Santiago

We have been dog sitting for the last few days for little Santiago, otherwise known as San Diablo.  He is just so cute but kind of a little terror when he wants to be.  I think he is probably a pretty normal Jack Russell, full of energy and a bit yappy when he gets worked up.  He likes to chase guys on bicycles down the road and mess with the guys when they are working.  He also loves attacking brooms and mops and anything else that is moving.  I'm pretty much smitten with him.

Hurricane Matthew

Well the hurricane was a dud here in Honduras.  We are in the middle of the country but only got a steady rain all night long and now it looks like it will be a nice day which is good because I need to dry some laundry and sun is very helpful for that.  We have no guests besides a couple that is camping in their camper van.  I have a feeling that we will get walk-ins today since the weather is better than was predicted.  Otherwise it will be very quiet here.

The good news is that my keyboard seems to have magically fixed itself.

Music

I know this picture is dark but I didn't want to ruin the vibe. Bob is a great guitar player and singer and every now and then will get a jam session going. Since neither Rob or I is musical, we just sat close by and enjoyed the live show.

Dogs Life....

There are 2 great dogs that live here.  I'll post some pics of them another day.  I walked by their food dish the other day and just had to take a picture.  French fries, garlic toast, tomatoes and popcorn.  I'm sure that they had already eaten the hamburger.  If you have never been to Central America, you are not aware of how pathetically skinny most dogs here are.  You can quickly spot a foreigner owned dog because they are healthy.  People freak out (in a good way), when they see the dogs that live here because they are so healthy. They may end up with cholesterol problems but these guys eat better than anyone.

Rob's Work

Here are some pics of Bob's house that Rob is working on.  Its going to be so nice when its done.  Today they are already painting the inside.  Its so damp here that hopefully, someday the paint might even dry.

Old school working

Its pretty different working down here. Rob needed to bend some pipe and used this very low tech technique. Working here really makes you have to think outside the box which I think is really good for us.

We will miss you Ed

We have enjoyed the company  of Ed, Bob the owner's brother.  He just left to head home to Oregon and will be missed by all of us.  He is such a cool mellow guy.  We really will miss him around here.  I wish he was staying another week but he had to head home to his cool house that floats right on the river.

Beware of falling avocados

Every now and then, while sitting here enjoying the peace and quiet, there is this huge BOOM that sounds like a gunshot.  Everyone jumps.  It turns out that it is avocados falling from a tree.  They are hard as a rock when they hit the metal roof over the restaurant tables.  2 have already fallen this morning while I've been typing here and drinking my morning coffee.

On the Lake

On Sunday, we went out on the lake for a nature tour with Malcolm.  Malcolm is the guy sitting on the bow of the boat in the bottom pic.  His specialty is birds and he knows everything about the birds in the area here and    in most of the 3rd world.  I won't take credit for these pics though.  One of the guests here was with us on our trip with his great camera and he took most of these.        

computer problems

FYI I'm having some problems with my keyboard. It is randomly inserting the letter c when I type a space or N or B. Its driving me up the wall. Not sure what to do. I will not post here again until I fix it. sorry.

Saturday

The internet here really sucks and I'm getting a bit behind on the blog.  Yesterday was my 2nd full day and so far so good.  I didn't do too much during the day.  Just another trip into town with Victoria.  The evening started really slow and then ended up insane.  Not only did we have the 20 guests and all of their food and non-stop drinks but also groups of locals came in to drink and eat.  Every seat was full with some folks even sitting in the hammock and ground.  I think it went pretty well and was assured that tonight would be less busy.  I'm getting along well with Victoria which is a very good thing.  This past week was a Honduran holiday which is why it was so crazy here at the hotel.  I'm glad that I survived and am hoping that things are calmer for the next few days.

Here is a map of where we are at:

Day 1

Sorry.  The internet is difficult here and I'm a little behind on the blog.  When I cant get online, I try to still write and then post it later.


We pulled into town and everything came back to us.  We knew exactly where to get off the bus.  It is so nice to be in a familiar place.  I can't explain it but I just feel so much more relaxed since we got back to Honduras.  Life just seems simpler down here.  I haven't quite put my finger on why since it seems a little counter-intuitive to be more relaxed in a place where we arent fluent in the language.

Well, we walked down the road from where the bus dropped us off and came in the gates of the hotel.  It was all just as we remembered it.  It took a while before the owner came around to see us and I was a bit nervous about what we would be doing and whether there is enough work for us.  He has a manager here now who wasnt even aware that we were coming which only added to my anxiety.  The rest of the day was a blur.  I hit the ground running.  First, I went into town on a grocery trip with Victoria, the manager and her sweet little Jack Russell, Santiago.  I came back and relaxed and showered and then the dinner rush started.  There were 2 groups of Americans totalling almost 20 people and they ordered drink after drink after drink.  It looks like I will be waitressing which is brand new to me.  Hopefully I wasnt too much of a nuisance.  The nice thing is that by 9pm everything is done and boy was I tired.

Now I'm just kind of hanging out trying to figure out where I'm needed during the day.  The lunch rush should start soon which is a little scary for me since that will be mostly local people and spanish interaction is still a bit scary.  We'll see.  More later.

Ahhh, back on Honduras bus

We awoke the next morning and got a taxi to the bus station. By this time, any anxiety that we had about traveling down here was gone. We knew exactly what to expect, what the bus station is like, what bus to take and everything. It all feels so easy this time around. Every single person that we have dealt with so far this time around has been so nice and helpful and I dare say that our Spanish is much improved from the last time which has made everything even easier. The scenery was beautiful and I sneakily took some videos on the bus to show you guys.

One of the best parts of the buses here is all of the food vendors that are constantly getting on the bus. We usually refrain from buying bus food but when I saw the guy with the leechee berries, I just couldn't resist. Here is a picture of one. They peel easily and on the inside is this fruit with a seed. I think the fruit tastes like a big grape and it is perfect bus food. Everyone here just throws their trash out the bus window which is a bit disturbing but I felt very Honduran throwing the peels and seed out the window as I munched on them. I highly recommend these if you are ever lucky enough to see these at the grocery store. I think they would make great kid food since they are so cool looking and fun to peel and eat.

Arrival

Now that I have a few minutes, I thought I would post a few thoughts about our experiences in the last 2 days. I booked us on the the cheapest flight that I could get to San Pedro Sula which took us from Dallas to Tampa to Miami and then to Honduras. I was a bit worried with all of those connections but everything went very smoothly and we arrived in Honduras on time...although after dark. We landed at the airport and immediately hit the ATM machine to get some Honduran money called Lempiras. The ATM machine spit out some 500 Lempira bills which are equivilant to around $25 US. I quickly remembered the big money problem here in Honduras. The ATMs only give 500s but nobody here can ever make change for them. It can be a major pain for all involved.
Our next step was to find a taxi to take us to our hostal. The taxi driver was so nice but was unfamiliar with our hostal. One of his buddies gave him some bad directions so we had a nice tour of the town while Rob and I looked for anything familiar to help get to the hostal. Eventually we found it, though, and were so relieved that they actually remembered us from our last visit there. The guy Carlos is even facebook friends with one of my friends from home from when she joined us for a week and remembered that he saw it was her birthday that day. We talked to him for a while about Honduran current events and the Dallas Cowboys.
A nice little thunderstorm broke out on our way to the hostal and when we went up to our room, the little hostal schnowzer, Mikey, ran into our room and under one of the beds and wouldnt come out. He ended up spending the night in our room which was kind of nice.

We have arrived...

This will just be a quick post to let everyone know that we have reached our destination here at D&D Brewery. It is just as we remembered with a few nice improvements.  We haven't seen Bob yet but he should be back soon and then we will have a better idea of what is going on and what he has in mind for us.  I took some video on the bus and will post it later.

Tampa Airport - One step closer

We are here in Tampa for a short layover before heading to Miami and then Honduras.  The weather is perfect so it looks like our flights today will work out ok.  We will arrive in Honduras at about 8pm so we wont be arriving at our hotel until much later than that.  I hate arriving at night but will just have to deal with it.  Tomorrow we will catch a bus to D&D and our travel will be over for a little while.  I'm not sure if we will have internet access tonight at our hotel but I will try to post as soon as possible.

Hitting the road again

Our flight leaves tomorrow morning to take us back to Honduras.  Yep, we know we are crazy but we have decided to go ahead and made a whole year of it.  We contacted one of the hotels that we enjoyed our stay at and asked if we could work out a deal for us to trade work for room and board and he accepted so we are off again.  This will be a very different trip.  We will be working and staying in the same spot for the whole trip.

I'd been debating whether or not to blog this trip and obviously, have decided to go ahead and blog.  It was a nice way for me to process my thoughts and some people really enjoyed reading it.

Today, we will be doing some last minute shopping, packing and cleaning up our room at my wonderful friend's house where we have been staying during our brief 5 weeks back at home.