Last Saturday afternoon, I left for Tornabé with Faith and Laura. Kevin, the volunteer coordinator and Brenda, who works in the Proniño office, came too. It was so hot this weekend, so the beach sounded really nice.
We took a bus most of the way, which cost 24 lempiras, about $1.25. The buses are old yellow school buses from the States and are almost always packed full. They make so many stops too, so eventually we found seats for most of the hour or so ride.
At Tela, we took a taxi to Tornabé. George Mealer, the director of Proniño, is nice enough to let the volunteers use his house there once in a while. The beach is gorgeous, so relaxing and almost empty. I truly did nothing until dinner, laid around and swam a bit. The Carribean is so clear… definitely no Lake Erie. And it was perfect, not freezing, but cool and really refreshing.
We took a bus most of the way, which cost 24 lempiras, about $1.25. The buses are old yellow school buses from the States and are almost always packed full. They make so many stops too, so eventually we found seats for most of the hour or so ride.
At Tela, we took a taxi to Tornabé. George Mealer, the director of Proniño, is nice enough to let the volunteers use his house there once in a while. The beach is gorgeous, so relaxing and almost empty. I truly did nothing until dinner, laid around and swam a bit. The Carribean is so clear… definitely no Lake Erie. And it was perfect, not freezing, but cool and really refreshing.
A little kid was hanging around the house the whole time we were there- Agostino. He climbed up a tree and got us some coconuts, then cut holes in them for us to drink the water. It sounds like a cool idea, really tropical and exotic, but tastes kind of weird.
For dinner we walked to a restaurant in the town called Nady’s. Tornabé is a Garifuna community. The Garifuna are an ethnic group in Honduras with communities mostly along the Caribbean coast. The guidebook I have writes about how they are of both African and American indigenous heritage. The little restaurant was one little room with a thatched roof and three or four plastic tables and chairs. The menu was mostly seafood: lots of fresh fish (grilled, fried, “sweating”?), soups (crab, conch, fish), shrimp, and typical Garifuna plates.
I was hungry before we got there… and two hours later, our food was ready. I ordered grilled fish “entero” (whole)…and there it was, head, tail, bones, scales, fins, the whole fish. But the best fish I’ve ever had.
On Sunday, before we left, we bought pan de coco from women who bake it fresh every day at 3:30. We bought it right after and it was so fresh, so warm. Laura, Faith and I got 16 little rolls of it, for 5 lempiras each (25 cents). Soooo good. Food has definitely not been a problem for me!
Tornabé was such a nice little vacation, but now back to work on Monday… And we just got our bikes on Saturday, so now we will be riding up the mountain to work. Ah, so far… so out of shape…
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