Frisbee on top of a volcano - naturally!

Another long weekend lay ahead of us last week, and our plan to go to Copan was not materialising, so where did we go? Yup...to another island! It's a hard life at times! Last weekend a group of us (Me, Amanda, Noel, Mark, Deb - an American girl teaching at the school, and Caroline - an American teaching at another school) all decided to go to the Isle of Tigre in the south of Honduras (Pacific Ocean this time). On Thursday night we sat by the Texaco garage for an hour waiting for a bus to take us to Tegucigalpa, where we were to stay the night before we found another bus to take us on our merry way. I had a headache as I sat there and I should have seen that this was to be the pattern for the weekend! A good sleep on the bus seemed to help though and when we got to Teguc all 6 of us piled in a small taxi (how to get to know people quickly!)and went to Marlon's apartment. Marlon is a Honduran friend we have got to know who studies Dentistry in Teguc and has a vv small flat he shares with his sister. Somehow there was room for all 6 of us to stay there - again sharing beds with people helps you to get to know each other better!!

We set off from Marlon's house to find the Bus station. It was pouring with rain as we trekked through the city. Our spirits still fairly high at this point, we stopped to ask the police the way to the bus station and after about 20 minutes of walking around we found the bus station. How I love the confusion of translations - they had directed us not to the obvious bus station where 6 people with rucksacks would be wanting to go to, but to the bus station where they mend the buses!! So another 10 minutes of walking in the rain and we found ourselves at the correct bus terminal. Interesting buses here in Honduras that remind me of the buses in Uganda - known as 'Chicken buses' here!

Well, we made it on various buses to Amapala where we all piled off the bus and into the boat that was to take us to the island. It was still pouring with rain as we sat under a plastic sheet to try and keep us dry. Sitting under the plastic we were blissfully unaware of the stunning scenery around us. We made it to the dock and with the Lonely Planet in hand, Deb started the phone calls in Spanish to try and find us somewhere to stay. It was still pouring with rain and the island looked pretty deserted, it certainly wasn't tourist season! The volcano loomed ahead of us, surrounded by a halo of cloud. We found somewhere to stay - a hotel on the beach. Next was to find a taxi to get us there, but the 'Harbour master' well equivalent of, found us a pick up truck that we all piled onto. We stood on the truck in the pouring rain, winding our way through the small island town until the truck pulled up on the beach and we all got off. We found our hotel and we were the only guests. The sea was sandy and looked inviting and so we decided to swim before dinner. I figured I was soaked through so may as well go straight in the sea in my clothes. Great idea! So, relaxing in the sea was the way forward and then back to change into my dry clothes. It was at this point that my weekend started to look less rosy. My rucksack is apparently NOT waterproof and so ALL of my clothes were soaked through! So no changing into dry clothes for me. Heh ho! It rained the entire weekend and so I was in wet clothes the entire weekend! This was thoroughly unappealing by the end. We stayed in this hotel for the night, which was incredibly cheap by English standards but v expensive by Honduran standards and so we decided to stay somewhere cheaper for the next night.

SO we all piled into another pickup truck (how I love those vehicles)and set off to find somewhere else on another beach. The volcano pretty much takes up most of the island and driving around the base it was just breathtaking as you looked up. It is not an active volcano (clearly or I wouldn't be there!) but was very striking.
We managed to get to another beach shortly before a non-existent lunch. Again, being rainy season they weren't really expecting visitors..but we found somewhere to stay. A shack by the sea is definitely not something you'd find at home. There were 4 hammocks and 3 bug-ridden, damp beds! The girls all managed to grab a hammock as soon as we saw the beds and they were to be our beds for the night. It was back to basics with no shower or running water. A toilet (hole in ground style) and a 'peeler' (no idea if that is how you spell it!) which is like a water trough. We had the added bonus of having little fish swimming in our water, but when you need to wash off you need to wash and in the dark you can't see the fish!
Anyway, we left our stuff int he shack and headed off to climb the volcano. Caroline stayed behind as she wasn't feeling well and in hindsight I should have stayed with her...! As we stood at the base of the volcano looking up at the mist covered expanse ahead of us I should have realised what I was getting into. There I was about to climb for 3 hours up a volcano (and UP being the vital word there)with 4 super fit, keen sport people! And me? I had a headache. It started off quite pleasant and then my headache kicked in and the speed increased, and the climb steepened.....and my mood became less than jolly! In fact I was thoroughly grumpy! I walked behind everyone else who had miraculously turned into Mountain goats. I had wet clothes on - including wet underwear - and I had a headache. Why did I agree to it? On a nice day and in dry clothes I would have loved it, but on this occasion the love was not to be! I can't believe how kind the others were to me though and understanding, my head was so bad I was plain stubborn and yet they remained calm and lovely. I really am very lucky to be with these people!

I finally made it to the top and was glad I did! The view was astounding. From up there you could see 3 countries - El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. My mood then lifted considerably - even to joining in the game of Frisbee we had up there - what else do you do on top of a volcano?? It took over 3 hours to get up there and only one and a half to slip and slide our way down.


When we got down to the road again we hitched another ride on a pick up and we made it back to our hut as the darkness set in. We were soaked with rain and sweat and smelt less than pleasant and the only way to wash was in the ocean and so yet again I remained in my clothes as they were so wet and in we went - along with the shampoo! I can't say I'd imagined myself in the pacific ocean washing my hair in the dark and rain. We managed to find dinner by the sea and then it was time to head for our hammocks. Mark had taken his laptop with him and so we both stayed up to watch the Lion King (again another unexpected twist to my weekend?!)
Few of us slept that night as we were just so cold, the hammock was relaxing, but somewhat restricting for a whole night. Amanda and I were both sure we heard things scuttling along the floor during the course of the night, but as we were in hammocks hanging it didn't really matter!

The next morning we were up early and we made our way back to the boat to take us home - still thoroughly wet! The bus back was full and I found myself standing for the first part, until a nice Honduran man gave up his seat for me!

I have never been so grateful to get home to a hot shower and dry clothes! It was a good weekend and nice to get away, but I'm not sure travelling with 5 other people is for me - a lot to have decisions made for - and to get into taxis! I have spent this week recovering from the travelling. It was a gorgeously beautiful place and one I'd like to return to in the sun!

This is not allowing me to add photos today and so I will add those tomorrow (or asap!)