can share our insight as well. Love the traveler community. We told Peter to meet us at our hotel in Tela the following day & we packed up & got ready to head out. Settled up our bill ($120 for 2 nights & 3 days worth of good food, good beer & good fun) & headed out. Thankfully the rain stopped for the time being & we were able to walk to the highway without getting soaked. We waited for a bus in front of a Pulperia (basically they sell chips & random household goods & it's usually just an oversized window in the back or front of their house). Our yellow school bus arrived & whisked us away. It's a Saturday so everyone is out in town & the going was a bit slow through Pena Blanca.

Does anyone know why all of Central America has old Canadian & American school buses? At breakfast we decided it must be some sort of trade setup. But we are so curious. They are in abundance & we see new ones (to them anyway) often. I would love to know what the story is on that.

It started pouring again during the drive. Outside the city of San Pedro Sula there are a ridiculous amount of manufacturing plants & warehouses & containers. Nutso. In SP we arrived at our first really large & organized bus terminal. There was an organized process & parking spaces & waiting areas & ticket counters! We walked into the terminal & lucked into a bus leaving in 5 minutes for Tela. We have such good bus luck. We almost always catch our transfers promptly after arriving somewhere. Love it! This place had an armed security guard who searched all of our bags that we carried on board! Interesting. And, this is the best, they only sold enough tickets to fill the seats!! Wow. It was a really comfy bus & seemed too perfect. After 5 minutes on the road we pulled over because there was this loud hissing/screeching noise coming from the engine. We sat there for about 30 minutes while they figured it out & fixed whatever the problem was & then we were off again. There seems to be a rule about organized bus rides: they must stop to allow passengers to eat & use the bathroom every 1-2 hours. It definitely adds to travel time but is a nice benefit. I had some fried rice & Geoff got some Choki's (his new fav very similar to Chips Ahoy but better).

On the road again! We made it to Tela & got dropped off on the side of the highway. Again, only got off the bus because I asked the guy next to me where we were & he said Tela. Yikes. Announcements would be helpful too. Caught a cab & headed to the Maya Vista Hotel, recommended by the Quebec couple. Their cheapest rooms were sold out but they took $5 off the price if we promised not to use the AC. Our most expensive room since Belize ($30 a night) but the cleanest room & bathroom we've had in far too long (ok well since Gracias). Worth every single penny. And! Fantastic water pressure in the shower & it's mostly warm water. And they have a
balcony/bar/restaurant that overlooks the entire bay.

We walked around town a bit & found a place to eat. I had veggie soup (on a soup kick) & Geoff had pescado a la plancha (grilled fish). Yummmyyy!!

The town has a bit of an edge to it but if you say hi to people, they smile & say hi back. Supposedly this town used to have a lot of crime but has improved in recent years thanks to the introduction of tourist police (which almost every Central American town employs). Keeping tourism alive by keeping petty crime in check. Works for me. We are in search of a cooler for our upcoming island time & we met the sweetest family who owns one of the shops we stopped in. Their son (who was in the shop with the entire rest of their family) is named Geoffrey & spells it just like him. I chatted with them for awhile. The dad had been to Seattle & went on & on about the view as you drive into the city from the North. Best city view in my opinion. It was fun. As we were leaving the mom warned us to be careful & stay alert. Advice we live by currently.

Back at the hotel we enjoyed a few beverages as we sat in the hammocks & read our books. The restaurant here is quite popular & I ended up talking with several Hondurans who all used the hammock area to smoke. This country seems to have quite the thriving upper-middle class. It is the first country where I've talked with people who are also visiting the towns we are in & they are Honduran, not foreigners. It's interesting & honestly refreshing.

Somewhere near here there is a party enjoying music by Michael Jackson. We're enjoying it too.

We watched the moon (full or almost full) rise over the mountains & off to bed.

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Photos

Maya Vista
Our home for the next 3 nights.