Wowee I've had such a magical weekend! Armed with the knowledge that Utila is s***, Carmen, Claire and I headed off for a more authentic Honduran experience. We took the bus from La Ceiba about 20 minutes east along the coast to a Garifuna fishing village called Sambo Creek. Our timing was perfect as we arrived on the first day of their week long annual festival. We found ourselves a room in the one and only hotel which was far from savoury! But still the mice running around didn't make it into our room so we were happy enough... until the lecherous men moved in! Like every place I've been to in Honduras the men in Sambo Creek were unbearably sleezy. The men in this country are by far the worst I've encountered anywhere. Every five minutes someone hisses at you, kisses the air at you, comes up into your face and mutters something obscene... we had to lock ourselves in our room and accompany each other when we went to the toilet because they were hassling us so much! So anyway, we felt secure that there was safety in numbers, spent a few hours on the beach, had a tasty fish supper and went out in the evening to watch the procession and listen to the drummers. There was a ceremony for the crowning of the new carnival queen. Each girl got up and made a speech which were all clearly scripted and memorised as they were reciting their lines like they were reading out a list... things like 'my heart is filled with happiness.... and I want to thank god... and my mum and dad for making this possible for me!' the pause between each speech was punctuated with a burst of bassy hip hop... it was like the garifuna mtv awards or something! The kids were very sweet though.

The whole community was out for the party... all the women were walking around with their hair in curlers, the kids were bumping and grinding like they were in a shaggy video! We saw this boy of about 5 going up behind all the little girls trying to butty whine with them!! Knowing very well that we were in for the adult version if we stuck around too long the three off us went off to bed and locked our door firmly behind us!! ...good job too as we later heard one of our neighbours trying to open our door! Ok, so at the moment it's not sounding too magical but it gets better I promise!

The main reason we'd gone to Sambo Creek was to take a trip to the nearby Cayos Cochinos (Hog Islands). The islands are in an area of protected marine reserve with pristine coral reef, dolphins and turtles. So we got up early the next day to take a trip with a local tour guide. The boat was pretty small but the sea was calm so we had a nice trip over the islas. As we approached them we realised we really were heading for paradise. The two main islands were surrounded by lots of tiny picture book islas and turquoise ocean... we stopped at one island to order our lunch for later - fish, fish and more fish! The we went along to an area of reef for some snorkeling. It was beautiful... although as I looked down into the crystal clear water I noticed rather a lot of little jelly fish! I asked if they were stingers and the guide just said... hmm yes jelly fish. Try not to touch them! Well duh! The 3 of us got in together and promptly got stung all over! It was unavoidable. They were only tiddlers though and it wasn't any worse than a stinging nettle so we suffered it and started to explore... swimming about we soon got separated though. I popped my head up to see were they were 'cause I do suffer slightly from shark fear and feel safer when I'm close to people... I blame steven spielberg! But anyway, I spotted Claire with our guide so I swam over to them. To begin with he was swimming around with us and pointing out fish... then he took our hands and guided us around which all seemed fairly innocent he was a guide after all... but then we were forgetting we were in Honduras and the hand holding soon turned into bum and waist holding! So for a while the beauty of it all was somewhat tainted by the jelly fish stings and the uninvited groping! Claire and I made our excuses and swam back to the boat! But we were concerned for Carmen because we spotted her on her own with the other guide. We thought she might have been getting the same treatment which would have been worse cos she was alone... she came to join us on the boat and turns out that he had actually rescued her from the slight panic she suffered when she lost us! He had not been in the least bit gropey we were relieved to learn!

So we were then taken to another snorkeling location. Equally beautiful and hardly any jelly fish. This time we made sure we stuck together and swam as far away from our guide as we could! This time it was stunning. We were able to enjoy watching the wildlife. We swam around and occasionally popped up to sing songs like, 'under da sea, under da sea!' and 'mariiiiinaaaa aqua mariiiinaaaa!' Then we swam up to a small area of beach and lay in the hot water.

After our second snorkeling stop we made our way back to the inhabited island for our fish lunch. It was delicious and so welcome because we hadn't managed to have breakfast. We finished our lunch and took a stroll along the beach, mucked about with coconuts and enjoyed the beauty of it all.

Then sadly it was time to head back to Sambo Creek. We climbed aboard our dinky boat and set off. By this time the wind had picked up and as we got further away from the islands the waves got a little too large for my liking! We bobbed up and down, riding the waves home for about 40 minutes! I was pretty scared but the girls kept me distracted by singing all the way home... they were like a nautical themed jukebox! It's amazing how many songs there are about the sea!

So today is Monday and the girls have gone off for a hike in Pico Bonito a nearby national park. Unfortunately I'm having to hang out in La Ceiba as I have another appointment with the doc. My battle with the resident amoebas is not quite won yet! I've started a new course of drugs though and they seem to be more effective than anything I've taken so far... so I'm going for another check up. My doctor is very good and is determined to get me better once and for all!

So I'm going to head off to Tela later just to spend the night cos La Ceiba is a little sketchy for my liking. Then from Tela I'm heading South West to a small mountain village called Gracias. I'm only going to spend a couple more days in Honduras. I don't really like the atmosphere here and the men are horrible... Carmen came across one redeeming Honduran feature though... it's called the Honduras Reggaeton Resistance and they're working'for a world without Reggaeton'!! If you've ever been to latin america and experienced the endless onslaught of reggaeton blasting out of every bar, shop, bus and you know a bit of spanish you might find this funny... http://hondurasrr.blogspot.com/

So in a few days I'll be in El Salvador. Hurray! I'm hoping that when I get there the hisses will be reduced to just one a day!

Besos xxx