Honduras

Well,to get from Livingston in Guatemala to Utila in Honduras was a mission. Quite a cool trip as well though. As it is always the case, crossing a boarder changes so many things. People act differently towards you, the wealth of the people is different, the roads are different, the food is different and well the ladies look different...

So I started the trip on Thursday at 6.30 the morning. A boat ride to Puerto Barrios, a bus ride to the boarder to Honduras, a bus ride to Puerto Cortes, a bus ride to St Pedro de Sula and then a bus ride to La Ceiba. As easy as that. The last boat from La Ceiba to Utila was at 4.00. We got there at 4.10. Well, I can say that I almost made the trip in one day. I met a Irish girl in Livingston that went the same way, so we teamed up and went looking for a hostel in La Ceiba for the night. Got ripped off by a taxi driver on the way but found a decent enough place to stay for the night. I was really quite tired after several nights of bad sleep and lots of travelling, so I slept 14 hours in La Ceiba and then it was time to go to boat already. Exciting night....

As I said, on Friday morning we headed for the ferry across to Utila. I was quite scared of the trip, as I heard that many people get sick on the boat if the sea gets rough. Luckily the sea was nice and calm and I survived without any damages. Utila is quite a big Island off the coast of Honduras and know all over the world as a spot of very good and extremely cheap diving. There is a small town on the island that most of the travellers stay at and where also most of the dive operators are. The first night here I decided to treat myself to a single room for the night with my own bathroom and clean beds. It was fantastic. I felt so clean leaving the room every time. Good times :-) Most of the places by the water here are built of heavy wood and are quitenew, which makes very nice places to hang around on. There are bars by the water, which extend to jetties on the water. Really beautiful for sundowners.
Since this is one of the cheapest places in the world to go diving, I signed up for an Advanced Open Water course here. Starting Saturday afternoon. All excited.

The plan for the next few days. 5 dives for the Advanced course, 2 fun dives and accommodation at the dive operators hostel. When you do a course at a dive operator here, you get free accommodation during your course. Quite nice. Choosing an operator was a bit tricky as there are loads, but I decided to go for one of the bigger and slightly more expensive ones. Just to be able to meet more people, get good gear and good instructions. That woked out very well.
We did three dives on Saturday. First a deep dive to 30 meters, then an orientation dive with compasses and later the night a night dive. All of them very great fun and the reef around here is amazing. After the night dive it started pouring down with rain and wouldn't stop for the whole night. 3 friends and I decided to have a private pool party and so we got drinks, we playing in the pool drinking and it was pouring down with rain. Was good fun.

Today (Sunday) I did two dives in th morning, a Search and Recovery and a Peak Performance Beouancy. Both were great fun. Much better diving than in Cape Town. Wearing a 2mm shorty and colourful reefs and loads of fish just beats everything. The plan for the next few days is to enjoy Utila for a bit more and then to find a way to go to Nicaragua. Appartenly they have an amazing surf there. Have to check that out!