Hi Angel!
Yes, it seems like it would take a long visit to see the Christ Statue
as well as see the zoo...oh yes, and have lunch! But I know it will
be exciting and a really nice sight to see! I am really looking
forward to it too! Oh and I haven't got my hopes up about the zoo, I
know that it won't be like the U.S. It will be different, yes, but I
know I will love it! I have always loved everything and anything
about the Spanish culture and I know I will really like Honduras! I
can just feel it! :o)
Yes, and Valle de Angeles sounds like fun too! You shouldn't have
told me that it is all filled with shops lol! Daniel (my fiance)
won't be able to get me out of there lol!
That sweet corn sounds really delicious!
Thank you for the valuable and helpful information about customs too.
I thought I would have to fill out at least some kind of form. I
didn't know I would be filling it out in the US!
Oh and I plan on having money for when I get back here to the states.
(not just the $30 for the departure tax). Oh speaking of money, is
there a fee for the stamp they put in your passport? I am reading a
Honduras book (it's an old one though) and it says it is $2 for the
stamp they put in your passport! I thought that was interesting.
I don't really plan on missing any of my flights, but sometimes it
happens and life gets in the way :o) So I will definitely have other
means and be prepared just in case!
Yes, I do plan on visiting the Bay Islands. My fiance has a friend
who lives in La Ceiba and we would stay there for a couple of days and
take a ferry to Roatan just to visit one day.
I will definitely keep the questions coming! Oh, and I would like to
thank you for the offer for me to call home from your office. That
was so nice! Thank you! I plan on going to the cyber cafes though
and not really using my cell phone that much unless I HAVE TO!
Talk to you again I am sure!
Megan
--- In travel-to-honduras.....com, "Angel Castillo"
wrote:
>
> Hi Megan,
>
> I went to the Christ Statue a few years ago. Again since it's always
"there" for me i haven't gone back to it in such a long time, even
though I agree that the views from there are spectacular. A visit
there would take anywhere from a half a day to a day depending on how
much time you want to stay there and if you want to have lunch there
too. The zoo is nearby, but honestly don't get your hopes up about it,
It's nothing like zoos in the US.
>
> Valle de Angeles and Santa Lucia are great places to visit. Santa
Lucia is mostly a sight-seeing town, while Valle de Angeles is a
shopping town. Get early to Valle de Angeles if you like to shop since
almost the whole town is stores!! The Pabellon de los Artesanos
generally has the lowest prices but you have to watch what you buy
because not everything is of top quality since the craftspersons put
their work there directly. Other stores sell at a bit higher prices
but have top quality on almost everything. There are diferent kinds of
art, from serious to funny, and from very spiritual to very naughty!!
Usually the trip to Valle de Angeles involves a roadside stop to eat
"elote asado" or "elote cocido" (sweet corn boiled or roasted). They
are tasty, get them freshly cooked just to be "safe" and as always
drink bottled water or soft drinks. With only 2 weeks here you don't
want to waste time getting sick.
>
> Actually you don't need to fill any sheet declaring what stuff you
are taking out, and you won't have to pay anything to take that stuff
out of Honduras. You will need to fill a Customs form when entering
the US though. Your airline will provide you the US Customs form. You
might even be able to get it before you leave the US so you can
understand how much and what things you can and can't bring back into
the US. From what I gather you probably won't have to pay anything
going to get your new stuff into the US i think the limit is $100 or
$1000. As far as Honduran Customs is concerned they don't mind you
taking out ship loads of legal stuff out of the country (protected
plants and animals or items from them are not legal to get out of the
country), hell the more you take out the better for the country since
you leave important dollars here :-) .
>
> About keeping only the $30 dollars for the airport tax fee, I would
just like to say that I don't know what your travel budget is but I
would generally want to arrive home with money left over. You probably
won't fly a direct flight from your city to Tegus so there still is
the possibility that back in the states you might need some money in
case you miss your connecting flight or it's delayed or cancelled or
some other thing. You might need meal, a phone call, a bottle of water
if something like the weather doesn't help. Also when arriving at your
home airport I'm sure that someone is going to pick you at the
airport, but in case no one is there you might want to be able to make
a call and/or take a cab home.
>
> Again that's just me. I've generally never used that extra money but
once, only once I had a flight from Costa Rica to Honduras, right when
were about to take off there was a heavy downpour that closed the
aiport for an hour, so I missed my connecting flight in El Salvador.
The airline did payed for a hotel room, dinner, breakfast and 5 minute
call home. But I wanted to call home for more than 5 minutes, and I
also wanted to call my office and my mom. So that extra money came in
handy. Then the next day we arrived very very early to Tegus so there
was no one waiting for me at the airport (Even though I called the
night before!) so i had to take a cab home for $10 !!! That was the
only time I did need that extra money and I was glad I kept those $50
bucks as a reserve. Now that I carry credit cards and they are more
widely accepted I have another alternative in case things go bad
during the trip.
>
> As for calling from Honduras to the US, I read that your cellphone
company has an international plan, it's about $2 a minute from
Honduras to the US, very expensive. My advice is get the international
plan ONLY if you don't have to pay anything even if you don't use it.
That way you can have that as a last-resort means of comunication. In
general when you need to call home, the cheapest way to do so is to go
to cibercafe and call from their phone booths, it's usually 1 to 2
lempiras per minute (about 15 US cents per minute). You next best
choice is calling from a cellphone. The rates for the 2 cellphone
companies here is 25 US cents per minute. Either buy a cheap prepaid
phone here or buy a cellphone card for someone that will allow you to
use their cellphone.
>
> Those international calling plans , specially the international
roaming is very expensive, if i take my phone from here to the US ,
calls would be about $1 / minute!! Then my nice credit card company
gave me a free subscription to a "Global One" calling card, with the
standard rate of $5 /minute to any number in the world!! I stuffed
both in the bottom of lowest part of my luggage just because I could
use them first and pay later, in case I lost everything on my trip and
couldn't get someone to give me 5 dollars to get a calling card.
Seriously, don't use those expensive plans unless you really , really
, really , really need to. For regular calls home you can probably
plan ahead the time of the day that you have someone drive you to a
nearby cibercafe or have a nice person (your fiance maybe) let you use
his phone to call home. Hell if you are staying in El Prado
neighborhood you are about 5 to 10 minutes from my office (depending
on traffic), I'll let you call home for free if you can get here! LOL.
Really i hate those expensive plans very much.
>
> I think I read that you wanted to visit the Bay Islands. Getting
there will take you about a whole day and another day to come back, so
with only 2 weeks travel time, I suggest you do plan well the places
you want to visit. I know mostly about Tegus, but the other people in
the group can tell you more about the Bay Islands and Ceiba. Ceiba is
a port city from where most people launch by air or sea to and from
the Bay Islands, and they have great beaches too.
>
> Keep your questions comming. Glad you were able to contact David. I
always like to have alternatives when travelling , just in case.
>
> Talk to you soon too. I've talked enough a lot for today.
>
> Angel Cstillo
>
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