Central America

Countries of Central America

Island Hop

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Snorkle

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Making friends in Nueva Armenia

The bus stopped, and we got out. During the walk to the place where we were staying, I noticed that the coastal town of Nueva Armenia felt very Caribbean because everyone was very dark-skinned and spoke Spanish. When we reached the hotel, we were shown around. It was a pretty rough place. A bucket was needed to flush the toilet, and the shower was a cold bucket shower (but it was so warm, it didn’t really matter). I still had a good time. I played cards with a couple kids, and we shared a delicious fried chicken (No, not a Chicken Fried, a fried chicken*). It was a perfect night.

Conch
Found a conch shell snorkeling

When we woke up, we took a boat to Chachahuate, a teeny tiny island completely covered in huts, with barely any breathing space. That village belonged to the Garifuna people, a mix between a group of West Africans who had never been enslaved and the Carib indigenous tribe. On the first day, I had some fun. I swam a little, and found a conch shell. However, we didn’t exactly feel very comfortable there, so we left early.

Chachahuate
Town of Chachahuate, in the Cayos Cuchinos

We really hit a home run with our plan B. No, not the band**.  We had an amazing time on Roatan. We went to a village called Punta Gorda – which translates to “Fat Point”. This village was also Garifuna. There, they have a festival every Sunday. At the festival, they dance a very unique dance called the Punta. It’s basically just a ton of butt shaking. It’s also very, very fast. I tried but in less than a minute, I had to stop because my abdomen was killing me.

We also snorkeled. My favorite fish was a long and skinny fish that was a about three to five feet long and possibly half a foot around.

Finally, we watched the sunset on the beach. It was so beautiful, I called it “The Tropical Lights”. A spectacular way to end RTW1!***

*Say “Loolz” in he comments below if you laughed. Say “Wacka Wacka Wacka” if you didn’t get the joke
**Read the following if you didn’t get the joke: Shabadadoo!
***If you don’t know yet, we’ll be going around the world again. The second trip will consist of Europe, Southern (not just South) Africa, and South America

The boat to the islands
Drummer in Punta Gorda
Hangin’ in the hammock
Watching a movie on the beach at sunset
Snorkling in the clear water
Nueva Armenia hotel
The island viallage of Chachahuate
I got to hold a starfish!

Mayo Papaquayo

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Macaw

Majetic Macaw
Scarlet Macaw

The beautiful, green birds were very noisy. The males, unlike the females, had a little bit of red on their wings. We were at Macaw Mountain, a place where birds were rehabilitated and possibly released back into the wild . Right afterwards, we saw the macaws. They were beautiful! They were majestic. One of them even dropped a feather. It would be perfect to make a pen out of it.

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Toucan

Next, we saw the green macaws. One, previously abused, wanted to attack us. Another one was curious. We also saw toucans. The difference between males and females was obvious: the males had massive beaks, while the females’ beaks were much smaller. We also saw some owls. One cage contained some Great Horned Owls. Disappointingly, they were a smaller subspecies than the ones that we were used to. Another five very small, brown owls.

Owl
The baby owl was curious

Near the cage, on a post and chained in place, was a baby owl, even smaller. His huge pupils took up most of his eyes. He was chained up so that he could get some exercise while not walking off to dangerous places. His wings had been clipped by the previous owners. However, his wings had only been clipped once. We saw some macaws that had been separated from the others. These former pets had been kept outside, but the previous owners had clipped their wings over and over again. Well, by the time they’d escaped, having clipped wings was natural to them. The mutilated their own wings. They would also chase around other birds and try to mutilate their wings. If their victim was caught, it wouldn’t fly.

Lastly, we saw the showcase birds. I got to take pictures with macaws. What a way to end our time at Macaw Mountain Rehab Center!

I got a feather!
So cute!
Parrots

Tegus Togetherness

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Three Generations
Three Generations – My Dad, Great Grandfather, and myself
The 16th Century Church in Santa Lucia
The 16th Century Church in Santa Lucia

We didn’t do much in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. It was mainly about being together with family. One day, though, we went to a beautiful village close to Tegus called Santa Lucia. We’d been there before, when I was a baby. My parents talked about how much it had changed. We also saw a church there. It was beautiful.

Another day, the whole family got together, and my great-grandfather was talking about his grandparents, his parents, and his childhood. About 75 years ago, my great-grandpa’s aunt’s dog was used to carry messages . Sometimes, the messenger dogs would travel very long distances. But there was something very special about that dog. The family would crank on the music, and that dog – and only that dog – would dance like a human. Also, the aunt could talk to lots of animals, even snakes. It is very funny to imagine.

At the Museum of Honduran Identity
At the Museum of Honduran Identity

On almost our last day in Tegucigalpa, we saw an art museum. It wasn’t just an art museum, because it also contained a fascinating history of the country. Like all other Latin American countries in the Cold War, it had a terrible dictatorship supported by the U.S, just because it wasn’t Communist. Also, there was a horrible display to educate the public of a local problem that was simply terrible: the killing of women for simply being women. It was a series of sculptures of women that had hands instead of heads. Basically, they had no voice. Each woman had a sign in Sign Language on the hand on their neck. There were lots of paintings, too my favorite painting was a replica of graffiti. It looked like something I would have drawn. It was an animation of a DJ in a spacesuit. Nothing cooler than a DJ astronaut!

Chillin’ with Zeus.
Resting while overlooking Tegus
Fun House Mirror – I got shorter!

Packing Preparation for Perfect Panama

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James in Panama SuitcaseI had to go through all my stuff and I only had one giant suitcase to put it in. That was all I could take to Panama because we are selling almost everything and traveling  to five continents for ten months. I packed most of  my stuffed animals, some books, one board game, and ten cars. I also packed a starter truck. It was very hard. One of my stuffed animals wouldn’t fit, and I couldn’t pack any more cars. I didn’t have room for anything else. I wish I had more room. But I  am still grateful for the stuff I do have. Now I realize how lucky I am. Even if it doesn’t feel like much, I know that there are some kids in the world with not even an eighth of that. I packed the most important stuff, so I am happy.