Shlub

After the adventurous journey out of La Moskitia we were originally intending to head to Cayos Cochinos to do some diving and chill out on deserted beaches etc but we couldn't get hold of the resort and so we went to plan B - Roatan. The idea was that we'd spend about 5 days diving here before heading back to La Ceiba for a day trip somewhere and then the trip home. We managed to score what was basically our own appartment with a full on kitchen, which was great because we could cook for ourselves and save some money. The problem, however, was that Laura had developed an ear infection while we were in La Moskitia (probably due to the diving before) and it only ever got worse while we were there. Initially the doctors ... read more

After one night in Bélen we took a short boat ride (we really could have walked but didn't turn down the free lift) to the neighbouring community of Raista - the two communities are basically separated by the airstrip - where we would spend 2 nights and were met by a new guide. Aside from watching thunder storms and shooting stars in Yamari we had the most fun in Raista. Shortly after arriving and dumping our bags in another impressively well built room, this time in a sort of longhouse, we jumped onto a long boat and headed across the lagoon for a guided walk in the forest followed by some tubing down the river! While we didn't get to walk in pristine forest we did get to walk around for a couple of hours in ... read more

After our day of horse riding the idea was to head into La Moskitia next so that we still had time when we came back to relax for a while on a beach somewhere. There are no roads into La Moskitia and so you have two choices for transport: Fly or go overland by pickup truck and boat (see later). We chose to fly in and overland out. Wed 27th: Having lost the plane tickets we forked out for two more and flew to Brus Laguna, one of the biggest settlements in La Moskitia, on a small twin propeller plane. When we landed in a grass field at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere we instantly knew what kind of a week we were in for, the kind of week we ... read more

Before I blab on about our trip to Utila in general I'm going to Shamelessly cut to what was by far the highlight of the place for me and one of the most incredible experiences of my life - WHALESHARKS!! I was lucky enough to be in Utila during one of the best times to see these amazing creatures and in between diving, during your surface interval, boats on the north side of the island cruise around looking out for sea birds that might indicate where there is a 'boil' and hence where whale sharks can be found. What happens is that whale sharks sometimes herd schools of small fish (they don't just feed on plankton) into a tight ball at the surface, where the schooling fish jump around making the water looking like it's boiling ... read more

From Tikal I jumped on a tourist shuttle across the border to Belize, where I then caught several different local buses to get to Sitee River. Before I entered Belize I wasn't really sure what to expect. I here very different things from peoples experiences, with some people loving it and others thinking very little of the place. Even just for the language I didn't really know what to expect, despite the official language being English. When I jumped onto my first local bus I was even more confused. I knew that, aside from English, Creole was spoken a lot and Spanish in many places too (there are also other languages spoken in places). Creole I had been told was kinda broken English and so I half expected to understand it. However, on the bus (where ... read more