Roatan

The best of Central America

There are some advantages to having to spend 10 hours in Los Angeles Airport waiting for a plane, one of them being that there is plenty of time to catch up on everything I have been too busy to do lately... at least in terms of virtual responsibilities. So where have I been and what have I been doing. As per my last couple of blogs, since I left Bolivia I have been in Central America doing a little tour El Salvador-Nicaragua-Honduras-El Salvador. The purpose of said tour was to work with our Central America on their preparedness systems. It was a lot of long hours of office type work, so none of the grand adventures I’m afraid that you lot like to hear about, but from an intellectual and professional point of view it was actually really interesting work for me and I have actually enjoyed it quite a lot (being the boring workaholic sod that I am when it comes down to it). There are two great things that are worth talking about on this trip. First, I know I have dished the highly north americanised cultural landscape of Central America aplenty, so I won’t do that again. But what really redeems and makes Central America is the lovely people. There are a lot of really great people I work with here who I really like and who have made my few weeks here fun and enjoyable despite not doing much other than work. So I think it is worth honouring them in this here blog.

The second thing that made this trip fantastic was my little weekend visit to Roatan, an island in the Caribbean in the Bay Islands of Honduras. The Bay Islands sit off the second biggest reef system next to our own Great Barrier Reef which comes down from Belize to Honduras. The Bay Islands in the Caribbean were once occupied by the British, the Spanish, and at one stage were occupied completely by Pirates, before finally being made part of Honduras. The result is a pretty fabulous mix I must say. English and Spanish are the two official languages and the culture is a mix of English, Latino and Caribbean which suits me just fine. Think reggae on the beach, salsa in the bars, beers in the ocean, and being able to speak which ever of my two languages I feel like at the time. Then the place itself is beautiful. Laid back, underdeveloped, drop out and relax kind of place with stunning beaches, lush green landscape and beautiful snorkeling. Paradise. Its definitely on my list of potential places to run away and drop out in… if I ever go missing you could start looking there…

So anyway, after a busy, whirly wind trip as usual, here I am on my way home to Australia. It has been 8 weeks since I left home and I have been to Italy, England, Switzerland, Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, and I have to say I have loved it and am feeling pretty good. Not my usual tired self at the end of a long assignment, though if anyone tries calling me in the next couple of days I’m sure I will be very jet lagged! I am off again on Friday for Yemen for two weeks, which I know is a bit insane, but its just the way it worked out and there are some extenuating circumstances. I’ll be back from Yemen around 10 July, and really hoping to have some quality time at home for a little bit to see you all. Until then, I’ll put some photos of Roatan up for you.

Home Tuesday, Yemen Friday

hi beloveds, leaving el salvador in about 7 hours, will be home early Tuesday morning. Back for 3 days then to Yemen on Friday. I may not see you all but at least you know where i am for a minute....

Pirates of the Carribean....

I've been slack and not yet written of my current location (Honduras) ... what can I say but i've been busy working all week and going to tropical islands in the Carribean for the weekend. ha ha ha... will write more later!! :)

Next stop Managua of Nicaragua

Left El Salvador and moved on to Nicaragua. So far have just been working so nothing interesting to report, though work is fine. I’m here until Tuesday morning and then moving straight on again to Honduras. Sadly I have loads of work to do over the weekend so it looks like I won’t get out to see much of Nicaragua (ok, writing this blog is the evidence of my procrastination!!). It seems a lot poorer here than in El Salvador, though still a healthy does of the cultural imperialism of McDonalds and Burger King. Nonetheless, the place has a good feel to it so I think I like it. It’s interesting because the entire place was destroyed in 1972 by an earthquake so pretty much all the buildings here are new, and all single level, so for a capital city there is barely any tall buildings at all in the whole city. It seems nice and sleepy and pleasant, although apparently its not really because my colleagues are very sure to lock the cars doors as soon as we’re in and are a bit nervous about getting out and walking around in certain parts of town. I’m told there are great places to go dancing but looks like won’t be a chance for that, though I’ve been promised I’ll be taken dancing in Honduras. The climate here is quite nice- bloody hot but a nice dry heat which I like, despite it being tropical its not humid for some reason, though there are regular lightning storms and in fact there is one right now outside so flashes of lightning and thunder is rolling in and the power keeps going on and off… anyway, guess I better get back to work so maybe tomorrow I can take some time off to lay by the pool at least (yeah right…).