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.

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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.

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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…

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Thank You!

Torch is fine and has been since Olaf at OL Motores fixed her in Guatemala City. I received an offer I could not refuse and flew over to Roatan for 3 nights. On a “dye Designs Drive” though I flew here… La Reunion in Guatemala, El Encanto in El Salvador and played Black Pear (Honduras) today! Torch and I head to Nicaragua on Saturday! (-:   (Facebook Post 10 Pics, Andy Reistetter, 11/20/13)

I knew this would happen… left Torch behind in Tegucigalpa, Honduras… traveling light… life is still good! (-:   (Facebook Post 1 Pic, Andy Reistetter, 11/20/13)

Thinking I am a Beach Club sort of guy! Awesome first round of golf on the Pristine Bay Resort & The Black Pearl Golf Course – Roatan yesterday. Snorkeling today and golf tomorrow! The food here is awesome, best Tortilla Soup ever, sorry Max & Erma but it is true!   (Facebook Post Video, Andy Reistetter, 11/20/13)

JTOG041 This is My Room Pristine Bay Roatan Black Pearl

Day 40 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras was one of those great days in life where you are literally going from dawn to dusk, was lucky enought to play some golf and just celebrate life and all the friendships along the way. My experience reminded me of the Sunday family picnic outings to Chenango Valley State Park in my childhood. Full of adventure and new experiences!

My day did not start at dawn, well close to it as I was up early to shower and then wash some clothes in the bathtub before a scrumptious breakfast in the penthouse Club Intercontinental. I really do like mango juice and found the litchi (lychee) fresh fruit to be as refreshing and sweet as advertised.

Henry Kattan, my host in Honduras came to meet me at the Real Intercontinental Hotel at 9 am. We walked over to the Multiplaza Mall across the street to the Coffee Cup. His father, a retired baker of 50 years, was there to meet us and have a cup of coffee. I enjoyed another new food to me—catrochos—a toasted open French bread with refried beans and quesilla (little cheese). Very tasty. Henry’s friend and fellow golfer Kurt stopped by to say hello. He said something very interesting to me—” I like it (golf) because it is so difficult to play.” Awe, the challenge of the game! I felt the same way about the Journey, sometimes very difficult to navigate, especially at borders, but overall a great delight!

CLICK here for Part 1 of the Video Interview with Henry Kattan, President of the Honduras Golf Association.

CLICK here for Part 1 of the Video Interview with Henry Kattan, President of the Honduras Golf Association.

Henry is the president of the Honduras Golf Association and has almost single-handedly revived the HGA from a dormancy of nearly 25 years. I saw a report from an R&A visit in 2006 so I figured he has been going at it for nearly 10 years in between which was 2009 Honduran coup d’état. Interestingly enough, the First Lady of then President Mauricio Villeda, Iris Xiomara Castro de Zelaya ,was now running for president. ‘Hillary of Honduras’ would be my affectionate nickname for her. Back to golf. In a country of 7 to 8 million people there were less than 1,000 golfers and less than 50 junior golfers with only a handful of golf courses available to play the game we love.

As my good fortune would continue on the Journey, Henry was also the Marketing Director for the Honduras Olympic Committee. After a visit and playing the 9-hole Country Club of Tegucigalpa we planned to venture over the Olympic Village where I would be able to meet some officials and Olympic athletes. While Tegucigalpa has not hosted the Olympics, here on JTOG Day 40 I would be combining golf and the Olympics yet again on my quest to define the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf,’ something no one on Earth has experienced in 112 years.

I liked Tegucigalpa. It’s high location and hilly terrain reminded me of San Francisco without the bay and the ocean. Honduras, like Guatemala and the upcoming Central America countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama have the best of both water worlds with the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. I enjoyed touring the city as we headed over the the Country Club of Tegucigalpa (CCT) and after that to the Olympic Village.

I could tell I was at a historic place as we entered the gate of CCT. The club was perched on a significant hill with city and mountain views all around. It reminded me in a way of my beloved Ely Park Municipal Golf Course in my hometown of Binghamton, New York. The views were exceptional. The course was only nine holes with a length of 5,417 meters and a par of 68. Four par-3s, no par-5s and a whole lot of par-4s replaying the nine from different tees. Juan Carlos Alvarez holds the course record of 58. No worries with that being broken today although Henry is a formidable 3-handicap. The course, especially the greens has definitely seen better days, having never fully recovered from Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Mitch was so devastating to Honduras that the name Mitch was retired from the Atlantic hurricane naming list.

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Rodolfo Castaneda, Little Caesar in Honduras.

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Honduras Junior Golfers Diego and Eduardo. 

We were joined by Henry’s childhood friend Rodolfo. He owned Little Caesar Pizza in Honduras and brought a pizza for us to share for lunch. It was sort of a reunion for Henry and Rodolfo as they had not played golf at CCT in 3 or 4 years so it was a good time for all of us as they shared childhood stories and growing up together in junior golf in Tegucigalpa.

The visit to the Honduras Olympic Village was exceptional. Speaking (of course being translated by Henry) with President Salvador Jimenex Caceres and Secretary Oscar Rene Berganza Deras was very interesting. I received a sense of what it means to countries like Honduras to have golf officially declared an Olympic Sport. Along with that designation comes official government support to further develop the game of golf at home with the hopes of one golfer getting hot, rising in the the OWGR, competing on the new Olympic Golf Course in Rio and bringing home a medal.

In the gym I met  Joel Pavon and  Ronald Bennett who competed in the London Olympic Games for Honduras. Joel is a weightlifter (320 kilos combined) and Ronald a sprinter in the 110 meters with obstacles. They both spoke to how representing Honduras in London was such a great honor. Ronald carried the Honduras flag in the Parade of Nations during the Opening Ceremonies.

We stopped by the housing for the Olympians and in the lobby was a banner from the 1968 Mexico Olympics. I like how everything ties together and you can see the process and the progression through that process. Who knows, maybe one day, like Mexico City did, Tegucigalpa will host the Olympic Games?

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Dania Ferrera, Conceirge, Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa.

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Alfonso Martinez, General Manager, Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa.

I headed up to the penthouse Club Intercontinental for a late dinner. There I met a reporter from NPR and another from CNN Espanol. They thought my journey was a bit strange especially being in Tegucigalpa on the eve of a presidential election. During the last election they said there was a coup but I think they were referring to 2009. They thought I was even crazier with my idea to drive through the FARC-infested Darian Gap as a golfing humanitarian gesture. Somewhat concerned I wondered aloud if something was to happen to me would they write a story about meeting me so at least my sons could get an idea of how happy I was my last days alive. They resisted saying golf wasn’t that big for their news outlets. Finally I got them to agree to at least promise me that they would make a pitch to their editor with no guarantee that the story of my demise would run.

Oh well, dinner was good, the company interesting and tomorrow another day, hopefully just like the one I experienced today—absolutely brilliant in the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf!’

My last journal entry for the day was “WOW, what a day.”

It could have easily read “WOW, what a tomorrow.”

I was booked on a 7 am flight to Roatan, the island paradise of Honduras.

Life was good as I set the alarm for 5 am and closed my eyes to sleep.

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…

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CLICK here for Andy’s Recap of the Spirit of Golf in El Salvador!

Any time you only stay two nights in a country you miss out on a lot but I felt my 48 hours spent in El Salvador, especially when it comes to golf, gave me a great deal of insight. The above video captures that spirit of golf in El Salvador which is historic and traditional in one sense and new and cutting edge in another way. I missed out on a lot that El Salvador has to offer. I wish I could have toured the city with a guided tour operator and I wish I could have gone to the beach. That’s the nice thing about El Salvador—everything is compact and close by. I definitely have to come back some time soon and play Cuscatlan and El Encanto in all their beauty!

It is never a bad day when you stay in an Intercontinental Real. It’s a great day when you wake up in one Intercontinental Real and go to sleep in another one, even when there is 200 miles, a 5-1/2 hour drive in between and a international border to cross. That was my goal today and I accomplished it but not without a few surprises along the way!

I left Volcano San Salvador behind as I left the Intercontinental Real Hotel. I was hopping capitals today going from San Salvador to Tegucigalpa. It took me a while but I finally learned how to pronounce Tegucigalpa—Teg-uci-gal-pa, always with an image of a horse galloping away. It seemed like I could still see Volcano San Salvador in my rear view mirror as my focal point on the start of the day’s journey, Volcano San Vincente became visible. I would head east, cross the border into Honduras then head north to its capital city Tegucigalpa. San Salvador is at an elevation of 2159 feet and it seemed like we almost went down to sea level before starting the climb to Tegucigalpa at 3250 feet. As Torch and I went up we went through some wind mills. Never seeing the city until we got to and over the mountain I felt like we were full of anticipation on the yellow brick road like Dorothy and Toto.

I got a little ahead of myself there. Along the way to the border I stopped in a nice little Coca-Cola town for an early lunch. I say Coca-Cola town because of all the Coca-Cola signage. Torch had a rest out front while I refueled in a Coca-Cola restaurant. My tour friend Jorge from the Guatemala-El Salvador border really had set me up with his buddy Roney to help me pass through to Honduras. I met him at a Puma gas station a few kilometers from the border. Ah, communications, it was nice to have a cell phone again!

Things with Roney went well on the El Salvador side of the border. It is always easier it seems to be leaving a country than entering one. On the Honduras side there was a little issue which resulted in me letting Roney go. We needed to get Torch her temporary vehicle permit in Honduras. Roney, without consulting me, paid an official $US 10 to not have Torch inspected. At least that is what he told me. Of course I was curious to his thought process and his expectation of spending my money without asking me. The fear he communicated was that without paying the bribe, it would take three hours to inspect Torch down to actually unscrewing the air conditioner vents to look inside. I asked Roney what the chances of being inspected to that extent were. He said 100 percent. I said I would take my chances and drove through the checkpoint, got the vehicle permit and did not get inspected. Maybe he did pay them off so just in case I reimbursed him $US 10. Who knows?

Now on my own, going solo, speaking no Spanish, I drove on through the border realizing I missed stopping at the Customs building to get my temporary visa. Torch needs hers and I need mine. While making a U-turn on a fairly broad street I bumped (not hit since I was more stopped than moving) a little red streetcar that shuttles people around town. The operator took exception to it although I looked out the passenger side of the car and saw no damage. I smiled and waved my hand and said thank you and drove another 30 yards into a parking spot. He followed, I got out and a customs official came to my rescue since there really was no damage. He then took me inside and helped me complete the paperwork to enter Honduras. The funny thing was that when I came out about 15 minutes later I was expecting some more interaction with the operator fellow but he was no where to be seen. When I went to my car, I saw and realized that I had left Torch all alone, unlocked, with the keys in the ignition and the engine was running! Who says I am not an idiot and that Honduras is not a safe country!

The ride up to Tegucigalpa was beautiful, especially within 50 miles of the capital city. The mountain outcroppings were dramatic, irregular and stunning in their natural design. If Tegucigalpa was a fort it would be hard to attack, at least from the south. My Garmin connected with its satellite occasionally confirming I was heading the right way. Though once we arrived in the Tegucigalpa city limits the satellite connection was lost and it was useless. I managed to meander around a bit, in hindsight overshooting the Multiplaza Mall and Real Intercontinental Tegucigalpa that I was searching for. Eventually Torch and I found our way and located home for the foreseeable future.

I couldn’t document exactly what I did that night because all my camera batteries, two Go Pros and the Canon were spent. As I recall I did some more laundry in the bathroom sink of my luxurious room. My stay had VIP status with access to the concierge floor so I headed up there for some dinner. I met a few interesting and knowledgeable people who updated me on current events in Honduras and gave me some insight into the city of Tegucigalpa. Both that and a confirmation email who change my plans for my visit to Honduras.

Here I was always searching for white pearls in those oysters on the Redondo Pier in LA back in the 80s, when fast forward to the 2010s to Honduras, I learned that it was a black pearl that will come into my future and very soon.

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 Update of JTOG’s visit to El Salvador.

Checked in at Real InterContinental Tegucigalpa… another nice place… city has the feel of San Francisco to me without the water… nice Nob Hill like neighborhood…. the days of travel tend to be long and tiring but the evenings and nights are extremely comfortable… I love these Real InterContinental hotels! (-:   (Facebook Post 3 Pics, Andy Reistetter, 11/18/13)