The Visit

Ahh yes. The family's visit to Honduras. Well, the original group was supposed to include Mom, Dad, Emily, Adam, Sarah, Abby, and myself. However, due to intensive, preliminary diving practice in a murky pool with detritus and hairballs floating about, Dad contracted a rather severe ear infection. He complained about hearing loss, pain, the usual, but it was dismissed as more urgent matters persisted in preparing for the trip. Finally, the day before the planned flight down there, Dad went to see the doctor to clear him for diving, and instead of a warning to be careful- you know with his heart history and all, the doc told him about his ear infection and that he definitely couldn't fly the next day and shouldn't dive for at least 2 weeks. Well, needless to say, he didn't come. Let's move on.

Well, the rest of the group got down as planned as Abby and I were waiting for them at the San Pedro Airport. We rode over to Copan in a private bus making the customary stop at the Texaco. (pronounced tex-AC-o).

Rainy season! Rolling into Copan is easier said than done in the afternoons when it rains at 4:30 on the dot, every day, for about an hour, but real hard, for a little bit. After dropping off our luggage, our first stop was to get a legendary smoothie from Picame. These things are ridiculous- one of the things I'll miss most. We started getting one every day after school, except on Tuesdays when it was closed. Everyone loved the 20oz pure fruit with coconut milk $2.50 smoothies. Then we went back to Abby's apartment, which sat behind the restaurant to pack some things and wait for Miriam and Carlos Humberto (my student) and a surprise they were bringing...

SURPRISE!!! It was my mom's birthday, and Miriam made the BIGGEST (and probably most delicious) carrot cake I'd ever seen. It was sad though because we had to say our real goodbyes to them also, but before they left they gave us t-shirts with "Someone who loves me very much and lives in Honduras gave me this memory" (in Spanish) written on it. Miriam was so sweet and giving. They live in a dusty house on the street near Mayatan with their whole family, but she still sacrificed a huge chunk of her money to buy us these t-shirts just in an attempt show her gratitude to us. If we could have only explained that we already knew how wonderful she was....

After that, we went to Rudy and Dunia (my Spanish teacher) Dubon's house for a proper Honduran birthday party for my mother. Complete with pastelitos, cake, orchata, pinata, loud children, and candy this party was as tipico as beans in a corn tortilla. It was lots of fun, but the family was pretty tuckered out, so we headed down to the hotel at about 9:30. Another set of rushed, sad goodbyes.

The next morning Michel and his wife Marcela picked us up in their Ford Ranger to take us up the mountain to eat at Julita's, an organic (forget Whole Foods) restaurant where everything down to the coffee is produced on their land out back. There we were joined by Ivan and Henelda to eat the famous sopa de gallina and afterwards got a tour of the farm out back. Kinda looks like a family reunion, no?

Bird Park. I think the pictures say it all.

The following day, we went up to La so they could see what a Chorti Village looks like (even though it's one that's somewhat invested in by foreiners). We piled in a couple of moto-taxis up the hill. All of us got out and walked up the last part except for Mom (they insisted), but her's got stuck and almost flipped over twice! They ended up having to push it up...with her in it. Yet another teary goodbye...this time to Milton and Kinsey from 2A.

Later that evening after eating at Jim's and picking up a few guitars to take back to the US, we went up to Doña Nora Welchez's house for "coffee". Apparently coffee to Nora means freshly cut fruit, fresh bread, Jamaica tea, cake, coffee, then coffee+Kahlua. It was amazingly delicious. She even took us back to our hotel the Marina because it had started to rain. Well, by take, I mean she let ME drive her brand new VW Toureg down the pot-hole ridden, windy Honduran roads. I won't lie; I was a little nervous driving her car with her in the back seat. They have different driving "rules" down there.

The next morning we left at 5AM for La Ceiba to catch our ferry out to the diver's paradise Cayos Cochinos (Hog Cays). We got there fine and in time but we had NO IDEA of what was awaiting us on the ferry ride out there. I've been on the ferry to Roatan. It's a cruise boat. I've been on a ferry to Belize, it's a big boat. This was a skiff in 8+ foot ocean swells. Let's just put it this way- Sarah and I (who were in front) didn't walk right for about 5 days. Mom's pills in her suitcase were crushed into a fine powder that any mortar and pestle would be proud of. Most of us couldn't see the entire trip because of the constant flushing of our eyes with salt water. And the motor was completely out of the water twice.

But I guess it was worth it......

We did a total of 3 dives and then visited a village on a cay. This entire village was no bigger than 1 city block. Imagine being trapped in a space smaller than a football field with your entire family for your whole life. Even worse, I think this is the ONLY village I saw that did not have a soccer field. I don't know how they do it. (maybe because it's so freakin beautiful).

Summary: Copan: picturesque, relational, quaint. Cayos Cochinos: unique, relaxation, SCUBA.

So sorry you had to miss it Dad...we were thinking of you.