My fifth CO report.
Past reports:
Portugal
Guatemala
Ecuador
Paris

I purchased my ticket on Continental's web site, and I chose the flights from EWR to and from San Pedro Sula to avoid a transfer in HIA. I was sorry to miss the Tegucigalpa approach, but when you can only take one week's vacation, hours matter.

CO803 - EWR to SAP - June 20, 2009
B737-800 - Seat 27D - Boarding Gate 139
On time 8:50am --> 11:30am - 1,927 miles
100% full

I left home at 3:00am and had a quiet drive through PA and NJ. As usal I was early at EWR. The long range P6 parking lot was pretty full. I was able to enjoy the dawn in the quiet terminal.











The boarding was unexceptional. Many families from Honduras, and quite a few Americans going on missions - or on diving vacations. The F/A announced that there were 40 children on the fuller-than-full flight. Some passengers were traveling in groups, with leaders holding fistfuls of passports. The safety instructions were on the little pivoting video screens, as would be the movies later. The brunch was fine, and the crew was great. They sure kept hopping throughout the flight.









The landing was smooth, following fine views of the coast (I had an aisle seat, hence no photo). We taxied quickly to the small terminal, where I saw a UPS 757, another CO 737, a Delta 737, and a TACA A320.





The jetway operator was nowhere to be found and we waited for long minutes, which drove the 40 children wild. Subsequently, immigration was also a rather long and sweaty ordeal. However, the SAP terminal is a modern one. It doesn't have that wonderful "mildew and no glass in the windows" feel of some other tropical airports.

Now, a little Honduras travelogue for your enjoyment:



















I spent some time discussing politics with Hondurans, some of whom were anticipating the events of June 28 - not necessarily with dread. When I realized I had missed the excitement by less than 24h, I was crushed.

CO802 - SAP to EWR - June 27, 2009
B737-800 - Seat 27A - Boarding Gate 1
On time 12:40pm --> 7:14pm
100% full

It took me 4.5h by bus to reach SAP from Copan. The heat was crushing. The CO check-in line was short but slow. (There is a $32 departure tax.) The waiting lounge is small, with a little cafe, a coffee stand, and not much else. Passengers were waiting for a Delta flight to Atlanta, a CO flight to Houston, a TACA flight to Miami, and my flight to Newark. To my delight, we boarded using stairs. The passengers were similar to those outbound, except that now, the missionaries had sunburns.























We had the same purser as we did on the previous Saturday, and he was great: a burly Latino who looks like Mr. Clean's Colombian cousin, and who always smiles and winks at everyone. Do you know him? He does the round trip in one shift, I suppose. That's hard work.











This, above, is Glover Atoll, off the Belize coast! The beef sandwich below was comically dry, but who's complaining?

















Immigration was smooth, and my Civic was still there, in P6, waiting for the drive back to PA...





My next trip will be different. It will be my first non-CO report in years, with many legs: MDT - IAD - FRA - VCE - FRA - IAD - MDT, on a blend of LH and UA. That'll be around Halloween.

Thank you for your kind attention!