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Published: November 14th 2008
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A drive-through tour of Honduras...
After leaving Guatemala we headed into Honduras, did a quick visit to Cópan ruins (Yeah, another ancient city!) and then our plan was to head out to the Bay Islands to do a few more dives. We got most of the way there and then found out that there was severe flooding along the Caribbean coast and ferries were not running to the islands, due to the tail end of a hurricane. It was hard to know whether to go ahead or not, but we had to make a decision so abandoned the plans to go to the coast. There weren't really any other places in Honduras that we wanted to visit, so we headed to the capital Tegucigalpa. We had been trying to avoid Central American capital cities since they are usually a bit dodgy but we had to spend the night here. We went for a walk after checking in to a hotel but it didn't feel too safe so instead we had a look around the old centre the next morning. There wasn't a whole lot to see, so we just went to the bank and then left for the border. One
thing about Honduras that we noticed on our quick visit was the amount of security at the banks...there must be a huge amount of bank robberies or something...three guys at the door with pump-action shotguns, batons, handguns, metal detector etc. (even at the door of the ATM which is inside a little room) You get a quick frisking at the door and questioned about what you want to do in the bank (change money, make a withdrawl, etc.), then there's a polite sign asking you to deposit your gun or machete before entering! When you do go in to change money for example, you go first to a guy at a computer with your passport, answer a few questions there and give him your details, then go to the cashier with you ID again and after signing a few things you finally get to change your $50. Doesn't do much for making tourists feel safe in town!
On to Nicaragua
After lots of bus journeys we finally made it into Nicaragua and already we felt more at home, everyone was friendly, things were a lot cheaper and even the bank security was more relaxed. We stopped in a
town called Estelí and found out about Nicaragua's recent history, then walked out to see some nice waterfalls. All the recent heavy rains also caused some flooding around Estelí so the waterfall was fairly full and we had it to ourselves for the day. Next we headed to León, a nice colonial city with lots of politics and surrounded by volcanoes. We decided to do a two-day hike up one of the volcanoes, Telica, with a crowd called quetzaltrekkers who work for a local charity in León. Good job we didn't know what was involved when we signed up, cos the next morning we found out how much stuff we were going to be carring all the way up a volcano. 8 litres of water each, camping equipment and tons of food..our bags were really heavy and it got really tough as the day went on. I can definitely say I never sweated so much in my entire life and a few times I was wishing I was somewhere else but when we finally made it to the top (after about 6 hours) it was really great. The views were savage and the crater was enormous, hissing and pumping out
stinking sulphur fumes. It was class. We camped next to the active crater in a dormant one, where there was a grassy area and some cows and horses to keep us awake at night! But just as we had the campfire going and the tents pitched, the skies opened and we got absolutely soaked. The area where our tent was turned into a lake after about 20 mins so we had to move everything to slightly higher ground. It didn't matter though cos we all squeezed into one tent (with 2 israeli guys, an ozzie girl, two american guys and a nicaraguan) and had a bit of craic. In the morning we climbed up to the crater again to see the lava below before it got too bright outside and then watched the sunrise before breakfast and another days hiking back (down a different path and this time mostly downhill thankfully!!). It was a really amazing trip.
After recovering for a day we decided to hike up another volcano and this time take a very fast trip back down...it's called volcano boarding! Great craic, you go really fast and there are no brakes, at the end there are rocks
in your mouth, ears, nose, everywhere..brilliant fun though!!
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Ciara
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volcano boarding!
hey fran, that volcano boarding looks absolutely CLASS!!