It's been a week and I don't have a great excuse on why I haven't finished the re-cap of Honduras. Well.... I guess better late than cliched never.
The last night we were there was kind strange. Not for any real reason that one would think but mainly because at some point I was thinking about work and the outrageous amount of emails that I would have waiting for me when I got back in the office. That's so lame to say. Anyway. Our taxi shuttle guy who spoke zero English and didn't come off as the happiest camper the first time we met was arriving for us at 2am the following day. The travel company arranged it that way as it was one of the safest times to drive back through San Pedro Sula. Since I knew we had a good 2.5+ drive back I decided to sleep/ snore the drive back since I wouldn't have to deal with the birds (or the Ex's as I've grown fond of calling them) waking me up. I'd seen the night scenery through the country on the drive in and sleep sounded like the better choice.
We boarded the plane and since we had such a great flight down the Aether cursed us with a titan sized women who carried a lap baby screaming all flight two rows back. My thoughts on children are well known, my thoughts on parents taking a baby on a plane without doping them up with Ambien are on par with another certain German's thoughts on the Jewish race. Our only saving grace were noise canceling headphones (THANK YOU Bowers and Wilkins!!!), black out eye masks, and a 45 minute flight from Honduras to El Salvador. After going through int'l security where they completely unpack your luggage, we had a short wait and then we boarded the next flight. I am now a firm believer in "Flight Karma"; if one has a fantastic experience in the air it's going to be repaid by an equally shitty experience. Sitting down I had agreed to give my travel partner the window seat (rookie move by me) so we settled in and set up our cameras and the GoPro to film the take off. TACA airlines has a very lax policy on the whole "electronics can possibly cause a crash" deal. And due to dating a person once who allowed me to ride a charted 747 and seeing other said passengers not turn off any electronics I know this to be a BS move. Also if that freaks you out know that most flight attendants (and anyone with an ipad) rarely, if ever turn their phones off. Flight rant complete, back to the flight. As we wondered what the meal was going to be served a piercing wale came inching towards us; Honduran Damien from The Omen and his obviously deaf mother sat directly across from us. Without missing a beat we both put the headphones on and instantly developed our own version of sign language with grunts, nods, and fleeting eye movement. After the meal we both cranked up the music to drown out the hellion child and then arrived in Dallas.
Customs... ah the The US Customs Department. After being last to get up to Customs I was told my passport was flagged. After asking why they explained it was reported as "either being lost or stolen". I was taken and checked into a room with a guard and then I sat and waited. After 30 ish minutes, where I assume my luggage was checked and re-checked, a guy came in and informed me my passport was reported lost or stolen but he was very vague, didn't say when, and couldn't exactly tell me when it was. I was eventually allowed to leave and with my passport, but was told it was no longer valid and I'd have to purchase a new one. Thinking about it afterwards I'm going to assume this is in relation to a certain incident involving "known past acquaintances" who are currently under federal indictment for allegedly selling weapons to Mexican Cartels.
In summation:
Honduras was a lot of fun and the company was great, yet I wouldn't go back anytime soon. The transportation deal is a pain in the ass and the whole 160 murders per 100,00 people isn't the most comforting statistic when planning a Latin American adventure. If those two items were taken out of the picture I would take a serious look at purchasing a vacation home in Honduras. The people are some of the nicest in the world and the scenery is amazing. A gorgeous beach on the Caribbean with the Pico Benito National Rain Forrest, a cloud Forrest and white water rafting is perfect scenery. Model caliber non-self adsorbed women, fresh fish, crab, plantains, overflowing abundance of pineapple; all of these remind me of the perfect paradise.
I'm working on the next Int'l trip right now so if anyone has suggestions that aren't your typical locations (Paris, Rome, London, etc) I'll listen. Right now it looks like it may be a South American country I haven't tried; Portugal is an option and Tokyo or Indonesia seems to be drawing my excitement too.
The last night we were there was kind strange. Not for any real reason that one would think but mainly because at some point I was thinking about work and the outrageous amount of emails that I would have waiting for me when I got back in the office. That's so lame to say. Anyway. Our taxi shuttle guy who spoke zero English and didn't come off as the happiest camper the first time we met was arriving for us at 2am the following day. The travel company arranged it that way as it was one of the safest times to drive back through San Pedro Sula. Since I knew we had a good 2.5+ drive back I decided to sleep/ snore the drive back since I wouldn't have to deal with the birds (or the Ex's as I've grown fond of calling them) waking me up. I'd seen the night scenery through the country on the drive in and sleep sounded like the better choice.
We boarded the plane and since we had such a great flight down the Aether cursed us with a titan sized women who carried a lap baby screaming all flight two rows back. My thoughts on children are well known, my thoughts on parents taking a baby on a plane without doping them up with Ambien are on par with another certain German's thoughts on the Jewish race. Our only saving grace were noise canceling headphones (THANK YOU Bowers and Wilkins!!!), black out eye masks, and a 45 minute flight from Honduras to El Salvador. After going through int'l security where they completely unpack your luggage, we had a short wait and then we boarded the next flight. I am now a firm believer in "Flight Karma"; if one has a fantastic experience in the air it's going to be repaid by an equally shitty experience. Sitting down I had agreed to give my travel partner the window seat (rookie move by me) so we settled in and set up our cameras and the GoPro to film the take off. TACA airlines has a very lax policy on the whole "electronics can possibly cause a crash" deal. And due to dating a person once who allowed me to ride a charted 747 and seeing other said passengers not turn off any electronics I know this to be a BS move. Also if that freaks you out know that most flight attendants (and anyone with an ipad) rarely, if ever turn their phones off. Flight rant complete, back to the flight. As we wondered what the meal was going to be served a piercing wale came inching towards us; Honduran Damien from The Omen and his obviously deaf mother sat directly across from us. Without missing a beat we both put the headphones on and instantly developed our own version of sign language with grunts, nods, and fleeting eye movement. After the meal we both cranked up the music to drown out the hellion child and then arrived in Dallas.
Customs... ah the The US Customs Department. After being last to get up to Customs I was told my passport was flagged. After asking why they explained it was reported as "either being lost or stolen". I was taken and checked into a room with a guard and then I sat and waited. After 30 ish minutes, where I assume my luggage was checked and re-checked, a guy came in and informed me my passport was reported lost or stolen but he was very vague, didn't say when, and couldn't exactly tell me when it was. I was eventually allowed to leave and with my passport, but was told it was no longer valid and I'd have to purchase a new one. Thinking about it afterwards I'm going to assume this is in relation to a certain incident involving "known past acquaintances" who are currently under federal indictment for allegedly selling weapons to Mexican Cartels.
In summation:
Honduras was a lot of fun and the company was great, yet I wouldn't go back anytime soon. The transportation deal is a pain in the ass and the whole 160 murders per 100,00 people isn't the most comforting statistic when planning a Latin American adventure. If those two items were taken out of the picture I would take a serious look at purchasing a vacation home in Honduras. The people are some of the nicest in the world and the scenery is amazing. A gorgeous beach on the Caribbean with the Pico Benito National Rain Forrest, a cloud Forrest and white water rafting is perfect scenery. Model caliber non-self adsorbed women, fresh fish, crab, plantains, overflowing abundance of pineapple; all of these remind me of the perfect paradise.
I'm working on the next Int'l trip right now so if anyone has suggestions that aren't your typical locations (Paris, Rome, London, etc) I'll listen. Right now it looks like it may be a South American country I haven't tried; Portugal is an option and Tokyo or Indonesia seems to be drawing my excitement too.
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