frustration, playfulness and hope

We had heard from crazy Captain Perry that a pretty significant storm was gonna move in the following afternoon. He made a joke saying that if we were gonna stay on the island that we'd better be prepared to stay for about 6 days, cuz that was how long the storm was supposed to last and the ferry won't run back and forth in bad weather. The girls had to get their flight and I really wanted to stay but not in a storm where I wouldn't be able to swim or snorkle or lay on the beach. Besides, Roatan is a bit more expensive than anywhere I have travelled so far this trip and it wasn't the kind of money I wanted to spend sitting in my room. So we caught the 7am ferry and made it across no problems. I left Sue and Melissa at the bus station where I made my way to the Mayan ruins of Copan. I decided to splurge on a luxury bus for a change and made my way without a hitch. I got a cheap hotel and woke up in the morning to discover the ruins. I found myself really bored. The ruins were cool and all but I was a bit homesick for the first time on this trip. I have been enjoying myself traveling alone so far, but having the company of good friends made me really miss it. As I walked around the ruins and saw the cool sculptures



I found myself wanting to share random thoughts with some friends that weren't there. I know it will pass but at the time I was just missimg my friends. The town of Copan was nice enough, quaint with nice cobblestones and a cool little central park. Its' population is only about 7000 people, so it really has a nice small town feel, but the ruins are pretty famous and well traveled so they are very used to having gringos running all around. I finished a book in the afternoon and went to bed rather early because I was a bit tired from all the walking around. I happened to get up at 4 in the morning and wanted to leave so I packed my stuff and caught the 5am bus towards Tegucigalpa. I think I was just ready for a change of scenery. I had to make a change in San Pedro Sula (i'm so tired of this place by now) and made it to Tegucigalpa by 2pm. The capital city is know for being a bit of a haven for pickpockets and gang members as most Central American cities are, so I made my way towards the border of Nicaragua and slept in a small agricultural town named Danli (pronounced like someone with the name Dan Lee). On the last bus of the day I fell in love with 4 year old Josephina Martina Mercedes Vera Cruz. She was sitting in front of me and we started playing a game of peek-a-boo. Her mom was so happy to have someone else entertain her that she fell asleep. Me and Josephina spent the next hour where she showed me how the seat belt automatically retracts every time (over and over and over), she corrected my pronunciation of her name and made me repeat it until I got it right, and we later regressed into another game of peek-a-boo. After we were about to get off the bus at our destination she made me repeat her entire name just to make sure I didn't forget it. Her mom, Josephina and myself shared a cab into the town center where we said 'adios' to each other about 10 times and I checked into my hotel. That was such a great thing to see a happy, smiling, little Latina firecracker and play with her for a while. My last night in Honduras was spent watching the Denver Nuggets beat the Cleveland Cavs in overtime on a Spanish speaking channel which keptthings in perspective. It was a good contrast of normal vs exotic that put me back into the travel mode and happy to be on the road again. I'm very much looking forward to Nicaragua as I have heard great things about the people, cities and history of the country from many a traveler. Numerous people I have talked to have spoken very highly of Nicaragua, even to say it was the hghlight of their trip so far. I'm not putting any unrealistic expectations on the place, but I am definitely looking forward to discovering it. Hopefully some good stories will be made!