Honduras

The night before we left for Honduras we only got a few (2) hours sleep before our alarms went off at 3am. So we packed all of our bags zombie-like and reluctantly left our apartment to wait on a dark street corner on the outskirts of Antigua. No-one was around (apart from the usual stray dogs) and the neighbourhood felt so isolated so we were feeling rather vulnerable and exposed! Typically, the shuttle came really late and we ended up being the last ones on board. This turned out to be a good thing though, since it meant out backpacks got loaded inside the bus (rather than the standard practice of tying them too the roof) and we got decent seats. That said- it was really cramped, and quite stuffy and uncomfortable for the 6 hour drive from Guatemala to Honduras.

At the border we were really unprepared - we'd spent nearly every Quetzal we had and didn't realise that there'd be costs we had to pay to exit Guatemala. Fortunately some Australian guys we'd been sitting next to agreed to lend us some cash, but somehow in the chaos Maryanne got through border security without paying anyway! When we got through customs (disappointed at not getting a new stamp in our passports) we then got shuffled off to another area where we were all quizzed about whether we think we had the pig flu or not. It's not really great protection and I'm not sure really what it's supposed to achieve, especially since everyone on the bus (including us) was just making up fake addresses and phone numbers...

Our first views of Honduras were the short ride from the border to Copán. It's much greener and lusher than what we saw of Guatemala. What we saw we liked a lot. Arriving in Copán we first thought the town was a dump - dirt streets, and little tiendas. The bus was surrounded by people hawking hotels and taxi drivers, and not having any idea where to stay, we got a lift with a young guy to a promising looking place. Copán turned out to be really nice, like the rest of Honduras it is leafy and green, and with a lot of character. It was still early when we arrived, and the hotel (and actually the whole town) was out of power. We survived as best we could for the afternoon in the heat by reading books, lazying in hammocks, and chatting with a little local kid who made a game out of asking us our names a billion times. By early evening we were hit with a tropical thunderstorm and knew we were headed towards the rainy season now...

The weather in the morning was a little fresher than the day before, so we made best of the opportunity and headed to Copán ruins. We had been wanting to get to the Copán Ruinas on opening time (8am), but by the time we'd got read and had breakfast it was after 9 when we left (this happens to us every time we try to visit ruins early!). The walk there was gentle and easy, not too far. Typically, on arrival we had to push our way through all the locals offering guided tours, but here in Honduras they seemed much more laidback, and didn't push hard when we shut them all down.

We were absolutely shocked how much the admission cost for the ruins. Just to see the site alone was $15USD each (3 times as much as our accommodation!), and they were wanting as much again for us to see the tunnels and even more for the museum. We debated whether we should just forget about the whole thing, but that seemed silly after travelling all the way here, so we gritted our teeth and handed over the over-priced admission (and quietly thanked Kevin Rudd for the recent stimulus package).

The best thing about the ruins were the flocks of tame Guacamaya parrots that lived there. We could get right up to them and they'd just reluctantly ignore our presence. There were also some little guinea-pig things called capybayas (or something like that). The actual ruins themselves weren't great, especially for the price. There was hardly anyone there, so it was nice to be in a place like that without being surrounded by other tourists. Probably the best thing there was a hieroglyphic staircase with lots of neat carvings on it. Mez started feeling really sick so we used that as an excuse not to go on some horse ride tour and instad headed back to Copán for our bus.

Our coach to Tegucigalpa (try pronuncing that ten times quickly) was really nice, like we'd expected from what we'd been reading about busses in Honduras. It turned out there was even a class above ours, with even bigger seats and meals served. The only guy sitting there was a fat local who fell straight asleep and snored for the rest of the trip - with the loudest and phlgmy-est snore ever. We couldn't help ourselves from cracking up, especially when he started making choking noises and woke himself up every few minutes... (if Elliot was there we are sure that by the end of the trip the guy would have been covered in M&M's and other random bits and pieces that would have been thrown at him). Even the steward of the bus was smirking at him.

When we arrived at Tegucigalpa it was long past dark and it was just starting to rain, so we bargained half-heartedly with the one taxi driver at the bus-stop, but in the end we were glad to pay anything (and we did get ripped off!) just to get safely to our hotel. The taxi drove us through lots of dodgy looking streets and neighbourhoods. The whole city seemed filled with drunks, homeless or prostitutes, I was really relieved when we arrived at the hotel and they let us in, even though it was all closed up and the owners were in bed.

The next morning was terrible. It started with me waking early to ring for a reservation on a morning Tika Bus to Managua. We had lots of trouble getting through, and when I finally did (1.5hrs before the bus leaves), I was told that they won't make reservations and that we had to be there at least 40 minutes before departure. This meant a frantic packing and search for a nearby ATM to pay for the room. With half an hour to spare we were on the street corner boarding a taxi, hoping that we'd make it through peak hour to the terminal in time and that there would be spare seats available on the bus. Our taxi driver couldn't find the stop and kept stopping for directions, which didn't help the stress levels. Fortunately, when we arrived at the terminal we had a few minutes to spare and they did have two seats left for us! But that was only the start, because we found from them that the border crossing is $20 each, and once again, I didn't have enough cash. I had to run to find another ATM, then back to the terminal to load our backs onto the bus. Meanwhile Maryanne was stuck waiting for some toasted sandwiches she had ordered (by this time we hadn't eaten more than a pack of doritos in 24 hours), which also took forever and so in the end we just got on in time with enough cash and some gross sandwiches for breakfast. A stressful morning to say the least!

The border crossing to Nicaragua was interesting. It was much easier than the Honduras one, because the bus driver collected everyone's cash and passports and handled everything. This meant that we all just had to wait at the terminal for 40 minutes while a storm raged around us. The streets became rivers and the little local kids were racing boats made from wrappers down the currents. That was our short, but lively, experience of Honduras. I don't think we really did it justice. In the end we only spent 2 days there, one of which was a stressful rush across the country. Tegucigalpa seemed like a place to avoid, but the rest of the country seemed friendly and scenic.