Video recap of visit to Tegucigalpa, Honduras… with several other interviews including these two junior golfers… think Honduras, think Golf, I do now! (-:   (Facebook Post Video & 1 Pic, Andy Reistetter, 11/24/13 )

Capturing the Spirit of Golf & the Olympics in Honduras!

Video recap of visit to Tegucigalpa, Honduras… with several other interviews including these two junior golfers… think Honduras, think Golf, I do now! (-:

Planes, Torch and a border crossing was the flavor of the day for me today. I awoke and said goodbye to the Pristine Bay Resort on the Island of Roatan, fly back to Tegucigalpa by way of La Cieba, picked up Torch at the Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa, crossed the Honduras-Nicaragua border at Los Manos and made my way to the home of Connie and Ernesto Cantu in the mountains above Matagalpa. As I would learn in Central America, elevation dictates temperature and being on the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ precipitates new friendships, adventures and certainly the celebration of life each day!

After three nights at the Pristine Bay Resort and two rounds of golf on The Black Pearl, I did not want to leave Roatan. But it was easy to do as I would be venturing into the sixth country of this golf and life odyssey to Rio. Due to the elections in Honduras there was no room for me at the Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa, hence the manic travel day. My flights out to and back from Roatan were my first on the JTOG. That in of itself would be enough to fill one day. So too would a border crossing as they can be dicey, confusing and challenging, especially taking a vehicle across with you. Besides the flight and the border crossing, there was the 300 km (nearly 200 miles) and five hours of drive time (as estimated by Google Maps) between picking up Torch and  my bed at the Cantu’s.

Click here for a Highlight Video of the Day’s Travel.

I took a few minutes on the drive out of Honduras to collect my thoughts on my time in Honduras. Starting with the kindness of Roger the customs officer who personally escorted me through getting my vehicle permit for Torch. I couldn’t thank Henry Kattan enough for hosting me in Tegucigalpa—meeting his father, playing the Country Club with his childhood buddy Rodolfo and giving me a tour of the Honduras Olympic Village and introducing me to a couple of Olympians who competed in London. Same for Enrique Toriello, I couldn’t thank him enough for hosting me at the Pristine Bay Resort and playing The Black Pearl two and a half times. And of course there was the luxurious stay at the Hotel Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa. It has been a great visit to Honduras, I can’t wait to return!

Click here for the Recap Video of the Spirit of Golf & the Olympics in Honduras.

The day evolved perfectly and pretty much as I estimated timewise though I did get a little lost finding their home in the mountains above Matagalpa. I was going by handwritten notes off Google maps and the last part from conversations with Connie and Ernesto. Signage and numbering is definitely less available and if available, less prominent, in Central America, at least to me and Torch. After a timely flight and a taxi back to the Intercontinental we left at a little after 10 am. Estimating two hours for the border crossing, that would have us arriving around 4 pm. As it turns out we made it by 6:30 pm pretty much right at dusk. Maybe travel, like work, fills up the time available?

The ride on both sides of the border was absolutely beautiful, easily navigated (for the most part except when I was lost) and a safe passage for Torch and me. I took the northern route up through the mountains and high flatlands through Danli and Ocotal in Honduras and Esteli and Secaco in Nicaragua. The ride through Matagalpa and up the hillsides, through what I think were coffee fields, was appealing and fascinating. I took 70 beauty videos. I especially liked the stonework, actually volcanic rocks, along the parkways right after entering Nicaragua. The craftsmanship reminded me of La Reunion Resort & Residences and the entrance drive into Chenango Valley State Park back near my hometown of Binghamton, New York. I guess when so much is visually new and culturally different it is natural to make comparisons to what is familiar in one’s life. As much as I loved the resorts and the golf courses along the way, the people and their customs were what really intrigued me.

The Cantu’s are awesome people. Remember I was connected to them through the tout Jorge at the Guatemala-El Salvador border a week ago on JTOG Day No. 37. Not only were we were fellow Americans but I guess Jorge saw a similar zest for life and a sense of adventure. He was right. After settling into my comfortable room, we headed back down to Matagalpa for a celebratory dinner at El Toro Bravo, The Brave Bull, streakhouse. Torch, my brave bull, got a premo parking spot right outside the restaurant. It was a fabulous evening of stories and perspectives about life and traveling and living in Central America.

More on that and the Cantu’s tomorrow as it has been a long, tiring, though invigorating day of travel. I was in bed and asleep by 10 pm. In the haste and fast pace of the Journey this was a one night stay, with the Saturday evening before and the Sunday morning after.

Tomorrow would be an interesting day as the Cantu’s showed me a special place in Nicaragua and I made it to the capital city of Managua and found another Real Intercontinental, this time the Real Intercontinental Managua, my home away from home in Central America!

Pleasant dreams…

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee… please make a donation today. Much appreciated.

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

CLICK here for Andy’s Video Recap of JTOG’s visit to Honduras.

Back at @Hotel Real InterContinental Tegucigalpa to pick up Torch after three amazing nights at Pristine Bay and two rounds of golf on the Pristine Bay Resort & The Black Pearl Golf Course – Roatan, one a 79! So many exciting and interesting golf and Olympic stories in Honduras! Sad to leave but need to head towards Rio. Into Nicaragua, another border crossing, wish me well! See you soon Connie Cantu and Ernesto Cantu! (-:   (Facebook Post Video, Andy Reistetter, 11/23/13)

JTOG039 Capturing the Spirit of Golf in El Salvador

I love the Pristine Bay Resort and The Black Pearl Pete and Perry Dye designed golf course. I do not want to leave. Seriously, I mean that. We all have “jumping off points” in our life for a variety of reasons. If I wasn’t on and committed to the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ or could have somehow found a spot for me there, I could have easily stayed for the rest of my life! I hope to make it back and find out. I hope you make the visit and find out for yourself how uniquely special is this golfer’s paradise called the Pristine Bay Resort on the Island of Roatan in Honduras.

JTOG Day 43 was fun, entertaining and meaningful playing golf again with Enrique Toriello the Vice President of Finance & Operations and from what I could tell runs the whole kit and caboodle of Pristine Bay Resort. A golf nut like me I felt flattered that he could play with me twice during my three-day stay. In fact, he suggested another trip around the back nine of The Black Pearl and to play it from the tips to get the full Dye experience. I think he felt sorry for me hitting both tee balls in the water at the par-3 island green 11th hole the first two trips around this Caribbean seaside course. The third time was the charm as I safely landed on the island and two-putted from thirty feet for my par!

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Enrique Toriello, Vice President of Finance & Operations, Pristine Bay Resort.

What can I say that this video does not say? Enrique Toriello is a great guy and the Pristine Bay Resort is a great place to visit or live there part time if you can manage it. I found it interesting that Enrique is a third generation golfer starting with his grandfather and then his father at an early age. Golf never found my father’s father in eastern Slovakia. It was only after emigrating to the United States and having my father who started as a caddie at Scranton CC in Pennsylvania that golf came to my family.That’s what is beautiful about the game of golf, no matter how you get to put the tee in the ground, the important point is that you get there and put a tee in the ground. The game, soon to be an Olympic sport, is a game for a lifetime and time well spent in life meeting people like Enrique Toriello.

Pristine Bay Resort can be marketed so many ways but it is definitely a golfer’s resort. The Black Pearl is so versatile in design that it has all types and all difficulties of challenge for a high or low handicap golfer. From challenging par-3s, the other three are as memorable as the 11th, to the short 324-yard par-4 5th, to the fun and variable par-5s and to the grand finale of each nine—the 498-yard par-4 9th and the 469-yard par-4 home hole, there is nothing missing for the golfer on this eighteen holes of golf extraordinaire. My only birdie came at the 358-yard par 4 12th hole where I  missed the green left but chipped in like a pro! Plus I did par the island green par-3 11th hole too! Two of many great golfing memories!

Pristine Bay Resort is a family resort when the family comes with the kids or a romantic getaway when the kids are left at home or there are no kids. It was romantic for me and I came alone and fell in love with the place and its pristine spirit of adventure and sport. I did take a quick tour of the island, including the West End with Erlin in the resort van early in the morning. There are other beautiful beaches and some quaint places to eat and socialize but I saw nothing that would require me to leave the resort other than coming and going. My documentation was complete with only my voyage to the Pristine Bay Resort says this golf voyager and documentarian. Check out the Pristine Bay Resort, you will be glad you did!

I was still a long way from Rio as my days enroute approached the halfway point. Tomorrow I would do something I have yet to do on the Journey. I will fly back to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras and then drive through (hopefully) the border to Nicaragua and find my bed with new friends that I haven’t yet met but was connected to via my tout buddy Jorge on the Guatemala-El Salvador border on JTOG Day No. 37. To me, it seemed as if my connection to Connie and Ernesto Cantu was almost spiritual as I would be finding my way up to their home in the mountains near Matagalpa somehow, some way, But that was tomorrow and today I am enjoying my last night in splendor on Roatan at the Pristine Bay Resort.

I love the Pristine Bay Resort and The Black Pearl Pete and Perry Dye designed golf course. I do not want to leave. Seriously, I mean that. Did I say that before? Should I jump off?

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee… please make a donation today. Much appreciated.

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

Yesterday I arrived on Roatan as a make-believe pirate and transformed myself into a modern day tourist and golfer coming to the Pristine Bay Resort and playing The Black Pearl. Today is simply a day to enjoy being at the resort, exploring it a bit with Alejandra ‘Ale’ Zelaya, the Sales & Marketing Manager and going out onto the Caribbean Sea for a little fun snorkeling.

On the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ it seemed that respites at nice golf resorts appeared when needed to replenish my energy and give me some downtime to simply enjoy the day. My stay at the Pristine Bay Resort, like time at the Four Seasons Resort & Spa Dallas (JTOG Day 10) and La Reunion Resort & Residences (JTOG Day 35) in Guatemala, came at the perfect time. I enjoyed being able to sleep in and wake up to walk a few steps to the magnificent beauty of the Caribbean Sea.

These respites also gave me time to plan the next legs of my Olympic Golf Odyssey. I had sketched out a plan for Torch and me to make it to Rio with a 10-day cushion for anything that came up along the way. Hopefully it would not be another mechanical repair like the ones needed in Mexico City (JTOG Day 22 slanted back tires) and Guatemala City (JTOG Day 32 brake system). Realizing the distances between major cities in South America, some days were spent just getting half way to the next stop like between Quito, Ecuador and Lima, Peru. Actually the distances between Lima and Santiago, Chile and then to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were broken down into three days of driving. I was still of the mindset that Torch and I could make it to the Olympic Golf Course in Rio together.

CLICK here for a Video Interview Showcasing the Pristine Bay Resort with Alejandra Zelaya

Ale was awesome and gave me a very detailed and informative tour of the  properties available to purchase and rent at Pristine Bay. The properties ranged from one-to-four bedroom villas to beach villas to private residences. Getting inside all of them all I can say is that they are beautiful, exquisite and unquestionably as comfortable like my room at the resort’s main building. Check out the video and see for yourself. Pristine Bay is only a two hour flight from Miami, three hours from Atlanta and four hours from New York City. Definitely a half travel day and half resort day coming and going for vacation or to own a second home, put it in the rental pool to receive income to offset your investment.

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Jimmy Mikkelson, GC Supt. & Shaper for Dye Designs.

Ale took me out to the 4th hole to meet and interview Jimmy Mikkelson. Like Perry Dye he grew up in a family business where he learned to drive bulldozers at an early age. Jimmy went to Colorado State and became a golf course Superintendent working for the Dye family in New Jersey. When they found out he could drive a dozer he became part of the team traveling around the world building golf courses that change countries (JTOG Day 37 Perry Dye interviews in San Salvador). As a shaper, this is the man who makes the find slopes, dales and curves to the fairway and green complexes that you and I are confronted with as we play the game of golf. It is well documented that ‘the lie dictates the shot,’ well it is Jimmy Mikkelson that dictates the lie!

Ale suggested we interrupt our tour so that I could join a foursome of golfers heading out on a scuba dive with the Black Pearl Divers. I was living the advertised ‘Green & Blue Life’ of the Pristine Bay Resort—come mix the best greens… with the best blues—combining golf, luxurious living and the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.

I am not a diver, not even for golf balls in water hazards. I leave both activities up to the professionals or well versed amateur enthusiasts. Though I did enjoy the boat ride and flopping around a bit on the surface with my snorkeling outfit and taking a couple of hold-your-breath dives to see the coral formations and exotic and colorful fish. For all you divers out there, I did overhear Captain and Lead Diver Mike speak of some very interesting dive targets like ‘The Wall’ and ‘The Maze.’ No sunken boat with a treasure trove of old gold coins found though I did enjoy the time at sea, the open water and views of Roatan and the resort from the water.

In the latter section of the tour, Ale took me over to the Las Verandas Hotel and Villas where I met Keila Thompson, the General Manager. This property within the Pristine Bay Resort consists of ocean view rooms, suites and villas with an incredible series of infinity pools.  Las Pergolas, the main restaurant at Las Verandas offers exciting Caribbean/Americas fusion cuisine underneath and outside its sloped thatched roof.

Today was a resort day, tomorrow another golf day playing The Black Pearl at the Pristine Bay Resort.

Dinner time, please join me salivating over the food pictures below.

Gosh that was the best tortilla soup ever!

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee… please make a donation today. Much appreciated.

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

I thought I was ‘Driving Dye’s Designs’ in Central America and now, all of a sudden, I am flying to the Pete Dye-designed The Black Pearl on Roatan, the largest of Honduras’ Bay Islands in the Caribbean Sea.

The Black Pearl is a fictional ship in the Pirates of the Caribbean. Roatan is home to the largest barrier reef in the Caribbean Sea and the second largest worldwide. While the name of the golf course alludes to Roatan’s history of pirates, Black Pearl is the latest gem of the Dye Designs portfolio. Like a pearl, this golf course is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of the dye-abolical minds of Pete and his son Perry Dye.

I couldn’t wait to get there. I left Torch behind, safe and comfortable in the parking lot at the Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa amongst all the United Nations election observation vehicles. She felt distinguished and official being with that company and a bit royal as she lounge around while the rest of them had to go to work during the day and sometimes in the evening too.

I let Torch sleep in and took a taxi to Toncontín International Airport (TGU).  My Sosa Airline flight took me first to La Ceiba where I changed planes for the 15-minute flight from the mainland to Roatan. Another taxi and there I was coming through a small canyon, through the bluff, and seeing Pristine Bay, the resort and golf course laid out below on the coastal plain with the breathtakingly blue Caribbean Sea as far as the eye could see.

Enrique Toriello was right there at the front door to greet me when my taxi arrived. I know it is a small island where everyone knows everyone who lives and works there but I am thinking he does this for every guest at the Pristine Bay Resort. After a brief hello, the golfer turned onto golf by Fred Couples’ 1992 Masters win, led me to Mindy at the reception desk for check-in. After checking in and checking out my room which was situated on the lower level of the clubhouse with an ocean view, Enrique met me for lunch with a gift—a Black Pearl hat! Then we headed to the golf course at Pristine Bay. If we weren’t such talkative guys distracted by an incredible view I am guessing touchdown at the airport to first swing on the Pearl could be less than one hour if you put your mind to it.

CLICK here for a Video of my room & walk to the Caribbean View!

While classified as a resort golf course, make no mistake that The Black Pearl is a Dye Designs gem. While more “playable” than the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and more “open” than Harbour Town Golf Links, make no mistake that this is a great test of golf, especially with the Caribbean winds and elevation changes. Plus it has an “island hole on an island.”

CLICK herre for a Video of my tee shot at the par-3 island green 11th hole at The Black Pearl.

Sad to say I pured my 6-iron on the 160-yard par-3 island green 11th hole and it never touched down on the green. One of two double bogeys on the day, the other, also with a water-infested tee shot, on the par-4 difficult 8th hole. Not one birdie, but I managed a fairly consistent and very pleasurable 83. We made plans to play again the day after the next and of course my inclination was to have another go at Dye and his island green tomorrow. I was hopeful to best my Journey best round of 78 shot at Dye’s La Reunion in Guatemala.

After the golf I enjoyed the resort, lounging by the pool with a Caribbean Sea view for an hour or so before getting cleaned up for dinner. While I went light with a salad for lunch I  opted for Chef Rico Raspaldo’s specialty—duck Breast with old mustard sauce, apple and honey accompanied by gratin dauphinois or as we say back home in Idaho—potatoes. To finish the dramatic meal I enjoyed the nutella mousse for dessert.

What a day (again) on the Journey to Olympic Golf. After a lot of travel it was nice to kick back and enjoy a resort for an extended period of time. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come to explore the Pristine Bay Resort and island a little bit more and have another chance at Dye’s The Black Pearl. After all I always wanted to be a pirate and if I needed to play pirate golf to break 80 on The Black Pearl than so be it.

Shiver me timbers (which is a an expression used to show shock or disbelief)… I already know I am a landlubber (a person who is not incredibly skilled at sea) and a golf duffer (sometimes Dufnering too)… but tomorrow when we put the tee in the ground once again full of hope, you never know!

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee… please make a donation today. Much appreciated.

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!