Since getting back to Honduras, much work has been done on Andiamo. Mostly small stuff, but a couple of major projects as well. Also got new floorboards made for the dinghy, which were sorely needed. So the boat is only slightly less chaotic than it was a few weeks ago.
Now that I was in Honduras, I was also able to follow up on the information I’d received that the Honduran police had caught the guys who held up the Hedman Alas bus that we were on last December. Apparently, the cops caught the guys and recovered a bunch of the stolen goods. I had spoken with the manager at Hedman Alas a few times, and she corroborated this story, and offered me a free ticket up to San Pedro Sula to go and inspect the stolen items to see if I can recover anything of mine or Miguel and Arcelia’s. Like I was EVER going to ride on a Hedman Alas bus again. Nope, not this hombre.
Interestingly, Mitzy, who crewed with me from Belize, messaged me online after getting back to Guatemala. Turns out that she met one of the owners of Hedman Alas bus line, and told him my story. She said he was extremely sympathetic, and told her that he wanted to help me out as much as possible. He gave her his phone and email to give to me. I got them from her in pretty short order, and contacted him immediately. He emailed me back with a contact name and told me that I needed to go to San Pedro Sula to find out from the police what can be recovered.
During this same period, I got word that a friend of mine back in the states was thinking about coming down. Her name is Elizabeth, and she’s in the middle of a move from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. I invited her to come down for a couple of weeks while she waited to make the move. After some coordinating, we established a day that she would fly down to San Pedro Sula. So last Thursday, I made the trip up to meet up with her. The next morning, I made the plan to head over to Hedman Alas to meet up with the manager I’d spoken with earlier that week.
She arrived on time, with no problems, and the next morning I went to meet the manager at the bus station. In the classic Honduras style, he wasn’t even there. Another station manager got me into a cab and sent me to the police station. When I got there, I asked around about who I should speak with, and ended up in an investigator’s office. I found this whole division to be quite odd. This was the investigation division, and all the “officers” looked like kids barely out of their teens. The investigator I spoke with had a peach fuzz mustache. Even the women “investigators” looked like they were barely out of high school. They all packed automatic pistols that were jammed in their pants or back pockets. It was pretty surreal.
Anyway, the junior investigator sat me down and cordially proceeded to tell me that they actually caught the people who robbed ANOTHER Hedman Alas bus, which was on its way from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula, almost THREE WEEKS after our bus robbery. I had to make him tell me this twice, because I was dumbfounded. All this time, I was led to believe that the police caught the guys who robbed OUR bus! In fact, I didn’t even KNOW that there was another bus robbery until that time. I also found out that another Hedman Alas bus in Guatemala was robbed during the same time period as well.
I was both frustrated and angry and went off a little on the investigator. I told him that because of this little detail, I wasted a lot of time and frustration to get to them to see if I can recover anything. While I was kinda hoping to find something of mine, I really was hoping I can recover some of Miguel and Arcelia’s clothes and belongings, because they had pretty much EVERYTHING that they came down with stolen. I also went on to ask the investigator if they ever investigated the bus attendant, because I was SURE that he was involved. I went on to elaborate to him details about the case that led me to believe that the attendant was involved, as were two of the female passengers that were onboard. They were rather surprised by what I said, and took a statement. But I think that they did this mostly to placate me.
After a long wait, one of the other teenage investigators brought me back to town, where Elizabeth was waiting at the hotel. I fired off a pretty angry email to the bus line owner I had contacted, expressing my utter disappointment with how all this was handled, as well as to tell him that I held the bus line responsible for our losses, and that they should do something to compensate us for our losses. He emailed me back a day later, telling me that they were willing to pay $25 per bag. Of course, I found this outrageous, and told him so.
I also told him that if the company didn’t make an effort to compensate all the victims of the bus robbery, that he can full expect the facts about Hedman Alas’ purported “safe” security measures to be made known across the net. I told him I would make it one my life’s missions to ensure that everyone I talked to about Honduras knew about my experience with Hedman Alas, and how they should be avoided at all costs. I will stick with only the facts about things were handled, and let people make up their own minds.
Unfortunately, in these parts, there is little people like me can do to get a company like Hedman Alas to answer to justice. So instead, I will focus my efforts and energies on letting the truth be known about how they truly handle “security” and how badly take care of victimized passengers when something bad does happen. Even though they are purported to be highly insured against liability in these cases, they are not at all willing to make even the slightest effort to make amends when something like this occurs.
So, you heard it from me. Stay OFF of Hedman Alas buses when traveling through Honduras and/or Guatemala. You are neither safe NOR secure when traveling with them, and your safety is clearly not their primary concern.
I know it sounds a bit bitter, but it’s all I can do, put the word out. And that will be my hobby for some time to come.
All that said, we’re in Utila right now, have been here for a few days since leaving La Ceiba. I expect we’ll sail between here, Roatan and Cayos cochinos for the next few days. After Elizabeth leaves, I’ll be working on getting Andiamo back to Rio Dulce for a short time to see about finishing off the sale of Sjelle’s boat. I’m also planning another haulout for Andiamo at the end of the month. The goal is to get her eastbound by mid March, and get her in position for the big upcoming Atlantic crossing this coming May/June, if everything else falls into place.
No matter where I go, it’s time to move on from here.