We arrived in Honduras the next day, continuing our back-to-back landfall. The ship docked in Puerto Cortez but we had signed up to visit the Lancetilla Botanical Garden which sounded like a very nice excursion.
We were not, however, informed of how far away this destination was. From our point of origin in the port of it ended up being something like a 4-Hour bus ride that felt very significant for our limited time in country. I checked out a map years later when geolocating photos and discovered that there is a very low-lying area in Honduras along the coast called Sula Valley where the roads are few. So we ended up taking quite a circuitous route to end up further east along the coast.
We saw many rural and agricultural sights along the way, as well as some trials that developing nations face. At long last the bus pulled in to the gardens and were given tours of the various areas within. Perhaps it was the anticipation from the bus ride, but everything was very beautiful and scenic. I took some great photos of the fauna, here is a selection to check out:
After a good amount of time spent viewing the gardens, we were taken to a nearby beach restaurant for a late lunch. It took quite a long time for the entire group to be served, I think that the older members of our tour were not as concerned about maximizing beach time after the lunch part of the trip.
We did head out a little bit onto the beach after eating, though there was not much time allocated. However, that portion of the visit was dampened a little bit by the warnings to probably do not take our shoes off, due to the chance of being compromised by fecal-borne parasites. Apparently lots of dogs poop on the beach… yuck. Next comes the exciting part! The bus ride back to the ship…
You think I’m being facetious but with a 4 hour drive and a dock time of 5pm, they were not sure they could get us back in time for the ship to depart. This was an official voyage sanctioned excursion, so they should hold the ship for us, but there was still a bit of drama.
We were just about the last people back on board but the ship was still there for us. We enjoyed our time in Honduras, a good bit of it was seen out the window of a bus but it was enlightening nonetheless.
The next port of call is: