"What happened to your face?! I mean, why has it changed colour?!"

So this weekend we headed off on our first proper trip. After 4 buses, which were going through varying stages of decay and all blasting out honduran dubstep at extreme decibels, we arrived at a beautiful lakeside hotel, with cabins, canoes and plenty of character. The place was pretty much deserted which at first seemed a bad omen. But once we had checked in, the rooms were spotless, the place had wifi, canoe hire and fantastic food! Heading off to explore the area we decided to head to one of the 30 wonders of Honduras. A waterfall called Pulhapanzak, this involved even more buses and a walk of about 2km in the midday sun. We were well rewarded when we got there. A cold beer (my first since arriving here!) in a paper cup and tacos for lunch. Then the waterfall. It was fantastic, the cold spray was extremely refreshing, and the swimming was amazing!! It was the first time we didn't look the most touristy people in a 50km radius. The American tourists with name badges and a guide took that award.
After our trek back to the hotel we had the most amazing fish, after not eating fish for a month, me and Ashley devoured one rather large tilapia (specialty fish farmed on the lake) each.

After waking up at 6am, (early beds and early mornings here!) I was in desperate need of going canoeing. Having lived beside the sea for my whole life, 4 weeks is the longest I've spent away from water! I needed my fix. Taking a canoe out for the morning and spending a good 3 hours on the lake, I was definitely satisfied. To top it off the place was astoundingly beautiful, with a huge amount of wildlife, and locals out fishing in their boats. We all enjoyed it so much we've booked a weekend at the lake for my birthday!!

Starting cooking for ourselves yesterday has been something I've been looking forward to for a long time ( no more eggs for me!) The fact that every time we touched the cooking hob we got an electric shock put something of a downer on this.. Remembering a long ago science lesson, wearing shoes, particularly rubber ones should solve the problem. And it did! We managed to finish the meal. Pancakes and banana for dinner just hit the spot! From now on, cook with shoes. Always.

After my weekend away, I've most definitely got more of a suntan. This fact was clarified when a boy at school said to me 'WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?! I mean WHY HAS IT CHANGED COLOUR?!' with a look of extreme astonishment. Being the only gringa in school, I'm going to have to get used to the pupils interest in the changing colour of my skin.