Bye Bye Belize, Hello Honduras

16/10/09

So after just two weeks our time in Belize has come to an end, something which we´re actually not too sad about. Don´t get me wrong, we have had some good times and met some lovely people, but apart from those few highlights, Belize has been quite a disappointment and we are really looking forward to moving on to Honduras. From Placencia you can take a boat to Puerto Cortes, one of the major ports of Central America according to our taxi driver. The journey is only meant to take a couple of hours, but that's if the boat doesn't stop off somewhere for hours for no apparent reason! Efficiency is severly lacking here :) The journey was quite interesting though as there was a kind of debate going on between the Honduran passengers...the point of discussion of course being the current political situation in Honduras. There was one man passionately defending the deposed president Mel Zelaya, while a couple of others (a man and a woman) were more in favour of his replacement, Roberto Michelletti. The former was arguing that there had been an uncalled-for state coup, while the other two were adamant that there had been a mere constitutional succession because Zelaya had violated one of the core principles of the Honduran Constitution. Zelayer's defender went on to say that you can't call it a constitutional succession when the President is forced out of his home in the middle of the night dressed in nothing but his pyjamas, to which the woman replied: "I would have dragged him out naked if need be!". It was an entertaining exchange and helped to pass the time :)

So instead of arriving in Honduras at around midday, we arrived at about 2.30pm, and no sooner were we out of the boat, than we were surrounded by taxi drivers offering to take us here, there and everywhere, furiously bartering to win the custom of the confused tourists trying to work out where we had to go next. Our passports had already been taken from us and we had to make our way to passport control, which for some strange reason isn't located at the port, but a ten minute drive away in the centre of town...hence you need a taxi! We eventually managed to negotiate a good price for all five of us to be taken to the passport place, then to a cash point, and finally dropped off at the bus stop so we could continue our journey to San Pedro Sula (we have since heard that there have been cases of dengue fever reported here....eek!). When we got out of the taxi we were again confronted by several people, this time offering a ride to San Pedro....a direct bus for this amount of Lempiras (the local currency in Honduras named after a famous indigenous warrior), one that stops along the way for a bit less...the desperation was palpable. People were trying to grab our bags so that we would get on their bus, telling us to follow them, ensuring us that their bus was direct and therefore quicker! Dave, who had done this journey before was our chief negotiator and managed to get us a good price :) We were quite surprised to get away with paying the amount we did, especially as a few of our backpacks were occupying two extra seats....but Dave is obviously good at persuading people!

San Pedro Sula wasn't the end of the road, however. Ultimately we were trying to get to Utila (one of the Bay Islands situated off the north coast of Honduras). We were never going to make it there, so we were at least aiming to reach La Ceiba, a town on the north coast and departure point for the Bay Islands. We arrived at San Pedro in time to get one of the last buses to La Ceiba, even having a few minutes spare to grab some food before the 4 hour bus ride. Dave, again having been here before, knew which hotel to head for and we soon had a room for the night for a mere $5 each. After dumping our bags we headed out for a few drinks to relax a bit after the long day of travelling. I didn't feel like a beer but the rest of the group ordered the typical life jackets...the most popular Honduran beer is called Salvavida, which is life jacket in Spanish :) And neither did they waste any time in sampling the local cuisine: baleadas. This is a flour tortilla, standardly filled with beans and cheese (spicy sauce optional), which you can often add meat to as well. These ones in particular contained a meat medley of I think beef, chicken and pork. I didn't partake at this point in time but the others assured me that they were very good, and they were extremely cheap as well at just 50p each!

The difference in atmosphere here was incredible...Almost everywhere we went to in Belize, it was always so quiet during the evening, and you only ever saw a few people out and about. Here in La Ceiba, there were people everywhere! There was so much noise and life...it was a refreshing change and we felt right at home, although we did manage to attract a few strange looks from the locals. I have no idea why!! This being the transport hub for the popular Bay Islands I think they must be pretty used to seeing tourists by now :) The next morning we made our way to the port to catch the morning boat to Utila and the crossing took just over an hour. The owner of a local dive shop who Dave knew from his previous visit was at the port to meet us and so we all headed straight for Parrots (the dive school where we would end up doing our PADI Open Water Diver course).