Out of Honduras and back to Guate

*sunset on the Cayes
So we are done with Honduras, and to my mind a bit too soon. We finished our SCUBA diving course after 5 nights at on the Cayes and then it was time to go. Captain Morgan´s was renting out Sandy Caye (your own private Island for 125 bucks a night...pretty sweet) but we needed to jet up to Antigua to get our passport stamped for an extended Visa. Ended up getting it stamped at the border in some sort of shady, you give us la mordida we´ll give you the stamp sort of thing, but it saved us a trip to Guate city and let us get to Antigua quicker than expected.

But before the story of our trip to Guate, fun and long, let me just say that the SCUBA is da bomb. We saw barrel sponges the size of me, grouper that must have weighed 200 pounds, little puffer fish that waved their fins like hummingbirds and another thousand things that I didn´t recognize. I actually didn´t think that I would be that into it, loving snorkelling like I do, but there is something ridiculously cool about being below the water for an hour and swimming with the fishes. Moray eels were below us, we were at the bottom of sea walls, barracuda stared us down and parrot fish shat coral into our eyes. All worth it, all awesome. And the other thing is these SCUBA instructors are crazy, just a little nuts like serious cyclists or spelunkers or other sports that require something to be a bit off up top. The other cool part about staying in the Cayes and our SCUBA experience, is everyone on the Cayes are descneded from Pirates...that´s right PIRATES, like the actual Captain Morgan. There are 6 names that nearly every white person shares. They just got left there hundreds of years ago and now let me tell you, things are a bit strange out there. One street, everyone is related, got their own English and their own Spanish but friendly, welcoming and way more chill than Utila.


*dock where we could snorkel, fooling around on water caye where there are picnic tables and camping available, and lastly sunset on water caye

Speaking of Utila, go to the Wooden Spoon when you are there. They serve a veg option and a meat option and it is straight out delicious pub food but like elevated to this incredible level of warmth and goodness by the staff and their cook. I mean seriously, go to Utila just to eat at this place. Other great food memories of Honduras include baleadas, fried fish and the hamburger on Utila that was the size of a normal burger and not deep fried. First good burger I´ve had in months. Below are some pictures of the Honduran food...


*coco bread from Triunfo de la cruz with organic Belizean peanut butter from el Remate and shrimp ceviche the size of a desk

Other things we did while in Honduras, not including the SCUBA, were hike in Pico Bonito, a beautiful national park near La Ceiba. Kath had a friend from high school who was directing a project up there so we stayed with a family that he knew for a day and then spent the next night on the mountain. I was able to fish for the first time and get some use out of my Honduran fishing rod - it is basically a club wrapped in line with a hook and a weight at the end. I was thoroughly outfished by the kids I was with but enjoyed the Rio Cangrejal. We caught freshwater shrimp to use as bait and these little creepy crawlies that looked like they were out of Lord of the Rings. The only disappointing part was the boys kept their fish which measured in at a good 2-3 inches.


*me and the outstanding fisherman of the group and the kid putting freshwater shrimp on the hook

Now we are back in Antigua, a much more pleasant place the second time around. We ran into an old friend and spent the evening shooting the shit and drinking beer. Memories of Honduras are big people (fat and tall like the USofA), an old man telling me the problem with the States was that we had elected a niggar, baleadas from a lady as wide as she was tall that kept me filled for the day, the best hangover food I´ve ever had - fried plantains covered in gravy and pickled cabbage with a piece of fried chicken to top it off, the Cayes and Utila, a place I could go back to, hiking Pico Bonito and spending the night with the Mosquitoes, 3 eagle rays flying through the water and interminable bus rides through landscapes dramatic and varied, stuck together with clay, nothing grand nothing long and all of it right there to be seen and had.



*68 meter waterfall in Pico Bonito, smaller waterfall on the hike, Kath leaving at 6 in the morning on the suspension bridge that leads to the park