Roadtrip to Roatan, Honduras
Our December vacation started off with a five hour drive from Guatemala City to the Copan Ruins in Copan, Honduras. We had another three car caravan consisting of the Turners, Connors (and their nanny, Andrea) and the Storelees (and our nanny, Reyna).
All went smoothly until we came to the border and Wade Turner, who was in the lead, was unsure if we needed to pull over and park or just drive into Honduras as the Guatemalans waved us through and nobody seemed to be manning the Honduran side.
All went smoothly until we came to the border and Wade Turner, who was in the lead, was unsure if we needed to pull over and park or just drive into Honduras as the Guatemalans waved us through and nobody seemed to be manning the Honduran side.
I hopped into the lead and, as Wade put it, cruised up the hill faster than I'd driven up a hill all day. The Turner car followed, but the Connor car was stopped by the authorities. They phoned the Turners and told them that we were supposed to return to the border.
When Michele Turner called to tell me, I told her I wasn't going back, but would wait for them up the hill. Surprised, Michele turned to Wade and said, "She's not going back" and later referred to me as a renegade.
When Michele Turner called to tell me, I told her I wasn't going back, but would wait for them up the hill. Surprised, Michele turned to Wade and said, "She's not going back" and later referred to me as a renegade.
The Turners decided not to go back either and we laughed and shared a beer at the top of the hill, as we were only 10km from Copan, waiting for the Connors. Being familiar with border crossings in Central America, if they really wanted you to stop, they wouldn't have the metal arms up in the air and be completely out of sight when cars came to the border.
The Connors caught up with us and said the authorities said that when we cross back over, we may have to pay a 1500Q ($190) fine, which I found unlikely. Passports are not stamped at land border crossings so they'd have no knowledge as to whether or not we stopped in the first place, but it was a nice empty threat.
The Connors caught up with us and said the authorities said that when we cross back over, we may have to pay a 1500Q ($190) fine, which I found unlikely. Passports are not stamped at land border crossings so they'd have no knowledge as to whether or not we stopped in the first place, but it was a nice empty threat.
We spent the night at La Casa del Cafe in Copan well-run by a nice American guy named Howard. He gave us the nannies room for free, which was very nice. We ended up getting deals all over Honduras - not common in the high season, but due to the US warning against travel to Honduras since the recent coup. We decided it may be a good idea to plan trips according to which country recently had a coup ;)
The following day we visited the Mayan ruins, the real reason we made a stop in Copan. Sienna has never been to ruins before and she didn't seem to realize their significance at the ripe old age of one.
We hopped in our cars and were off to Tela, our next destination. I was very pleased with the roads throughout Honduras. They are much better than in Guatemala and the drivers aren't near as crazy. I didn't see a single accident until the ride back, shortly after crossing the border back into Guatemala.
The following day we visited the Mayan ruins, the real reason we made a stop in Copan. Sienna has never been to ruins before and she didn't seem to realize their significance at the ripe old age of one.
We hopped in our cars and were off to Tela, our next destination. I was very pleased with the roads throughout Honduras. They are much better than in Guatemala and the drivers aren't near as crazy. I didn't see a single accident until the ride back, shortly after crossing the border back into Guatemala.
We stayed in Maya Vista Hotel & Restaurant overlooking the dirty beaches of Tela. We stopped here simply because we have a 9.30 am ferry to catch in the morning in the ugly port city of La Ceiba, a two hour drive from Tela. The hotel was nice, with an excellent view and delicious food so it served our purposes.We left at 6 am for our final journey in the car to the ferry. After we unloaded our stuff, bought our ferry tickets, and registered and parked our cars in the parking lot, we hopped on the ferry for a 1.5 hour ride to the island of Roatan.
Although I've been suspicious that Sienna is slightly prone to motion sickness, it was confirmed on the "Vomit Comet," as it's called by the locals. I made the mistake of trying to clean up the vomit and ended up vomiting myself in the barf bags they handed out at the start of the trip. Michele told me I'm the only one she knows who can vomit one minute and laugh the next - a gift, I guess ;)
Oh were we happy to arrive in Roatan! The island was beautiful - surrounded by white sand beaches and light blue waters. Our taxi van and car were waiting for us, loaded us in and the girls headed to the grocery store to buy food for the week.
When we arrived at the Out of the Blue house that we rented, we were thrilled! It was much nicer and bigger than we had imaged and it came with two extra Cabana rooms instead of the one that we were expecting. We unloaded our stuff and hit the beach!
Our days in Roatan were spent much the same - waking up early, hanging out with Sienna until the rest of the house began moving, walking the beach with Michele and stopping at Jane's coffee shop at Bananarama, relaxing on the beach, watching Sienna play in the sand and taking occasional dips in the ocean, drinking beer, eating and just simply enjoying ourselves.
When we arrived at the Out of the Blue house that we rented, we were thrilled! It was much nicer and bigger than we had imaged and it came with two extra Cabana rooms instead of the one that we were expecting. We unloaded our stuff and hit the beach!
Our days in Roatan were spent much the same - waking up early, hanging out with Sienna until the rest of the house began moving, walking the beach with Michele and stopping at Jane's coffee shop at Bananarama, relaxing on the beach, watching Sienna play in the sand and taking occasional dips in the ocean, drinking beer, eating and just simply enjoying ourselves.
One day, I went diving with TGI Divers out of the Henry Morgan Resort, but didn't really see anything too exciting - a lot of beautiful coral and pretty fish, but no large sea creatures. The same day, I went snorkeling off the beach and encountered my favorite creature of the sea, the sea turtle!Other than that, our time in Roatan was relaxing and enjoyable - oh, except for the sand flies that bit the crap out of my entire body - those I could have done without. I've never had so many insect bites on my body at one time.
Sienna, Reyna and I headed out on our regularly schedule day, Friday, but the rest of the crew decided to stay on one more night. We depart on Wednesday to Minnesota, four days of blazing sun was enough for Sienna's fresh skin and I'm comfortable driving solo, so we said farewell and were on our way home.A storm rolled in on Friday morning, which worried me, but ended up not affecting our ferry ride too much. Sienna spit up a bit, but had no food in her stomach, thankfully, and I didn't feel at all queasy on the way back. It was pouring rain when we reached the docks and I ran to the car, paid the fee and we drove three hours to San Pedro Sula where I didn't recognize the shortcut we took when we arrived.
I asked a traffic cop where the road was to Copan and he told me to wait a minute and he and another traffic cop would give us an escort on their motorcycle. The other cop was busy giving a traffic ticket to an unhappy taxi driver, so I explained that he could just tell me and we'd to at it alone. He said he didn't want us to get lost and then asked me how I like Honduras. I love it, of course. He went on to say that he spent some time in Washington DC and directed me to a spot where I was out of the way of traffic.
Once the writing of the traffic ticket was complete, they hopped on their motorcycle and literally stopped traffic for miles - it had to have been at least 7 miles out of San Pedro Sula and all the way to a toll booth out of town where I recognized where we were (and actually recognized where we were immediately when we got on the toll road). It was amazingly nice of them and we waved them thank you as we drove by.We arrived in Copan at 5 pm, after about a 9.5 hour trip from our house in Roatan back to La Casa del Cafe near the Honduran border. We went out for dinner and feel asleep early, exhausted.
Saturday, we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast, went across the border, again not being stopped on the Honduras side and opening our trunk on the Guatemalan side, and never handing over our passports.Our return trip from Copan to Guatemala City was only four hours and wow were we happy to get home! A fun trip indeed!
**Side note: we headed back a day earlier from Roatan and drove home in two days while the rest of the crew booked another night in Roatan and took three days to return to Guate (and when I wrote this blog, I wasn't yet aware of their experiences). As luck would have it (for us, anyway): 1. A storm moved in the day we left Roatan, 2. We took the morning ferry, therefore driving during the day; the others found themselves driving in the rain at night (not advisable in Central America as there are - and was an unmanned sinkhole), 3. Although I had a great experience with the traffic cops, the others were pulled over twice in San Pedro Sula and shook down for about $140 US total and 4. There was a lot of rain causing rock slides in Guate when they came through.