Tegucigalpa!!!

The next stop on my journey was the capital of Honduras and what a weird and interresting place! Arriving there I felt quite lost as I knew nothing of the city and hadn't the chance to practice spanish in a couple weeks. I took a cab to a hotel recomended inthe travelers bible and checked in... There is a river dividing the city in two and I was on the market side....also known as danger town! I didnt find it too dangerous but heh.... I have been to some seedy areas of Guatemala so since the locals didin't have handguns in their belts I felt alright!

The bus ride was beautiful, passing through the mountains, and seeing some villages...

The first ngiht I walked through the market...it was still ight out, I wouldnt go there after dar...and headed across the bridge to find an internet cafe in town.... lots of pizza huts, almost one on every block, as well as the Burger King and his girlfriend Wendy. In this pic you can see the airport...aparently one of themost dangerous in the world.... One week before a plane carrying on e of the wealthiest men in the country started its landing too far down the runway and finished it in the street...2 people in cars were killed as well as several on the plane.... Honduras is trying to build a new airport there on or near the US military base which already has runways, but the US is not to pleased with this project.... They had put in the base in to control interests in latin america in the 80's if my info is correct. (a friend told me this) Either way how crazy is it to have the runway where it is!!! and the city is surounded by mountains!

The next day I went to visit Jesus! He is hanging out in full grandeur ontop of the city. A giant version and what a commanding view he has. Tegucigalpa is surounded by mountians and for that it is quite beautiful! Near Jesus is a small botanical garden and a zoo...I was hoping ot see some animals but the zoo was closed...the view was worth the trip! I also ran into some Quebecers who were volunteering in the city and got to speak some real french! (atleast they spoke real french and I spoke my cersion of it!)

Jesus himself....he was so big you couldn't get a picture form close up!

That morning I had wanted to wash the ocean out of my clothes and couldnt find a laundromat...On my hunt I came across a feather suspended in the air...it was hovering 10cm above the ground, straight up and down and I was mesmerized...thjere was nothing above or below it nor any wind! While I was staring a drunk man noticed it too and said Hi.... Needing a laundromat I asked for directions and he made it his personal mission to help me.... drunk at 8am may not be the best way to go about your day but after much seeking we found it! The funny `part was any time he went to ask someone they would not want to talk to him...then they saw me with my bundle of clothes and answered.... No one really knew where it was and we were sent in circles for 15 minutes until a constuction worker pointed it out not 1 block from where we were! (By the way that morning I decided to have a moustache day....maybe that is why I met Carlos...so we could be a pair)To celebrate my friend Carlos (above) took me to the skethiest part of the market...people lying passed out in the dirties sidewalks imaginable etc... and we went into a little store with 3 other not so clean people inside and one guy stnaing guard at the door....It was some kind of illegal alcohol distribution center.... He ordered a drink which the man at the counter poured forma big bottle into a smaller one and handed it to my frined who quikly chugged it all down...about 3 shots worth... Then he looked at me waitng for me to pay, which I did happily....as he found me the laundry! It cost about 30 cents! So that is how I was reintroduced to spanish! I got to practice with Carlos who despite his drunkeness was quite a gentleman. The streets were full of holes and crazy drivers and he kept pulling me this way and that to keep my footing sure and ensure I was not flattened into a pancake!

Upon returning form my visit with Jesus I had some trouble finding the laundromat! When I did it was closed but I knocked on the window and got my clothes!

Then it was supper and the tv in my hotel for the rest of the night!

One more thing about Tegucigalpa...while it was dirty and dangerous the city it rmeinds me of themost in the world is a toss up between jerusalem and Tel-Aviv!!! The reason is a weird one! Just about every streeet corner downtown has police or military on it....and in every aqwuare or park.... People with metal detectors search you as you enter banks and even some stores, and there are guards at almost every shop as well. These guards are hired security with shotguns, just sitting outside everything form an electronics store to a store that sells underwear to internet cafes! Every McDonalds, Burger King and Pizza Hut also had an armed guard! Look out Hamburgler!!!

Weirdest Hockey Game ever!

Last night I attended the weirdest hockey game I have ever seen! Myself and 2 friends from Denmark whomI had met on the small island shared a cab to a hotel from the ferry in La Ceiba.... We noticed in the streets tons of people wearing Honduran flags and selling t-shits and other Honduran propoganda. I figured it must be a crazy hockey game! So after finding a hotel and having a great meal at a steakhouse (I didnt realize it was a steak house but the beans were top notch...I just oredered 3 side orders and had a tasty meal!) we headed towards the arena! There were many scalpers, just like in Montreal and after figuring out their game somewhat we went for the more expensive tickets which were in the section with seats...we were told it may be a little more dangerous in the other sections!
So in we went and the first thing I noticed was that the arena had no roof! in Honduras! How they thought they could keep ice cold in such a climate without a roof I had no idea! And to tell the truth they did a poor job!! The ice was so melted grass had grown right over it! And it was huge...bigger than an olympic rink! And not only that but the players who were warming up left their sticks on the bench and were practicing only by kicking some giant rounded puck! And their skates....so weird...instead of one long metal blade they had many spikes on the bottom! Almost as if they did not want to glide! I think it was the fans that gave it away for me and made me realize that I was at some sort of other sporting event than the one true sport! It was (and is) called football! (or soccer) And boy were the people into it!
Almost everyone had an air horn and no one was shy about using it! I guess it makes sense...for one thing, all over centeral america people cant stop using their car horns...beep! im turning...beeep! im braking...beep beep! Im saying hello...beep beep! im behind you...beep beep! im infont of you...so this must have been like heaven for them......30 minutes before the match started everyone was gong crazy...there was not an empy seat in the house...horns blew continuously and the wave went round and round and round! The players were still stretching!!! By the time the game started someone could have offered a million dollars on the nonexistant PA to anyone who came to the main entrance and not a person would have had enough hearing capacity left to make out the words!
Soccer, while not hokey, has some similarities...mainly in how players can pretend to be hurt and then when they see that the other team does not get a penalty they are miraculously cured! As a matter of fact the acting was so good, faking injuries may have been invented through soccer! And when ever this happened...and this is the honest truth (I can't prove it with a picture but can you blame me for not taking a camera to a soccer game in honduras) 4 men with a stretcher would run out onto the field for him....on its own this can seem normal as most of the injuries are to the legs but here is the kicker...they were dressed in light brown fatigues and wearing bright white hardhats!!!! They looked like a cross between WWI fighters and the overembelished cartoon graphics of a video game! But of course before they ever reached a player he would be walking around!
The section we were in had seats....we assumed they were assigned but alas only the section was, so when we arrived half an hour before the game there was not a seat to be seen! But we were at midfield and got to sit on cement steps...It turns out we had some of the best seats in the house! And surrounded by some right drunk people. I feel like talking more about the atmosphere...first of all our higher priced tickets meant that ontop of the giant fence between us and the field there was no barbed wire as there was ontop of the fences surounding the other sections! What this permitted was that in the event of a riot we could run down the isle, jump down into the place where journalist and other people were and climb a fence with no barbed wire and get onto the field the quickest and draw first blood...a coveted position in any soccer riot no doubt!! Every seat and step was filled and people must have been there for hours waiting! In our more prestigious section there was a limit of 98% for one's blood alcohol level, where in other section it could go as high as infinity! The absolute worst time to buy any beverage or food was right before one of the many waves went around.... this is because there is a law that anything in your hands be it full of bubbly or brewed liquid, french fries or bull testicles (yes they were selling them there just like cotton candy) or anything else had to be launched as high into the air as possible as soon as the wave came by! People we not shy about throwing full cups of beer as far as possible! I have never seen this before...Atleast at a Canadiens game people finish the molson before launching the empty cup...and even that is risky... here it is risky to hold onto your food or garbage!! Luckily we only received minor splatterings!
The fans were loud and the cheering was non ending! the energy level was incredible and puts all fans of all other sports to shame! When Honduras' champion, coincidently number 9, known as the Panther came into the game everyone went bonkers! And he was quite good too...from what I could gather about soccer anyways... Of course a coach almost punched a ref...fans booed the other team alot and eveyone left incredibly happy with a 3-1 win.... for the rest of the night car horns beeped honked and tooted out my hotel window and I now know what it is like to be a soccer fan!

Honduran Bay Islands

Howdy mon! I be livin in dee bay Islands mon! On the northern end of Hinduras there are 3 islands famous for some of the best and cheapest diving in the world....what i did not expect is that people speak the bob marley talk! At first I thought it was heavily accented spanish but alas it was english!!

From Flores I took a bus starting at 6am towards Honduras and arrived at La Ceiba at 6pm, which is the city from where you can take a ferry to the islands. It was a crazy journey but quite easy by central american standards.... I had met some people on the bus going to the same place the next day so we all went to a hostel together...In La Ceiba I was surprised by the amount of crappy american cuisine! Everywhere you look is a burger king or wendys or pizza hut.... we ended up at some kind of high end italian place with a rude waiter and delicious food! It took 10 minutes to explain that I didnt want anchovies in my pasta but i got a garlic party in my mouth that is still keeping the bugs off me!!

The fairy took an hour to get to the isands and was quite boring compared to the roller coaster ride we had getting back.... The island had a couple streets and tons of dive centers...It was nice but unfortunately I was not to impressed, the food was mediocre at best and people were not upset to see you but maybe not happy either.... The diving was fun and when i went for a night dive we were floating in the ocean dong buddy checks watching a thunderstorm! I have never been swimming and watching lightning before...and I don't plan on doing it again! But aparently it is safe in the ocean.... felt as safe as dipping myself in honey and walking into a bear den right at the end of the longest winter on record....but here I am to tell the tale...to bad about Christina though! (just kidding there is no christina)
Diving at night is super! All the corals change as the polyps come out...coral looks like plants or some weird growth in the day but at night hairlike tendrils come out all over so they can feed, that is when you see that they are indeed animals...although it was hard to get any info on them more than the simple identification books yielded. Also different fish are out and there is abundant phosphorescence (sp?)

After the diving I spent a couple days at a much smaller island and went on kayak and snoreling trips fom there....I finally got to the white sandy beaches a bit as Utilla (the big island) had docks and boats all around.... I will admit it for the very first time here..I like snorkelling more than diving! You have more control over what yo want to do, and if the reef is not too deep you can see just as much! And even more because there is no group hurrying you along! I saw some more turtles and a friend showed me that yo can hold certain jellyfish if you turn them upside down! And they actually feel like jelly!!

One of the highlights of Utila was getting to see the stanley cup be won! Too bad it was the wrong team though!

Getting back fom the little island was an insane adventure, only to be topper by the fairy back to La Ceiba. We were in a noarrow and long boat, maybe 8meters long, and the otboard 80 horspower on back...the ocean was very windy, huge waves and we kept ridig up one and slamming back down with such force as would put your boys in your throat. There were many times we thoght the boat was gong to split in 2. It was a rocking seasick motion, just a gong up and slamming down....we had to sit as far back as possible to limit the pounding or asses took with each descent.... we felt like chapions when we arrived! We had a couple hours before the next boat which is a catamarang ferry back to the main land...this was the seasick ride! The atendants were very busy handingo t plastic bags and paper towels....and one mother was just clamly breastfeeding the whole time! Here we were gong up down and side to side in sickening turns, and I bet some people would pay good money for such a ride, but you would normally find them on things called stomach twister and death coaster.....It was close but the veggie sub I had for lunch behaved as all enemy subs should and kept sinking, never to come back up.....

One more island thoght...peple just never get sick of Bob Marley! While I was exposed to some new reggae, just about every place is playing Bob Marley...and it is the locals who are bobbing along with the music! Even as I sit now I am hearing...get up stand up, stand up for your rights.... It seems like they are stuck not jsut on one artist but one album...for 30 years! I guess that is the island life....it also smelled like Otto's jacket

cheers