Botanical Gardens & Bussing

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Next day in Tela I went to the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens, one of the largest in the world, I think.
It's a few kilometres out of the town, but my hotel rents bicycles, so I was going to rent one to get out there.... Or not. I'm glad I know bikes, and that I checked them out. Of maybe seven or eight bicycles, the only ones without flat tires had either jammed gear shifts, or loose brakes! Yikes! I told the hotel staff and they looked at me blankly. So, plan B, got a cab, then arranged pick up in a couple hours time, and wandered around. The map they gave me of the gardens was extremely unreliable, and since it was a weekday, I was basically the only visitor, but I made my way around okay. Huge shady bamboo groves, bananas, bird of paradise, a herb and medicinal plants garden, an orchid garden, edible plants, frangipani, orange, cinnamon, and palm trees, flowers, etc... Very beautiful and green. In addition to the plants there were a great deal of very beautiful birds, including at least three species of toucan! Saw two or three keel-billed toucans, which are the large one that are probably the species that immediately springs to mind when someone says 'toucan'. Neat birds. After the gardens, I said goodbye to Tela, and returned by bus to San Pedro Sula, en route to Lago de Yojoa (Yojoa Lake). Sadly, the bus was (once again!) delayed, so I was forced to stay the night in San Pedro Sula again, continuing on the next morning. Nice hostel in a (relatively) safe neighbourhood, though, so could be worse.

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