The ride turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. Sure, my legs are always too long to fit comfortably in buses originally designed to shuttle North American kids to and back from school, but the road was good and the scenery quite relaxing. Reggae music blasted through the loudspeakers for the entire 2.5 hour long trip but this too was relaxing.
Browsing Category Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras – Winter 2012
Belize – Quiet and Friendly Placencia
Our first stop in Belize is Placencia, a small town somewhat popular with British, Canadian and American tourists. It’s quiet, picturesque and the pace of life is Caribbean-slow. Rows and rows of colourful wooden houses, more or less damaged by the humidity or the rain, kids in oh-so-British school uniforms and cluster of tourists at the bars.
Puerto Cortes (Honduras) to Placencia (Belize) – The Boat Ride From Hell
I’m usually very comfortable on boats. I’d take a boat ride over a bus ride anytime and I’m not scared of water. So I was feeling pretty good about our 2.5 hour long trip to Belize.
That said, the boat did look small.
We all climbed aboard and off we went. I quickly felt like we were a cork jerked around in the huge waves. A tiny boat in deep open water.
Sedate Puerto Cortes, Honduras
Puerto Cortes, despite its evocative name, is a fairly uninspiring place for travelers. Not much to do, not much to see. There is less traffic there than in La Ceiba or San Pedro and it has a bit of a small town feel (at least on a Sunday during daytime). But the cranes that are part of the skyline and the number of bars give it away: Puerto Cortes is a port, an industrial one, from where half of the exported Honduran products are shipped.
La Ceiba, Honduras – Suicide Showers and New Food Addictions
Taking a shower in Central America is often a small adventure. Some have good water pressure and some don’t, some have hot water and some only have one tap—a sure sign that hot water isn’t on the menu. My favourite are the “widowmaker” showers.
Princess IV Boat Accident Between La Ceiba and Utila, Honduras
I swear I wasn’t driving.
But I doubt the Princess IV will do the trip between La Ceiba and Utila any time soon.
After a few days of watching the sunset, swimming with the fishes and eating baleadas for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we took the 2:00 p.m. boat back to La Ceiba, on the mainland.