Horsepower: 1

Honduras was a whole lot of mountains rising through misty clouds, random men wandering the streets with machetes and random letters being missed out of Spanish words, making the Spanish spoken all but incomprehensible. Unlike other Spanish speaking countries, Hondurans seemed to actively enjoy both confusing and misunderstanding us. In particular the lady working at the coffee shop in Gracias sticks in my mind. She was capable of serving “cafe con leche” (which she served a bit like a cappuccino but with more milk) or “cafe negro” (black), but ask for coffee with milk separately, or just a little milk and you will get a cold cappuccino. On our final day I took pleasure in the revelation that it wasn't just us she would misunderstand when overhearing some Spanish tourists ordering “white coffee and an espresso”. Her response? “Dos cafes con leche”?!

One aspect of Honduras that differed greatly from Guatemala was the absence of traditional dress. In Honduras about 90% of the population are Ladino, meaning that they're mixed Mayan and Spanish descent. Most people do not speak Mayan languages and Christian worship here does not combine elements of Mayan worship – no multicoloured candles or chicken sacrifice in churches here... Also there seemed to be a much bigger divide between rich and poor. Whilst in Guatemala most people were clearly poor, there didn't seem to be so many people desperately poor as in Honduras. Honduras has more obvious signs of wealth; shopping malls, major chains, air-conditioned buses, but as you cruise through the countryside in these air-conditioned buses you notice families living on tiny plots of land in single-roomed adobe (that's mud) huts that you see in other countries. Honduras has more rich people, but it also has poorer people that Guatemala. In the countryside you also notice that the horse is still a viable mode of local transport. Whilst people may take buses between towns, when they get off the bus it'll be at wherever they parked their horse, complete with wood and leather saddle.

We also visited the ruins at Copan Ruinas. Whilst much smaller than Tikal, these ruins were very interesting as not only did they seem less restored, allowing you a real glimpse of ruined temples rising out of the rainforest, but they also had many impressive carvings and Mayan hieroglyphs remaining. Whilst similar to Tikal, the city was notably different in style and sheer number of carvings surviving. Plus their sacrificial alters were rectangular, not round. Although that probably only really makes a difference if you're the one being sacrificed...

After Honduras we headed into El Salvador, where the guard at the border disappointed us by not stamping our passports as apparently we don't need a stamp. El Salvador itself did not disappoint, heading on our first day to La Palma, the home of naïve art, and a town that looks like it was attacked by a pack of over-zealous 7 year-olds... Even those buildings that are not covered with murals are brightly coloured and decorated, and the people have been friendly, curious and welcoming. It may not be so different to the rest of Central America, but in another way it really is, and I love it for that!