Trip to Amapala

So I know heretofore I described the chicken buses down here.  Allow me to now provide some background on the posh side of Peace Corps.

Peace Corps Honduras has a fleet of vehicles.  Most are Toyota Land Cruisers or something similar.  All are white.  Most other cars here are pretty old and have trouble getting up the mountains here in Honduras.  When I told my host brother here that I sold my 1999 Nissan Altima (GXE) before coming here, he was mad that I didn’t put it on a boat to sell here – here it would be a great car.  (FYI I think he also wants to start a used car import business with me being the US supplier.)  Needless to say, when the gringo patrol is out we are pretty conspicuous.

On Tuesday April 14^th and Wednesday April 15^th the business group went to Amapala Honduras for their annual tourism trip.  For those not inclined to Google Map this, Honduras is blessed with tons of coastline on the Atlantic / Caribbean side – and this is the most developed part of the country.  But they only have 15-20 miles or so on the Pacific side – which is where we were – with El Salvador and Nicaragua close by on either side. 

This is one of the lesser developed parts of the country, so it’s likely that a few of us will be placed in the south to help develop the tourism industry.  So obviously we had to sample the goods – camping on the beach, restaurants and beaches.  I´m trying to get more pics on to my Picassa album but having IT problems – hopefully soon.

But back to the story – we were high class travelers in our Land Cruisers.  Naturally, you can imagine driving here is an adventure (although everyone says that about everywhere – I’ve never heard a place to have a reputation for really safe, respectful drivers).  With our (relatively) new cars and our American indifference to gas consumption we were able to blow past 80% of the cars on the road.  All while rocking it out to an all American playlist on the radio – ACDC’s Thunderstruck and GNR’s Paradise City.

I know it’s good to integrate into the country but sometimes it’s pretty awesome not to.  Plus in 2 weeks I’ll never see a Land Cruiser again.