Honduras

Border crossings throughout Central America certainly don’t follow any rules or regulations consistently. When entering into El Salvador our passports were checked thoroughly and upon arrival we received a stamp, which any back packer will gratefully receive if it gives them a chance to gloat to their friends at a later date. When exiting the country however we had to hunt high and low for someone to even acknowledge our presence, and when we did eventually find an official looking bod they simply waved us off in vaguely the right direction after briefly glimpsing at our passports, I could have been carrying an over sized teddy with a poorly stitched neck which I'd received as a 'present' and nobody would have blinked an eye.

Our first stop in Honduras was Gracias where we bid farewell to the pupusas of El Salvador and said hello to baliadas, which turned out to be our staple diet for the next two weeks. These are basically fresh tortillas with a filling of beans, cheese, egg, cream and avocado. I can’t really describe why this is the food of gods, as let’s face it, it’s pretty much exactly the same ingredients we’ve been surviving on for the last three months but if you ask me nicely I’ll cook you one on my return and then you’ll be sure to understand. Gracias itself was a breath of fresh air as not only were we relieved to be in a new country but we were also in an area that many backpackers leave off their tight agenda and for that reason the town was reasonably unspoilt. Although sometimes a pain in the ass, it's usually a good sign to find a town with no hostel on offer. Whilst in Gracias we took a trip to the local hot springs, climbed the highest mountain in the country and ate the tastiest street food we’ve tried so far, although to be fair we haven’t done much sampling of such cuisine in fear of getting food poisoning. Not that the comedors we opt for are much better but tables, chairs and a menu can be quite a dupe in reassuring you that your food is no relation to the community of street dogs hanging around at your feet.


Its all well and good me updating you on the epic adventures Abi and I have had during our time in Central America but it's the little every day things that seem insignificant after 4 months that are actually what make this such a magical experience. For example Latino men’s hats. The cow boy look is highly popular here, whether or not this is purely to serve the practical purpose of beating off the sun is irrelevant, the bottom line is that these guys are effortlessly cool, and as a female, observing them is a total pleasure! The other experience that cannot go unnoted is riding on a chicken bus. These are basically old 50's school buses shipped down from the states that have been 'pimped up'. Each driver goes to great lengths to fashion his pride and joy to be the envy of every other young man, aspiring to one day rule the roads, resulting in a stunning array of colours and patterns greeting you at any bus station. This glamorous exterior is just the start, the real hook being the people that run and ride them. The drivers themselves would give any boy racer at home a run for their money and it is a regular occurrence to hear a thud above your head whilst the driver hurtles off indicating that his cohort is still attaching your bag to the roof. The juveniles manning these beasts clamber to and from the roof with such acrobatic style you wonder whether they were head hunted from the circus.


The title 'chicken bus' is a clear indication of the sorts of cargo you are likely to find yourself sitting next to, but besides being squashed between a box of live stock and a mother with three children balanced on her lap you are able to combine your journey with a full days shopping. At literally every stop at least a dozen vendors will get on trying to sell you all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Now this is pretty handy when you`re being offered food or drink but for every mango seller that hops on board at least two pill pushers will follow. Each merchant is guaranteed to start with a particularly animated speech on how the medicine on offer will change your life, and then proceed to hand out samples around the bus, quite incredibly the drivers appear to have no problem with this. By referring to these salesmen as pill pushers I'm not suggesting people try to openly sell you illicit drugs, I assume that the tablets on offer are perfectly legal, but I`ve never felt the urge to test this theory out as through my broken Spanish I can just make out the words 'brain' 'inject' 'growth' and 'problem'. Quite incredibly though its these self acclaimed pharmacists that get the most business out of the locals, which is more than a little disconcerting!

As I have mentioned before, the Caribbean cost of all of these countries differs drastically from the Pacific and the main land, and Tela, our next destination was no exception. Tela had the potential to be beautiful. Its garifuna culture instantly gives it a laid back feel, and being situated right on the beach it is a popular holiday destination for many Hondurans. Unfortunately Tela's streets, like many Honduran cities, are replete with litter. People seem to have no regard for the environment they live in and despite the crystal blue waters and perfect white sand of the beach, Tela's shore had little allure because of the countless bottles, plastic bags and other pieces of rubbish that permeated my path, needless to say we didn't leave it too long before we moved on.


From Tela we made our way to Utila which is one of the Bay Islands. These are a set of islands off the east coast of the country which are famed amongst back packers for being the cheapest place in the world you can learn to scuba dive. It may therefore surprise you that Abi and I opted not to take our PADI course, this was solely to do with funds as travelling to 11 months means you have to make sacrifices somewhere along the way. Still we managed to fill five short days on the island with other activities with great ease. The islands are teeming with wild life and on our first morning at our hostel, while eating breakfast we spotted several iguanas sunning themselves in the neighbouring field. We also caught a glimpse of flying fish on the boat on the way over, Abi managed to spot a whale shark and I had a special moment with a humming bird who I'm convinced thought I was a flower! We took a day trip to an uninhabited island near by which was like something out of a fairy tale, the sort of place you end up pinching yourself just to make sure your not dreaming. The snorkeling around the island was out of this world, and we spent several hours discovering various sea bound creatures including a star fish, a sting ray and various exotic fish resembling a selection of quality street with fins. We also Kayaked right through the centre of the island through a mangrove swamp and were greeted on the other side by a couple of local guys spear fishing lobster for their supper.


Unfortunately Utila itself resembles many of the destinations up and down the East Coast of Australia which have been descended upon by an assemblage of young middle class European back packers in search of sun, sand and sex but with little interest in culture, making every second establishment on the island a tour agency, bar or cafe. Now I`d be lying if I said I didn't enjoy partying til dawn or accruing a killer tan but after a few days I needed a reminder that I was in fact in Honduras and not in a very sunny Torquay. Having said that though, although they are hard to depict, the locals of these islands are quite fascinating. We would often see white people who we would assume to be tourists or expats, it was only when they spoke that we realised they were local and actually the descendants of British pirates. Pirates settled on the bay islands in the 17th century, it was the ideal base for raiding the Spanish gold boats coming from the Central American mainland.

Naturally with every backpacker in Central America making this routine trip to Utila we met up with a few familiar faces whilst on the island, one of which being Charles. Despite Charles' undiagnosed ADHD and tendancy to talk endlessly through 'ice cream time' (a special time Abi and I have discovered while on this trip which requires absolute silence when consuming said treat in order to fully appreciate its greatness) we decided to take him under our wing. So with Charles in toe we departed the Island, stopped briefly for a night in Comayagua before heading to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Here we couch surfed, Abi and I stayed with Jose and his son Ernesto, while Charles stayed with his cousin. This was a couch surfing experience like no other, because Jose is one of the most perfect people I have ever met. I mean that in a slightly scary way. His apartment was an OCDers dream, resembling an Ikea show room with not one mug out of place. Jose himself was impeccably dressed, clean cut and a total gentleman who wouldn't let us lift a finger around the house, he even took us out for dinner and refused to let us pay. This is all well and good but spending time with perfect people can be slightly intimidating and we wound up feeling like we were holding our breath for the entire duration of our stay. Still despite being terrified of touching anything in the house in fear of disturbing the order of things, we thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of a hot shower and sofa and it was a real treat spending time with a Honduran who could actually tell us a thing or two about the history of the country.



Tegucigalpa has a few charming features including a pedestrianised centre, several museums and art galleries but unfortunately these are largely over shadowed by the absurd amount of fast food chains that imbue the city. By the same token the city also has a love for labels and drive by cash machines! This is largely due to the huge influence the States has had over the development of the country. The USA has a huge military base in Honduras, which, in all fairness, has had its positive influences as well as its bad, primarily being the fact that Honduras was one of the only Central American countries not to have a civil war in the 80's. The motivations behind the USA's interest in the country are clear, one of which being the investments it has in the countries exports. Its worth noting that in 1918 The United Fruit Company, Standard Fruit and Cuyamel (all American based companies) owned 75% of all banana crops Honduras, a statistic that changed little throughout the 20th century. Another slighly more random fact, that doesn't really relate to the above info but I'm going to throw it in there all the same, is that the currency, the Lempira, is named after Honduras' national hero who led 30,000 indigenous people against their Spanish conquerors in 1537.

Flitting from country to country in Central America, its easy to get their histories confused with one another but meeting local people and quizzing them to death is definitely a great way of distinguishing between them, and without doubt one of the most enriching aspects of travelling.