Yea! I had visitors! The trip started out on an interesting note as I was chased by a pig, a large momma pig, at 5am as I walked through Talanga to catch the early bus and start my trip. I don’t really know if my fear of
the pig is justified or not, but it was a little unnerving. The pig followed me for a good 5 minutes, from the park all the way to the market until I ran into a bolo (a drunk) who distracted it so I could continue on my journey. Thank you bolo!!
That is actually my second weird animal encounter when trying to catch the 5am bus out of town. The other was a weird swarm of giant insects near each light
post. It was straight out of a Stephen King book/movie. When I say giant, I mean LARGE, they were each about 3-4 inches long. If you have seen esperanza bugs, they were about that size, but flew and thousands of them. Creepy.
Even though my fear of running from the pig resulted in me missing the first bus (I saw it driving down the road), the next left at 5:30 so I still got an early start. By the time I reached Tegus, walked a few blocks t
o the other bus station, grabbed some baleadas from a street vendor on the way, a bus for La Ceiba was ready to go. Perfect timing! You can’t understand how wonderful good bus timing is unless you have done a significant amount of traveling in a 3rd world country. You never know when busses will arrive or depart, regardless of whether a schedule is posted on the wall (they are usually inaccurate). Despite my fears of the bus breaking down causing me to miss the afternoon ferry to Roatan, the trip was flawless and I made it to the pier with enough time to do a little reading before Melissa and Nerissa arrived.
We finally made it to Roatan and found a place to stay. I don’t really have much to say about Roatan except that the beach really is a beautiful as the pictures. Other than the prices (comparable to normal US prices), which were mind boggling for someone living on about $200 dollars a month and acc
ustomed to paying 14 Lempiras for a couple baleadas when I eat outside my house (less than a dollar), the island was great. Of course there were tons of travelers and people from all over the world working in the various restaurants and dive shops. The food was excellent and variety fit for a world-renown destination.
While on the island, I had my first snorkeling experience. I know, weird, but I have never been to a tropical island and you can’t exactly see much in the frigid waters of the Washington Pacific. The first time, we went from the shore. I enjoyed seeing the bright-colored fish but the experience overall was mediocre. The reef was so shallow that you could only swim in certain paths and couldn’t come up for a break to look into the sky or along the top of the water because would be standing on the reef (causes damage and is prohibited). I am not generally claustrophobic but felt a little of that anxiety as I tried to avoid scraping my knees on the reef. The next day, we went from a boat. I fu
ll enjoyed this until my snorkel started filling with water (no idea what was going on). Melissa and Nerissa both had previous snorkeling experience but seemed impressed as they had never been so close to the reef in Hawaii or off the coast of Mexico (although they saw bigger fish in other places.) We had free range to swim where we liked but spent most of the time near the edge of the reef where it dropped off to the depths. Most of the fish congregated near the edge so we could watch them school and dart. I didn’t find Nemo, but Dory has several siblings. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed my first Caribbean Island vacation.
After a short time in paradise, it was a full day’s journey back to the “real world”. I know, I don’t really live in the real world but I did have projects waiting for me. It was nice to return to Peace-Corps-budget-affordable prices and an excited puppy. It was n
ot so nice to find him infested with ticks! Again! Even after a tick-icde bath and three hours of tweezing them off they still aren’t gone!! Fighting ticks is a battle I will continue to fight for the next year. At the moment, I think I am losing but the tides will turn.
Melissa and Nerissa saw my site for a brief morning before hopping a flight to Costa Rica. It was fun showing them my house and one of the schools, where I live, even though they didn’t see much and the visit was short. As for me, it was back to cancelled meetings and HIV charlas. The teachers have been striking about 2 days a week for the last several weeks. That is just one of those issues I have to deal with here. It is annoying but I can’t change it so I reschedule things at the last minute and sometimes have unexpected free mornings. That is just the way it goes.
the pig is justified or not, but it was a little unnerving. The pig followed me for a good 5 minutes, from the park all the way to the market until I ran into a bolo (a drunk) who distracted it so I could continue on my journey. Thank you bolo!!That is actually my second weird animal encounter when trying to catch the 5am bus out of town. The other was a weird swarm of giant insects near each light
post. It was straight out of a Stephen King book/movie. When I say giant, I mean LARGE, they were each about 3-4 inches long. If you have seen esperanza bugs, they were about that size, but flew and thousands of them. Creepy.Even though my fear of running from the pig resulted in me missing the first bus (I saw it driving down the road), the next left at 5:30 so I still got an early start. By the time I reached Tegus, walked a few blocks t
o the other bus station, grabbed some baleadas from a street vendor on the way, a bus for La Ceiba was ready to go. Perfect timing! You can’t understand how wonderful good bus timing is unless you have done a significant amount of traveling in a 3rd world country. You never know when busses will arrive or depart, regardless of whether a schedule is posted on the wall (they are usually inaccurate). Despite my fears of the bus breaking down causing me to miss the afternoon ferry to Roatan, the trip was flawless and I made it to the pier with enough time to do a little reading before Melissa and Nerissa arrived.We finally made it to Roatan and found a place to stay. I don’t really have much to say about Roatan except that the beach really is a beautiful as the pictures. Other than the prices (comparable to normal US prices), which were mind boggling for someone living on about $200 dollars a month and acc
ustomed to paying 14 Lempiras for a couple baleadas when I eat outside my house (less than a dollar), the island was great. Of course there were tons of travelers and people from all over the world working in the various restaurants and dive shops. The food was excellent and variety fit for a world-renown destination.While on the island, I had my first snorkeling experience. I know, weird, but I have never been to a tropical island and you can’t exactly see much in the frigid waters of the Washington Pacific. The first time, we went from the shore. I enjoyed seeing the bright-colored fish but the experience overall was mediocre. The reef was so shallow that you could only swim in certain paths and couldn’t come up for a break to look into the sky or along the top of the water because would be standing on the reef (causes damage and is prohibited). I am not generally claustrophobic but felt a little of that anxiety as I tried to avoid scraping my knees on the reef. The next day, we went from a boat. I fu
ll enjoyed this until my snorkel started filling with water (no idea what was going on). Melissa and Nerissa both had previous snorkeling experience but seemed impressed as they had never been so close to the reef in Hawaii or off the coast of Mexico (although they saw bigger fish in other places.) We had free range to swim where we liked but spent most of the time near the edge of the reef where it dropped off to the depths. Most of the fish congregated near the edge so we could watch them school and dart. I didn’t find Nemo, but Dory has several siblings. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed my first Caribbean Island vacation.After a short time in paradise, it was a full day’s journey back to the “real world”. I know, I don’t really live in the real world but I did have projects waiting for me. It was nice to return to Peace-Corps-budget-affordable prices and an excited puppy. It was n
ot so nice to find him infested with ticks! Again! Even after a tick-icde bath and three hours of tweezing them off they still aren’t gone!! Fighting ticks is a battle I will continue to fight for the next year. At the moment, I think I am losing but the tides will turn.Melissa and Nerissa saw my site for a brief morning before hopping a flight to Costa Rica. It was fun showing them my house and one of the schools, where I live, even though they didn’t see much and the visit was short. As for me, it was back to cancelled meetings and HIV charlas. The teachers have been striking about 2 days a week for the last several weeks. That is just one of those issues I have to deal with here. It is annoying but I can’t change it so I reschedule things at the last minute and sometimes have unexpected free mornings. That is just the way it goes.
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