Trip to La Ceiba
My bus arrives just after 4am so that I don’t have to wait too long outside the hotel. The bus driver seems to have a bad morning since he is trying to be an asshole by asking me if I didn’t know that I can only carry one bag per person. I tell him “No!” put my second suitcase in his hand and board without looking at him. I find a two-seater just for me and get myself comfortable for the long drive. It is the 23 of August, my last day in Antigua and in Guatemala where I spent the last 7 month. I have accomplished what I came here for, learnt Spanish, volunteered in a school and, by living in two wonderful but very different Guatemalan families, was exposed to the very different but interesting culture Guatemala’s. But today this all is the past and a beginning of a hopefully wonderful and exciting adventure. My plan is to get to Tela, a city on the Caribbean Sea of Honduras and then travel along the coast but my plans have changed a million times since I have arrived in Guatemala at the end of January 2011 and it would be no different today ;)
I have taken the bus to the Copan Ruins, another Mayan city, similar to that of Tikal and El Mirador, and therefore not interesting for me. I plan to change the bus in Copan and take one to Tela but when I get there they only offer trips to San Pedro and La Ceiba. Since La Ceiba was anyway on my way I decide to skip Tela and go there but when I am told to pay 480 Lempiras I have a problem since I only have 400 and there is no ATM anywhere near. Luckily, the guy standing next to me who was on the bus from Antigua asks me if I need help and offersme to lend the missing money. I am very impressed since I didn’t even have a chance to think what to do next. His name is Andrew and he is on the way with his mate to Utila, the smallest of the Bay Islands, famous for its amazing underwater-world. Even though I am up for some quality time on sandy beaches I didn’t want to go to the Islands since it’s always more expensive then the main land. However, sitting on the extremely comfortable bus to La Ceiba – the best bus I have been on so far in Central America – I am having another look at my guide book and shortly after decide to go to Roatan, by far the biggest of the 3 Bay Islands. Since I am not interested in diving or snorkeling Utila has not much to offer to me and the LP tells that Roatan has some extremely beautiful white sand beaches with crystal clear turquoise water – exactly what I need right now!!!
We have a stop in San Pedro, the second biggest city in Honduras. LP says one of the best things to do is to leave it asap ;) We have a two hours stop-over here and get something to eat. I find an ATM and withdraw money. The exchange rate to the € is 1-27 and I realize that I will struggle from now on with all the different currencies and rates since I will stay in most countries for only 1 or 2 weeks. Having one common currency like in most European countries is definitely something very useful!!! When we are on the bus again driving towards La Ceiba a rain shower starts, the one you would get around this time of the year mostly in the afternoon. Normally they are very hefty but short, not more than 30 minutes. This one lasts for an hour or so but it doesn’t affect our journey in. I am sitting in the window seat watching the rain pouring down and dreaming away. In the last few weeks I have been quite excited about the imminent journey. I didn’t have a similar feeling before I came to Guatemala. Back then I believed that I never get too excited before hand and rather enjoy the moment when I am finally at my destination. Well, realize that this was not the reason. I dint feel any excitement because in Guatemala everything was already sorted – my school and the place I would live. My only concern was to learn the language and nothing else. Nothing really exciting about that ;) Today this is different. For the next 7 month I will be on the road through Latin America with only a rough idea where to go and what to see. A huge uncertainty is lying ahead of me and that’s exactly what gives me the thrill and excitement. The rain stops just before it starts getting dark and I watch the sky changing its colors from dark blue to its brightest blue to purple and then dark again. It reminds me of my trip to Thailand with Benny and Micha and for a moment I feel lonely. I would love to share this beautiful moment with someone I know and someone I care, but no one is here with me.
The two Dutch guys carry on to Utila the next morning and I check and change the hostel to be closer to the city center. During the bus ride yesterday I had a bad feeling that I left my DigiCam charger in Antigua and after we arrived my bad feeling became reality. And so I was going to spend the day desperately searching for a charger that would fit. I knew the chances of being successful were very slim and when I finally found a shop that was selling Cams and even had some Samsung models I was told that they don’t sell the charger separately. He directed me to another store but deep inside I was already facing the aspect of buying a new Samsung cam in order to be able to use my old one. That would have meant an additional waste of €200 but continuing without a cam was out of the equation! In the next store I couldn’t get what I wanted too and was sent to another store. The shop assistant told me that they would sell universal charger which would be my only option. In the heat of the midday sun I continued my stroll through the streets of La Ceiba as if it was some place I have been before. I walked 6 blocks towards the beach and found the store pretty quickly. By the look at the charger I had very little hope that this will be my solution but at a price of €2 I had nothing to lose.
5 days in Roatan
I take the morning ferry out to Roatan to make it to the beach before midday. With 50km long and 4 km wide this is the biggest of the Bay Islands. A cab brings me to West End where I will spend the next 5 days and I check in at the Georphi’s Hideaway Place. The place is directly on the beach just like most other hotels or accommodation in West End. A small sandy road only lies between the place and the water – just brilliant! An old lady, Rosa Lee, receives me and gives me a bed in a dorm room. It’s the end of the season and when she tells me that half the people in her place left the day before I am over the moon ;) Roatan is usually too expensive for back packers who prefer to hang out on Utila and therefore the island is full with tourists who come here for a 1, 2 or 3 week vacation. The cabins and bungalows blend perfectly in the jungle and can be reached through a small cemented pass. At night you can hear something rustle through the leaves on the ground. No worries, the noise doesn’t come from snakes but from crabs which are running around all day long and you got to be careful not to step on them. My bungalow is at the end of this way. It has 6 beds a fridge and is very clean. For $10/night it’s a real bargain for this island and I am extremely happy about the start.
One beautiful morning, it was the third day of my stay and I just read an online article the day before about 72 people who were killed by the Mexican organization “Las Zetas” while they were trying to illegally enter the USA, I decided to talk to a local to find out more about the Honduran culture and life. The article said that the criminals have caught the immigrants and told them to work for them. But when they refused they were all executed. Pretty harsh story when you think and still, even though the chances of getting caught by the police on the way to the USA and get deported or killed by criminals or due to accidents, 500.000 people every year from Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador and Nicaragua would try their luck to get to the Golden Land where all your dreams come true. I have seen a few documentaries, movies and talked to people in Guatemala about it because I just couldn’t understand why this people risk their life to do it. I ask Rosa Lee if she would have time for me and the kind woman probably in her late 50s or early 60s starts answering my questions. At first she tells me that her husband would be the better one to talk to about that thing since she was born on the island but lived most of her life in the USA (legally). Rosa Lee too has read about the 72 people killed and has no sympathy for those who risk their life. For her those people are nothing else then lazy and just want an easy life rather than work hard. They see someone who has made it and comes back with fancy stuff and can afford a new car and a big house and they believe that they can do it as well. Reality is that most people get either caught, killed or have accidents rather than making it through the border. In a documentary a man, who lost both his legs when he fell asleep on the train and fell of it, tells the journalist that he has 3 kids at home with his wife. He is stationed at a hospital in Mexico and will never see his children again…One of those stories but they won’t stop the others from trying it as well and maybe one in a million, or even less, will fulfill his dream. It’s a sad sorry but being here in this part of the world for a while I can tell you that this people have a choice and they chose not to work hard and rather gamble, just like you and I would do in a casino, only that their stake is their precious and only life - and still they are willing to pay the price.
Just like all the other Caribbean islands Roatán has once been a colony of the British Empire, thus all its inhabitants speak English whereas Spanish is the first language on the mainland. Due to the growing tourism on the Bay Islands many people from the mainland come to work here and get simple jobs in restaurants and hotels. Rosa Lee tells me that many locals see them as foreigners which is pretty harsh and discriminating in my eyes. Nevertheless, Rosa Lee admits that she prefers to hire the Hondurans from the mainland since they have the far better work attitude. One thing that most Hondurans have in common is the lack of ambition. Most people just think about tomorrow and not much further. As an example Rosa Lee tells me how her staff was offered free English lessons from some tourists but had no drive to improve their educational level. Its exactly the same way in Guatemala and I guess it wont be any different in the other Central American countries which is shocking in a way. But with the amount of natural catastrophes every year in this part of the world with numerous casualties it can be slightly understood why people here don’t think too much ahead and instead just live to survive.
On the way to Nicaragua
I take the morning ferry and get to the bus terminal at 9am and find out that my bus leaves 30 minutes after. The price is half what was on the board in the hostel in La Ceiba but when I am sitting on the bus I realize that I am the only foreigner on it. I am on the way to Tegucigalapa, one hell of a name for a capital, one that I will certainly never be able to pronounce. Its not a city I wanna waste my time too much and when I look through my guide I find out that I could actually travel directly to Choluteca, a town near the Nicaraguan border. I arrive at around 5pm in Tegucigalapa and manage to catch the last bus to Choluteca. This bus is a serious peace of shit and I am starting to regret that I have taken it sooo late. Especially when after half an hour one of the guys working on the bus gets a phone call telling him that there has been a rock slide ahead of us and the road is closed. One of my neighbors, a Honduran guy in his early 50s, who did small talk with me since I got on the bus as if I was from another planet or so, tells me that we are gonna sleep on the bus or turn around and go back to Tegucigalapa. None of these options isn’t really appealing to me, but then I look at it as a new adventure and decide to take it as it comes (not that I have any other option). When we get to the spot we manage to jump the queue and after 30 minutes or so we are through this point and carry on. We get to Choluteca after 11pm and I catch a cab with the same guy who was sitting next to me with his son and wife. We drive around the deserted streets and I start to have a bad feeling where this will lead especially after the first hotel that I chose is closed. The man tells the driver to go to another place and I already picture myself being dropped in some shit hole or get robbed of all my stuff. Luckily nothing of this happens and at the next hotel I get a room and after a cool shower fall asleep quickly. The next morning the journey continues by chicken bus towards San Marcos de Colon, the border town I believe will lead me fastest to Leon. Crossing the border takes me around an hour. The custom guys aren’t in a rush or so it looks to me but so ain´t I. When I am on the other side I wait for the bus instead of taking a taxi to Somoto. When the bus drives of and picks up the first passengers I straight away get the feeling which I was told about from people I met who have been in Nicaragua. It is by far the friendliest and safest country Central Americas. The locals don’t look at me and mind their own business. Every time somebody comes on the bus he is greeted with smiles by the ones who are already on it. I just love it especially after living so long in Guatemala. When I get to the bus terminal in Somoto I ask for the bus to Leon but I am told that there is no bus going there. At first I cannot believe it and ask another person but receive the same information that I need to go to Esteli first and then change for a bus to Leon. I open up my guide book again and turn to a page which has the Nicaraguan map on it. For some reason I never looked at it the day before when I decided to go to San Marcos and now I see what happened. Instead of travelling south to Guasaule, another border town, I have traveled up north and have to go now all the way just I have been told. I take a deep breath, exhale and start laughing about my clumsiness. On my previous holidays I always had someone with me who would have a plan where to go, how to get there and what to do. I would love to lay back and just enjoy my holiday. Now I am on my own and this will certainly not be the last time that I mess it up like this. As long as I don’t end up somewhere I shouldn’t be I don’t mind and so I get on the bus and go to Estreli where I change for a shuttle to get to Leon.
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