Ali was leaving Friday, and kiddo and I were headed to the jungle of Pico Bonito. After our fabulous fast food dinner, we went to our rooms to pack and sleep. I was reading in bed, and shortly after midnight, I felt an earthquake. I’ve been in several earthquakes before, so I had no doubt what was happening. After a few minutes, it popped up online.

Needless to say, I had another restless night. There were half a dozen aftershocks, and while I didn’t realize that was what woke me at the time, my awake times aligned with the aftershock times. I’m very grateful it was not a major earthquake, because while I don’t typically feel in peril here, disaster response definitely feels outside the scope of what I want to experience! Thankfully, this wasn’t too severe and there didn’t appear to be any major damage.

We got picked up at 9:20 for our drive to Pico Bonito. Our taxi literally had a bungee cord holding the trunk closed. There were no seatbelts, the seat in front of me lost all of its bolts and sat on blocks of wood, and there was a notable draft on my backside. Anna-Sophia and I debated the likelihood of making it there in one piece. 🙂

By some miracle, we skidded our way in to La Ceiba (fast braking + bald tires = a whole lot of fishtailing) where we switched to another car for the final half hour up into the jungle. Our lodge, the Omega Eco Lodge, is like out of a picture book. After a small lunch, we walked around a bit and took a short hike.

It was kind of rainy and damp, so we put our feet in the pool with some fish (free pedicure!), enjoyed the hammocks, and debated what to do on Saturday.

By 8:30, I couldn’t keep my eyes open so we climbed into bed. I was asleep in about 3 minutes and I slept like a baby with the sounds of the insects and babbling water.

Nervous as I was about it, we had signed up for white-water rafting on the Rio Cangrejal in the morning so after breakfast, we got fitted with life jackets and we-mean-business-helmets before walking down to the river. We had a serious safety briefing, then got in the river and practiced what we learned (forward, backstroke, get down, get up, and how to gracefully respond if you fall out or we tip). Then we were off!

We started with a lazy river, then move into class I, II, and eventually III rapids. It’s definitely ominous when you can hear the rapids but can’t see them, but we navigated it all successfully and had a total blast!

Thursday was Copán day. The ruins of Copán are part of the legacy left by the Mayans, along with other great sites like Chichen Itza in Mexico and smaller sites like Altun Ha in Belize. Because of the somewhat remote location in Western Honduras, just shy of the Guatemalan border, this site receives many fewer tourists than the others. Also, Honduras just gets fewer tourists across the board.

Sidebar: I fully acknowledge that Honduras has more than its fair share of murders and kidnappings. So does Chicago, New Orleans, and plenty of other cities. In my extremely limited experience here, I think it is truly manageable risk. Don’t go out alone or at night. Don’t go to areas you don’t know. Stay in reputable hotels and inns and follow the guidance of the locals. The vast majority of people here are friendly and welcoming. A few rotten ones ruin it for the rest. I’ve found Hondurans to be incredibly friendly and polite. They are welcoming and happy to share their country with us.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. We had a 5:10 pick up scheduled, which means my sleep was very poor (I always worry I won’t wake up, so my body wakes me up in a panic every half hour). Karim, our driver/guide, was the only person I found who would do a day trip from San Pedro Sula to Copán, so my expectations were low. Our actual experience was fabulous.

We drove for 2.5 hours, then had breakfast. Baleadas are the traditional food, and I’m happy to oblige! It’s a large, fresh tortilla, filled with refried beans, scrambled egg, queso fresco, and some sour cream. Add a little hot sauce or avocado (aguacate) and it’s heavenly! Also, the coffee here is some of the best I’ve ever had. Rich without being bitter.

After paying our entrance fees and collecting our guide, we set off exploring the compound. Ancient Mayans lived all over the valley, so we concentrated our visit on the one small site in the middle of the map.

The first thing we noticed is that there’s nobody selling you anything, so it is more peaceful. There are also maybe 50 other people here in total, so you have much of the place to yourself. And, there are macaws everywhere!

Our guide was fabulous, so we were saddened to hear that she isn’t paid for her work. The national government supplies a very minuscule amount of funding for operating the site, but that’s it. Outside organizations have made deals with the national government for excavation and study, but the deal almost always include the right for the outside organization to pillage and remove artifacts from the site. One of the most important carvings from here is in the Peabody-Essex Museum in Mass thanks to Harvard.

We went underground into some excavation tunnels to see the layers buried beneath the current ground level. These sites were built in layers, with sometimes half of the monument below ground!

Like other Mayan sites, there is a ball court here. Captains of winning teams were beheaded as offerings to the gods.

Macaws are the national bird of Honduras, and there are many at the ruins because it is a protected site. They are stunning, striking birds.

We strolled into town after to look for souvenirs and get some lunch. Copán reminds me a lot of Salento in Colombia (but much smaller) or parts of Bogóta with a strong colonial vibe. It was very cute!

We took a tuktuk up to a chocolate and tea shop, then hit the road home.

Our drive back was also long (4.5 hours), so we were hungry but also too tired to go out to eat so we tried our hand at San Pedro Sula’s version of DoorDash, called PedidosYa. It was fast food, but I managed to order it all in Spanish and we got what we wanted, so that’s a win!

Driving hours across a country yields a very good look at local communities. There is certainly no question that this is a “third world” nation given the state of housing, cars, education, etc., yet it feels optimistic. Hondurans are proud people, and they want to strive for something better.

I was both excited and nervous about vacationing in Honduras. Excited for the warmth, the coffee, the ancient temples and carvings, and the snorkeling. Nervous for the non-zero potential to be mugged, kidnapped, or worse. One day in, and I have to say, this is nothing at all like what I expected. It’s up there with Svalbard and Botswana for being a complete surprise…in a good way.

We left home yesterday at an unspeakably early hour. After 2 flights, we landed in San Pedro Sula and met up with Ali. The airport is small (so small – only 5 gates total for one of the largest airports in the country), yet clean and contemporary. Everybody we encountered was helpful, polite, and spoke some English. We loitered for several hours, then caught a small plane over to Roatán.

Our accommodations are older, but clean and directly on the water. Kid found the hammock on the balcony, as well as one of the resident kittens, so she’s happy!

Surprising lesson #1: waterfront ≠ water access. The land between our hotel and the water appears to be all volcanic rock (although is probably coral since the island sits atop the 2nd largest coral reef ecosystem in the world). It’s jagged and absolutely not something one could traverse without a lot of time and a lot of injuries. I know not to expect beaches the way I’m used to them, but I did expect at least semi-flat land.

Today’s weather forecast wasn’t great, so we decided to go on a rather tourist-oriented tour including a wildlife sanctuary, a chocolate museum/factory/store, and a rum distillery/store.

Surprising lesson #2: Roatán locals speak English natively and learn Spanish in grade school. The English is a bit of a pidgin or creole, with bits of Spanish and local tongues mixed through.

Maya Eden is a wildlife sanctuary with many native critters on display. We explored the butterfly garden and then, before we could move on, we met Ho-Ho the white-faced capuchin who loves taking grapes from your hand!

We spent an hour meeting other animals native to the country, from butterflies to macaws to monkeys. It is so special to be able to feed a spider monkey a peanut from your hand or to give a kinkajou a grape.

It started raining just as we left the animal park, so we were grateful that the remaining activities were indoors. After hitting the chocolate and rum factories and getting some coffee, we went back to the hotel to relax.

Surprising lesson #3: Roatán almost exclusively uses USD (of which we do not have a ton with us since I didn’t read that in any of my pre-travel research materials!) while the mainland generally will only accept local currency – limperas.

Roatán reminds me a fair amount of Tahiti. Houses are either expensive and fancy, or they are very simple cinder-block builds with outhouses. Our guide was saying that many Americans and Canadians buy property here, and while some of that is good for the economy, there’s a tipping point.

Similarly, Roatán gets a lot of cruise ships. A LOT. On many days, 4 massive ships will arrive at the same time, releasing enough people to nearly double the population of the island in an instant. Those people spend money and that’s great, but they also all need transportation around the island and need to eat, straining the limited infrastructure of the local communities. A good reminder to be mindful of your impact when traveling, to use local tours and guides, and to tip overly-generously always.

We spent the afternoon playing games, reading, and relaxing. Anna-Sophia and Ali are completely obsessed with the cats so that provided them with nearly-infinite entertainment.

We walked around town for a bit once the rain subsided. Town is mostly bars/restaurants, and many have a strong tourist vibe that wasn’t of interest. We had dinner at a little local place called Loretta’s Island Cooking and it was wonderful! My blackened fish was seasoned perfectly and crispy on the outside without being dry. Anna-Sophia and Ali had shrimp. 3 meals here, 100% shrimp for Anna-Sophia.

Even with the rain, it was a perfectly lovely day. Not being at work certainly helps!