honduran hooha

so i just got back from honduras this morning....great trip....well, minus a few hiccups. for one, we arrived in san pedro sula at 12.15am...i had initially booked a hostel to come pick us up; but, after having not received adequate confirmation, booked an additional, so as not to have to search for a place to sleep in the middle of the night. well, the second hostel confirmed...shortly after, the original did....so i cancelled the original because it had been so laggy in responding...HOWEVER, when we landed, drivers from BOTh places were there to pick us up. apparently my cancellation email had never been received--because the establishment's email is a "do not reply". well, that is not my fault; they should have direct email! needless to say, we did not go with the original booking--the woman was livid and tried to charge us 25USD!!! we told her no, and after more haggling and badgering, walked out the door with the other driver. i received an email later that day from the woman saying that she was sad we did not choose her [she had been yelling and screaming at us while the other driver remained calm]. c'est la vie.

we took a bus to copan ruinas the following afternoon...we were told it would take 2.5-5 hours............well, with no air conditioning, small seats and a passive driver, it took us 5 hours, plus the 1.5 we sat on the bus waiting for it to even leave in the first place. fortunately, we had planned to have a relaxing vacation and so had a nice hotel waiting for us when we finally arrived in copan. we stayed in a clarion, which had a pool, jacuzzi, fresh flowers in our bedroom, room service, internet, beautiful views and a gorgeous overall appearance. its a bit set back from the city, but that's the beauty of it.

the next morning, we did the ruins--mayan ruins. it was 15USD to get into the site; 15 for the tunnels; 7 for the museum. we did not do the tunnels, but did do the other two. it was really nice....very hot and dusty, though. in comparison to machu picchu....well, it wouldn't be fair to compare such a small area to the incan metropolis...but it was still very neat and worthwhile....the site is known for its stelas (carved statues) rather than its buildings and temples. there are all kinds of bright birds around--supposedly people see an occasional monkey.

overall, honduras was great! i had a slight issue with hostels on the first night....i had made a reservation at tamarindo back in january, but did not go back and find that it said to reconfirm at least a week in advance until the day i was leaving.....so i checked hostels and hostelworld--to see both were booked. i sent an email asking if we would still be able to stay there...and i waited a few hours..........so, i booked a room for la posada bb (our flight got in 12.30am and i did not want to spend hours driving around looking for a place. i sent posada an email asking about airport pickup and they confirmed it within the hour. well, perhaps and hour later, tamarindo emailed me and said we were confirmed and they would be there to pick us up. i replied to tamarindo that i had had to make another reservation due to the circumstances.......i thought that was the end of it.

well, we got to the airport, and....waiting on the other side were drivers from both places...they were fighting over us--i told the woman from tamarindo that i had sent an email hours before and she denied it....after a few minutes of them badgering us, we ended up go to posada bb (pretty nice place, near a mall in a residential area, pretty cheap)....found out later that the email from tamarindo said "do not reply" on the bottom; so, she never did get that message. i feel bad about the situation and am going to suggest they make their emails repliable.

the next afternoon, we took a bus to copan ruinas....casasula to be exact. it wasn't the worst bus in the world, but it was very hot (no a/c) and long (1.5 hours waiting On bus to leave; 5 hours to finally get there). when we got the the ruinas, we spent the first night at the clarion--very nice, serence, had airconditioning, jacuzzi (the turn on the jets upon request), clean rooms, great staff.

the next morning, the driver from Hacienda San Lucas (Pipo, maybe) picked us up and took us to the ruins...he brought our bags back to the hotel for us. ruins were awesome...we spent maybe 3.5 hours there, including museo, ruins, restaurant and little shops...so we walked from there up to san lucas....was a nice walk....about an hour......the place is spectacular....amazing views, very pleasant and accomadating staff..we were a bit worried about not having air, but the fan proved quite alright. we walked down to los sapos and bought a cornhusk doll from the kids in la pintada...then we came back and sat down to one of san lucas' famous dinners.

finally, we stayed in hotel marina copan, right near parque central. we were told this is the oldest hotel in copan....it is very quaint and aesthetic, with courtyards and ponds--a pool and jacuzzi. they offered to take us to aguas termales for 45USD each (40 if we'd had a bigger group), so we went into town to see if we could find a better price....we did...a tour company (starts with a Y) charged only 30 each. the hot springs were great..they weren't crowded at all and we spent almost 2 hours there. we spent the night in our airconditioned room with plasma tv (this hotel was actually the cheapest of the three, and included breakfast).

in the morning, we had our complimentary breakfast (it was also included in san lucas) and tried to figure out what we could do before we had to catch a bus back to SAP at 2.30. we decided to hang out at the hotel until check-out, then walk around town and grab lunch. we went with hedman alas and splurged the extra few bucks for class plus....well-worth it....the ride was much more comfortable with a/c, blankets, pillows, a movie, a bag lunch, and semi-cama seats--even cupholders!`i think casasula was 7USD; this was maybe 19USD.....but it was pretty much 3 hours to the dot

we got into SAP around 6 and had to find something to do for a 1.22am flight....we had dinner and decided to pay 25bucks to get a room in Hotel Real for a few (3 to be exact)hours....there was no discount for our shortened amount of time, but it was nice to have an airconditioned place to relax and watch tv---instead of sitting in the airport for 6 hours. all was good...taxi driver to airport tried to overcharge us...we got it down a bit.

once at the airport, we ran into some problems. the lady asked for our passports when we were in line for spirit. she said she couldnt find our stamps....we told her we hadn't noticed any either and figured they may just stamp on the way out (i was in and out of both france and italy with no stamps several years ago, so did not think it much of an issue). well, apparently they thought we entered the country illegally.......even though we had been on a spirit flight in and had papers......the migration officer said they were going to detain us and investigate our case.....absolutely ridiculous.....he kept us hanging around for about an hour...we were both exhausted.....then he decided we could pay a fine, instead. in a very shady manner, he stamped a piece of paper with the dates, accepted the money and sent us on our way...no receipt...nothing....spirit took the stamped paper when we went to get our tickets, and the departure tax place didn't mention it. we went through security....both getting our bags double-checked...and got on the plane with no further problems. customs in ft. lauderdale were quick and easy.....they didn't look for our non-existent stamps. i am upset that i didn't get stamped....and even more upset that their customs somehow forgot to stamp us--if it hadnt been so late and us so groggy upon arrival, we probably would have paid more attention. the migration officer said it was Our fault for not noticing. im not sure how that works...but it definitely allowed them to get off with a chunk of bribe money.

minus the last mishap, the trip was great, relaxing and peaceful. if anyone has had any similar experiences with customs, please let me know...i am interested in hearing the stories of others.



****on a side note, i'm honestly not sure what happened at the airport....it was about 2.30am our time by the time we got there, so we were feeling pretty fatigued/half asleep........i just remember handing my passport to the person, them handing it back, and me walking through....i don't remember what was said, but i do know that there was no issue at the time

in retrospect, we think we may have been targeted when we first entered ..........they may have figured, 'if they don't notice now, we can get them for money when they try to leave.' this is just speculation.....i only say we may have been targeted because the bribe part seemed so natural to the migration officers, who agreed to somewhat negotiate the price....they basically told my boyfriend to go to the cajero to get money, then go to the bathroom and put the money in his passport, then give it back to them......while he was doing that, i was with them, answering questions so they could fill out and stamp a paper about our arrival. i guess that paper is similar or identical to the one we should have received when we came in...we didn't get our passport stamped by them, though

other possibilities are that the border agent was new? not doing his job correctly? forgot to stamp? who knows?

ive been to about 20 other countries and never had anything so bizarre happen with customs....it won't stop me from traveling, of course....im wondering if i will have any problems getting back into honduras in the future....we ALmOst went to guatemala....and....thank goodness we didn't.....we would have had bigger problems trying to get back into honduras! lesson learned: if they don't stamp your passport, ask them why; make sure they give you all proper documentation and check you into the country!