New York

Spent the last week and a half on Utila in the bay islands, partly because of a little bit more bad luck, and partly because it's so so nice. Jenny woke up the day before we were supposed to start diving looking like a robot, because she couldn't turn her head separately from her body due to a really sore neck. Had to have another trip to the local doctor which was fun. Turns out that she also had a parasitic bug in her stomach as well which is nice. Anyway, we had to put off the diving for a few days until the injections and pills that she was given worked.

Eventually we managed to get in the water with the diving gear on, having spent a lot of time reading the theory behind diving. The place where we signed up was amazing though. Very cheap, good rooms, its own jetty&pier, big courtyard with hammocks hanging from the trees. Very nice. They also had a cross eyed dog called Alejandra who spent the entire day fetching plastic bottles from the sea, which was quite funny. She got a bit confused if you through stones in instead of bottles cos she couldn't find them, so I preferred to throw stones.

We got taught the diving along with another couple of candians and Swedish girls. our instructor was a local islander and looked and sounded like a pirate. He was very good, apart from the fact that he called me several different names a day....caleb, caylum, calvin, team scotland. The diving itself was absolutely amazing. We are both now PADI qualified divers to 18m. Both of us enjoyed it so much that we considered taking the advanced course. have to move on though. May try and do this in Asia. Saw all sorts of amazing stuff in the sea, including a creature called the 'thing', which was a big 4foot long centipede, moray eel, queen angel fish, loads of weird things. I was a bit rubbish on the first dive and sucked all the air out of my tank in about 20 mins but got a lot more relaxed the more we did it. we also had a huge pod of dolphins jumping about at the front of the boat that we were diving off which was incredible. We met up with a couple of Brummies who were a good laugh, and went out drinking with them on the last night. There was a big party and barbq on the last night which was good fun.......until we had to get on the boat back to the mainland the next day. Felt very very rough.

We've travelled quite far since then, over the last 2 days, to get to Granada in Nicaragua where we are now. Did an all day bus journey on a Ticabus yesterday. Was freeezing. Air conditioning worked too well, and neither of us were dressed for it. Much warmer here in Nicaragua. A lot poorer than anywhere that we've been so far. We just had lunch in the main square, and two children sat down with us asking for money. There was a three legged dog with no fur, and when we'd finished as much of the yuka and pork scratchings that we were eating a little skinny guy asked us if he could take the remains of our meal and scooped them up with his hand and ran off. Not great.

Looking to travel on to an island with a volcano on it tomorrow, with a candian guy that we met who speaks very good spanish.

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......

Managed to survive a bit of a rough journey over by boat from Belize to the port of puerto cortes in Honduras. There was the usual immigration nonsense, at the Belize side. Before we even docked there was a crowd of taxi drivers almost diving into the water trying to grab us and put our luggage in their "taxi's". The immigration office in Honduras was an 8 minute drive from the port, and they were all offering various servies for various prices. We hooked up with a swedish couple, and another couple and got on the back of one of the pick-ups and were taken inot town. The guy who took us there was offering to take us to our eventual destination, but given that the 8 minutes was painful enough, I didn't fancy another hour in the baking heat. It was cheaper to take the bus, particularly given that the guy started shouting at me when I gave hime the price we had originally agreed - wanting more. Anyway we took the bus to San Pedro Sula and then switched to another one that brought us to Tela, where we are just now.

Tela is a port town, with a nice beach. Not very touristy which is nice, and not a lot of english is spoken by the locals, if any at all - which turned out to be a bit of a problem later on. Initially things went well, and we planned to spend a few days here saving a bit of money, as it's very very cheap to live here, much cheaper than Belize.

Everything was going well until I discovered that my wallet had disappeared that is. This wouldn't be such a problem, but none of Jenny's cards seem to work over here, so we were relying solely on my card for money. Turns out that I left my wallet outside the door of our room, having opened my bag to search for the room key, taken everything out and put everything back in except the wallet. So, one of the other residents of the hotel where we are staying helpfully took the wallet to his room, binned all the cards and took the 50 quid or so, and my wallet. Cleaner found the cards in the bin and returned them to me, couple of days later after having cancelled them all. Luckily we had taken out about 100 pounds the day before, so have been living off this ever since, for the last 3 or 4 days. Replacement cards are on they're way via fed-ex though hopefully arriving soon. Anyway, having argued about who's fault it was that I lost the wallet, over a disgusting piece of fried chicken that we had to share, I think Jenny and I agree that it was probably more her fault then mine. At the time this all seemed ok in perspective, as on of our Swedish friends had caught malaria - despite his dad being a vaccines expert.

Turns out "in perspective" it wasn't ok, given that since then I've been stung by a scorpion. It was waiting to get me when I got out the shower, hiding in my towel. So sore. Got me on the wrist, which I suppose was a blessing given the circumstances. Didn't even see it, just felt it. So whilst I was screaming, Jenny was helpfully shouting at me "What is it? Was it a spider? Was it a spider?" - The lonely planet says that black widows live here. So I was panicking even more. Turns out it was a scorpion, that we saw make its escape scuttling up behing the toilet. Needless to say, going to the toilet is now a bit of an ordeal, involving a lot of checking and re-checking, also when puting on clothes, picking anything up, getting into bed it all has to be thoroughly shaken and checked.....Although the sting was sore, didn´t think much of it, but thought we'd better check the internet to see if it was poisonous. I began to feel a bit strang in the internet cafe though, mouth felt tingly and felt like I'd had quite a lot to drink. So we went to the hospital/clinic, which was fun. The "doctors" there didn't speak any english, and my spanish doesn't stretch to scorpion stings, so we played charades for a while, me pretending to be a scorpion them looking confused and asking various questions in spanish. Eventually they decided to inject me with something and leave me for 20 minutes - to see if I was allergic to the sting we presume. Turns out I felt fine after a couple of hours having been sent away with some pills and cream.

Feel a lot better now though. Looking forward to leaving Tela, especially seeing as it's been raining non-stop for two days and the streets are like rivers.

Having such a good time in Honduras so far. Planning to move to La Ceiba and the Bay Islands - to learn to dive assuming the new cards arrive and it stops raining - in the next couple of days.