Honduras

After crossing the border into this beautiful country we were told, as usual, to be very careful here because people are bad and crime here is rampant! But let me tell you right now that during the whole time in Honduras, and after travelling everywhere in the country, we had no problems.

We drove right away to Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. My mom loves geneology and many years ago she found out she has a “cousin” in this city with her same last name.  They discovered a common ancestor who came from Spain during the colonial times.  Many years ago they started chatting on the internet and emailing each other. They have never met, but they call each other cousin. Now, when my mom knew we were going to Honduras, she did not stop until I promised her that we would stop by and at least say hi and maybe have a beer or two.

When we arrived at their house in Tegucigalpa, after a lot of driving around and making wrong turns and what not, they were not there! Eduardo, my mom’s cousin, and his wife were in Guatemala visiting their son. Their neighbor told us that their daughter, Hedill, was at a friend’s house but he could go get her. So he did, and when she arrived she hugged us and welcomed us as if she had known us all her life. That was indeed a very nice surprise.

We stayed there that night, and next day Hedill took us for a tour of Tegucigalpa and nearby towns. We had a great time and got to see a lot of things.

During this tour we stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch/dinner at a small town (can’t remember its name)

 

 

And then we went for a walk at a nice plaza with a pond in it, and saw some people dancing “Punta”, which is a local Afro-American dance that the “Garifunas” made famous some years ago.

 

After a couple of days there, and meeting Eduardo’s kids (Hedill, Carlos and Elsy), and having long and deep conversations with them about life and family, with a few cold ones, we decided we wanted to go to the famous Honduras Cayes, very similar to the Belize ones. We invited Hedill but she could not come, so we left Cubby in front of their house because we were not going to need it, said goodbye for now, and took off.

As we left kind of late, we stayed that night in a small town called Tela, which was quite pretty by the way. There we went to the beach area in the evening and had a beer at a local bar.

 

 The next morning we drove to La Ceiba, which is where you take the boat to the Cayes. We arrived too late for the morning boat so we had to wait a few hours before the next one. There we decided we would go to the small Cayes, called Utila, instead of the big one, because we wanted a place that wasn’t extremely touristic. Let me tell you that the boat moves a lot!!! It’s not a traditional boat, but a Catamaran, that can go quite fast, but with the oceanic waves of that area, it made our trip quite interesting. They were passing out puke bags just in case. We went outside of the boat, in the back, where it was fun to watch the ocean, and saw many flying fish, which I had never seen before.

Once we arrived at Utila, after about an hour on the catamaran, it was getting dark, so we had to quickly find a hostel quickly before we had to sleep in the street! We managed to find a nice one right on the main road. And although a bit far from the port and main area, it was very close to the beach and to the reef area.

 

The next day we went to the beach and then in the afternoon we found out that you can actually check out the reef without even taking a boat far away into the ocean, but right from a pub near the beach area! All they ask is that you have at least a beer at the pub before using their facilities for that purpose. Well, I had to make the huge sacrifice and have a beer!

 

It was awesome!!! I saw all kinds of fish: eels, sting rays, clown fish, you name it! Sometimes I really wish I had a waterproof camera. That night I went to bed and slept like a log that is for sure. Next morning we did about the same, although we also went to a small Iguana Sanctuary that they have in the island, which is sponsored by some British family, or something. It was quite interesting and we learned about the different species of iguana, and also about snakes.

That evening, when the boat arrived at the same time ours did the day before, a small group of 3 people ended up staying at the hostel as well: A girl from Iran, another one from Guanajuato, Mexico (we nicknamed her that) and also an Italian guy, that became soon our very good friend…Don Giovanni!!! They were all very nice and they had actually met each other just a couple of days earlier, also travelling. Don Giovanni immediately became our friend, and ended up travelling with us for more than 2 weeks, but more of that later.

Don Giovanni loved the idea of snorkeling, but he didn’t have a mask or anything, so I lent him one of mine, which gave me an excuse to acquire a new and much better one, considering that snorkeling had been an important part of the trip in the Caribbean so far. The next afternoon we went to check out the reef one more time, with a friend from Argentina that we met at the beach the day before, and that had also bought the same mask and wanted to try some snorkeling. We were quite a group and we had a great time and went so far away into the reef that it took us over two hours to come back to the pub, for a much needed beer. We saw many fish again, although I must say that Don Giovanni got a bit too close to a small moray eel that I was trying to show him while we was trying to dive to see it (they couldn’t really dive deep, so I would go down and point at stuff) that the eel came out of its cave and pretended to go to him to bite his nose. After that we agreed that we should leave the moray eels alone, cause they have two sets of jaws (like the movie Alien) and can really fuck you up. We did laugh quite a bit after the incident though, and I teased Don Giovanni for days!

This island of Utila sure is beautiful and I was surprised at how easily you can make friends there.

But everything must come to an end. After a few days there (4 maybe) we had to leave and Don Giovanni said he was coming with us, because Nicaragua and Costa Rica were our next destinations, and he wanted to go there as well, so he would travel with us for a little while.

 

On the boat on the way back we met a girl from Canada, Elise, who was also going to Nicaragua, although to a different area, and she asked us if she could join us for a couple of days. The group was getting big again! We named her Principesa.

After getting off the boat it was kind of late so we all stayed at a hotel in Tela again and went to the beach for a couple of beers.

 

We had told both Don Giovanni and Principesa that we had to first go back to Tegucigalpa to get Cubby and also to say hi to Eduardo and his wife, who were already back from Guatemala. They said they had no problem and so we headed back to the city.

Needless is to say how welcome we felt at their house! This family is simply amazing and I never thought I would feel like at home so far from it. They went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and treated us also as family. The first night after our arrival we all drank a few (more than a few!) beers and ate some homemade food. They said we were all welcome there to stay for as long as wanted. So not only Jocelyn and I stayed at their house, but also Don Giovanni and Principesa.

 

Eduardo is a fanatic of heraldry and he is actually writing a book about the origin of the name “Alvarado” in America, from the time of the Conquistadors until present day. The book is almost finished and he was generous enough to give us a digital copy for us to read. He also collects books, scrolls and was artifacts that the Spanish used during the Conquista! He has swords valued in $15k and helmets, carabines, etc!

 

I can honestly say that I learned a lot of history from Eduardo, and from his family. The will forever be in my heart, and I can’t wait to visit them again, or, like they said, for them to come to Chile to visit my Mom and her family.

The family said the next day that they would treat us with a unique and special meal: Sopa de Caracol (conch shell soup). So we all went to the “Mercado” to buy all the ingredients that the soup requires. Eduardo and Hedill did not let us by ANYTHING! This soup is expensive to make and they did not allow us to spend any money buying stuff! I felt bad, but it also made me feel so welcome, and indebted to them for the rest of my life! Hehee.

 

That lunch was memorable! I had never tried conch shell soup in my life before, but I can assure you that even if I had, it was not nearly as good. I was such a pig and I ate like 3 dishes!!! I couldn’t even walk afterwards! Everybody had a great time and we owe Eduardo’s family infinitely for everything!

Eduardo took us later to an area of the town where you can see the whole city, and also where he grew up as a child.

 

We agreed then that they are coming to Chile to visit my mom and us, and we will play a joke on my mom, but I can’t say here what it is or else she will know. If you know Eduardo, and Hedill and all the family, you would understand that they are pretty awesome people…and very eccentric and love to play jokes on others, kind of like me.

In the evening Eduardo’s kids and their friends invited us to a pub for a few beers and food. We went to a nice place, although I can’t remember its name anymore (something about the moon). We enjoyed some music and some beer and food.

 

Saying goodbye the next morning has been one of the hardest things I have done during this trip! This family is simply incredible and I since I left my friends in the US, I never thought I would like people so much in such a short time to almost make me feel like that again. But well, we had to say goodbye and so we did. Alvarado family, we will meet again soon for sure!

Once on the road again, we started heading towards Nicaragua with our beloved Cubby this time. We soon arrived at the border and after a few hours of paperwork, and doing the stupid line again because the asshole that issued me the car and camper permit did it wrong, we crossed into Nicaragua. That evening we stopped at a gas station for the night and Don Giovanni, after a few hours of him and I trying to find an open store, graced us with a nice Italian pasta for dinner. Don Giovanni really is a great cook and the stereotype we all have about Italians seems to be true, because Don Giovanni told us that he can’t possibly go more than 3 days without eating pasta! Anyway, I didn’t complain when he travelled with us because I love his cooking.

The next morning we dropped Principesa at the bus terminal, because she was going to Leon to try some sand boarding, and headed towards Managua, but that will come in the next post. Stay tuned, we are catching up!!!

By Ricardo