A trip to Ceiba

 

this is a little 8 seater plane

Yesterday we flew to La Ceiba to get our residency renewed.  Never sat so close to the pilot that I could read the instrument panel before though.  

LOW  FUEL!??~   yikesss!

Fear not though, we made it safely. I couldn't believe it though when i saw this.. fortunately he really was a trained pilot and after a few button pushing everything was okay.  I actually love flying in small planes.  They don't make me nervous and the views are spectacular!!!

the cruise ship and coxen hole from the air

this will give you an idea how close the reef is from the shore!

beautiful isn't it??

You never know what will happen in Honduras and yesterday was no exception.  We had arranged to have our friend and taxi driver Rene meet us at the airport but he told us that the bridge was closed so he wasn't able to get across.   It turned out that there was a teacher's strike and they were 'marching' on the bridge and all traffic was clogged solid on the bridge. 

 

  So we got a taxi to the bridge, walked over and then took another taxi to the immigration office.   I was really proud of our taxi driver because he managed to get us really close to the bridge and that was quite a feat considering the traffic was backed up for a couple of miles before we got to the bridge.  So that meant that he went down muddy little back streets, and then back on the main road where he passed park cars, which means he actually drove on the wrong side of the road!!  Yes that is true.  The funny part is no one thought it was strange.. the oncoming traffic just let us squeeze past them!   Bob said that when a taxi driver has a gringo inside we become like an emergency vehicle and get the right of way all the time.  "ahhh see those gringos inside.. let em through!!!"  Either way, we were grateful to be able to have such a talented taxi driver.

once

Once at the immigration office we had to wait for about an hour, then found out we needed another letter from the bank which meant another taxi drive over, and then another hour wait.   That is one of the things you get used to in this country:  waiting!!!  It is just a fact of life.   So I just sit there and either try to practice my spanish or people watch.  So here is a little funny story.  I was sitting there and I noticed a few well dressed loan's officer dealing with a client.  He looked so professional in his mauve shirt and matching tie.  All of a sudden he picked up a huge file and whacked the desk and killed a huge BUG!  Then he flicked it on the floor as if it was the most normal thing to do.  I died laughing... !  Only in Honduras!

We managed to get the letter, then had to go to another bank to pay for our residency which only meant about a 20 minutes wait, then we went back to the immigration to find out that the girl was on her lunch break for an hour so we went for lunch at the Mall.   Yes they have a Mall here!!  How exciting.   After lunch we went back and yes, finally we got our residency renewed which means we can live in this country, make money legally and not have to leave every 3 months.  

After that we had Rene bring us back to the hotel for a well deserved NAP!   In the afternoon we enjoyed wandering around the city. 

  We were intent on finding a computer store and after many attempts, several spanish drawn maps, little back streets we finally found it.  Unfortunately they didn't have what we needed so more maps, more back streets, and through the rain we finally got what we needed.   Due to all my photos I wanted to buy an external hard drive so it wouldn't take up so much memory on my hard drive.  Mission accomplished!

You can check out my facebook link for more photos if you like:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221410&id=742125548&l=65b2f6bcf3

In the evening we decided to go see a movie.  We don't have a movie theatre in Roatan so it is always a treat to go to a movie on the mainland.  We went to see  Iron Man 2 and after loading up on popcorn, chocolate and drinks we happily settled in to watch the movie. 

It was funny because during one of the intense fight scenes the movie just stopped.   Caput!!!   Now in Canada if that happened people would sit quietly and wait for the guy to fix the machine but not in Honduras!!   Suddenly they are standing up, shaking their fists at the projector guy, yellling at him,  harrassing him!  I died laughing!! For some reason the whole scene struck me as hilarious!!!   Other people were laughing.  They weren't angry.. they were just 'expressive'.  That is the way things are here.

Such is life in Honduras!     

I need some coffee.. going to the coffee shop next door to get a cup of morning coffee.

We were going to fly back at 3:00 today but it looks like rain and since our 'little plane' doesn't fly in the rain we have opted to fly back this morning at 10:00 instead.  I am happy to hear that..  I miss my little Buddy boy....