Honduras Day Twelve
Start off at 8:30 a.m. 2 buses and a ferry ride later, and I'm in Utila at 5:00 p.m. I met four Norwegian girls along the way that were headed to Utila. They complained about how the $20 one-way ferry was too expensive. I felt so relieved to finally be among people who wanted to travel cheaply.
Make it to Utila, and the first thing I do is check my e-mail. I might need to join some sort of support group. Then I had a little trouble finding a Hotel, and I take the first one I find that has vacancies, and its only $5 per night. I grab a bite to eat, and then I decide to take advantage of the night sky, and walk down a path until I am around no lights at all. I was hoping to make it to the beach, but the lack of light made that hard to pull off. Then I come back into town and get offered some weed. I follow this guy to the alley, give him $25 of which I only wanted $5 of weed, he leaves his bike, and says I can take it if he doesn't come back. I wait 20 minutes, until this lady who knows the kid starts talking to me. She searches for him, and tells me he got arrested. I know it's a lie, and I could have taken his bike, but I decide that it's best to let the kid steal my money. I didn't want to be riding his bike around and then get harrassed by one of his friends. Utila is a VERY small island.
After that I make it to a bar and join a group of Germans and Belgians. We play drinking games until 1:30 a.m., and I decide that it's time to pass out.
Honduras Day 13
Beach. Movie. Beer.
Honduras Day 14
The Germans and I venture out to find some freshwater caves. We walked 4 km to the other side of the island, hiked along the beach for quite sometime, and found some locals who showed us where the trail to the caves started. Unfortunately, the trail was really hard to follow, and we decided to turn around. I try one more time to start the trail from the beginning, but it was impossible, and we were just about out of water.
Honduras Day 15
I decide not to Scuba dive, and go snorkeling instead. The power in Utila has been off the whole time, so I decide to take off in the mourning to Guatemala.
Honduras Day 16
The Belgians found a $15 ferry that was basically a big boat. It felt like the boat caught air a couple of times. Make it to San Pedro. I can't find a bus to take me to Guatemala until the next mourning. I think I could have figured something out if I spoke more Spanish. I spend the day walking around San Pedro. I kind of walked in circles around the city, slowly expanding my range of comfort. Always making sure I can make it back to the hotel. Night comes, and I want to keep seeing the city, so I throw on the running shoes, and carry along only $20. I end up finding the main market place, and I felt safe walking around there. I kept watching my back, pretending that I was aware of my surroundings. After all that walking, I didn't see a good bar to stop by, so I asked a cab driver to take me to a bar with Gringos. He actually found me a really good place, but it was only 8:00 p.m. so it was empty. I walk to the mall, eat a meal, and at that point I was too tired to go back to the bar.
Then my cabby drops me off at the wrong place. There was more than one Hotel Real. Not only that but there is 6a street, and 6b street, that both have a Hotel Real. I should have known better than to get out of the fucking cab. But I walk up to the manager, turn around, and the cabby was gone, and I'm in a really shitty section of town without many people walking around. I hop in the first cab I find and overpay for a ride to the my actual hotel.
Honduras Day 17
Well my cabby from the day before told me to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to make it to the bus to Tikal. I had kind of decided that I would rather just take it easy and check things out in San Pedro. He had other plans because he wanted that fare. He got the hotel manager to wake me up, and I get to the bus station. After waiting in line, I can't talk to the guy, so he tells me to just wait for a bit. Finally somebody in line speaks English, and tells me what ticket to buy, and when I need to get off the bus. The only thing I knew to do was to keep telling people "Tikal." The bus makes it to the border, and there isn't even a city there. Just a couple of immigration buildings. I try to get some money exchanged but they only take Honduran money. So I end up with about $9 in Guatemalan money. Then I spend $5 on the van that's gonna take me toward Tikal, leaving me with $4.
A little about transportation in central America. Busses stop everywhere along the street for everybody. Reguardless of whether the bus is full or not. They have a driver, and a guy who jumps out to help people in, and take their money. Often times the bus will just start going, and the guy jumps back in while it's going. On this leg of the trip I was actually in a van with 3 rows of seating. It could hold 14 people, tightly. We managed to fit 25 people in at one point with 2 people literally hanging out the side of the bus. Well, the van gets to some intersection, and the guy tells me that this is my stop. At this point, I've yet to see any towns, just a couple of places with houses, and some people selling things on the side of the street. I have $3 in Guatemalan money, I'm in the middle of nowhere, and a bus stops to pick me up. They tell me that they don't take American Dollars, so I sit down hopelessly, thinking if I can somehow make it back. I'm just sitting on the side of the street, smoking a cigarrette when a bus stops, some guy jumps out and tells me to get in. I say Tikal, he says yes. I say "Solo tengo Dollares," And he tells me it's ok. Well come to find out, the van ride was only $1, so I would have been fine anyways. Finally make it to a real city, exchange some cash, hop on another bus. Make it to Santa Elena by 2:00 p.m. just in time to catch the last bus to Tikal.
As you get closer to tourist traps, the expenses slowly increase, until Tikal is as expensive as America. I paid $11 to sleep in a hammock. It was too late to make it to the ruins that night
Day 18
Saw Ruins, did the sunrise tour. It was too cloudy for the sunrise, and we woke up at 4:00 a.m. for it, so I just slept the whole time. Made it back to Santa Elena, and stayed on an Island in the lake called Flores. I got to do a good swim in that lake.
Day 19
Bus. Sleep. No clean clothes. Can't wait to get home.
Start off at 8:30 a.m. 2 buses and a ferry ride later, and I'm in Utila at 5:00 p.m. I met four Norwegian girls along the way that were headed to Utila. They complained about how the $20 one-way ferry was too expensive. I felt so relieved to finally be among people who wanted to travel cheaply.
Make it to Utila, and the first thing I do is check my e-mail. I might need to join some sort of support group. Then I had a little trouble finding a Hotel, and I take the first one I find that has vacancies, and its only $5 per night. I grab a bite to eat, and then I decide to take advantage of the night sky, and walk down a path until I am around no lights at all. I was hoping to make it to the beach, but the lack of light made that hard to pull off. Then I come back into town and get offered some weed. I follow this guy to the alley, give him $25 of which I only wanted $5 of weed, he leaves his bike, and says I can take it if he doesn't come back. I wait 20 minutes, until this lady who knows the kid starts talking to me. She searches for him, and tells me he got arrested. I know it's a lie, and I could have taken his bike, but I decide that it's best to let the kid steal my money. I didn't want to be riding his bike around and then get harrassed by one of his friends. Utila is a VERY small island.
After that I make it to a bar and join a group of Germans and Belgians. We play drinking games until 1:30 a.m., and I decide that it's time to pass out.
Honduras Day 13
Beach. Movie. Beer.
Honduras Day 14
The Germans and I venture out to find some freshwater caves. We walked 4 km to the other side of the island, hiked along the beach for quite sometime, and found some locals who showed us where the trail to the caves started. Unfortunately, the trail was really hard to follow, and we decided to turn around. I try one more time to start the trail from the beginning, but it was impossible, and we were just about out of water.
Honduras Day 15
I decide not to Scuba dive, and go snorkeling instead. The power in Utila has been off the whole time, so I decide to take off in the mourning to Guatemala.
Honduras Day 16
The Belgians found a $15 ferry that was basically a big boat. It felt like the boat caught air a couple of times. Make it to San Pedro. I can't find a bus to take me to Guatemala until the next mourning. I think I could have figured something out if I spoke more Spanish. I spend the day walking around San Pedro. I kind of walked in circles around the city, slowly expanding my range of comfort. Always making sure I can make it back to the hotel. Night comes, and I want to keep seeing the city, so I throw on the running shoes, and carry along only $20. I end up finding the main market place, and I felt safe walking around there. I kept watching my back, pretending that I was aware of my surroundings. After all that walking, I didn't see a good bar to stop by, so I asked a cab driver to take me to a bar with Gringos. He actually found me a really good place, but it was only 8:00 p.m. so it was empty. I walk to the mall, eat a meal, and at that point I was too tired to go back to the bar.
Then my cabby drops me off at the wrong place. There was more than one Hotel Real. Not only that but there is 6a street, and 6b street, that both have a Hotel Real. I should have known better than to get out of the fucking cab. But I walk up to the manager, turn around, and the cabby was gone, and I'm in a really shitty section of town without many people walking around. I hop in the first cab I find and overpay for a ride to the my actual hotel.
Honduras Day 17
Well my cabby from the day before told me to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to make it to the bus to Tikal. I had kind of decided that I would rather just take it easy and check things out in San Pedro. He had other plans because he wanted that fare. He got the hotel manager to wake me up, and I get to the bus station. After waiting in line, I can't talk to the guy, so he tells me to just wait for a bit. Finally somebody in line speaks English, and tells me what ticket to buy, and when I need to get off the bus. The only thing I knew to do was to keep telling people "Tikal." The bus makes it to the border, and there isn't even a city there. Just a couple of immigration buildings. I try to get some money exchanged but they only take Honduran money. So I end up with about $9 in Guatemalan money. Then I spend $5 on the van that's gonna take me toward Tikal, leaving me with $4.
A little about transportation in central America. Busses stop everywhere along the street for everybody. Reguardless of whether the bus is full or not. They have a driver, and a guy who jumps out to help people in, and take their money. Often times the bus will just start going, and the guy jumps back in while it's going. On this leg of the trip I was actually in a van with 3 rows of seating. It could hold 14 people, tightly. We managed to fit 25 people in at one point with 2 people literally hanging out the side of the bus. Well, the van gets to some intersection, and the guy tells me that this is my stop. At this point, I've yet to see any towns, just a couple of places with houses, and some people selling things on the side of the street. I have $3 in Guatemalan money, I'm in the middle of nowhere, and a bus stops to pick me up. They tell me that they don't take American Dollars, so I sit down hopelessly, thinking if I can somehow make it back. I'm just sitting on the side of the street, smoking a cigarrette when a bus stops, some guy jumps out and tells me to get in. I say Tikal, he says yes. I say "Solo tengo Dollares," And he tells me it's ok. Well come to find out, the van ride was only $1, so I would have been fine anyways. Finally make it to a real city, exchange some cash, hop on another bus. Make it to Santa Elena by 2:00 p.m. just in time to catch the last bus to Tikal.
As you get closer to tourist traps, the expenses slowly increase, until Tikal is as expensive as America. I paid $11 to sleep in a hammock. It was too late to make it to the ruins that night
Day 18
Saw Ruins, did the sunrise tour. It was too cloudy for the sunrise, and we woke up at 4:00 a.m. for it, so I just slept the whole time. Made it back to Santa Elena, and stayed on an Island in the lake called Flores. I got to do a good swim in that lake.
Day 19
Bus. Sleep. No clean clothes. Can't wait to get home.
posted by robbo at 6:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home