Why Does Honduras Hate Me?

If you read about my initial experience upon arriving in Honduras, you’ve probably been wondering if things have changed at all.  Of course, with a title such as this you’ve probably already assumed what the answer is.

Life on the small island of Utila has overall been a great experience.  I’ve been able to dive a LOT (went from 14 dives to 104 in about 2 months), and Tigger even earned his junior open water certification, so we’ve had the chance to dive together which has been pretty awesome.  In fact he was with me for my celebratory 100th dive, and a hawbill turtle also showed up to mark the occasion.  And if you’re wondering, yes I kept to the tradition for the 100th dive.  But a lot that hasn’t been so much fun has also happened while here.

For starters after a month on the island I discovered that someone used our card info, which apparently was lifted from an ATM machine with a fraudulent card reader on it , to withdraw money from my bank account.  Luckily I caught it the day they did it, so an immediate block was put on my account.  I use a PayPal card as backup, but there was a problem since I had logged into my account from Honduras even though I had been regularly updating them about our travels.  That took about 3 days to clear up.  Then the challenge of getting my replacement card began.  Utila has no street addresses, and apparently FedEx doesn’t like that.  After almost 1-1/2 months, I finally got a replacement card by sending it to a friend who was in Canada visiting family and was coming back to the island.

We had a splendid visit with Erica & Shaun and while enjoying a farewell meal with them one of my very old fillings broke.  I figured no sweat and wasn’t too worried when I discovered it would cost about $30 to replace it.  Then the drilling began.  Another long story short, I’m now looking at a crown and root canal.  Apparently the filling had been leaking for a while, and the inside is quite decayed.  Thank goodness it happened in a country where dentistry isn’t going to equal a couple of months’ rent.

Then there was a bit of a hassle with a local company trying to pull a fast one on me.  Thankfully I knew someone who knew someone, and I was able to go visit with the local version of the US Judge Judy who informed me I had absolutely no worries and advised me quite colorfully to . . . assert my rights.

There was some other smaller stuff as well.  Granted nothing horribly earth-shattering:  No one lost their life or had to be medevacked or anything, but it’s been a lot in a short period of time.  While I’m sure Honduras doesn’t have it in for me, it has been a place of lots of challenges for sure.  Yes, we grow with challenges, if we’re open to the experience, but oy!

At least it timed some things right.  Wonderful friends enabled us to continue to be able to live while I sorted out the PayPal mess, and many other offers came in to help as well.  My tooth has not rotted to the point where it hurts me, and even with a temporary filling I’ve had no pain or discomfort from it.  We never went a day without having enough to eat, had a roof over our heads, were able to continue to have electricity, etc.  And I had to suck it up and allow others to help me.  Why is that sometimes the hardest lesson?

But in the midst of the rough spots, we’ve had far more positive.  We were able to spend 4 weeks with our friends who have become like family to us.  They were here when I finished my divemaster which was the culmination of a lot of work.  Since then I have also successfully completed the instructor development course and instructor evaluation and am now a scuba instructor (once PADI processes my paperwork).  Most importantly Tigger and I are closer than ever.

We’re coming up on our 3rd month of being in Honduras.  To celebrate getting my instructor certification, and just to get a much-needed break, we’ve left our small island home to explore more of the mainland for a few days since it’s low season (which means the dive shops aren’t that busy right now).  After having time to reflect during the ferry and bus ride and then having lobster & filet mignon for dinner last night, along with a proper martini, I’m sitting here writing my post while looking over the treetops from the hotel restaurant and seeing the beautiful Caribbean sea.

Honduras and I are on better terms.  There is more of it I still want to see, and I need to get to know more of her people, but no matter what the final verdict is when it comes time to leave Honduras for other parts, she’ll always hold a special place in my heart.

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22 Comments

  1. I would say experience makes you stronger and wise…

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  2. First time visitors to Honduras are amazed by the warmth of Honduran
    hospitality.
    Returning travelers have never forgotten it
     

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  3. You are so wise not to let your troubles put you off a place.  I have a friend who won’t return to Nice, France because her wallet was stolen there, and another who won’t return to Rome for similar reasons.  So silly.  These things happen everywhere, and as everyone says – it’s no bad thing learning lessons for the future!

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    • So very true. I have a friend who says she will never go back to a certain country because someone stole her iTouch. Never mind they left all the other expensive electronics alone. Still how does that represent an entire nation? I certainly wouldn’t want my home country to be judged by the poor choices of a few citizens.

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  4. I totally know what you’re talking about here. I felt this way when I lived in Barcelona. So many things went wrong. I got pickpocketed in a supermarket and didn’t even notice it until later. And that was not the worst part of my time there. Long, crappy story. If I’d had a blog back then, I would have used the title you used for yours!

    Anyway, I’m glad that there have been a good number of positive experiences there in Honduras despite the various hassles. It’s wonderful that you guys have been diving together–how cool! PS: Your son is living my fantasy childhood! 🙂

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  5. I totally know what you’re talking about here. I felt this way when I lived in Barcelona. So many things went wrong. I got pickpocketed in a supermarket and didn’t even notice it until later. And that was not the worst part of my time there. Long, crappy story. If I’d had a blog back then, I would have used the title you used for yours!

    Anyway, I’m glad that there have been a good number of positive experiences there in Honduras despite the various hassles. It’s wonderful that you guys have been diving together–how cool! PS: Your son is living my fantasy childhood! 🙂

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    • Sounds like quite an awful time! I’m very grateful there have been a lot of wonderful experiences on top of the crap ones as well. Otherwise we’d be getting the heck out of Honduras! LOL

      I’m definitely jealous of his life, too. J

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  6. Yikes, those credit card issues are scary.  We’ve felt safer knowing that our banks are super diligent about catching those kinds of issues and removing them w/o any hassle… but I didn’t even think about how much of a pain it would be to get the cards replaced!  Getting things shipped when you’re on the road is such an annoyance.  🙂

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  7. Wow, quite a lot of things all at once!  Glad everything worked out in the end — and so jealous you got to meet Shaun and Erica.  Keep having fun!  🙂

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    • OMG! They were sooo much fun! They came to Utila for 4 days and stayed 4 weeks. LOL

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  8. Thanks for the update on things.  I’m following most events that take place through Twitter and Facebook, but this allowed me to really get caught up.  Sorry to hear about the issues over there and hope they are gone for you now.  The best part of this whole post was reading that you and Tigger are closer than ever…..I love it.

    Darryl

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    • That’s my favorite part, too. 🙂

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  9. Those negatives can tend to add up, can’t they. Credit card problems make us really nervous. We had some major problems with our Mastercard in Ecuador, and it turned into (what seemed like) a never-ending spiral.

    Glad your are seeing all of the positives and enjoying the journey.

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  10. Trust me – you’ll go through more periods like that you want to think about!  Here’s a snippet of my blog entry from Trujillo, Peru:  It’s familyonbikes vs Peru, and I think the odds are about even.  If we manage to cycle out of the southern end of Peru, it’ll be the biggest victory of my life.  I will certainly have worked harder for it than I’ve ever worked in my life. Life has become a test of wills.  It’s a matter of who can hold out longer,
    and I suspect Peru has endless amounts of patience.  The question is: do
    I have enough of that elusive commodity to get me out of this country?

    And yet now, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see what I learned through that time. I’m glad I managed to get through it and I’ve come out stronger on the other side. You will too!

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    • I remember when you were in Trujillo! What a ride! No pun intended.

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  11. Honduras does not hate you but is just teaching you a lot of lessons for life and for the rest of your travels. I know it may have been very rough but you pulled thru and I am sure you are a bit of a stronger person for everything that has happened. 

    Keep your chin up and always thank Honduras for bringing you so much closer to Tigger. 

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    • Honduras definitely has been part of some very positive things in our life. J

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  12. Finally a new post! I’ve been stalking your blog to see if you happened to be posting behind my back. I am so glad your relationship with Honduras has changed somewhat. I’m already aching to be back in Utila and diving but we need to see more and if there are other fantastic places. Miss you guys, you’re our road family! <3

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    • I would never post behind your back! J With doing instructor training, working, etc., the blog had to wait for a bit. Yeah, that’s the tough part about staying in Utila. It’s great, but I want to see more of the world at the same time. Nice to have these problems, no?

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