You know its a good day when. . .

You know it is a good day when pop into the present moment and find yourself sitting on a beautiful deserted beach, a cold beer in hand, talking politics in Spanish with a Garifuna local and a Honduran business man. Actually the story is even better because just two hours ago you thought the morning had started off terrible and the twelve hour travel day you had ahead of you was going to be more of the same. But then it happens. A drop-off at the wrong bus park on the opposite side of town from an overpriced taxi leads to us walking down the highway with our backpacks and complete stranger who was merely pulling into a fastfood restaurant to grab some breakfast stopping to see if we need help. Actually Jorge (the Honduran business man) was not a complete stranger, as he had been on our ferry from Utila (our home for the last seven weeks) to the mainland of Honduras. All the same, he didn’t have to stop. But he did, and as “luck” would have it, we were going to the same city, San Pedro Sula, a four hour drive into Honduras. And then it just got better and better. One of many great conversations about local culture and a discussion of an interesting medicinal moonshine (called guifiti) that is made in the small Garifuna villages along the coast, led us to taking a detour in our plans and a stop in one of these villages for Jorge to visit a friend. Unfortunately, Jorge’s friend was not around; however, the beautiful deserted beaches outside her house and the delicious fruit trees in her yard alone made it well worth the trip. After a really nice walk down the beach an emergency trip to the bathroom (could have been seen as a negative) led us to the perfect small restaurant and the start of this story. And of course as our luck would continue, the local Garifuna happened to make some of the best guifiti in the area, of which he was happy to let us try, complete with the great tales of how and why it is made.

Although the Garifuna village was certainly the highlight, our luck continued along the rest of our travels throughout western Honduras and into El Salvador. Our views of the trip changed and now the negatives seemed to just float away, while each additional positive confirmed our good fortune. Missing other (right) buses led to quicker trips on wrong buses, great conversations, and beautiful views. A chance meeting of a Peace Corps volunteer led to cheap hotel and great night of watching an exciting Honduran futbol (soccer) match with some very friendly locals. The trip fittingly ended with another stranger sending his kindness out in the world through a memorable free ride in the back of his pickup just in time for us to make the food festival we had traveled two days to get to.

So now whenever something is going completely wrong we are not going to let it upset us. After all when one door closes another one opens. And when it does, who knows, you might find a “Jorge” standing on the other side.