I admit it. I wussed out on a journey. Not because I was afraid for my safety, not because I was afraid of tackling the unknown, but I was afraid of money, or rather fear of running out of cash on hand and being in a place that didn't take credit cards. All the result of a dumb move on my part at the very beginning of a well laid plan. Here is the sad story, with many many mundane details, that may be boring on their own but all a key part of how one mistake can render the best laid plans to waste.
It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it wasn't it was a beautiful clear hot and sunny day. After waffling on what to do for the week before meeting Mary Lou, Larry and Karen back in Mexico I was going to go to a) Costa Rica and do a quick tourist thing 2) San Diego for Thanksgiving with Jennifer and stop in New Orleans on the way back, or 3) Honduras by water and bus. I chose door number three.
To do it is a relatively straight forward exercise (yeah right):
- Take the 10:00 am bus from Placentia to Punta Gorda. 1.5 hours
- Take the water taxi from PG to Puerto Barios, Guatamela. 1 hr
- Take a taxi to Honduras border. 1.5 hrs
- Take bus from Frontenac to Oma Honduras. 1.5 hrs
- Stay overnight
- Take bus to Puerto Cortez Honduras. 1.5 hrs
- Transfer to another bus and take it to San Pedro Sula. 1.5 hrs
- Transfer and take bus to La Cieba
- Stay overnight if you don't make 4:30 ferry
- Take 10:30 am ferry next day to Utila, a divers paradise
Easy right. Well, maybe not easy, but straight forward.
What could possibly go wrong. Well. Dumb ass Mitch.
I am traveling with a preloaded Visa debit card with all my cash saved for the trip, a credit card and a drivers license. I have a hidden zipper pocket in my travel shorts, and a crook proof fanny pack, which I keep my passport, cards and cash in, not ever all together in case something happens to one. So on Wednesday morning, for some unknown reason I broke the not together rule, put all of them together in the zipper pocket, and headed to the Internet cafe to print out the directions and load a few pics on to the blog. As I was paying, I remembered I needed a copy of my passport, and pulled it out of my pocket, at which point the cards went flying. I quickly found the credit card and my license, but could not find the debit card. We looked everywhere. Back and forth between my hotel room and the cafe , nada, though I am sure it fell through a vent right at the desk. So I called the bank to put a hold on it, and we agreed that I would call back that night and tell them where I ended up reserving in Honduras. They would forward the card in two business days.
So no harm no foul. I had a few hundred US cash, that I could use for buses, taxis and incidentals, and would use my credit card for everything else. On went the knapsack, and I hurried to the water taxi that takes you to the Punta Gorda bus. Because of all the looking, I missed it by two minutes, and the next was two hours away. So, I could not make Oma before dark, and only a fool would travel in Honduras at night. That meant that I would need to be on the 9:30 am water taxi to Guatemala to have a chance to make La Cieba by dark the next day. In fact the bus got me to Punta Gorda a little early, so I was able to make the late ferry and get to Puerto Barrios that night. This would allow an early start on the ground game and make LaCieba in plenty of time. Great..but....The water taxi did not take credit card ($30), the exit fee from Belize was another $17, and when I landed in Puerto Barrios, the hotel did not take CC , another $23. My reserves were taking a kicking, though it was still enough to get me there. I would leave early in the morning by Taxi van.
Here is where my language inadequacies come into play . It might surprise you to know that everyone speaks Spanish in Guatemala, and not many speak English. My 40 word vocabulary after eight years of study, apparently weren't the right fourty words, as no one had a friggin clue what I was asking. Finally, they dialed 1-800-gringoneedshelp and five minutes later the owner of a nearby Internet cafe who spoke English, quite well I might add, came to the rescue. I needed two things: Internet access, no problem; international phone call so I could call the bank and give the forwarding address for the replacement card, again no problem money couldn't solve. By the way, I was in fact called a gringo, by one person, which I thought was funny.
So first I got on to the Internet, finalized my reservations in Utila, then using the fax machine phone, called TD, the bank I have been with since I was 18, as agreed in my call earlier in the morning. Three weeks in Mexico and Belize, and it took a good old Canadian bank to make me say f%#k for the first time on the trip. Guess they aren't allowed to put notes on a file, because the first guy says, after waiting for ten minutes to answer my call, " I suggest you go to your branch and get the replacement card" to which I answered, politely I might add, " might be a little difficult because as I said I Am in Guatemala. "Oh, yes I can do that", and he put me on hold. Five minutes later the line cut and I went back into que again. F. That word translates well into Spanish as heads were raised. Ten minutes later " hello, how can I help you". " first off, by not putting me on hold and cutting me off like the last guy" then back into my speel again. " we'll Mr Smith, I just need to get sign off from my manager as it is going to an international destination". After promising not to cut me off I was put on hold for managerial signoff, and when she came back ten minutes later it was " just wanted to let you know it is busy here tonight and I still haven't talked to my manager, but I haven't cut you off". That was enough, and I quote " never mind, I can't hold any longer this is costing me a fortune, just send the fu#%&ng replacement to my home and my wife will bring it to me in Mexico". An hour on the Internet in Guatemala was $2, the useless phone call I could have done that morning was $20.
Back at the hotel it dawned on me that I would be an idiot to continue the trip as planned. One more unforeseen cash outlay and I would be stranded in a country where half the businesses don't take the only method of payment I have till Dec. This morning, I got up, walked to Immigration signed out and caught the first water taxi back to Belize.
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