TELA - We took a ferry from Livingston to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, where we decided to hold up for a night to get an early start on Honduras the next day.  What a dusty place Puerto Barrios is!  On the ferry we ran into an old hippie named Douglas - an avid fish enthusiast, beer drinker, and pot smoker - who told us a little bit about the area.  He also recommended a hotel where we got a room for 10 bucks.  He was a friendly old codger but looked a little worse for wear.

The next day we hopped a minivan to the border, where we crossed and waited for another bus to take us to Omoa.  That was interesting... a guy just over the border told us to walk 2 km to town - in the hot sun - to catch the bus to Omoa.  We did, and an hour later the bus dropped us off right smack back at the border, right next to the same guy that told us to walk to town!!  Weird, but we got some exercise and the bus driver earned a quick 10 Lemps off some stupid gringos.  While waiting for the next bus we discovered how the dogs escape the hot sun. 



Oh, we also saw a bunch of these guys running around.  You´d hear them coming first... then see them gallop by... and they were out of sight as quickly as they came.  It was a little surreal.



At some point we finally got to Omoa.  Omoa is a sleepy fishing village right on the ocean, where we ran into yet another hippie.  This guy was from 'the states', in his fifties - and more than a little odd - but he ran the hotel we were staying at.  He made lots of 'pipes' and wasn´t into shaking hands, but he did fold his hands together and give us a nice little bow.  Later that day he gave us a ride to town in his hippie van - complete with shag carpeting, space for a double bed in the back, and his 23 year old bride in the passenger seat.  Yikes.  Staying at his hotel was an 'experience', and that´s all I have to say about that.  Here´s a picture of the van...



Here´s a picture Anna took of the beautiful beaches of Omoa.  In ten years I fear the horizon will be cluttered with condos...



There were horses grazing in the hotel yard... at first they were kindof skittish but we fed them some bananas and they were very happy with us.  Anna got a video of them chomping on palm leaves and took these shots of them trying to get into the hotel.  I think they´re looking for one of those pipes...



Oh... there they are... poking their heads into the kitchen/office/saddle shed/pipe-making-room...



As you can imagine, we were sad to leave Omoa (not the hotel) but excited to move on to Tela.  We hopped a couple more busses, arrived at noon, and found a good hotel this time!  Tela is nice, it´s a small city right on the water and there´s nice cheap places to eat and lots to do.  We figure we´ll check out the Botanical Garden (largest collection of fruit trees in the world or something) and then do a river kayak tour and hopefully see some crocodiles!