I really am not a fan of boat travel and this trip we have been on a rather disturbing amount of boats! Our ride over to Utila was rough and as usual not especially pleasant in my eyes. On arrival, we were greeted (or rather bombarded) by extremely enthusiastic member of the various dive schools on the island, all wanting out custom. As soon as they heard that I was not in the least bit interested in diving, they lost interest in talking to me rather rapidly!!
As we walked through the small town along to Altons (on recommendation from a previous hostel) we found it to be calm, very cute looking and with lots of cafes. On later inspection, we discovered that all the cafes were pretty terrible, it is an extremely hot place and there are many sand flies that inhabit the island. All in all, the place didn't really live up to our initial ideas of it as we walked through.
Amy is a keen diver so her two days on Utila were taken up with diving. I am most definitely not a diver because it really hurts my ears but do enjoy snorkelling immensely (staying on the surface is far more preferable!). I booked myself a place on a dive boat going out in the afternoon, got my flippers, mask and snorkel all ready and set off for an afternoon of fish spotting! The snorkelling was pretty good and although the coral wasn't the most colourful that I have seen, there were lots and lots of pretty fishes darting around and some interesting pieces of coral to marvel at. In total, I was snorkelling around for about 2 hours. Needless to say I was pretty much pruned by the end of it, as 2 hours in the water is sure to make you very wrinkly!!
Our second day in Utila saw the temperature rise even higher. I decided to go out for a walk in the morning to 'Pumpkin Hill'. This however proved to be harder to find that I had expected. I'd asked for directions, followed them explicitly and still not managed to find the hill. After about an hour and a quarter of walking in the relentless sun and surviving walking along a particularly treacherous section of path that was all sharp coral, I was near the base of the hill when the path abruptly came to an end. It was at this point, extremely hot, sweating profusely and rather fed up, that I decided to give up. Heading back, very carefully to the beach, I took a refreshing dip in the ocean before heading back down the runway of the airport to the path back to town. Luckily, I was passed by a local on his motor bike who offered me a lift. I gladly accepted as another hour walking in the blazing sunshine really wasn't appealing. He was ever so friendly and told me that I would have been better off climbing Stuart Hill as it's right in town and has better views! This was information that I could have done with about 2 hours earlier!!
On my return to town, I spent the rest of the afternoon dipping in and out of the water at the end of the jetty outside out hotel. It was the best way to stay cool in what was pretty unbearable heat. Managed to spot a couple of eagle rays milling around the jetty in the late afternoon too so that was great to see.
We left Utila the next day, both feeling pleased and ready to leave. We went in search of better restaurants, less sandflies and cooler temperatures!
After a long, long day of travel on what were pretty uncomfortable buses, we arrived in the beautiful, gorgeous little town of Copan Ruinas. It's in the west of Honduras, right near the Guatemalan border and is famous for the Maya ruin site called Copan. Here we discovered good restaurants, less sandflies but sadly, not that much cooler temperatures.
I was feeling a little peaky on our first day here so we had a relaxing day, sampling some of the cafes, visiting all the cute little shops, spending a bit of money and taking in the picturesque views around town. It really is one of the prettiest towns that I have visited so far in Central America. Steep cobbled streets lead up or down to the lovely central plaza, where palm trees sway in the breeze, local cowboys hang out and the white church sets a photogenic backdrop. We discovered lots of great cafes with good juices and delicious meals. Dinner one night was at 'Twisted Tanya's' where they actually have a backpacker special on the menu! Our favourite cafe though was 'Picame' - really friendly owners, great food and reasonable prices. Couldn't ask for much more!
The reason to visit Copan Ruinas is to visit the Maya ruins. This is a set of ruins renowned in the Maya world of Central America for their intricate and beautiful carvings. The site itself was not that big, but did have some impressive structures, especially the hieroglyphic staircase. It dates from 400 AD to 800 AD and covers the 16 kings of Copan. The different temples and stone carvings were hidden by overgrown jungle until archaeologists began to uncover it. We had paid for a guide who sadly turned out to be less than enthusiastic and not very informative so our knowledge of the place wasn't really any greater than before we went in. It was nice to walk around though and imagine life going on years and years ago.
On our final day in Honduras we took a brilliant and very fun tour up into the surrounding hills to learn how to make corn tortillas and clay pots. 'Lucas' was the delightful 61 year old lady who was showing us how to make the tortillas. We had a go at all four stages - grinding the corn, smooshing the corn on a stone slab, moulding the balls of dough into flat circle shapes and finally cooking them on a ceramic, circular hot plate. The shaping of the dough turned out to be much harder than expected and neither Amy nor I managed to get them as neatly circular as Lucas did. Mine kept getting stuck to my hands and then tearing, developing little holes in the middle! Once the tortillas were ready we ate them with scrumptious black beans and ground, roasted squash seeds. It was simple, but really, really good to eat!
Second activity for the morning was making clay pots in the traditional style. This was another thing that Lucas made look extremely easy, but Amy and I faired much worse! Moulding the clay with our hands was fun though and we ended up with something that almost resembled the beautifully finished ones that we had been copying.
After three great days in Copan it was time to pack up and leave Honduras.
Next stop GUATEMALA!!
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| View round the bay of Utila Town |
As we walked through the small town along to Altons (on recommendation from a previous hostel) we found it to be calm, very cute looking and with lots of cafes. On later inspection, we discovered that all the cafes were pretty terrible, it is an extremely hot place and there are many sand flies that inhabit the island. All in all, the place didn't really live up to our initial ideas of it as we walked through.
Amy is a keen diver so her two days on Utila were taken up with diving. I am most definitely not a diver because it really hurts my ears but do enjoy snorkelling immensely (staying on the surface is far more preferable!). I booked myself a place on a dive boat going out in the afternoon, got my flippers, mask and snorkel all ready and set off for an afternoon of fish spotting! The snorkelling was pretty good and although the coral wasn't the most colourful that I have seen, there were lots and lots of pretty fishes darting around and some interesting pieces of coral to marvel at. In total, I was snorkelling around for about 2 hours. Needless to say I was pretty much pruned by the end of it, as 2 hours in the water is sure to make you very wrinkly!!
Our second day in Utila saw the temperature rise even higher. I decided to go out for a walk in the morning to 'Pumpkin Hill'. This however proved to be harder to find that I had expected. I'd asked for directions, followed them explicitly and still not managed to find the hill. After about an hour and a quarter of walking in the relentless sun and surviving walking along a particularly treacherous section of path that was all sharp coral, I was near the base of the hill when the path abruptly came to an end. It was at this point, extremely hot, sweating profusely and rather fed up, that I decided to give up. Heading back, very carefully to the beach, I took a refreshing dip in the ocean before heading back down the runway of the airport to the path back to town. Luckily, I was passed by a local on his motor bike who offered me a lift. I gladly accepted as another hour walking in the blazing sunshine really wasn't appealing. He was ever so friendly and told me that I would have been better off climbing Stuart Hill as it's right in town and has better views! This was information that I could have done with about 2 hours earlier!!
 |
| The spot where I took a refreshing dip after the long, hot walk. |
On my return to town, I spent the rest of the afternoon dipping in and out of the water at the end of the jetty outside out hotel. It was the best way to stay cool in what was pretty unbearable heat. Managed to spot a couple of eagle rays milling around the jetty in the late afternoon too so that was great to see.
 |
| Sunset from our jetty. |
We left Utila the next day, both feeling pleased and ready to leave. We went in search of better restaurants, less sandflies and cooler temperatures!
After a long, long day of travel on what were pretty uncomfortable buses, we arrived in the beautiful, gorgeous little town of Copan Ruinas. It's in the west of Honduras, right near the Guatemalan border and is famous for the Maya ruin site called Copan. Here we discovered good restaurants, less sandflies but sadly, not that much cooler temperatures.
I was feeling a little peaky on our first day here so we had a relaxing day, sampling some of the cafes, visiting all the cute little shops, spending a bit of money and taking in the picturesque views around town. It really is one of the prettiest towns that I have visited so far in Central America. Steep cobbled streets lead up or down to the lovely central plaza, where palm trees sway in the breeze, local cowboys hang out and the white church sets a photogenic backdrop. We discovered lots of great cafes with good juices and delicious meals. Dinner one night was at 'Twisted Tanya's' where they actually have a backpacker special on the menu! Our favourite cafe though was 'Picame' - really friendly owners, great food and reasonable prices. Couldn't ask for much more!
 |
| The cute, cobbled streets of Copan Ruinas. |
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| The lovely Central Plaza. |
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| A line of moto taxis waits to whizz people around town. |
The reason to visit Copan Ruinas is to visit the Maya ruins. This is a set of ruins renowned in the Maya world of Central America for their intricate and beautiful carvings. The site itself was not that big, but did have some impressive structures, especially the hieroglyphic staircase. It dates from 400 AD to 800 AD and covers the 16 kings of Copan. The different temples and stone carvings were hidden by overgrown jungle until archaeologists began to uncover it. We had paid for a guide who sadly turned out to be less than enthusiastic and not very informative so our knowledge of the place wasn't really any greater than before we went in. It was nice to walk around though and imagine life going on years and years ago.
 |
| One of the example of the intricate carvings of the Maya people of Copan. This one is showing Eighteen Rabbit who was the 13th King of Copan. |
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| Looking like a spectator watching over the football field. |
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| The very impressive Hieroglyphic staircase. |
On our final day in Honduras we took a brilliant and very fun tour up into the surrounding hills to learn how to make corn tortillas and clay pots. 'Lucas' was the delightful 61 year old lady who was showing us how to make the tortillas. We had a go at all four stages - grinding the corn, smooshing the corn on a stone slab, moulding the balls of dough into flat circle shapes and finally cooking them on a ceramic, circular hot plate. The shaping of the dough turned out to be much harder than expected and neither Amy nor I managed to get them as neatly circular as Lucas did. Mine kept getting stuck to my hands and then tearing, developing little holes in the middle! Once the tortillas were ready we ate them with scrumptious black beans and ground, roasted squash seeds. It was simple, but really, really good to eat!
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| Having a go at smooshing the cornmeal. |
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| Feeling very proud of my little tortilla! |
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| Enjoying our tortillas and delicious beans with our guide. |
Second activity for the morning was making clay pots in the traditional style. This was another thing that Lucas made look extremely easy, but Amy and I faired much worse! Moulding the clay with our hands was fun though and we ended up with something that almost resembled the beautifully finished ones that we had been copying.
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| Having a go at making the pots. |
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| My finished pot is a bit misshapen, but not bad really! |
After three great days in Copan it was time to pack up and leave Honduras.
Next stop GUATEMALA!!
Smooshing is a good word. Will have to try and slip it into conversation.
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