our day downtown tegcigalpa

today we went downtown and wandered around the central park and suroundings. we climbed up a big hill or small mountain for a view of the city.
we tried a snack of green mangos with salt- very tasty. and papaya shake which was delicious!

also booked our flight from san pedro sula to belize city. the flight we wanted on monday is full. so we are stuck flying out sat at 7am with taca air transferring thru el savador. also costing us double the money we hoped.

-6:40 pm additional posting
we went to cafe honore just a couple blocks from our hotel we shared a crab/shrimp/avocado ceviche, then we each had a steak,salad,bread and potatoes and then i had a baked pear and icecream dessert which was soooooo good really hitvthe spot! we also ordered a bottle of red wine. appartently this place is one of the nicest places to eat in the city, it was likely our nicest meal here in honduras but it was nice and relaxing.


the plan tomorrow to take a bus to the town valle de angeles, the artists village, then stay there overnight at the one and only small hotel.

the next day wednesday the cloud forest called la tigra just outside the town el rosario. we are planning to stay overnight basically camping indoors at the visitor centre. i do not expect it to be nice. but it does have private rooms.

then early on thursday bus to tegcigalpa to get a bus to copan see the ruins staying there overnight.
and then bus friday evening to san pedro get up at 4am for our flight at 7am sat.

after we leave here tomorrow we likely won't have internet until friday night in san pedro or until we get to belize city on sat..

me posing at the top in the park which was very pretty

view overlooking downtown

view from the top

in the park

one section of hill we went up

the stairs down
we found the stairs only going down we walked up the hard way

self photo time

typical homes in the downtown of tegcigalpa

pretty home with pretty flowers near the park

breakfast

breakfast was fried plantains, beans, tortilla, a fried egg and a piece of soft salty cheese. juice and coffee. it was very filling, i love fried plantains. no milk for coffee, but i expected that so used extra sugar.
ben is in the shower. the bathroom is very nice. lots of hot water!

yes mom we have a phrase book, ben is decent at french. they speak very quick though so he misses alot of what they are saying.

okay off downtown to get sorted out.

our little pet newt

we have a newt that ran into our room tonight when ben opened the door to look outside and check the outside temperature after our nap tonight. he is now behind the dresser in our room he's pretty cute.
after my last post we went found food most things were closed being sunday afternoon but we found a little place down the block from our hotel the guy here recommended had a really good soup and some chicken and veg dish we ate.
then we came back to the hotel and slept for 4 hours. then watched some tv. we get all the main american stations in english. hopefully we get tired again in another few hours and then sleep until morning.
tomorrow we are going to go downtown and check it out as well as plan the rest of our days here in honduras there is a local travel agency we are going to use to make arrangements.
ordering food and not speaking the language was difficult tonight so we think trying to book tours and places to stay might be a little hard and a local travel agent can help us with that.

we are here !

we made to our hotel a really cute bed and breakfast in the colonia palmira area in tegucigalpa.
our hotel is the linda vista. our flights were all on time and our bags made it too!
we both slept most of the flights and landing here wasn't too scary it was kinda fun.
the hotel has free internet and we are staying here tonight and tomorrow.
ben brought his laptop so i am sitting in our room blogging and posting photos!

the common area at the hotel

view from the garden outside our room

more of the view

the door to our room

Travel Day to Honduras!

It's 12:17 am on Dec 28th. (for some reason the blog says it's still Saturday I don't know why the date hasn't changed!)
We leave for the airport around 3:30am from our house and our flight takes off at 6:20am this morning! Right now we are just finishing last minute packing & sorting of our things. I just came home from a last minute run to the drugstore! Ben is counting money and I am waiting for my next set of instructions....

All is good and we are very excited! It's a good thing I slept for about 6 hours in the car today while we drove from Pembroke to Toronto. Hopefully Ben gets some sleep on the on plane.
We got a folding cribbage board for Christmas so I am excited to have something to do on many travel days.

My camera went on the fritz tonight.. not my slr that one is fine. My point & shoot panasonic lumix basically it's broken .... we don't know if it's going to work for this trip. We are taking it with it but Ben isn't holding out much hope.... I am sad and cried. We have Ben's digital camera, but I want my own... and I haven't used his before...

It's now 1:30am....
There was also a small emergency with my pack, that Ben thought it was much bigger than it was (I knew all along what wouldn't fit that he wanted to cram in there) I think we have made it work? I guess we'll see.....

Okay it's now 2:04am and Ben and I going to lay down for an hour rest then wake up at 3am and head to the airport!

Much love to everyone we will be safe don't worry moms Pauline & Judi :)

Christmas & Boxing Day

Christmas Eve was spent in Kingston and then we got up Christmas morning and headed off off to Pembroke at noon. It was a busy, long day but a good one!

In less than 48 hours I should be in Honduras on the first day of our 4 week long adventure. I am nervous, anxious, excited and happy! The nervous & anxiety part is about making sure we have packed everything we will and making the flight connection and all that logistical stuff.

It turns out that we won't be able to have someone clean our driveway & sidewalk while we are away as nobody would do it for only the 4 weeks they only wanted a whole winter commitment. And that was going to cost 400 bucks so I think not! Oh well... hopefully we don't get too much snow or at least we get a late January thaw.....

So tomorrow it's back home to Toronto to tie up a few loose ends then early to bed because we have to be awake at 3am on Sunday to be at the airport for 4am! Our flights leaves at 6:20am from Pearson :) We connect in Miami (we have 65 minutes between the flights YIKES!) and then late Sunday afternoon get into Honduras... which will be noon Honduran time.

omg... I am so excited and I can barely stand the waiting! I will never be able to sleep tomorrow night!

All done!

So today is a pretty big snowstorm especially for Toronto and the fact that this city does not deal well with gobs of snow all at once!
We all got sent home early from work! I was home at 2pm and now I am done working until Jan 26th which is 5 wonderful weeks away.
I have not had this much time off since I was student many many years ago. I am so excited!

Today Ben arranged for the post office to hold our mail while we gone and has made some inquires about hiring someone to do our driveway & sidewalk for us.
Cathy is going to check on the house once a week to make sure we haven't been robbed or a window is broken etc and take in our junk mail for us.
My goal tomorrow is to go across the street and let the neighbors know we will be away also and leave them my parents phone number just in case of emergency.

Wow I can hardly believe that I won't be going into the office for 5 weeks! It's almost impossible to grasp at this point!

9 days from now we will be on an airplane flying to Honduras! It's going to be the trip of a lifetime!

New Glasses!

My eyes are sore, red & stinging.
I managed to get in my contacts tonight to wear to the company Christmas party but man they hurt. I felt them in my eyes all night! Kristina thinks I may have had in them backwards... or maybe I am just not going to be able to tolerate contacts..... I dunno....

So today I went in and order prescription sunglasses. They are REALLY cute with sparkles on them! And I got a 2nd set of regular glasses free, so that was fun to pick out. The new regular set also have SPARKLES on them!!!!

I am excited to pick them up ! So I am feeling good that at least I will have decent glasses for my trip! I love shopping for glasses because it's shopping yet I get the money back so it's kinda FREE accessory shopping.

omg my eyes are SO sore right now.... and red I look like I am on drugs or something they are so red..... I wonder if they were this red at the party too!!!

Okay to bed with me! The party tonight was pretty fun I ate ALOT of smoked salmon.

At last!

So I have been talking to people who wear contacts to get some tips and finally today something clicked after talking to Kristina a girl I work with and I came home tonight and after about 50 mins I FINALLY got the contacts in both eyes.... to take them out was about 15 mins and they didn't feel very good.. I am not sure if maybe I had them in backwards??? I don't know how to tell which way is the right side up....or if matter???
Anyways I am still going to order a prescription pair of sunglasses for the trip tomorrow or Wednesday but maybe the contacts will eventually work out for me in the future.

Dukoral

Okay so I am sitting here forcing myself to drink a HUGE glass of water with the Dukoral vaccine dissolved into it.

What is Dukoral? Well I copied and pasted the information below.

This medication belongs to the class of medications called vaccines. It is used to help prevent travellers' diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and cholera in adults and children 2 years of age and older. It is recommended for people traveling to areas with a high risk of cholera or travellers' diarrhea.

This vaccine cost me 80.00 for the two doses. You take one 3 weeks before departure and the 2nd dose 1 week before departure. You pour into a full glass of water along with some little white crystals that come in another package I guess this helps the vaccine and it says the crystals are flavoured with Raspberry... so I though okay this can't be too bad and it smelled pretty good when I was mixing it.
Well if Raspberries taste like shit then I guess Dukoral tastes like raspberries!
It is truly the MOST DISGUSTING thing I have ever had to drink an ENTIRE glass of.... I hate it and it was 80 bucks so I better not get sick on my damn trip after drinking this crap!

In 2 weeks I have to drink a second glass... ugg....

I may DIE before our vacation begins....

So I found out that the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras is like one of the MOST DANGEROUS airports in the whole world to fly into due to the various mountains and twists & turns the pilot must maneuver through.
One of my college friends from Sheridan is currently in Honduras filming right now and has described the decent into Tegucigalpa, Honduras here:

http://wherethefisron.blogspot.com/2008/12/of-beauty-and-darkness.html

I am now positive that I am going to die in the airplane before we even land and begin our vacation.

I HATE flying... I HATE airplanes
a lot of gravol is going to be needed for this!

18 Days & Counting Down

I just realized that in less than 3 weeks we will be off on our long awaited Journey!
and I don't think we have quite finished working out and planning what we are doing in Honduras or exactly where we are staying... Oh well we'll get it sorted out next week once Ben is done working. His last day of work thus Far is Dec 15th and my last day of work is Dec 19th.

Then we are off to Kingston on the 22nd for Christmas with my family, then heading to Pembroke on the 25th to Ben's family arriving in time for Christmas Dinner and staying until the 27th when we head home. One night of sleeping in our own bed and then we are off at some INSANE time of the morning on the 28th (I think our flights leaves at 6:30am or something equally as ungodly & horrible....)

I am finally getting really excited about the trip, it's finally beginning to seem real now.
Next week Ben & I are taking a trip to MEC to pick a few more items we are in need of and then we will get everything packed and ready to go before we leave on our Christmas tour through Eastern Ontario.

We still to find a company to shovel the driveway & walkway while we are away... and someone to collect our mail and drive by our home to make it's okay..... hmmmm... we REALLY should get on this task!
We have decided to set the house to about 5 degrees and turn off the water while we are gone to save on money heating wise as well as to make sure we don't come home to any surprise leaks!

Wow time is moving quickly!

Contacts.....

So last night was my appointment with the eye doctor for a contact lens assessment and lesson... Well it didn't go so well. they messed up my appointment and didn't have me slated for the correct room or time slot and so they were totally unorganized and rushed. And I got given reading material on how to put the lenses in and then they left me on my own... then they came back and gave me super rush explanation and left again and continued to just pop their head and ask how it was going.. which I said not well. I never did get the lenses in my eyes and they were of no help.
They sent me home with a pair to try out on my own at home, charge me 25.00 for the appointment and suggested that I rebook again for another day when they can see me properly. uhhh how about no? Unless they aren't going to charge me again because they screwed up my first appointment. I am not impressed!
So if anyone has experience with contacts and would like to shed any light on or share tips about how to get them I would appreciate it!

Ouch!

So I went to the doctor last night and got my shots-Diphtheria, Tetanus, Whopping Cough &Polio (all in one needle thankfully) and then one for Hep A and one for Typhoid!
My arms felt okay for about an hour afterwords and then by 9pm last night they were throbbing and sore and causing me alot of pain. I got 2 needles in my left arm and one in my right arm.

Then I had a HORRIBLE sleep because I couldn't get comfortable with my arms being so sore and Ben bumped my arms at least a few times in the night and that caused me to wake up in pain.... I am going to be EXHAUSTED by lunch time today! and my arms are STILL really sore this morning. I didn't expect the pain to last so long!

Doctor Doctor!

So tonight at 5pm is my doctor appointment to get all my shots and medicines for our trip.
I think I am getting 4 needles... Hep A and typhoid that I picked up from the Drug Store (they were just over $100!!! not covered by ohip or our drug plan) and I need a tetanus shot and maybe a Diphtheria shot as well but those last two are covered by ohip thankfully.

I will be getting a whole bunch of meds to take with us, Maleria drugs, anitbicotics etc.... Fun fun.
I am not looking forward to the shots......Ben couldn't raise his arms move that 45 degrees from his body after his...

Also I am getting a general checkup and all the fun stuff that goes along with that... i would rather stick a fork in my eye than spend evening going to the doctor.... Ben is working so he won't be with me.... I am beginning to get anxious... I hate doctors and I hate being poked even more!

Gah...

Ben worked all weekend....
So on the weekend I went to the Tilley store and bought a hat and socks for my trip.
I also had a FANTASTIC shopping trip to Zellers with Cathy man we both love that store! And then we went for a nice latte at the starbucks and a little treat after all our shopping.

Sunday Cathy & I went out for breakfast at this REALLY cute little breakfast place that is new and has great prices and great food. It was very enjoyable. Cathy went home to study and then I tackled Christmas Shopping at Yorkdale... which was mostly horrible & annoying and I bought very little for the amount of time I was there and I came home cranky. I also went to the Shoppers and Dollarama... both were much more enjoyable than the mall.

I tried to pickup my vaccines for my trip that I need to take to the doctor's on Wednesday night but they were over 100.00!!! our health plan doesn't cover ANY of the cost of the vaccines... well just after having spent the weekend Christmas shopping and shopping for my trip I was way too broke to pay 100.00 for the vaccines. I will have to get the money from Ben and try and pick them up tonight or tomorrow. I am shocked by the price for just 2 shots.... and it made me even more cranky....

I did some lanudry and tidying yesterday too and was again annoyed in th evening that my shows DH and Brothers & Sisters wasn't on because of some dumb music awards.

It was a productive weekend but not at all a fun one.
(oh except for my Zellers trip with Cathy and breakfast on Sunday)

Checking items off my list....

So last night I went to the dentist and got my teeth cleaned so I'm good to go for our trip!
Next week on Wednesday I have a doctor appointment at 5pm to get all my vaccines & medicines I need for the trip too. Ben went this week and already got all his shots.

And tomorrow I am doing some shopping I plan to head out to Lululemon, Mec and the Tilley store... okay actually I doubt I will get to all 3 places... but the Tilley store is the one I am supposed to go too the most and try on and get a hat :) so that one will get accomplished the other 2 highly questionable.

This weekend I keep telling myself I am going to go Christmas shopping... but it really depends how motivated I feel... Ben is working all weekend but at least he's here in town so home late in the evenings.

I am thinking this year we won't get a Christmas Tree... sigh... there's just no point since we will be in Ktown & Pembroke before, during and after Christmas and then we leave for our trip on the 28th so that doesn't leave much time to enjoy tree and then take it down and get rid of it when we get back.

Last year we got an Ikea Christmas tree for 20 bucks and it was fun to put up and have but again we didn't have Christmas at home and when we got home it was a mess the tree had dropped alot of the needles because it got dried out with no one watering it and it wasn't that that fun much to take the decorations off and clean up afterwords...

Lost and Now Found

Good news! My red gortex hiking boots have been found! YAY! So everyone can relax now and stop searching their homes and cars for me :)

for those wondering they were in a box OF BEN's in the truck of my truck.... I blame Ben.

So it snowed last night and all I could think of is that I am going to be away from snow and cold for 4 whole weeks! December in Toronto is usually pretty tame and I like snow at Christmas so I can deal with some snow over the next 5 weeks and use deal with a 'short' winter when I come back.
I hate the cold, and snow and actually I hate winter in general!

Things to Pack & Items to Purchase

I am a geek I know!

But I came home the other night and packed ALL my things for my trip :)
Mostly just to see what I need to buy and what I already own. But I laid it all out and made a list of things I still need....


I own my pack already :)

I have 5 tank tops some with built in bras some not.
1 good sports bra.
1 pair of nylon pants
1 pair of lulu lemon pants (as a warm layer for the colder cloud forest type of areas)
1 pair of capri pants that roll into shorts
2 pairs of shorts
1 pair of swim type activity shorts.
1 full piece bathing suit and a cover up tube top thingy
1 Marino wool long sleeve shirt
rain pants
rain coat
1 fleece

things to buy....

1. I need one light sleeve top (nylon or something just for bugs & sun)
2. I need a bucket hat with a string so I won't loose it
3. I need a travel towel
4. I could use some decent quick drying socks... I have my eye on some from the Tilley store.....
5. I have decided to buy a new bikini a good one from speedo that is not a string bikini so it won't fall off during the water sporty things we will be doing....

I DO own excellent water proof hiking boots but they are currently lost and/or missing in my home or I left them at someone else's home.... but they are lost and I do not know where they are and this is stressing me out!!!

hmmmmmm I know about bug spray and sun lotion etc... I am just not quite into packing those items yet..... still on about clothes....

• Do I need sunglasses??? and should I try to buy a pair of prescription sunglasses before we leave??? Do I need to see in great detail??? I could just bring a cheap pair of sunglasses but I won't actually be able to see clearly more than 5 feet from my face...
  Thoughts?
  

Where does Bendrea come from?

Hello all and welcome to our travel blog about our 4 week adventure through Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

Now some of you may wonder about the name of the blog being Bendrea... well it was a nickname we kind of got in college from our friends since we were apparently rarely seen apart from each other.
And we were totally Bendrea before they was such things as Bennifer or Brangelina FYI.... and when I was trying to find a name for this blog simple stuff like ABAdventures was gone and I was having trouble find something nice & short as our blog URL.
Okay so make sure you check back in with us from time to time as we get ready for our adventure!