To Utila, Honduras

Placencia, Belize is a great place (photo to the right). There are a ton of American ex-pats intertwined with the local community and everyone is great! Its a small village, but a lot of character.

From Placencia, I took a boat to Puerto Cortez, Honduras. A 2 1/2 hour boat ride took 6 hours. Not surprisingly, we left about an hour late and had to stop to fuel up, one would have thought that would be done in advance since the boat had been docked in Placencia for days before the trip. We took a short ride to immigration and the short, stocky, painfully unpleasant immigration officer graced us with his lack of personality about an hour after our arrival. One by one he slowly and methodically stamped our passports and collected our 'conservation fee.'

Upon arrival in Honduras, we were checked by a masked 'doctor' for swine flu. He was given the gift of being able to tell if we were sick by a quick glance into our eyes. From Puerto Cortez we had a 4 hour van ride to La Ceiba where we could catch the morning ferry to the island of Utila. The van ride took about 6 hour. It was a long day. On the way we had a short discussion about where to stay and it was mentioned that one of the Lonely Planet's recommendations, Hotel Caribe, was actually a brothel. There were comments on the internet, and we all know if it's on the internet, it must be true. There were 12 of us in the van and it made it kind of complicated to find rooms. After 12 hours of traveling, everyone was a bit tired, but there were only a couple of rooms at each place we tried. The 3rd place was a little sketchy, but cheap and nice on the inside. I stayed, as did another couple. The remaining people in the van didn't even get out. We went out for dinner at Wendy's (yes, the fast food chain Wendy's is all over in Honduras) during a torrential downpour. The streets were instantly flooded and people were walking in the streets with water to their knees. Upon returning to our Hotel, I finally noticed the name. We were staying at the brothel. I locked myself in my room and was pleased that I was not woken by the sounds of pimps beating their women and/or porn. I did have a small contingent of drunk, homeless men sleeping on the sidewalk outside my window, but they went to bed early. I woke to gospel music. What a difference from night to day.

I am in Utila now, it's hot here, but nice. You can buy a package of 10 dives for $250. I think I'll have fun here.

I realized today that this is my 17th country in the last 10 months.