I slept well having taken a Sonata and a Benadryl as I wanted to be well rested for the travel day despite my cold being a little worse. David, Cesar and I were up at our usual 5:30am, I had packed everything the night before so after showering I still had some time before breakfast and went for a walk hoping to get a good sunrise photo.
Not a great sunrise photo but this gato bonito was sitting outside to say adios. I stopped by the kitchen where I smelled breakfast cooking and thanked the cooks for all the great food all week long.
I had tea with breakfast for my sore throat. I donated a pair of running sneakers and sandals as well as some clothes I had planned to leave behind. It left plenty of room in my luggage for the 5 bags of coffee.
Instead of the 3 small buses we had from the airport we went back on one big luxury bus. I wore my RoadID for the trip in case we ended up in a gorge like the bus accident that killed 16 people just a few days ago on the road we would be taking. I also masked as I didn’t want to be spreading my germs as I coughed for the next 2 hours.
The bus had super darkly tinted windows and it was a little overcast outside (but would get sunny before we reached the airport) so my photos were really poor.
There was less traffic on Saturday morning than there had been in the afternoon last week. We went SW close to the Capital city and then headed NW on the larger highway.
I got a better look at the airport than on arrival. It was very modern having only been built a few years ago and had wonderful views of the surrounding mountains.
There was a nice shop before going through security that had very reasonably priced locally made souvenirs and chocolates. After security there were more shops but selling stuff at twice the price. A few of the guys were excited to buy Cuban cigars. I thought it was so funny to have a Dunkin’ and a Dominoes Pizza there….
We got to the airport before 10am and my flight to Miami was not until 2pm (still better than people who had 4pm flights). I walked for 30 minutes to get a little exercise after 2 hours on the bus and then went into the luxury lounge (my credit card got me in). It was very nice as food was ordered off a menu rather than just a buffet.
I read my Kindle for a while and then it was time to head to the gate. I was reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
There were a lot of military helicopters at the airport.
I got a few photos before it got too cloudy and then read my Kindle for a while until I got tired and napped for a while.
It was just over a 2 hour flight to Miami and when they announced our initial approach I saw the Everglades below.
With Global Entry it was just a quick face scan at a Kiosk but then it took over an hour for our luggage to get to the baggage carousel! I was just tired but other people had connections to make.
I quickly got an Uber and in an hour was at my mom’s place in Boca Raton where she had my favorite Low-fat Coffee Frozen Yogurt!
I had read the whole Wikipedia entry on Honduras before the trip after not really finding a good book about it (unlike Costa Rica which had several books about it).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honduras
But here are some screenshots I saved before the trip if you want just a quick tour…
And while countries like Ecuador and Costa Rica developed thriving tourist trades, Honduras was stuck in corruption and violence….
Honduras’ last president actually was deported to the USA to face corruption charges, during his 8 year term he and his brother took $millions in payoffs from drug cartels. The current (first woman) president can ???? maybe turn things around a little.
