Honduras

Last time I left the blog I think I was heading through Belize, making my way towards Honduras. We ended up getting a chicken bus from Belize City to Indepence at town in the south of Belize - it took around five hours which was bad enough as it obviously had no air conditioning but I'm sure the driver had a death wish! I actually thought the bus was going to turn over at times.
We headed to Independance as I heard there was a water taxi which could take us to Placencia where we had to get our ferry to Honduras. We made it to Placencia and found what must have been the cheapest and grottiest guest house on the island. But hey, for $5 a night I would sleep anywhere - well almost. It actually looked like it was going to fall down!

The next day the ferry was at the dock, I was relieved as I had only heard of the ferry through word of mouth and some people were saying it didn't even run anymore! So very relieved we headed to Honduras. No I have to admit I'm very impressed with how cheaply we made the journey. To get from Chetumal in Mexico to Honduras on bus and boat had only cost us $78.50 - which beats over $400 for a flight - OK it took the best part of three days but we got to see a bit of Belize on the way. The ferry dropped us in Puerto Cortez and had to get to La Cieba where we had to get another ferry to Utila, on the Bay Islands.
The Bay islands have some of the cheapest diving in the world and I wanted to get my PADI certificate so I can dive in other countries on my trip. It was about a four hour trip to La Cieba which meant another 7 hour bus ride - which after three days of buses we didnt really fancy. We had met two Aussies on the ferry, Rupert and Alice so we all decided to get a taxi - I know, a four hour taxi ride? only in Central America baby! Now I know I have been talking about crazy driver's a lot but this taxi driver was a nutter - I would rather have been on a roller coaster for 4 hours! He would have given Micheal Schumacher a run for his money, he was over taking on blind bends, screeching around corners - we were all shitting ourselves.

We arrived safely (thank god) in La Cieba, where we stayed in a hostel to get the ferry in the morning - now I was itching to get out to Utila to start my diving but as was low season the hostel offered us a cliff diving and white water rafting trip in the jungle with a nights free accommodation for just $22. We had a crazy time - in the morning we went for a trek up the river and went cliff jumping off some pretty high rocks - id say around 7 metres which was pretty cool and then swam down some of the rapids. Then came the rafting, now the rainy season had not started so the rapids were only grade 3 but it was still a great experience. We spent the rest of the time at the lodge swimming in the river which had a 10 metre jump (depending on who you asked, some said 8, some said 15) but whatever it was pretty dam high.

We headed up to another lodge we heard about and bumped in to two New Zealand guys that worked there - now after a lot of vodka, we started to try and catch Cane Frogs - quite random I know but apparently they loved the pool! The night ended back at our lodge stupidly jumping off the rocks in the pitch black - I don't know how but we all made it out in one piece.
The next day we all had a hell of a hangover but by far Tahnee was suffering the most - and we had to be up at 7am to make the ferry to Utila - no the ferry is notoriously known for being a rough ride - and boy they wern't joking. Im so glad I don't get sea sick that's all I can say.

Now for those of you that don't know, Utila was the first place on my list when I was planning this trip - it is on the second biggest reef in the world and has the cheapest diving in the world. We were confronted by a barrage of workers trying to sell us their dive schools. I wanted to check around a bit first so took up an offer of accommodation for $3 that had a swimming pool - not bad hey?
We had a day walking round chatting to all the dive schools to find out which one suited us the most. Now there was a lot of competition for us as it was low season and there was four of us - we struck a deal - $225 for a 4 day PADI open water course, 2 free fun dives and 5 nights free accommodation - I bet you couldnt find that cheaper anywhere in the world!

Our first dive was a just a practice one at 3 metres which got us used to all the basics. The next day we were meant to all be going for our first open water dives - well that was the plan. We ate the chicken wings at the hotel the night before and had food poisoning the next day - I wasnt so bad so me and Rupert went ahead with the dive but Tahnee and Alice had to wait a couple of days to shake it off. I only managed one of the two dives that day as I was rough as hell - I suppose it serves me right for ordering suicidal hot sauce on my wings!
We went ahead and completed the course over the next two days and I have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, I have only ever been snorkeling a couple of times in my life - let alone been diving! We went down to 18 metres, it was like being on another planet - we saw some cool fish and a few Sea Turtles - but no sign of the Whale Sharks that hang around the islands in September/October :-(.
Now Tahnee was supposed to be staying until December going as far as Bolivia with me but as it turns out she had to go back to work - which is a shame as we have had some pretty crazy times over the last 5 months. I saw her off at the ferry which was a pretty strange feeling - I am now on my own! I'm a big boy though and I'm really looking forward to doing the rest of the trip by myself - its what I had planned from the beginning and the prospect has got me really excited. I'm gonna miss Tahnee heaps but I'm sure ill be crashing on her couch in four months time when I get to Aus.

So I set off from Utila at 6.20am - these early morning starts are really messing up my body clock, I m waking at 6am every morning! This would be the first true test of my Spanish skills and I have to say I didn't do to bad... I made the 9am bus to Tegucigalpa - the Capital of Honduras. It was an interesting bus ride to say the least, at the first stop I got off to use the men's room for a number 2 (too much information I know but wait...) now these toilets were disgusting - a bucket of water to flush, floor covering in pee and obviously no toilet seat (cant remember the last time I saw one,lol) so I was hovering over the toilet when I heard this splashing sound - I looked down and saw a Rat the size of a small dog coming out of the toilet! Fuck me, never shit myself so much in my life. Needless to say I lost the urge to go to the Bathroom!
After 7 hours on the bus we were almost at the capital when the bus was pulled over by the army, a guys with a huge gun came on and marched all the men off the bus and told us to stand against the side of the bus with our hands out... hmm, I didn't really like the sound of this - I thought the rubber gloves might be coming out! It was pretty hilarious to be honest, it was all ok they were just checking for firearms - I had a bit of a laugh with the guards - I dont think they see many white tourists on that route, so we had a bit of a joke in my very broken Spanish and they let us go.

Now Tegucigalpa has no hostels as it's not a touristy place, so I got a taxi to the bus station which I had to leave from at 8am the next morning and found a hotel. I did this all in Spanish - very impressed with myself! I'm now getting to the countries that you have to bargain for everything so I managed to get a taxi, a night's stay in a private room with double bed, a chicken dinner and beer for under $10 - not bad hey! It was a totally seedy area, you couldnt even go in the shops - they all had bars and you have to point at what you wanted from the street - I did find a bar which was showing the Argentina match so I had a couple of beers then got told by a local that it's not safe round here at night for a white boy so I'd better go.... hmm, I took the warning and headed back to the hotel for a quiet night - its stranger then I thought being on my own... I suppose it would take a bit of getting used to after spending the last 5 months travelling with some amazing friends.

I have had such a good time in Honduras - it's been nice to stay in one place for more than 3 or 4 days - I feel recharged now for my trip down though Central America. It would be so easy to just stay here, it's cheap the weather is amasing and its a pretty laid back place but I need to make myself move on. I've been making a few plans for the coming months - I have just booked my Inca Trail trek for December - booked a flight to spend Xmas back in the Dominican Republic with Katherine and her family - and decided that I want to be in Brazil for the Rio Carnival in Feb - so my plans have made some major changes yet again but plans are there to be changed.

So next stop Nicaragua...