September 12, 2004

We are not used to the level of security found in poorer Central American countries. There are armed guards at every establishment from Pizza Hut to mall department stores. Businesses such as banks, travel agencies and office buildings have an armed guard outside the locked entrance door and an armed guard inside with the key. The weapon of choice out doors is a shotgun with a pistol grip. The weapon of choice inside is an oversized 9mm pistol. The following pictures were taken within one block of the hotel:
     

September 14, 2004

And, finally, you probably thought the Hotel California is in someplace like, maybe, California. Not so! As this picture clearly shows, the hotel made famous in the lyrics of the Eagles’ song by the same name is actually located in the low-rent side of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a barrio called Comayaguela.

September 13, 2004

The primary purpose of this trip was to finalize arrangements for Anabel for the next year. The trip rapidly settled into the tedium that comes with making arrangements for an 8 year old girl. We also rapidly came to know that little girls are high maintenance, regardless of origin.

September 11, 2004


In the publication Let’s Go: Central America, Krutzinna, Benjamin et al, 2003, St. Martin’s Press, New York, under the heading Honduras, subheading Southern Honduras, page 446, our destination is described as follows:
“A thin expansion of Honduras runs south to the Golfo de Fonseca, giving the country all-important access to the Pacific Ocean. Travelers here are usually en route to some place else: both El Salvador and Nicaragua are an easy trip down the Carretera Panamericana. Traveling south from Tegucigalpa, a road heads west to the Salvadoran border at El Amatillo from the junction at Jicaro Galan.”

The Honduras map(International Travel Map, Honduras, Scale 1 : 750000, Joyce, Jack, 2000, ITMB Publishing LTD,) shows El Amatillo t ...

March 25, 2004

Walked to Vicky’s office (Cesar’s mother-in-law) to say good-by.

Tegucigalpa International Airport is small with few gates and only the basic accommodations. Flew out a little late.

Arrived in Miami a little late. Took long to process into the US. Missed my connection to Atlanta. Stayed over, flew out at 2:30 PM. Got home at approximately 7:30 PM.

The magnitude of what I am attempting to do without understanding why I am doing it made this day an emotional roller coaster.

March 24, 2004

Compiled notes all morning.
Cesar and his wife picked me up at 12:15. Went to a quiet mountain town with steep, narrow cobblestone streets and a white church with twin steeples and a view across a valley.

Went to another similar town that has become a weekend getaway for residents of Tegucigalpa. We stopped at a street vendor for a late lunch of dough that is filled with cheese and grilled. This is covered with a relish of sliced onions, peppers in a vinegar-based solution.

Cesar called the teacher, Roxanne, in the evening to see how the first day went. Anabell was a little late and ate everything in site. Anabel showed up for breakfast all scrubbed up and dressed for school. Apparently, the ladies made a special trip to get water to wash her up. The women even found two ribbons to put her hair up in two pigtails.

Roxanne had to explain Anabel’s return to school ...

March 23, 2004
Met Cesar’s father-in –law for a beer at a corner store where the owner sells bottles of beer and patrons stand around the street corner drinking the beer. Very interesting and well-educated man.

Cesar and I walked across Central America Highway 1 (CA-1) a few blocks from the border crossing on the Honduras side. We entered a white with blue trim block building that is a general store in the front room and a restaurant in the back. Cesar’s greeting with the woman behind the counter was friendly; he had had business dealings with the owner in the past. We each took a Coke from the upright cooler next to the door and found a table by a window. Once seated, I said ¨ You know I didn’t come this far just to buy a scrawny little urchin some school clothes. Now what in hell do we do?¨

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I arrived at the house from my CA-1 trip on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 at 7:30 PM and finalized the trip log on Saturday, February 11. That was supposed to be the end. The trip log says ¨The End¨.

I don’t know why that little girl caught my attention. I have seen thousands of street urchins in many third worl ...

January 27, 2004, 11:00 AM, Tuesday

Epilog

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
A long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good fortune-
I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more,
Need nothing
Strong and content, I travel the open road
Walt Whitman, 1856

A poem commonly quoted by travelers. A poem I have always liked, but no
longer fits. I have already gone way too far down that brown road to claim
I am only starting, and I accept my good fortune with quiet humility, not as
an affirmation.

I think a more contemporary poet captures my mood and
better fits my station in life:

I have faced ...