Our Honduras Story - First Trip to La Ceiba

In July of 2007 we took our first trip to La Ceiba. Yes, I know July is probably not the best time of year to travel to a sub-tropical location to check it out for the first time, but we were determined not to be put off by the heat.

When we stepped off the plane in La Ceiba at about 9:30 pm that evening (our flight had been delayed by a few hours) it was without luggage or our rental car that we proceeded by taxi to our hotel. The flight had arrived so late the rental car office was closed so we were left standing in an empty dark airport with no transportation to our hotel and our luggage was not on the plane.

The air was quite warm and humid but not stifling so this was one thing to be encouraged of. We were tired and starving when we got to the small hotel that we had booked online. As our luggage had not arrived with us on the commuter flight we had taken from San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba there was no freshening up for the evening. We went to the bar and grill at our hotel where we had some dinner and a much enjoyed cold beer or two...

The next morning we made a trip to the airport to recover our luggage and pick up our rental car. Unfortunately our luggage had been gone through and a nice video camera and some other minor things were missing. We always put cameras in carry-on before this time (and since) but for some reason this time we had made the very bad decision to put this video camera in the checked baggage. Se la vie, the camera and video from prior trips were gone forever. Live and learn I guess....

The first impression of the city of La Ceiba for me reminded me of something my daughter had said about Cairo, Egypt when she had visited there a few months before. She said, "It is a city of 17 million people and it sounds like all of them are driving and honking at the same time. She said it was like a symphony of honking, 24 hours a day. Well it may not have been 17 million, but it was definitely a lot of honking and this is what kept coming to mind.

There is something like 3000 taxi cabs in the relatively small city of La Ceiba and they all seem to have a particular affection for their horns! It is a very busy and energetic city and the horns are definitely part of the sounds of Ceiba. I have realized part of the honking is to let you know that they are passing you which is polite albeit that they are probably passing you on the wrong side, creating a third lane where there is none. Driving in La Ceiba is sort of like a sport, you need to be at your best game all the time. No auto-pilot driving here!

I have deviated from my main story here.... I had found a few promising properties online to look at and had made contact with a real estate developer in the area who had a couple of these properties listed and was willing to show us the others. As I said he was a developer who had a beautiful gated community he was developing called, Mango Tree. We met him there at Mango Tree and proceeded to look at the properties I had inquired of.

Where we were staying in La Ceiba the beach was not too exciting and the area was okay, but not paradise found. The drive to the area of Mango Tree outside of La Ceiba is about 20 minutes or more and is green, lush and beautiful. Every mile was quieter, greener and more inviting. We met with Kent the developer and saw the properties I had inquired of then some others that another real estate agent that Kent knew showed us. We looked at a few more areas and properties the next day with Mary Ann the real estate agent we had met the day before.

After this we spent the rest of the week exploring on our own, driving the country side and checking out the shopping and amenities of La Ceiba. We found nice Super Mercados for groceries unlike the rather sad markets we found on Roatan. We knew we could shop here and feel comfortable. Then there are the open air markets that are everywhere in La Ceiba and along the highway traveling to and from the city are full of an ever changing bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. There is an area of the city where there's an open air market place year round. They are brightly colored small wood stalls with tin roofs full of wonderful produce and other items for sell and full of life. It is a very colorful and fun place to shop.

Our week was over and we reluctantly headed back home to the states, but not without many impressions and feelings to draw on. La Ceiba and the beautiful surrounding scenery had gotten in to our blood. It wasn't any one thing that stood out it was more of a general feeling of this feels right.

Watch for my next article in the series on "Our Honduras Story."