Utila, Honduras

After a pretty horrific 2 day journey we arrived in Utila. My first impression of the island was that it didn´t seem anchored to the ground in any secure way (I had been exceptionally sea sick on the boat over). When the green sickness waves eventually evened themselves out I began to notice a bit more about the place; a kind of Belize-esque carribean island with loads of westerners bubbling about in small electric open jeeps and going diving. The people who actually live on the island are largely descendents of British pirates, which means they are white but speak with really heavy west indian accents. I had a chat with one woman whilst she was frying her plaintains, and I couldn´t work out whether she was more of an old lady from the westcountry or a rude girl from Jamaica. There were loads of characters about, including this one rather large old American guy who used to cycle up the main road and back singing with a huge bright red parrot perched on each shoulder. 

The island was ok, but to be honest I enjoyed it far more simply because of the people I was with. We all made friends; Jon with an animal he aptly named “Black-Dog-White-Balls” and Gemma made *extremely* good friends with her 24 year old blonde diving instructor (I haven´t asked her what colour his balls were). W hung out, went cycling in the blazing heat (Naomi Stoll is a trooper) and the girls and I went snorkelling. Unfortunately, Jon literally “missed the boat” on that occasion (which, Jon, I remain permanantly sorry for). I know it´s a cliche phrase, but “it really is another world down there” under the water. I was a bit scared at first, particularly since I´d never gone before (I´d never even tried on those flipper things) and the boat simply dumped Naomi and I out of our depth on our own whilst shouting that they´d “Be back in about an hour”. Naomi was wonderful though, and patiently manouvered me through several panic attacks and a bout of acute sea sickness (has anyone actually got sea sickness out of a boat before? I have reached new levels it seems…)

Coming back on the boat to the mainland Jon decided to export several boxes of Lucky Charms – a cereal that I believe has been made illegal in the Uk due to it´s exceptionally high sugar content. Mark, if you are reading this, watch out, because this cereal is coming your way and Jon assures me that it really does make your faeces change colour.

After we got the boat we headed to the capital on an 8 hour coach journey. It was pretty long, but the service was really plush. In the States the poorest people got coaches, but here they seem reserved for aristocrats and tourists. We spent a night in Tegucigulpa and the next day got up at 4am to get 3 different flights (bloody crazy central american airlines!). I am now absolutely exhaughsted, but we have found a hotel to sleep in until our final journey home begins tomorrow…