In my last week in Honduras, there was quite a stir caused by the arrival of Richard Gere and his family, who took a vacation to see the Mayan ruins at Copán and the beaches of Roatan. It made the front page of La Prensa. But the coverage was limited to a photo of an annoyed-looking Gere and the news that he was in town. The kinds of details the public really wants to know -- what did his son have for breakfast? -- were not revealed.

Fortunately, details continue to emerge in the Honduran press. "The actor liked pupusas with loroco and drank a variety of beers during his stay at the ruins (of Copán)", according to today's La Prensa. In addition:

• He and his party comported themselves like regular tourists.
  
• He and his wife stayed in room 331 of the Marina Hotel; the other members of his party were in rooms 332 and 333. This is useful information, because if you're ever in Copán, you're sure to want to stay in the same hotel room once briefly occupied by the star of "The Mothman Prophecies". (Note that this was not the same suite once occupied by John John Kennedy -- that one was occupied.)
  
• Mr. Gere enjoyed a hearty American breakfast, with fried eggs, toast, and pineapple marmalade. His son had an order of pancakes.
  
• The group paid $12 each for entry to the ruins.

As you can see, my Spanish lessons are already paying dividends for my employer. More details as they become available.

* "Richard Gere, stingy with the tips" -- the headline of the article.

As previously reported, my digital camera died when its underwater housing flooded during a recent dive in Roatan. I have just been able to recover the last shots taken with the camera, and discovered that before consigning the camera to its watery doom, the housing nudged a switch putting the camera into video mode instead of still mode. So rather than a number of underwater snapshots, I have a series of short videos.

The longer of these briny films are blurry, motion sickness-inducing affairs, and the last one is accompanied by a low-pitched whine which indicates that is the distressing sound of a Powershot about to give up the ghost. But purely by accident, there are a few short clips that aren't bad. Click on the thumbnails below to have a gander; you'll need Quicktime.

I'm afraid you're getting no more photos of Honduras -- the underwater housing of my camera leaked when I went diving this weekend and the camera fried. Fortunately, this is not longer our primary camera, but it means there'll be no more photos from this trip.

I'm in Honduras for a couple of weeks to work on my Spanish. Here are some photos from the week I have spent in La Ceiba, on the north coast.

The mountains south of La Ceiba.

A plaque commemorating USAID's role in digging a ditch behind the Burger King. I'm so proud.

At Parque Nacional Pico Bonito.

At Parque Nacional Pico Bonito.

La Ceiba's Victoria take on San Pedro Sula's Real España.

...not only does the judge hand down a withering rejection of your motion, but he can quote verbatim from Adam Sandler movies.