22/1/10 - day 44.

up at half 9, and went to get breakfast. wasnt that hungry after last nights feast so just went to a bakery and had something like a croissant but a different shape. decided to go and visit one of the nearby garifuna villages by myself since i was unable to make a day if it on a tour. the garifuna people live on the carribbean coast of honduras, guatemala and belize (and possibly elsewhere) and are of afro-caribbean descent. they speak their own kroil language as well as english and spanish.

despite the tour operator saying yesterday that they dont recommend going there alone, mentioning something about political situation and poverty, (dont know if this was a selling tactic), id spoken to a few people who´d done it and they said it was fine. so i hopped on a bus to a village to "el triunfo de la cruz" and asked the driver to drop me off somewhere in the village where there was a nice stretch of beach and maybe somewhere to get a drink etc. i stuck to areas where there were people and strolled through the village and along the beach. didnt see anything to actually DO there, the village is pretty much a dirt road that runs alongside the beach where people have set up places to live.

the people were friendly there, all saying hello, especially the kids. i found somewhere to buy a coke and shortly after i got a taxi back to tela as i couldnt be bothered waiting for a bus that would come go knows when, in the unforgiving heat. they say the bus comes hourly, but nobody knows at what point in that hour!!

i was 1 of 4 different people that taxi driver picked up while driving through the village, he drove through honking his horn so people would know he was there incase anyone needed to get into tela. once back in tela, i went for a walk around the market, which unlike most, wasnt the scene of chaos and pandemonium i was used to seeing. in fact, the whole town had a slow pace, quiet pace to it which was nice and although id fet borderline tit-scared when i arrived i quite liked the place now.

went to the beach, bought some pan de coco (coconut bread) from a garifuna woman and went online to type up words such as these and i was rather behind! i felt so hot, honestly, staying on the beach wasnt really an option. i dont know if ive ever seen such cloudless skies over the last 2 days.

afterwards, i went for chicken, chips and a donut. back to the hostel where i sat in their little courtyard reading, getting attacked by mosquitoes, and chatting to the czech girl. went to bed early as i felt tired and the mosquitoes wouldnt give it a rest on my feet and ankles!