Honduras
Pico Bonito Cloud Forest

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    • Day 145

      Hannah brings us treats!!!

      September 28, 2015 in Honduras ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      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.
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    • Day 160

      Stranded in the jungle

      October 13, 2015 in Honduras ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

      We had planned to do a zipwire / hot springs / massage day in Sambo Creek, however due to poor internet over the last few days I hadn't finalised a pick up time. I'd sent an email yesterday requesting a time but then the internet and phones went down and stayed down. We had breakfast - measly portion of bread and jam for 70L and waited in the hope they'd show up. But they didn't :( Their subsequent email showed they got confused where we were staying and the tour was $10 more than initially quoted so all a bit useless!

      The German couple who owned the jungle lodge had driven off somewhere without a word as to where they were going or when they might return. This has done little to improve my general view of Germans (there are of course several lovely ones I know).

      So we were stranded in the jungle! No internet, no phones, no chance of hailing a taxi and nobody to ask. It was hardly the worst situation in the world - swinging in hammocks in the jungle, Hannah getting some last-chance rays of sun by the pool etc but it felt like a waste of a day, especially for Hannah and Katelin who are nearing the end of their holidays.

      We weren't keen to get back to La Ceiba as there is little to do but were worried about being stranded for another night. We were told there was a chicken bus at 1:30pm so we figured we'd get that but then a minivan turned up dropping off two other tourists and offered to take us to La Ceiba for $20. Our saviour! He also have us rambutan fruit :)

      We asked if he knew of a place with a pool so he took us to a hotel with a pool but it was overpriced and crucially the pool was in the shade! So then he took us to the cheap Hotel Estadio which I had booked by email. The rooms smelt of wee and Hannah had a dodgy camp bed! We used their wifi to book another hotel and then jumped in a taxi and ran away! (taxi = 25L per person within La Ceiba). After the longest check-in in the world at Hotel Carnaval ($33 per room, including brekkie), we were finally happy! A lovely hotel, 2 huge rooms, king size beds and very clean and shiny. The location seems better than the place we stayed last time as well and less deserted even though the other one was more central.

      We walked the short distance to an ATM and then stocked up on snacks in the big supermarket nearby. We went back to the room to catch up on wifi stuff and then headed out to dinner - we were searching for a recommendation: El Jardin de Susana which was supposedly a block away but couldn't find it. It was pouring with rain so we looked at two nearby restaurants but they only served burgers so we went across the road to Pizza Hut (diff one to last time). Anna got a headache so we put her to sleep early and had a quiet night.

      NB Caxton FX card hasn't worked in any Honduras ATMs! Halifax CC has been our saviour.
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    • Day 1

      Fahrt nach La Ceiba

      February 12, 2016 in Honduras ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      Um 3:15 Uhr klopfte es an der Tür. Sie warten schon seit 20 Minuten, hiess es. Uns wurde 3:30 Uhr als Treffpunkt angegeben. Naja, Zeit ist relativ in diesen Ländern hier... ;-) Nur eines war klar: es war unglaublich früh.
      Im Shuttle wurden wir von Antigua nach Guatemala-City gefahren. Dann hiess es, warten und Formulare für Honduras ausfüllen. Ca. eine Stunde später durften wir endlich in den Car einsteigen (Carunternehmen Hedman Alas). Für die bevorstehenden 13 Stunden hatten wir uns ein bisschen Luxus gegönnt und (teure) Tickets für die erste Klasse gekauft. Somit hatten wir einen Sitz, der sich fast waagrecht nach hinten klappen liess.
      In der Nähe von Copán überquerten wir die Grenze. Ein Foto wurde gemacht und unsere Fingerabdrücke genommen (der Chip des biometrischen Passes befindet sich bei uns Schweizern, anders als bei den anderen Nationen, nicht auf der gleichen Seite, wie die persönlichen Angaben, sondern im Deckel und somit müssen wir trotzdem immer unsere Fingerabdrücke geben, da die Zollbeamten dies meistens nicht realisieren...) Aber immerhin hatten wir, wahrscheinlich das erste Mal bei unseren zig Grenzüberquerungen, einen richtig netten und witzigen Beamten.

      Laut Statistik befindet sich in Honduras, welches bereits als eines der gefährlichsten Ländern weltweit gilt, die absolut gefährlichste Stadt auf Erden, nämlich San Pedro Sula. Doch an dieser Stadt führte kein Weg vorbei. Egal, welche Route wir aussuchten, jede Strecke ging durch diesen Ort! Und ausgerechnet hier mussten wir zudem umsteigen... Gespannt blickten wir also aus dem Fenster, aber anstelle von aufeinander schiessenden Drogen- und Jugendbanden und Toten, die am Strassenrand liegen, sahen wir spielende Kinder und Frauen, die ihre handgemachten Sachen anpriesen. So schnell hat man durch Internetrecherche ein falsches und einseitiges Bild im Kopf, dachten wir.
      Trotzdem wurde uns in La Ceiba, unser Ausgangspunkt um am nächsten Morgen nach Utila zu gelangen, nahegelegt, nicht bei Dunkelheit durch die Strassen zu gehen. Und tatsächlich hatten wir nie zuvor solch verlassene Strassen gesehen...
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    • Day 24

      Getting to La Cieba, Honduras

      May 18, 2018 in Honduras ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

      I’m getting this down now so I don’t forget. It’s been a bit of an epic travel day.
      We got the ferry from Palencia this morning at 9am, picking up a Belgium dude as we went. We cruised with 3.2 engines 20 minutes around the coast and stopped for 90 whilst we kinda went through customs. See ya Belize. We got to Puerto Cortes pretty much as expected, just a lot longer than the 4 hours it should have been, more like 6! We then waited for about an hour before the whole boat cleared through the one customs guy. We basically all put our passports into a plastic bag getting off the boat, then waited in line.
      4:20pm, finally get in a taxi to get to la Ceiba, sealed a good deal as there are four of us. It’s now 8:30pm and we are still an hour away, it’s a long way!! The driving here is bonkers and once the sun went down, it’s even crazier! One in five vehicles have no tail lights, people on bikes everywhere. It’s like that old game Turbo Outrun, but at night. Seems the way to overtake is drive up someone’s arse, then put you light on full beam till you get by. Definitely an experience, even more so cos I have the front seat. Hopefully we can find somewhere to stay once we get in 😬
      There’s been some good clouds and a lightening storm to entertain, keeps you mind of the oncoming traffic straddling the middle of the road! Ha!
      10:00pm we got to the hostel and it was a pile of rubble! It’s now 10:30pm and we have a hotel. There is a massive fiesta in town for the end of May and all of the hotels are booked. Epic day!
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    • Day 178

      Ankunft in Honduras

      May 31, 2021 in Honduras ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      Unser erster richtiger Stopp in Honduras ist La Ceiba, eine mittelgroße Stadt an der Karibikküste. Das klingt erstmal wirklich verlockend, aber nachdem wir uns dort alles angeschaut haben können wir festhalten: definitiv nicht der place to be! Wirklich traurig aus unserer Sicht ist, dass es nicht einen einzigen schönen Strandabschnitt gibt. Außerdem wird die Verschmutzung durch allen möglichen Müll an der Küste und in der Stadt hier auf ein Level gehoben, das wir in diesem Ausmaß noch nicht gesehen haben. Die Stadt selbst bietet eigentlich absolut nichts Sehenswertes. Allerdings liegt direkt nebenan ein Nationalpark, der wohl ein bisschen was zu bieten hat. Wir haben uns dennoch dazu entschieden, die Stadt vorerst zu verlassen und die Karibikinseln vor der Küste zu erkunden. Vielleicht kommen wir danach nochmal auf den Nationalpark zurück.Read more

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