Ahh... the Beauty of Tela, Honduras

Perfect Weather
I know I've babbled on about this many times but it truly is paradise here. The overcast sky that had been lingering for the past month has finally evaporated into clear blue skies. The view has been amazing. On top of the Maya Vista Hotel in town you can get a full panorama of the entire bay. Click on the link to see the full 360 degree view in a quick video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5fWKrnPBmQ

The humidity has also significantly decreased. It has been pouring rain almost every night this week (but bright and sunny during the day) which has helped. Even the temperature has dropped a few degrees (now with highs of 88F and lows of 68F).

In the mornings before work, I have been riding my bike into town to run errands (trying to book a day trip to Cayos Cochinos- some tiny islands, buy film for my underwater camera, get some produce, use the ATM, buy some Dramamine for the boat ride to Utila (by the way, if you want pills here like aspirin or ibuprofen or Dramamine, you can buy individual pills from any convenience store, no need to buy the whole box with directions and expiration date and warnings... why would you need all that?), checking the post office for mail you never send, ha, ha, etc.). I have also spent a few mornings at the beach swimming and relaxing (the water has been very clear and calm enough for me to just lie there and float) and absorbing the gorgeous view of the Caribbean Sea...and of the palm tree backdrop. One morning Christina and I stopped by an art gallery... to browse and buy something that might preserve our memory of our time here (besides all the millions of photos I have). Scenes Along the Highway
I also rode my bike along the highway a few times. There are many interesting sights as you ride along the 2-lane highway just at the end of our street. The highway is the main road that, among other places, leads eastward to La Ceiba and westward to San Pedro Sula. You can never avoid the animals. Drivers need to be on full alert to avoid hitting grazing cattle crossing the highway. It is always interesting to analyze the construction techniques in the houses I pass. It looks so easy, I could build my own house. The countryside is lush and green. When the grass needs to be cut in these fields, a group of 2 or 3 guys will go out and spend days hunched over hacking away with their machetes. Government workers can be seen on a daily basis trimming the roadside with machetes. (By the way, when a man with a machete boards a bus, as often happens, he just checks it in with the assistant who holds it up front until the passenger gets off.) The ever-green views are obviously attributed to the tropical, rainy climate. All the water needs to go somewhere so Honduras is full of rivers, lakes, streams, and bridges. The highway has many merenderos (little restaurants), pulperias (convenience stores), llanteras (tire repair shops: all of which have a huge tire out front with their name painted on), and sometimes even an, obviously hygienic, carniceria (meat store). When exiting or entering a large town, there are police checkpoints on the highway that every car has to stop at. I'm not really sure what they are checking for but even the buses have to stop. You really can't beat it here and I'm depressed that you are making me leave it. Then again, I feel have explored almost every part of Honduras I possibly could (excepting the Moskitia region which requires at least a week and $350) and I would just be bored revisiting the same locations if I stayed any longer. I guess it's about time to be off to new adventures as there are still tons of places I want to visit on my mental travel list.

Plus, I now have the additional great news of having a teaching job to go back to in San Diego. My district has rescinded all the pink slips for permanent staff (no word yet on the probationary teachers). Now I just have to figure out which school site I will be teaching at.