4400 miles to go 1200 miles
We went through the States to get to Honduras because the original plan was to gather Marla in Houston so she did not have to do immigration/customs by herself. Best laid plans - she had to cancel due to health concerns.
Greg and Shev picked us up promptly at 2:25 for our 5:25 flight out of PVR.. We flew to San Francisco from PV (sitting behind K&A of all people). After a couple hours layover in SFO, we got onto our plane to Houston. It was a nice big 777 with lay-down beds but it was only a 3.5 hour flight so we did not get much sleep. Plus they woke us up an hour early due to anticipated turbulence that never appeared. And then we had hours to wait in Houston before we could board our plane to Honduras. We kind of napped in our seats in the lounge but it was not restful.
The flight down to Honduras was a typical 737 so you cannot really stretch out and sleep in business class. Once in Honduras, clearing immigration and customs was totally painless (except our entry forms were in the cloud, not actually on the phone). Lesly and her driver were there to pick us up and take us for the short trip to her house (compound?) in her giant Hummer. I have a new respect for Hummers - it was a very comfortable ride over the rough roads.
Wednesday
We arrived at a full house at Lesly’s. Maybe by the time we leave, we will know everybody’s name but it was almost overwhelming how many people were there to greet us. There are 4 generations plus siblings and friends here, right now. Maybe this right:
Luis is the driver that, with Lesly, picked us up at the airport. He has been coming to Lesly’s since he was 9.
Ramon was having lunch when we got there. His wife Ana was having cosmetic surgery by Lesly’s son in law, Naza. Ana and Lesly met while working in administration of a hotel in San Pedro many years ago and have stayed best friends.
We met another of Lesly’s daughters, Rayza. Both daughters speak excellent English.
Lesly has been taking care of her elderly father, Jaime, who has had two heart attacks and is practically deaf. He seems happy to see us, waives, seems with it but cannot really participate.
Later, Lesly’s brother, also Jaime, was playing soccer with his son Jose J in Lesly’s giant yard. We also met Jaime’s daughter Jimena.
Lesly’s daughter, Maria Jose (who we have previously met a couple of times), and family (3 girls: Azul, Amber and Azareth, husband: Naza) have been here for almost a year as Naza is practicing surgery in this little town. He has to do a certain amount of social service before Honduras recognizes his medical degree. They normally live in Guadalajara but like it here better. They have a nanny, Koki, that travels with them.
Staff: Three shifts of cooks/cleaners Maria, Lesly, and Melissa, plus Maria’s daughter helps out around the house before school. On top of this, who knows how many people are helping keep the park-like grounds well kept.
Dog: Aqua. Crazy yellow-lab-ish dog. Seems perfectly happy and then goes berserk when you get near. Jumping, biting (soft mouth), but you have to watch the claws. Seems perfectly fine around the little girls so I think it is theirs. We finally have come up with a method to deal with “Aqua muy loca” as we approach the main house: Melissa stands behind me and I grab the dog by the collar to get control. It is a nice dog but needs training to learn proper manners.
First evening get together
Pretty much everyone showed up to enjoy wine and snacks on our cabana deck. It is a very comfortable area easily able to soak up a dozen people. We tried our best but there were only 3 other English speakers. By the end of the night, I might have conveyed a thought or two in Spanish (is that conversational???).
The grounds
Lush jungle-like plants and trees surround us. OK, the rooster at 3AM did override the Ambien for a bit the first night.
The lot is large - acre-ish (about half a city block). Our cabin is pretty much in the middle of the lot next to her play-yard (half-sized soccer field with bleachers). The main house is built around her grandparent’s original one-room house, now serving as the kitchen. Around the kitchen are various sleeping quarters but, honestly, we haven’t figured it out yet. People just pop out of nowhere.
Thursday
Although we slept like logs (didn’t even hear the rain last night), Melissa definitely feels a cold coming. I went up to the main house to get a couple coffees (while man-handling Aqua muy loca on the way) and presented the sit-rep. Next thing we know, we have a lovely breakfast on our deck of the cabana.
The girls and the nanny are here today but Maria Jose and Naza are driving to El Salvador for a wedding.
Ramon and Ana also left to go back home after she had her stitches taken out this morning.
It is practically an empty house now.
They brought us a lovely beef and cabbage soup for supper knowing it would help with Melissa’s cold. And a bottle of wine.
Friday
As soon as the staff spotted Melissa coming out onto the deck this morning, coffee showed up. Not much later, another yummy breakfast on the deck.
Melissa is feeling better so took Lesly up on the offer to show us around. First, we went (Luis driving the Hummer, of course) to go see the minisuper that her daughter opened. Then we went to the house she is refurbishing as an AirBnB. Behind the house is her chicken coup that provides us with fresh eggs every day.
Then off to her little 4-room hotel (the only hotel in this village).
We had lunch in the nearby city Cumyagua (sixth largest at 180,000 people) where you find everything from Wendy’s to really good food (sorry Wendy’s). We tried to find zinc gummies for Melissa’s cold but, despite being one of the largest cities, that is just not a thing here.
We returned to hang out on our deck. It is in the 80’s but comfortable with the fan going. At night, admittedly, we sleep with the air conditioning going.
We returned late-afternoon and retired to our deck for a rest. The plan was to go up to the main house for dinner. Later Lesly said it was a zoo up there and said Luis would bring down his BBQ dinner he put together for us to enjoy at the cabana. It was good but a ton of food. A whole plate is in the fridge for snacks tomorrow.
Being in the middle of the city means it is noisier. Plus, Friday night means more music and traffic noise. Lots of dogs barking reminds us of when we stayed in Bucerias - one of the reasons we did not like Bucerias.
Saturday
Breakfast and coffee were brought to us on the deck, again. We are spoiled.
I saw the Hummer go out this morning. Turns out Lesly needed to take the baby to the doctor because the baby is not feeling well and not sleeping. Maria Jose and Naza almost turned around and came back from El Salvador but I think Lesly convinced them things were under control and they stayed to enjoy the wedding.
After Lesly came back, Luis took us all for a sightseeing tour of the village and lunch at El Muelle - a restaurant and bar amongst maybe 7 swimming pools.
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Lots of families were having fun in the pools and sun. We had their famous chicken and a couple of beers.
We stopped at another water park but there was only one other couple there. The blaring music made us leave. Surprisingly a village of 8000 can support two of these places plus a third being built. We stopped at the city next door (La Paz) to partially restock the white wine on the way back.
Dinner was on the deck again. Baby is still sick and the doctor came so it was a bit hectic in the main house. We are liking our deck. We are perfectly content to hang out all day reading and playing with Grok online.
Sunday
I think little Maria waits until she sees our door open to the deck. She pops down to see if we want coffee. But of course… Soon after, her mom brings us breakfast. Do we have to leave tomorrow?
Lesly came back after attending funeral #2 of the week (horrible story). We hop in the big red Hummer and head into town for lunch at her favorite place. We unexpectedly met Naza’s mother and father, who were having lunch too.
Later, back at the house Marie Jose and Naza, are back from their trip to El Salvador. Naza, Lesly and the two of us settled down at her barbeque area. Luis brought down a snack of fabulously marinated and grilled steak. We had some wine and enjoyed the evening.
Monday
The usual coffee and breakfast on the deck. We then packed up getting ready for our departure to Roatan Island. The departure airport is 90 minutes away in the Capital city of Tegucigalpa - largest in Honduras.
We stopped for Sushi in the city. The soup we ordered was fabulous but what are the noodles made of? Rice, says the waiter. How cool, we can eat that! He comes back a few minutes later correcting himself saying they are regular noodles made from wheat flour. Great - we both already ate about half of them. We ordered WAY too many rolls, so the staff will have a giant Sushi dinner tonight.
They drove us 30 minutes to the airport so they could start back and hopefully avoid traffic.
The plane was an EMB 110: 20 passenger, twin turbo prop, unpressurised relatively slow plane. They have not made one since 1990 - so ours was at least 35 years old (and did not look a day younger). Relatively safe plane with crashes usually due to pilot error or poor maintenance. This one was pretty ratty inside with the air vents not working and just a couple super noisy fans blowing air (from somewhere) up and down the aisles. We were only 7000 feet above ground so it was still very warm. Hmmm. What else did they skimp out of??? We made it.
We picked up our rental car (VW pickup truck) and headed out to get groceries. The store was super nice - lots of choices for our food issues. Lots of vegan and gluten-free everything. Made us feel like home (which one?).
We checked in and took the “ferry” over to the cay where our cabin is. I say ferry because the cay is only 80 feet away and the water barely 10 feet deep - you could almost walk there. We unpacked and Melissa made dinner. Dinner was home cooked meat sauce on pasta and fresh baked bread.
Tuesday
We decided to do the PADI refresher course. It has been 11 years since we jumped in so going through all the procedures in the pool seemed prudent. We passed all the procedures with flying colors so we went out for a 45 minute dive after lunch. It was just us two (plus the divemaster) and the dive went well. Melissa said it was the most fun she has had diving, ever.
Dinner was NY steak and baked potato in the cabana.
Wednesday
Dave made omelets with some of the left-over meat sauce and cheese. We walked over and took the “ferry” in order to arrive for our 8:30 dive. The walk and ferry takes like 5-minutes. The seas looked rougher than yesterday which was confirmed when we got to the dive shop and he said they cancelled. Well, I guess back to the cabana for mimosas is in order.
Later, we decided a trip around Roatan was in order. Half of the trip was fine but then we were on some of the worst roads we have seen since Africa. I think we averaged 20 kph. Melissa commented that she was glad we had a pickup truck with big tires. It would have been better in the Hummer. We had lunch on the “other side” down south. It took an hour to get our food - our guess is that a big, important family came after us but got priority. My salad was great but Melissa’s shrimp were fishy. We decided we had enough of bumpy roads and headed back to the cabana leaving exploring the other half for tomorrow.
We hung out at the cabana for the afternoon. The winds are picking up to 25-30 knots. It is quite warm (high 80’s) so a breeze is welcome but it is not comfortable being directly buffeted by the wind.
Thursday
Melissa made more bread in an English muffin shape. I made egg sandwiches with them. New invention: squeeze a little lemon into mayonnaise and it is a poor-man’s hollandaise.
Did a whole lot of nothing today. Melissa did manage to get a massage and facial in. We had a late lunch of left-over meat sauce on pasta. That served as dinner, too. We found a movie in English on the TV and watched it in bed.
Friday
We begin our journey back home. Melissa made herself a Greek salad for breakfast. I grazed. I also made some hard-boiled eggs for the trip.
We had a couple hour trip to Miami on a 737. Amazing that they take off on a 6800 foot runway - they must load it light because max-gross takeoff requires almost 8000 feet. A 737 takes off in 2-3000 feet but they have to add emergency braking distance for aborted takeoffs.
We arrived in Miami safe and sound but were totally disappointed with the hotel. First, Uber could not find the place so we had to navigate the driver with our Google Maps. Second, the hotel could not provide us keys despite 3 attempts. Third, a golf cart is supposed to take us but we ended up walking to building 12 - almost half a mile with luggage. Fourth, Melissa picked this place for their restaurant. She called room-service but no one answered. We cannot go down there because we have no keys. So I called Uber Eats and got a couple salads.
Saturday
We had room service bring us breakfast. 25% taxes and fees on top of hotel priced meals. Dang 25% tariffs ;-) Melissa called to check out but they insist we come to the desk to return our keys. Don’t get us started about keys - Melissa was pissed and let them have it. So, they sent the cart and I turned in the empty key envelope. “All set”, he says, after examining the empty key envelope. Double sigh.
They called us a taxi - came late due to traffic around a huge golf event next door. Trump was expected to arrive soon so there were cops everywhere. We made it to the airport fine. Our travel agent screwed up the reservations (again) so my boarding pass was not marked with a TSA precheck. Off we went to the slow lane. Made it through security who said I did show up as pre-check - the database must have been updated while we waited in line. Triple sigh. This has happened a couple times with our Business Class Consolidators and is getting frustrating.
We hung out in the lounge until flight time. We got some food because we doubted that we could eat anything on the plane.
The flight to Mexico City was fine but we had to wait an hour for our luggage once we arrived. We had to check in again to get our PV tickets. We finally got to the lounge and it was packed - only a couple stools at the bar. Melissa went next door to get us some food. Soon we made our way to the plane.
Arriving at PV domestically is great - no immigration, no long line at customs - you just breeze through. Greg and Shev were there to meet us and we were off with no delay. We got home where Joanne and Pepe were there to greet us. We had a couple glasses of wine and crashed for the night.
Conclusion
Seven flights and 8 airports makes a long round trip to go to an island only 1300 miles away! 1300 miles is the distance between Seattle and Minneapolis.
Staying at Lesly’s was fabulous. She and her staff were so accommodating. I think Melissa is already missing her hammock.
Roatan is great. Being circled by coral makes the surf break 100 yards off thus it is very quiet and calm at our shore. The roads are OK (and getting better) between the resort and main town. Venture any further at your own risk.
