La Ceiba

I was awoken at 7am by a huge glob of something falling on my arm and shoulder! It had rained so hard in the night that the plaster above our heads had started to drip. We were fearful of the whole ceiling caving in so didn't try to get back to sleep. We went down and had blueberry pancakes which were lovely, though took a few attempts for the staff to understand 2 lots of pancakes & 1 coffee for some reason. Total cost for accommodation, dinner, breakfast and 4 beers was 1,236L (£37). We spoke to the owner who said the lack of beers was due to an unexpectedly huge crowd of locals on Independence Day that they haven't fully recovered from and the new shipment is being held at port by the authorities.

Then we packed our bags and wandered to the road where we only waited a few minutes before a minivan turned up and took us to San Pedro Sula (2 hours, 50L). SPS is supposedly one of the most dangerous cities in the world due to it's high murder rate (beaten only by El Salvador I believe). Travellers are warned against going to SPS and yet you pretty much have to as it's a main transport hub. Likely the danger is overhyped as the issues are gang / drugs related, however there have been attacks on tourists so we were on high alert. Possibly it was unwise to arrive on a chicken bus, possibly it was the safest way. As we approached SPS we noticed armed guards everywhere. There was a plain-looking Chinese restaurant with two guards outside armed with huge rifles - seemed a little excessive so I think it was a cover for some dodgy dealings. If it wasn't for all the hype, we wouldn't have noticed much difference from any other big city.

We arrived at the bus terminal unscathed, ignored one dodgy bloke, and waited in the food hall with a burger king and juice. On our second sweep of the terminal we found my sister, Hannah, who has come to join us for a holiday. We don't plan to do much actual travelling so it'll be a more relaxing couple of weeks for us :)

We got the bus to La Ceiba, on the northern coast of Honduras, (Viana, 365L, 3.5 hours) which had blankets, drinks and an unidentified pastry snack. We took a collectivo taxi (30L each) to Gran Paris Hotel. They had no record of our reservation and tried to sell us a room for $85. The one I'd reserved was $58 - he told us the difference was taxes. I showed him on a calculator his math sucked and suddenly he agreed to my calculations of $68!

Hannah unpacked and gave us our treats!!! Flipflops and phone cover for Anna, salt and vinegar square crisps, daim & picnic bars, Reese's cups, tampons (uber expensive here), ibuprofen and some face wash and cream for me. We started our anti-malarials (Plaquinol) and sampled some of our treats.

We jumped in the pool and then headed out for dinner. We couldn't see much nearby and although the hotel guy assured us it was safe, we didn't want to wander too far. Hannah was wilting fast due to being up for over 36 hours - 3 planes, 2 buses and 2 taxis - so we went to Pizza Hut around the corner (220L - meal prices just for me & A).

Hannah crashed straight after at about 8:30pm and we guzzled some of our chocolates and tried to stay quiet so as not to disturb sleeping beauty. The lights kept going on and off, presumably due to power failures but a generator kicked in almost immediately.En savoir plus