Taking a dip in Honduras

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Guatemala

Lago De Atitlan

We departed Antigua and headed for Lago De Atitlan in western Guatemala having heard and read that this lake was a picturesque place to stay in the highlands. The lake is situated amongst several volcanoes and there are several villages dotted around, each offering different vibes from the rough and ready and relatively busy San Pedro to the hippy hangout of San Marcos La Laguna.

We pulled up in the usual minibus stuffed full of backpackers and decided to stay the night in San Pedro, our place of arrival. This may have been a slight error as we soon found that San Pedro (or the Guatemalan Phuket as James put it) didn´t have much to offer other than relatively simple accommodation very close to a throng of average bars and restaurants. We keep bumping into the same people over and over again, which is cool if you like them but makes for awkward (we should really say ´´Hi´´) greetings in most cases. A lot of people follow the Lonely Planet Guidebook´s recommended routes which pick up the key destinations throughout Central America. San Pedro kind of acts as a gateway to Lago Atitlan and therefore whilst popular with backpackers there are much nicer villages to see just a short boat ride away. The lake at San Pedro whilst beautiful is not particularly clean. I noticed a used syringe floating in the water by the dock which put me off taking the plunge as I did back in Flores (nice eh!). We had an interesting time at ´´Nick´s´´ a restaurant on the lake where I sampled a Spag Bol which you might describe as a watery bowl of undercooked pasta with chopped tomatoes and minced beef. Still, the view of the lake made up for the food. The few bars that exist in San Pedro were pretty dead when we turned up so we headed to our modest accommodation and decided to get the first boat out of there the next day to the much more idyllic and tranquil village of San Marcos.

San Marcos is really relaxed and is where a lot of hippies come. This is apparently due to the theory that it has a spiritual energy which assists in meditation etc etc. A lot of people staying in San Marcos have clearly been there for a while and they all greet you with a smile (not really a characteristic which is synonymous with the rest of Guatemala) as you walk through the warren of streets which link the many hostels, shops, restaurants and local facilities (no bars here I´m afraid). We pitched up at Hotel El Unicornio or Spider City as we came to call it. This place was relaxed, friendly and our accommodation consisted of a small hut with a couple of decent beds. Being on a lake you’re kind of tempted to try and get across it the hard way. So that’s exactly what we did. We rented some Kayaks from a friendly tour operator for a few quid and began to padal. Strangely we decided to head back to San Pedro as we needed an ATM to fund our time in San Marco. Oh well, a bit of exercise got the blood flowing. On the way back the wind picked up and surprisingly you can get some pretty hefty waves on a lake. Knackered from our travels we thought we would head for the village´s hot tub (rented out by some Swiss guy). This was a bit of a luxury and we had a couple of beers with a view of the lake and the stars (again… probably somewhere you would bring the Mrs).

There are plenty of opportunities to trek around the lake, on the hills, mountains and volcanoes that surround it. However, as we knew we were going to be doing a fair bit of that in South America we decided to head to our third county in as many weeks… Honduras.

Honduras

Copan Ruinas

Copan Ruinas as you can probably tell by the name is a town famous for its ruins and not too much else. We arrived at a relaxed hostel with plenty of spare beds and a couple of hammocks which helped ease the pains of the day’s travels. Copan Ruinas is a colonial old town close to the border with Guatemala and acts as a base for day trips to the nearby ruins. However, having seen our fair share of ruins we decided to just relax and visit the local bird sanctuary, Macaw Mountain (no mountain in sight but decent use of alliteration I suppose). I have never seen so many parrots in my life, in fact the only parrots I’ve seen have been in small cages, generally in bars and restaurants throughout Central America. I’d say there were upwards of 30 Macaws here (you know… the typical pirate pet parrot!). The first few were in large cages and seemed pretty aggressive which was interesting enough. By the end of our tour of the sanctuary we reached a group of Macaws, other parrots and toucans who were just sat out in the open air. One of the sanctuary workers produced a long stick which he promptly used to pick the parrots off their respective perches and place on James and I. Obviously this made for a great photo opportunity but is mildly disconcerting having three clawed creatures with sharp beaks (not to mention a tendency to do crap at will) placed on you. This was a great end to the experience and just goes to show that there is often more to see in places than purely the most vaunted attractions (in this case more ruins).

Our second night was spent in a hammock at the neighbouring hostel as ours was fully booked for the night. Whilst hammocks are seriously comfortable I don’t recommend sleeping in one. Although I guess that is yet another box ticked on this trip. The next day we headed for the Bay Islands which would involve a long trip to San Pedro Sula which I think has the biggest bus terminal in the whole of Central America. We knew we could connect to the coastal town of La Ceiba from here. After an hour wait we boarded yet another bus which took a couple of hours and stopped at nearly every opportunity. The local buses here don’t only let passengers board buses, they let anyone and everyone onboard. At one stage there were fruit sellers, beggars and a blind preacher all on the bus at the same time. This makes the experience all the more interesting and aides to break the monotony of what would otherwise be pretty tough journeys.

On arrival at La Ceiba we got off the bus to be greeted by a gaggle of taxi drivers all vying for our business. With a bit of shadey Spanish we jumped in a taxi bound for the local port with around 30 minutes to go until our ferry departed (the last ferry of the day… you can see where this is heading). I had a feeling we were heading the wrong way as the 5 minute journey turned into a 15 minute journey and we began to pass aeroplanes. Just as it dawned on us that we were heading in the wrong direction the taxi driver began to pull into the airport as opposed to the port (which happened to be the other side of town!). The driver pulled a u turn and muttering in spanish as we accelerated back towards where we had come from. Eventually we made it to the port with a couple of minutes to spare. We boarded the ferry for a journey resembling something more akin to a theme park ride than a ferry crossing. After an hour we reached the island of Roatan, a beautiful Caribbean island and all round diving paradise.

Roatan (Bay Islands)

Roatan is diving heaven, which worried me a bit as I had little interest in diving mainly because I can barely swim (which I’ve mentioned a few times now). The island is in the Carribean and has dozens of bars and restaurants which line a strip in West Bay which is where many vistors stay. On arrival we scoured the strip looking for omewhere cheap to stay. There is a huge range in prices here as many americans take a short and in many cases direct flight from the states. There are a few cheap hostels and we plumped for one called Georphi’s. Our dorm had 10 beds and included a kitchen and bathroom. Unusually we had the entire dorm to ourselves which was cool because it meant we didn’t have to worry about our stuff being nicked (constantly keeping one eye open in this respect can get slightly annoying). We chose to stay at Georphi’s because they had a deal with a dive shop named Reef Gliders which meant if we did a Scuba Diving Course we would get a big discount. I’d read that Reef Gliders catered for older generations as opposed to many of the dive shops in West Bay which are supposed to be slightly more competitive (this suited me down to the ground). We booked our first dive that night (the ‘Discover Diving’ course). For dinner we had Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant overlooking the bay(oh how I’ve missed this culinary delight). It was great , but the prices in Roatan are much higher than elsewhere in Honduras (hence the reason we opted for a dorm with a kitchen!). Everything here is priced in dollars as well… largely to cater for the hundreds of American tourists. No problem there though as they accept the local currency (lempiras) everywhere.

We headed straight to the dive shop that morning and were greeted by our i8nstructor for the day, Austin from Texas (original name for a Texan). This kid was no more than 20 years old and ski8mmed through most of the theory (you know… everything you need to know to avoid drowning, lungs exploding, ear problems, decompression sickness… the list goes on). We also signed our lives away (obsolving Reef Gliders of pretty much all responsibility) which we were assured is pretty standard practice. We got kitted up with air cylinders, Buoyancy Control Devices (BCDs) and wetsuits and headed for the shallows of the bay. Here we performed various tasks like taking our masks off underwater, removing our regulators (breathing devices) and using our ‘buddy’s’ air supply. Nursery school over and it was time to graduate to the ocean and a 60ft dive on day one! If you are doing the full Open Water Course you don’t get to dive on Day one but as we had opted to begin with this taster course we were thrown in at the deep end (literally). James, Austin and I rolled off the boat backwards and into the open water. Before descending I thought I may as well check my air supply (as you do). To my surprise and relative concern I had lost a third of my air supply and we weren’t even under water yet. This meant getting out of the water and changing cylinders. This was it… back in the water and no going back now. We descended equalising (popping our ears) every metre to make sure we avoided injury. There is so much you need to be aware of when diving and whilst you have your ‘buddy’ and instructor with you, you really are ultimately responsible for your own welfare. It is surreal breathing at depth underwater, particulalrly when your surrounded by marine life that seems to accept you as an aquatic creature. We saw amazing sholes of fish, eels, worms, lobsters and crabs. The coral was amazing to and we wove our way around the warrens which it creates. My air supply ran low before anyone elses (probably because of my relaxed breathing technique eh!) so I signalled to Austin and we made a pretty rapid ascent (which is a big no no when diving). I got the impression that Austin was relatively new to this instructing business. Despite this, the experience was amazing and I was just as pleased to have overcome what you might call a fear as I was to see the awesome underwater world. Having returned to the dive shop I had already made my mind up that I would join James on the Open Water course, which is cheaper here than anywhere else in the world (just $300US)! That evening we thought we would make the most of our cooking facilities and I like to think my pasta con sweetcorn ham and tomato meal went down well with Jim. The ingredients cost about what they would in the UK which was a bit disappointing having put in the effort to cook (it took around 45 minutes just to get the water boiling!). We kicked back in front of the dorm with a few beers. After an hour or so we saw a shadey looking figure emerge strolling from dorm to dorm. He wondered off and returned… he strolled up and greeted us with the words ‘You would not believe the day I have just had’. Making himself at home he sat and explained he had travelled from New York to Roatan via various modes of transport over a 36 hour period. Suffice to say we weren’t exactly shocked given all of our own travel exploits. His name was Alex, a nurse from New York, and until today (7^th August) he has joined us on our travels, having originally planned to stay in the bay islands for a 6 week vacation. He is larger than life and we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him (to the point where he’s changed my perception of Americans). Anyway more about our adventures with Hulinsky (that’s his surname in case you didn’t realise) later on.

Day two of our four day diving course was like going back to school. We were given a book with chapters to read the night before and that day watched videos in the morning before heading out to the shallow water for some more ‘skills’ sessions (like taking your mask off underwater and swimming 10 metres). That was about it for day 2 and I hadn’t realised how much theory the course would involve, but it was good to know that the course is fully comprehensive and it gave me more confidence going into the third day. When we got back to the dive shop we saw Alex who was bursting with enthusiasm after his refresher dive (he’s already a qualified open water diver). The three of use headed for a local (in the geographical sense of the word) haunt known as The Blue Marlin. Here we drank our fair share of beer before heading out for a late night drunken swim to a boat and back.

Hungover from the night before and what better way to recover than… diving to 60ft. However, first up the open water swim test that I had been dreading (against a current in choppy waters). In a pool back in the UK the best I could do would probably be about 100 metres and that’s in completely still water with no current. The 200 metre swim test is part of the certification and had I failed I would have had to drop the course there and then. It took me twice as long as Jim and I had to flip over to my back a few times but buoyed (like what I did there) by the knowledge that I’d done it drunk the night before… I did it! This was probably my biggest achievement that week and maybe since I’ve been travelling. I was exhausted afterwards and we then had to do some skin diving with snorkels before we began the dive. The dive was great too and we saw some huge eels lurking in the shadows and a big lobster as well as countless species of fish. For me this was the best day on Roatan as I didn’t think I would pass the test. We topped the day off with a karaoke night at the Blue Marlin and James, Alex and I performed 3 well known numbers including Wonderwall to fairly rapturous applause. Great day.

On the final day James and I both aced the exam and followed that up with two more dives. Both of which were great fun because we knew we had done all the hard work already. Diving is a great challenge, can be done all over the world, lets you see things other people can’t see and I never thought I’d say this but I thoroughly recommend it. The added bonus to our time on Roatan was that we persuaded (didn’t take much) Alex to come with us to Nicaragua. So after another day of relaxing on the beach for me and diving for James and Alex, we hit the road again. Onwards to Nicaragua and our fourth country so far.

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Comments

[Diane Freeman]

Hey Lucas, very well done on the diving front! Scary stuff when you're not over confident in the water; you must be so pleased with your achievement. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with your witty and info packed blog D x