travel blog - after roatan

we left roatan on monday the 17th of january
as an end-note to our trip on that island
while we were checking in for our flight back to san pedro sula
we discovered
to our great joy
and to thunderous applause from our group
that murray´s bag had arrived!
finally
not only that,
everything was still in it
and murray promptly removed his computer
and put it in his carry on
after the same drill
of a stopover at la ceiba
before heading to san pedro sula
our group split up
sarah, erin, mikayla, anita and i
hopped onto a mini-bus
that took us to a bus stop in town
where we caught a public transport
(glorified schoolbus)
to puerto cortes
coming from the sunny shores of roatan
the cold and rain hit us by surprise
it also didn´t help
that the window on the seat i was at
was broken and completely gone
we had thought it was just open before
oh well

at puerto cortes,
thanks to sarah´s communion with the locals
a gentleman on the bus
had asked the driver to take us directly to a hotel
which was SUPER nice of them to do
as it was pouring out
and dark by then
so we spent our very first night
in a dorm room with 5 beds
a cold shower
at the glorious hotel formosa
run by some hondurans of chinese descent
but who couldn´t speak chinese anymore
at least i got to use one of the few spanish phrases i´d learned
just that day
¨¿habla chino?¨
to which i even understood the reply
¨no hablo chino¨
life is amazing sometimes isn´t it?
hehehee
we ate at a local taqueria
where were we avoid all the tasty looking fresh vegetables
that they loaded on our tasty taquitos
because we wanted to avoid tummy problems
and bought some fruit from the locals
then early the next morning
like 5:15am early
admist the pouring rain
which incredibly had not stopped all night
we ran out to the bus station
which was maybe 3 blocks away
and a thoroughly drenched kirby
with a once-but-no-longer-waterproof bag
and totally unable to communicate in spanish
walked back and forth between bus
and food shack
trying to figure out where i should go
all i can say
is it was very very wet
tho at least i did get a piping hot taco
wrapped in tin foil on a plate
before we got on the bus
that was probably going to where we wanted to go
we ended up in puerto barrios
(which is, indeed, where we wanted to go)
and found the docks
where the bus driver made a slight attempt
to enhance the local economy of his circle of friends
who told us he would take us across the water to livingston
(which is where we wanted to end up that day)
for 50Q a person
(about double what we expected to pay)
and that the collectivos weren´t running because the seas were too rough
maybe he didn´t notice
that the sea was right behind him
and looked surprisingly beautiful and tranquil
then again,
there was no way he would have known
that we had spent most of the last 8 days on the water
and a good portion of it under it
so in all fairness,
maybe he was concerned that we had delicate tummies for sea travel
anyways,
when we insisted
(and when i say ¨we¨
i mean ¨we¨ as in sarah and mikayla
did all the talking
and i did my part by looming in the background
which is really important you know)
on going to the public docks
he drove us 50 more metres down the road
where we promptly got tickets for 25Q a head
and waited for the next collectivo to fill up and go
the sun was warm and bright
and the ride across the ocean was calmer than most of the boat dive trips we did
tho the boat wasn´t as big or as stable as our dive boat
nevertheless we discovered
that by clenching one´s buttocks
the pounding from the hard wooden bench
didn´t really hurt as much any more
ah! the simple things in life eh?
who knew
that all one needed to be comfortable
on a long bumpy boat ride
(they were little bumps,
but a heck of a lot of them)
was a strong ass
=P