Well guys, it’s almost the end of the month, which means we are ready to tell you about our June lodging. We booked it on airbnb.com, as we often do. As there were no reviews, it seems it was the first time the place had been booked via that route — I know, living on the edge, aren’t we? It was easy to find, only a couple kilometers from the main highway through town, and about fifty paces from the Caribbean. Perhaps the best way to tell you about it is through a good ol’ fashioned pro/con list.

Pros:

• As previously mentioned, we were a fifteen second walk from the beach, and our front door and windows faced the Caribbean. Our back porch looked over a brackish lagoon, full of birds and dragonflies and the occasional fisherman commuting to the sea.
• The neighbors and neighborhood were great. The Chicagoans running the B&B next door and the Texans two doors down did much to make us feel at home, letting us use their pool and even feeding us a couple of times. Most of the other houses in the development are either vacation homes and currently empty or are still under construction.
• Very good internet speeds — No problems at all with streaming video or Skype calls.
• Cable — Normally not a concern, but with the huge number of soccer stations here we were able to catch all three USMNT World Cup qualifiers this month. This meant, of course, that we were not tempted to go find a sports bar to watch the US men defeat our current hosts.
• A pool for us to use at another extension of the development about a quarter mile up the beach
• Night watchman — Definitely a plus
• Air conditioning — It is always hot and always sticky in La Ceiba.
• Washing machine — We have gotten use to taking a giant bag of clothes every other week to the lavanderia to have them washed, so it was nice to do them in-house.

Cons:

• Unexpected 24 hour power outage
• Current water outage has reached 30 hours as of writing this. Not fun. I am quite dirty now.
• Lots of mosquitos. Granted, a decent portion of this has to do with the fact that we are in a hot, wet place, but a gap in the back door and another in the bathroom window let many of these pesky guys inside.
• Not the cleanest
• Funky rusty water. The funky has seemingly been fixed while we have been here, but the rusty was a surprise the first time we washed some white clothes.