Utila - Bay Islands

Having a bit more fun in Honduras since the last entry. Left the scorpions and rain in Tela and spent a few days in a city called La Ceiba, in order that replacement bank cards be sent. They days waiting for the cards to arrive were certainly a good lesson in budgeting properly. Back on track now though.

Before we even got that far however it rained in Tela for 2 days solid, and the place where we were staying was clearly not properly equipped to deal with this. First the room began to smell a bit like a forest, and then towards the end like a public toilet. Sewage system wasn't up to much. Roof also dripped continuously which was fun.

Anyway we put all that behind us and booked into a much nicer place in La Ceiba, with a TV, which Jenny was very excited about. Unfortunately there was only one American channel, which showed endless re-runs of CSI Miami. I was a lot more interested in the strange local TV which seemed to have a gameshow where you and your partner could win Hondurian citizenship by standing up on cue and saying a line in unison faster than anyone else, there was a lot of weeping and wailing involved.......however my spanish is not up to much, so I might have been mistaken.

That was about the highlight of La Ceiba as it goes. Not a lot to do or see. We got a taxi to what the lonely planet described "the most popular beach" to find that it was deserted other than the big bits of driftwood and thousands of broken bottles, shopping bags etc. As for the sea, I would rather have taken my chances at Portobello.

We've made it out to an island off the coast which is much nicer. Utila is part of the bay islands, and is really really nice. Cheapest place in the world to learn to scuba dive, so we've signed up to an open water course to learn over the next week. Loads of nice restaurants, and the most amazing bar in the world - like a labrynth in the jungle with walkways through and above your head where you can climb about. Lots of little fairies and shiny things all over the place. Unfortunately there are also lots of massive spiders in massive webs just above your head as well. We've also been told that there are tarantulas on the island. I now have a strict regime of checks to eliminate any surprise attacks from uninvited insects though, so fingers crossed won't need any trips to the local "hospital" here.

Anyway, back to the beach/hammock for just now......