Four awesome days in Tela. Currie, Sandi, Samuel and I left at 5am Monday morning and made the 4-hour drive to Tela with little difficulty. It would have been a shorter drive, but the bridge to El Progresso is still out from the earthquake in May, so you have to go all the way up to San Pedro Sula. But we made it and got a great deal on a room at Hotel Cesar Mariscos. Our room was on the third floor, overlooking the pool and jacuzzi on the second floor. We could sit on our little balcony watching both the pool and the beach. The pool was pretty cool in its own rite: you could hang on the edge, overlooking the sidewalk below. Yeah, I spent hours in the pool, just hanging on the edge, people watching and beach watching.
We also spent a lot of time at the beach. It was warm and the waves were pretty low key. One day we went for a 'banana boat ride'. The banana boat is a long tube, that has a small outrigger on each side for a little extra stability and a place to put your feet, and handles enough for eight people. Originally, Sandi & I thought we would be the only 2 on the boat, then two more young guys joined in, followed by Currie & Samuel, and finally two more blue jean-clad Honduran girls wanted in. We went from pretty empty to completely full in a matter of minutes.
The first thing you do is put on a life vest, the kind that you use for water skiing. The guys working make sure it fits very snugly and is the right size. They put the banana boat in the water and all 8 of us found our places on it. Then, the boat that pulls you heads out. The tow rope is pretty long, so it takes a while for the banana boat to react to the direction of the motor boat. Basically, it's like innertubing -- for a crowd. You have to hold on for dear life. After the first couple of minutes and BIG bounces, Samuel fell off. He popped up in the water just laughing and laughing. He was back on the banana pretty quickly. Then our guide started driving the boat pretty fast, making several twists and turns. All of a sudden, we were in the water -- all 8 of us. It happened so fast, I didn't even see it coming. Well, I must have been laughing when we flipped, because I came to the surface with a mouth full of seawater. Not good. Despite how much I kept coughing out, I think I must have drank about a pint -- or at least it felt that way. Nasty! Anyway, we all got on the main boat and then people started getting back on the banana from the boat. By this time, I decided that I was done. Drinking seawater had already started to turn my stomach. I probably should have gotten back on the banana. From that point on, our guide didn't do any more abrupt twists and turns. Oh well, even being in the boat for the last few minutes was enjoyable. The cost for this adventure: 50 Lps per person, or about $2.50 USD.
Orginally, we were going to come back to Comayagua on Wednesday, after staying at the beach for two nights. But, we decided to stay for an extra day and the hotel extended their pricing deal to us: 1295 Lps ($68.53 USD), which also included a nice breakfast of juice, coffee, fruit, toast and eggs. The juice options were fresh pineapple and fresh watermelon. ¡Qué rico!
It seemed that we just basically went back and forth from the beach to the pool, occasionally taking breaks for a meal. What a wonderful way to pass the days.
On Wednesday morning, after breakfast, I asked at the front desk about renting a hammock. Well, they just took a hammock down from one of the balconies and put it up on the beach between two palm trees. Ah, my "office" for the day! It was so peaceful there. I watched the water, the boats coming and going, a few people playing in the water. Then I would inspect my eyelids for a while. I listened to the sounds of the surf crashing on the beach, the wind making the palm fronds "clap their hands", the voices of the Garifuna hawking their wares and even the occasional, mostly harmless, drunk asking me for some of my pan de coco (coconut bread) or water. I steadfastly denied the requests of the two drunks, knowing that giving them anything would only make me a magnet for more people to come begging.
I took a break from my morning of intense hammock relaxtion for lunch on the beach with Currie, Sandi and Samuel. We enjoyed some fresh limonada and munched on some of the several varieties of pan de coco we had purchased and even some elote (roasted corn on the cob) I bought from a young boy. And, then, after about an hour of sitting, eating and talking, it was back to the "office" for me. Currie, Sandi and Samuel decided to move their attention from the beach to the pool. Yes, it was a rough life, but, really, someone had to do it!
By about 2:30, I decided to leave the "office" and go up to the pool and be sociable. I mean, for the past 5 1/2 hours, I had been living something right out of a Corona commercial, albeit sin Corona (without the Corona). Yes... Miles away from ordinary. That describes it perfectly.
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