The Big Trip: Honduras - Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches

Well, Utila has been a game of two halves.

Utila is the smallest and the flattest of the three major Bay Islands and is closest to the Honduran mainland. Utila is a different world to mainland Honduras because of the British influence on the Bay Islands for 300 years. The island is mostly uninhabited except for the small fishing village of East Harbor, now home to many dive companies. Historically Utila was largely a fishing and agrarian community but it's prmary source of income is now diving tourism.

It's very different here to Guatemala, a distinct Carribean vibe and more affluent. The food here is good, plenty of rice and beans and good quality chicken, fish and steak! A special mention goes to RJs opposite the dive centre which had great snapper and wahoo.

The language here of the locals is weird though. I can recognise all the words as being English but I still can't work out what anyone's talking about, it's like the words are all in a fifferent order. Also, the music here is terrible and has almost driven me mad. It's called Reggaeton and is a hybrid of dancehall and ragga. In a word, it's shit and has no discernible merit whatsoever. I'll be happy to leave it behind.

So, we arrived by ferry about 10 days ago to absolute perfect Carribean sunshine and headed for the dive company Altons that had been recommended to us by a couple of friends we met in the Spanish school. We decided to take accommodation with the school as it was very cheap ($4pp or free if doing a course) and situated right beside the jetty. Mel enrolled to do her PADI advanced course following a refresher dive the next day whilst I signed up for a package of fun dives.

The next few days saw some fantastic diving especially in Turtle Harbour on the north side of the island. Notable sightings included

hawsbill turtles

barracuda

porcupine fish

lobsters

a nice octopus on a night dive (also cool bioluminescence)

juvenile spotted drum fish

However, the weather didn't hold out and for the last few days we have witnessed the belated beginning of the rainy season in Utila. The atmosphere is completely different to the preceeding few days. The rain has been falling hard, the visibility has deteriorated and the mood of everyone here dampened. It hasn't helped that the same time as the weather worsened so did my health. This was due to taking antibiotics on an empty stomach following a mild fever resulting in it burning a hole in my stomach lining making every mouthfull feel like swallowing scolding water doubling up in pain. So I have been out of action for the last few days feeling very unsociable because I can't eat or drink and we have been going stir crazy in our little prison cell sized room with only our books to keep us company. It really has been quite dull and I am only now starting to feel a little better.

The last couple of days we have been trying to leave the island but the weather is so bad that the ferries have been unable to leave. Thus we have resorted to booking a flight out of here to the mainland tomorrow morning.

I shall be quite happy to leave after the last few days although overall our experience of Utila has been great, having each got in about 15 quality dives!

Tomorrow begins the long journey south to Nicuragua...

Books read:

Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett: Thought I'd hate it but it was a great providing much insight into daily life in the middle ages in England

Marinou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh: nasty book full of grim characters that I probably should of read when I was 17

The Big Trip: The Ruins Of Tikal

Since the last update we have reluctantly left the beautiful Guatemala behind us for Honduras and are now about to embark on the second phase of our trip. Tomorrow we catch a ferry to Utila, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras where we will be hoping to notch up a few dives!

But that's all in the future. Let's catch up on the past few days shall we?

We stayed at El Retiro in Lanquin for a couple of days which, as mentioned before, is a beautiful ecolodge, in the central region of Guatemala. Incidentally, they also have a fantastic iPod service so I am now packing a mean collection of tunes.

The highlight of any trip to this region is the day excursion to the Ka'anba caves and the Semuc Champey national park. The cave expedition ranks up there with Volcan Pacaya as another excursion paying scant regard to health and safety regulations. On arrival we were kitted up with a single candle and then told to follow the guide into the caves. Having rained a lot in recent days we expected it to be wet but we didn't realise was that for most part we would be neck deep in cold water and swimming upstream in an underground river. It felt like proper Indiana Jones stuff as we all swam slowly through the cave system holding our candles above us or at some points in our mouths. The best was to come though as the guide to each of us in turn behind a surging underground waterfall. There was a sense of elation in everyone's faces as we exited the caves in a torrent of water.

In the afternoon, we moved on to the national park of Semuc Champey. This is a paradise of pools and waterfalls set amidst a lush valley with some fantastic walking trails. We spent a few hours here enjoying the clear turqoise waters of the stepped baths. The pools are actually a limestone bridge over the river Cahbon (don't ask me how they were formed) and upstream you can see the water being channeled under the bridge, as it thuders through it is a spectular sight. You wouldn't want to fall in here.

Our second day at Lanquin was a little more sedate with some nice tubing down the river (link to follow hopefully) and then in the afternoon a trip to the local batcaves of Lanquin which was very cool as you could sit at the entrance of the caves at dusk and experience the bats emerging in their thousands.

The following morning we arose early to make the long journey to Tikal national park which contains the spectacular Mayan ruins and is set deep in the jungle of northern Guatemala. The best way to see Tikal is to enter the park after 3pm (Q50 to enter), this then allows you free entry for the entirety of the next day. You are then able to experience the awesome sunset and sunrise in this mystical place.

We were too tired to go straight to the park after our travelling so we decided to spend the night at El Remate on the northwestern shore of Lago Peten Itza. We found a cute hotel called La Casa de Dona Tonita (Q60pp) and spent the evening swimming in the warm waters of the lake.

The next afternoon we caught a local bus to the park entrance. We had decide to camp here at the Jaguar Inn as not only was it the cheapest option amongst many expensive cabañas but it would allow us to be right at the park entrance for the sunrise tour.

It's difficult to describe how wondeful Tikal is. Although thousands of years old it feels very alive and you can easily imagine what it must have been like back then. See this wiki for further information. We watched the sunset from the top of the Temple Del Mundo and after asking one of the guides were permitted to stay in the park until after closing allowing us to experience the ruins by moonlight, it was magical.

The next morning we were up at 4.30 for the sunrise tour (Q100). Our group was led by the guide to Temple IV where we all climbed to the top to wait for the sun. We were greeted by an awe-inpiring view of the jungle with swirls of mist hanging above the canopy. As the sun edged it's way over the horizon the howler monkeys started to speak to each other, it was an unearthly sound and quite eery. It was the most mystical ting I have ever experienced...man! Incidentally fact fans, this exact view was used as the backgound to the rebel base in Star Wars!

Photos of Tikal here.

After a few more hours exploring the ruins and watching the monkeys we left Tikal and travelled east towards the border and the second country of our trip, Honduras. We stayed in Rio Dulce near the border for a couple of nights at a hostel called The Backpackers. Rio Dulce is a beautiful river and a very popular stopoff for those yachting around the Caribbean. Not owning a yacht, we spent an afternoon on a walking tour around a local reservation and chilling in a nearby ecolodge.

The next day (yesterday) was another long day travelling across the border into Honduras and up to the north coast to the rather non-descript town of La Ceiba. Tomorrow we will take the ferry over to Utila for a few days diving - I can already feel the Carribean vibe taking over!!

I shall miss Guatemala a great deal especially my time at the school and with the family. It is a beautiful country of beautiful people and one day I will return. Although next time I shall be more careful of my things.

The Big Trip: The Drunken Horse Race of Todos Santos

Finally managed to post this update from an ecolodge in Central Guatemala. We are now staying at the beautiful El Retiro lodge in a village called Lanquin in the Verapaces region where we are chilling out for a couple of days before heading northwards to our final destination of Tikal.

We left San Pedro last Sunday after completing our third week of lessons at the school. It was quite hard saying goodbye to those we had spent so much time with, especially our teachers and family. On Saturday, we had our last meal of pizza as prepared by our US friend Caitlin and then on Sunday headed by boat to Panajachel where we would head towards Todos Santos for the annual drunken horse race and Day Of The Dead celebrations. Joining us for the ride was Joel, an Aussie with an eye for sarcasm and a fiercely competitive card player.

We made such good time that we managed to reach Todos in the evening and we arrived to a surreal scene. The small highlands village was shrouded in fog and in the small central square there were two antiquated ferris wheels along with some fairground stalls that looked like they could have been pulled from the Victorian era. It was like something out of a Stephen King novel and if an evil clown had turned up he wouldn't have been out of place. Coupled with this, all the people here where the same traditional costume/uniform so the square was filled with groups of men and boys all wearing the traditional red stripey trousers, white shirt and straw boaters who all turned to watch us as we walked across the square to try out the rustier and most dangerous looking of the two wheels.

Sticking to backpacking principles we found the cheapest place in town, a barn at Casa Mendoza (Q30 each) where we spent a freezing night, vowing to find a hotel the next morning.

Monday:
The next morning the cold mist had dissipated leaving behind it a beautiful springlike day.
We spent some of the morning trying to find alternative accommodation, eventually settling on Hotel Mam, where the three of us found a room to share that was warmer and had a shower.

After lunch we checked out the local Spanish school for learning or volunteering opportunities as there was still over two days until the actual race, but had no luck what with the fiesta and all.

Mel and I explored the village in the afternoon, a very small but pretty village nestled in the valley at 2500 metres up. We walked a loop around the village passing a slaughterhouse on the way just as the butchers were pulling the entrails from a cow's carcass. The crazed smiles of the butchers and the pack of snarling dogs waiting by the entrance just added to the feeling that this place wasn't quite right...

The bizareness continued into the evening where we attended a crowning ceremony at the local vilage hall. It was a kind of beauty pageant in which the local girls took turns solemnly parading themselves down the hall with a strange shuffle like dance before being crowned on the stage. We stayed for what seemed like an eternity whilst these expressionless girls walked past all the while being filmed by their proud parents and accompanied by an hilarious 3 piece marimba band (The marimba, by the way, is the national instrument of Guatemala, is similar to a large xylophone and normally played by 3 people).

It got a bit boring so we went back to the hotel to play more cards and have a beer in the hope that when we returned events would have livened up a bit. But no, now it was speech time and every girl took her turn on the mike thanking everyone first in Mam, the local Mayan language, then in Spanish. We left after the first one had finished having congratualted ourselves on experiencing some of the local culture. At least the food was top notch!

Tuesday:
The next day was spent just chilling and waiting for the race although we did go on an interesting tour of the local pueblos. Later that night we stayed up drinking the local firewater quetzalteca and playing cards.

Wednesday - Race Day Nov 1:
Every year on this day the Todos Santians hold a spectacular all day drunken horse race (the riders, not the horses) that starts at 8 in the morning and continues all the way through to 5 stopping for 2hrs at lunch so the riders can refuel with more beer. This tradition started hundreds of years ago following the invasion of the Spanish Conquistadors who introduced horses to Guatemala that were stronger and had more stamina than the indiginous animals used at the time. The Mayans resented the Spanish mastery of their horses and consulted their Shamans if they could use the horses too. The Shamans said that the nature of the Mayans was not in harmony with the nature of the horse but if they could show that they could master the animal then this would show that they too possessed similar strength to that of the invaders. Out of this arose the ritual of the race whereby the potential riders would drink copious quantities of beer before being introduced to a horse they had never ridden before in order to prove their mastery and manhood. The riders ride in teams and spent the whole of the preceeding night at the captains house drinking beer and singing as it could be their last night alive (20 riders have died in the past few decades). The race and accompanying fiesta are so important to the locals that they will spend their entire years savings on the one day which may include the hiring of the horse, and all the drink and lavish food.

We watched the race unfold during the day as the riders got more drunk and we witnessed quite a few falls, some hilarious and some that looked wince-inducingly painful.

See the pics here.

Thursday and Friday:
We left the morning after, nursing our sore heads and saying our godbyes to Joel, with the intention of getting as a far as we could towards Lanquin where we had heard there is a beautiful lodge by the river where we could relax a couple of days after the Todos madness. We took a microbus to Huehue then got another to Uspantan, a miserable place with an all year round light drizzle, where we had to spend the night in a dinghy hotel. The weather took a turn for the worse the following morning as we made an early start towards Coban. This involved a treachorous and highly stupid journey over the mountain pass where we were forced to stop for over 2hrs whilst the road was cleared of a boulder the size of a small car! I did feel quite nervous...

Well, we finally made it to the lodge in Lanquin in the afternoon which is as amazing as we were told.


Films we have seen update:
The Motorcycle Diaries - wonderful film about an epic journey around South America by Che Guevara and friend by motorbike
Crash - the best film I have seen in years. It is about racial tensions and stereotypes and follows the story of several LA residents over a 24hr period.