Honduras

Tuesday 4th October 2016 – Today we would be heading to one of the most dangerous countries on our trip. This is the travel advice on Honduras from the UK government: “Crime and violence are a serious problem throughout Honduras and the country has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. You should exercise a high degree of caution”. Our shuttle left about midday so we had plenty of time for breakfast and a last stroll around town. Our route to La Ceida on the Caribbean coast would take us back into Guatemala before crossing into Honduras – no shuttles seemed to cross directly from El Salvador into Honduras. We passed our time gazing out of the windows and watching videos on our phones. By late afternoon we were approaching the Honduran border and just one couple remained – a scruffy bearded museum curator and his slightly annoying wife. We had hoped to cross into Honduras before night but our driver seemed in no rush at all, stopping to give the van a ridiculously thorough wash as darkness fell. Eventually we reached the border and to our surprise we sailed through with no problems at all. Less than an hour later we had reached our stopover point at Santa Rosa de Copan where we had been booked into a dorm for the night. We got some food and went straight to sleep – our minibus would leave at 4am.

Wednesday 5th October 2016 – We were woken by voices at the door to our dorm. We had overslept and our driver was waiting for us. We jumped out of bed, dressed and packed as quickly as we could and hopped sheepishly into the waiting van. Most people got off at San Pedro Sula, a city that until recently had the highest murder rate in the world (a distinction that now falls to Caracas). A bit further on we stopped for lunch at a little cafe by the road. Our remaining travelling companions were a couple of lads called Baj and Andy who were planning on diving in Utila. As we hung around waiting for our driver Baj was approached by what we can only describe as the most terrifying beggar you could ever have the misfortune to meet – a menacing blend of tattoos, muscles and unpredictability. A request for 5 lempira was made about 3mm from Baj’s face who after a quick mental calculation realised this was only about 25 cents and handed it over post-haste. Satisfied, the man ambled off paying no attention to the speeding traffic as he crossed the road while we all had a good laugh that Baj had got chosen. Driving through Honduras we were struck by the number of security personnel with guns – even some restaurants and petrol stations had armed guards. We arrived in La Ceida about 3pm; Baj and Andy decided to catch the boat straight to Utila while we chose to stay in La Ceida for the night. Unfortunately Hostel 1877 that we had planned to stay at was completely full (we didn’t realise but a big holiday had just started) so our driver dropped us at Hotel Economico in town which as the name suggests was a bit of a dive but also full. In the end we found a room at Hotel Christopher which was the sort of place you wouldn’t stay unless you had no other choice. After some food we had a short walk round town. We could have done with getting some cash from an ATM but it wouldn’t have been wise as we were constantly being watched. Back at our hotel we secured the door as best we could and settled down to an uncomfortable nights sleep.

Thursday 6th October 2016 – Even though we arrived at the ferry port an hour and a half before departure the booking office was already full of Hondurans heading to Utila for the weekend. In the end we narrowly missed out on tickets for the 9am sailing and had to settle for seats on the boat departing at 4pm. We didn’t fancy seven hours of tedium at the port so instead took a taxi to a mall where we could at least sip coffee in air conditioned comfort. This also gave us the opportunity to get some local currency and buy some cooking supplies. At 4pm we boarded the Utilla Princess, a catamaran that makes the crossing in about an hour and costs $25 per person. Until about a month ago there had been another older boat competing for passengers and the price war had seen fares dip to less than five dollars. As our ferry sliced through the water we gazed out over the blue ocean and watched flying fish skim amazing distances over the water before eventually dropping back below the surface. We managed to find some cheap accommodation at Trudys – part of one of the livelier diving schools on the island. After dinner we went to the bar where a quiz was in full swing. We helped some thick Aussies win a couple of rounds and then played some pool.

Friday 7th October 2016 – An irresponsible friend of a friend had taken Alysa diving in the Red Sea about fifteen years ago. Without realising it she had gone to about 18 metres, looked up and having had no training she panicked. She wanted to give it another try but we needed to find a dive school where she felt comfortable. After looking round most of the dive centres on the island we found one called Altons. Alysa liked the instructors and it felt like a very professional outfit so we booked ourselves onto a four and a half day Open Water course starting at 1pm the next day. We also took a look at a free diving course which sounded very interesting. In the evening we played Yahtzee with a German couple. Alysa was her usual lucky self and got Yahtzee on her first throw.