Thursday, or little Friday as they (we?) call it in these parts. I'm afraid I haven't been posting as frequently as I would like as I'm sure most of you have noticed. As it turns out, hanging out in the tropics on vacation with nothing to do can be quite time consuming. You'd be surprised to find out how many details you need to tend to on a regular basis. Admittedly, our case is a little different since we're still dealing with issues like arranging receipt of our stuff in France, putting the Jimmy up for sale, getting a phone, etc.

Anyway, we're finally feeling settled into La Ceiba. It's been refreshing to rediscover, to recognize - and to be recognized by - your native town. We've had a series of spectacular days that start off with an intensely blue sky, and clear skies all the way to the mountains that sustain the city's south end. You can look to the south and feel like you're in a mountain town in the middle of a valley and look the other way and see nothing but the caribbean's horizon. By mid afternoon those sights are a memory as the clouds move in and slam against the mountains making the afternoon downpour about as certain as the guys on the corner will be loaded by nightfall.

I have to admit that it is very difficult to write about this place and remain objective. Therefore, I'm forgoing objectivity for the sake of just writing something, anything about what we see, do, experience. As I write I find myself a little more than halfway through my first Salva Vida of the night at what is for all practical purposes our neighborhood bar, the fittingly named Expatriates Bar. One thing you notice about La Ceiba from the instant you first arrive, and every day even if you live here 100 years, is that it is nothing but a mix of all kinds of people and influences that came here for some reason or another, but somehow it all seems to work somehow. I'll be sure to write a little bit more about the history of this corner of the western Caribbean on later posts as I sort it out and learn more and more myself.