At the time of writing this I can say I have been to Honduras, but I don’t feel like I’ve been to Honduras. I mainly spent my time there on an island that is far from typical of Honduras. The Island was Utila and is frequented by tourists looking for two things; scuba diving and party. Many stories have been told about tourists going for a week and staying for years, so I was excited to be one of the tourists to see what it was really like.
From Peru I flew to Roatan, a Honduran Island in the Caribbean that is close to Utila. Initially I planned to Scuba Dive in Roatan but then decided Utila was more my speed (more backpacker less resortish), so I booked a ferry for the day after arriving in Roatan. I soon discovered there are only three things you can do on Utila; scuba dive, drink, and…nothing. Because, besides diving and drinking there literally is nothing else to do. But since I had been looking forward to scuba diving for so long I didn’t mind, and kept my discipline and except for one night, stayed focused on diving.
I stayed at a dive center that packaged 10 dives with 5 nights lodging at their on-site hostel (which I extended to 6 nights). The location was on the water on the edge of town so all I had to do each morning to dive was roll out of bed and walk 50 feet to the dock. That was very nice. When I was feeling adventurous later in the day or wanted a little exercise, I would walk the 10 minutes to the center of town.
The diving was better than most places I’ve been lately. Water was warm and the reefs still had some color. We didn’t see a lot of big fish (actually, not a tremendous amount of small fish either) but we did see eagle rays which I hadn’t seen much before, and dolphins which were a first (snorkeling not scuba diving). Overall I was very happy with the diving. It’s always good to be in the water with colorful things around.
Since Utila is also famous for being a party island, I had to experience at least one night of partying, right? So one day along with a few of my hostel mates, we moved our planned morning dives for the following day to the afternoon and began the evening drinking beers and Ruminades (yes it’s basically what it sounds like). Being a small island, the party was pretty much dictated in that it started at one bar that had that night’s event, then closed early and everyone shifted to another, and then once more to another after that bar closed (I skipped the third, two bar closings in one night was already enough for me). And of course, because of the island’s size, it was basically the same people moving from bar to bar. This large group included many of the dive shop workers and all the tourists that weren’t diving in the morning.
And that was my Honduras experience. Scuba diving and a night of partying with expat dive shop workers and a bunch of tourists. I really enjoyed it because I was able to dive so much, but after one week I was definitely ready to move on. No way I could be one of the people staying for years, or even weeks. Way too small.
In Honduras, the most cultural experience I had was eating Baleada’s each morning for breakfast (large tortilla with refried beans, egg, cheese, and a protein) and trying to speak Spanish with the people preparing them (in Roatan and Utila). And although I tried throughout my time there, there was absolutely no need to speak Spanish. My Honduran experience was a far cry from the real Honduras, but I’m still counting it.