After 9 years of friendship, Natascha Alejandra Bock finally came to Honduras. Being her charming self and speaking Spanish fluently, Natascha was loved by the whole family. It didn't hurt that she shares a name with two of my sisters (Marcela Natalia and Denise Alejandra). She was just like one of the Pineda women, just try to tell her apart from Marcela, Abuelita and Mom :-)
The first stop on the Pineda Tour of Honduras was a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mayan ruins at Copan. We mostly had them to ourselves, and they were awe inspiring. Copan was an intellectual center for the Maya. In the photo, you can see one of the temples on the side of the famous ball game in which the captain of the winning team was sacrificed in honor of the gods.
Around the ruins, we have tropical cloud forest with papagayos (shown in photo) and rodents of unusual size, guatusas, favored by Natascha (not so photogenic). The Maya had abandoned Copan by the time the Spanish arrived. The current theory is that they depleted their resources and moved on. The ruins were covered with jungle and the Maya spread around the region.
After Copan, we headed to the idyllic beaches of the Bay Islands. Roatan was originally settled by British pirates and hence most of the islanders are bilingual. We stayed in West End which is a community of expats favored by backpackers. We stayed at an Argentinian run hotel, went SCUBA diving with an Australian dive master and met a cool couple from Barcelona.
The beaches in Roatan are impossibly beautiful. We took a water taxi from West End to West Bay to catch some sun and snorkel. We saw great coral, many colorful fish, a couple of squid and a sting ray. I did think about just staying in Roatan, but I have too many adventures I am looking forward to!
The final leg of the whirlwind tour of Honduras is the coffee farm "DEMA" for Denise, Emma, Marcela, Angel. We did our best to teach Natascha mountain slang. "Compinche" is a word for a partner in mischief derived from "compadre" which is a godfather but instead of sharing the responsibilities of child rearing, you share adventures full of mischief :-)
Manuel (the foreman), Dad and Natascha exploring the cloud forests near the coffee farm. Manuel cleared a path for us using his machete to find the source of the water at the farm. This was easily the most exciting part of the trip as we had to cross muddy logs over creeks holding on to vines. Natascha turned out to be outdoorsy. Who knew?
Honduras is a small country. We managed to meet my favorite Honduran singer,
Guillermo Anderson (with guitar and all) on Natascha's last night. If you ever have a chance to see him (he regularly comes to the US), check him out.
Natascha and I have been friends a long time and it was a joy to share Honduras and my family with her. After 9 years of friendship and 9 days of travel, we still haven't gotten sick of each other. That is a good sign for our friendship in years to come...
I get my child-like playfulness from my dad. Today, on his 55th birthday, his presents included a t-shirt from his favorite soccer team (Marathon) and a pen drive to transfer music he downloaded online to listen at work (as a hand surgeon!). You can see him with both of these in the photo. This is a man who knows how to play. With his wife and kids healthy and happy, Dad is doing all right for an old guy or "viejo" as I like to call him.
