I can happily report that we did all of the things we had intended to do in Honduras, and more. We were here just over two weeks and I feel like I’ve really gotten to know a significant amount about Honduras. Coming from Guatemala I noticed everything being a lot more green here. The grass is super green, almost like someone took a highlighter to the fields. There are fruit here that I’ve never heard of, but my taste buds thoroughly enjoy. Where Guatemala seemed to be Mountain after mountain, and volcano after volcano, Honduras seems to have a lot more flat fields for farming. This could also just be because we spent most of our time on the coast. Driving along the coastline we saw fields and fields of palm tree and pineapple farms. Walking down the street you can see banana and mango trees everywhere. It feels so great to live amongst produce that can only be found in the supermarket back home.
It was great to stay with my friend Josue, because I feel like I got to see
more into the daily life of a Honduran family. We learned how to make some of their food, ate fruit and drank “agua de coco” (coconut water) straight from the trees in their yard, observed leaf-cutter ants make their way from the trees to their home, learned about their uncles farm next door and their milk business, swam in the absolutely gorgeous fresh water river in the back of their house, got to visit his girlfriend Yadira’s family and see where she grew up, helped their neighbor boy with his English homework, and walked around Josue’s property and learned about the different plants he has there and dreams he has for his future farming projects. One day we decided to go to a place called Lancetilla on the way to the beach. Our lonely planet book told us it is the second largest botanical garden in the world. We got to the park and had to walk 4 km just to get to the actual entrance, so it was a hot and long day. The highlight of the park for us was the layers of forest we walked though. There were different types of palm trees, pine trees, willow trees, trees that looked painted with different colors of bark, all leading back to the bamboo forest. Now THIS was awesome! We walked in and I immediately thought about how my sister has been making references to “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” on several of our photos throughout this trip. I literally felt like I was standing in the midst of giant grass. I felt tiny and half-way expected a giant ant or praying mantis to come running out from behind a patch of bamboo. It was breathtaking. So, after walking around the huge garden we finally made it back to the front and
then Josiah honestly looks at us and says, “I think I’m going to go buy a map of the park”. We all cracked up at the fact that he bought one AFTER we were finished walking around and not when we first got there. What a silly boy. Our feet were tired so we waited on a taxi to take us to the beach in a town called Tela. We had a lot of fun on the beach and got to play in the big crashing waves.
This being only the second time Josiah has made it to the ocean in his lifetime, we
decided to push the boundaries being expanded even more and take him to an island. We heard about the beauty of the Bay Islands of the coast of Honduras, so we looked into couchsurfing to help keep the costs down if we were to go. A woman agreed to let us come stay with her and her two sons, so we took advantage of the opportunity and headed out…in the rain! I warned Josiah that I get tend to get a bit seasick sometimes, and it being rainy I was even more worried. Quickly after we headed out on the ferry we BOTH started feeling ill and Josiah ended up being worsethan me.
We made it through, but it was a rough 1.5 hours. The island was beautiful, and I got to see the crystal blue Caribbean water I had always dreamed of. It was fun to swim in the ocean and feel like you were swimming in a pool. Too bad the ocean is so dang salty, or it would have been perfect! Hehe. The woman we stayed with, Mel, was super sweet. Her house was comfy and even had a hot shower with good water pressure! Her two sons, Deo and Ory, were sooooooooooooooo entertaining. We have a couple of videos that caught them in their silliness. When we get home remember to ask me to see them! When we couchsurf and stay with people, we like to cook for them as a way to give back and show our appreciation so we cooked them a spaghetti dinner. It was a short two-night stay, and we wished we had had more time to spend
there. All in all, the islands were a good experience, but still ended up being more expensive than we had hoped. Most of the cost went into transportation. Getting there and back on the ferry and no real access to public busses and having to take a taxi (overly priced) everywhere pretty much did us in. We thought we would have plenty of money with the cash we had on hand so we didn’t want to risk bringing our credit cards. Well, when we left Josiah was completely out of money and I didn’t have much. So we have been living the past few days on the cash I have until we can make it to an ATM in La Ceiba. Ahh! Then it will be Josiah’s turn to pay for things for awhile!
I feel like Josiah and I have learned a lot about each other in the past couple of weeks. We, or at least I, seem to have a new appreciation for our relationship. We help each other out, we rarely have much to argue about, we are very caring and affectionate toward each other, we appreciate each other, we laugh and joke around with each other, and are truly each other’s best friend. It’s refreshing to still be getting along so well after constant companionship for the past 2 months.
We left La Ceiba and headed for the capital City, Tegucigalpa. We met a sweet girl Janelle, from Alaska, in our taxi and we all decided to stay at a hotel near the bus we needed to catch in the morning. It turns out our hotel doubled as a Chinese restaurant. I ordered fried rice and the lady looked at me like I was crazy and insisted I couldn't eat that much food. So, we decided to split the order. It came out on two separate plates that were HEAPING over with food! We still couldn't finish our four dollar feast. haha. After two long days of travel, and another border crossing, we have arrived safely in Managua, Nicaragua. We aren't sure our plan from here, but I'm sure we'll be spontaneous and of course safe. Goodbye Lempiras, Hello Cordobas.
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