Blog Catch-up;

We are presently at ‘Villas Pico Bonito’ near La Ceiba, Honduras.  I’ll describe our journey so far.

On Wed., 5 Feb. About 12:30 pm we left Belleville, Ontario to drive to our daughter’s home, (Cathy).  The roads were terrible and it had been snowing all morning and continued for about an hour when we drove out of it.  Hwy. 401 was mainly snow covered and the usual 2 hour trip took over 4 hours. 


           Lunch in Tegucigalpa of Honduran Tacos while we waited for our flight to Roatan

Cathy took us with granddaughter Deborah to the restaurant ‘Frankie Tomatoes’ for a delicious buffet dinner.  We went to bed about 10 pm as we had to get up at 2 am to get to the airport for our 6:15 flight to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  The flight was uneventful but the plane was delayed in arrival by 10 minutes.  We learned they were holding the TACA flight to Roatan that we had originally been booked on.  (We had changed flights because we didn’t consider the 25 minutes difference to get through immigration and customs and catch a flight at 12:50.  Wish we had known they would make sure we made it.  We did not clear customs until 1:03 pm)

Inside the Twin Otter

 View of the mountains from the Otter on the way to Roatan

We checked our bags with CM airlines then went to lunch. Our CM Airlines plane was a DeHaviland Twin Otter, Very small in comparison and even less leg room than on bigger planes. I had a cold and my ears were stuffed so experienced some pain in descending to Roatan.  We took a taxi to the hotel, Cocolobo.

ROATAN

The room at Cocolobo was very big and looked out over the ocean. The lovely view from the wall of sliding glass doors and the large porch was partially obscured by vegetation. King size bed and refrigerator in the room, Also TV which we never turned on.  Their bar was on the honour system which made things very convenient when Nelson and Kara came by for a visit with their children Steven and Kelly and we could serve ‘sodas’. 

The pool and bar area at Cocolobo.  The building houses 4 rooms and is identical to our building/room behind me.

  Due to my cold we spent most of our time reading, walking, and relaxing by the pool.  On Sunday night Nelson picked us up and after collecting other church members we went to the ‘under construction’ church for service at 6 pm.  After the service they delivered several members home then dropped us off.

On Monday 10 Feb. N & K took us to the ferry terminal and we boarded for the trip to La Ceiba.  We needed cash and had to check out 7 ATMs before we found one that would work.  We also stopped at a supermarket and bought a few groceries for breakfasts and lunches which we understood were not served at the Villa Pico Bonito.  We splurged here and spent a little extra to go first class which included air conditioning and a soda.

LA CEIBA
We had been told we would be met by someone from Villa Pico Bonito at the terminal but no one was there.  But we have experience in Honduras so we waited.  Eventually Anna arrived.  She had a flat tire.  The trip to the hotel was quite a distance and we stopped for fuel on the way.  Their internet was down and they couldn’t take her credit card so I loaned her 300 limperas to add to the 200 she had.  It was repaid the next day.

Looking downriver from our room.

Pool area at Villa Pico Bonito

Looking toward the river from the lounge chairs at the pool.  The water in the pool spills over the wall for what they call an 'infinity pool'.

 The Villa is quite a distance from La Ceiba over a poor dirt road.  Anna was driving a 4 wheel drive Toyota pickup, crew cab.  We were given a quick tour and shown our room.  We learned that the restaurant was closed Mondays but they made arrangements for someone to drive us to a nearby lodge that was open. Here we had an excellent meal and ate it with a Korean/American who was travelling the area on her own.  The lodge then had someone drive us back to the Villas.  We were the only guests in the resort Monday night.

Tuesday was quiet.  We explored the many pathways, mainly paved, through the luxurious growth on the property, went for a swim in the large pool, and met some fellow Canadians who had just arrived for 3 days and 3 Americans here for 2.  Earlier in the afternoon I went for a walk in search of the closest pulpería, (small convenience store).  It turned out to be 15 minutes walk up the road and was someone selling a few things from their home. One of the Villa’s 2 dogs accompanied me the whole way, and it was really hot. 2 other parties arrived, a couple from Hamilton and 3 women from Minnesota who will be joining a medical team arriving Friday.  For dinner I had chicken breast in coconut/curry sauce and Eva had chicken fajita/burrito.  Both very good.  We went to bed early and didn’t get up until 6:30 am.

Wednesday we went into La Ceiba to do some grocery shopping.  We enquired if anyone was heading into town and next thing we knew, a taxi had been ordered.  The driver initially wanted $20 each way.  We negotiated $30 return with him waiting for us at the supermarket.  Other than that,  nothing special to report.

Thursday, it’s raining and up to now at 5 pm has been raining most of the day.  The ‘creek’ flowing through the property to the river is now a mini river.  The ‘rooms’ are separated from the common areas by the creek and there are two paths between the two.  We consider the lower one unsafe due to the volume of water.

Friday It continued to rain a lot last night and the river is a couple of feet higher than it was when we arrived.  Went for a walk this morning then came back to try again to get into the posting area of this blog.  I had quite a bit of trouble from 2 sources, first, all the instructions were in Spanish I guess because I am in a Spanish speaking country, and second it kept on insisting on a cellular phone number, and our cellular is rarely used so I didn’t want to put it in.  However, as you can see I finally surmounted the problems.

All for now and hopefully I can post again before we go to El Paraiso. ......... Dick