Well I finally made it here to Honduras. It was quite the exhaustive process getting here with a bunch of detours and a few close calls, but I made it. I missed my flight directly from Houston to Roatan, so I had to quickly change the reservation, but what I ended up getting was an flight through San Salvador, El Salvador that connected to Roatan the next morning. San Salvador is probably one of the more dangerous cities in one of the more dangerous countries in the world. But their national currency is the US dollar, so that made life easier.
I ended up getting to the airport in Houston pretty early, only to find out the flight was delayed. We didn't get into San Salvador until around 10 pm and I had to be back the next morning for an 8:25 am flight. I had two choices: sleep in the airport for 10 hours or get a cab to drive me 40 minutes to San Salvador, get a little sleep and then head out early the next morning. I chose to drive into the city.
Right after that, I had to go through El Salvadoran immigration which took about an hour. The whole time, there was this guy in a black leather cowboy hat with long hair and a long beard who kept asking me about my travel plans: "Where are you going, where are you staying, how are you getting there etc." I was super uncomfortable and kept blowing him off, but was pretty sure this guy was going to try and kidnap or murder me. So, when I finally got out of customs, I made some diversionary tactics and grabbed a taxi driver to take me into the city.
It was an absolutely surreal drive. It was pitch black, rain was drizzling on the road and the cabbie was going 100 kph in a 60 kph zone. The forest was dark and enveloped everything. I could barely see anything outside of the taxi’s yellow-tinted lights. I remember passing a group of policemen waiting to pick up speeders (in which the cabbie slammed on his breaks right before passing). They set up a few cones and piled up a bunch of rocks behind them, blocking one lane on the two-lane road. It was just weird.
We finally made it into town and I was dropped off at the Intercontinental hotel in the city center. I rushed inside and was greeted by some of the nicest and most well-spoken hotel employees. I finally relaxed a little bit and went up to bed. It was probably around midnight by the time I could shower and get in bed.
I set my alarm for 6:30 because it was still running on Dallas time I wanted to get up at 5:30 El Salvadoran time. However, I connected the phone to wifi afterward and it updated to the correct time zone without me knowing. The alarm went off at 6:30 and I had 2 hours to get ready and get to the airport to catch the flight. I left the hotel at about 7 and jumped into a cab. As soon as we pulled out into the streets we were in bumper to bumper traffic.
San Salvador reminded me a lot of Jakarta, but it is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was very poor, with shanty towns made of corrugated aluminum and plywood sprawling up the mountainside. Electrical wires were everywhere and created a chaotic mess around each telephone pole. There was a stench of soot and debris cut with a pungent stink of diesel exhaust that burned my eyes and lungs. While sitting in traffic going up a mountainside, there were dozens of people walking through the highway streets selling slabs of ground beef as cars whizzed past them.
We made it to the airport with just barely enough time. It was close to 8:00 before I got into the terminal. As I was walking toward the gate, a young lady was walking toward me yelling out "Ryan Robinson, you need to get to gate 13." She rushed me over to the gate, but the bus to the airplane had already left. So, she put me into a little square box of those airport line dividers and told me to wait.
Well I eventually made it on the plane, a twin prop ATR 72 (not sure if Kellie will know that one) and made it to Roatan. After getting out of the airport, I grabbed a taxi and had them take me to the hostel I am staying at. It is a series of small buildings a bit away from the touristy areas. The owner, a very nice Canadian woman, showed me to my tiny cell with a single bed and not much else. I do have a private bathroom though.
It started pouring rain, so I opened the door and took a small nap. It was really nice to hear the fat raindrops hitting the tin roof of the building, while the fresh smell of newly-water rain forest wafted into the room. However, once the rain stopped, the mosquitos came and woke me up, so I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.
Again, it is similar to Indonesia, but more like one of the urban islands we visited. Dilapidated houses crept out of the thick jungle. A variety of shops, churches, restaurants and businesses lined a rain-soaked dirt road. Stray dogs were everywhere. I walked around for a while to see what was around the hostel. There is a cool botanical garden, a bunch of dive rental shops, and even a small Catholic “church” (it was more like a Catholic car port with a few benches).
It started to rain again, so I started walking back to the hostel. I passed a pack of dogs that started to bark at me. I walked past them, ignoring their growl and one of these stupid dogs came up and bit me in the back of my leg! I kicked him off and they all ran away. I got back to the hostel just as the rain hit. The dog bite wasn’t too bad, so I just cleaned up the mark and listened to the rain.
It’s been six hours and it’s still raining, with no end in sight. I guess that’s why they call it the rainy season. It makes for perfect writing weather. But I got a good dinner here at the hostel and am getting ready for bed. I’m still tired from the previous day’s events. Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer.