Blogs from Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 15

Na Rosco op de taxi te hebben gezet is het solo-deel van mijn reis begonnen. Na een poosje in Guatemala te hebben rondgestapt met mijn zo-goed-als-niet-bestaande-Spaans op naar Honduras. Van medereizigers al allemaal adviezen gekregen over waar ik het beste naartoe kon om te duiken. Mexico was een hele goede optie, maar na alle verhalan aangehoord te hebben op de bus gestapt naar Utila, Honduras. Om de keuze nog een keer bevestigd te krijgen kom ik in Hopkins,Belize een duikinstructrice tegen uit Mexico die mij Utila nogmaals van harte aanraadt en meteen een duikschool aanbeveelt. Hopkins is een schattig dorpje in Belize met de laagste criminaliteitscijfers. En een prima strand aan de Carribean. Dus een dagje blijven hangen om te windsurfen en te chillen. De Funky Dodo blijkt een prima plekje te zijn om mede-backpackers te ... read more

Despite some cloudy and windy weather, we were able to get on the morning dive boat, heading to the south side of the island. Our first dive site was Diamond Caye. This dive began with a descent to a sandy bottom where we were greeted by a friendly angel fish with a dog's personality. When we put our hand out to it, it swam right up to us. We moved along to some beautiful coral formations that seem to be unique to Utila. You swim through channels of coral with sponges, sea fans and all sorts of plants swaying gently in the current. Small reef fish dart around looking for food or avoiding becoming food. A patient diver will be rewarded with sightings of juvenile fish, tiny hermit crabs, sea snails and perhaps an eel. One ... read more

Keeping in theme with the Honduran way of doing things, we arrived at Deep Blue Divers at 7:00am for our 7:30 boat that left at 9:00. The original plan to dive on the north side of the island before stopping at Water Caye for a picnic lunch was somewhat altered, but it turned out to be a great day. Our first dive was a beautiful wall reef with lots of great coral formations. I was surprised by the lack of fish we saw, but the huge brain coral and aquatic plants made up for it. The theme of the day was definitely “Mishaps with Dive Equipment”. My tank nearly fell off twice, John broke his mask, John couldn’t take pictures with his camera, I couldn’t read my gauge and thought I was running out of air…need ... read more

So we entered Honduras on the bus – crossing went really smoothly as did the exchange of money we had left from Nicaragua. The only thing that made us a little bit uneasy was a huge gun our guard was holding all the time. On one hand it made us feel secure but on other, we felt very unsure about this country. On arrival in Tegucigalpa, we were shocked by how shabby this place looked. As the likes of Peruvian or Bolivian towns, it looked poor and grey. Tica Bus dropped us at their office (not the station God forbid) and we already knew that a few hotels were in the neighborhood. Shock number 2 – the entrance to the first hotel we checked was guarded by 3 gates with steel bars. What on earth? We ... read more

I arrived in Ocotepeque, Honduras from Costa Rica via Tica Bus as well as local buses in Honduras after a couple of days and was surprised at how beautiful this little town was, in a valley surrounded by beautiful big mountains and a local feel not a tourist trap. Well I guess you could make the argument that all of Honduras outside of the Bay Islands is that way lol. Anyway I used a taxi drivers cell to call Lemuel, the teacher who essentially gave me the job, at around 7am and he came down to meet me and showed me around the apartment. I also met the other teacher working at the private school Kristine. They were friends from the Philippines who came to teach there and Lemuel has been going back every school year ... read more