We had a pretty serious rain storm blow through last night. Everyone says the “rainy season” is over but you couldn’t tell that last night. That probably explains why everything is so green all around. There are banana and plantain trees (there is a difference although I couldn’t point it out to you) and fields of sugar cane, too. Street vendors sell fruit of about every description, too.

In and around the work we’re doing here in Honduras, today was the first time we’ve taken the time to get out and do a little sight seeing. We went to visit the community of Sambo Creek. This is a small sea-side fishing village populated by the Garafuna people. Rather than being Hunduraneans or the La Miskitia, the Garafuna came from Africa through St. Vincent. They left St. Vincent in the mid-1800s and resettled on the coast of Honduras.

Like a lot of Honduras, the streets were a wreck—mostly dirt—and the facilities were marginal. Stray dogs wandered everywhere mixed into the cars, trucks, bikes and pedestrians. But the people were friendly and the food was good. As we were finishing up our lunch (I had some ceviche pescadora that reminds me I want to make some at home) a young girl came walking up with a basket balanced on her head. She was selling coconut bread. Elmer bought two bags, one for home and the other for the injured miskito divers he was treating in the chamber.

As we drove through Sambo Creek, I looked up in time to see a DAN flag hanging from a pole. It turned out to be a small dive shop. So, we stopped to say hello and I took a picture of the manager with Drs. Nochetto and Mejia. Just one of those surreal moments where you see a sign of home where you least expect it. Even more interesting, and a point that Matias made, was that at one time that flag was in our office in North Carolina. No clue how it made its way here, but it did.

We’ve been able to finish up everything we need to do, or at finishing it up right now. So, we’ve made arrangements to spend tomorrow touring a Mayan ruin in Copan before heading home on Saturday. Total travel time for that trip, from the time we head to the airport and then the time we get home will be over 24 hours. Loads of fun….

This has been an eye-opening and incredible trip so far. The main purpose, as I’ve mentioned before, is working with the local hyperbaric chamber and that is going extremely well. I can’t really go into a lot of detail on that yet, but it’s going to be a great story.

Agriculture still seems to be the major industry here, both legal and illegal. There just isn’t much tourism even though La Ceiba is right on the warm waters of the Caribbean and is about 15 degrees North of the equator. There are some hotels, but where there might be a decent hotel, not far away it looks like a war zone. Without some significant outside investment I don’t see that changing soon. Most people, if they come through this area at all, end up going to the airport and bouncing over to Roatan, Utilla or Guanaja, three top dive destinations.

But what is really striking here is the amount of American fast food here. There are Pizza Huts on every street corner, along with KFC, Church’s Chicken, and Popeyes, along with Wendy’s and Quiznos that we’ve seen so far. Never would have expected all that here. I wonder, too, if that is the cause of some of the obesity we’re seeing on the streets as well. Most of the population appears to be relatively fit, but we’ve noticed some people (mostly men) who appear to be flat out fat. Oh the American curse strikes again.

A good thing here is I’ve not noticed many people smoking and in a lot of the places I’ve gone it is posted everywhere Fumar Prohibido. No Smoking. I like that. Not sure what the unemployment rate is here, but I see an awful lot of young men hanging around in the park outside of our hotel during the day. One more final note and then I’ll reach a point. Aside from the ocean, you have jungle and adventure travel here. There is whitewater kayaking, hiking and snorkeling.

It’s an easy flight to Honduras as well. So, with the proper investment, an available workforce and a penchant for having American things around anyway, it seems like Honduras would be a prime location for adventure travel investment. If it were done sensitively and in step with the local beliefs and cultures, it could be a winner for everyone concerned. Let’s not talk about the infrastructure, but there are headaches going anywhere in the third world. Just thinking out loud this evening..

I work in the diving world, representing Divers Alert Network (DAN). So, the primary reason I am here in Honduras is to work with and support the physician that operates the hyperbaric chamber in La Ceiba. His name is Elmer Mejia. And I have to say, he is one of the good guys.

Dr. Mejia set up his chamber clinic just a few short months ago, but has already become part of the community. He is available to treat sport divers, but his primary clientele for his hyperbaric chamber are harvesting divers from La Moskitia. These divers dive to collect lobster and conch, but more about that later. For now, though, I will say he is operating one of the busiest chambers (already) in the Caribbean and is saving lives. There is no question about that.

But what amazes me is the thriving/booming family practice the man has created in a few short months as well. Dr. Mejia picked Dr. Nochetto and I up around 11 am and informed us that he had already seen 17 patients and was going to be treating a diver this afternoon. We passed up a dirt road and discovered a very comfortable clinic built out of small house in a slight hill. It was quiet when we arrived, but didn’t stay that way for long. While Dr. Mejia led us around and showed us his chamber, his staff prepared for a four hour treatment on the divers. After that got going, locals began streaming in the door, one and two at a time. They came to see the doctor.

Dr. Mejia’s clinic is in what he described as the poorest part of La Ceiba. He positioned it where he did for two reasons. He is within a few minutes of the airport in case an injured diver comes in that way. But, as he noted, he practices family medicine and he wanted to be where the people needed him. By the way, he said as many as three out of every 10 of his patients can’t afford to pay him for his services. But he treats them anyway. You might think he makes up for it by charging his paying patient’s more. That’s not the case, either. He does his best to keep the price low for everyone.

In a time when the cost and availability of medicine in the US is bringing people to blows and dividing neighbors, its pretty amazing to see a doctor who simply cares for his patients and their health. He just makes it work..

Dr. Matias Nochetto and I made it to La Ceiba Honduras safe and sound with no problems other than about an hour delay in Miami. Pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

Dr. Elmer Mejia picked us up in the airport in San Pedro Sula and drove us the 2.5 hours to La Ceiba. We could have grabbed another flight over here, but Elmer offered to pick us up. He suggested the drive would help us see more of the country. Pretty fascinating trip. He warned us when we got in the car that he chose to bring his smaller car because crime around the airport is bad and people have been killed for their cars. Made for an interesting introduction to the country.

We passed what Matias and I both thought was a school. A fleet of retired American school buses out front were loading up what appeared to be high school-aged kids. After we got past Elmer explained that it wasn’t a school at all, but a textile factory and the company bused their employees to work and to their villages. As we drove on across the mountains toward the coast, we were stopped by police checkpoints four different times. Honduras has also become a waypoint for the drug trade coming up from South America so the federal police are out to stop it. Noble effort although I’m sure it’s a losing battle. This is all cocaine heading toward the US.

Don’t get me wrong, though. Everything here isn’t bad or scary. There is a lot positive going on, and I’ll write more about that later this week. This country is struggling no doubt, but I guess that is the point. We need to understand each other and the situation before we can truly appreciate what’s going on.

No pictures yet. Was just traveling all day. Should have something to show tomorrow though. Stay tuned.