Hello you jolly nice people. I'm in a bit of a grubby town called La Ceiba right now. I decided to leave the island of Utila because to be honest if you're not diving there's very little to do. The beaches aren't very pretty and it's rather pricey. So many people had raved about it too but for me it didn't live up to the hype. I've met up with Carmen and Claire again and we're just using La Ceiba as a meeting point because there are some nice places to visit nearby. Today we're off to a Garifuna fishing village called Sambo Creek. If we can we're going to get a boat to some nearby cays, a collection of tiny little islas surrounded by pristine coral reef. If not we'll just relax in Sambo Creek, take in some laid back Garifuna ways and canoe on the river... then tomorrow we plan to visit a national park called Pico Bonito for a bit of hiking and wildlife spotting...

I forgot to explain my last encounter with my friend Carmen. She is currently working in Honduras as a journalist for a newspaper in the capital, Tegucigalpa. We had talked about meeting up before I went away but it was just very good timing that we`re in Honduras at the same time. I spent last weekend with her and her work friend Claire in the town of Copan. We visited Copan Ruins which were interesting but after you`ve seen the wonders of Tikal all the others just don't seem to match up! But still it was very cool and we managed to bribe a guard to let us into the tunnels underneath the temples for a third of the going rate! I'm not condoning corruption but sometimes it works in your favour! After the mayans we went along to a nearby bird sanctuary for rescued native birds like parrots, macaws and toucans. Our guide was extremely knowledgable and the sanctuary was so tranquil. All the birds are donated or rescued and it's a centre for conservation rather than just a zoo for tourists. The surrounding jungle was also teeming with wild birds and he gave us the low down on all of them as well. We were lucky to get there for parrot feeding time so we got to hold some of the parrots and macaws. They're really amazing creatures and they definitely have individual personalities. One macaw aptly named Rebel kept trying to bite Carmen`s boob much to the amusment of the keeper!

So after a lovely weekend with the girls I made my way to the coast and the Bay Islands... and that brings me to where I am now... back with the girls on the coast. I'll fill in on our adventures after we've had them!

Bye for now xx