The Jade Seahorse

I've discovered an interesting place on this island of Utila. A unique and wild space with a restaurant, bar and a few rooms to rent. It is known as the Jade Seahorse. It is a feast for my eyes and I find my self wandering over there regularly. Enjoy a bit of the magic in these photos. 

Honduras

Honduras has been a beautiful country so far. Max and I crossed the border nearly 2 weeks ago. We cycled through jungle valleys following the foot of the mountains. Along the way we picked oranges, grapefruit, bananas, starfruit and coconuts. I snack on fruit all day.  I think that because of the excess of bananas (I can buy small ones for less than 2¢ each) peanut butter has returned to the store shelves! 

I made it to the Caribbean, my first time here. Max and I celebrated with fresh coconuts on the beach. On the way there we passed through the city with the highest number of murders per capita in the world, San Pedro Sula. It looked like many of the Mexican cities I passed through. Fairly clean, sometimes modern, many people out on the streets. Max needed a part for his trike so we found a bike shop, but it was Sunday and therefore closed. A man out front called a bike mechanic he knew and in a few minutes the guy arrived on a scooter to show us the way to his house and little shop. Once there his wife made us lunch and we were invited to stay the night but decided to continue on. 

Eventually we made it to La Ceiba where we took a ferry to the island of Utila. Max was going there to become a certified scuba instructor and I decided to join and do some diving as well. I have no underwater pictures yet so I'll write about the diving experience in a later post. The island is small. Just a few kilometers of paved roads, always busy with scooters and people walking. Most everyone speaks English here. Many of the folks I've met are not from here. It seems to be a destination almost exclusively for long term travellers such as myself and populated by travelers that have just never left. It is beautiful and warm and I like it here. 

 Beautiful Honduras.

 Biking with friends.

 On the Caribbean!

 Just an eccentric home.

 Making new friends.

 I will eventually photograph my bike with retired planes from all the world's airforces.

 Classic submersible.

 Diver graffiti.

 My favorite place to watch the sunset on Utila.

Utila sunset.

Across Guatemala

It was a short and pleasant trip across Guatemala. I traveled with Max across the east side of it from Belize to Honduras. The first stop along the way was to the city of Flores. Flores is situated on a small island in a lake. It was a cool little town, as I suspect any town is that engulfs an island. In the lakes were clothes washing stations. Mounds of stones stacked in shallow water with a flat rough stone for scrubbing clothes on top. It had been a while since I've been able to wash clothes thoroughly so I joined on with the ladies already there. Swimming in that area made bubbles in the soapy water.

Traveling south took me through a landscape of short steep mounds of earth rising sharply out of the flat farm fields. It was a landscape I've never seen before and it captivated me as I traveled through it. The world was lush there. I was surrounded by a deep greens the whole day through. Rivers flowing to the Caribbean cut through the landscape, frequently forming wonderful pools for swimming.

The food was great too. I picked fresh grapefruit from the trees my hammock hung from. I could get bananas for just a few cents, mellons were sold at every small town and the avocados were the largest I have ever seen, as big as the grapefruit! I bought a lot of fresh corn tortillas, formed by hand and cooked over a wood fire. They were fantastic.

The people in Guatemala were as friendly and helpful as everywhere else I've been. Smiling and waving as I pass, always curious where I came from and where I am going. I think my Spanish is just good enough to be able to answer them though that is not always true.

 Quiet roads.

 From a restaurant in Flores

 My bicycle-with-fighter-jet photo collection grows.

 The cemeteries are beautiful in Guatemala.

 Max and I doing laundry with a view.

The laundry stations in Lake Salpeten.

 Foosball!

 I love camping on rivers.

 I spent a long morning here. It was beautiful.

 Ice Cream stop

 Rio Dulce bridge

 The unusual hilly landscape.

 A lovely morning.

 The same morning. Still lovely a few minutes later.

Welcome to Honduras, sponsored by Coca-Cola.