If I had another few days free doing nothing it would have been worth checking out the Bay Islands, as they have been highly recommended by everyone that has been there or has heard of them, but on my tight schedule I knew that it would be a waste to have to arrive and leave on the same day, not giving myself any time to relax into the scene.
My plans to visit the Archaeological Museum were greatly expedited when the hotel owner offered to run me into the centre of town in his van, and say that I could either walk back or grab a taxi, depending on what my plans were after the museum, and all for no extra cost which I thought was extremely helpful and generous of him.
The hotel is a little family run business and M' had earlier told me that the owners take pride in doing their best to help their guests in any way they can, and certianly judging from all the proactice help I had received thus far I could see where he was basing his information on.
When I arrived at the museum, I wasn't expecting too much as it looked quite small from the outside, but inside was like a Tardis and it was so well laid out and presented with plenty of information cards in English for me to read that I had no problem at all wnadering around on my own and making sense of the things I was seing.
For just US $2, or 38 Lempira which is the Hondurian currency, I thought that it was great value and one of the guide books also say that if you arrive on the first Sunday in the month the entrance fee is waves, which is good to know if 'you have a few days here and arrive easly in the month.
There was the whole history of Honduras timeline on display, from the Mayan culture right through to Spanish occupation, pirates and up to the mid 1800's, but my favourite pieces were the recreated huts, the huge paintings and some of the tiny scultpures. I was also impressed to read about the Mayan language being partly cracked by a Russian and then finally completed by an American in the last couple of hundred years, using techniques that up til them were not thought as workable.
In the museum courtyard that was a nice large intricately carved colomn that I liked a lot before I headed off into town to see what central downtown San Pedro looked like, and unsurprisingly it was much like any other downtown with its casino's hotels and shopping malls all being barely a few houses away from falling down buildings, street markets and the beggars who seem to think that because I am white that they should make a bigger play to get my lose change than they should of the locals.
There were a few nice buildings, but the maint thing that stuck in my mind during the day was when I stopped off to get a bite to eat in the local foodcourt and noticed that the guy next to me was shadowed by two rifle wielding security guards at all times, so I have no idea if he just loved the cheap food or he was trying to make a statement that he was just like anyone else!
The other thing I noticed was that I seemed to have the eye of all the local young women, as whereever I went I could spot that at least two or three locals were looking at me favourably at all times, and I guessed that they don't get many Europeans who chose to say in San Pedro, as the tour guide said that most of passing travellers use the city only as a convenient and well organised transport hub before shooting off to wherever they planned on spending a couple of weeks.
I found myself wandering in an ever increasing loop til I got bored and considered getting a taxi back before spotting that I was only a few blocks away at this point, so I just straightened out and made my way back to the hotel.
Arriving at the hotel the owners wife said that if I had any time left I should check out the Mega Mall just a few blocks up the road, and as I was at a loss for what to do and the sun was still shining I decided to go check it out and ended up buying a 60 Lempira cinema ticket, which has almost got be the cheapest cinema ticket I have bought since in my life, and it was a nice cinema too.
I had over an hour to kill before the film started, so I went back to the hotel and started sorting out my photos before returning to watch half an hour of the most boring and routine police drug drama film and then walking out in disgust.
It may have got some good actors in it, but the story had nothing knew whatsoever, it had failed to make me give a damn about any of the characters in the slightest and I could already tell that before the end a few were going to die and then the end credits would roll up, so I figured I wasn't really missing much at all.
In the roof of the Mall there was a live open air trance / base gig being pumped out loud and also over the radio, and I think it was exactly the kind of mainstream trance music that I like but most DJ's hate. I had half a mind to stay there all night to listen to it, but I had left my wallet back in the hotel so I didn't even have enough left on me to get myself a couple of drinks and also it was now dark and so I didn't want to push my luck more than I had already.
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