7 Quick Takes from Honduras

November 15, 2019 by Amy Welborn

—1 —

Greetings from Honduras!

Before getting into some detail about the last day or so, let me point you to previous posts – we’ve been here almost a week, and if you just click back, you’ll find the daily posts.

Also Instagram, especially stories – for video.

Also – today is the memorial of St. Albert the Great. I have a post about him here, and here’s a page from my entry on him in the Loyola Kids Book of Heroes.

amy-welborn22

Please check out all my books!

— 2 —

So, as you can see from the previous entries, every morning this week has been about school. My almost 15-year old studies and practices Spanish from 8-noon every day, we grab lunch, and then go on an adventure of one sort or another. One of the reasons I chose Copan Ruinas as the place for him to study Spanish this time is for that very reason – lots to do in an afternoon timeframe.

Yesterday, we had lunch in a little place – pupusas and a plato tipico made their way to our table. The fellow who served us spoke to us at length in English – not great, but perfectly good. He’d lived in the US for a while, but been deported after an arrest for causing an accident while DUI. He wasn’t resentful – flies an American flag in the restaurant – and says his dad is a legal resident in New Orleans.

Oh, I forgot – in between the end of school and lunch, we ran into and talked with Sa’ad – a Texan with a law degree from Michigan State who now lives in NYC, practicing a bit of law, making music, and managing musicians, including some from this part of the world. He had been here, meeting up with some friends from Europe and touring the ruins – what was funny was that in looking at his Instagram story, something clicked – I’d noticed this group of American guys sitting down at the place we were eating Wednesday night, and sure enough, in his stories – there’s a video of that meal, and there we are, a quick glimpse in the back. So here’s Sa’ad’s Instagram.

— 3 —

After lunch, we grabbed a mototaxi up to Hacienda San Lucas – an historic hotel up on the hills above the town. There are trails in the forest around the hotel that go by various natural features – a spring, a banana field, up to a rather isolated Mayan settlement – the main focus being Los Sapos – ancient Mayan statues of toads, sacred to them. So we did that, and then relaxed in chairs on the front lawn of the hotel, taking in the view.

(I keep forgetting that it’s November…)

We were told by a couple of people that it was dangerous to walk to or back from the hacienda – it’s about a mile of fairly country roads. I had my doubts, but was prepared to have the hotel call us a mototaxi, but then, as we were sitting there taking in the view, two thin blonde women in shorts came trooping up the hill from the direction of the town. I asked them if they had, indeed, walked from the town, and they said yes, and said it felt perfectly safe. It’s just a little under two miles, so why not?

A good walk – all downhill, so that’s a plus. In lovely country, passing folks as they were coming back from a day of work, either on foot, on motorcycles, or standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the back of a pickup (very common sight around here – I just assume that someone with a pickup takes whoever wants to go to town from an outlying settlement at any given time.

— 4 —

A bit of a rest, then out to dinner at Cafe San Rafael again – I wasn’t feeling another full dinner – I just wanted cheese and wine, and my son says the sandwiches there are some of the best he’s ever eaten.

We didn’t finish the food, and took a box – not sure why since we don’t have a fridge in the room – but we did. And our scent was immediately picked up by a dog who (of course) doggedly followed us through town and to the square. He was not giving up. I put the box behind me. He stayed. He didn’t sit – he just stood right in front of me, the very definition of “hangdog.”

— 5 –

This morning – photos of the first part of every breakfast, including, this morning, Vietnamese coffee introduced to my son by the inn owner.

— 6 —

We have today and tomorrow left here – tomorrow we have an all-day excursion planned, then it’s pack-up time and move on. I was all bound and determined to take the bus to our next destination, but…yeah, I chickened out. I’m telling you – I’m telling you – that if it were a matter of going from A to B, straight shot, it would be one thing. But it’s not. It would, as far as I can tell, involve at least two bus transfers, maybe three. There are no schedules posted online, the busses on these routes are collectivos – passenger vans – and I just have no faith that we wouldn’t be dropped at the first stop and then find no more buses going to where we needed to go for the rest of the day.

So yeah, I splurged on another private driver.

Oh well. I’m spending next to nothing on food, so I guess paying these drivers makes up for it….

— 7 —

It’s a major award!

Well, probably not. But two of my Loyola books have earned these honors: