Honduras Viaventure Staff Training Trip
Day 01
Sunday morning saw Clelia, Hugo, Steph and Alfredo off to a groggy-eyed start at 4am; by 3pm we were at the ferry terminal in La Ceiba, having only stopped for a quick breakfast, even quicker lunch, and to stamp our passports at the border.
At 4pm we left La Ceiba by boat, arriving into Utila by 5… mercifully, the waters were calm. Curly haired Lisa from Laguna Beach Resort met us on the dock – of course, our luggage was the very last to be unloaded!
A short land transfer and an even shorter boat ride and were at Laguna Beach Resort – at last! – where a kind bartender awaited with a selection of ice-cold beers… mmm J
After dinner we headed into town to explore some of the local nightlife although being a Sunday, everything was pretty quiet.
Day 02
After breakfast we met with Sheena, our snorkel master for the morning. After kitting us out with masks, snorkels and fins, we departed by boat, accompanied by two diving pax and their dive master.
We spent the next couple of hours snorkeling the reef with Sheena pointing out many colourful fish and different types of coral. After a snack of cooled water, biscuits and fresh watermelon we moved on to a second spot before heading back to the resort for lunch.
After an early lunch we said goodbye to Lisa and Felicia and dropped our luggage at the ferry terminal to go and check-out Mango Inn.
Our luck held and the waters remained calm, meaning we were back in La Ceiba by 3pm and off to visit the Quinta Real hotel, before moving on to the Lodge at Pico Bonito where the receptionist was waiting with cold towels and refreshments.
Finally we reached Omega Lodge, where a cheerful Sunie greeted us and gave us a tour of the property. Clelia and Steph called dibs on the room with the private bathroom (sorry boys!) before heading down to a superb dinner.
Day 03
After breakfast we signed our lives away to Omega by means of a waiver (as Sunie put it – we will do everything possible to minimize the risk, but if anything does happen, we are very sorry) J, and were then hooked up with life jackets, helmets and wet shoes to march down to the river.
Down at the river we were given a crash course on swimming in rivers and currents, etc. before heading upriver to do some rock jumping, after which we headed back down-river for the instructions on the rafting part of the activity. After practicing paddling and rescuing people who fall in we set off. It hadn’t rained the day before so we had an exciting but not too hard core trip with our raft guide Tom.
Once back at the lodge we had lunch and then set off towards Copan, stopping along the way to visit Casa del Arbol in San Pedro Sula.
Day 04
This morning Fito met us at the entrance to the Copan archaeology site for an interesting tour of the ruins and some background history on the Mayas.
After a 3hr tour we picked up some refreshments and headed on to the Finca Santa Isabel where Fito showed us the nature trails and gave us some details on how the tour works.
After lunch in a local café we braved the heat to complete the hotel visits, ending in Hacienda San Lucas with a wonderful glass of lemonade.
Back in town we went to ViaVia for dinner and the Wednesday Salsa Night.
Day 05
An early start to our last day – we met Howard from Casa de Café and Terra Maya before setting off for Finca El Cisne where we met a very amiable Carlos for a delicious home-grown meal – scrambled eggs, beans, cream, hard cheese, plátanos and limes with coffee and milk, all from the farm!
Carlos then took us for a walk through the orchard showing us Maracuyá, Pommelo (similar to grapefruit), various types of bananas and plátanos, Mazapán (the bread fruit), Carambola (star fruit), etc.
From here a 10min drive took us to the paddock for another crash course – this time on horseback riding before saddling up on our steeds Diana, Josephine, Maximo and Beatriz.
We set off, with three other participants on the tour, through coffee plantations and the area designated for drying cardamom, through fields, over bridges and across streams whilst tasting coffee, cardamom, star fruit and guayaba.
Just before midday we waved goodbye to Carlos and the rest of the group, and headed back to the car with Don Arnulfo, our other guide.
We headed back to Copan Ruinas, stopping for a quick visit at the Macaw Mountain Bird Park, to have lunch, before beginning the homeward journey mid afternoon, finally arriving as very weary travelers around 9pm.
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