Punta Gorda, Belize

We had to be in San Pedro Sula, Honduras for our next flight which proved to be easier said than done. Our best path ended up being taking a water taxi from Placencia to a nearby town called Independence. From there we got on a bus which took us to Punta Gorda. This is a bizarre town which has amazingly little to offer a tourist, yet amazingly inflated prices for the few tours that are available. Luckily for us we didn't have to pay for our thrills this time around. Around 2:30 am that night we woke up to our two story concrete building swaying as if we were up a tree in a wind storm. Off the coat of Honduras, near the island of Roatan, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake was shaking things up something fierce and we were enjoying its effects from several hundred miles away. We were both glad that there was no actual danger or damage since in our dazed states we did precious little to actually escape the room or seek cover of any kind.
The next morning we grabbed the ferry from Punta Gorda, Belize across to Punta Barrios, Guatemala.

We then had to take a small minibus to the Honduran border and then cross the border on foot. We had been assured by our guide book that there were regular buses from the border on the Honduran side, but when we arrived it seemed to be a different story because of the earthquake the night before. While we were contemplating between a very expensive cab ride or slinging our hammocks for the night a bus did show up. Unfortunately, he said he wouldn't go to Puerto Cortes (our next checkpoint) unless he had at least ten passengers. While we sweated it out, both literally and figuratively (it had been 30+ degrees celsius since Belize, but it felt like 50+ because of the humidity), a few more stragglers showed up looking to get on the bus. In the end, he left with six of us on board, none of which were anywhere near as relieved as Nelly and I. We came to a bridge which had actually been cracked all the way through by the earthquake and the side of the road was crowded with large semi-trucks which had pulled over since their weight and cargo (fuel) made crossing the bridge unwise. Our bus driver was not deterred by the sight and barely brushed the brake before we drove over. I was able to clearly see the two inch wide crack that went from edge to edge of the bridge as we passed over it. We arrived in Puerto Cortes without incident and then transferred to the last leg of our trip, another hour on a packed minibus to San Pedro Sula.