Advertisement
Published: December 10th 2008
Edit Blog Post
BUS LESSON UNO CERO UNO:
1. Get to the bus early so you can get a window seat. You will want a window seat. I repeat, you will want a window seat because it gets muy muy stuffy.
2. The seats are built to fit two people, but they pack them in so be prepared to feel some other person’s moist body part on you.
3. Make sure it’s a direct bus. You do not want to be on a bus with no air conditioning, sweaty limbs, and body odor that stops every 5 minutes to pick up passengers who have more sweaty limbs and more body odor. Don’t just ask one person, ask as many as you can “es un autobus directo?” because we asked four people and the tally was 2-2 about exactly where the bus was going and if it were direct or not. We chose the person who we felt had the best English skills and fortunately we chose correctly.
4. In Honduras, you buy your bus ticket on the bus as you’re going. This means you also ask the people around you how much it costs. “Cuanto es (insert place you’re going)?” Because the ticket seller
will charge you whatever he thinks he can get from you or whatever money he sees in your hand. So if you ask him how much it is and you have 200 lempira in your hand, it will be 200 lempira.
5. Get a butt massage after the bus trip.
TACA ES CACA
We arrived in San Pedro Sula not so I could have a drug induced and feverish fantasy of beating off Honduran attackers, but to take a plane to Roatan. After taking an Immodium to cork up, we got to the airport. Now there are two options to get to Roatan. Either by bus and ferry (4 ½ hours) or by plane (25 minutes) you get to La Ceiba, and then you can either take the ferry or continue by plane (20 minutes) to Roatan. We chose to take a plane to get to Roatan early, since a flight only takes 45 minutes total, while the bus and ferry ride takes 4 ½ hours total. We thought that we were being smart taking a plane, since there was only a 10 minute layover in La Ceiba and after the hour flight on an air-conditioned airplane, we’d
have the whole day in Roatan!
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:30am. At 10:30am they said 11:30am. At 11:30 they said 12:30 and gave us free Wendy’s (trust me, never order Wendy’s nachos in Honduras). More time passed, no plane, more un-kept promises, and pissed off passengers. Finally at 3:30pm we boarded onto a small Indiana Jones looking plane built in the 30’s with no air-conditioning. The temperature on the plane was as bad as the bus, but with no open windows! Now keep in mind that all of us have been waiting 7 hours to take a 45 minute flight. If we had taken the bus and then the ferry, we would have been in Roatan easily by now and would have spent far less money. In fact, we could have taken the bus, the ferry to Roatan, and then taken the ferry back to La Ceiba again to take our flight from La Ceiba, because when our flight landed in La Ceiba, we were delayed yet again.
We would ask the airline personnel what was going on and they told us that they would find out, but they would never come back out of fear of the angry passengers, and we were pretty much stuck where we were since we couldn’t leave the waiting area. What was more frustrating, was the fact that other non-Taca flights would arrive, let their people off, and then 10 minutes later, these people would go on another plane to Roatan and we would continue waiting. Needless to say, there was a lot of reading done and some interesting people met.
Spencer - was not one of them. He was originally from Arkansas, living in San Fransisco, and is a huge Barry Bonds fan. That alone should scare you away from Spencer. His ultimate goal for the trip was not to experience the Mayan ruins or culture of a Central American country, but to get laid as much as possible, and it was fantastic to watch him try. He hit on every girl on our flight. I do have to say this about Spencer though, he knew who he was and he knew what he wanted. He told me that was his goal since his recent divorce was and to “get back in the game”. Interesting that Barry Bonds wants the same exact thing.
Dina- The artsy girl from Colorado, who was seeing her boyfriend for the first time in 9 months since he got a job as a cook in Roatan.
Yes, Spencer hit on Dina too. No female was safe. But this is what I love best about traveling, not necessarily the sights, but the people you meet.
Finally we got on the plane and twenty minutes later, we made it to the 40 mile long island of Roatan. It took 8 hours for a 45 minute flight. I hate Taca. I hate Taca. I hate Taca. Did I mention that I hate Taca?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.133s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 65; dbt: 0.071s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb