Hum doodle dee…

Where to start? It's been a while…

Let's go back a little to 12th Jan, don't worry I think I'm going to scale down what I've been up to or else this may take a while to write!

12th Jan: Simon, Jason & I climbed Indian Nose in San Pedro la Laguna, taking just 1.15mins to get up there & 45mins to get down (running some of it). Great climb then onto Freedom Bar where Simon downed a Freedom shot (6 different spirits in a huge glass with a splash of OJ), after he had of course done what other normal people do & cart wheeled in the pub garden, narrowly missing dog poo. The Freedom shot must have had a euphoric effect as before you know it he's almost buying legal highs (luckily the guy sold old) & had challenged a local man to a Salsa off! Now not Salsa dancing but eating the hot hot salsa that comes in the pots in the Taco Restaurant :S He managed to eat about 2 bowls, hardly even flinching…although I hear the next day there may have been a bit of heat from a rather different area, ouch!

13th Jan: We stay in San Pedro one more night then planned, mainly to watch Social Network, which was fantastic by the way. Ended up in a lock in (everything stops at 11pm), playing some pool (I kicked Simon's arse mwahahah) & giving some loving to a husky puppy & St Bernard puppy ahhh

14th Jan: Leave for Lanquin. Now to do this it isn't straight forward, we get a 4 hour shuttle (takes 5) to get to Antigua, then wait around an hour, then get another shuttle from Antigua to Lanquin. Ends up taking about 14hours in total & is completely knackering. The Hostel is cool, hammocks, hills & green as far as you can see, a really cool communal area etc. We book the cave tour for the next morning, up early!

15th Jan: In our swimming gear we get to the first part of the tour, a huge swing across the river, who will dare to swing & jump?? Yeah, not me.

I'm normally brave but I was having a wimpy day that day & I'd seen some humungous bruises on other people's blogs after this so bailed out. I met two girls from Canterbury who done it with style, good girls! Then we go into the cave, the only light lighting our way being a single white candle, sweet. Its dark, wet & slightly chilly down there but we follow each other around, sometimes swimming & holding the candle above our heads, sometimes climbing dodgy looking ropes & back down. People hurt their feet, ankles, cut themselves on the rocks & to be honest Health & Safety would have a field day flagging faults in that cave!

I get some pretty smart photos & I am feeling quite chuffed with myself. We're right by the end & he wants us to go through this TINY hole with water pouring through, hitting you on the head as you go. I'm like no no no…one guy goes & I tell myself to man the hell up, I put my camera on my wrist, then being the bright spark I am, I move it into my Bikini top. Ok, ok, my thinking is that it's stuck in there (bandeau one) & with my back to the water It'll be fine. Not so. Whoosh the water smashes my top, my camera flies out, just as I'm about to catch it the guy grabs my hand to pull me through the hole, NOOOOOOOOOOOO. To say I was gutted is an understatement, screw the photos!! that camera is worth £250 & was my baby!! The guy says the depth is way too deep to find it, one guy attempts a vain search & we move on, me sulking behind the group.

Next stop is a climb over slippery rocks up up up to a wicked view point looking over turquoise pools going down below (see pics). We all head down & are encouraged to swim in the pools, it looks amazing but by this point I'm frozen to the bone & the sun still hasn't come out so I pass on the swim & take a few photos for the girls. All in all a wicked day, just a shame about the camera!

In the evening we all play many cool card games, have some drinks & a load of us laugh our bums off playing special Jenga. Now this is special because on each Jenga brick is a dare, ranging from drink your drink, do 3 cartwheels to getting spanked by everyone! It was pretty special & one guy had a complete obsession with spanking people, I mean REALLY spanking people. Poor Simon ended up with a massive bright red arse cheek, the boy took a pounding :S

16th Jan: I'm feeling pretty rotten today as I have a stinking cold. Think it must have been getting so cold the day before. I chill in the sun, go back to bed for a nap & then relax while the boys go tubing down the river with beers. I hang out with the boys in the evening while they get cained, well even more cained, having been drinking since about 12. Leaving tomorrow for Rio Dulce!

17th Jan: The journey has to be one of my worst so far, I get in & then 20mins later more people get in & I'm squished up against the glass, literally unable to move an inch. It's a long old journey, about 6/7 hours if I remember right. I meet a couple of German girls on the shuttle who thankfully talk Spanish as no one seems to speak English at all! Eventually we get on the boat to take us down to Livingston after making a U turn to pick up even more people. We have so many people on board the journey takes about 2.5 hours rather than the average 1-1.5hours, a couple of Manchester lads have the boat laughing & we enjoy a rather wet ride down the River. Rio Dulce seemed nice, slightly manic with shops everywhere but friendly & cool, the river trip was lovely & we saw lots of different birds, amazing landscapes etc, but Livingston?? Oh my god what a sh*thole!!!

I feel sorry for anyone staying there longer than one night, instantly we had these dodgy lads taking us to the Hostel, hanging about & generally being pretty scary. The Hostel has no lockers & we don't even seem to have a key for the room, the scary lads are able to come into the Hostel garden area so we never feel safe for a moment. The American dude working there seems cool but there's a German girl whose only 18, just being so naïve about everything…she basically just loves sleeping with the black men, has some sort of weird fetish with them & let's them do whatever they want to her. It's sad to see & if I was her mum I would be horrified. Anyway, I meet a lovely Dutch girl called Fem off the boat whose also going to Utila (Honduras) & then I meet two girls in my dorm also doing the trip (Rachel & Marissa), so along with Yvonne, the German girl, we all decide to get the hell out of there & leave at 6am in the morning!

18th Jan: I'm up at 5.30am :( This is waaaay to early & all this travelling is taking it out of me. It's going to be another long old day of travelling so we hop on a little boat to cross over to Puerto Barrios. It's a beautiful setting, one I wish I had my camera for, & the sun rises as we've speeding along to the port. Once there we're greeted by a lovely man who takes us in his people carrier to La Ceiba. It's another really long car journey, one which is held up by the bridge collapsing in parts, the driver calls another friend & within 10mins we're walking along the bridge with our bags to another car on the other side. Just behind us there is a commotion & we look around to see a massive lady going completely bonkers, I still can't work out whether she was drunk, attention seeking or just plain crazy..but we were more than relieved when she DIDN'T get in our van!

About 6 hours later we finally arrive in La Ceiba, by this point I have to admit I am sick & tired of travelling, its hard work! My skins awful, I feel run down & tired all the time & I haven't even had a night out getting smashed & dancing in ages!! (I could also do with going on a diet & doing some exercise).

We arrive at the port about 1.30pm for our 2pm ferry to Utila..only to find the ferry isn't until 4pm :/ As I knew I could buy a camera in the shopping centre we passed, plus I was starving, I eventually plucked up the courage to go to the shopping mall (a taxi ride away) by myself. Now remember I cannot speak Spanish…this was no easy feat! Basically, the cameras were too expensive& I kept getting stared at by the locals, I mean glared at…so I inhaled a Burger King & got back to the dock with just 30mins to wait.

We get in, what can only be described, as a tin on the water. It's like someone has designed the boat on a tin of sardines, minus the sardines. It isn't a comfortable ride so I go to sleep, only waking up when a local starts prodding me..

Utila seems nice, it's dark when we arrive & after walking about for a while we (myself, Fem & Yvonne) settle on Mango Inn, mainly because it has a swimming pool & it's bloody HOT here. For some reason a random German man has attached himself to us, who is not only creepy but we think must have something missing in his brain where he cannot, under any circumstance, relate to other people or realise other people want him to go away, like right now. Luckily he's a cheap skate & can't afford our room WAHOO so we check in & head to the pool for a night swim..ahhhhh bliss :)

19th/20th/21st Jan: A mixture of sunbathing, while trying not to ignite from the severe heat. Eating yummers food, all of us at one point feeling poorly, Fem getting a Kidney infection! Poor Fem :( Hanging about & generally taking it easy. Marissa done her Advanced PADI, I stupidly told them about my ear so they said I couldn't start my Open Water without a doctors note, but alas with me having to buy a new camera & other expenses means I can't afford the PADI anymore anyway, bad times.

Utila is awesome, just ridiculously hot, I mean seriously hot…we watched sunset at Babalu which has an amazing view & also has a hole in the floor so you can see the fishies :) Every evening as it got dark in the Mango Inn the hummingbirds would come out & fly to get the honey the staff had hung out for them, so cool. Ate probably the best pizza EVER at Skidrows (I know dodgy name) & had a few ridiculously strong rum & cokes while listening to live music (& a guitarist who looked like he was trying to be Axel Rose), took some silly photos & then got about 4 hours sleep as up at 5am for our boat back to La Ceiba. Might I also add the mozzies here are EVIL, EVIIIIIIIIIL, like Dr.Evil, evil….they completely terrorized us from day one, I look like a leper & my ankles have still not recovered.

22nd Jan: Unfortunately Yvonne left us Thursday Boo Hiss & due to her kidney infection & meeting a friend, Fem stayed on in Utila. I carried onto La Ceiba with Marissa & Rachel as we're all trying to get to Nicaragua & there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do this! We got the ferry back over & in pouring rain jumped in a cab to the Bus Station for Tegucigalpa, the Capital of Honduras & a dodgy as hell place! 7 hours later & with me feeling like vomiting the whole way, we finally make it to the Capital. I'm writing this blog now because I'm basically in a box room with just a bed & side table, no internet, no decent communal area & no one seems to be about. We can't go outside after dark as it's too dangerous so I thought this the perfect opportunity to bore you all some more :)

We did manage to get out earlier for some food & I found a place selling cheap cameras, but alas they were SO cheap that they only took AA Batteries haha. The cheapest normal digital one was £50 but no memory so I'm going to wait & see if Leon has anything better as I just need a cheapo one to get me by till Matt comes out, but not so cheap I can't sell it on of course!

Tomorrow we have to get a 9am bus to Managua (capital of Nicaragua) & then I leave the girls & head off alone to Leon. It's going to have taken 2 days in total to get across to there, one boat, two buses & a shuttle but fingers crossed I make it safely & can find a good Hostel to crash at.

Hope you're all having fun at home, I'm really missing our nights out & being able to let go without fear something might happen to me. It's all been very civilized so far on this trip, which is what I wanted as I'm over partying so regularly, but occasionally it would still be nice!

I've got drunk once & even then once I get tipsy I send myself off to bed out of some sort of weird self preservation haha. I think the main partying will be happening in Brazil for Carnival, this I am excited for!

Keep safe peeps, mucho love xxx :)