Honduras - Day of driving

Here we go again. If it isn’t bad enough we went for 18 hours straight yesterday, we now have to drive the two and a half hours to the military base. As previously mentioned there are no traffic laws and people drive however they like. My husband is driving us back in a huge van. Although he drove up yesterday this is more or less his first time driving in Honduras. He hasn’t driven a car since January 8^th! He would not appreciate what I am about to tell you, but he drove insane. There were moments I actually shouted. It was scary, but we made it.  I am beginning to wonder if this family vacation is worth it.  Maybe it should be our family expedition!
 
Once at base we see the hooch we will live in.  Now don't let this picture fool you.  It is not as nice as it looks.  This is the picture my husband sent me before we came down.  I asked him if he photoshopped it and he said no.  You can't see the holes in the door and walls in this picture!

We walked to the bathrooms, so we will know the way. We get a tour of things we need to be able to find: pool, tennis courts, rec center, laundry, bx, post office and the hammock shop. What more could you need. We went to the bx and got some pizza pockets for lunch. There’s a microwave in the hooch! We have just enough time to re-pack, because we are now catching a bus with 11 other people to the city of Copan, Honduras for a family weekend getaway.

When seeing the bus there are no happy feelings, but the inside is better than it seems. That’s my view from the back seat.  We get loaded up and Marcos our driver puts the pedal to the metal.  Marcos is intense, but pleasant. He is a short, plump man in his 40’s with a buzz haircut, thick eyebrows and a mustache.   Marcos doesn’t speak any English and he doesn’t mess around. It’s a holiday weekend and he is in a hurry to get home; which is three hours away from where he is taking us. His driving is so much worse than my husband this morning I can’t believe it.  By some miracle, I nor my children throw up.  Shockingly, six hours later we roll into Copan and immediately greeted by Cana Banana, our guide.

Cana Banana seems thrilled to see us. He was standing on a corner and our bus driver just pulls over and he jumps on the van. This skinny man with black curly hair and the darkest tan of anyone we’ve seen is going to guide us around. He too has a mustache and appears to be in his forties. In fact all the older Hondurans seem to have a mustache. He speaks good English.  He picked up English as a tour guide years before. Now he is the go between guy; setting up all of our activities, watching our things while we do those activities, translating, recommending restaurants and all that other fun stuff.  Everywhere we go the next three days he appears and everyone in the entire town seems to know him.

Mr. Banana walks us through the the central park to get to our hotel.  The park is incredibly crowded.  Everyone is watching the painting of the carpets.  Hotel Camino Maya is cute and we get checked in very quickly.  We go back to the plaza to watch the process of the carpets.  I have never heard of this process and I am unsure of what they are trying to make them look like.  Everyone is hungry so we head back to the hotel’s restaurant and enjoy a late dinner and call it a night.
Hotel Camino Maya                         
(504)2651-4646 /4446/4518
info@caminomayahotel.com
http://www.caminomayahotel.com/