Omoa, Honduras by Amy

On our first four-day weekend in the school year, we decided to go to the beach! The Caribbean sounded appealing, so a group of 16 of us headed for the Atlantic coast. White beaches, hot sun, ice cream, perhaps a hammock over the water. Maybe even some snorkeling or scuba diving. It all seemed so dreamy.

We headed out on Thursday after the Independence Day parade. After a 5 hour chartered bus ride (thanks David!), we arrived in Omoa after dark, got our hostel beds, and headed for dinner. Dinner service, as to be expected in Honduras, was slow, so small groups took breaks from being serenaded with US country music at the dinner table and walked out the pier across the street. We waited until after dinner to take our trip up the planks. The water was lapping on the shore, fishermen could be seen catching fish off the end of the pier, and mounds of trash were piled up against the beach and around the pier pilings all the way out to the end of the pier. "I can't swim in that," was my first thought. Oh, we should have known. Lovely Honduras, you are so beautiful, but you do have a trash problem.

Apparently, Omoa has had a few things happen in recent years that is contributing to its trash problem. First, Honduras appears to be in a transition from disposable packaging, such as banana leaves, to all the same types of plastic trash we find in the US. Remember the commercials from the '70s with the (Italian) Indian crying over the trash and the big campaign to clean up the USA? That hasn't happened here, so lots of the wrappers, chip bags, and pop bottles just end up on the ground. We're in the midst of the rainy season, so this trash gets washed into the rivers, which eventually carry it to the coast. Omoa, being close to the border, also is the beneficiary of trash carried by the rivers of Guatemala and Belize. Omoa also suffered under Hurricane Mitch in 1998, diminishing the coastline and changing the sea currents to bring more trash inland. Finally, Omoa has suffered at the hands of the gas company. Storage tanks were installed on Omoa's beach for importing liquified petroleum gas. Along with the tanks came sea walls that disturbed the natural currents and destroyed the beach. Perhaps the locals welcome the continual line of gas trucks driving the length of Omoa all day Sunday? Ah, progress (corruption, greed?).

Fortunately, the next day, we were able to find a small beach with less trash and got to go swimming. On Sunday, we took a bus to an even nicer beach with even less trash. We also hiked to a waterfall, saw the old Spanish fort, ate fish, and enjoyed our time at Roli's Place!