Hello Honduras and all its pretty fishes!

The mouse I shared my room in Tegucigalpa with turned out to be not so friendly – Erik's backpack side pockets had two new holes in the morning (sorry about that; the mouse must have been too, 'cause all it got was perhaps two bread crumbs at the bottom of an old plastic bag).

Three 'staff members'(?) had only a day before confirmed me the bus would leave from a terminal right next to my hotel at 9am, and when I got there I wasn't even surprised to see the terminal closed with nobody around. Typical Honduras. I walked 5 blocks to another company stopping at La Guama (85L, 4h) and was soon on my way to Lago de Yojoa.

I stayed at El Cortijo (200L, 8€) where it looked like I was the only guest around and got therefore a triple suite, with a big terrace and wifi all for myself at the price of a dorm bed. I listened to the birds sing, watched the sun go down on the lake and read my book in this resort of peacefulness and serenity, and could not have felt happier. Well, maybe seeing the excitement of my bird watching friends, if they were there with me, could've even added to that, but I just had to use my imagination to see my dad, Teemu and Jussi jump up and down in front of my eyes as dozens of different birds (of the 400 the lake is a home to) made their appearance right next to my terrace. One of them sounded like an alarm clock though, which made me congratulate myself for having bought earplugs when going to bed.

The next morning I hitchhiked to the bus station and continued my journey to San Pedro Sula (30L, 2h) and La Ceiba (90L, 3h). Having about an hour before my ferry to Roatan on the Bay islands would leave I ran around with my backpacks doing some last minute grocery shopping since I had been told the Bay Islands would cut deep into my travel budjet otherwise, and bargained my taxi drive to the harbour down to 50 l (1,5€).

The ferry was not a pleasant experience, neigher for me nor my wallet (return 1024L, 39€), with a slightly stormy weather and little girl puking right next to me for the whole 1,5h. At Roatan I found out that the last bus to West End, where I was planning to stay in, was already gone and taking a taxi the only option. The taxi drivers tried to get me to take a cab for 25 US$ but I knew locals paid 50L (1,5€) for a collective taxi, so I refused and said I'd hitchhike.

Another traveller going to the same direction looked confused, but didn't want to get ripped off, or to get me raped, so he tagged along and in the end we got a ride for 60L each. This Australian around-the-world-tripper, Rob, also joined me to the hostel I had picked from LonelyPlanet, Milka's rooms. We were both looking for a dorm bed but since the dorm was closed and the idea of walking around longer in the dark with our luggage didn't seem too tempting, we settled to sharing a twin suite with a kitchen for 380L (14€).

So me and Rob shared a room, went out to get to know local beer selling establishments, cooked vegetarian food (I did, and he didn't complain) and tried to stay positive even though the weather was terrible – pouring rain all day long. When it stopped raining for a bit, we planned to go snorkeling to West Bay beach 4km away, but the lovely 45minute walk we were promised turned into a nightmare only after about 15 minutes: we had to walk in the water to pass some cliffs and I stumbled into a sharp rock hidden completely by the muddy water and got a nasty set of, not very deep, but heavily bleeding scratches on my leg. Good thing my handbag just happened to contain the last 15cm of my mum's 1m bandate, perfect to cover most of the cuts.

Rob wanted to learn to dive and I, slightly put off by my first diving experiences in Taganga, had come to the island to go snorkeling, so we asked around the different agencies and found many offering the same package: one-day scuba diving introduction for 100 US$ and snorkeling gear&wetsuit for only 10 US$. Since Rob was going diving anyway, I wouldn't even have to pay for the transport.

It was funny to see how differently everything was done with Rob here than with me in Taganga – I was never asked about my past medical conditions, made to read books or taught technique in shallow water but just told verbally what to do and dumped straight into the deep water. After the first day Rob wasn't at all surprised I had panicked and said he had been nearly ready to give up trying to learn all the initial stuff in the pool too. I snorkeled around happily on a nearby coral reef, floating in my wetsuit, saw funky fishes in all the colours of the rainbow and loved it.