Honduras - Copan Ruinas and Utilla in the Bay Islands 14 - 24 Sept

After an eventful border crossing and 2 days travelling made easier by the weight of numbers (we were travelling in a group of 8) we had exited Nicaragua, travelled through the worlds hardest to pronounce capital city, Tegucigulpa (Teh-goo-see-gulp-ah) and landed on the small Caribean Island of Utila in the Bay Islands.

Utila is known worldwide for its beautiful reefs (2nd biggest right after the barrier reef) and super cheap diving. The Mavrix now expert divers after having completed their Open Water course in Taganga Colombia were keen to dive again and with the Welshman in tow (Liam) signed up for a 12 dive package. Nice thing about Utilla is that there is so much competition between dive shops this meant we got our accomodation for free as well as free snorkeling etc, it practically felt like they would have given up their first born son for us to sign up. Utilla is also somewhat of a party island with loads of backpackers walking the streets at night dodging the many daredevil scooter drivers that whip their way up and down the islands main road and ducking into the many bars that accomodate the islands other big pursuit, this meant a few nights fun on the water not of the diving variety for the Mavrix. We think this might be the main reason that so many get "stuck" here, our dive master had come for a week and had stayed for 3 years as do many, we dont really understand it but hey to each their own. Although Utila was great fun and the diving was beautiful it must be said that it is not the prettiest of islands (or are we just spoilt after the Corn Islands???), the beaches are average and the roads too busy for our liking - No go slow on THIS island. Utila also has some serious wildlife going on, namely mosquitos, iguanas and tarantulas. Brad and Ed were to find this out one night when returning to their room, they had already chucked out one tarantula previously only for another to make its home on the wall above their heads. So freaked out where these 2 city boys that they went to managment to get the problem sorted out to which a sleeping soul replied "Its a 3rd world country, deal with it!", harsh for them, hilarious for us!!

After some great diving and good times we decided to keep on moving with our next destination in Honduras being Copan. Copan is an old Maya city right on the border of Guatemala and Honduras. After arriving late the night before we made an early start for the ruins, a short 1km walk outside of town. While Copan is not as big as some other Mayan cities it has an astounding amount of detail still in tact with many sculptures and estellas (like reliefs) scattered throughout. This makes it a beautiful and interesting site to visit, we often found ourselves bending over and sticking our nose in close to get a better look at some of the beautiful works. Also very interesting was the ball court, one of soccers great ancestors where Mayans would play with a ball made out of extract from the rubber tree with the outcome of the game determining life or death! Funnily enough the winner was the one to be sacrificed, much like Muslims believe that they get 40 virgins and a Big Mac if they blow themselves up, the Mayans believed that if they won the ball game they would accend to heaven as kings and recieve a great many virginal wives with a happy ending.

This was to be a quick stop though and also a goodbye to our travelling buddies of the last 3-4 weeks as we were all heading off in different directions :( It was sad to leave our little family but we have done this many times by now and is just a part of life when travelling. Next destination Guatemala...