one dump to the next

After a pretty rough day of travel and a dodgy hotel for a night I was ready to take care of business and get to movin' on. First things first, I went to the bank and got some Lempiras and was feeling like a bite. As I was walking around I realized that there were a ton of fried chicken places. At first I thought it was just a coincidence (which I don't believe in) until I became more aware of my surroundings and realized that there are multiple chains of fried chicken places all ove Honduras! Some of the local chains include Pollo Indio (Native Chicken), Pollo Rey (Chicken King), Pollo Sabroso (Flavorful Chicken) and my favorite Pollo de Mi Gente (either 'Chicken of My People' or 'Chicken for My People' depending on the exact translation). The particular intersection I was standing on had a Church's, a KFC, some sort of department store and a Popeye's. Of course the New Orleans Saints had just won the Super Bowl (i'm a few days behind on the blog, give me a break) so I decided what better way to celebrate than with some fried chicken from a New Orleans chain. It was just as one would expect, greasy, juicey and tasty as all get out! I immediately thought of my friend Brian who is a big Saints fan and toasted a chicken thigh in his honor. Then my thoughts moved to my friend Colin. Colin would hate this country because they only give you one napkin per meal down here. On one hand you understand that paper goods are expensive and deforestation is a huge problem down here. On the other hand you have greasy fried chicken hands and there is no way that one little picnic napkin is gonna take care of one finger much less two hands. The reason this reminds me of Colin is amore than one napkin guy, much like myself. Perhaps this is why he holds his residence in Austin, Texas. You see in Austin BBQ (especially brisket) is huge.... I mean huge! There are BBQ joints on nearly very block down there. And when it comes to BBQ joints, they get messy with all that beef and pork and sausages flying around, so they just put rolls of paper towels on every table and let you have at it. Colin being who he is probably loves this although we have never gotten into the strategies of how to manage the non food inventory of restaurants in the greater Austin metropolitan area. My bet is that he would like the idea of paper towel rolls on every table of every restaurant. It is clear to me that the Popeye's chain does not share this philosophy as pertaining to its' Honduran franchises. Even when I asked for more napkins they stalled (clearly a corporate training tactic) until after repeated begging they gave in. But it's not just Popeye's (who dat!) but every restaurant that I have encountered in Honduras so far. Anyway, I digress. My next plan was to go to the beach town of La Ceiba which was 3 hours away. I found my way to the town and found it similar to San Pedro Sula in the fact that it too, was a dump. So far I am not overly impressed with the Honduran towns I have come into contact with. It's not that La Ceiba is all bad, in fact it really isn't even their fault, it is just one of those towns that plays second fiddle in almost every way possible and has a chip on its' shoulder because of it. You see, the capital of Honduras is Tegucigalpa and it is known for politics and the governing of the nation. San Pedro Sula is all about industry, labor and business and it is known for that. La Ceiba is the third town down Honduras' list and its claim to fame is that it knows how to party. In fact, a funny but true saying that I have heard is that Tegucigalpa thinks, San Pedro Sula works and La Ceiba parties. The only problem is that most people use La Ceiba as a jumping off point to go to the Bay Islands of Roatan and Utilla. Both are known for excellent and cheap diving with a great vacation atmosphere. So most people (tourists at least) who want to vacation/party go to these islands and use La Ceiba as a transit center. My point is that La Ceiba has no real identity and because they play second fiddle to everyone, they resent everyone for it. Tough to visualize without having been here but, no doubt, true. So I had found my way into another town with a penchant for crime and grit, great if you're looking for a Dashiel Hammet novel setting but bad if you are on an extended vacation, which my life is. Needless to say, I layed low in my hotel and took it easy once again. No worries, mon! Tomorow my friend Sue is flying in for 4 days and it should be tons of fun and quite different that traveling solo, i'm really looking forward to it!