Wed

02

Oct

2013

LA CEIBA & CAYOS COCHINOS: CARIBBEAN TIMES

 

FROM GUATEMALA TO HONDURAS

From Rio Dulce in Guatemala BoB and we took the bus to the border of Honduras. This time the border crossing was a bit different as one guy of the bus company took all our passports and went somewhere. Of course, normally we have to show our passports personally at the border.

Another different thing was that we had to take all our luggage out of the bus. However, we assume that the border staff prefers suitcases as they are easier to check because we could go through without being controlled. 🙂

A few hours later our cool golf ball BoB and we arrived in one of the most dangerous cities in the world: ‘San Pedro Sula’. Suddenly BoB lost his coolness. It’s said that there are three murders every day. How crazy! So we were not really interested in getting to know this place and took the next bus straight to ‘La Ceiba’ which is a big city at the Northern boarder of Honduras at the Caribbean Sea. Usually, when travellers come to Honduras, they visit the famous islands of ‘Utila’ or ‘Roatan’. As we wanted to safe  money, we deceided to skip these islands and explore the second biggest reef in the world one more time during a day tour from the mainland.


On the first day we three strolled through the city and realized that, except of the central park, it has not much to offer. It’s perfectly located at the sea with a long beach but it’s heartbreaking to see all that rubbish lying in the sand. But still, the water made us looking forward to our snorkeling trip on the next day.

 

During our boat trip we passed this wonderful 130 years old Bonzai tree

Click in the picture to enlarge!

BOAT TRIP TO CAYOS COCHINOS

 

On the next morning a small boat took our group to the beautiful islands of Cayos Cochinos, a group of two small islands and 14 smaller coral cays. After a 50 min ride we arrived on the first island and we felt like in paradise again. . . palm trees, white sand, and turquoise water. As it is a protected area we paid a small entrance fee (5 dollars per person). Our guide explained us which corals and animals in the area live and that we should be careful during the snorkel tour. We were impressed by the effort to inform visitors about the enviroment and to sensibilize them to be careful and appreciate this great part of the Caribbean Sea.

 

This pink boa constrictor only exist on Cayos Cochinos

We left the island and our boat took us to the neighbouring islands. We left the boat for a short walk into the jungle and got to see a very special species that only lives on these islands, nowhere else in the world. It was a pink boa constrictor. I do not know how many pictures we took of them :).

A BEACH FULL OF RUBBISH

Now it was time for some snorkelling and BoB and we were very excited. The water was so beautiful and inviting that we could not wait to jump into it. After a short ride our boat headed to a small beach. Unfortunately, the closer we got, the more disappointed we became. The beach was full of rubbish :(. The reef was small but beautiful with many corals and small fish. It could have become another fantastic snorkeling trip but we could not believe what we saw. A milk container was swimming between the corals, then a plastic bag crossed our way, and five tires found a new home on the sea ground. That was shocking. We three looked at each other and our hearts were almost bleeding. For us this place was like heaven and we could not understand that, although it is a protected area, the beach and water were polluted.

 

I wanted to start a discussion with the guide to show my disappointment. But unfortunately, due to the language barrier, I could not express what I wanted and could only ask ‘Why is this beach so dirty?‘. The simple answer was ‘There is a current that brings all the rubbish here. But we clean it regularly.‘ I could not believe what I heard. It was obvious that this was old rubbish that has been there for a looong time. Although the snorkelling was still very nice, the mood of us had changed a bit.

 

The white stuff on the small beach behind Lars is all rubbish… plastic bags and containers, flip flops and and and. Click in the picture to enlarge.

A TV – IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Luckily it became better again, when we arrived on our last island on that day. Imagine a deserted island in the sea, nothing around you. But there were people living on this island. This small island fit maybe 10 wooden huts, or even less, a few palm trees, some pelicans, and some colourful fishing boats. It was so unreal for us to see kids running around and playing. Far away from everything. BUT

 

although there was almost nothing, they had a TV! For us it was very impressive. And then we had a closer look on what they were all watching and it was too funny. We could see a German football team playing. LIVE! How crazy is this world 🙂.

 

A TRUE LOVE STORY? OR JUST A DREAM?

BoB was so tired from the snorkelling trip that he missed the TV and the football game and fell asleep. Why not? The sun was shining and the sand was warm. I tried to convince BoB that he needs some sun screen because it was a really sunny afternoon. But it was already too late, BoB was already dreaming… at least he didn’t snore ;). If you want to see what happened when he woke up, watch the video!

BoB fell asleep on Cayos Cochinos… with consequences 🙂

In the afternoon our boat took us back to the mainland. For all of us the day was a mixture between excitement and disappointment, but we still enjoyed it a lot. We all have never seen such deserted islands before.

We were also looking forward to leave ‘La Ceiba’ on the next day, heading to Honduras capital ‘Tegucigalpa’.

Thanks for reading!

 

Yours,

Liane


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