I considered many, many titles for this post:

• Ford Prefect Would not be Proud

If anything in the universe can help avert travel disasters, it's a towel. Not two weeks after learning that from watching that hoopy frood galavanting across the galaxy, what's the one thing we left behind? You betcha.

• If You've Time to Spare, Go by Air (or The TACA Scavenger Hunt)

So, I spoke with my friend Kevin at TACA about trying to change our return reservations so we come back on the 24th, rather than the 20th. "No," he said, "You'll need to talk to someone in person at the ticket counter." He assured me, however, that there were plenty of seats available. So, arriving extra early, we asked at the ticket counter in Miami, and were kindly (and enthusiastically!) told that we would be far more likely to get the change made if we called the local TACA office in Honduras when we arrive. Only one problem, I kindly (and enthusiastically!) pointed out: There's no local number listed in the TACA literature for a La Ceiba branch. "No worries," the man smiled, "Call the Tegucigalpa branch." Tegucigalpa is on the other side of the country. Why would they care? Throwing caution to the wind (we really wanted to go on this vacation), we continued down to Honduras. The in-country flight in a little propeller plane that was 1000ºF inside, notable only for the man brandishing a Fosters oilcan and shouting, "It's Australian FOR BEER!" over and over again. It just kept getting funnier.

• The City of Lights in the Banana Republic

We arrived in La Ceiba, and were able to keep the airport staff from going home by trying one last time to get our return tickets moved back to Tuesday. "Yes, plenty of seats." Could we get the reservations and tickets? "No, you need to call the main branch in the morning, from 8:00 until 5:00. No penalties to change." We caught a taxi into town and made our way to the Hotel Gran Paris, a highly recommended hotel for a mere US$35 per night. Private bath, air conditioning, the works. And the hotel food was delicious. Three langosta alioli for US$18. Honduras is just about the cheapest place in the world to eat well and have a safe place to stay. In the morning, well before our ferry to Utila, we walked around, got coffee, explored the Parque Centrale, were latched onto by a college-educated beggar ("Born right here in Ceiba"), and found the local TACA office, where we were able to confirm our reservations for Tuesday. Tickets? "No, sorry, our printer isn't working." sigh

We caught a taxi to the Utila Princess, and waited forever to get going. Made more friends, a baggage handler who wanted us to know that if we tipped his friend, our luggage would be put in a good place, and not down in the hold. He kept reminding us until we gave his friend US$2. Interesting side-note: Honduras was the first Banana Republic. United Fruit Company and Standard Fruit Company set up shop here, and thus began a century of puppet dictators in Central and South America.

• Underneath the Mango Tree, Me Honey and Me Make Ooh-loo-loo-loo

When we arrived on Utila, our bags were waiting (to our surprise) just inside the door of the ferry. No other bags were to be seen. Our friend came through! We set off in search of Neil, John, or anyone who could point us to the Mango Inn. Five minute's walking brought us right to the door. Due to a miscommunication, we wouldn't be getting our deluxe garden cottage after all. We were getting the Mango Cottage. A house. All to ourselves. For a week. The Mango Inn is so named because of these tiny little fruits all over the place. Clanging down on the tin roof every half an hour or so, too.

After we settled in and got our gear in order, we made our way down to Utila Town for the afternoon dive with the Utila Dive Center. Met two wonderful Divemasters -- Jimmy and Dylan, and our online friend Neil, with whom we'd been arranging the vacation. The dive (a nearby spot called Madeleine's) was great. Amber got to try out the camera in the wild, and came back with a few good shots. Only at the end of the dive did we discover the cap was on the manual strobe connector, keeping it from firing at all! Still she managed to get a few strobe shots of a seahorse and a flamingo tongue.