Casa de Kiwi, Trujillo

So the best part about surviving día del niño and Independence Day parades is that you get a 4 day weekend to recover. So early Thursday morning a group of us (Catie, Katie, Deirdre, Brita, and I) set out for a weekend on the beach in Trujillo, Colon, Honduras.

It was fabulous, it was also very difficult. shocker. Nothing in Honduras was easy. Hence, my 4 days on the beach were relaxing, full of great memories, interesting people, stories, difficult times, and many adventures. I'll try to keep the side stories to a minimum...but I do love to tell stories :-)

We decided to go to Trujillo on the north coast because we found a pretty nice, cheap looking hostel and because the guidebooks said it was only 7 hours away, not 10-12 like other beach areas in Honduras. Seemed like a win-win (which, don't get me wrong it was), but like I said nothing in Honduras can be easy. Wednesday we went to the bus station to find out about bus service to Trujillo. Busing here, in my opinion, is way more like gambling your odds away in Vegas than a safe, reliable, form of transportation. There are no tickets, no bus stations, no office. Nothing. Just a place for buses to pull in and out of. We were going by chicken bus, so each bus is owned and operated by the individual driving your bus that day. So when we showed up to find out information, nobody knew if there was a bus to Trujillo or not and everybody seemed to know a different time. 4:00 am said the first man, no 6:30 said the 2nd, 5:00 said the 3rd, no 5:30 said the 4th. like I said, Vegas, gambling, pick your odds. We finally decided our best bet was a taxi at 4:30 am to catch a bus at 5:00, hopefully.

Woke up early Thursday and hopped into a cab with Freddie, a very reliable and even early Honduran. When we arrived at the bus station a little after 4:30, we see a bus ready to go to Tacoa and La Ceiba. No bus to Trujillo. Freddie kindly asks the bus driver if he knows about a bus to Trujillo. He informs us that we can get on his bus, get off at Tacoa and switch buses to Trujillo. He claims that this is the bus we NEED to take. Like I said nothing is easy. Time to put on super sleuth thinking caps at 4:30 am...Is he trying to scam us to get on his bus? Is there really a way to get to trujillo from Tacoa? Is there a bus to trujillo? We don't have any idea. However, logic does tell us that 5 gringas standing on a street corner at 4:30 am is also not genius. So we decide to wait it out on the bus. If a bus to Trujillo arrives, we'll switch, if not, our gamble begins.

When no other bus arrives, we head out towards this mysterious Tacoa. There aren't really maps in Honduras, nor roads. Again, nothing is easy. So we venture off chicken bus style. We wind through the mountains, forests, and rural villages. We rarely drive on a "road" and spend most of our time slowly proceeding on curvy, windy, dirt paths. The view is gorgeous though. I loved getting to see so much of Honduras as I sat aboard the school bus. It was neat to wind through villages, mountains, and just really get to think about how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful place. The bus ride proceeds very slowly. We pause at the drivers discretion, stop to talk to passerbys, pick up cargo, passengers, visit people's homes, and get held up by Independence Day parades. But, alas we finally make it to Tacoa. We discover that the reason we have to go to Tacoa is that a bridge is out and buses cannot go to Trujillo anymore. So instead we have to drive an hour past Trujillo, catch another bus, and backtrack into Trujillo. Nothing is easy. But 2 buses, 1 hitchhike, 1 taxi, and 10 hours later the odds are with us and we arrive in Trujillo.

The first, well maybe second or third, words that come out of Chaz's mouth are, "Would you like a beer after that journey?" Did you have to ask? Salva vida please. From that moment I knew I would like Chaz and her hostel, Casa de Kiwi. Chaz moved here from New Zealand 12 years ago to open a hostel. Since then she's had this beautiful beach side property about 4 miles outside Trujillo. It's quiet, private, and beautiful. There's a hammock hut, restaurant/bar, beds to sleep in, and the best part....BEACH. We stayed in a bunk of 6 beds. Honestly, you learn what you are truly grateful for and how your life priorities change when your most excited that your HOSTEL has a working shower and you can put toilet paper in the toilet. I was very excited. Our beers became roadies as we couldn't wait to hit the beach. So we put on our suits and headed down to the water. It was breathtaking and beautiful. The beach was so clean, the water a sparkling, clear blue, sand dollars covered the floor of the ocean, and the water was refreshing, but so warm. I was in heaven surrounded by palm trees, sand, rain forest covered mountains, and ocean water.

The next day we all started moving by 6:30 or 7. My first stop was the hammock hut. We spent the morning rotating between laying out on the beach, cooling off in the water, and sleeping in hammocks--awesome. Brita and I also started collecting sand dollars. I was so excited because I'd never seen sand dollars in person before. Unfortunately, none survived the chicken bus home :-(.

We decided to do some exploring that afternoon. So Chaz drove us into town to a restaurant called Playa Dorada. It was this little restaurant on the beach. I was so excited to be cooked for and for fresh seafood! We were really hungry so we ordered a round of plantain chips to start things off. Then we ordered our food. We were warned that the food might take awhile to prepare, but with our toes in the sand, we didn't care one second about time. Deirdre and I decided to enjoy the time waiting for our meals in the water. The restaurant was next to this dock that kids were jumping off of. So we stripped down to our suits and headed to join them. So fun and so refreshing. When we returned our food was almost ready for us. It was incredible. I had a white fish (I don't remember what kind :=( ) in a garlic butter sauce with plantain chips, grilled veggies, and salad. Heaven. I also tried conch which was sooooo good as well. So delicioso. After lunch we headed into Capiro National Park which is either a cloud forest or a rain forest, not sure. It was soooooo beautiful. We did a 40 minute hike in, which was one of my fave parts of the trip. I just love forests and hikes. On our way back we found these small waterfalls and swimming holes, so we once again enjoyed the beauty around us by taking a swim.

That night we enjoyed some more quality beach time and met these 2 great girls that are currently working in Teguc. Lorena was from Spain and Alberta was from Italy. They were so nice. We all enjoyed the sunset together and dinner back at Kiwi. That night we hung out with the girls, Chaz, Jamie (the Honduran who works the bar/restaurant), and Bob. We had some drinks, played cards, learned how to play Honduran pool, took a night swim, and just chatted about life. It was amazing. I love meeting knew people, hanging out, night swimming, and just learning cool stuff. fantastic night.

The next day we just chilled at Casa Kiwi. I spent the morning at the beach alternating between naps, reading, and swimming in the water. Then Bob came down to the beach with his kayak. He offered to let us use it. Sweetness. So Deirdre and I headed out and kayaked around the bay area for about an hour. Can I just say that I love kayaking? It was gorgeous and so much fun. It was hard work, but then we got to talking about life (one of my fave things to do) and so we just chilled and let the water move us throughout the water as we shared life stories. I love quality time and ocean life.

That afternoon I glued myself to a hammock. I caught up on my reading, journaling, napping, and chatting. Bob came over for awhile so I got to chat with him about life. Bob is awesome. Funny story, so before coming to Honduras I had heard about this micro-brewery--D&D Brewery. I immediately put it on my list of places to go. I mean I love breweries, beers, and its the only in Honduras, a must see if you ask me. So anyways, it turns out that Bob is the founder of the brewery. GOLLY GEE WHIZ! How random and lucky is that? Bob is in his late 50s and he moved to Honduras. He started this brewery on a lake in central Honduras. Its called D&D for Dale (his last name) and Dog (Charlie, who I hate, cause he bit me). A few years ago he decided to try something new so he sold it, but the brewery is still there and still making his beers. Currently Bob is homeless, jobless, and loving life. He travels around, finds adventures, meets people, and explores. pretty sweet life. He is good friends with Chaz so he visits Kiwi a lot. He is also a coffee farmer so he kindly made us some of his coffee, so yummmmmy. I definitely think that meeting Bob is a sure sign that I will make it to that brewery this year. Anybody want to join?

That night Chaz cooked up another delicious meal for us: barracuda and shrimp in a cream sauce over pasta with garlic bread and salad. We enjoyed our meal with our new friends. It was a great night of food and convos with new friends. I was so happy.

The next morning, we unfortunately had to say goodbye for another long chicken bus ride. We began our journey at 4:20 am and made it back to Juti around 3:15 (I won 5 lmps for that one..score). The bus ride was again pretty rough, nothing is easy. This time, we discovered that chicken buses really do carry chickens! Who knew? What an adventure. It was also quite funny because the devotional that I read everyday could have been called "What to Know about life in Honduras" because it so perfectly captured the essence of the difficulties, challenges, and way of life here. It was a good prayer to remember on a long chicken bus ride away from the beach and back to reality :-) Honduras keeps on revealing itself to me. Each day I discover new setbacks, challenges, and beauty. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to spend such quality time with new friends, relax on the beach, and enjoy a different area of this county. It was incredibly beautiful.

"You will not find My peace by engaging in excessive planning: attempting to control what will happen to you in the future. . . Just when you think you have prepared for all possibilities, something unexpected pops up and throws things into confusion. I did not design the human ming to figure out the furutre. . . Bring Me all your needs, your hopes and fears. Commit everything into My care. Turn from the path of planning to the path of Peace" Sarah Young