Things are looking up, and more so all the time. First of all, this morning I found a much cheaper hotel, which I will move into tommorrow. It's five dollars a night instead of almost nine (100 lempiras vs. 175) and that will let me breathe a whole lot easier, financially speaking. I checked out the room and, actually, it's still pretty sweet. A single room, a bed, a fan a trash can and ajoining (shared) bathroom and shower. Everything looked very clean, including the facilities, which was a very good sign. So, starting tommorrow, hopefully I'll be living on more like $10 a day instead of $15.

How'd I pull off today on (slightly) less than fifteen bucks? Anyone who knows me well knows that the way I eat makes saving money on basic expenses difficult. So, I bought a watermelon, the cheapest bread I could find, two cans of sardines and four apples. Pretty sweet! I did pretty well, though. Apples (from the US) are much cheaper here than in Nicaragua; yay US Imperial Domination! (Honduras has kinda been the US' bitch since it was Spain's) Now to see if I can locate some Peanut Butter, the Holy Grail of all international travellers...

All today, I was thinking that I was going to head out of Tela pretty soon, maybe even tommorrow. You see, there are some little towns where escaped African slaves set up their own independent communities on the coast here near Tela, and one can visit them. I was thinking maybe I'd just pull up my stakes and head out there, after which I'd just abandon the Northern coast altogether. However, after this afternoon, I'm thinking I'll spend a few more days here in Tela, at least, and maybe just make the African villages a day-trip, which is totally possible.

You see, this afternoon I headed out to the main Telan beach. "Crappy beach," said the guide; "You should go further down if you want a good beach," said the guide; "For the love of God, not that beach!" insisted the guide... Boy, was the guide RIGHT! The beach was covered in garbage (seriously), which was periodically swept up by sanitation workers, and beaches and touristy knick-nack shops lined the beachfront. Fortunately, I don't care for beaches that much.

But I do love a human spectacle, any day. And this beach is a spectacular human scene. There are gringo tourists, Honduran tourists, mestizo locals, black African locals, some of whom speak their own creole language which is, I have read, made up of a mix of various African languages and French. And then, of course, there was me, the wierdest of them all.

Since I'm in a beach town, I've taken to letting my hair down... Literally. Now, I attract a lot of attention with my red hair, pale skin and blue eyes, even when my hair is neatly tied up, samauri-style, on the back of my head. But when I occasionally put my hair down, the freak show begins. When I walk down the street, the street watches.

And, as I sat down to work on a new style of bracelet and listen to the ocean, I found that my exceptional apperance has some real advantages for commerce. I, sitting there on the beach, faced away from everyone and working on a bracelet, not trying to attract any attention whatsoever, had at least ten people come up to me in a one hour period (at the end of the day, mind you) to watch me work, look at a couple finished pieces I had and ask me if I sold them. When I was finishing up and everyone was headed out, a man of African descent who was selling jewlery he made out of coconuts noticed me and addressed me in English.

"You're an artist, too!" he beamed.

I replied that I was learning. The man proceeded to tell me that it was important that I produce more work quickly, because Semana Santa (Holy Week) was coming up and business was very good. He gave me some tips about selling my work and said he hoped to see me later and trade skills. Come to think of it, I don't know anything about coconut sculpture. Could be an excellent addition to my craft, perhaps making pendants for necklaces. I think I'll be on the beachfront tommorrow, working on my craft and selling it, if I can.