TELA

Tela is a tranquilo beachtown close to the Garifuna villages on the northern coast of Honduras. Jean (New York), Monica (Seattle, my roommate), and Jesus (Chicago, director of the rancho) rented a Toyota Corolla and headed there last Friday afternoon. We stayed in a resorty hotel called Cesar Mariscos right on the beach. It took about six hours to drive there. It was so nice to travel by car...it definitely beats the overcrowded, hot buses. I desperately wanted to drive, but since my license was robbed during my assault back in August, I was unable to. Monica drove up though and we had fun looking at the scenery, singing reggaeton, and stopping off at fun rest stops. We got to Tela around nine at night. We showered, changed, and headed out to the clubs. Tela´s nightlife is way more happening than Tegucigalpa. There are a cluster of bars within a block of each other, each blaring their own music. They´re open till 4am as well, so I felt like I was back in Chicago. The people in Tela are very nice and open...and man can they dance! In my past blog I mentioned la punta, a dance. Well, it was all over the dance floor in Tela and my jaw dropped to the floor. This was pure Honduran culture at its peak! We stayed out dancing till the club closed. The weather wasn´t ideal...it was overcast, windy, and not very hot, but we headed out to the beach early on Saturday morning anyways. I got sucked into getting my hair braided...again! This time I only braided half of my hair, and I paid only a fraction of the price I paid in Roatan. We chatted with local jewelry makers, bought coconut bread, played frisbee, and went swimming. I was excited because there were actually waves! The past few times we´ve traveled to the beach the water was so calm, so it was fun to dive into and catch the waves. In the afternoon, Jean, Monica, and I went to a nice little place for lunch...fried fish. Then we walked around the center and had a licuado. We relaxed, napped, and caught some of the U of M vs. OSU football game on TV, which was fun to watch. My family called during half time so that was fun too! We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We dined in our hotel restaurant and ate fresh seafood. It was delicious. I ordered the sopa de caracol/conch soup. Afterwards we headed to a place called Max´s Bar. We had been told about this place by other volunteers. Max is the owner...born in Tela, raised in Germany and the United States. He was there and he hung out with us the entire night. It was a fun time. We spent the night drinking, asking tons of questions to each other, and enjoying American music. It was a bonding night for sure. We woke up early Sunday morning, had a nice breakfast, did a little more souvenir shoppping, and headed back to Tegucigalpa. Tela is a place I would definitely return to!