Lietuviskas aprasymas zemiau
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Day 48: Back on the Road
March 27, 2006
Never a dull moment with Honduran transportation! At 8:30AM on Sunday, our
last morning on Roatan (or so we thought…), we are again at the port
of Coxen Hole, only this time looking for the New Star - no second chance
for Captain Berto! :). New Star is scheduled to leave at 10AM, and for a while
it indeed looks like this is going to happen - the boat is going to leave
on time, and we are going to have a boringly normal "return to earth"…
But suddenly the captain shows up with breaking news: some tremendously tired
truck driver dropped his truck right at the entrance of the ship and disappeared
for a morning nap, leaving the way onto or off the deck completely blocked
:). The crew, therefore, cannot finish unloading the cargo that arrived from
the mainland. Consequently, the boat is definitely not leaving at 10AM.
It took the crew about two hours to find and wake up the sleeping driver,
so the departure time was rescheduled for "around noon".
The departure did not happen around noon either. Instead, we received another
message from the captain: the incoming goodies are still onboard because the
crew went on strike! :) The paymaster of the New Star had a "little disagreement"
with the crew regarding the payment terms. The crew wanted to get paid before
doing the work, while the paymaster refused to pay them anything until the
work was done :).
Sounded like a major holdup, but it wasn't that bad! About 2 hours later the
captain showed up again and declared that the strike was over, but… we
are not leaving until 2AM in the morning! :) If we left now, we'd arrive in
La Ceiba after business hours - the port there closes at 8PM or something
like that. Therefore we'll leave at 2AM so we could be in La Ceiba in at 8
o'clock in the morning. Well, must admit we didn't complain much about the
unexpected chance to go back to West End for a "bonus" good-bye
party :)
Back to the port of Coxen Hole at midnight, and this time we really get onboard! While thinking about what to do during the 8 hours of sailing, we fall asleep and are woken up by bright rays of the rising sun. It's almost 8 AM, and La Ceiba is clearly visible in the horizon… 8 hours of excellent uninterrupted sleep in the Nissan - maybe we should stop spending money on those hotels at all! :) Seriously, thanks to the night on New Star we discovered that our Nissan is perfectly suitable for sleeping, and only one condition applies: you have to be really very tired to fully enjoy this feature of the car.
Well, no matter how sad it was to leave Honduras having not seen the Mosquitia
jungle on the eastern side of the country, another expensive week in Honduras
was out of the question. If we continue spending so much time and money in
each of the countries, we will soon end up looking for jobs and settling down
in Central America :))
(A trip to the Mosquitia jungle would take at least a week and cost around
$500/ person. You must hire at least one or two guides and a private boat
- there is no other way to get there. You also have to find a safe place to
leave the car for a week. Putting all the expenses together, a journey to
Mosquitia becomes very expensive, but almost certainly worth it. We would
have done this, if we had been able to resist the temptation to stay on Roatan
for the second week and do the PADI Advanced course…. No regrets, though!
:)).
It started getting dark and the road was rather bad (like the majority of the roads in Honduras are, more info about road conditions coming soon, look under "Tips for Road"), so we had no other choice as to spend the last night in Honduras in the town of Comayagua, a very unexciting industrial town close to Tegucigalpa, the capital.
Local Quirks: Every country has its oddities, and Honduras is not an exception. How do you cash in on a bad road? If you do it the Honduran way, you take a shovel, find an notably bad stretch of a highway, select the biggest pothole in the middle of the road, and stand leaning on the shovel next to the pothole. When you see a car approach, quickly start filling the pothole up with roadside dirt. Make sure your actions are unequivocal, and the driver in the approaching car can clearly understand your intention to improve the road condition for the car to pass safely. When the car gets close enough, quickly stretch you hand out asking for the payment. Just don't fix that good pothole too much, because no one will pay for a passable road :) That's it! You can now get back to leaning on the shovel until you detect the next target.
Cick on the picture to enlarge
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New Berto... Pardon, New Star! :)
Nauja zvaigzde suzibo! |
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Nuvesk pelyte virs paveiksliuko, spustelk jos kaire ausele, ir paveiksliukas padides
48-oji diena: Griztame I zeme
2006 m. kovo 27
Grizimas i zeme nebutu niekuo ypatingas, jei ne hondurietiskas New Star grafikas
(New Star - laivas, parplukdes Nissana ir mus pacius is Roatano atgal I La
Ceiba). Turejes isplaukti sekmadieni apie 10 valanda ryto, New Star net kelis
kartus atidejo isvykimo laika. Pirmiausia, kazkoks pervarges vairuotojas apie
9 valanda ryto pasistate sunkvezimi tiesiai priesais laivo rampa ir kazkur
pasislepe nusnusti. Prireike beveik dvieju valandu, kol kazkas surado ir prizadino
kietai imigusi vairuotoja - tik tada igula galejo iskrauti is laivo daiktus.
Isplaukimas, savaime suprantama, buvo porai valandu atidetas.
Apie vidurdieni sulaukeme naujo pranesimo - laivo darbininkai susipyko su
finansininke ir paskelbe streika (darbininkai atsisake bet ka daryti, kol
negaus sutarto atlygio, o finansininke pareiske nemokesianti nei lempiros
(hondurietiskas pinigas), kol nepamatys darbo rezultatu). Isplaukimas tapo
atidetas neribotam laikui :)
Apie 2-ra valanda po pietu suzinojome, kad streikas baigesi graziu kompromisu
ir darbininkai vel kazka dirba, taciau isplaukti galesime tik… 2 valanda
pirmadienio ryto, nes kitaip nuplauktumem I jau uzsidariusi La Ceibos uosta
- nakti La Ceibos uostas laivu nepriima!! Beliko grizti I West Enda ir ten
praleisti likusia diena.
Netiketa galimybe praleisti dar viena diena West Ende per daug nesiskundeme :) Keista pasirode nebent tai, kad savo pasirodymu nenustebinome nei vieno is zmoniu, su kuriais vakar atsisveikinome - reakcija I musu pasirodyma tokia, lyg visi kaip tik ir butu susede musu laukti. Panasu, kad is Roatano tikrai ne retam isvaziuoti sekasi sunkiai… :)
Ar New Star tikrai isplauke 2-ra valanda ryto, ar praleidome dar pora pikantisku problemu - sito niekada nebesuzinosim, nes apie vidurnakti, vos gave leidima su visu Nissanu isitaisyti ant denio, is masinos taip ir nebeislipome - begalvodami, kaip ir kur reikes praleisti laika iki ryto, uzmigome taip kietai, kad, jei ne karsti tekancios saules spinduliai, jureiviu balsai ir La Ceibos uosto vaizdai horizonte, butumem dar ir toliau sekmingai miegoje :)
Ka gi, iskaiciavom dar viena diena I "laiko, sugaisto ko nors laukiant Honduro uostose" sarasa, taciau issiaiskinom labai svarbu dalyka - musu Nissane galima puikiai issimiegoti! Tereikia tik buti tikrai nuosirdziai labai pavargusiam :)
Visa likusia diena tiesiog truputi liudnai (neitiketina, bet tikrai labai
gaila buvo palikti Roatana!) ir greitai vaziavom link Nikaragvos. Nors Hondure
liko dar ne viena nepamatyta idomybe, nei laiko, nei lesu tam nebeliko (jei
ir toliau kiekvienoj saly praleisim po menesi ar daugiau, kelione greit taps
panasi i Michelles ir Gianlucos :))
Labiausiai gaila, kad nebeliko laiko Moskitijos dziunglems Honduro rytuose
- sunkiausiai turistams pasiekiama vieta - naturaliausia gamta. Taciau Moskitijos
dziungliu su masina neprivaziuosi. Vel reiktu kazkur palikti Nissana, kelioms
dienoms samdyti valtele ir vadova - labai nepigus malonumas (apie $500 zmogui),
kuris, po "netiketai" uzsitesusio PADI nardymo kurso, mums tapo
per didele prabanga... Teko iskeisti Moskitija i Amazones dziungles Peru.
Siandiena Nikaragvos sienos neprivaziavom. Sutemo, ir teko pernakvoti Comayagua mieste. Nieko idomaus apie kelione iki Comayagua'os papasakoti neturime, nebent tai, kad miestas - labai nuodobus, o kelias iki jo buvo gana grazus. Honduras, siaip jau, labai grazi salis, kuria kryptim bevaziuotum. Keliai, deja, dazniausiai gana prasti.
Keistenybes: Kiekviena Centrines Amerikos salis turi savu "ypatybiu". Honduras - ne isimtis. Kaip manote, ka gali reiksti vidury greitkelio stoviniuojantis, ant kastuvo parimes zmogus, staiga istiesiantis ranka pravaziuojancios masinos kryptimi? Jis "dirba" - "taiso kelia". Tokie taisytojai daznai pasitaiko ypac duobetose kelio atkarpose. Ten kiekvienas turi po duobe, uz kurios bukle yra "atsakingas". Labiausiai si "darba" megsta vaikai, kurie ziovaudami stoviniuoja vidury greitkelio rankose isitvere po plasmasini kastuveli ir vaikiska zaislini kibireli, kupina zvyro. Vos pamate artejancia masina, "darbininkai" staiga pasitempia, pora kartu sumosuoja kibireliu priesais atvaziuojancia masina ir, sulauke tinkamiausio momento, svysteli zvyra i duobe. Tada isdidziai pasisuka i pravaziuojancia masina ir pasiuncia nedviprasmiska zenkla - as ka tik pagerinau tau pravaziavimo salygas - suprask, ne uz dyka! :) Keisciausia, kad tuo uzsiima ne tik vaikai, bet ir solidziai atrodantys senjorai ir senjoritos...
