Hello from Honduras

Well we have another border under our belt and we are in Choluteca, Honduras....about half way to the end of our northward travel if we decide to skip Belize. I am pretty sure that Belize is too far for this time. I will have to go there separately later. We are settling in to a routine of travel in the mornings and internet and not much else after. As most of you know, Charles is not much on tourist sites. I guess the 6 hours travelling on the bus today was enough. I think it might be for me too. The guide book says there is a nice central park here but no one seems to be able to point us in the right direction. One problem we are having is that we have to bother a lot of people before we actually understand what we should be doing. I think we are a bit off the beaten track. As Charles said, we haven´t seen any other (north american or european) travellers on any of the buses we have been on so far. Maybe one of the reasons is because we are taking the local buses. They seem to be the main way people get around here. There are private vehicles but not a lot. Mostly buses and trucks on the roads and at least half of the cars in larger places are taxis. Surprisingly not tons of bicycles...some but not a lot...there are also motorcycles of course but again, not a lot at least nowhere near as many as you would see in Asia but then again the population density is a lot lower.

Today we left Esteli around 8 am. We got a bus toward (but not to) Sonoma. The guide book had a hole in it´s description and we were asking people how to get to El Espina....the answer kept being ´you can´t get there from here´ (or what seemed to be that). I thought the first guy was telling me the road was dead but he was telling me I wanted Sonoma. I asked another lady and I understood her. Sonoma was the nearest town to the border on the Nicaraguan side which connects to El Espina on the Honduran side....We eventually understood and got on a bus, then had a short taxi ride from the bus to the town of Sonoma (only 50 cents each). From Sonoma we had to take another cab to the border ($5 total--still not a lot). When we reached the Honduran side, there were minivans which are halfway between a cab and a bus. They are similar to bemos for anyone who has been to Indonesia. We didn´t get in the first on which was almost full when we got there but waited while another load of people gathered -- a process which took about 45 minutes. Basically they put you in and make sure there is one more person than seats in each row - 4 instead of 3 across. Then when it is full, they cram in a few more for good measure. I told Charles they would have put at least 5 more in Indonesia with people hanging off the back and sides...

The minivan connected with a local bus from San Marcos to Choluteca. It was a really interesting ride, lots of scenery but also lots of people watching opportunities. One lady got on with a toddler and a baby. The baby and its diaper bag were put off into the hands of another woman a few kilometers later, the first woman and toddler stayed on the bus --who was the babysitter? A woman was waiting on the side of the road for a note that a man handed the conductor to give to her. It was a few sheets of lined paper in a baggie -- who knows what the handwriting said. Several times the bus driver was obviously expecting regular passengers because he tooted long and hard just before we got to people running toward the road to hop on. At one point we actually waited for several minutes for two very pretty young girls who giggled their way on and thanked the driver...oh to be young and pretty again! Anyway, we took the first hotel we saw after getting off the bus...pretty rustical as those friends of Martina´s once said, but it is two beds and a fan and a washroom and a TV so who can really complain. Off to San Salvador tomorrow....