Meeting with SHI, Part II

Thursday we awoke early and headed back as a group to San Pedro Sula. Note that this is the third day in a row where I woke up before six and hurried off somewhere. There, we continued our meeting at SHI's San Pedro office in the morning, and it was decided to keep the afternoon free. I dined with Marvin and Rodrigo (country directors from Nicaragua and Panama) and then sat down to 4 or 5 hours of programming the reporting system to reflect the new changes. Implementing them will take a lot more than that, but I wanted to get started to make sure my ideas were practical.

Friday's meeting didn't concern me, so I spent the day walking around the city. There's not very much touristy stuff to do. I went to the Guamilito market and a few souvenir places, and ate a fantastic crab soup ($2.50) near the central park. I wanted to go the Museo de las Naturaleza, which is supposed to be closed from 12-1. I got there at 1:30 and it looked really dead and depressing, so I opted not to go inside.

SPS looks more like an American city than most places do. Tony Roma's, Dunkin Donuts (and a ripoff named DK'D), etc. Many businesses are in strip malls on the road that circles the interior part of town.

After dinner, Justin, Nana (Belize) and I had a few beers, so we were walking back to the hotel later than I would have dared to alone -- it must have been after 8. We had no choice but to pass through a flock of evening workers (ladies in short skirts), and Justin told me to guard my wallet. "Buenas noches!" the groups said to one another.

I decided to go to Belize with Nana on Saturday. That involved waking up before 5 am, racing to get to La Terminal and leave at 6, headed for Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. I think I had to show my passport to (no exaggeration) 7 or 8 different authorities in crossing from Honduras to Guatemala. Sad, since I was only going to be in Guate for less than 2 hours, and also since both countries are part of the CA-4, which allegedly have looser border crossing restrictions amongst member nations.

The boat ride from Puerto Barrios to Punta Gorda was bouncy, wet and salty. I figured it was half transportation, half amusement park ride. When we weren't screaming, I talked with an American doctor who works for the Cornerstone Foundation.

Here's SHI's office in PG, where I'm staying: