Honduras

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Central America and one of the most beautiful. Its western mountains are in many ways similar to those in neighbouring Guatemala, but here the landscapes seem less damaged by man. The forests are less scarred by slash and burn agriculture and the telltale marks of subsistance farming. The towns seem well ordered and surprisingly neat and tidy compared to elsewhere.

This is the country in the region that managed not to have a catastrophic civil war in the 1970s and 80s, instead becoming a prop and base for US military and undercover activity. The legacy of such times is a palpably American feel to the place in patches, both in terms of evidence of affluence and the presence of US tourists. Still the distribution of wealth is strikingly uneven. Honduras was the original Banana Republic and you get the impression that big business still retains control of most of the purse strings and doesn't pay out all that much to benefit the people.

We've been hanging out in Roatan, one of the Bay Islands, these past days. It's a bit of an unreal place, at least here in West End, one of the best places in the World for going scuba diving. It's a haven for ex-pat divers and beach bums who are catered for by a plethora of beach bars and restaurants serving international cuisine. I gave the sport a crack with a one day course, diving very apprehensively down to nine metres for 40 minutes and sort of enjoying myself in a nerve-racking kind of way. On the seabed I was greeted by a very jaunty looking lobster which I left alone to live out another day. It's been fun, but I'm looking forward to moving on.