We were There!

Yesterday’s news reported a 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocking Honduras. It rocked us too. A mere four months ago we were there … right at the epicenter. Or close.

We spent almost a week on Roatán, one of the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras. That island—a favorite stop on our seven week trek—was a 1-1/2 hour ferry ride from the mainland. It was also nearest to the reported epicenter of the earthquake, just 80 miles northeast of La Ceiba in the Caribbean Sea.

We traveled through many of the areas reportedly affected by the earthquake. Our journey took us from Cancún, Mexico, through Belize, and on to Honduras via water ferry. From there we bused from Puerto Cortés to La Ceiba. En route we changed buses at a shopping mall in San Pedro Sula. There a hotel receptionist, Raul Gonzalez, reported to the Associated Press that guests ran into the street in their pajamas when the 2:24 a.m. earthquake struck. “It was really strong,” he said, “I have never felt anything like that.”

Our bus continued on to La Ceiba, crossing the Democracy Bridge in El Progreso. That bridge spans the country’s largest river, the Ulua. It collapsed yesterday. We passed over that river. We took that bridge.

We also stayed two nights at the Gran Hotel Paris in La Ceiba in mid-January. Our stay was accidental. A previous hotel, the Monserratte, where we’d roomed both before and after visiting Roatán and before flying to Guanaja, was filled. It was raining. In desperation we hauled our backpacks to a nearby plaza where we’d seen another hotel.

The Gran Hotel Paris had space available and, as it happened, was a much better choice. Rooms were smaller but the hotel itself was cleaner, livelier, and had a more relaxed atmosphere than the Monserratte.

“People were running for the door,” said Alfredo Cedeno from the Gran Hotel Paris, about yesterday’s tremors. “You could really feel it and you could see it—the water came out of the pool.”

We sauntered past the aforementioned pool on our way to breakfast at Gran Hotel Paris. And we watched children playing in that same pool through the restaurant’s glass windows. We walked next to that pool. We ate beside it.

According to the Associated Press report two children died and 40 people were injured as a result of yesterday’s earthquake. It terrified residents through much of Central America. And, since we rode a bus—twice—over the now-collapsed bridge, breakfasted—twice—next to this now-waterless pool, and swam and snorkeled in the Caribbean waters near where this six mile deep earthquake occurred, it almost felt as if we were still there when the earthquake struck.

It’s curious that just a few days or a week in a hotel, on an island, or riding a bus can make a city, a hotel, a bridge, or a country seem so familiar … and almost like home.

Buzz ... Infected by the Travel Bug

Roberta, our Bayfield librarian, knows a bit about virtually every library patron's life and dreams and, in her infinite wisdom, introduced us to Kate as we planned our trip to Latin America. Kate was the first of several people who inspired us to leap into our adventure. Having traveled extensively in Mexico and Central America herself Kate assured us that we were embarking on one of life's great journeys.

Kate greeted me with excitement yesterday as I climbed the steps to the library. "Oh, I read parts of your blog while you were on the road," she said, "And I was so inspired. My mom has diabetes and tells me she can't travel so I told her about you. Here, I said, this is someone with diabetes who is traveling. So there."

"Kate," I replied, "You have no idea how much you helped us through our own pre-trip fears and anxieties."

For the next 10 minutes Kate and I were like two kids in a candy store. Though the treats we salivated over were merely pictures in our minds, we shared some of the tastes and sensations from each of our trips and hungrily longed for more. Once the travel bug bites you, I've concluded, you're infected for life. There's no remedy except to travel and experience new people, cultures, and lands 'til you can travel again. That's one communicable disease I'll gladly pass on to others.

Speaking of diseases, I overheard a tourist on Roatan Island, Honduras, mention that Bill Gates owns a beach house a short distance from West Bay. Our "Lonely Planet" guidebook warned us to take anti-malarial medication while visiting this area since there are five different strains of malaria identified on Roatan. Suddenly Bill Gates' anti-malarial activism made perfect sense. If you own a vacation home or travel in an area inhabited by these mosquitoes, the fear of malaria is no longer an abstract concept.

My brother, Brett, mentioned that news reports about Bill Gates' speech at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference circulated the day I returned from Central America. Gates evidentally hoped to make an infecting point about malaria by releasing mosquitoes into the audience. As he opened the jar of mosquitoes Gates said, "Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected."

Gates waited several minutes before he reassured his elite audience that the mosquitoes he'd released were malaria-free. He went on to say that there's more money put into drugs for baldness than drugs for malaria. I believe Gates chose a potent way to drop audience members into a real-life fear-of-malaria-free-fall. Frances and I certainly couldn't escape that fear while traveling in Central America and we finish our weekly dose of malaria meds in two more weeks.