Day 102 - Friday 30th December 2005

After an indifferent nights´ sleep I woke up early with no real plans for the day. I had a few problems getting hold of cash, so I was forced to change up my emergency dollar fund of $30 until I could get to a bigger bank in a bigger town.

Trying to maintain a tight budget I sampled some comida corriente, which is a typical Honduran set-menu of chicken, salad, fried banana chips and tortillas for 30 Limpiras (30L=£1). It was actually pretty good, in fact probably better than most of the sea front restuarants, and it set me up for an afternoon of swimming in the Caribbean sea and exploring an old fort. As a strategically located town, Omoa once had the responsibility of defending the Spanish colonies from the onslaught of the British pirates, hence the fort was constructed. When it was first built the fort stood on the shore of the Caribbean sea. Nowadays it stand well inland as a result of the sea having receded over the years.

In October 1779 the good old Britsh forces occupied the fort and held it for a short while until the Spanish had gathered enough men to retake it. Just as the Spanish were preparing their final attack the British slipped away under cover of darkness, taking all the valuables from within the fort onto their ships!

The mosquitoes in the part of the world are a little bit of a problem, especially during sunrise and sunset. At sunset after unsuccessfully attempting to deprive them of blood a-la-Roy, I ventured out for my own dinner with the lads. As we ate, a cool Honduran dude asked if he could join us and we began chatting. He came from the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, and invited us to stay at his house if we were headed that way. It sounded like a good offer so we agreed and swapped email addresses, and tentatively arranged to meet up the following weekend.