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Published: March 18th 2011
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My journey into Honduras was probably the worst of my life so far. Having woken up at five in Flores, Guatemala to get the bus to San Pedro Sula in Honduras, then to La Ceiba, it was a very tiring day. First of all, I had to change bus somewhere in Guatemala to get the bus to San Pedro Sula, which had not been explained to me on purchasing my ticket. Then, when crossing the border, I became very confused. Firstly, there are men everywhere trying to change money (too many men!). Then between the Guatemalan immigration office and the Honduran immigration office there are about 16km of nothing. This made me very nervous as I though they had taken me across the border without me having chance to get my passport stamped. You are also charged to enter and exit Honduras. Some idiot on my bus tried not to pay tax on the goods he was transporting, which subsequently meant I arrived late in San Pedro Sula and therefore arrived late, after dark, in La Ceiba, something I always try to avoid.
My arrival in La Ceiba was the scariest part of my entire trip (luckily it wasn't too
bad!). To begin with, the taxi drivers try to take as many people as possible, even if they are not all travelling together, so I was in a taxi, at night, with 3 strangers, all men. Yay. I was the last to be dropped off. When I was dropped off, a man stumbled up to the taxi, almost empty bottle of rum in hand, and proceeded to take my rucksack out of the boot. When I gave the taxi driver a horrified look he said to me, 'Don't worry, he works here!' which actually made me more worried. So I followed the drunk guy, who claimed it was his 'biffday' into the hotel (Rotterdam Hotel, 'rotter' being the correct word to describe it) and let him show me to my room before locking the door behind me with him on the other side. He then decided to sit outside my window and sing me love songs all night. I was, up to this point, planning to stay two nights in La Ceiba, however I decided to head to the Bay Islands as soon as possible!
The next morning I woke up and randomly vomit... just before heading off for
the hour and a bit ferry ride to Roátan... perfect! I am never normally sea sick, but this crossing was awful! On the ferry I met two Guatemalan guys and a German girl who were heading to the same place as me so after the ferry we shared a taxi (which are very expensive!). We headed to West End and looked for a place to stay. Everywhere was expensive, so, we found a room with two double beds for 30$ and decided to stay there; the girls in one bed, boys in the other. This first day was beautiful and sunny, but as my stomach still had not recovered from the morning, I just sat on the balcony and read my book. In the evening I ventured out to a little bar and met a half English/ half Aussie guy and a Swiss guy who supplied me with many salva vidas (the local beer - lifesaver).
The next day, the rain arrived, but I went diving anyway. I did two dives, both very interesting, I saw sea horses, lion fish, an eagle ray and many more things. Then there was a 6 hour powercut, so not much else to
do.
The following day I went to get the ferry back to La Ceiba and then a bus onto Copan Ruinas. On the ferry I met the half English/ half Aussie and Swiss guys again (Adam and Jorge). They were heading the same way as me so we travelled together. We got a bus with Headman Alas, a very good company, but be prepared for the cold air conditioning on the bus! Take a hoodie and socks!
We arrived in Copan Ruinas at night and went out for dinner. The next day we went to check out the ruins, which were good, as you could climb all over them unlike other place, but were nothing in comparison to Tikal (although I later met a man who disagreed with me saying he prefered Copan as there are more scupltures and art - depends on your tastes I suppose!). It was also expensive, something that, as Brit, I find difficult to comprehend, as to me, all museums should be free!
Copan Ruinas is a lovely, little town with lots of good cafes and restaurants and would've been a good place to chill out for a while, but I had
to head on to El Salvador, so booked a shuttle for the day after.
Other things I noticed about Honduras:
It seems less friendly than other Central American countries... maybe as it is the lastest to have come out of civil war? I'm not sure.
Every town appears to be sponsored by Coca Cola or Pepsi... like there is a war going on between the two of them there. Pepsi was winning! Yay!
On the Bay Islands there is a huge wealth disparity. In West Bay there are huge hotels with amazing swimming pools whereas in the interior villages, they only have running water once a week due to shortages.
This blog may give a negative view of Honduras... I don't want to give this view, I enjoyed my time there. All I will say is that I think that this country has suffered a lot recently and that this shows when travelling there.
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