March 18, 2013

We crossed the border into Honduras first thing this morning at 6:30 am.  It was a nice cool 65 degrees as we drove through the pine forest and mountains of Nicaragua to Honduras.

I had been listening to Scott tell so many people how high the murder rate was in Honduras, that I was really nervous about traveling through the country.  My fears were unfounded…. As we crossed the border, the road had a few pot holes, but not compared to our previous trip along the southern/western portion of Honduras.  As we reached the capital city of Tegucigalpa, the two lane road turned into a beautiful new four-lane highway (and NO toll booths!).  We drove on this most of the day.  It was well engineered, so the corners were easy to navigate (not so in other countries!!).  The landscape was beautiful – pine forests and rain forest – We stopped for gas twice, and lunch at Wendy’s (it sounded much better than it really was!).

We parked the bike under the watchful eye of the armed guard.  Scott ordered our meal, and ended up with twice as much food as he thought he was getting…. so we offered it to the guard – he was happy!

After traveling 9 hours, we made it to La Ceiba, the Caribbean port, by 3:30 pm (I thought we it would take at least two days!).  The ferry leaves at 4:30 pm, so we are cutting it close!  It’s 97 degrees…. The ferry is for passengers only – no autos.  They will let us take the bike in the luggage area.

We found the port and ferry – got the bike loaded, then realized we had it loaded on the wrong ferry!  We had it on the ferry to Utila Island rather than Roatan!  Quick – unload the bike and got it onto the correct ferry, paid for our tickets and passage for the bike and were out to sea by 4:30 pm.  The ferry is a 152 foot catamaran yacht- we were there in 70 minutes.

After getting the bike off the boat, we road down toward West End.  Found a hotel room (while I waited for Scott to get our room, at least half dozen very friendly people stopped and talked to me in English…) and settled in for the night.  We have decided that Honduras is the most friendliest and beautiful country so far –

March 19, 2013

We awoke in paradise….this island is so beautiful!  We enjoyed a restful day from our long travel day yesterday.

Took a little ride around the west end of the island….

The sea water is so warm and clear – ahhhhh…….  water temp is 85 F – air temp is 82 F

We are finding a few good places to eat…  one is  “chicken-crack” – seriously, the best rotisserie chicken we have every had!

The sunsets every night are amazing….

March 20-25, 2013

This week, Scott got his diving certification with Coconut Tree Divers, while I went snorkeling, read and relaxed….  I was able to go out with him on a couple of his dives.  I snorkeled while he and his instructor, Marcos, dove – it was really amazing to be able to see them diving below as I snorkeled.  I saw turtles, lots of small fish, some really large parrot fish – could even hear the sound they make as they fed off the reef.

Ended up staying at the Beach House – right on Half-moon Bay.  Scott can walk to the dive shop and everything we need is right here.  We would like to stay longer, but our room is only available until the 26th.  The Easter holiday is the busiest week of the year, so it is probably good to be somewhere else then.

Cindy’s restaurant was a fun place to eat.  She is right next to the dive shop and makes good, inexpensive food in her tiny booth…breakfast and lunch.  The American divers next door have gotten her to make pancakes, waffles and taco bell supreme.  I love her smile and contagious laugh!

Sundays in Latin America…. EVERYONE goes to the beach!! Our peaceful little bay is a whole different world on Sunday!!!!

Donna, the innkeeper at the Beach House, is a precious Christian lady with two teenage boys, Alan and Alex.  She is a single mom – who goes to the Baptist Church just on the other end of the bay.  She is just starting a youth group…. we enjoyed her company!

This old sailboat was moored out in the bay.  Our first thought was that it was in pretty bad shape; however, we realized the mast was set at an angle on purpose for jumping.  Looks like great fun!

Another beautiful sunset on Roatan, Honduras

March 26, 2013

On the way to the ferry, we got hit by a taxi.  He ran into our left bag – Scott kept us from falling, and just drove on.  He wasn’t going to stop and get into any problems, even though it was the taxi driver’s fault.  Fortunately, the bike itself was not damaged and we were not hurt.  We are going to find a repair shop to see if they can straighten it out….

Took the ferry back to the mainland.  The seas were a bit stormy.   Here is Scott disembarking from the cargo area…

The rain started about half way through the voyage and continued until we reached a hotel.  I’m not sure if I have ever seen it rain so hard!  The roads were really flooded.  We got thoroughly soaked – trying to dry out in our hotel tonight.  Looks like tomorrow is going to be more rain as we drive to Copan…