Arriving in Honduras

We're here! We're now waiting at the bus station. Two hours until our bus leaves for Copan Ruinas which is about a three hour journey. We've sprung for the "luxury" bus, which I'm hoping means they have an onboard pedicure person, but I'm feeling like I might be setting myself up for a wee disappointment there. Actually, while the luxury bus does have better seats etc., its main advantage is that it doesn't stop along the way. So it makes the trip in the fastest time.

The journey to Honduras was pretty long. Not bad, but the lack of sleep was tricky. We got to the airport in time for Soren to go to bed at his normal time. My plan was that he'd fall asleep and then we'd just carry him on board for our red-eye flight a few hours later. Unfortunately, he had a hard time falling asleep there. It was about 10 pm before he actually fell asleep, compared to his normal 7:30 betime. He did sleep for much of the flight but then at about 3 a.m. his eyes popped open and he thought he was done! Oy. That wasn't too long before we landed in Houston though so it wasn't too much of a problem. We wandered through Houson for a few bleary-eyed hours and then caught the last leg of the trip to Honduras.

We debated our plan of action for our arrival - should we just grab a hotel in the town where we landed, or push on to the town we wanted to visit which was three hours away? The disadvantage of stopping is that San Pedro Sula, where we landed, has a horrible reputation. Filth, squalor, crime. But we just didn't want to take on too much in one day. So, in spite of the town's reputation we pre-booked a hotel. Upon arrival at the airport we were greeted by a taxi driver with my name on a sign! Cool. He whisked us off to our hotel.
(And before any of you jump to any conclusions that Peter or I have lost our budget traveler roots and moved to the upscale world, I'll point out that even our modest $28/night hotel will send a taxi for you here!)
Wow. The taxi drive certainly confirmed everything we'd heard about this town. It is as hard-core a travel destination as any we've been to before. But it really was interesting bringing Soren to a place like that. Once we checked into the hotel, we took a little nap and then headed out to check out the town. I'm sure if I thought long and hard I could think of one nice thing to say about it, but so far I haven't come up with it. The streets were chaotic, noisy and dusty. Throngs of people everywhere. Beggers in various states of infirmity. Money changers walking around with handfuls of cash. Complete chaos.

Soren really took it all in stride. He was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't let him chase the pigeons around the town square. That has come to be one of his very favorite travel rituals. But here I just wasn't willing to let go of his hand. We passed a small boy who was begging on the street. He was severly deformed, almost to the point that he seemed to be just a head on a small pile of flesh. Soren really looked at him, but didn't comment or ask any questions. Don't you wonder what he thought? We saw a blind woman begging too. I explained to him that she couldn't see, but I'm pretty sure that he didn't understand that she was begging.

It was a lot to take in. When we travel we really try to move slowly in order to actually see things along the way, to absorb them. We've always been slow-paced travellers, but now with Soren, we've slowed down even more. Changing hotels, familiarizing yourself with new surroundings, and dealing with all the logistical details of life on the road can be taxing. So we try to slow down and not take on too much at one time. Case in point, our dinner choice last night: we ate at Pizza Hut!

We all slept well last night (Soren for 12.5 hours!) and are feeling excited about today. We're heading towards a famous Mayan ruins site which is near what we hear is a charming, quaint town. We're looking forward to it.

Oh, one last note. Soren is having fun with the Spanish here. Whenever I say "gracias" to someone he jumps in and cheers "gracias amigos!" Needless to say, he's charming every person he meets.