Friday, August 27, 2004
End of Honduras vacation
Ok, so Honduras was awesome, and Clare and I at the end stayed a day and a half in a Garifuna village that we were invited to go to by our Garifuna guide from a snorkeling tour. His name was Richard, and was really cool : In Tela he found us the right bus, and also got these Espanolas to go who were also on the tour. We stayed in an okay hotel, but RIGHT on the beach, had the best seafood dinner ever (at least I did, but Clare is total veg, and that was kind of a bit harder in the village than in town). We all went out dancing, or tried to, but Richard the first live band was at a a casa cultural and was pretty empty, so we opted for a bar down the road. We had to cross around the beach which was very windy and there was lightening in the distance and the only light that we wouldnt have would be when a ray would light up the sky and your would see crazy waves and wind whipped palm trees, and crabs scuttling across the beach. It totally made me think of Pirates of the Caribbean. I love pirates, and Honduras is famous for pirates.
I never told about Margaritas despedida in Cebollal, other than Annie and I got our headlamps stolen, but nicaraguan boys are very insistent on dancing, and they surround you in hordes and if you turn one down, then 5 more are all like bailamos, and grab your hand. Anyway, men at this bar were about the same, but Richard ran interference and took really good care of us, so the whole dancing experience on the whole ended up being pretty pleasant. I will have to say that the bar we went to in Tela the night before to see a live band was more fun, and the music was AWESOME, and Garifuna women can move their butts in a circle. I cant do that. There are certain songs where the whole point is to come up on stage and shake what your momma gave you while the band plays, so a procession of women et up there, and I think the bigger the butt, the more popular you are.
Funny thing was, that the next day the old guy who owned the hotel insisted on escorting Clare and I to where we ate dinner, and even waited for us to finish, which ended up being a good idea, because the electricity went out and he had a flashlight and I did not. But he even asked us where we were going when we went for a walk down the beach, and so we started to think that either this place was really dangerous, or he just wanted to make sure we were okay. When some guys came up to us on the beach and started chatting me up ( Clare was sleeping), he came up and chased them off.
Women roam the beaches selling coconut bread, which is not sweet, but absolutely fantastic and offering to put your hair into braids. Anyone who remembers my experiment with braids in the past will know that I turned them down without a second thought! The last thing I need to do is lose more hair!
The last bit Clare and I went to the most awesome botanical garden, where I will definitely go back to to go birding, and I got an awesome birding book and will try and do the Christmas count in Honduras. Clare and parted ways, me to Esteli, and she to the Bay islands, which look fantastic and where Annie and Tara and Paul and I have plans to go scuba diving!
Love
Melissa
I never told about Margaritas despedida in Cebollal, other than Annie and I got our headlamps stolen, but nicaraguan boys are very insistent on dancing, and they surround you in hordes and if you turn one down, then 5 more are all like bailamos, and grab your hand. Anyway, men at this bar were about the same, but Richard ran interference and took really good care of us, so the whole dancing experience on the whole ended up being pretty pleasant. I will have to say that the bar we went to in Tela the night before to see a live band was more fun, and the music was AWESOME, and Garifuna women can move their butts in a circle. I cant do that. There are certain songs where the whole point is to come up on stage and shake what your momma gave you while the band plays, so a procession of women et up there, and I think the bigger the butt, the more popular you are.
Funny thing was, that the next day the old guy who owned the hotel insisted on escorting Clare and I to where we ate dinner, and even waited for us to finish, which ended up being a good idea, because the electricity went out and he had a flashlight and I did not. But he even asked us where we were going when we went for a walk down the beach, and so we started to think that either this place was really dangerous, or he just wanted to make sure we were okay. When some guys came up to us on the beach and started chatting me up ( Clare was sleeping), he came up and chased them off.
Women roam the beaches selling coconut bread, which is not sweet, but absolutely fantastic and offering to put your hair into braids. Anyone who remembers my experiment with braids in the past will know that I turned them down without a second thought! The last thing I need to do is lose more hair!
The last bit Clare and I went to the most awesome botanical garden, where I will definitely go back to to go birding, and I got an awesome birding book and will try and do the Christmas count in Honduras. Clare and parted ways, me to Esteli, and she to the Bay islands, which look fantastic and where Annie and Tara and Paul and I have plans to go scuba diving!
Love
Melissa
