Travel & Tourism

By Brad Martin, Honduras1@aol.com	Travel Echoes from Honduras Roatan's West End The West End of Roatan has long been a tourism favorite. It is noted for its beauty and friendliness of the people. Just about everything you would want can be found there at an economical price. Things to do Glass Bottom Boat: Operated by Denis and Donna Belvedere, tours are at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Schedule your ride at the "Casi Todo" book and gift shop, telephone 45­1255. Foster's: is a great place for a hamburger and a cold one. Set on a dock, you can also rent windsurfers, kayaks, bikes and go horseback riding. Water taxi's are available for one dollar. They can be reached at 45­1008. On your way to the West End on the left side of the road is the Carambola Botanical Garden. Featuring a wide variety of exotic plants, orchids and nature trails. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is about $1.50. For information, call 45­1117. Where to stay A number of economical and medium range lodgings can be arranged. My personal favorite is the Half Moon Bay Cabins. Doubles run about $50 a night. Telephone 45-1075. Next door to them is the Sea Grape Plantation Resort noted for its dive center run by Jeff and Ray, offering diving courses and certification. A double room runs about $45, you can reach them at 45­1717 or 45­1428. Check out the Seaside Cottages at Rudy's Coffee Shop a short distance from Foster's. The units are new and in a dome design. Very clean and pleasant. Telephone 45-1749 or fax 45­1205. Cost is $30 to $40 a night. Keiffito's Plantation is about 10 minutes up the beach. They have 6 nice cabins overlooking the water. Only $19 a night. The place is very quiet and peaceful. For economy, head for Sunset Inn. They have some inexpensive rooms for $15 a night. Or inquire at Foster's. In this general vicinity a number of rooms are available for the economy traveler for $15. Where to eat The West End has a lot of great places to eat. Rudy's is noted for its pancake breakfast, running about $1.50. Stanley's is a small restaurant up a hill in a private residence. Good seafood. Cost for dinners ranges from $3 to $8. The sign in front says "Coffee Shop." Salt & Pepper gets rave reviews from visitors. This is an outdoor restaurant on the hillside next to Stanley's (25 yards before Foster's). Open for dinner only, it offers a set menu each night for about $9. The restaurant at Half Moon Bay Cabins serves great food and is open all day. Dinners run from $8 to $12. Their crab feast is about $8.50. Come an enjoy the West End, palm trees, ultra­blue water, quiet and economy make this a destination of choice.
By Brad Martin, Honduras1@aol.com	Travel Echoes from Honduras Favorite Web Sites Honduras is well represented on the web, rather surprisingly since Central America is one of the last regions to finally get access. Just this year has seen the first real Internet availability to the general public. Here is a list of some sites that persons interested in Honduras will find helpful. In future issues, we will list more Internet sites, involving health concerns, environment, etc. Stay tuned... Newspapers Honduras This Week http://www.marrder.com/htw El Tiempo http://www.hondutel.hn/dtiempo/ La Prensa http://www.laprensahn.com All three papers have travel or tourism sections, be sure to look them up! Travel information ­http://www.travelexchange.com/honinfo.htm http://www.marrder.com/hw/travel/ Lonely Planet http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/cam/hon.htm Roatan http://www3.islands.com/coral/roatan/roatan.html Mosquitia http://www.vir.com/~derekp/ Map of Trujillo http://www.interlog.com/~krom/honduras/trujillo.gif Business/investment (FIDE) http://www.hondurasweb.com/ Customs (importing guidelines) http://americas.fiu.edu/customs/honduras.htm Five day weather forecast http://www.usatoday.com/weather/basemaps/wsat1.htm (Honduras ­ San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa) Honduras time­http://www.hilink.com.au/times/bin/time.sh?offset=0600&loc=Honduras Art museum http://www.intertel.hn/cultural/museo http://www.marrder.com/anibal http://www.marrder.com/hw/art Honduras schools http://www.worldwide.edu/ci/honduras/fhonduras.html Fact book http://www.ic.gov/94fact/country/107.html Honduras resources http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~alexh/hresources.html or http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/%7Ealexh/hresources.html Please let us know your favorite Honduras site. Drop a message to Brad Martin, Honduras1@aol.com
By Brad Martin, Honduras1@aol.com Travel Echoes will be published from time to time to highlight new or interesting information for the traveler. It will be especially geared toward the standpoint of the online information gatherer. Much of this information comes from you the reader. Please let me know if you have anything you would like to share with others.	Travel Echoes 6/8/96 New hotels open in San Pedro Sula - Hotel Honduras Plaza, luxury rooms, air conditioning, telephone, cable TV, hot water, cafeteria, queen and king sized beds, corporate rates and first class service. Corner 1st Calle and 4 Avenida, N.O. San Pedro Sula, telephone 53-2424, 53-2255, 53-0281 or fax 53-2140. They are located in Barrio Guamilito on the northwest side of town. Featuring 37 attractive rooms in a seven story building. Hotel Suites Plaza Cristal, 19 suites, cable TV, air conditioning, hot water, telephone/fax, complementary airport transportation, located only five blocks from Central Park, 1 y 2 Calle N.O. Barrio Guamilito, Edificio Plaza Cristal, P.O. Box 4503, San Pedro Sula, telephone 52-2302 or fax 52-3207. They are also in Barrio Guamilito and have 19 decorated two and three bedroom suites. If you stay at either of these, any feedback would be appreciated. I have yet to receive information on prices. Casas America - This organization has an excellent list of bed and breakfast facilities in Central America. You may contact them at: Casas Americas 613 S. Circle Ave. Barrington, IL 60010 telephone (847) 516-4921 fax (847) 516-9079 Email: leftknee@ix.netcom.com Ferry from La Ceiba to the Bay Islands - After being in repairs since the end of November it finally re-opened near the first of April. The ship is better than ever. I had a chance to see it about the middle of April and it looks great. The cost is about $8 each way. Be sure to arrive an hour early to get a good window seat, otherwise you may be stuck on the lower deck. See your ìHonduras Travel Guideî for the schedule or drop me a note. Passengers have only raves for the new operation.
By CANDACE HAMMOND Even friends' funerals have their own island flavor on Roatan	ISLAND SOUNDS We were gathered for the second time that day near the outer edge of the Roatan Airport. Standing in a small cluster, Elmer, Mandy, Rosa, the airport policeman and myself, we were all watching a distant speck over Coxen Hole harbor. It was the charter plane bringing Judy home. We stood on the grassy slip between the Isleña bodega and the tarmac, feeling the heat of the midday sun rise in waves from the black tar. The plane landed and taxied as though magnetized to our little group. It got no larger as it taxied nearer. Mandy said "it looked like a flying peanut." The curious and the helpful both gathered as the pilot disassembled the plane to maneuver the casket carrying Judy out the side door. This was the second time for me and Elmer to be at this same spot with Judy. Two weeks and two days before, we were loading her badly burned body into a slightly larger plane taking her to the Hospital Escuela Burn Unit in Tegucigalpa. I remember patting her on the cheek and telling her she still had her pretty face and if she lived...keep on going, don't ever come back. But she was back. I collected a stack of papers from the pilot and loaded Judy into the back of Elmer's truck, which she had to share with a large tool box. We stopped at Mandy's office and got a boy to ride in the back -- just to keep the casket from bouncing out. The poor boy looked stunned when Elmer told him he had to ride in the back with Judy. His eyes popped out and his cheeks blew up as though he had to hold his breath till we got to Sandy Bay. He kept looking down at the cement casket and then looking back at us following the truck, as though this couldn't be happening to him. This was not in his job description. The little caravan passed the Sandy Bay graveyard. About twelve or more men from the neighborhood primed with Caña Brava rum and orange juice were digging Judy's grave. The group waved a friendly hello. Rosa and I waved back. When we parked the truck at the end of the road neighbors appeared from all sides to help carry the casket down the hill and up the street steps to Judy's house. Her husband Jeep was inside. He had been dressed in his best Sunday suit and was happily surrounded by neighborhood women. To him this was the most attention he had had in years and he was thoroughly enjoying it. We propped Judy on some outdoor chairs. O.J. cut some palms to shade her from the sun. I put a photo, from better times, on the casket and we all left Judy and Jeep together again. At five, Elmer was supposed to come back with the truck to take Judy and Jeep and "who ever" to the Sandy Bay burial grounds. Most of the guys who had been digging the grave stopped by my house at four to say "it was finished and so was the rum." Amazing! I thought it was wonderful that they had made it into a traditional neighborhood event. I like traditions and a good time. This was both. There was now quite a group at Judy's house but no truck. Where was Elmer? As I was plodding determinedly up the road on an Elmer hunt, he appeared in a taxi. The truck had a flat in West End. "The show must go on," I thought, so I looked for my friend Doug at Rick's American Cafe, the next logical stop. I confiscated him and his truck for burial detail. The crowd at the house had grown and was slightly unruly. One friend was barefoot, a bit drunk and was announcing that Judy was in orbit now. Another friend who has a pretty figure but a limited wardrobe arrived in dress shorts. We loaded Judy and some palms into the back of Doug's truck, hiding the chamber pots and spare tire under the greenery. People jammed into cars and trucks and our caravan started, led by Judy herself. The cemetery was already filled with people and cars. Some people stood and others were in small groups circling the grave. It was an odd assortment at Gringos, Islanders, Spanish, Italian... a very international congregation. The Roatan Christian Radio Station Minister was doing the graveside service. Mr. Caswell James with his guitar, Miss Ludie, his wife, and some more of the ladies came to sing some pretty songs. I was having a hard time singing. The tears kept me choking up. I looked around. The sun was setting. It was no longer hot and Javier, who had picked the spot for the grave, had chosen a nice shady spot under a large guava tree. Many ladies carried flowers in their arms, picked from their own gardens. I thought, "Judy, it looks like your going to have a nice little funeral." Then I noticed the grave itself. It was a perfect rectangle sculpted out of the Sandy Bay red clay. But golly it looked deep and big, I thought it could double as a bomb shelter. The preacher started his service. He didn't really know Judy but knew she listened to his radio station and he was doing O.K. with what he had. Jr. James, J.J. to us, was head of the burying crew, a two- shovel, four-guy operation. He just kept interrupting the preacher with guidance and advice. The ladies in the singing section told JJ to hush and mind his manners. About this time a taxi arrived with one of Judy's friends from Coxen Hole. She was coming from either her own private wake or she had been part of the digging crew. Feeling great grief and no pain, she guided us through the rest of the graveside service. JJ was minding his manners so well that he didn't notice when the minister was finished. Time to start shoveling the dirt. It took a jump start to remind him, but then he shoveled and directed the singing with equal gusto. Judy's husband decided to help JJ and did his imitation of a blue crab as far as the dirt mound. Saturated with years of coolaid and rum, he lost his balance and rolled to a sitting position behind the red clay. I gave him a shovel and someone to hold him in place. After a struggle with gravity, indifferent body parts and a rapidly separating suit of clothes, he performed his duty. The pile of red clay seemed endless and I was wishing for two more shovels in the growing twilight. I asked Mrs. Woods from Coxen Hole if we had to put all that dirt on the grave. I mean was it a law? She told me to behave, that seemed to be the catch world for the day. As the mosquitoes joined our group and the rain clouds darkened the sky even more long hill, we stuck in the flowers that would take root and grow, left Jeff JJ and Co. to cope with the last traces of dirt and drifted back to Sandy Bay proper. I saw Jeep being carried to a nearby truck looking sort of like a broken puppet with no strings. Judy waited alone in the dusk for the coming rain. The newly planted flowers turned toward the rain, ready to put out root in the soft moist soil.

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