Honduras

Only to Roatan for the day from a cruise ship. The snorkeling was amazing!

I've been to Honduras several times for missions and exploring for fun. Copan Ruinas is a beautiful place to explore Mayan ruins which are quite extensive. Hacienda San Lucas is an eco lodge a short distance out of town. There are only 8 rooms and the owner is friendly and informative. It is a restored hacienda where you can learn about the local culture and Mayan civilization.

Roatan is one of the Islands where more tourists frequent. The second largest barrier reef makes for great snorkeling and scuba diving.

There are also cloud forests to explore and challenging river rafting in other parts of the country.

Please know that there is a very high crime rate due to the drug trafficking. The tourist areas have more security and I felt safe in Copan Ruinas and Roatan. However, in some of the cities I was in for mission work we were never to go anywhere alone and did not go out at night. It was common to see men with guns walking around.

Once our bus was stopped by armed men. Our guide did some fast talking explaining we were on mission work to help. Because of that we were not robbed.

Maya Temple Tours is a company I arranged for personal tours for our group. They can arrange whatever you want to see or do, for as large or as small a group as you want for a reasonable price.

You will need to guard against malaria and use DEET to guard against mosquitos that carry dengue.

Many years ago I visited Comayagua and Copan. My sister was working there cataloging artifacts for a University so we had some logistics support system in place for our trip (transportation, place to stay) but as others have pointed out there were several security precautions we had to take including being prepared what to do if our bus was stopped by armed robbers.

We we visited Honduras was one of the poorest areas in the western hemisphere (right up there with Haiti) so crime was common place and most locals that owned houses in Comayagua had some pretty scary stories of having to confront men breaking into their houses with automatic weapons in the middle of the night. One of the local restaurant owners we spoke with had admitted to shooting several suspects then giving them the choice to leave wounded or wait for the police because the felt sorry for them as they were likely forced into the robberies by local criminal gangs.

So I guess what I'm saying it is a very interesting place to visit, most of the locals are quite accommodating and travel is cheap given the low cost of living. Just be careful.

DJ