I spent my last 8 days in Honduras on spring break. We went to the island of Roatan. It was beautiful, but the trip had a few gliches. It seemed like everything that could happen on a trip did other than getting robbed. I and 3 other female teachers decided to take buses to the island because it was so much cheaper than flying. The way up to Honduras was easy we reserved our tickets and easily transferred busses. The trip up took 2 days. On our first bus we met 2 nice Sweedish backpackers Freddrick and Myad. They shared some of thier expeirences and knowledge about traveling. Thier advice and laid back attitude inspired us and helped us try to cope with the frustrating situations that would come throughout the week. On our way up to Roatan, we had to stay one night in San Pedro Sur. We rented 2 rooms for $11 each. The rooms seemed to be little more than glorified prison cells. They were grey walls with a chair and bed that was painted grey. Everything was spray painted with stencil letters "Hotel San Juan," even the shower curtain. We were a bit nervous about our living arrangements, so we decided to stay in the same room that night. We checked out at 4:00am the next day to catch our next bus. My friends who I was traveling with wished me a "Happy Birthday." We arrived in La Ceiba, and we had to catch a ferry to the island. The ferry was the most chaotic thing I have ever seen. There was absolutely no order. There were no railings to form lines to buy tickets or wait for the ferry, so it became a free for all. People were pushing and shoving each other to wedge themselves infront of other people. I clutched my backpack infront of me, so nothing would get stolen. I had to stand in the crowd waiting for the ferry for almost 2 hours because the ferry was an hour late coming into the harbor. I was sweating, and I could feel and smell other people's sweat. It was not a fun time. The boat ride itself was fine because I slept most of the way. When we arrived in Roatan, the men started unloading the luggage. They threw it in a big pile and you had to spot your luggage and then shout at one of the baggage handlers to grab it for you. The only problem is that the ferry has over 300 ppl on it. So everyone is yelling and trying to push their way to the front of the line to see their stuff come off the ship. We all got out luggage (thankfully) and then we got into a taxi. We had had gotten directions from other teachers from NCA who were meeting us at the house. The directions were West Bay, Out of the Blue, and by the Princess Hotel. That was it! Our taxi driver didn't know where it was, and we didn't know what it looked like. We ended up finding it after asking directions from serveral locals. By this time, we're all tired and just wanting a shower. When we get the house, we find out from the other teachers that a family of 18 is staying in the house and has decided that they are going to stay and extra day. All 11 of us had no where to say that night. This weekend is Semana Santa or Holy Week, and it's the major travel weekend in Latin America. Most people go to the beach. So almost everything was full. We ended up staying in a place that wasn't quite finished for one night. The rest of our time in Roatan was great. Our house was about 150 feet from the ocean. I layed on the beach and read, ate out at some great restuarants, and even got to scuba dive. I loved scuba diving. I want to get my scuba certificate when I get back. In Roatan, I took a short class and then went exploring around the reefs for about 1 hour. Then on Sunday we decided to leave and head back to Nicaragua. We didn't have school on Monday, so we had 2 days for travel. So on Sunday we woke up at 3:30am to try to buy ferry tickets and catch the 6:00am ferry. We got to the ferry station at 4:15 and the place was PACKED! We ended up getting a ticket for the 10am ferry. When we arrived on the mainland, we couldn't have find any bus tickets anywhere. We tried so many different bus lines, finally we found a ticket to San Pedro Sula (which is only about 2.5 hours away). We stayed the night there and hoped to find something in the morning. We were trying to be optimistic. Well we woke up at 3:30am again to try to find a bus. We revisited the nice bus stations, and we were disappionted again. We found a bus that was going to the capital of Honduras, and we decided to take it. The bus was not the nicest, it was a glorified chicken bus. When we got on the bus, it wouldn't start. So some of the men started pushing the bus to give it a rolling start. After a few minutes that bus started up...not the best way to start off. It only cost $5 for a 5hr bus ride. The bus made stops every 20-30minutes to pick up people. We got to Tegucigalpa, and we were sure that we'd find a ticket for that day because we arrived before 10am. We didn't....the best thing we could find was taking an old run down school bus to the boarder of Honduras and Nicaragua. We'd had to then try to find another similar buses that would slowly take us to Managua. It would have been horrible, because they cram the busses as full as they can. People are standing on top of each other inside the bus, hanging off the back, and sitting on top of the buses. We each had a backpack and a rolling carryon bag. It would have been so hard to find room on the bus and safeguard ourselves. We called the school and asked if we could be a day late coming back, so then we could take a nice airconditioned and safe bus back. We stayed the night in the capital in a hotel that was a little shaddy (but not as bad as Hotel San Juan), and then we road on the nicest bus to Managua. This whole trip was great over all. I learned a lot about traveling and about the people I went with. It was interesting to not know the next step of things, but it all worked out in the end. We definately prayed a lot during the whole experience though!
posted by Sarah @ 6:56 AM
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HAPPY BIRHTDAY!!!
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