Honduras
September 2006
Subtitle-->
Crossing the border from Guatemala into Honduras was extremely simple. In fact, when we arrived at the border station in El Florido we almost didn’t recognize it as a border, it looked more like a collection of snack stands. The process was quick and painless, within about thirty minutes we were back in the car and driving toward the town of Copan Ruinas. Our first order of business was to find a place to stay, we found a waterpark of all places which let us camp in the large grassy parking lot. Included in the nominal camping fee was free access to the waterpark so we had fun playing on the waterslides since it was pretty hot. Our main reason for going to Copan Ruinas was to see the famous Mayan archeology site of Copan so we wasted no time and found ourselves exploring our first Mayan ruins the very next day after our arrival. The ruins were amazing with intricate and well preserved carvings. The most impressive things were the grand staircase and the fact that the entire site felt like it wasn’t even close to being fully uncovered yet. It will likely take a number of years to fully understand the depth and breadth of the ruins.
The town of Copan Ruinas was a little bit touristy but nothing close to Panajachel. We found the resources available like laundry machines, internet access and banks to be quite nice. It was time to change the oil in the van so we took care of business and met a really nice family in the process. They told us that we had to go see the bay islands and the Caribbean side of the country so we decide to head to La Ceiba. The drive to the Caribbean coast was mellow with good roads and none of the sketchiness people had told us about. We had a bit of trouble finding a place to camp in La Ceiba but luckily met a nice American guy running a little out of the way hotel who rented us a room for really cheap since the hotel was technically closed. From La Ceiba, we checked out a way to go to the Bay Island of Utila with Bruce. We found a secure facility to leave the van at the harbor with round the clock HEAVILY armed guards. The boat ride out to Utila was not for the faint of heart. The twin diesel power cat did a steady twenty knots despite the fifteen foot ocean swells. Needless to say, Bruce loved it but many of the passengers were less enthused as they hung their green faces between their legs.
When we arrived on the island of Utila we were greeted by droves of twenty something year old dive masters trying to get us to come stay and dive with their particular dive outfit/hostel. The scuba diving on Utila must be some of the most affordable in the world with all of the competition and endless dive sites to explore. We settled on diving and crashing with Utila Dive Center who offered us such a smoking deal with a very solid and professional facility that we couldn’t refuse. In fact, we ended up getting our PADI advanced open water diver certification because it was actually just as cheap to get the additional certification as it would have been to do all of the required dives for fun. Bruce loved be the favorite dog with all of the locals and travelers as well as the subject of so much love and attention in a place where he could swim till his heart’s content. When we left the island for the mainland, we were ready for the next adventure and felt we had really lucked out by being able to dive so much and gain more skills and experience in such a beautiful place. As we pulled away from the harbor, we noticed two backpackers hitch hiking and decided to pick them up. After a brief conversation we found that our hitchhiking friend Omar (from Cozumel Mexico) and Jerone “G” (from Holland) were working their way to Nicaragua. Since we were headed in the same direction we offered them a ride, they accepted and so began a great journey through Honduras towards the Nicaraguan border. Our new friend Omar helped us talk our way out of a couple sticky situations with the Honduran police near the capital of Tegucigalpa and generally refine our Spanish and Police negotiation techniques.
Overall, we loved Honduras. The country is beautiful and incredibly diverse in geography, people and culture. Anyone that tells you Honduras is sketchy, most likely has only passed through a very small part of Honduras between El Salvador and Nicaragua. We spent our last night in Honduras near the Nicaraguan border in a super nice hotel called the Hotel Barcelona which offered very nice rooms for only 15 dollars per night. We traveled all over the country and only got harassed in a small little area. If you like to scuba dive, we cannot emphasize Utila enough.