From Playa to Utila and Back

[Icebreaka]

I had an interesting little holiday in Honduras the past couple weeks so I thought I'd do a little writeup on it for those who are curious about forays into Central America from Playa.

I set out about midnight 2 weeks ago and bused down to Chetumal. Once I arrived there I had to wait about an hour or so until a shuttle bus had enough passengers to make the trip south to Belize City. I met some other travellers there and shared stories until we reached Belize City. Belize is an interesting country and very unlike Mexico for how close in proximity it is. The population is largely black and English speaking and the houses are made more often from wood than concrete. Belize City isn't a beautiful place really though and I was happy to move on from there by bus to Belmopan, Belize's capital and then onto Dangriga which is a coastal Garifuna town about an hour from there. I would spend the night there and found it quite relaxing.

In the morning I left by boat from Dangriga to Puerto Cortes, Honduras. The trip was about 3 hours and the open ocean was pretty choppy in the boat. Its nothing resembling a ferry but more of a souped up ferry.

I wasn't long in Puerto Cortes before moving on by bus to San Pedro Sula. This is Honduras' second largest city and not a place I would want to spend any length of time in. Its one of the dirtiest cities I've been too and I was constantly told by people to be careful and that the city was dangerous. I moved on from there to La Ceiba where I would stay for a few nights. La Ceiba has all the elements to be a tourist city but is saddled with a high crime rate that will, I think, keep it from reaching its potential. Huge mountains tower over the city and the beaches are plentiful but again quite dirty.

I spent 2 nights in La Ceiba and checked out the nightlife quite a bit. There are an amazing number of nightclubs there and probably the most amusing thing about them is that Hondurans like country music. Not even New Country but they'll go right from Reggaeton into some old Hank Williams song.

Finally I set off for my final desination, the island of Utila. Its an hour and a half by ferry from there to this the western most of the Bay Islands. I had anticipating it being a bit off the beaten track but what I found was a backpacker haven. Everywhere I looked were other young travellers. Of course there were an abundance of locals too. They speak in a Caribbean form of English that I instantly grew fond of. Almost like an easy to understand version of Jamaican.

Utila is a scuba diving dream. It boasts some of the cheapest pricing in the world. I ended up doing my advanced diving there for $240 which included a week's accomodation and 2 extra dives for fun.

The marine life there is similar to Playa but there are many more whale sharks and rays about. One of my highlights was my first wreck dive to a sunken tanker there.

I spent a week on the island and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Everything in Honduras is half the price of Playa in general. Lobster was especially cheap and plentiful. I had Lobster Fajitas, Rice and Salad for about $5. Eventually it was time to head back though and I made my way back to Puerto Cortes for last Sunday. Then Monday I had a full day of travelling by boat and bus to get home to Playa at 5:30AM on Tuesday morning.

Honduras has a lot of beautiful nature but it is considerably more poor than Mexico which unfortunately leads to more crime in the big cities. Out of the big cities though you will find things much safer. Common sense and the liberal use of taxis to get around mitigate the danger of course though. Twice my cabbies showed me the gun they had in their pockets and told me they had me protected. I wouldn't hesistate to go back there again but I also would not recommend it as an ideal family vacation. In general I found the Honduran people to be quite friendly and curious about other cultures, I personally didn't have any issues with crime while I was there.

[libbyb]

Very cool! Thanks for all the info.

[palmtreegirl]

Sounds like it was an awesome trip! I'd love to be able to do that someday. You seem lucky enough to be able to travel alot! How do you do that! I'm jealous.

[fireinmn]

Great report! Glad you were able to get that trip in before you leave Playa!!

[Anna]

I agree with your observations of Honduras, and especially San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. Some of the dodgiest towns I've been to, and I've travelled a lot. Maybe it was because I was traveling alone at the time, back-packing around Latin America. Most of the time, lone travelers hook up for company and security, but at this particular time I was in between travel companions.

For those of you who have time to do Belize, it's well worth a visit, I think. Especially going inland, to the jungle town of San Ignacio. Lots of cool things to do in the area, and very close to Tikal, the most impressive Mayan site in the Mayan World, IMHO (though I do have a few left on my list, like Yaxchilan and Bonampak).

[Susie Q Roo]

Excellent report! Thank you. I only wish I had the nerve (or the imposing male travel companion!) to follow in your footsteps!