Just wanted to let you know we made it our resort in Roatan, Honduras. It was a LOOONG trip. We left Chicago at 7:50 am on Monday and then to Miami without a hitch. But once we got to San Pedro Sula (on the Honduran mainland) there were no flights out to the islands and all flights that went to La Ceiba (a costal town where we could take a ferry to the island) were canceled. (Bad rain & winds.) We ran into another American, named Lee, and he got us onto a bus to La Ceiba (for free). The 3 hour bus ride got us to La Ceiba and we found a hotel since there were no other ferries that day (it was 7pm after all) and had dinner with some new American friends we met on the bus. (Lee, from Brooklyn and Sean from Cincinnati.) It was rainy and dark in La Ceiba and we could not contact our resort on Roatan so we missed a day at our beach front villa. Boo.

In the morning there were no ferries to Roatan once again due to the rough seas. So, we headed to the airport to get on the first flight to the island which was at 12:30. That got delayed twice (once while we were on the plane) and finally took off at 2:45pm. The 15min flight (that mom could NEVER do since it was over open water and in a semi-small plane) was a white-knuckler for me and landed safely. After a 20min cab ride (the roads were bad) got us all but 50ft from our hotel. The roads were bad due to all the rain and the cab could not get us up a muddy hill. By chance, the hotel’s van (with a giant scorpion decal on the rear windshield) pulled up behind us and after some conversation in Spanish, attempted to get to the top of the hill by gunning it to gain momentum while we cheered it on. Finally, after squealing tires and sputtering mud all over, it made it to the top of the hill! We had to get our luggage out of the cab and walk it through the mud to meet the van. It was able to take us the rest of the way to our resort, Palmetto Bay Plantation.

So we finally made it to paradise. Our resort is on the beach and we have a villa that is a duplex unit with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. There were hibiscus and champagne and fruit to greet us. It was lovely, until we found that ants loved the flowers so we had to throw them out the front door. Oh well.

Last night’s dinner was DELICIOUS! Fresh red snapper, chicken curry with veggies and bananas (!) and fantastic Honduran beer. The bartender and the rest of the staff are really nice. We’re glad we’re here.

This morning was the first sunlight we’ve seen since North Carolina. A short morning walk on the beach made us realize that the hard effort and patience paid off. We ordered brunch to our room and have been relaxing all morning. Today, we’re off to explore the town and get a few things for the villa. (Beer, food, supplies, and whatnot.)

Hope all is well back home. See attached pics that I’ve take so far. More will come. You can check out our Flickr page too:
http://flickr.com/photos/kurty_p