San Pedro Sula, Honduras – Day 1

The flight from Miami to San Pedro Sula went quick because I had a middle seat sandwiched between a well traveled Gringo professor of Spanish from Missouri State University and a young local Honduran finance student from Chicago.

Both were very gracious in offering advice, but it was funny because the Gringo professor advised almost the opposite of the local Honduran and often they contradicted each other in almost every case. The professor advised skipping the Bay Islands and hitting the Copan Ruins for a more authentic experience, while the local fervently said the Bay Islands was the best Honduras had to offer. Inevitably, I’m sure, both are correct.

That’s just the way travel is.. ask 10 people, you will invariably get at no less than 5 but most likely 10 different and often contradictory recommendations.

That is why I don’t like sites like sites like yahoo travel, TripAdvisor, etc. because they end up confusing more than clarifying. What makes a hotel “awesome” in one person’s opinion and “a nightmare” in another can be something as subjective and relative as perceived safety, a friendly or unfriendly staffmember, etc.

I did get a chance to quiz my new Honduran friend (the student) about the punk scene in San Pedro Sula. He’s 19 and didn’t know what punk was. Doesn’t sound promising. But he did recommend hitting of all places Applebee’s where there is evidently live rock music every night, I’m 99.9% sure not of the punk variety.

Today I’ll tool around town and see if I can spot signs of punk life in San Pedro Sula such as flyers for punk shows, punk themed graffiti, etc. I’ll also wear my Social Distortion shirt to see if any punk fans are drawn into a conversation. Small tricks of the trade I’ve learned.

I have gotten several emails from the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa which unfortunately is not on my itinerary this time around, but at least I know there is a punk scene there. So if you live in Tegucigalpa, hang tight por favor! I will be back and we will get it covered for the documentary. Keep Commenting and sending emails so I have your contact info for the next round ok?

This morning I was awakened by car horns around 5:30AM or so local time. Honduras was playing their first round of the world cup against Chile and lost 1-0. I’ll admit to World Cup Fever, rooting for all the teams from countries I’ve visited but nothing is gonna make me get up at 5:30AM to watch soccer.

But all this soccer fever reminded me of my trip down to Uruguay back in February when I had to beg and borrow a camera (because mine had been stolen the week before in Buenos Aires, Argentina) to conduct interviews. I interviewed this band “Trotsky Vengaran” (Trotsky’s Revenge) and the guys spoke a little English. They were funny as hell and big soccer, excuse me, futbol fans with many of their songs themed around the popular sport.

In honor of the world cup and until I can find something punkworthy to write/report about here in Honduras, I’ll put the segment on Trotskys Vengaran below for those who may have missed it. See, we got you covered even if we have to combine punk music with organized professional sports, a most unlikely alliance perhaps anywhere but in Latin America.