Central America - Honduras

Alarm didn't go off but the bus driver woke me up by hammering on the hotel room door at 4.01am. Lucky I was all packed and ready to go so at 4.03am me and the bus left. The bus was a small van type thing and packed with like-minded gringo's. The unfortunate couple in front of me had to endure 6 hours of gaseous burps and I couldn't blame any sewage works either so confessed and apologised. Am still a bit nervous about getting robbed again but am getting more relaxed about it because I'm sure it'll happen again.

The border crossing was about as smooth as it gets with both the Guate border office and Honduran being right next to each other. A small $1 charge to leave Guate (makes me laugh...I asked them what it was for and they just said "$1 please"). There was also a small $3 charge to enter Honduras which I sort of understood but was confused about the Guate exit charge. Its nice to be on the road again. I always get excited crossing borders because its usually the end of one chapter but a new beginning for another.

On first impressions the Honduran landscape looks amazingly lush and green with rolling misty covered hills. The people are lighter skinned than the Guatemalans and seem to be bigger and taller (that's it for my sweeping generalisations of Hondurans). In Guatemala I am considered quite tall (they are pretty short there). Arrived in Copan at 12 and the bus was met by the usual hotel and tour tout. He persuaded everyone except me to follow him to a pricey hotel. While I was checking my guidebook for cheap hotels he came back and took me to a local family who had a room in the garden for $5 (ok'ish room but no water usage..which was all ok really as the family was really friendly and I had a chance to practice my Spanish). I didn't get much kip on the bus but this didn't deter me from going to see the ruins. From the town of Copan (very confusingly called Copan Ruinas) it is just a 10 minute scenic walk to the ruins. Entrance was an astonishingly high $15 (I think its so high because of Hurricane Mitch damage in 1998 which damaged some of the ruins, tourism and most importantly so many houses in Honduras).

The ruins themselves had some of the best preserved glyphs and ornaments I've seen at Mayan sites so was amazing to see. The gardens around them are beautifully kept making it really nice to walk around. There is the added bonus of the most colourful birds I've ever seen flying around (can't remember their names at moment but huge parrotty types with rainbow colours) and giant rats with deer-like legs hopping around. After much climbing around the ruins and even having a siesta between two of the pyramids I called it a day and treated myself to a Tuktuk ride back to town ($1). Copan Ruinas town is really pretty. A tiny cobbled town that can be walked around in 10 minutes.

There are loads of activities here like horse riding into the hills, natural hot springs, hiking and cycling trails but I've decided to spend just the day here and continue on to the Bay Islands tomorrow for a 3 day open water diving course (apparently one of the cheapest places in the world). Starting to get my appetite back now so had a slap up pork chops with rice and salad for dinner and then chilled in my room's gardens reading and doing some blog updates.

After chilling in town and walking around a bit me and Seungmi caught the 2pm bus to San Pedro Sula (halfway point to La Ceiba...$3.50). The bus was full of gringo's; Canadian hippy web designer who works while he travels, a clumsy Israeli guy who keeps bumping into people and offering them chocolate, a Swiss guy who walks around the bus giving out biscuits...all good). Arrived in San Pedro Sula at 6pm and was hoping there was another bus to connect me to La Ceiba.

One of the major benefits of traveling light with a small pack is that I can be in and off buses in a flash so I rushed to the bus terminal and just caught the chicken bus to La Ceiba. As is usual with night time bus journeys I'm a bit on edge but it all went smoothly (a few near misses when it started to rain and the driver had broken windscreen wipers). The landscape and climate is getting more tropical now. Am seeing palm trees, feeling the warmth and can smell the sea.

We arrived in La Ceiba at 10pm and after much fiddling about with my guidebook trying to find my choice of hotel I caught a taxi (had to stop clumsy Israeli guy, who was also on the bus from walking to his hotel from the bus terminal (not the sharpest knife in the drawer) and settled for the hotel Rotterdam ($10). Missed dinner tonight but will make up for it with brekkie tomorrow...or maybe that's not too good an idea just before a 1 hour boat ride to the Island of Utila.

Early'ish rise for the 9.30 ferry to Utila. Taxi took 10 minutes and cost $2.50. The ferry itself was a whopping $15 and was a boat ride from hell. It seems the waters round here in the rainy season are particularly choppy and there was vomit flying all over the place. Even with my preventative measures of sitting right in the centre of the boat, watching the horizon and chewing gum it took loads of willpower to stop from retching (a girl next to me did..to the annoyance of the captain who was sitting in front of here steering the boat). It was so bad they had a fellah on standby who walked about regularly dishing out plastic bags and paper towels to victims (am I finally getting my sealegs...or is it just because I had only biscuits for breakfast?).

Really liked Utila on first impression; tropical, small town, Caribbean feel, patois dialect spoken and friendly people. After leaving my pack at the Captain Morgan dive shop (a bonus as its right next to the boat exit) I walked around looking for a cheap hotel for a few days while I decide on a diving school). Finally settled on a $12 a night jobbie but worth it for its access to the sea, garden and nice room (also has a communal kitchen...oh happy Pot Noodle days here I come). I forgot to take out my weekly money using the ATM in La Ceiba this morning and regretted it dearly.

True to laid back Caribbean stylee the only 2 ATM's here in Utila are broken and I had to queue for one and a half hours in the bank waiting for cashiers who counted the customers money in triplicate and as slow as a sloth with flu (but at least there's a bank here). Halloween celebrations have started here early at 6pm..not being a great fan of Halloween unless I can watch a few horror films I just chilled and had a few rum and cokes listening to some old local fellahs lyrically talk in a funny mix of Spanish, Patois and English (there is always a Yaah mwuannn in there somewhere).

The plan for the next week (if the incessant rain and storms stop) is do my 3 day Padi open water diving licence here (cheapest place to do it) and then move deeper into Honduras. After that Nicaragua beckons. Most importantly I have quashed the mad stomach bacteria I had and am on full form again...beer, pancakes, steaks....many things I've been without for a week.

Just when I thought I'd get away from the incessant rains in San Pedro the serious rains start in Utila. Today it was absolutely bucketing with high winds as well. As usual in these conditions there's not too much to do but skulk indoors to catch up on reading or walk around a bit. My main mission here on the fair but rainy island, apart from swim and chill, was to do a diving course. The diving here is apparently very good (with it being in the Caribbean sea) and cheap as chips. Sadly diving wasn't in Seungmi's budget so she just assisted my search.

So armed with a notepad and pen I went in search of the cheapest quality dive course. By the end of the day and exhausted from listening to the same sales pitches and tours of the schools the conclusion was that the good schools all pretty much cost the same and offer the same courses: 3.5 day PADI open water diving qualification, free 3 days accommodation, free snorkel and kayak use and 2 free fun dives at end of course..all for $240-250. Un-decided I went back to my room to mull it over.

Dinner tonight was a cinema meal of a hot dog, popcorn and a pineapple milkshake all for $3. The cinema (I use the word cinema in a very broad sense) was a room with about 24 beach chairs, a biggish projector screen and a DVD player plugged into the projector ($2.50 per ticket and they show a different film every night from their new DVD collection). Tonight's blockbuster was Quentin T's Death Proof. In all honesty its not one of his best but still decent enough...Kurt Russell's good in it. No disrespect to the Utilan's but I suspect there's allot of (ahem) over-exuberant family relations going on here. Allot of similar faces all over the place and walking passed them I expect to see a kid sitting on a car strumming a banjo.

First stop of this wet and windy day (as usual) was the local cafe for a hearty banana pancake and pineapple milkshake breakfast ($2.50). Decided that I was going to do my diving with one of the main dive schools, Captain Morgans (yep, named after the famous pirate and also the rum). They're safe (very important when picking a dive school), friendly, reliable, gave me a discount and their hotel and main diving area is on one of the smaller islands (Jewel Caye). Oh and they give you a cool free T-shirt with a pirate logo (that was the clincher for me). They also gave me a free trip to the island (including a room for the night) before the course starts (on Monday) to have a look around and do some kayaking and snorkeling (very unlikely in this weather). I've booked this for tomorrow morning at 7.30 am (sigh..another early one). Poor Seungmi's going to be bored for a few days.

After a cheap lunch of meat lasagne ($2.50) I had a siesta swinging in a hammock outside (luckily for me it was under cover)...amazing how relaxing a hammock is under cover of rain...very soothing The evenings entertainment was Spiderman 3 at the cinema. To save money I bought some cheap snacks for the film and smuggled them in. Not as good as Spidey 1 or 2 but still good stuff and amazing SFX. As is becoming very common during my travels I'm bumping into fellow travelers I've met before..even as far back as from Mexico city (Small world?) so a few drinks and swapping stories always happen.

My ace is always the robbery story which gets some people gasping. Not too sure if I should be telling people or not as I don't want it to put them off their travels...suppose it makes them more aware and careful and its up to them how they use the info.

Early rise to catch the 7.30 Captain Morgan boat to Jewel Caye. The boat was a small motorised boat and so a really choppy ride. After 25 minutes reached the island and as luck would have it the sun came out. Its a tiny fishing island surrounded by beautiful coral. After dumping my gear and a quick change I made use of the sunny skies, grabbed some snorkeling gear and jumped in the warm water. Saw a huge variety of colourful fish and crabs just within a few minutes of looking under the crystal clear waters.

After lunch at one of only two restaurants on the island the plan was to take a kayak out to another small island called Water Caye which is apparently idyllic; white sand beaches, beautiful coral, no inhabitants and just a few palm trees. This was all but a dream because just as I put the kayak in the sea the heavens opened. All day long it kept raining so in the end I just chatted to the divers there and chilled out.

Dinner was a barbecue at the only other restaurant called Maggies and then sheltering from the rains. Had more diving study to do so read chapter 1 of my PADI dive book (need to read 3 chapters before Monday).

Took the small boat back to Utila as I had some stuff to sort out and chores to do. There was a panic at the ferry docks because the ferry across to the mainland was cancelled due to bad weather. This was good business for the few light aircraft pilots hanging around near the dock (no coincidence there I'm sure) and trying to get people to charter their planes for $240 a go (who the hell would sit in a tiny 3 seater plane in a storm....mad). Sorted out all my stuff and booked myself into a quiet hotel so I could finish my diving homework before tomorrow (all 178 pages of it).

At 7.30 caught the boat to Jewel Caye island. Lucky for me the only other person doing the dive course was an oriental swedish girl called Mia (already attached). First lesson was equipment gathering and preparation so dragged all the gear (wetsuit, snorkel, flippers, weight belt, air tank and buoyancy jacket) to the jetty. From there I had to assemble it all and then went for a shallow dive with some scary tests like diving without a mask and without air. Saw some amazing fish around, even in a shallow dive. Diving's definitely my kind of thing and brings out the true Aquarian in me...couldn't get enough of it. On these short training dives I saw: some graceful seahorses, Lizard fish, Guardian eels, Peacock Flounders, Scrawled Cowfish and a spotted trunkfish.

After a few hours in the water and literally shaking like a leaf from the cold (yes it was pissing down and really windy) the instructor called it a day. Had the longest siesta ever after that and woke up at 7pm absolutely ravenous. Another BBQ at Maggies beckoned and then more homework (still got a chapter to read). Tomorrow I'll be diving at 12 metres properly (bit nervous about it but excited too).

Woke up to stormy winds and bucket loads of rain. This has absolutely no meaning when you're diving so everyone at the hotel Kayla was in good spirits (Hotel Kayla's not really a hotel but more of a commune with a huge living room/ study room and the bedrooms around it..great atmosphere where everyone sits and chats about diving, smokes a bit and watches films). Today is the first day to do proper dives at 12 metres and I was a bit nervous about it. Breakfast at 7.30 is a quick drenching sprint to the local shop to buy a few home baked cinnamon rolls (25c each) and a bottle of water. Then collect all the dive equipment and test it out (don't want to have any faulty gear at 12 meteres..or any depth for that matter).

The boat from the main island of Utila usually arrives at 8am bringing the dive instructors and any new divers/ snorkellers to this fair island. Arrived 30 minutes late today because of bad seas (ominous) but diving must go on and the captain of the boat took us to dive site 1 (Moon's hole with the bonus of a small boat wreck called Ron's wreck (poor Ron lost his boat 10 years ago in Hurricane Mitch) covered in underwater plant life and fish). Any first dive is quite a nervous affair and most of the time you just focus on keeping breathing, not losing your buddy (always need to dive with a buddy for safety and there's more chance of spotting things...especially with my dodgy mince's) and keeping track of depth (go too far down and you need an extra safety stop at higher waters to bring the oxygen level back to normal). Still saw loads of stuff on this dive: Caribbean Spiny Lobsters (huuuge lobsters which I thought about hiding in my wetsuit for lunch later), Queen Trigger fish and some Furry Sea Cucumbers as well as a million other weird and colourful fish. After 40 minutes in the pretty warm Caribbean it was shockingly cold coming out of it and into the rain and wind of the boat.

On the second dive of the day at Jack Neil Beach I saw some Banded Coral Shrimp, a King Crab (huuuuge beast that made my mouth water..even at a depth of 15 metres), a Secretary Blennie and some Squirrel Fish. Apart from the above I saw loads of other gorgeous fish..tiny bright blue things, orange and gray mid size, huge gray with illuminous blue stripes, black and white stripy ones and big shoals of fish only about 2 cm in size. When I got to the surface I even spotted a big shoal of fish jumping over the water at intervals being chased by a much bigger one. Looked amazing because the little light there was in the sky made the fish glint like little silver drops as they jumped.

When diving's finished there's allot of chatter on board the boat (not just our teeth) when everyone brags about what they saw. The bragging got so ridiculous (one bloke claimed to see a Whale..jokingly of course) that I was forced the claim I saw a salt water Elephant Dragon with its young (that put a stop to that). One problem with diving (something to do with the nitrogen levels in the body I think) is that it promotes mammoth pissing so after diving everyone hovers in the water quite obviously pissing in their wetsuits but pretending to be relaxing in the water. Anyone who hangs around in the water too long after a dive is obviously pissing. Quite funny throwing things at people from the boat in mid piss.

Torrential rain awaited at the island of Jewel Caye so nothing to do but have a siesta. Homework for after this was 2 hours of reading chapters 4 and 5 of the PADI dive manual (including quizzes..altogether 98 pages). After this me and Seungmi got a cheap dinner consisting of a cheese roll, a whole pineapple and a pint of milk ($1.90). I'm trying to keep my budget to $15 a day from now on due to my sad financial state. Then lounged around and watched a bit of TV with the others (very funny Italian fellah called Joey from an area called Rimini who uses a wicked underwater camera on his dives and will email some pics of me soon, a nice Swedish couple called Andreas and Mia (she's my dive buddy), an English bloke called Will who semi works here and is paid by getting dive tuition (he'll be a dive master next week) and Anka, a friendly german girl with a big hooter who's well friendly.

Yet another stormy day but as usual everyone's in good spirits. The lure of the underwater seems to block all thoughts of the weather above the sea. The last day of the course today and myself and Mia (my dive buddy) are a tad nervous but getting increasingly confident. I'm now so comfortable and at home under water that my buoyancy (I was told by my instructor Sarah) is excellent for a novice and I just roll between crevices and along underwater cliffs like a...well, dare I say it...a big fish. After a hairy boat ride and with allot of green and pale faces we reached dive site 1 of the day which is called The Maze. It consisted of allot of underwater tunnels and crevices (great exploring potential) and I managed the full 18 metres (the deepest I can go before I go onto an advanced dive course which would allow 30 metres).

As well as tons of other fish and underwater creatures I saw the Scrawled Filefish, Hog Fish and more Caribbean Spiny Lobster. Also worth mentioning are the amazingly colourful coral: huge bright blue cups that are big enough to hold me, huge white coral that look like giant brains and bright red stringy coral that wave around with the current.

On the second dive and after a shivering 20 minute boat ride to the dive site of Stingray point I saw some Spotted Moray, a Toadfish (very rare to see and if its quiet enough in the water you can hear them croak for miles around), Spotted Lobster and a Spotted Drum fish (allot of 'spotted' creatures here it seems). Reached 16 metres and enjoyed a good 46 minute dive. Also dove into a deep cavern which was very spooky diving in the dark. After returning to the hotel there was no time for a siesta but instead had to do a 1 hour exam (results of my final exam will be forthcoming once marked tomorrow morning..need at least 75% to pass and get my Open Water Licence).

Night time was a washout so a quick scamper to the local shop for me and Seungmi for a cheap dinner and then I was asked to pick a DVD to watch for the night. Unfortunately I picked a film called Cellular which is probably one of the worst films I've ever had the misfortune to watch (what was Kim Basinger thinking) apart from Hollywood Homicides (I was the laughing stock of everyone for the night for choosing that one..quite right too). I asked one of the instructors today why there were so many new houses on the island and local rumour has it that a few families found huge bags of Charlie that the tide washed onto the shore and thus financed the house building as well as being pretty rich on top of that (that's why I've been getting up so early here..you never know what the tide may bring in).

The plan for the next week is one more day of diving tomorrow (I got 2 free fun dives as part of the price of the course) then straight after the dives catch the ferry to mainland Honduras again (La Ceiba). Stay there overnight then catch a bus to Tegucigalpa (the capital). From there its a few days in south Honduras and then into Nicaragua where I'm going to stay in Granada for a day then head straight into (not literally) Lake Nicaragua to see some islands (I hear there's an island full of Monkeys somewhere) and active volcano's everywhere.

To break the monotony of the last few weeks the sun finally decided to show itself. Spirits in the Kayla diving camp were at a record high when even the laziest of divers got out of bed extra early to catch some rays. People were buzzing with the rumours of a possible visit to the north of the islands where not many people dive. After preparing all the dive equipment for my last 2 dives in this part of the world had a hearty cinnamon roll and water breakfast. The usual boat captain Louis was off today celebrating his birthday so Frank Morgan, the owner of the dive school (never did ask if he was related to the infamous pirate Captain Morgan...very unlikely as Frank is originally from New Orleans) was our captain for today.

It being his boat he decided to risk the very rough seas to take everyone to Turtle beach for today's dives. At one point he nearly turned round as the waves were dangerously high and in danger of smashing the boat onto the reefs but he soldiered on and I enjoyed the 2 best dives I've had so far seeing pristine coral and too many variety of fish to even remember (Nice..with a capital Ni..).

Arriving back at Jewel Caye it was a mad dash to get the boat back to Utila where the only ferry for the afternoon left at 2pm. Managed to pack my last few bits, fill out my dive logbook, check my exam results (a reasonable and modest score of 92%...which is a pass) and bid a hasty farewell to my fellow divers...all in 10 minutes. On the bumpy 25 minute boat ride back to Utila it dawned on me that I'd left 650 Lempiras ($1 = 19 Lempiras (which I have dubbed Umpa Lumpas)) back in my room. Much too late to turn back so hoping for some honesty from the dive school I left my account details for them to transfer the money when they found it (I'm sure they will).

After hastily grabbing my free Captain Morgan's T-shirt me and Seungmi managed to jump onto the ferry in the nick of time (it was actually moving when I pounced across with my pack on my back). Using my tried and tested sea sickness prevention of just falling asleep I arrived in La Ceiba dizzy and wobbly but without feeling sick. Decided to stay in La Ceiba overnight and bus it all day tomorrow so went back to the trusty Hotel Rotterdam ($10 a night) and chilled. Walked around a bit, did some email checking and had a half roast chicken with salad at a local cafe ($3) which I shared with a feral cat who had a thing for chicken. After pushing the cat off the table a million times I gave up and ended up sharing my scraps with it. Of course it started raining just as I finished dinner so had a few beers and headed back to my room. One very unimportant fact about Honduras worth mentioning is they don't use coins here...only notes.

Woke up late this morning and rushed to the long distance bus terminal to try and catch the morning bus. Missed the 10am by 15 minutes so had to wait around for the 2pm bus. Walking around I discovered a huge shopping centre so treated myself to a burger and ice cream ($4). The clothes here aren't much cheaper than in UK so wasn't even tempted to buy anything. Caught the 2pm bus ($20) and as usual with these long bus journeys just dozed, chatted to Seungmi and listened to my MP3 player (favourites at the moment are 10cc's Mandy (fly me)..what a tune, Lemon Jelly's Rambling man (a tune that sort of inspired me to think about travel while I was stuck in traffic going to work every day) and Boney M's Sunny.

Feels really good to be on the road again and get some mileage under my belt. Allot of travelers I meet don't like the journeys in between destinations but I actually prefer being on the move (strange). Arrived in Tegucigalpa 2 hours late and at the unhealthy time of 10pm. Being on a tighter budget now our hotel choice was right at the bottom of the guidebooks budget choices. The Hotel Fortuna was probably full of fortune but empty of anything else but at $4 a night I wasn't grumbling.