Blogs from San Pedro Sula, Northern, Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Our evening in Managua was serene. After divulging in a nice typical style dinner on a patio overlooking the barrio, we ventured across the street to our hotel, locked the gate and felt safe behind our barbed wire for a decent half night sleep At about 9pm the barrio came to life. We could hear music, people hollering, dogs barking, clanking and roaring sounds. We could only imagine what was going on outside our gates but felt very secure in our room. Why all the worry about crime? Yes, if you are walking outside anywhere at the wrong time, bad things can happen. Yes, if we were walking around this neighborhood at that time sporting expensive items, bags - we may be robbed. All in all, we felt safe but intensely aware of our surroundings. Fortunately, ... read more

Tino Sunday, July 24, 2011 So I’m stuck in the brewery and hotel with a broken down motorcycle. Again, not the worst place to be stuck, but I will want to leave. The brewery really is in the middle of nowhere. But the little dirt road that leads to the brewery passes a little shack of a house. Outside the house always sits a man smoking cigarettes. On the other side of the road from his house he has a small junkyard of motorcycles which sit in front of a backdrop of green mountains adorned with clouds. In one glace I can see that he doesn’t have the parts I need for my motorcycle, but if he is a mechanic and is quite cleaver, maybe he can fabricate what I need. At 7:30 am Sunday morning, ... read more

Our flight landed without a hitch and we were happy to get to the hostel since we were exhausted having landed at four in the morning Ohio time. Once we were up and moving, we decided to head up a steep hill to a Coca Cola sign that was similar in fashion to the Hollywood sign in LA. The day was extremely hot and steamy and we stopped several times just to hydrate. We never actually made it to the sign after hiking over an hour. On our way back down the "mountain" there was a strange sound coming from up in the trees and we noticed bird nests literally hanging at least a foot from different branches.... read more

The bus from La Ceiba that should've been 3 hours took a little over that before it arrived at Central America's largest bus terminal. A quick taxi ride and we were downtown. Hotel Terazza seemed a good choice by the LP and so I checked in. At HNL 250 ($13) the room was small but with a bathroom and a window. I was a little anxious of going out as I had read in the Bay Islands magazine that apparently San Pedro Sula was the worlds 3rd most dangerous city... On the internet however it is not listed as such, although it has one of the highest murder rates in Latin America. I took only a short stroll of a block around the hotel ending up at a Chinese restaurant where I had dinner. The next ... read more

We were finally returning to Honduras...we hope, we hope. Maureen had received an email from Michael, BECA Director, who doubted very much that Guatemalan technology could “alert” the borders (his quotes). Still, I felt, you never know. After all the anticipation, the border was a breeze. So we were victims of our gullibility, probably what was intended. The bus rolled down the eastern coast, not far from where a 7.3 quake had struck offshore six months ago.. I became reflective, preparing for a departure mindset. I glanced at Maureen listening to her iPod, gazing across the aisle toward a calm Caribbean sea. The thought “How special you are” crept across my trance, turned around, and passed before me again. Tears came up but not out and I turned away. When I felt her eyes in the ... read more