Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

Well, then. The first couple entries in this journal were written in my paper notebook. I was in my hotel's Internet room typing this entry when the hotel's power went out. Perhaps it's a sign that I'm meant to keep this journal on paper.

Flying from San Salvador to San Pedro Sula reminded me just how dry California is. The landscape here is unbelievably green in comparison: emerald fields, vegetation-covered waterways, banana and coconut plantations thick on the ground.

My taxi driver was, of course, learning English, so we had a bilingual conversation. One of us would try to get something across in one language and fail and switch to the other. Oddly, I found myself speaking Spanish and listening in English, which is the reverse of what I expected.

The driver mentioned the festival, but I was unable to determine exactly what it is. It sounds like there are singers on stages, rather than an actual parade.

The cabs here are decorated. Little things, like a futbol team logo or flames. We passed one that said "Siempre Nazareth".

The hotel let me check in early, which was a really good thing. Sometime in the last few years, I lost my ability to sleep through plane flights. Once I could count on nodding off before takeoff and not waking until landing. No more. I'm pretty exhausted. Checking into my room and being able to take a shower and lie down for a few minutes did me a lot of good.

I was too keyed up to really nap, though, and the fact that I'd skipped the 5am breakfast on the plane was beginning to take its toll, so I wandered out in search of food. Found a Mexican place two blocks from my hotel that the LP recommended, so I stopped in for some tasty cebollitas and a large serving of chilaquiles.

Fortified, I headed off in the direction of the Parque Central and the Museum of Anthroplogy and History. The park was packed. It seems like everyone is out for the festival. The museum was much quieter, but I discovered that I was too tired to really concentrate on the explanatory text, and even too tired to pay sensibly. I almost walked away without taking my change, and even simple currency conversions are beyond my arithmetic cababilities at the moment.

After the museum, I went by one of the stages for the festival. I sat for a little while, drinking a local soda and listening to marimba music.

I tried to find a cibercafe, but they all seem to be closed. Eventually, I found my way back to my hotel and discovered that there's a room labeled Internet with serveral computers in it. Which brings us back to the power outage. I wonder how common those are here.

It has been alternating between sunny and cloudy all day, and it just began to sprinkle rain.

I walked past a Dunkin Donuts and several knockoffs. I'm afraid I'm going to have to have some. There are American fast food chain restaurants all over the place here, and I'd never consider eating at a Wendy's or an Applebee's here, but Dunkin Donuts is my weakness...

Tropical Banana Salvaje ("Tropical" is the brand name): not terribly banana-flavored, which is fine by me. It's more of a generic sweet flavor.