So we´re now back to the original Tucan group - we left Antigua yesterday morning and the groups seperated at a petrol station (after a few last minute photos and many hugs). The intruders have gone and we´re left with another new intruder called Belu who has joined our tour for the final section down to Costa Rica.

We had an early start to get into Honduras, leaving Antigua about 7am and we made it to the boarder just after lunch. From first impressions Honduras seems tro be a pretty cool country which is a good thing because i´ll be calling this place home for a little while.

We´re staying in a town called Copan Ruinas at the moment, we arrived last night and had a little walk around the main plaza - which is really small but nice enough. We had a bit of a shock though because we saw a guy on the pavement who was just lying there flat out, we thought he might have fainted or something but then people started to crowd around him and he still wasn´t moving for quite a few minutes. We we´re really starting to think he´d just died on the pavement which wouldn´t be uncommon apparently, but luckily he started to move and then he got some water - I think he was a wee bit drunk and dehydrated so must have collapsed but i´m glad to wasn´t more serious!

In the afternoon, we all went out on a trip to some hot springs nearby which turned out to be a big adventure too! We all got into this van with an open back (it had a row of benches on each side and some tarp to cover us when it rained). The trip took about an hour to get there, during which time we were on one of the most bumpy roads i´ve ever seen - not to mention all the land slides and lakes that had formed in the middle of the road!! My bum was sooooo numb by the end, but the pools were worth it, then we had a delicious BBQ cooked by the people who took us out there - all for about $10!! On the way back it started to rain so we all huddled under the tarp - all in all one of the best bits of the trip so far just for the experience of riding in that vehicle and seeing the faces of the people we passed, all of which we shouted out Hola too, but some of the responses we got we´re slightly less friendly!!

Today, we´ve been out early and been to see the Copan Ruins which is the most southern Mayan ruins in Central America, the Mayans didn´t come any further than this. They were pretty spectular and one of my favourite of the trip so far, becuase they´ve found this huge temple underneath one of the buildings which is perfectly preserved after 1000 years!! You can´t see it but they´ve created a replica in the attached museum and its huge - about 25m, brilliant red colour with jade stones set in it - the real thing must be pretty special!! There was loads of carvings and the guide we had was great, telling us about the meanings and giving us a real insight into what life must have been like - we all agreed that he was one of the best guides we´ve had all trip!

After that we managed to find a bar which had a Tucan in it - so obviously we had to take the obligatory photo as we are on a Tucan tour. Amazing animals though - it had the most colourful beak and made a really funny sound.

Tomorrow we head off early to travel to Tela, then onwards to Roatan which is one of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras (and the next door neighbour to my new home - Utila).