hi from honduras
howdy! well obviously survived the hurricane :) it was such lovely sunshiney weather the next day is was amazing - no rain at all for the whole day (was a first)... so sara and i went off on our own (the others did a day tour of Granada) - had breakfast at the 'best breakkie spot in granada - run by swiss guy who gave us instructions on how to catch a chicken bus to the Masaya markets - was... interesting... we got told where the tourist market was and to avoid it if we didnt want to pay double.. the bus dropped us off in what we were told was right in front of the markets. we were offered several nearly dead chickens and hustled and bustled past a variety of little stalls with pots, pans, clothes etc... eventually we did find the ceramics markets - we were the only tourists there - and unfortunately i could not resist a ceramic picture so my pack is mighty heavy!
The had the border crossing the next day - a lot more civilised and less muddy then the previous one! Just had a quick stopover in the capital of honduras - tegucigalpa before departing for another long journey to get to utila (bay islands)... unfortunately after about 10hrs of travel we found out the ferry wasnt operating due to bad weather so we had to spend the night in la ceiba... a few of us had an interesting restaurant experience where the waitress didnt know what food she was serving (pork was enchilada etc) and then tried to up the prices when we came to pay the bill. yep central america - the place where bath mats do not exist, you are very lucky if you have a hot shower (you still think you are pretty special if you have running water at all), and a quick meal is going to take at least 1/2hr to get served! but we are fortunate in that its very green at the moment cos of the rain and very pretty... and have been having fun!
finally made it to Utila... got to do a couple of dives that afternoon (cheapest diving in the world!) - was pretty good... then next day did 4 dives (including the most amazing night dive)... - the conditions were a lot better and then reef was lovely... and met 2 seahorses!!!! one was prancing along the sandy ocean floor taking his time wandering from bunches of seaweed... - was fantastic! Did a wreck dive which was pretty good... and then the night dive - had better bioluminescence than venezuala - it was like the most amazing night sky underwater with all the stars twinkling down towards the coral - so pretty... (altho got in trouble by the guide as he couldnt find me as i stayed behind with my torch off to see it) - worth it tho! ;) Utila was a pretty cool place - nice and laid back.
Bizarrely I met a peruvian guy who i went diving with in Los Roques (Venezuala) - by coincidence we had dinner at the same restaurants 2 nights in a row! Then on the ferry back I was chatting to this lady and she said when i go to antigua can i look up her friend who runs a hotel there... - turns out it is the hotel that the tour goes to! Think it is amazing those kind of coincidences - makes me feel like i am going the right way :)
Anyway one night here in Copan (nice hotel), see the ruins tomorrow... then onto Antigua where the tour finishes! Sara and I are going to check out Lake Atitlan and Tikal and head up to Belize together so that should be good.
Later!
Granada
Masaya