Exciting Honduras

March 2019 

Picture me. I am in a small kayak on a lagoon somewhere in Honduras. Night is descending.  I am lost and know that the water is infested with crocodiles.  I hear the howl of monkeys but cannot see the shore. Our guide has disappeared into the darkness and cannot be seen.  Needless to say there is no signal on my mobile phone and my arms are getting weary.  

Then a bat hovers down in front of my boat and catches a fish.  I am too worried to really appreciate how strange this is.

All is tense, until I spot two of my friends in their own boats, who, sensing my fear, kindly try and cheer me up, by singing.  The strains of ’O Sole Mio”, eventually conjures up pictures of comforting ice cream, and although I am entirely lost, the situation slowly becomes less tense.  Perhaps after all I am not on a large expanse of water on the edge of the Central American jungle but instead, enjoying the views from a brightly painted gondola gliding through the golden light of a Venetian canal…?  I am not to know whether my two vocal companions feel in control of the situation - or are just manfully good at hiding their own fears!   

So it is we musically glide across the water, following each other in a disjointed line, while the bats swoop among us, with supper in their jaws.  We are directionless as the light eventually disappears altogether.  James is now singing the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” but I can discern that even his voice is getting slightly hesitant and he is either getting tired or is not as confident as he was.

It is then that a funny thing happens.  Fireflies appear, and their luminescent light guides us slowly forward.  At last we realise we have fumbled into a mangrove swamp and once we fight through the impenetrable maze of woody vegetation, we see dry land on the other side.  Luckily we realise we are not far from what, seemingly ages ago, was our original point of embarkation.

We are thrilled.  Honduras, a country of sun, sand and many adventures, has eventually managed to restore us back to safety.