Fun...really a lot

On a rainy morning, in the dampness and darkness of a crowded passenger ferry, lit with a single dim, bare lightbulb, I held my balance for the duration of the shaky ride to Puerto Barrios. I was heading to Honduras. Sporting a blue disposable raincoat and carrying my backpack in a plastic bag, I sloshed through puddles on the gravel roads in search of transport to the border. As usual, what I was looking for found me, and I suspiciously boarded the empty minibus bound for the frontera. Several blocks onward, I spotted another man sloshing through the puddles. His dreads and beard were dripping. He had a Mexican straw hat hanging off his neck and a full-sized machete in a brown leather case strapped to his gear. It was Davide, an Italian man I had met in my hotel the previous night in Livingston, who had missed the ferry and had caught up by taking a lancha (small motorboat). We crossed the border, changed vehicles and money, and entered Honduras together, all the way to Omoa. \r

Omoa is a small beach town, with mostly empty restaurants, lazy pulperias (shops), and dusty dirt roads. We decided to get a room in a clean German-run hotel, shared only with three very religious Honduran men. For the next two days, we took advantage of the free kitchen, free bicycles, and free kayaks. We cooked most of our meals, rode into town a couple of times, and rowed out to sea during the sunset hours, watching the day turn to night from our orange plastic kayaks. The sunsets were absolutely beautiful, especially being surrounded by the ocean and its reflections. Adding to the beauty was the full moon that rose simultaneously with the setting sun. And to come back to a pitch dark hotel lawn sparkling with lightning bugs topped it off. It really doesn't get much better than that. In the evening we had dinner at a local place, and conversed with others. The topic of long-distance relationships came up with the owner of the restaurant, and she left us with a humorous saying in Spanish. Lejos de amor, felicen los cuatro. Basically, in long distance relationships, all four are happy.\r

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Traveling with Davide was fun -- an energetic man with a kind heart and a great attitude for travel. I liked listening to his stories of Mexico and Barcelona, and the way he ended many sentences with '...really a lot.' He was friendly with everyone: drunkards asking him for money, young Hondurans preaching to him about God, stiff-lipped market women, and normal travelers like me. He said and feels that 'there are a lot of beautiful people in the world...really a lot.' He is definitely one of them.\r

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Our next destination was Tela, a slightly bigger, more popular beach town on the northern coast. Finally ready to leave the Christian salsa music of our Omoan housemates behind, we left town and searched for a train that no longer exists, finally conceding to take the bus. Tela did not even come close to matching the hype in the guidebooks, but the long white beaches of the surrounding Garifuna (Black Caribs) villages certainly satisfied our cravings for sun and sand. And in the evening back in town, the mosquitoes and flies satisfied their cravings on us.\r

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My original plans, and the initial source of my interest in seeing Honduras, was to spend time on the Bay Islands (Roatan and Utila) for SCUBA and snorkeling. But five days of beach was enough for me, and I was gaining interest in the mountainous regions of the southwest. Fortunately, Davide felt the same. Eager for some variety (and to save a few lempira), we tried our hand at hitch-hiking. We got a lift to the town of El Progreso in a new, clean, empty pick-up, from where we took the bus to the unfriendly city of San Pedro Sula and onward to Gracias.\r

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The original name of Gracias (Thanks) was Gracias a Dios (Thanks to God), but for us it was Gracias for the cool air, Gracias for no mosquitoes, and Gracias for finally arriving after a long day of transport. The guidebook says that this town feels like it hasn't changed in centuries. Rather than colonial quaintness, upon arrival we found this to mean that nothing has been repaired in centuries. There were a few nice street views however, and the aerial view of the red tile-roofed city from the hilltop castle was pleasant enough. And maybe the best feature was our friendly hotel, situated right next to the office of a lawyer, who also sells rabbits. We spent the following day at a relaxing hot spring in the forest a few kilometers from town (transport compliments of a big dump truck full of sand...like a mobile beach, except wet and swerving).\r

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I was really enjoying traveling with Davide. However, his plans suddenly changed when he received an e-mail from a friend planning to meet him in 6 days, 4 countries away. He has an exciting couple of weeks ahead of him, as he'll try to get to South America quickly. We left Gracias together, to La Esperanza. After breakfast, we went to the bus lot, he stowed his backpack and machete, gave me a hug good-bye, and wished me 'good luck...really a lot.'\r