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February 04, 2003
omoa, honduras
so i awoke yesterday at the finca ixobel, halfway between flores, where i stayed in tikal, and rio dulce, this other popular travel attraction. the finca had the worst book exchange i have ever seen, and it was expensive, so i got out of there. came down to rio dulce, then decided to push on out of guatemala, to omoa, honduras, on the carribean coast. i knew the french canadians would be arriving around the same time, and i was hungering for some beach life.
the border crossing from northeastern guate to honduras was quite interesting, went through entrerios then caught a jam packed minibus to the border, where i switched to a pickup, then went to corinto, then switched to a proper bus. we were out there in the middle of nowhere, and the road was half paved on the guate side and not at all on the honduras side, when we came to the border it was just a little booth out on a road surrounded by crop fields, a line was drawn across the road. i stepped into honduras, hopped in the back of a pickup, and was off.
talked to a honduran guy the whole busride, he helped me out by telling me the real price, that´s a great trick i employ, asking what things should really cost then being able to barter better with locals who are used to ripping gringos off.
got into omoa, went to roli´s place, which ranks as probably the best youth hostel i´ve ever been to. it´s 80 meters to the beach, 4 bucks a night for a dorm bed 2 bucks to pitch my tent, free bicycles to use, free kayaks, free purified water, a good kitchen, cheap beer (10 lempiras, about 70 cents a bottle) and a good international crowd.
we sat up last evening talking about the world, i always find myself in the role of having to defend u.s. foreign policy, which sucks cause i usually completely disagree with it. when that happens i tend to turn on the canadians, deflecting the attention from me to our polar bear riding, igloo-living neighbors of the north.
figure on staying here a few nights, already got my first sunburn today, all my pacific mexican coast tan is gone, gonna have to earn it back. should be good times. already i feel like i am going to enjoy honduras more then guate, i sorta dashed through guate, but i know i´ll be going back through their again. the people here seem more friendly.
just finished the book mclibel by john vidal, very interesting, i remember seeing the flyers and passing them out but i never saw the documentary, now i know the whole story, which i recommend you check out. after reading that book i hate mcdonalds more then ever, the website mcspotlight.org is really comprehensive, if you have a bit of time give it a look.
in the news, general franks the u.s. general picked to murder iraqis is screwing around with his powers as general, and a theory as to the real reason bush is so hot to attack iraq sounds fairly sound to me.
not much else, enjoying the sun, been playing lots of chess, gonna cook a group dinner tonight. i think my daily costs will be around 10 bucks a day, gotta find out when pascual is going to the island of utila for diving, will try to meet him.
Posted by bendan at February 4, 2003 03:37 PM
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