Oh Honduras… I gotta admit that having spent the majority of my time here in Utila, I felt as if I missed out on a whole lotta things the country has to offer. That said, I did have the best time going around.

• • • Copán Ruinas: The beautiful city of Copán was a great introduction to Honduras. My visit here marked the last of the Mayan ruins I’d be exploring during this trip – a realisation that nearly broke my heart in pieces. Having become an avid self-proclaimed Mayanologist, I had tried to check off as many places form the Mundo Maya as I could. In fact, by the end I had managed to visit some seventeen out of a total of some forty ancient sites (with so many others still waiting to be discovered). With there being so many left for me to experience, I made my peace with moving on, knowing that one day, I could go back to the Mesoamerican ancient civilisation I got to discover along the way. While my plans for the foreseeable future wouldn’t include a whole lotta history and would focus more on wildlife and nature, it was kind of an okay pill to swallow despite missing the ruins terribly.

• • • Tela: From getting lost in the botanical gardens of Lancetilla to wandering around coastal towns and mingling with the Garifuna people, Tela was where I got to lay back and enjoy myself without much planning – having played everything by the ear. With my only plan turning into a giant flop that essentially ended in me finding myself walking barefoot in the middle of a storm back to my hotel, I simply had to learn to go with the flow over here. 

• • • La Ceiba: My stay here was more of a stopover than a full immersion. While I got to enjoy my time strolling around the promenade and exploring the Pico Bonito national park (with a side of sexual harassement), I will forever keep La Ceiba in my heart for three things. First off, this is where I got to meet Emma and Julia. Second,  this was the gateway to Utila. Third? This is where Captain Hoover would always say we’d end up every time we’d go out on the Miss Tamara during a storm!

• • • Utila: So, Utila… Utila, to me, was the (is)land of many firsts. I completely upended my travel plans, I saw a whale shark, I witnessed a turtle release, I got my first tattoo, I became an illegal immigrant, and, most of all, I became a friggin’ divemaster. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Utila changed me – in more ways than one.
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• • • • • For the worse: This is where I gave in to the hedonist within me. On this island, one can give in to their earthly desires as much as they want. I’d party like crazy whenever I wanted, get drunk or high if I felt like it, and do whatever else I felt like doing. Though diving kept me a bit active, I still felt like a complete sloth by the end of my stay. Not to mention, my smoking was now at an all-time high – with Utila being the most smoker-friendly place I’ve ever been to. I’m talking about being allowed to smoke in closed, public areas kinda smoker-friendly; absolutely disgusting (but also very convenient). For the time being, though, I decided to embrace it and give up on giving it up.

• • • • • For the better: After two months in paradise, I felt like a completely different person. I embraced the “go slow” island attitude (much like I had done back in Caye Caulker, Belize) and was now way calmer (and probably cooler). Not to mention, I was now a divemaster. As cool as the title might sound, the training programme taught me not only a vast array of skills that would undoubtedly come in handy on my future diving endeavours, but a whole lot of other life skills – say leadership, teaching, safety, and resilience. I proved to myself that I can push past limits, master any skill, and earn the respect of a tight-knit community (despite occasionally dropping a thing or two). But most importantly, here I got be a part of a a microcosm of global backpacker culture. Underwater Vision wasn’t just a dive shop, it was like a place everyone goes home to. Here, I now had a new family and a multitude of indelible memories I would cherish for the rest of my life. 

• Distance:

• • • Total walked: 77km
    • Total travelled: 1015km

• Books: 
  • • The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
    • Treasure Island, Robert Louis Sevenson