So we awoke at 5 a.m. on Friday in Utila to catch the 6:20 ferry to La Ceiba on mainland Honduras, thinking we were pretty smart and pretty prepared (we bought our tickets the day before). As we approached the docks however, it seemed like something was amiss, the only boats boarding weere a couple scuba boats we´d seen around. As it turns out, a regular occurence to substitute these for the ferry. By the time we realized what was up the first had pulled away, and the second boat had begun boarding. Not good, since the next scheduled ¨ferry¨ was 8 hours later, and our tix were supposedly non-transferable. We shoved up to the front of the crowd, ticketed passengers and cash-holders alike, and were the LAST two people on the boat, nobody without a ticket had a chance. During the hour ride, we stood on deck and considered our luck, when we went ashore we caught a cab quickly, and at the bus station, where we literally got a bus to San Pedro Sula that was pulling away as we arrived. Our next transfer, 4 hours later left after giving us juist enough time to eat a decent lunch first...AWESOME!!
Unfortunatley, our luck seemed to run out on us when our driver ground out our gears and stranded us about an hour before we got to Tegucigalpa, our next transfer. We forsook any chance at a refund and hopped a passing bus, putting us in an hour behind schedule. No problem, right? WRONG. The last bus to continue was gonna leave about an hour later, just about 7km away...in the rain...in rush hour...in a city with two rivers and three bridges. We got to the next bus station about 6:40, after our cabby assured us there was no chance after 6:30 to find our bus. Luckily (for once) time is a bit flexible here, and with help from a local, we were able to cajole the ticket guy into selling us a ticket standing up on the overfull bus(why he refused us at first, I don´t know, but he was steadfast that we were too late until this random guy spoke up). We made it all the way to El Páraiso, the last stop of that or any bus at 9 p.m. and got a hotel, a snack, and a Salva Vida! In the morning, we continued to the border by bus, caught two more running transfers in a row, and were in Managua, Nicaragua by about 2p.m. Got one last cab across town, and one last bus to Grenada, where we are currently sitting at our hotel, sipping Toña beer and Nica-libres. Salud!
