Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Today was our last day on Caye Caulker and I was excited to do nothing again. We had talked about some snorkeling, but everything that we found, was just way too expensive.
I started the morning out by gathering my dirty laundry. Niki and I headed up the road to a cheap laundromat where we could throw our clothes in the washer for like three bucks a person. While we waited for them to cycle, we headed to the bank to exchange our Belizian money for American. We had taken out a ton because we thought that we were going to dive and didn't want to be stuck with that much money. From there we headed back to Gloria's smoothie place for our like forth fruit smoothie on Caye Caulker. By the time we got back to the laundry place, our load was done and ready for hanging.
We returned to Marin's (the name of our guest house) and strung our laundry on the many clotheslines. From there, we joined Lee and Georgia who where hanging out on the little patio porch using the wifi. We hung out there for a little while to avoid the high noon sun and just play on our electronics. I was able to Skype a few people, check my email, and work more on my blog which was still averaging about a week between posts and reality.
We headed to the beach and hung out there until sunset. The crowd at the beach grew as the orange ball in the sky drifted further and further toward the horizon. We snapped pics with our new Australian friends who, at this point now, felt like parents away from home. I admired how much we had gotten to know each other over the past six or seven days. I was sad to be leaving them in the morning.
After sunset, we made the fifteen minute walk back to the other side of the island where we were staying and now, like the locals, I didn't where shoes anywhere we went. The warm and sand covered brick streets felt awesome under my feet as I walked my sun kissed body back for dinner.
After showers and iPod karaoke, we headed back to the same little diner for our meal. While waiting for our food, Georgia pulled out her deck of cards and I went out on a limb and asked them if they knew how to play euchre, knowing it was a shot in the dark. To my surprise though, all three of their faces lit up with excitement and said, "YES!" I was really surprised because even just traveling in our own country, there are so many people who don't know how to play, but to see people all the way from Australia who knew and loved this game was awesome!
I explained that our family loves euchre and how my parents play in euchre leagues with their friends and they laughed nodding their heads, explaining that they were the same way! I had been with Lee and Paul for a week now and knew, hands down, that they would get along with Niki and I's parents so well.
Paul sat out of our first game, while us four girls dealt out the cards for a quick game. We did discover a few differences between their way and ours, but worked them out and really enjoyed the game. Food was great, Georgia and I lost in Euchre and our night was coming to an end.
Back at the guest house, I got to Skype a few more people while they played Euchre and then we headed back to our cabin to pack. Like gypsies, we packed up our small amount of things and prepared for another departure the next morning. Leaving nothing but our books unpacked, we laid down to read our books until we fell asleep. Just like my dad falling asleep five minutes into a movie, I didn't get very far into my book before passing out. Throughout this trip, Niki had told me how she envied my ability to just instantly sleep when my head hits the pillow. All I was doing was just showing off my awesome ability, because I knew the alarm would annoy the crap out of me come morning.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Caye Caulker
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The sun beating in our window woke me up at a decent hour and I was happy to know that all I needed to worry about today was what fruit I should choose for my breakfast smoothie.
I did however, still wonder if we'd be able to switch our flight or not. As I had mentioned before, the original plan was to fly out of Guatemala City, but we were so in love with the coast, that we wanted to see about spending the last week by the ocean and flying out of Cancun instead. Niki said that the max she would be willing to spend to change our flight was $150 because it was going to cost a decent chunk of money anyway, just to get all the way back to Guatemala City. I, looking on the bright side, bet her that it wouldn't even be close to that much.
I left the cabin to go use the wifi and see what it would take to switch. I went to the airline's website and then to our itinerary. Located on an obvious blue button, were the words "Change Flight". I clicked on it and was happy to see a window pop up with drop down menus for changing. Could this really be this easy? My iPhone Internet browser wasn't cooperating with the site though so it wouldn't let me scroll more side to side. I ran back to the cabin, feeling super excited, and grabbed Georgia's laptop. Niki followed me out and logged into her flight info on the laptop. Sure enough, she had the same blue button and we crossed our fingers as she clicked it. A drop down menu under DEPARTURE CITY displayed 'Guatemala City' and with the click of a button revealed a ton of other choices with Cancun, Mexico being an option. Not only was it an option though, it was also a direct flight which meant we'd arrive at five in the evening instead of 11:30pm and that we wouldn't have to have a three hour layover on Fort Lauderdale. I was starting to bounce my legs with excitement. She clicked on the city, verified that "Yes, I would like to change my flight." and was taken to the next page. As the next page loaded, I bounced up and down in my seat, clapping my hands like a freakin' child. "Hold on, hold on," Niki said, half anticipating the next page to be an expensive billing page. Her eyes opened wide to find that her new balance owed to the airlines was only like fifty three dollars or something like that. With the quick click of a button on the "I Agree" box, a window popped up with Niki's new itinerary. Silent and staring at the screen with big eyes and a dropped jaw, Niki turned to me and said shocked, "Oh my gosh, I just changed my flight! We're flying our of Cancun, Mexico!"
Now it was my turn. I logged in, went through the same procedure she did and was even more ecstatic when my billing page popped up. Instead of a new balance, mine said Customer Credit and I had been credited ten dollars back! We busted out into laughter and questioned how in the heck that worked out the way it did. Turns out it was because I had booked a round trip back in October where Niki's was just a one way ticket. Regardless of the bills, we celebrated and decided to head out for smoothies. I joked that with that ten dollar refund, I could now get a bagel TOO!
On our walk to get our fruit smoothie, we found a bakery with dirt cheap wheat rolls that we decided to grab for lunch supplies. The bakery smelled of cinnamon and bread and the lady gladly took our whole $1 for the bag of eight rolls.
After the bakery, we returned to Gloria's smoothie shack where we had gotten fruit smoothies the day before. For five Belizian dollars ($2.50 US), we got a large and very healthy fruit smoothie consisting of three fruits of our choice, fresh squeezed orange juice and ice. My drink of choice was always banana, pineapple, mango and orange juice. If we were lucky, Gloria or her dad who also made the smoothies, would hand us out glass, have us take three big sips and then empty the remaining smoothie drink into our cup.
After smoothies, we searched for some avocados and tomatoes for our rolls for sandwiches, but had no luck. Although we were able to find tomatoes, avocados were not available anywhere on the island. The locals told us that they were out of season as we sadly walked away from every supermarket. We had been so spoiled up until this point with twenty five cent avocados that we were going through withdraws.
As we walked, we also checked out diving places to get some prices. Two tank dives averaged about two to three hundred dollars and we quickly decided that diving wasn't going to happen on this island. Our travel books said that Cozumel and other areas of Mexico had just as good of diving for way cheaper, so we'd just wait. Even snorkeling was pretty expensive in Belize so we settled for a beach day instead.
We swam, sunned and relaxed all day with not a care in the world. I was so relieved to know that the ocean was going to be in the picture the next seven days and that we didn't have to ride a bus back inland. My sunny naps were interrupted here and there by a young kid selling snacks or a ball from a nearby paddle game rolling over and hitting me.
Niki and I thumbed through our Lonely Planet travel books trying to plan out our next week. The plan was to leave Belize on Thursday and head into Mexico and toward the Tulum ruins. We were now on a tight schedule and didn't have much time to waste.
Georgia also planned to fly out of Cancun but on the 19th, so we figured we would just keep traveling with her. Lee and Paul had decided to stay a bit longer and wait up for their son Ryan to meet them, so we invited Georgia along with us. She was having a lot of fun with us so far and we loved each others company, so why not.
As sunset approached, we decided to make our way back to the cabins to shower and head out to dinner. Lee and Paul had scoped out a little place around the corner from us with cheap prices and a good menu so we decided we'd all check it out.
Getting ready for dinner that night was so fun. Niki had hooked up her iPod and we were singing, fairly loudly of course, every word to Alanis Morisette's "One Hand in my Pocket". I used a comb or something of that sort as my microphone as I danced around the room singing. Georgia conveniently grabbed her camera during our performance, in time to capture a lot of it on film, definitely some priceless footage.
Lee knocked on the door to see if we were ready and Paul told us that he thought there was a party going on in the opposite direction of where we were because we were singing so loud. We laughed and headed to the restaurant for some grub. I ordered a curried lobster, coconut rice and grilled veggies for ten dollars and ate every last bit.
After dinner, we thanked the shakey guy behind the counter that reminded me of my Grandpa and headed back around the block toward the hostel. Us girls stopped in the supermarket across the street from our cabins for a candy bar. I enjoyed every sweet moment of my mini snickers bar!
We said goodnight to Lee and Paul and tucked into the cabin for the night. I fell asleep to the lullaby strumming of Georgia's guitar and Niki and I's "not so lullaby" singalong voices.
The sun beating in our window woke me up at a decent hour and I was happy to know that all I needed to worry about today was what fruit I should choose for my breakfast smoothie.
I did however, still wonder if we'd be able to switch our flight or not. As I had mentioned before, the original plan was to fly out of Guatemala City, but we were so in love with the coast, that we wanted to see about spending the last week by the ocean and flying out of Cancun instead. Niki said that the max she would be willing to spend to change our flight was $150 because it was going to cost a decent chunk of money anyway, just to get all the way back to Guatemala City. I, looking on the bright side, bet her that it wouldn't even be close to that much.
I left the cabin to go use the wifi and see what it would take to switch. I went to the airline's website and then to our itinerary. Located on an obvious blue button, were the words "Change Flight". I clicked on it and was happy to see a window pop up with drop down menus for changing. Could this really be this easy? My iPhone Internet browser wasn't cooperating with the site though so it wouldn't let me scroll more side to side. I ran back to the cabin, feeling super excited, and grabbed Georgia's laptop. Niki followed me out and logged into her flight info on the laptop. Sure enough, she had the same blue button and we crossed our fingers as she clicked it. A drop down menu under DEPARTURE CITY displayed 'Guatemala City' and with the click of a button revealed a ton of other choices with Cancun, Mexico being an option. Not only was it an option though, it was also a direct flight which meant we'd arrive at five in the evening instead of 11:30pm and that we wouldn't have to have a three hour layover on Fort Lauderdale. I was starting to bounce my legs with excitement. She clicked on the city, verified that "Yes, I would like to change my flight." and was taken to the next page. As the next page loaded, I bounced up and down in my seat, clapping my hands like a freakin' child. "Hold on, hold on," Niki said, half anticipating the next page to be an expensive billing page. Her eyes opened wide to find that her new balance owed to the airlines was only like fifty three dollars or something like that. With the quick click of a button on the "I Agree" box, a window popped up with Niki's new itinerary. Silent and staring at the screen with big eyes and a dropped jaw, Niki turned to me and said shocked, "Oh my gosh, I just changed my flight! We're flying our of Cancun, Mexico!"
Now it was my turn. I logged in, went through the same procedure she did and was even more ecstatic when my billing page popped up. Instead of a new balance, mine said Customer Credit and I had been credited ten dollars back! We busted out into laughter and questioned how in the heck that worked out the way it did. Turns out it was because I had booked a round trip back in October where Niki's was just a one way ticket. Regardless of the bills, we celebrated and decided to head out for smoothies. I joked that with that ten dollar refund, I could now get a bagel TOO!
On our walk to get our fruit smoothie, we found a bakery with dirt cheap wheat rolls that we decided to grab for lunch supplies. The bakery smelled of cinnamon and bread and the lady gladly took our whole $1 for the bag of eight rolls.
After the bakery, we returned to Gloria's smoothie shack where we had gotten fruit smoothies the day before. For five Belizian dollars ($2.50 US), we got a large and very healthy fruit smoothie consisting of three fruits of our choice, fresh squeezed orange juice and ice. My drink of choice was always banana, pineapple, mango and orange juice. If we were lucky, Gloria or her dad who also made the smoothies, would hand us out glass, have us take three big sips and then empty the remaining smoothie drink into our cup.
After smoothies, we searched for some avocados and tomatoes for our rolls for sandwiches, but had no luck. Although we were able to find tomatoes, avocados were not available anywhere on the island. The locals told us that they were out of season as we sadly walked away from every supermarket. We had been so spoiled up until this point with twenty five cent avocados that we were going through withdraws.
As we walked, we also checked out diving places to get some prices. Two tank dives averaged about two to three hundred dollars and we quickly decided that diving wasn't going to happen on this island. Our travel books said that Cozumel and other areas of Mexico had just as good of diving for way cheaper, so we'd just wait. Even snorkeling was pretty expensive in Belize so we settled for a beach day instead.
We swam, sunned and relaxed all day with not a care in the world. I was so relieved to know that the ocean was going to be in the picture the next seven days and that we didn't have to ride a bus back inland. My sunny naps were interrupted here and there by a young kid selling snacks or a ball from a nearby paddle game rolling over and hitting me.
Niki and I thumbed through our Lonely Planet travel books trying to plan out our next week. The plan was to leave Belize on Thursday and head into Mexico and toward the Tulum ruins. We were now on a tight schedule and didn't have much time to waste.
Georgia also planned to fly out of Cancun but on the 19th, so we figured we would just keep traveling with her. Lee and Paul had decided to stay a bit longer and wait up for their son Ryan to meet them, so we invited Georgia along with us. She was having a lot of fun with us so far and we loved each others company, so why not.
As sunset approached, we decided to make our way back to the cabins to shower and head out to dinner. Lee and Paul had scoped out a little place around the corner from us with cheap prices and a good menu so we decided we'd all check it out.
Getting ready for dinner that night was so fun. Niki had hooked up her iPod and we were singing, fairly loudly of course, every word to Alanis Morisette's "One Hand in my Pocket". I used a comb or something of that sort as my microphone as I danced around the room singing. Georgia conveniently grabbed her camera during our performance, in time to capture a lot of it on film, definitely some priceless footage.
Lee knocked on the door to see if we were ready and Paul told us that he thought there was a party going on in the opposite direction of where we were because we were singing so loud. We laughed and headed to the restaurant for some grub. I ordered a curried lobster, coconut rice and grilled veggies for ten dollars and ate every last bit.
After dinner, we thanked the shakey guy behind the counter that reminded me of my Grandpa and headed back around the block toward the hostel. Us girls stopped in the supermarket across the street from our cabins for a candy bar. I enjoyed every sweet moment of my mini snickers bar!
We said goodnight to Lee and Paul and tucked into the cabin for the night. I fell asleep to the lullaby strumming of Georgia's guitar and Niki and I's "not so lullaby" singalong voices.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Belize Welcomes Us
Monday, February 11, 2013
Our bus picked us up around six to head to the border. Us girls hopped onto a quiet and fairly empty bus, found open seats, and fell back asleep for a majority of the ride.
At the border, the bus stopped, we exchanged our Guatemalan money for Belizian dollars and we got off the bus. I was excited to use Belizian dollars because the exchange rate is easy. Two Belizian dollars is equal to one American dollar. That would make for easy math when trying to figure out prices and fares.
Unlike the other borders, the Belize border was pretty nice. It seemed to be layed out well and there were English speaking staff pointing us where to go and what to do next. We started by filling out our customs and immigration slips, paying our exit fee of five U.S. dollars and getting our exit stamp. From there, we got our entrance stamp into Belize, past customs and out the door. The bus had moved to the other side and waited for its passengers as we went to the bathroom and grabbed some street food for breakfast.
I watched our thing while Georgia and Niki used the bathroom and while I did that, I watched a guy kicking at the ground in front of me. Once I realized what he was doing, I about died! He was kicking around a GIANT beetle with HUGE jaw like pinchers. I remember doing a bug collection in tenth grade for our biology class, well let me rephrase that actually....I remember Katie doing my bug collection FOR me in tenth grade and she had caught a bug similar to that called a toe biter. It looked like a water beetle but with two big pinchers and that is exactly what this bug looked like but BIGGER!
The guy was shoo-ing it around with his sandal and making it grab onto his sole. He'd then kind of kick it off his shoe and look at me and laugh. I told him that if he even kicked that thing the least bit near me, I was going to cause a scene and he laughed. While watching our bags in my peripheral vision, I kept a locked eye on that bug. I was able to zoom in and get a decent photo of it before an oblivious old lady came rolling by in her wheelchair and squished its head. I kinda chuckled, not for the bug, but because of the big bad granny that just came cruising by on her wheelchair and squished it like it was nothing. The bug started twitching and doing circles, as the girls came up to grab their bags and we walked away.
We boarded the bus with our one dollar little burrito things and waited for the bus to start up. That was when Lee and Paul came up to our window to say hi. Their bus was right behind us doing the same thing so they figured they'd say "hi". "You didn't have to pay an exit tax did you?" Lee asked us. That's when it hit us and we remembered. Our book had warned us that they would try to tax us at exit, but that the law doesn't require it. The people collecting tax like that are just doing it to tourists and pocketing it. Again, like other points in this trip where we had been screwed over by locals, I was pissed. What made me feel the most taken advantage of was the fact that it wasn't like it was some dude on the street that did it to us. It was government officials taking our money because they can. We, of course, asked Lee if she and Paul paid it. "Nope," she said proudly, "I knew better and refused. The guy threatened to not stamp our passports and I told him that we would stand here and cause a scene." I laughed at the thought of Lee putting her foot down and was proud of her for doing so. They still got their stamps and got through just fine.
They said goodbye and headed back to their bus as ours started up and continued on to Belize City. Crossing the border into Belize was like crossing into a whole different world. Everything was back to English and the population was mainly of African descent. The book referred to this culture as Creole or like French Caribbean. Out my window, I watched as streams and standing water ditches went by, and I searched for crocodiles in these perfect looking habitats.
As we entered Belize City, I was so amazed to see English signs again. Sounds funny, but after being in a world where I feel like a little kid because I can't read any of the signs, I was excited to feel literate again.
The bus stopped at a big ferry dock and helped unload our things. Instead of a bunch of Spanish speaking men hounding us for taxis, we were surrounded by Jamaican sounding men with awesome dreadlocks asking us if we needed rides. "Ello ladies! Well come to Buh-leez!" they said with their reggae sounding tones, their skin dark and smooth and their teeth glowing.
We thanked them and walked to the ticket booth at the ferry dock and bought our tickets to Caye Caulker, an island in the Caribbean with good vibes, white sand beaches and awesome diving.
As we waited for the next ferry, we hit up the gift shops for a snack and about gagged at the prices. It's like we were at home again with the over priced items. I watched a Caribbean local feed her less than a year old son Flamin' Hot Cheetos while we waited on the benches. I laughed to myself and thought, "This is why they like that spicy creole cooking is because they start them off so young!" Haha.
We finally boarded the small ferry speedboat and set off on our forty five minute boat ride. I couldn't get over the clarity and turquoise color of the water. Reggae music beat hard in the earphones of the kid sitting next to me and I smiled at the warm ocean breeze coming in the boat and blowing past my head. Unlike other ferry rides that shoot across the middle of the ocean, this one skidded across the water and past a bunch of mangroves.
We arrived at a dock on an island with an awesome vibe already. Palm trees, white sand, blue skies and cheery barefooted men greeted us as we unloaded from the boat with our backpacks. Lee and Paul were waiting for us on shore and we continued to repeat, HO-LY Sh*t!, as we looked around at the oasis around us. Instant thoughts went through my head about wanting to finish out our trip there. I was ecstatic to look over at Niki and hear that she was thinking the same thing! I suggested that we look into changing our flight and Niki said it was definitely worth checking into, but it would most likely be difficult and expensive. I just had this good feeling about it.
Us five walked around and searched for a hostel that would be reasonably priced for a couple night stay. During our hunt, an older man with leather skin, bleached dreadlocks, rotting teeth and ripped Crocs came up to us on his bicycle, advertising a good deal at a guest house on the opposite side of the island. He introduced himself as Bobby and was willing to show us the way. Because the guest house was right down by another one we wanted to check out and also because he was so down to Earth, we followed him to scope the place out. We showed up to a place with white and powder blue beach cabins on stilts lined up out back. The owner showed us around our cabin and we decided to book it!
Bobby was happy because he earned some commission, we were pleased and so was the lady that owned it, Mary. Lee and Paul got their own room, and us three girls shared a cabin next door to them. It was a small cabin, enough for a double bed, a twin, a dressing table and some plywood walls going around the shower and toilet. It was perfect for what we needed and felt like a Grandma's home. The sheets were clean, rugs were on the floor and it smelled of potpourri.
We put our stuff in our room, and headed out to check out the beach, grocery store and to get more money from the ATM. Unfortunately, the island didn't really have a good "beach" but everyone gathered at the north end of the island at an outdoor bar and a large open sand area for laying out. The sand was hard and packed and you couldn't just walk into the water because of the break wall that separated us from the boat channel, but it worked for sunning.
After sunset, we headed to the room for showers and to get ready for dinner. Bobby had also told us about "Enjoy Bar" where we could get a three course lobster meal with an appetizer and dessert for only ten to fifteen U.S. dollars. And of course he reminded us to tell them that Uncle Bobby sent us!
As I was pulling my outfit out of the backpack, I was so excited to hear Niki shout from the shower that the water was HOT! More excited than ever, I hopped in at my turn and enjoyed my first hot shower in five weeks! The water was treated an smelled like hotel water as it came out the head with high pressure and steam. I dragged my feet at getting out, but also tried not to be wasteful. I dried off and continued getting ready for dinner, excited for when I had to shower next.
As a group, we walked into the bar and got seated at a brightly painted picnic table. The lighting was ambient thanks to the colored green bulb above our head which accompanied the island reggae music well. We ordered our food and after not too long, our plates came out, looking delicious!
A full sized lobster lay across my plate along with coconut rice, grilled veggies and a shrimp kabob. Setting aside the fact that the lobster was whole and I could still see his eyes, I dug into a delicious meal. We snapped pics of our feast and went from starving to stuffed in a matter of twenty minutes or so. The food was great and cheap too!
We waddle back to our cabins with a full belly and retired for the night. Back in our cabin, Georgia played her little guitar while Niki and I sang along, all while laying in our beds with the fans on us. The soft plucking of her strings and her soft voice put me to sleep like a baby and I loved the fact that my alarm was set for nothing the next day!
Photos:
1) Georgia at the border
2) GIGANTIC beetle
3) Lee in her lounge chair
4) Belize Beach
5) Bar swings at Enjoy Bar
6) Me with my lobster dinner
Our bus picked us up around six to head to the border. Us girls hopped onto a quiet and fairly empty bus, found open seats, and fell back asleep for a majority of the ride.
At the border, the bus stopped, we exchanged our Guatemalan money for Belizian dollars and we got off the bus. I was excited to use Belizian dollars because the exchange rate is easy. Two Belizian dollars is equal to one American dollar. That would make for easy math when trying to figure out prices and fares.
Unlike the other borders, the Belize border was pretty nice. It seemed to be layed out well and there were English speaking staff pointing us where to go and what to do next. We started by filling out our customs and immigration slips, paying our exit fee of five U.S. dollars and getting our exit stamp. From there, we got our entrance stamp into Belize, past customs and out the door. The bus had moved to the other side and waited for its passengers as we went to the bathroom and grabbed some street food for breakfast.
I watched our thing while Georgia and Niki used the bathroom and while I did that, I watched a guy kicking at the ground in front of me. Once I realized what he was doing, I about died! He was kicking around a GIANT beetle with HUGE jaw like pinchers. I remember doing a bug collection in tenth grade for our biology class, well let me rephrase that actually....I remember Katie doing my bug collection FOR me in tenth grade and she had caught a bug similar to that called a toe biter. It looked like a water beetle but with two big pinchers and that is exactly what this bug looked like but BIGGER!
The guy was shoo-ing it around with his sandal and making it grab onto his sole. He'd then kind of kick it off his shoe and look at me and laugh. I told him that if he even kicked that thing the least bit near me, I was going to cause a scene and he laughed. While watching our bags in my peripheral vision, I kept a locked eye on that bug. I was able to zoom in and get a decent photo of it before an oblivious old lady came rolling by in her wheelchair and squished its head. I kinda chuckled, not for the bug, but because of the big bad granny that just came cruising by on her wheelchair and squished it like it was nothing. The bug started twitching and doing circles, as the girls came up to grab their bags and we walked away.
We boarded the bus with our one dollar little burrito things and waited for the bus to start up. That was when Lee and Paul came up to our window to say hi. Their bus was right behind us doing the same thing so they figured they'd say "hi". "You didn't have to pay an exit tax did you?" Lee asked us. That's when it hit us and we remembered. Our book had warned us that they would try to tax us at exit, but that the law doesn't require it. The people collecting tax like that are just doing it to tourists and pocketing it. Again, like other points in this trip where we had been screwed over by locals, I was pissed. What made me feel the most taken advantage of was the fact that it wasn't like it was some dude on the street that did it to us. It was government officials taking our money because they can. We, of course, asked Lee if she and Paul paid it. "Nope," she said proudly, "I knew better and refused. The guy threatened to not stamp our passports and I told him that we would stand here and cause a scene." I laughed at the thought of Lee putting her foot down and was proud of her for doing so. They still got their stamps and got through just fine.
They said goodbye and headed back to their bus as ours started up and continued on to Belize City. Crossing the border into Belize was like crossing into a whole different world. Everything was back to English and the population was mainly of African descent. The book referred to this culture as Creole or like French Caribbean. Out my window, I watched as streams and standing water ditches went by, and I searched for crocodiles in these perfect looking habitats.
As we entered Belize City, I was so amazed to see English signs again. Sounds funny, but after being in a world where I feel like a little kid because I can't read any of the signs, I was excited to feel literate again.
The bus stopped at a big ferry dock and helped unload our things. Instead of a bunch of Spanish speaking men hounding us for taxis, we were surrounded by Jamaican sounding men with awesome dreadlocks asking us if we needed rides. "Ello ladies! Well come to Buh-leez!" they said with their reggae sounding tones, their skin dark and smooth and their teeth glowing.
We thanked them and walked to the ticket booth at the ferry dock and bought our tickets to Caye Caulker, an island in the Caribbean with good vibes, white sand beaches and awesome diving.
As we waited for the next ferry, we hit up the gift shops for a snack and about gagged at the prices. It's like we were at home again with the over priced items. I watched a Caribbean local feed her less than a year old son Flamin' Hot Cheetos while we waited on the benches. I laughed to myself and thought, "This is why they like that spicy creole cooking is because they start them off so young!" Haha.
We finally boarded the small ferry speedboat and set off on our forty five minute boat ride. I couldn't get over the clarity and turquoise color of the water. Reggae music beat hard in the earphones of the kid sitting next to me and I smiled at the warm ocean breeze coming in the boat and blowing past my head. Unlike other ferry rides that shoot across the middle of the ocean, this one skidded across the water and past a bunch of mangroves.
We arrived at a dock on an island with an awesome vibe already. Palm trees, white sand, blue skies and cheery barefooted men greeted us as we unloaded from the boat with our backpacks. Lee and Paul were waiting for us on shore and we continued to repeat, HO-LY Sh*t!, as we looked around at the oasis around us. Instant thoughts went through my head about wanting to finish out our trip there. I was ecstatic to look over at Niki and hear that she was thinking the same thing! I suggested that we look into changing our flight and Niki said it was definitely worth checking into, but it would most likely be difficult and expensive. I just had this good feeling about it.
Us five walked around and searched for a hostel that would be reasonably priced for a couple night stay. During our hunt, an older man with leather skin, bleached dreadlocks, rotting teeth and ripped Crocs came up to us on his bicycle, advertising a good deal at a guest house on the opposite side of the island. He introduced himself as Bobby and was willing to show us the way. Because the guest house was right down by another one we wanted to check out and also because he was so down to Earth, we followed him to scope the place out. We showed up to a place with white and powder blue beach cabins on stilts lined up out back. The owner showed us around our cabin and we decided to book it!
Bobby was happy because he earned some commission, we were pleased and so was the lady that owned it, Mary. Lee and Paul got their own room, and us three girls shared a cabin next door to them. It was a small cabin, enough for a double bed, a twin, a dressing table and some plywood walls going around the shower and toilet. It was perfect for what we needed and felt like a Grandma's home. The sheets were clean, rugs were on the floor and it smelled of potpourri.
We put our stuff in our room, and headed out to check out the beach, grocery store and to get more money from the ATM. Unfortunately, the island didn't really have a good "beach" but everyone gathered at the north end of the island at an outdoor bar and a large open sand area for laying out. The sand was hard and packed and you couldn't just walk into the water because of the break wall that separated us from the boat channel, but it worked for sunning.
After sunset, we headed to the room for showers and to get ready for dinner. Bobby had also told us about "Enjoy Bar" where we could get a three course lobster meal with an appetizer and dessert for only ten to fifteen U.S. dollars. And of course he reminded us to tell them that Uncle Bobby sent us!
As I was pulling my outfit out of the backpack, I was so excited to hear Niki shout from the shower that the water was HOT! More excited than ever, I hopped in at my turn and enjoyed my first hot shower in five weeks! The water was treated an smelled like hotel water as it came out the head with high pressure and steam. I dragged my feet at getting out, but also tried not to be wasteful. I dried off and continued getting ready for dinner, excited for when I had to shower next.
As a group, we walked into the bar and got seated at a brightly painted picnic table. The lighting was ambient thanks to the colored green bulb above our head which accompanied the island reggae music well. We ordered our food and after not too long, our plates came out, looking delicious!
A full sized lobster lay across my plate along with coconut rice, grilled veggies and a shrimp kabob. Setting aside the fact that the lobster was whole and I could still see his eyes, I dug into a delicious meal. We snapped pics of our feast and went from starving to stuffed in a matter of twenty minutes or so. The food was great and cheap too!
We waddle back to our cabins with a full belly and retired for the night. Back in our cabin, Georgia played her little guitar while Niki and I sang along, all while laying in our beds with the fans on us. The soft plucking of her strings and her soft voice put me to sleep like a baby and I loved the fact that my alarm was set for nothing the next day!
Photos:
1) Georgia at the border
2) GIGANTIC beetle
3) Lee in her lounge chair
4) Belize Beach
5) Bar swings at Enjoy Bar
6) Me with my lobster dinner
Tikal Ruins
Sunday, February 10, 2013
At five o'clock, my alarm woke us up for a day at the ruins. The idea was to get there nice and early so that we could beat the heat, the crowds and have a better chance at seeing monkeys.
The bus picked us up at for thirty and we attempted to sleep in upright position on the way there, but failed. I was so tired, but very excited to see the ruins. The sun was just coming up and I was happy to have such an early start.
We dealt with purchasing tickets and all that good stuff, and headed down the jungle footpath for about ten minutes, before the scenery opened up and I could see the peak of a temple in the distance. So much bigger than Copán!
Best part too, was the fact that there was barely anyone in the park which was great for photos! We did our share of self timer photos and video and moved from temple to temple. Unlike Copán, we were able to climb some of the temple staircases and get a great view of the yard area below.
As we approached the back of the park, we came up to the tallest temple we could climb. We climbed up what seemed like three thousand wooden stairs, to the top of the temple. Most obviously to preserve the ruins, we had to walk the wooden stairs, which was cool though because it popped us out above the tree tops. A couple other people were already to the top and enjoying the view, so we snapped a few pics, climbed the remaining stone steps, and took a seat in aww. For as far as we could see, green trees, like giant broccoli tops, covered the land with a couple Mayan temples peeking through in the near distance. The view was absolutely beautiful and was enough to make each and every one of us silent as we took it all in. Everyone except Georgia, that is. The goofball sat next to me and lowered her voice to sound like Mufasa and quoted, "Simba, everything the light touches...is our kingdom." Before laughing, which is what I really wanted to do, I quickly replied, in Simba's voice of course, "But what about that shadowy place?" In just as deep of a voice as before, Georgia replies, "You must never go there Simba!" We then broke out in laughter over the fact that at eighteen and twenty three years old, we were able to not only find a prime moment for quoting The Lion King, but also that we executed it PERFECTLY! Haha. It's not everyday you get to sit atop a Mayan ruin and quote a Disney film.
After a few laughs and about a half hour or so of soaking in the view, we climbed down and hit the snack shack for a quick treat. We grabbed a small bag of Doritos and a bottled water and chilled at the picnic tables for a few. We chatted a bit with an older Mexican man selling the concessions that wasn't completely aware of the fact that his really short mustache looked a LOT like Hitler.
From the snack pavilion, we worked our way through the rest of the park, admiring the huge structures. I wondered how with no technology, they were able to build what they did.
At the end of our park walk through, we hit up a little lunch place quickly before we had to get on the bus. We met back up with Lee and Paul afterwards and piled into the vans to go back to the hostel. It took everything in us to stay awake on the ride home. Between an early start, the walking, climbing and the sun, we were worn out like kids after a day at the zoo.
When we got back to the hostel around 1:00, we all went our separate ways and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I plopped down on a hammock on the rooftop and used the wifi. I was able to blog a bit and talk to my family members through Skype. I paid a bit for some Skype credit, and was able to talk to some people on their phones. It was so nice to hear my family's voices on the other side without breaking up due to a bad Internet connection. The six dollars I spent in phone calls was worth every penny as it entertained me for quite a few hours.
At sunset, Georgia, Niki and I made our way out to find some pizza. When Niki and I had gone to the ATM earlier, we had scoped out a place on the water with reasonable pizza prices so that's where we headed. The sun had just sunk below the horizon, leaving the sky a beautiful orange and pink shade. Traveling musicians gathered just outside the restaurant half wall and played music together while we ate our pizza and drank our fresh fruit smoothies.
As we were finishing our dinner, Lee and Paul walked up and decided to get some ice cream with us at the place next door. With our cones in hand, we took a seat on the curb and listened to the live street music. The breeze was still warm, every restaurant had their Christmas lights on for the nightlife and we tapped our feet to the awesome music playing near us. These are the fun and laid back nights I miss from summer.
Once we got back to the hostel, we sat around and discussed everyone's game plan for the next day. We were all getting on an early bus to leave Flores to head to Belize! Lee and Paul had signed up for a different bus company, but Georgia decided to come with Niki and I. It was fun having another travel buddy with us and Lee and Paul trusted that she'd be in good hands!
Niki went to bed to read, Lee and Paul went to their rooms and Georgia and I hit the rooftop for a little longer. She was Skyping her friends back in Australia which was fun to watch and listen to. The Australian accent is so fun to listen to for me and they feel the same as mine! Georgia's sister, who's still in highschool, ran the phone around to her friends to show Georgia off at lunchtime. It was crazy because they are on the other side of the world and it was already lunchtime, while we were thinking about bed. After their Skype session, I watched Georgia do some video editing of her trip. She's been putting together these cool little three minute videos of her traveling and was to the part of her trip where Niki and I came in. I liked watching someone else have the same interest as me and watching how she goes about editing.
With a belly full of food and early morning plans, we moved to the bunk room to retire. Georgia and I laid in our bunks for a little while while I worked on my blog and she worked on her laptop more. I set my alarm for an early wake up, turned on the fan to move some air around the dorm room and next thing I knew, I was out!
Photos:
1) Me in front of the main temple
2) Panoramic from the top of temple
3) Me atop the temple
4) Sunset from our hostel roof top
At five o'clock, my alarm woke us up for a day at the ruins. The idea was to get there nice and early so that we could beat the heat, the crowds and have a better chance at seeing monkeys.
The bus picked us up at for thirty and we attempted to sleep in upright position on the way there, but failed. I was so tired, but very excited to see the ruins. The sun was just coming up and I was happy to have such an early start.
We dealt with purchasing tickets and all that good stuff, and headed down the jungle footpath for about ten minutes, before the scenery opened up and I could see the peak of a temple in the distance. So much bigger than Copán!
Best part too, was the fact that there was barely anyone in the park which was great for photos! We did our share of self timer photos and video and moved from temple to temple. Unlike Copán, we were able to climb some of the temple staircases and get a great view of the yard area below.
As we approached the back of the park, we came up to the tallest temple we could climb. We climbed up what seemed like three thousand wooden stairs, to the top of the temple. Most obviously to preserve the ruins, we had to walk the wooden stairs, which was cool though because it popped us out above the tree tops. A couple other people were already to the top and enjoying the view, so we snapped a few pics, climbed the remaining stone steps, and took a seat in aww. For as far as we could see, green trees, like giant broccoli tops, covered the land with a couple Mayan temples peeking through in the near distance. The view was absolutely beautiful and was enough to make each and every one of us silent as we took it all in. Everyone except Georgia, that is. The goofball sat next to me and lowered her voice to sound like Mufasa and quoted, "Simba, everything the light touches...is our kingdom." Before laughing, which is what I really wanted to do, I quickly replied, in Simba's voice of course, "But what about that shadowy place?" In just as deep of a voice as before, Georgia replies, "You must never go there Simba!" We then broke out in laughter over the fact that at eighteen and twenty three years old, we were able to not only find a prime moment for quoting The Lion King, but also that we executed it PERFECTLY! Haha. It's not everyday you get to sit atop a Mayan ruin and quote a Disney film.
After a few laughs and about a half hour or so of soaking in the view, we climbed down and hit the snack shack for a quick treat. We grabbed a small bag of Doritos and a bottled water and chilled at the picnic tables for a few. We chatted a bit with an older Mexican man selling the concessions that wasn't completely aware of the fact that his really short mustache looked a LOT like Hitler.
From the snack pavilion, we worked our way through the rest of the park, admiring the huge structures. I wondered how with no technology, they were able to build what they did.
At the end of our park walk through, we hit up a little lunch place quickly before we had to get on the bus. We met back up with Lee and Paul afterwards and piled into the vans to go back to the hostel. It took everything in us to stay awake on the ride home. Between an early start, the walking, climbing and the sun, we were worn out like kids after a day at the zoo.
When we got back to the hostel around 1:00, we all went our separate ways and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I plopped down on a hammock on the rooftop and used the wifi. I was able to blog a bit and talk to my family members through Skype. I paid a bit for some Skype credit, and was able to talk to some people on their phones. It was so nice to hear my family's voices on the other side without breaking up due to a bad Internet connection. The six dollars I spent in phone calls was worth every penny as it entertained me for quite a few hours.
At sunset, Georgia, Niki and I made our way out to find some pizza. When Niki and I had gone to the ATM earlier, we had scoped out a place on the water with reasonable pizza prices so that's where we headed. The sun had just sunk below the horizon, leaving the sky a beautiful orange and pink shade. Traveling musicians gathered just outside the restaurant half wall and played music together while we ate our pizza and drank our fresh fruit smoothies.
As we were finishing our dinner, Lee and Paul walked up and decided to get some ice cream with us at the place next door. With our cones in hand, we took a seat on the curb and listened to the live street music. The breeze was still warm, every restaurant had their Christmas lights on for the nightlife and we tapped our feet to the awesome music playing near us. These are the fun and laid back nights I miss from summer.
Once we got back to the hostel, we sat around and discussed everyone's game plan for the next day. We were all getting on an early bus to leave Flores to head to Belize! Lee and Paul had signed up for a different bus company, but Georgia decided to come with Niki and I. It was fun having another travel buddy with us and Lee and Paul trusted that she'd be in good hands!
Niki went to bed to read, Lee and Paul went to their rooms and Georgia and I hit the rooftop for a little longer. She was Skyping her friends back in Australia which was fun to watch and listen to. The Australian accent is so fun to listen to for me and they feel the same as mine! Georgia's sister, who's still in highschool, ran the phone around to her friends to show Georgia off at lunchtime. It was crazy because they are on the other side of the world and it was already lunchtime, while we were thinking about bed. After their Skype session, I watched Georgia do some video editing of her trip. She's been putting together these cool little three minute videos of her traveling and was to the part of her trip where Niki and I came in. I liked watching someone else have the same interest as me and watching how she goes about editing.
With a belly full of food and early morning plans, we moved to the bunk room to retire. Georgia and I laid in our bunks for a little while while I worked on my blog and she worked on her laptop more. I set my alarm for an early wake up, turned on the fan to move some air around the dorm room and next thing I knew, I was out!
Photos:
1) Me in front of the main temple
2) Panoramic from the top of temple
3) Me atop the temple
4) Sunset from our hostel roof top
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Tubing on the Lanquín River
Friday, February 8, 2013
After an adventurous day on Thursday, it was great to sleep in Friday morning. I started my day with a pretty crisp shower in an outdoor hut, followed by brushing my teeth under a faucet that poured out of an attached conch shell. I was freshened up and ready for a pretty chill day at our hostel.
At two o'clock, we were planning on tubing down the river behind our place. Until then though, we just relaxed under the pavilion. Niki and Ryan (Tennessee Katherine's friend) battled it out on the ping pong table while Georgia, Lee, Paul and I sat around and chatted in the hammocks.
At one point, we went for a walk on a search for a shuttle for the morning. Through discussion, we had found that the Aussie group was headed in the same direction as us, so we would all be riding together. A warm and uphill walk lead us to a small bus office where we purchased tickets from Lanquín to Flores, a small town not far from Tikal ruins.
Two o'clock had rolled around and we, along with about eighteen more people, gathered by the road with the hostel's inner tubes and waited for our ride up river. Just like our transportation the day before, we piled into a truck like cattle and headed up and down hills and around curves to our tubing start. Piling into tubes and into the freezing cold water, we got ready for takeoff. It was cool to watch the river fill with black tubes and happy travelers. Included in our tubing cost was a free can of beer that they handed out as we set down the river. The mob of tubes made their way down the river a lot quicker than I thought and we guided ourselves with our paddling hands to the the guides commands of "Left, Right and Midder". Haha.
We passed our hostel and continued for another ten minutes or so and then paddled our way to shore. They loaded the tubes AND us tubers into the truck, this time twice as squished and unsafe as the ride there.
We returned to our place in time for some more relaxing on the riverside dock. I treated myself to a banana, milk, peanut butter and cookie crumble smoothie and soaked in our time of chillin'.
I also figure that the smoothie would hold me over until another awesome buffet meal at the hostel which totally lived up to its reputation. Dinner was just as good as the last two.
After dinner, Marc, Solange and I, along with some German girls got on the subject of America's gun laws. As many people would avoid this topic because its up for such debate, I genuinely asked their opinions. I did this because I am an open minded person and genuinely curious of what the rest of the world thinks of our country. I did the same thing with Rhed back on Ometepe. I feel that this is one of the best things you can take away from traveling is other opinions, beliefs, stories and more OUTSIDE of your usual environment. If all you hear your whole life is those opinions around you, you will never be able to consider other ideas. I of course learned quickly, through a couple different conversations throughout this six week trip, that the rest of the world thinks our second ammendment "right" to bear arms is ridiculous! Unlike some who would take total offense to these opinions, was so intrigued to hear how their laws work. I was very pleased with our almost two hour conversation about the issue and liked how mature and controlled it was. They complimented my non confrontational ways and said they wished a lot more people could see both sides of the fence on issues like this. I was then, of course proud of myself for representing our country as an educated and open minded person.
It's crazy to me how once you reach outside your nest, how much your eyes are opened to what the rest of the world believes. Some opinions I agreed with, and others I didn't, but the fact that so many people of so many different backgrounds were able to come together and discuss different issues and opinions as civilized and interested adults, was really a cool experience for me.
After our nice little political debate, I joined back up with Niki who had been visiting more with the Australians and their son Ryan, who had arrived that evening. By the time I made it over to their table, the wine had already been flowing and everyone was feeling extra happy! Ryan was an absolute comic, and had everyone cracking up.
The rest of our night was filled with candlelight, a guitar being passed around, and laughter galore. Although we had only known some of these people for one or two days, we hung out with them like we had known them forever.
At about midnight, we calculated the amount of sleep we'd be getting and figured it might be a good idea to get some rest. We had an early bus the next morning to Flores that we didn't want to be miserable on, so we hit the hay in hopes for another great day in Guatemala.
Photos:
1) Tubing!
2) Niki, Me, Georgia, Katherine
3) Riding like cattle
After an adventurous day on Thursday, it was great to sleep in Friday morning. I started my day with a pretty crisp shower in an outdoor hut, followed by brushing my teeth under a faucet that poured out of an attached conch shell. I was freshened up and ready for a pretty chill day at our hostel.
At two o'clock, we were planning on tubing down the river behind our place. Until then though, we just relaxed under the pavilion. Niki and Ryan (Tennessee Katherine's friend) battled it out on the ping pong table while Georgia, Lee, Paul and I sat around and chatted in the hammocks.
At one point, we went for a walk on a search for a shuttle for the morning. Through discussion, we had found that the Aussie group was headed in the same direction as us, so we would all be riding together. A warm and uphill walk lead us to a small bus office where we purchased tickets from Lanquín to Flores, a small town not far from Tikal ruins.
Two o'clock had rolled around and we, along with about eighteen more people, gathered by the road with the hostel's inner tubes and waited for our ride up river. Just like our transportation the day before, we piled into a truck like cattle and headed up and down hills and around curves to our tubing start. Piling into tubes and into the freezing cold water, we got ready for takeoff. It was cool to watch the river fill with black tubes and happy travelers. Included in our tubing cost was a free can of beer that they handed out as we set down the river. The mob of tubes made their way down the river a lot quicker than I thought and we guided ourselves with our paddling hands to the the guides commands of "Left, Right and Midder". Haha.
We passed our hostel and continued for another ten minutes or so and then paddled our way to shore. They loaded the tubes AND us tubers into the truck, this time twice as squished and unsafe as the ride there.
We returned to our place in time for some more relaxing on the riverside dock. I treated myself to a banana, milk, peanut butter and cookie crumble smoothie and soaked in our time of chillin'.
I also figure that the smoothie would hold me over until another awesome buffet meal at the hostel which totally lived up to its reputation. Dinner was just as good as the last two.
After dinner, Marc, Solange and I, along with some German girls got on the subject of America's gun laws. As many people would avoid this topic because its up for such debate, I genuinely asked their opinions. I did this because I am an open minded person and genuinely curious of what the rest of the world thinks of our country. I did the same thing with Rhed back on Ometepe. I feel that this is one of the best things you can take away from traveling is other opinions, beliefs, stories and more OUTSIDE of your usual environment. If all you hear your whole life is those opinions around you, you will never be able to consider other ideas. I of course learned quickly, through a couple different conversations throughout this six week trip, that the rest of the world thinks our second ammendment "right" to bear arms is ridiculous! Unlike some who would take total offense to these opinions, was so intrigued to hear how their laws work. I was very pleased with our almost two hour conversation about the issue and liked how mature and controlled it was. They complimented my non confrontational ways and said they wished a lot more people could see both sides of the fence on issues like this. I was then, of course proud of myself for representing our country as an educated and open minded person.
It's crazy to me how once you reach outside your nest, how much your eyes are opened to what the rest of the world believes. Some opinions I agreed with, and others I didn't, but the fact that so many people of so many different backgrounds were able to come together and discuss different issues and opinions as civilized and interested adults, was really a cool experience for me.
After our nice little political debate, I joined back up with Niki who had been visiting more with the Australians and their son Ryan, who had arrived that evening. By the time I made it over to their table, the wine had already been flowing and everyone was feeling extra happy! Ryan was an absolute comic, and had everyone cracking up.
The rest of our night was filled with candlelight, a guitar being passed around, and laughter galore. Although we had only known some of these people for one or two days, we hung out with them like we had known them forever.
At about midnight, we calculated the amount of sleep we'd be getting and figured it might be a good idea to get some rest. We had an early bus the next morning to Flores that we didn't want to be miserable on, so we hit the hay in hopes for another great day in Guatemala.
Photos:
1) Tubing!
2) Niki, Me, Georgia, Katherine
3) Riding like cattle
Leaving Lanquín
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Although our bus didn't leave until eight, we still got up a little early to pack up our backpacks and grab some breakfast from the hostel restaurant. I ordered toast and peanut butter which was awesome.
While waiting for our bus, we grabbed a nice group photo of our new friends we had made during our stay in Lanquín. Our van bus, had arrived and the five of us (Niki, the Australians, and I) piled into the van along with some people from another hostel.
The bus ride took from about eight to four with only one stop at a road side restaurant that we got a twenty minute break at. We ate grilled chicken, rice, and beans accompanied by a Coke for next to nothing money wise. I bought a small pack of chocolate chip cookies on our way back to the van and shared them with the little local boys in the van. They were about seven and four maybe, and dressed in fancy church-like clothes with hair gel and all. The young boy sitting next to Niki hesitated at first when I offered him the cookie, but snatched it happily and thanked me with "¡Gracias!". I passed the other to the front for the little brother and resumed my position of "bored passenger on the bus". Note to self, next time I know I'm going to be in a bus for a majority of the day, make sure to charge the iPhone fully so I can take advantage of the music, games and blogging I have available with a charged iPhone. Staring out the window and nodding uncomfortably in and out of sleep wasn't the most fun source of entertainment.
Shortly after lunch, we stopped in a line of vehicles and waited for our turn across the vehicle river ferry. After a quick float across the river, we were back up an rollin' down the road again.
I knew we had arrived when I could see an island out the window connected to shore by one long and straight road, kind of like the entrance to Cedar Point. The sun was about a half hour from setting and we entered our hostel and signed in. Checking out the rooftop of the hostel, I noticed an awesome view of the lake, with the sun setting beneath the horizon. Hammocks dominated the roof top area and definitely enticed me for a night time swing later.
After dark, Niki, Georgia, a guy named Paul from South Africa that we met on the bus, and I headed out to find some cheap, but yummy food. Cheap food is definitely what we found, but yummy it was not. We laughed at the restaurant's sad attempt at food and then returned back to the hostel for an early bedtime so that we could make the five a.m. bus to the ruins in the morning.
I managed to grit my teeth through a somewhat cold shower, brushed my teeth, and hit the bunks for some shut eye. I fell asleep blogging on my phone and before I knew it, my alarm was waking me for an early start again.
Sorry this post is so short and sweet, but I'm playing a bit of catch up on my blog and this day was so full of travel, that its nothing very interesting to write about ;)
Although our bus didn't leave until eight, we still got up a little early to pack up our backpacks and grab some breakfast from the hostel restaurant. I ordered toast and peanut butter which was awesome.
While waiting for our bus, we grabbed a nice group photo of our new friends we had made during our stay in Lanquín. Our van bus, had arrived and the five of us (Niki, the Australians, and I) piled into the van along with some people from another hostel.
The bus ride took from about eight to four with only one stop at a road side restaurant that we got a twenty minute break at. We ate grilled chicken, rice, and beans accompanied by a Coke for next to nothing money wise. I bought a small pack of chocolate chip cookies on our way back to the van and shared them with the little local boys in the van. They were about seven and four maybe, and dressed in fancy church-like clothes with hair gel and all. The young boy sitting next to Niki hesitated at first when I offered him the cookie, but snatched it happily and thanked me with "¡Gracias!". I passed the other to the front for the little brother and resumed my position of "bored passenger on the bus". Note to self, next time I know I'm going to be in a bus for a majority of the day, make sure to charge the iPhone fully so I can take advantage of the music, games and blogging I have available with a charged iPhone. Staring out the window and nodding uncomfortably in and out of sleep wasn't the most fun source of entertainment.
Shortly after lunch, we stopped in a line of vehicles and waited for our turn across the vehicle river ferry. After a quick float across the river, we were back up an rollin' down the road again.
I knew we had arrived when I could see an island out the window connected to shore by one long and straight road, kind of like the entrance to Cedar Point. The sun was about a half hour from setting and we entered our hostel and signed in. Checking out the rooftop of the hostel, I noticed an awesome view of the lake, with the sun setting beneath the horizon. Hammocks dominated the roof top area and definitely enticed me for a night time swing later.
After dark, Niki, Georgia, a guy named Paul from South Africa that we met on the bus, and I headed out to find some cheap, but yummy food. Cheap food is definitely what we found, but yummy it was not. We laughed at the restaurant's sad attempt at food and then returned back to the hostel for an early bedtime so that we could make the five a.m. bus to the ruins in the morning.
I managed to grit my teeth through a somewhat cold shower, brushed my teeth, and hit the bunks for some shut eye. I fell asleep blogging on my phone and before I knew it, my alarm was waking me for an early start again.
Sorry this post is so short and sweet, but I'm playing a bit of catch up on my blog and this day was so full of travel, that its nothing very interesting to write about ;)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Semuc Champey
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Surprisingly, I slept pretty good all night. I survived the cockroach and the dampness of our dorm to see another day! Niki and I headed to the pavilion for a quick breakfast and grabbed our sack lunches from the bar.
Our tour group met at the main office and headed toward the road for transportation. We were headed for Semuc Champey, a kind of natural park area with waterfalls, a river and caves. Our transportation pulled up and it was a pickup truck with bars around te bed, like how you would see cattle being transported. "I guess this is us," I said to myself as we piled in the back, "only in Central America, only in Central America."
We stood shoulder to shoulder a held a tight grip, as our truck made its way down the rough, bumpy and slow road. I had sparked up conversation with an Australian couple by the names of Lee and Paul, who had been on the road for nine months, starting around Thailand. They told me of their stories and the family they had visited with in Copán. The home was outside of town and they had walked about 30-40 kilos (66-88lbs) of corn, beans, etc UPHILL to donate to the single mom and her six children. I was so inspired by their stories and kindness, that the truck ride flew by. I had also chatted with a couple from New Zealand who educated me on the production of coffee. Katherine, from Tennessee, was another sweet girl that Niki had been chatting with on the other side of the truck who I met briefly at a quick stop.
Our truck came to a stop at an old metal bridge stretched across the most beautiful river I've seen in my life....hands down. Green trees and ferns lined a quick moving and totally turquoise river that we walked up and beside to get to a small building. Niki walked ahead as I snapped photo after photo of the scenery I had been waiting for all trip! When I booked this trip back in September, one of the main things I knew I wanted to do was see waterfalls and beautiful nature scenes in the middle of the jungle, and here we were! Waterfalls trickled down the side of the hill to my right, under our walkway and into the giant blue river to my left. It felt like a scene from Fern Gulley or Avatar.
When we arrived to the caves, we climbed out, stripped down to our swimwear and locked up our belongings. Our guide Carlos, or as he addressed himself, "Carlos Santana", handed us each a candlestick. The white wax, homemade candle in my hand, was what I'd be using for the next hour to light my way through the water filled cave.
Carlos began our adventure at the mouth of the cave, by cracking open a plant pod about the size of a small egg and smearing bright orange pigment onto our faces like Mayans did back in the day. We looked like 'The Lost Boys' from Neverland following Peter Pan into the dark cave.
Daylight quickly disappeared behind is as we walked our way into waist deep water and echoed with excitement. Carlos prepared us that we would have to duck, climb and even swim our way through parts of the cave.
I couldn't remove the smile from my face if I tried, because that feeling of swimming through a dark cave with only a candle held above the water to light my way, was so exciting! All I could think about was how lucky and fortunate I was to experience something so cool!
We ended our trek into the cave at a large water hole where Carlos gave us the option to climb up a tall ledge and jump in. Being a total natural and a bit of a cave monkey, Carlos ran up and down the ledge like it was nothing and ensured us that it was safe....but to make sure you jump in Riiiiiiiiight there because to the left is a large rock and there's another....the rest of the directions were yada yada yada, because there was no way in hell I was about to strategically jump off a 12-15 ft rock ledge, into a dark cave pool when I knew how far it was to even the smallest of doctors offices. Haha. I was feeling adventurous enough with a candlestick in my hand and damp cave walls around me. A plunge into the pool wasn't required to make this a spelunking of a lifetime :)
During the time it took to watch some people participate, was when I met Miss Georgia Cole. Eighteen years old and fearless, I watched Georgia climb up the ledge and pick her jumping place. She cheered as she splashed into the water and popped up from under the water with a huge smile on her face. Georgia was also from Australia and was traveling with Lee and Paul. I was sure to snap some pics of them because I had my waterproof camera with me and planned on friending them on Facebook. Little did I know though, that I would actually be finishing my trip out with this Aussie gal.
After the jumps, we turned back in the direction we came from and started back. On our way out of the caves, we came to the waterfall we had climbed up and lined up to go back down. This time though, rather than using the ladder, we would be using a chute that the water had eroded and formed to basically slide through and plop into the waterfall base. It wasn't a far fall at all, maybe only the length of a human, but there was again, no way in hell I could do it. I knew that I would fit, because some bigger guys went ahead of me, but my doubt and refusal to go was confirmed by my cousin voicing exactly what was going through my head. "Oh (insert F-word here) No am I doing that!" Niki said as she stole the thoughts from my mind. Apparently my cousin is just as claustrophobic as I am, which made me feel better that I wouldn't be the only one going the ladder route. Another girl hesitated just as bad as us but went down the chute anyway. A quick detour up and down a ladder landed Niki and I right back with the group where the girl told us that we made the right decision. She said it wasn't unbearable, but that it was a little scary for sure.
We swam and climbed our way back out the cave with just enough candle to see and not burn our fingertips. It was cool to see daylight again as we headed toward the river for some tubing. I ditched my sandals by our stuff now that I knew we were done with rocky walking and grabbed an inner tube. I chatted more with Georgia to get to know each other as we walked up stream. We stopped at a giant swing where some people swung way out over the water and jumped quite a few feet down and into the current. Niki was one of those people, and made us laugh as the last sound we heard before her splash was her shriek! Haha.
Once we had walked for a couple minutes, over rough rocks and a few feet of ants, we approached the riverside and got into our tubes. The water was very cold, but fresh as we floated back down towards the hut where we began.
After tubing, we set back toward the trucks direction, but crossed the bridge instead. This was the big bridge that our guide book said people get to jump off for thrills. Carlos stopped and a few people jumped off into the water and then we continued on our way. We stopped at a little picnic area at the Semuc Champey entrance and ate our lunches. The hostel had made us a lunch based on our orders and I had chosen a PB&J, a banana and some cookies.
It was a perfect time to stop for lunch, because we were all hungry from our cave adventure and had a large hike ahead of us that I had just learned about. Our next part of our adventurous day was to hike about thirty or forty minutes to a lookout point. By this point, you know my opinion on hiking upward, but I kind of had no choice. It was nice to be in a group though where I heard other people say they weren't too fond of it either.
As we climbed, I was impressed with myself that I wasn't as tired as what I thought I would. Looked like the walking and hills we had encountered throughout this trip had strengthened me. We all huffed and puffed our way up the hill in hope that the view from the top would be worth the climb. What made this hike easier than the ones in the past, was that it was flights of stairs made of wood or carved into the hillside, so walking was easier and you could use your arms to pull yourself up at times. As we neared the top, Carlos told us a couple more flights and we were done with the up part of it. His signal had come a lot earlier than I predicted and I was glad to have that surprise.
Our uphill climb now became a small series of down hills and side to sides for about five minutes until we reached a wooden lookout platform. What breath I had left from the hike and climbing, was taken away by the beauty in front of me!
Looking out and over the railing was a vast amount of green falling in every direction. We were atop a giant, green covered gorge with a series of natural pools, waterfalls and streams at the bottom. If you have ever seen Avatar or Jurassic Park, that is the best way I can describe it. It was like the parts in the movies where there is no script, but instead, beautiful harmonious music playing as the camera pans the landscape of waterfalls, plants, streams, cliffs and blue skies. I had never seen something so beautiful in my entire life. That is my attempt at putting into words what I saw that day, even though it will never do justice with just words or photos.
We snapped photos and video as a group, soaked in our last minutes on the lookout and began the hike to the bottom so that we could swim in the little pools we saw at the bottom.
We were so thankful that we didn't have to climb back the way we came from, but instead down the hill directly for the pools. The skin on my tired knees shook as we descended the mountain.
When we reached the bottom, I was just as amazed looking up as I had been looking down. The water was just as turquoise looking and even more clear. We swam in the pools for what seemed like over an hour, taking photos both above and underwater. This is where we really had a blast with Georgia and Lee and Paul. I felt like that little kid at the pool that the parent was going to yell at, "It's time to get out," while I begged for just five more minutes.
The time had finally come to get out of the water and walk back to the truck. We piled in the same "cattle truck" and bumped and rattled our way back to the hostel. I reflected on our day at Semuc Champey and how much fun I'd had.
By the time we got back to the hostel, it was four thirty. Lee and I headed to the riverbank where we camped out on the patio furniture on the dock-like platform on shore. They ordered lunch and I got a water and we just enjoyed the rest of the evening. Katherine, Niki, Georgia and Lee's husband Paul joined our pow-wow not long after we sat down and we just relaxed. I made sure to sign up for the buffet again which would be serving steak!
I kind of conversation hopped for the rest of the night and caught myself talking to another Australian couple, Marc and Solange for the rest of the night, listening to stories about Japan and traveling through Europe in a camper van.
Dinner was great, just like the night before, and I was happy to call it a night by about ten. I was greeted in the dorm room by two more cockroaches, which this time didn't bother me as much because I was so exhausted. Tomorrow would be a more chill day and I didn't have to wake up to an alarm so I looked forward to falling asleep and staying that way! Goodnight Lanquín/Semuc Champey and thank you for stealing my heart!
Surprisingly, I slept pretty good all night. I survived the cockroach and the dampness of our dorm to see another day! Niki and I headed to the pavilion for a quick breakfast and grabbed our sack lunches from the bar.
Our tour group met at the main office and headed toward the road for transportation. We were headed for Semuc Champey, a kind of natural park area with waterfalls, a river and caves. Our transportation pulled up and it was a pickup truck with bars around te bed, like how you would see cattle being transported. "I guess this is us," I said to myself as we piled in the back, "only in Central America, only in Central America."
We stood shoulder to shoulder a held a tight grip, as our truck made its way down the rough, bumpy and slow road. I had sparked up conversation with an Australian couple by the names of Lee and Paul, who had been on the road for nine months, starting around Thailand. They told me of their stories and the family they had visited with in Copán. The home was outside of town and they had walked about 30-40 kilos (66-88lbs) of corn, beans, etc UPHILL to donate to the single mom and her six children. I was so inspired by their stories and kindness, that the truck ride flew by. I had also chatted with a couple from New Zealand who educated me on the production of coffee. Katherine, from Tennessee, was another sweet girl that Niki had been chatting with on the other side of the truck who I met briefly at a quick stop.
Our truck came to a stop at an old metal bridge stretched across the most beautiful river I've seen in my life....hands down. Green trees and ferns lined a quick moving and totally turquoise river that we walked up and beside to get to a small building. Niki walked ahead as I snapped photo after photo of the scenery I had been waiting for all trip! When I booked this trip back in September, one of the main things I knew I wanted to do was see waterfalls and beautiful nature scenes in the middle of the jungle, and here we were! Waterfalls trickled down the side of the hill to my right, under our walkway and into the giant blue river to my left. It felt like a scene from Fern Gulley or Avatar.
When we arrived to the caves, we climbed out, stripped down to our swimwear and locked up our belongings. Our guide Carlos, or as he addressed himself, "Carlos Santana", handed us each a candlestick. The white wax, homemade candle in my hand, was what I'd be using for the next hour to light my way through the water filled cave.
Carlos began our adventure at the mouth of the cave, by cracking open a plant pod about the size of a small egg and smearing bright orange pigment onto our faces like Mayans did back in the day. We looked like 'The Lost Boys' from Neverland following Peter Pan into the dark cave.
Daylight quickly disappeared behind is as we walked our way into waist deep water and echoed with excitement. Carlos prepared us that we would have to duck, climb and even swim our way through parts of the cave.
I couldn't remove the smile from my face if I tried, because that feeling of swimming through a dark cave with only a candle held above the water to light my way, was so exciting! All I could think about was how lucky and fortunate I was to experience something so cool!
 |
| Niki and I in the caves |
During the time it took to watch some people participate, was when I met Miss Georgia Cole. Eighteen years old and fearless, I watched Georgia climb up the ledge and pick her jumping place. She cheered as she splashed into the water and popped up from under the water with a huge smile on her face. Georgia was also from Australia and was traveling with Lee and Paul. I was sure to snap some pics of them because I had my waterproof camera with me and planned on friending them on Facebook. Little did I know though, that I would actually be finishing my trip out with this Aussie gal.
 |
| Georgia, Paul & Lee |
We swam and climbed our way back out the cave with just enough candle to see and not burn our fingertips. It was cool to see daylight again as we headed toward the river for some tubing. I ditched my sandals by our stuff now that I knew we were done with rocky walking and grabbed an inner tube. I chatted more with Georgia to get to know each other as we walked up stream. We stopped at a giant swing where some people swung way out over the water and jumped quite a few feet down and into the current. Niki was one of those people, and made us laugh as the last sound we heard before her splash was her shriek! Haha.
 |
| Niki on the giant swing |
After tubing, we set back toward the trucks direction, but crossed the bridge instead. This was the big bridge that our guide book said people get to jump off for thrills. Carlos stopped and a few people jumped off into the water and then we continued on our way. We stopped at a little picnic area at the Semuc Champey entrance and ate our lunches. The hostel had made us a lunch based on our orders and I had chosen a PB&J, a banana and some cookies.
It was a perfect time to stop for lunch, because we were all hungry from our cave adventure and had a large hike ahead of us that I had just learned about. Our next part of our adventurous day was to hike about thirty or forty minutes to a lookout point. By this point, you know my opinion on hiking upward, but I kind of had no choice. It was nice to be in a group though where I heard other people say they weren't too fond of it either.
As we climbed, I was impressed with myself that I wasn't as tired as what I thought I would. Looked like the walking and hills we had encountered throughout this trip had strengthened me. We all huffed and puffed our way up the hill in hope that the view from the top would be worth the climb. What made this hike easier than the ones in the past, was that it was flights of stairs made of wood or carved into the hillside, so walking was easier and you could use your arms to pull yourself up at times. As we neared the top, Carlos told us a couple more flights and we were done with the up part of it. His signal had come a lot earlier than I predicted and I was glad to have that surprise.
Our uphill climb now became a small series of down hills and side to sides for about five minutes until we reached a wooden lookout platform. What breath I had left from the hike and climbing, was taken away by the beauty in front of me!
Looking out and over the railing was a vast amount of green falling in every direction. We were atop a giant, green covered gorge with a series of natural pools, waterfalls and streams at the bottom. If you have ever seen Avatar or Jurassic Park, that is the best way I can describe it. It was like the parts in the movies where there is no script, but instead, beautiful harmonious music playing as the camera pans the landscape of waterfalls, plants, streams, cliffs and blue skies. I had never seen something so beautiful in my entire life. That is my attempt at putting into words what I saw that day, even though it will never do justice with just words or photos.
 |
| View from the lookout |
We were so thankful that we didn't have to climb back the way we came from, but instead down the hill directly for the pools. The skin on my tired knees shook as we descended the mountain.
When we reached the bottom, I was just as amazed looking up as I had been looking down. The water was just as turquoise looking and even more clear. We swam in the pools for what seemed like over an hour, taking photos both above and underwater. This is where we really had a blast with Georgia and Lee and Paul. I felt like that little kid at the pool that the parent was going to yell at, "It's time to get out," while I begged for just five more minutes.
The time had finally come to get out of the water and walk back to the truck. We piled in the same "cattle truck" and bumped and rattled our way back to the hostel. I reflected on our day at Semuc Champey and how much fun I'd had.
By the time we got back to the hostel, it was four thirty. Lee and I headed to the riverbank where we camped out on the patio furniture on the dock-like platform on shore. They ordered lunch and I got a water and we just enjoyed the rest of the evening. Katherine, Niki, Georgia and Lee's husband Paul joined our pow-wow not long after we sat down and we just relaxed. I made sure to sign up for the buffet again which would be serving steak!
I kind of conversation hopped for the rest of the night and caught myself talking to another Australian couple, Marc and Solange for the rest of the night, listening to stories about Japan and traveling through Europe in a camper van.
Dinner was great, just like the night before, and I was happy to call it a night by about ten. I was greeted in the dorm room by two more cockroaches, which this time didn't bother me as much because I was so exhausted. Tomorrow would be a more chill day and I didn't have to wake up to an alarm so I looked forward to falling asleep and staying that way! Goodnight Lanquín/Semuc Champey and thank you for stealing my heart!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Guatemala Welcomes Us!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
By this point in the trip, Niki and I know our alarms by heart, and know that with their annoying ring, comes another day of something eventful.
Today, our alarm was waking us up for travel to Guatemala. We caught a 6:30/7:00 bus for the border and soaked up our last minutes of Honduras as our bus curved and rolled down the road for about an hour. Niki and I had the front seats with the driver, so we had a great view ahead.
The border was pretty empty when we arrived because it was fairly early, which made immigration and all the official work go by in a flash. I collected a few more stamps for my passport collection, and headed toward Guatemala. After immigration, we hopped onto a bus for Cobàn. When we first asked a guy if it was going there, he looked at us like we were crazy and figured out that it was because he thought we said Copán, the city we had just come from.
The bus ride to Cobàn took a couple hours and we got off in a small city to change buses first called Chiquimula. It was basically just a market town where we had time to grab some Doritos and a juice and get right on another bus. This bus was a nicer kind of tour bus here we were able to be comfy for a little while. Boarding the bus, the driver asked to take a pic with us girls like we were celebrities...kinda funny. As we walked up the isle to find a seat toward the back of the bus, some young guys in the very back were testing their English and their romance by saying things to us. Unfortunately, the only seats together were right by them, so Niki told them off in Spanish, so they stopped. We slept until Rancho, another town where we made, yet another bus change. This time though, was more interesting than all of the other bus rides we had taken on this trip. We've been in the bed of a pickup, on the floor of a bus, and sitting on each others laps, but never, have I had to hang out a bus door like this.
When the guy told us what bus to get on, I took one look at the bus that was already filled to capacity, I literally said, "Oh hell no! There's no way were getting on that bus!" and Niki replies with, "We're getting on that bus." The local lady standing behind us told us that they are all like this, so we decided to go for it.
This bus that we were getting on was basically a mini bus like what a caterer, florist or cable guy drives. It had a bus door on the side and a tall ceiling. Niki led the way and climbed in the bus, leaving me as the last one to get in. I was able to get onto the first step and onto the bus and that was it. The doorman climbed on behind me, and we held on for dear life as we began our fast and curvy trek thru the mountains.
Needless to say, I was pissed! Public transportation here is crazy in the sense that they pack you in like cattle. I kept a death grip on the bar above my head with my right hand and on the bar by the door with my left hand. Basically, imagine taking the first step of the school bus and the driver taking off with you literally hanging out the door still. It wasn't really that horrible until we started hitting the curves. The worst part was also the fact that this was a two hour bus ride and I knew I wasn't going to be able to do this for even an hour. At one point, I had Niki ask the guy if we could sit on top of the bus with the luggage! Anything but this!
After a little while, the doorman had me squish in even farther, after picking up ANOTHER person, so that he could close the door and we wouldn't have to hang out.
At one point Niki looked over at me and told me that there are a few times during traveling where you just have to laugh about it and know it will be a hilarious story when we get home. I told her that the only thing I could do was smile so I didn't cry! Haha.
They were right when they said two hour bus ride. As the ride progressed, we were able to make our ways to the back of the van and get a seat for the last half hour of the ride. I was able to sit down and Niki sat on my lap until we arrived in Cobán.
Cobán was a pretty big city with a lot to offer food wise. We were starving by this point, needed an ATM and thankful for some personal space now that we were off that bus. We set our sights onto the McDonalds on the corner and headed that way. The whole way there, with backpacks on our backs, we laughed at how ridiculous we were for wanting that kind of food on a trip like this. Neither Niki or I are huge fans of fast food at home, and especially not McDonalds, but there was something so tempting about it now. Walking into the air conditioned McDonalds, was JUST like being at home. Same look, same staff uniforms, same smell, prices, everything! Everything except for their menu which differed a little bit and was written in Spanish. I ordered a cheeseburger, small fry and a coke light and it was amazing! Disappointed in myself as I ate the food, I was also kind of glad I did it, because it was cool to experience something so "American" so far from home...and in Spanish at that!
After lunch, we hit up the ATM, and got a cab to our next bus which would take us to our last town, Lanquín, Guatemala.
This bus was such a nice change because we were able to have our own seat. This bus was so chill and relaxed compared to the first one that I was able to jam to music, look out the window, and put my bare feet up on the seat next to me without having to worry about someone being right on top of me.
The last hour of our bus ride, we left the paved and windy mountain road to head down a bumpy and dirt road to Lanquín. The bus stopped in front of an arbor-like gateway which was the entrance of our hostel, El Retiro. We walked down the stairway towards riverside property covered with thatch roof cabins and pavilions. Plants with red flowered tips surrounded us as we admired our home for the next few days. A hillside on the other side of the fast flowing and turquoise river was sprinkled with white cows grazing as the sunset. It seriously looked like something from a movie and we were checking into it for a cheap eight bucks a night.
We set our bags down in the circular shaped dorm room and hit the bar for a drink. A chalkboard advertised that nights dinner as a barbecued chicken buffet for eight bucks a person. Even though it was a little expensive, we decided to sign up anyway, because there was no kitchen and town didn't look like it'd have too many options. Before long, the large grill just outside the bar pavilion fired up and the smell of a yummy charcoal barbecue filled the air. Old liter beer bottles with homemade candle sticks crammed in the necks were spread across the tables for light and an awesome ambient look!
By about seven thirty or eight, the staff had covered the counter of the bar with an amazing spread of food and we stood in line to have them scoop food onto our plates. My plate was loaded with salad, some kind of cloves flavored coleslaw, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, breaded eggplant, grilled chicken and garlic bread. It was a HEAP of food and it tasted even more amazing than it looked! This was the first loaded and multi-course meal I had had in a while and it hit the spot! A belly full of food was exactly what our bodies needed to tire us out and make us sleepy. We socialized with some people from the States about the excursion we had signed up for the next day in Semuc Champey and headed to the bunks not long after. We made sure to put in our order for our sack lunch for the next day and then called it a night.
Walking into the dorms was dark, chilly and damp like camping. As I laid out my sleep sack and got ready for bed by the light of my flashlight, I was super freaked out to look down and see a cockroach on the ground! Ugh!!! As grossed out as I was by its appearance, I knew it was inevitable in this type of nature setting. Regardless of whether it was expected or not though, I still tried to squish it and missed! Yuck!!! Niki assured me that it would not want to be in our warm and dry beds because they like cool and damp, so I tried to remove the thought from my mind and fall asleep. Took a few, but after a long day of travel, I did alright in the sleep department ;)
Photos:
1) Guatemalan border
2) Niki in the immigration line
3) A whole lotta onions at a market
4) Guatemalan Mickey D's
5) Spanish wrappers
6) Forest
7) Our riverside hostel
By this point in the trip, Niki and I know our alarms by heart, and know that with their annoying ring, comes another day of something eventful.
Today, our alarm was waking us up for travel to Guatemala. We caught a 6:30/7:00 bus for the border and soaked up our last minutes of Honduras as our bus curved and rolled down the road for about an hour. Niki and I had the front seats with the driver, so we had a great view ahead.
The border was pretty empty when we arrived because it was fairly early, which made immigration and all the official work go by in a flash. I collected a few more stamps for my passport collection, and headed toward Guatemala. After immigration, we hopped onto a bus for Cobàn. When we first asked a guy if it was going there, he looked at us like we were crazy and figured out that it was because he thought we said Copán, the city we had just come from.
The bus ride to Cobàn took a couple hours and we got off in a small city to change buses first called Chiquimula. It was basically just a market town where we had time to grab some Doritos and a juice and get right on another bus. This bus was a nicer kind of tour bus here we were able to be comfy for a little while. Boarding the bus, the driver asked to take a pic with us girls like we were celebrities...kinda funny. As we walked up the isle to find a seat toward the back of the bus, some young guys in the very back were testing their English and their romance by saying things to us. Unfortunately, the only seats together were right by them, so Niki told them off in Spanish, so they stopped. We slept until Rancho, another town where we made, yet another bus change. This time though, was more interesting than all of the other bus rides we had taken on this trip. We've been in the bed of a pickup, on the floor of a bus, and sitting on each others laps, but never, have I had to hang out a bus door like this.
When the guy told us what bus to get on, I took one look at the bus that was already filled to capacity, I literally said, "Oh hell no! There's no way were getting on that bus!" and Niki replies with, "We're getting on that bus." The local lady standing behind us told us that they are all like this, so we decided to go for it.
This bus that we were getting on was basically a mini bus like what a caterer, florist or cable guy drives. It had a bus door on the side and a tall ceiling. Niki led the way and climbed in the bus, leaving me as the last one to get in. I was able to get onto the first step and onto the bus and that was it. The doorman climbed on behind me, and we held on for dear life as we began our fast and curvy trek thru the mountains.
Needless to say, I was pissed! Public transportation here is crazy in the sense that they pack you in like cattle. I kept a death grip on the bar above my head with my right hand and on the bar by the door with my left hand. Basically, imagine taking the first step of the school bus and the driver taking off with you literally hanging out the door still. It wasn't really that horrible until we started hitting the curves. The worst part was also the fact that this was a two hour bus ride and I knew I wasn't going to be able to do this for even an hour. At one point, I had Niki ask the guy if we could sit on top of the bus with the luggage! Anything but this!
After a little while, the doorman had me squish in even farther, after picking up ANOTHER person, so that he could close the door and we wouldn't have to hang out.
At one point Niki looked over at me and told me that there are a few times during traveling where you just have to laugh about it and know it will be a hilarious story when we get home. I told her that the only thing I could do was smile so I didn't cry! Haha.
They were right when they said two hour bus ride. As the ride progressed, we were able to make our ways to the back of the van and get a seat for the last half hour of the ride. I was able to sit down and Niki sat on my lap until we arrived in Cobán.
Cobán was a pretty big city with a lot to offer food wise. We were starving by this point, needed an ATM and thankful for some personal space now that we were off that bus. We set our sights onto the McDonalds on the corner and headed that way. The whole way there, with backpacks on our backs, we laughed at how ridiculous we were for wanting that kind of food on a trip like this. Neither Niki or I are huge fans of fast food at home, and especially not McDonalds, but there was something so tempting about it now. Walking into the air conditioned McDonalds, was JUST like being at home. Same look, same staff uniforms, same smell, prices, everything! Everything except for their menu which differed a little bit and was written in Spanish. I ordered a cheeseburger, small fry and a coke light and it was amazing! Disappointed in myself as I ate the food, I was also kind of glad I did it, because it was cool to experience something so "American" so far from home...and in Spanish at that!
After lunch, we hit up the ATM, and got a cab to our next bus which would take us to our last town, Lanquín, Guatemala.
This bus was such a nice change because we were able to have our own seat. This bus was so chill and relaxed compared to the first one that I was able to jam to music, look out the window, and put my bare feet up on the seat next to me without having to worry about someone being right on top of me.
The last hour of our bus ride, we left the paved and windy mountain road to head down a bumpy and dirt road to Lanquín. The bus stopped in front of an arbor-like gateway which was the entrance of our hostel, El Retiro. We walked down the stairway towards riverside property covered with thatch roof cabins and pavilions. Plants with red flowered tips surrounded us as we admired our home for the next few days. A hillside on the other side of the fast flowing and turquoise river was sprinkled with white cows grazing as the sunset. It seriously looked like something from a movie and we were checking into it for a cheap eight bucks a night.
We set our bags down in the circular shaped dorm room and hit the bar for a drink. A chalkboard advertised that nights dinner as a barbecued chicken buffet for eight bucks a person. Even though it was a little expensive, we decided to sign up anyway, because there was no kitchen and town didn't look like it'd have too many options. Before long, the large grill just outside the bar pavilion fired up and the smell of a yummy charcoal barbecue filled the air. Old liter beer bottles with homemade candle sticks crammed in the necks were spread across the tables for light and an awesome ambient look!
By about seven thirty or eight, the staff had covered the counter of the bar with an amazing spread of food and we stood in line to have them scoop food onto our plates. My plate was loaded with salad, some kind of cloves flavored coleslaw, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, breaded eggplant, grilled chicken and garlic bread. It was a HEAP of food and it tasted even more amazing than it looked! This was the first loaded and multi-course meal I had had in a while and it hit the spot! A belly full of food was exactly what our bodies needed to tire us out and make us sleepy. We socialized with some people from the States about the excursion we had signed up for the next day in Semuc Champey and headed to the bunks not long after. We made sure to put in our order for our sack lunch for the next day and then called it a night.
Walking into the dorms was dark, chilly and damp like camping. As I laid out my sleep sack and got ready for bed by the light of my flashlight, I was super freaked out to look down and see a cockroach on the ground! Ugh!!! As grossed out as I was by its appearance, I knew it was inevitable in this type of nature setting. Regardless of whether it was expected or not though, I still tried to squish it and missed! Yuck!!! Niki assured me that it would not want to be in our warm and dry beds because they like cool and damp, so I tried to remove the thought from my mind and fall asleep. Took a few, but after a long day of travel, I did alright in the sleep department ;)
Photos:
1) Guatemalan border
2) Niki in the immigration line
3) A whole lotta onions at a market
4) Guatemalan Mickey D's
5) Spanish wrappers
6) Forest
7) Our riverside hostel
Copán Ruins
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Niki and I woke up about 7 am, grabbed a smoothie and a muffin for breakfast and headed down the footpath for the ruins. It was nice that it was so close and that we didn't have to pay for a taxi for a change. The walk was right back down the road that our bus had traveled, and only took about fifteen minutes to get there. We purposely planned an earlier visit to the ruins to take advantage of the cool temperatures and we were told that the wildlife does the same thing, so we were hoping to cross paths with the beautiful birds and other local animals known to be in that area.
As we entered the park, and the ticket area of the ruins area, I was reminded of my school day field trips for some reason. Admission into the ruins wasn't that expensive and we opted to pass on the guide. Our travel books have a pretty informational section about the ruins, which was enough to get us by.
After getting our ticket punched, we headed down the wooded path that was surrounded by scarlet macaws. Wild ones flying to the feeders the park provides for them. They were BRIGHT red with flecks of blue and yellow on their wings and absolutely gorgeous.
The beginning part of the ruins started in a big mowed lawn area with sporadic statues on display. We winded through the park admiring the grand stone structures and snapping photos all the while. I loved using my imagination and putting myself in the shoes of the people who utilized these structures all the way back as 250 AD. Pottery found in the area we were staying leads historians and archaeologists to believe there was life all the way back to 1200 BC!!!! Crazy!
We headed back to town after our amazing ruins experience, and set out for some lunch. Right next to our hostel was a polebarn like restaurant with cheap baleadas and French fries. We chowed on food, bought some postcards, and headed to our hammocks.
Stopping at the local post office was a cool experience. The lady sold us the old fashioned lick stamps, we stamped our postcards and then handed them to the lady. It was so cool knowing that those post cards were about to go from my hand, all the way down here, to the hands of my loved ones back home.
Walking back from the post office, we stopped at a veggie stand for some fresh fruits and vegetables and then to a baleada stand for dollar baleadas. Back at the hostel, we doctored up our dollar baleadas with our purchased veggies and my trusty knife. The girls laughed when they saw the size of the knife I brought compared to Niki's little Swiss Army knife, but mine has come in handy a lot for food.
After a baleada dinner, a fresh mango and some time on the wifi, we hit the hay for another day of travel in the morning. Our cool room and sheets welcomed us and my tired head fell fast asleep as soon as it hit those sheets! Guatemala bound in the morning and I couldn't wait.
Photos:
Pics I snapped around the ruins with my phone. :)
Niki and I woke up about 7 am, grabbed a smoothie and a muffin for breakfast and headed down the footpath for the ruins. It was nice that it was so close and that we didn't have to pay for a taxi for a change. The walk was right back down the road that our bus had traveled, and only took about fifteen minutes to get there. We purposely planned an earlier visit to the ruins to take advantage of the cool temperatures and we were told that the wildlife does the same thing, so we were hoping to cross paths with the beautiful birds and other local animals known to be in that area.
As we entered the park, and the ticket area of the ruins area, I was reminded of my school day field trips for some reason. Admission into the ruins wasn't that expensive and we opted to pass on the guide. Our travel books have a pretty informational section about the ruins, which was enough to get us by.
After getting our ticket punched, we headed down the wooded path that was surrounded by scarlet macaws. Wild ones flying to the feeders the park provides for them. They were BRIGHT red with flecks of blue and yellow on their wings and absolutely gorgeous.
The beginning part of the ruins started in a big mowed lawn area with sporadic statues on display. We winded through the park admiring the grand stone structures and snapping photos all the while. I loved using my imagination and putting myself in the shoes of the people who utilized these structures all the way back as 250 AD. Pottery found in the area we were staying leads historians and archaeologists to believe there was life all the way back to 1200 BC!!!! Crazy!
We headed back to town after our amazing ruins experience, and set out for some lunch. Right next to our hostel was a polebarn like restaurant with cheap baleadas and French fries. We chowed on food, bought some postcards, and headed to our hammocks.
Stopping at the local post office was a cool experience. The lady sold us the old fashioned lick stamps, we stamped our postcards and then handed them to the lady. It was so cool knowing that those post cards were about to go from my hand, all the way down here, to the hands of my loved ones back home.
Walking back from the post office, we stopped at a veggie stand for some fresh fruits and vegetables and then to a baleada stand for dollar baleadas. Back at the hostel, we doctored up our dollar baleadas with our purchased veggies and my trusty knife. The girls laughed when they saw the size of the knife I brought compared to Niki's little Swiss Army knife, but mine has come in handy a lot for food.
After a baleada dinner, a fresh mango and some time on the wifi, we hit the hay for another day of travel in the morning. Our cool room and sheets welcomed us and my tired head fell fast asleep as soon as it hit those sheets! Guatemala bound in the morning and I couldn't wait.
Photos:
Pics I snapped around the ruins with my phone. :)
Trip to Copán
Monday, February 4th, 2013
Niki and I woke up Monday morning in our San Pedro Sula hotel room and were ready to get out of dodge. We packed up our barely open backpacks and headed outside for our seven a.m. taxi we had arranged. The same guy that dropped us off at the hotel was there to pick us up in the morning and take us to the bus station. We returned to that same bus station we were at a week ago that I described as a shopping mall.
After being dropped off at the main entrance, Niki and I searched for the bus window that said Copán. We had about a three and a half hour bus ride southwest, toward a small village and ruins! Unfortunately, the next bus didn't leave for another two hours, so we had some time to kill. We walked the bright white tiled floor past a ton of stores and kiosks, up some escalators and into a giant food court. My jaw was dropped as to how many choices there were for fast food including Burger King and even Pizza Hut. A lot of the other little places were different cuisines with a cheesy storefront, but really good smelling food. Starving from the night before of backpacking snacks and Gatorade, everything looked so good. I ended up getting some kind of Chinese rice and then afterwards, Niki and I split a slice of Pizza Hut pizza. It's weird how even tasting something that familiar of home gives you the biggest sense of satisfaction.
We read and blogged for what seemed like only a half hour, before boarding our bus to Copán. This one was a chicken bus, or old American school bus that ended up being nice and roomy because of the small amount of people on it. Niki and I were able to bring our bags aboard and have our own seat, which is a hot commodity in this region because of the lack of personal space on public transportation.
I mainly listened to my iPod and looked out the window on this bus ride. Thinking deeply and staring out the window, I clicked through my iPod and applied each and every song to a moment, or a place, or a person in my life. Certain songs made me think of certain people and how much I love them or laugh with them or dance with them etc. It's awesome how music does that.
As we approached Copán, a local mom and her two kids got on the bus and sat in the seat in front of me. It didn't take very long for the little boy (about five years old maybe?) to take an interest in me. He started by standing on the seat and looking out the window and peeking sideways to look at me. I would wave or smile at him and he would smile and shyly turn away. A couple seconds later, he'd be right back to looking at me and smiling. I got my camera out and took a photo of him and showed him how it turned out. He loved it and began to laugh. I also showed his mom who wasn't much older than me and she laughed, which made me know it was ok. Next thing I knew, his baby sister had joined in on the fun of peekaboo over the seat and through the crack between seats. Their giggles were priceless and totally MADE my day, along with the photos I got of them. When their stop arrived, they waved and said, "Adios", as they exited.
A couple stops later, the bus came to a stop where the main public road came to an end. A bridge crossed a beautiful river and marked the beginning of a cobblestone street blocked by two cement poles to prevent large vehicles from entering.
On our search for a hostel, I crossed the bridge and looked back to see a local woman in her sixties or seventies totally topless on the riverbank, getting ready to bathe. Niki, who is totally used to this sight slaps my arm and says, "Oh my God, don't stare!" Haha. I couldn't help it at first and I guess I was kind of staring, but I've never seen someone just strip down like that to bathe. I was cracking up, of course discretely though!
We ended up at Berakah hostel right in downtown Copán Ruinas and quickly got acquainted with the small town. We walked the streets to find the post office, veggie market, jewelry stands and a place for lunch. Twisted Tanya's was where we sat down for some shared nachos and a cold drink.
By the time we finished lunch and walking, it was late afternoon/ early evening, so we headed back to the hostel to relax. We utilized the wifi while hanging in the hammocks on the upstairs terrace and then returned to our cool room. Because it was an interior and dark room, the room felt as if it had air conditioning, which was so relaxing after hanging out on the terrace. We kept joking about how our "luxury" room was so nice because of the coolness, it's crispy white sheets, the really bad orange sponge painting, and the best part....a WARM shower! If we carefully adjusted the water pressure to a slow trickle, we got fairly warm water, thanks to a janky wiring system at the top of the shower head that our friend Rhed from Ometepe nicknamed a "suicide shower".
Regardless, it was amazing to take a shower that didn't hurt! Haha! We laid in our room for the rest of the night and chatted and learned more and more about each other. It's those talks that friends have that are priceless. Here we were, in Honduras, in a small little ruin town, laying on a bed, laughing about our suicide shower and each others stories. Life is so good!
I passed out the minute my head hit the pillow, which Niki said she envied, but I knew I'd be ready for our early start for the ruins in the morning. It was said to be a great place so I was excited.
Photos:
1) Bus station escalators
2) Bus station food court
3) Newsstand in bus station
4) View out bus window
5) Cute kids on bus
6) River where lady was bathing
7) Stoney street of Copán
8) "Suicide shower"
Niki and I woke up Monday morning in our San Pedro Sula hotel room and were ready to get out of dodge. We packed up our barely open backpacks and headed outside for our seven a.m. taxi we had arranged. The same guy that dropped us off at the hotel was there to pick us up in the morning and take us to the bus station. We returned to that same bus station we were at a week ago that I described as a shopping mall.
After being dropped off at the main entrance, Niki and I searched for the bus window that said Copán. We had about a three and a half hour bus ride southwest, toward a small village and ruins! Unfortunately, the next bus didn't leave for another two hours, so we had some time to kill. We walked the bright white tiled floor past a ton of stores and kiosks, up some escalators and into a giant food court. My jaw was dropped as to how many choices there were for fast food including Burger King and even Pizza Hut. A lot of the other little places were different cuisines with a cheesy storefront, but really good smelling food. Starving from the night before of backpacking snacks and Gatorade, everything looked so good. I ended up getting some kind of Chinese rice and then afterwards, Niki and I split a slice of Pizza Hut pizza. It's weird how even tasting something that familiar of home gives you the biggest sense of satisfaction.
We read and blogged for what seemed like only a half hour, before boarding our bus to Copán. This one was a chicken bus, or old American school bus that ended up being nice and roomy because of the small amount of people on it. Niki and I were able to bring our bags aboard and have our own seat, which is a hot commodity in this region because of the lack of personal space on public transportation.
I mainly listened to my iPod and looked out the window on this bus ride. Thinking deeply and staring out the window, I clicked through my iPod and applied each and every song to a moment, or a place, or a person in my life. Certain songs made me think of certain people and how much I love them or laugh with them or dance with them etc. It's awesome how music does that.
As we approached Copán, a local mom and her two kids got on the bus and sat in the seat in front of me. It didn't take very long for the little boy (about five years old maybe?) to take an interest in me. He started by standing on the seat and looking out the window and peeking sideways to look at me. I would wave or smile at him and he would smile and shyly turn away. A couple seconds later, he'd be right back to looking at me and smiling. I got my camera out and took a photo of him and showed him how it turned out. He loved it and began to laugh. I also showed his mom who wasn't much older than me and she laughed, which made me know it was ok. Next thing I knew, his baby sister had joined in on the fun of peekaboo over the seat and through the crack between seats. Their giggles were priceless and totally MADE my day, along with the photos I got of them. When their stop arrived, they waved and said, "Adios", as they exited.
A couple stops later, the bus came to a stop where the main public road came to an end. A bridge crossed a beautiful river and marked the beginning of a cobblestone street blocked by two cement poles to prevent large vehicles from entering.
On our search for a hostel, I crossed the bridge and looked back to see a local woman in her sixties or seventies totally topless on the riverbank, getting ready to bathe. Niki, who is totally used to this sight slaps my arm and says, "Oh my God, don't stare!" Haha. I couldn't help it at first and I guess I was kind of staring, but I've never seen someone just strip down like that to bathe. I was cracking up, of course discretely though!
We ended up at Berakah hostel right in downtown Copán Ruinas and quickly got acquainted with the small town. We walked the streets to find the post office, veggie market, jewelry stands and a place for lunch. Twisted Tanya's was where we sat down for some shared nachos and a cold drink.
By the time we finished lunch and walking, it was late afternoon/ early evening, so we headed back to the hostel to relax. We utilized the wifi while hanging in the hammocks on the upstairs terrace and then returned to our cool room. Because it was an interior and dark room, the room felt as if it had air conditioning, which was so relaxing after hanging out on the terrace. We kept joking about how our "luxury" room was so nice because of the coolness, it's crispy white sheets, the really bad orange sponge painting, and the best part....a WARM shower! If we carefully adjusted the water pressure to a slow trickle, we got fairly warm water, thanks to a janky wiring system at the top of the shower head that our friend Rhed from Ometepe nicknamed a "suicide shower".
Regardless, it was amazing to take a shower that didn't hurt! Haha! We laid in our room for the rest of the night and chatted and learned more and more about each other. It's those talks that friends have that are priceless. Here we were, in Honduras, in a small little ruin town, laying on a bed, laughing about our suicide shower and each others stories. Life is so good!
I passed out the minute my head hit the pillow, which Niki said she envied, but I knew I'd be ready for our early start for the ruins in the morning. It was said to be a great place so I was excited.
Photos:
1) Bus station escalators
2) Bus station food court
3) Newsstand in bus station
4) View out bus window
5) Cute kids on bus
6) River where lady was bathing
7) Stoney street of Copán
8) "Suicide shower"
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Scuba Diving on Utila Island
Tuesday, January 29 thru Sunday, February 3, 2013
Whatever kid dreamed of being an astronaut, should have really considered scuba diving as well. Heck, scuba diving is as awesome as being a superhero! You've got your body suit (your wetsuit), your super power (breathing under water) and you fly over a world beneath you. Only thing missing is a cape!
Diving in Utila seems like a blur to me because it was so tremendous! The time flew by while we were there because I was having so much fun!
I will never forget my first scuba dive as it is was a huge check mark onto my life's bucket list. All my life, I have been a fish. My sister and I were the kids that could be in the water all day long. I have always wanted to be able to breathe under water so that I could spend more time under the surface.
Up until a week ago, that was only feasible in my dreams. I cannot tell you how many dreams I have where I can breathe under water through slow and deep breaths. My dreams came to life when I put my mask on, regulator in my mouth hand on my weight belt and stepped my flippers off the back of the boat. After signaling an ok to my instructor, doing a series of surface checks, we began our descent. I let the air out of my buoyancy control device (the big vest we wear that holds the air tank) and slowly sunk below the surface. As I descended I equalized my ears here and there to prevent that pressure you feel at the bottom of a pool. That was one thing I was worried about, but it was actually really easy. All I had to do was plug my nose and blow my ears out like when you're on an airplane or when you have water in your ear.
Before I knew it, we were kneeling on the bottom of the reef in a small white sandy patch. The world around me was silent, blue and absolutely serene. I swayed slightly with the ocean's waves while I waited for Nicki and my instructor, Kevin, to join me. Once Nicki's ears equalized alright, they joined me and we ran through our list of skill tests that we had to do. We had to practice things such as removing our mask, putting it back on and emptying the water, or throwing our regulator to the side and recovering it. We practiced out of air and using our partner's alternate air source regulator, and other skills to prepare us for anything that could go wrong. Once we got through our to-do list, we were able to head out for some sight seeing. One thing they want students to learn quickly is buoyancy control. If properly weighted, a diver should be able to control their up and down with their breaths, all while swimming horizontally on your belly. It was so cool to control all of that with my lungs as I watched the crazy world just beneath me.
Before diving, I had gone snorkeling a couple times to supposedly beautiful reefs and never really thought that highly of them because they seemed so far away and solely green. Diving, is a way more up close and personal experience with the sea life. The colors were incredible and the diversity in the species were awesome!
Kevin pointed out a lot of cool things like a Christmas Tree anemone that hang out on that brain looking sea sponge or coral. He signaled for us to watch and when he got his hand near it, he snapped and they sucked close and disappeared. I was so wowed by it, along with other great sights under water and all I could do was give the ok sign or the rock on hands. I wish I had a microphone to voice the excitement going on in my mind! Kevin handed us a conch shell with a snail in it and I got to see his little eyes looking out at us. We also got to hold a sea cucumber which was like a giant tomato worm basically. Like a foot long and pretty heavy. They start out long and soft on the bottom until you touch it, and then it shrinks up and becomes very dense.
Throughout the whole dive, I was wishing that my eyes were a camera! I did my best to save as many mental photos as I could. Our dive came to an end and we ascended to the surface and filled our BCDs to float. Before I even inflated, I ripped my regulator out of my mouth and exploded with excitement. You could tell that Kevin was happy that I liked it so much.
We climbed back onto the boat, waddled our way to the bench and boated to our next dive location. My second dive was just as enjoyable as my first and I couldn't wait to get back to tell Niki.
Our dive boat returned to the dock at Alton's and we learned how to rinse the salt water off our gear by dipping and dunking into different detergent bins. Once my gear was taken care of and put away I went back to the room where Niki was relaxing after her morning dive. "What'd ya think?" she asked. The next couple minutes was me going on and on about my awesome experience and how I am hooked. Niki laughed with every story I told her because she knew I would love it.
The rest of our time at Alton's was consumed with relaxing and class time in the morning, followed by afternoon dives, and dinner and drinks at night.
We got to visit a really cool bar called Treetanic which was a treetop bar that is covered with mosaics from top to bottom. I heard that the guy has been working on all the mosaic pieces around the property for some eighteen years or something like that. I was sure to return during the day and snap as many pics as I could.
My last dive with Kevin, I was thrilled to get some under water photos. Kevin was nice enough to bring his underwater camera and let me use it the whole dive. When we got back from diving, he loaded them onto his computer and put them on one of my SD cards. Such a nice guy!
On Friday, Niki and I decided to book two more fun dives and stay an extra day. Erin and Nicki were sort of over the diving, so they took off on Saturday morning for El Salvador. Saturday morning, Niki and I got to dive together for the first time. I was now open water certified and I was free from having to do skills anymore. On our dive together, within the first two minutes of diving, we got to see a sea turtle! I was so excited to see such a peaceful animal just kind of "fly" away from us nice and slowly. We also got to see a really big lion fish, along with a ton of other creatures.
As we ascended from our last dive on Utila island, I tried to soak in every last second of the ocean because I had no idea when I'd get to dive next. The reef looked smaller and smaller as I got closer to the surface and popped my head back into the sunlight.
We got back to the dive center and headed out for our last baleada. A "baleada" was a new food that our friend Taylor from South Africa had shown us. It's basically just a big tortilla smothered with refried beans and then stuffed with veggies and a kind of cabbage slaw and then folded in half and toasted. Best part about this one plate meal was that it only cost about $1.50! After discovering baleadas, we ate them for lunch and dinner every day.
After dinner, we went back to our room to get ready for the beach party at night that everyone had been talking about on the island. Four times a year, they throw this party on the beach and we just so happened to be there at that time. It cost five dollars to get in, which also got us a wristband for a free drink. Within the gates of the party, weird techno music blared from the speakers, laser lights danced across our bodies and the floor, the smell of weed filled the air, body paint streaked across people's chests and faces and EVERYONE had at least one drink in their hand. It was definitely an experience to say the least. I had fun with the couple drinks I had, but definitely not as much fun as the people tripping on God knows what kind of drugs?!
Our plan of catching the six a.m. ferry off the island was slowly falling apart, as it was already two thirty or three when our heads hit the pillows. The alarm rang Sunday morning and we quickly silenced it, and settled for leaving on the two o'clock ferry instead.
We returned to La Ceiba, the ferry town on the mainland by about three, where we caught a bus to San Pedro Sula. By the time we got there, it was getting late, and probably dangerous to continue on, so we got a hotel there and locked ourselves in for the night. The young guy at the front desk attempted to get us takeout for dinner, but had no luck because everything was closed on Sunday. We settled with Pringles, Gatorade, pistachios and popcorn for dinner and fell asleep to American movies with dubbed in Spanish voices. Ah, the sweet life of traveling!
Photos:
1) Me at 18 meters
2) Treetanic Bar
3) Treetanic Bar
4) Treetanic Bar
5) Alton's Dockside Rooms
6) Alton's Dock
7) Me, Beto, Niki & Federico
8) Utila street
9) Our bunk room
Whatever kid dreamed of being an astronaut, should have really considered scuba diving as well. Heck, scuba diving is as awesome as being a superhero! You've got your body suit (your wetsuit), your super power (breathing under water) and you fly over a world beneath you. Only thing missing is a cape!
Diving in Utila seems like a blur to me because it was so tremendous! The time flew by while we were there because I was having so much fun!
I will never forget my first scuba dive as it is was a huge check mark onto my life's bucket list. All my life, I have been a fish. My sister and I were the kids that could be in the water all day long. I have always wanted to be able to breathe under water so that I could spend more time under the surface.
Up until a week ago, that was only feasible in my dreams. I cannot tell you how many dreams I have where I can breathe under water through slow and deep breaths. My dreams came to life when I put my mask on, regulator in my mouth hand on my weight belt and stepped my flippers off the back of the boat. After signaling an ok to my instructor, doing a series of surface checks, we began our descent. I let the air out of my buoyancy control device (the big vest we wear that holds the air tank) and slowly sunk below the surface. As I descended I equalized my ears here and there to prevent that pressure you feel at the bottom of a pool. That was one thing I was worried about, but it was actually really easy. All I had to do was plug my nose and blow my ears out like when you're on an airplane or when you have water in your ear.
Before I knew it, we were kneeling on the bottom of the reef in a small white sandy patch. The world around me was silent, blue and absolutely serene. I swayed slightly with the ocean's waves while I waited for Nicki and my instructor, Kevin, to join me. Once Nicki's ears equalized alright, they joined me and we ran through our list of skill tests that we had to do. We had to practice things such as removing our mask, putting it back on and emptying the water, or throwing our regulator to the side and recovering it. We practiced out of air and using our partner's alternate air source regulator, and other skills to prepare us for anything that could go wrong. Once we got through our to-do list, we were able to head out for some sight seeing. One thing they want students to learn quickly is buoyancy control. If properly weighted, a diver should be able to control their up and down with their breaths, all while swimming horizontally on your belly. It was so cool to control all of that with my lungs as I watched the crazy world just beneath me.
Before diving, I had gone snorkeling a couple times to supposedly beautiful reefs and never really thought that highly of them because they seemed so far away and solely green. Diving, is a way more up close and personal experience with the sea life. The colors were incredible and the diversity in the species were awesome!
Kevin pointed out a lot of cool things like a Christmas Tree anemone that hang out on that brain looking sea sponge or coral. He signaled for us to watch and when he got his hand near it, he snapped and they sucked close and disappeared. I was so wowed by it, along with other great sights under water and all I could do was give the ok sign or the rock on hands. I wish I had a microphone to voice the excitement going on in my mind! Kevin handed us a conch shell with a snail in it and I got to see his little eyes looking out at us. We also got to hold a sea cucumber which was like a giant tomato worm basically. Like a foot long and pretty heavy. They start out long and soft on the bottom until you touch it, and then it shrinks up and becomes very dense.
Throughout the whole dive, I was wishing that my eyes were a camera! I did my best to save as many mental photos as I could. Our dive came to an end and we ascended to the surface and filled our BCDs to float. Before I even inflated, I ripped my regulator out of my mouth and exploded with excitement. You could tell that Kevin was happy that I liked it so much.
We climbed back onto the boat, waddled our way to the bench and boated to our next dive location. My second dive was just as enjoyable as my first and I couldn't wait to get back to tell Niki.
Our dive boat returned to the dock at Alton's and we learned how to rinse the salt water off our gear by dipping and dunking into different detergent bins. Once my gear was taken care of and put away I went back to the room where Niki was relaxing after her morning dive. "What'd ya think?" she asked. The next couple minutes was me going on and on about my awesome experience and how I am hooked. Niki laughed with every story I told her because she knew I would love it.
The rest of our time at Alton's was consumed with relaxing and class time in the morning, followed by afternoon dives, and dinner and drinks at night.
We got to visit a really cool bar called Treetanic which was a treetop bar that is covered with mosaics from top to bottom. I heard that the guy has been working on all the mosaic pieces around the property for some eighteen years or something like that. I was sure to return during the day and snap as many pics as I could.
My last dive with Kevin, I was thrilled to get some under water photos. Kevin was nice enough to bring his underwater camera and let me use it the whole dive. When we got back from diving, he loaded them onto his computer and put them on one of my SD cards. Such a nice guy!
On Friday, Niki and I decided to book two more fun dives and stay an extra day. Erin and Nicki were sort of over the diving, so they took off on Saturday morning for El Salvador. Saturday morning, Niki and I got to dive together for the first time. I was now open water certified and I was free from having to do skills anymore. On our dive together, within the first two minutes of diving, we got to see a sea turtle! I was so excited to see such a peaceful animal just kind of "fly" away from us nice and slowly. We also got to see a really big lion fish, along with a ton of other creatures.
As we ascended from our last dive on Utila island, I tried to soak in every last second of the ocean because I had no idea when I'd get to dive next. The reef looked smaller and smaller as I got closer to the surface and popped my head back into the sunlight.
We got back to the dive center and headed out for our last baleada. A "baleada" was a new food that our friend Taylor from South Africa had shown us. It's basically just a big tortilla smothered with refried beans and then stuffed with veggies and a kind of cabbage slaw and then folded in half and toasted. Best part about this one plate meal was that it only cost about $1.50! After discovering baleadas, we ate them for lunch and dinner every day.
After dinner, we went back to our room to get ready for the beach party at night that everyone had been talking about on the island. Four times a year, they throw this party on the beach and we just so happened to be there at that time. It cost five dollars to get in, which also got us a wristband for a free drink. Within the gates of the party, weird techno music blared from the speakers, laser lights danced across our bodies and the floor, the smell of weed filled the air, body paint streaked across people's chests and faces and EVERYONE had at least one drink in their hand. It was definitely an experience to say the least. I had fun with the couple drinks I had, but definitely not as much fun as the people tripping on God knows what kind of drugs?!
Our plan of catching the six a.m. ferry off the island was slowly falling apart, as it was already two thirty or three when our heads hit the pillows. The alarm rang Sunday morning and we quickly silenced it, and settled for leaving on the two o'clock ferry instead.
We returned to La Ceiba, the ferry town on the mainland by about three, where we caught a bus to San Pedro Sula. By the time we got there, it was getting late, and probably dangerous to continue on, so we got a hotel there and locked ourselves in for the night. The young guy at the front desk attempted to get us takeout for dinner, but had no luck because everything was closed on Sunday. We settled with Pringles, Gatorade, pistachios and popcorn for dinner and fell asleep to American movies with dubbed in Spanish voices. Ah, the sweet life of traveling!
Photos:
1) Me at 18 meters
2) Treetanic Bar
3) Treetanic Bar
4) Treetanic Bar
5) Alton's Dockside Rooms
6) Alton's Dock
7) Me, Beto, Niki & Federico
8) Utila street
9) Our bunk room
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