Beach Life in Tela Honduras

We reached our destination of Tela, Honduras the evening of the 26th and stayed at Hotel Sherwood on the Caribbean Coast. The beach was nice - the sea a little choppy as a big storm had just passed through, but we enjoyed tourist life on the beach.

Marcela and Aunt Judy on the beach at Hotel Sherwood.

This is a view of the tiny tourist town of Tela.

Lance and I in Tela.

As far as entertainment and consumerism, there's a bit in Tela. The people that live there (primary Garifuna people) make their living off of the tourists in just about any way you can imagine. Besides little souvenir shops, here are some pictures of the entertainment and services they sell on the beach.

This guy sold jewelry on the beach, but he also did a fire show for anyone that would donate to the cause. He was good at it!

During the day time the Garifuna people approach you to sell two main things: "Pan de Coco" (coconut bread) and "trenzas" (braids) in your hair. This woman was selling coconut bread - but it's not like coconut bread that you would imagine here - not sweet at all. It's more like potato bread and it can only be found on the northern coast in Honduras.

We all fell for getting the braids. Here Lance smiles at Armando because Armando is trying to barter with the woman braiding his hair. Lance committed before Armando was there and so she got a lot more money out of him simply because he's gringo.

I, on the other hand, had my sister-in-law Judy with me to help me barter and told her I only had a couple bucks in my pocket and she did it anyway. They'll do it for anything. They're either making money doing that or enjoying their laid-back life on the beach under a palm tree.

Armando got "Palmeras" (palm trees) in his hair.

Don't they look great! :)

The three of us after we got the braids done.

And this is when Armando is getting his hair braided. This picture illustrates perfectly how the people just gather around tourists to sell them things. You have the lady selling the bread on the right, Armando getting his hair braided in the middle, and the men singing to us in the background. I couldn't resist - they were playing one of my favorite songs: "Guantanamera!"