Jill and I try to get off the island every month or so. We planned a 48 hour outing to La Ceiba, focusing on Pico Bonito National Park's Tropical Butterfly Farm and Gardens. According to the guide books it supposedly encompasses 50 acres and features an enclosed 2400-square-foot Butterfly House. Jill's predecessor at the clinic had visited it last fall and had given it a thumbs up.
We went over to La Ceiba Monday and got settled into our hotel room. It was a holiday so even the grocery store was closed. But Tuesday morning we were up bright and early, ate breakfast and did our grocery shopping so the rest of the day would be clear for our trip to see the butterflys at the park. We sensed we were in trouble when the tour desk at the hotel was clueless about the butterfly park. Then we asked a taxi driver how much to get there... 400 lemps! Well, we weren't going to pay any $27 for a 12 km drive out there. (The airport is halfway to the Park and you can get that far for 80 lempiras, around $5. Maybe the driver just didn't want to go there.) He offered to take us to the Butterfly Museum, much closer, for just 20 lempiras.
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And so here we are, ten minutes later at the Butterfly Museum. Just a dollar (15 lempiras) to get in. We were prepared for something less than spectacular when we realized the driver was letting us out in a residential area... |
| Instead of a 2400-square-foot Butterfly House in the midst of 50 acres of a Butterfly Farm and Garden we were in a 200-square-foot room with thousands of dead insects. Smelled like mothballs, too. We did discover that the Butterfly Farm and Garden is closed while being relocated. Sigh... Live and learn. |  |
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After a morning spent "enjoying nature" we headed to the new mall. Only
a few of the stores are open but it's obvious that it will be a nice mall.
Applebee's to open soon!
Mall Megaplaza: Unico En Su Estilo |
We went to the Burger King for lunch and back to the Pizza Hut for supper. (We'd been there the night before, too.) If nothing else, we got our fast food fix during our time away! Certainly our next trip off the island will be better. We're going to Guatemala! And we'll think twice before visiting any Butterfly anything. :-)
