Tsunami

For those of you who don't know, it's a moment of truth. I have a strange fascination with natural disasters. I don't want to be in one, and I certainly don't wish them upon people, but if they are inevitable, I'd like to see them. Until yesterday, my main fascination was with seeing a tsunami. Yesterday I paddled out into waves that were 8'+ on the face. There were points where a wall of water was coming at me, sure to break before I could get over the hump, and I felt I was realizing my desire to see a tsunami. The only thoughts going through my mind were a long series of curse words.

Richard, my instructor, said this was a notch in my belt of surfing and if I could get out in these waves, I was already a better surfer. I think he was just trying to make me feel better. But I lived and I think he might be right when he said that next time I go out in medium surf it will seem like nothing. I did not catch a wave.

No Pantelones

When I came home the other day my neighbors asked me what was the highlight of my trip. Their sole purpose was to expose the highlight of their trip. The proceeded to tell me about a guy on the beach who was wearing a t-shirt and no pants. I immediately knew who they were talking about, as I had seen the same strange guy the day before.

Let me describe the painful scene. Two guys, in their early twneties, were laying on the beach, presumably sunbathing. One is fully dressed and the other has on a short t-shirt and no bathingsuit or any form of clothing on his bottom half. He was completely naked from the waist down and his friend didn't seem to think this was strange at all and they conversed normally like everyone was fully dressed. It might not have been abnormal, if not for the fact that as their girlfriends emerged from the ocean, boogie boards in hand, "no pantalones," as he was dubbed by my neighbors, quickly put his bathing suit back on as his fully clothed friend greeted the ladies. This happened two days in a row. I didn't go back and check on the third day.

More surfing stories

I have been eager to share my success stories of surfing, but thus far have kept my failures to myself. Today, that changes. Yesterday was a step backwards in the quest to learn how to surf. IN the morning, I did what every good surfer does, I grabbed a board and stood on the beach for 10-15 minutes doing some light stretches and checking out the waves. I was doing two things (1) deciding if the waves were the small enough for me to paddle out to; there has been a big swell here and the waves have been 8’, which are far too big for me and (2) looking for a channel to paddle out in; a channel is a path between wave’s peaks where the current isn’t as strong and it is easier to paddle out, you want to paddle out between the peaks and surf the peaks. The waves appeared surfable, so I took my giant green table and I paddled out.

Richard, my surf instructor, has taught me a bit about the basics of surfing. Starting at the beach, there are 3 zones:

- The impact zone or the inside where the waves have crashed, this is the white wash area;

- The catch zone or the outside, where the waves are cresting and breaking. This is where you go when you want to paddle into a wave and catch it; and

- The break zone, which is beyond both of these and where you go when you want to sit on your board, relax and take a break.

Paddling out can be a challenge and is very tiring, so I always go straight to he break zone and take a rest. When I reached this zone this morning I was breathing a little heavy from my excursion out and gladly sat up on my board to take a breather and enjoy the scenery. Just then a giant set came in. The waves started breaking in front of me and I was suddenly in the middle of mayhem. The surfers immediately started paddling out, trying to get in position to catch these monstrosities. I started paddling in and made it back to the impact zone quickly enough to prevent tears of panic. I surfed the white wash on the inside for a bit and noticed my giant green table needed some wax so I headed in.

Generally speaking, it is better to surf the inside (the whitewash) in low tide because the whitewash is further out to sea and generally deeper and safer for falls. I grabbed a smaller board and headed back out for round two an hour before low tide. I wouldn’t say I got pummeled, but it didn’t go great. I learned a lot of things: it’s harder to catch a wave on a smaller board, you need to paddle faster to get more speed; I have no idea where to place myself on a smaller board so I ended up dangling my feet off the edge which slowed me down and prevented me from actually popping up when I was actually going fast enough to catch a wave; and it’s easy to break a fin off the bottom of the board, I did it and didn’t even realize it.

I went home, rested up and went out for round three a couple hours after low tide. Third time’s a charm. My green table was almost 9’ long. The shorter board I tried early afternoon was about 7’. On my third round of the day I took out an 8’ fun shaped board and had a blast. I caught all sorts of waves on the inside and can officially ride the whitewash like a champ.

This morning I went out with Richard. The waves were about shoulder high and I caught two amazing waves, popping up, dropping in and surfing them all the way to the beach. It was an incredible feeling.

Another amazing surfing day

Here’s a quick recap of my last few days:

- I received clearance from the doctor and got back in the water Monday. Today I had another break through surf day. I can consistently pop up and surf the white wash on my monster green table. I feel really comfortable getting up and walking around on the board. I think I am ready to tackle the big waves or move to a smaller board; but not both at the same time.

- Last night I spent about 30 minutes trying to find a loud and rather obnoxious cricket in my room. Every time I got close, he would stop making his freakishly loud noises. I finally narrowed his location down to in or around my backpack. I had left the zipper open and was certain the noise was coming from inside. I emptied it and shook everything out but found nothing. The sound never came back so I figured that my commotion had finally chased the cricket away. I began to repack my travel pants and other warm clothing I will never need in 90 degree weather when a giant cricket ran out and stopped right next to my tennis shoe. Sucker. I wish I could say that I am so nice as to have escorted him out of the room, but I’m not. The cricket will no longer be a problem.

- In the months before I left I would run into various members of the San Diego Fire Department all over town. Mostly it was because 3 different departments do their grocery shopping at the Albertsons by my house, and Firefighters do a lot of grocery shopping. But I also saw them when driving, walking, at Starbucks, the bank, everywhere. I joked that I was being stalked, and it’s now official. My neighbors are members of the San Diego Fire Department. I am once again reminded of what a small world it is.

- The 24 security staff working at my hostel/hotel are some of the nicest and most respectful guys I have met. This is important because it’s not always the case. At my last place, the security guard followed me to my room one night and posted himself temporarily on my semi-private patio. It was dark and I am certain he was hoping I would leave the curtain open while I changed, but I was too smart to fall for that old trick.

- Most third world countries have no safety laws and walking in public spaces can often be very dangerous. I have seen sidewalks with giant holes in the middle, sidewalks that end much like a plank over a deep crevice, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Here the sidewalk has a 6-inch wide, 6-inch deep channel in it, I am guessing for some kind of weird drainage system. After walking over it every day for nearly 3 weeks, today I planted my left foot right in it and fell on my butt. Thankfully, no one was there to witness the fall and my ego did not suffer any damage. My ankle suffered minimal damage.

Photo Upload

Here are some photos I am just able to upload

This is the beach in Santa Teresa; white sand bound by rain forest. It's beautiful and not very crowded.

This narrow strip of asphalt you see diappearing along side the line of trees was the runway that I landed on when I flew into Tambor. What you can't see is that the rain forest surrounds the runway on two other sides and the ocean bounds the disappearing end.

This is the needle I used to give myself my shots in the middle of the night (the business card is there for a size reference). I will stop complaining about it now.

This is one of the places I do yoga at: Horizon's Hotel and Yoga Spa. They have a sunset class on Sunday's that is beautiful.

Being out of the water drags on.....

I moved hotels on Saturday. I loved Pacific Surf School, the rooms were big, there was wi-fi, a pool and a great, quiet atmosphere. But it is so hot here it is impossible to go anywhere during the day without losing half my body weight in water. The walking problem is only going to get worse when I start surfing again as the best waves are located in Playa Carmen, about a mile south of Pacific Surf School.

So I moved to a small room with the strangest bathroom/shower. It is a free-standing system with aluminum frames and plastic walls that could be plopped anywhere. It's not pretty, but it's funcational The room is right on the main road at the main intersection close to the mall and about 200 yards from the waves of Playa Carmen.

I am going to go back to the doctor tomorrow to get clearance to get back in the water and start up my surf lessons again. I've been doing yoga once or twice daily, but am excited to get back in the water and surf again.

Over the past few days I have made some observations about Mal Pais:

- There are a lot of Argentinians and Isrealis here. This is great for diversity and, of course, for dining. But the town is so small and the pace is so slow I find it odd there is such a high concentration of expats from these countries. Most of them surf, which explains some of it, but not all.

- There is the biggest turkey I've ever seen roaming around a random house by the Super Costa supermarket. It's apparent I am outside the US because that thing would have never made it past our Thanksgiving.

- There is only one liquor store and only one armed guard in Mal Pais. He is at the liquor store and acts as the doorman/security guard as he holds his rifle in one hand and opens the door for patrons with the other.

- The best smoothies are always made with sugar. I knew this before I came here, but it continues to be one of life's certainties.

A quick update on the shot

It was miserable. I didn't even need my alarm last night as I awoke at 2am dreading the upcoming shot I had to give myself. I don't mind getting shots from others and secretly, and rather disturbingly, love watching the needle go into my vein when I am getting blood drawn, but there is something about giving myself a shot that kept me half awake with fear. When I got up I pulled out the mixture and followed the directions for creating my antibiotic cocktail, used my hand to locate the place I was instructed to stick the needle, cleaned the area off with rubbing alcohol, took a deep breath and stuck the needle in to my skin. It barely punctured the surface, so I tried again. It took me 5 times to get the needle in. Each time I would stop, regroup and ponder crying uncle. Finally, I pulled myself together, gripped the needle from the base and punctured through my skin. For anyone who has never done this, it is a very weird feeling; the needle slowly goes through the moderately tough layer of skin then it breaks free and effortlessly glides through whatever is under the skin all the way to the end of the needle. Either that or I finally stabbed myself so hard the only thing stopping the penetration was my fingers fiercely gripping the base of the syringe.

One more shot tonight and I dread it even more than last night.

Visiting the doctor in Costa Rica

As I have mentioned, I have been battling an outer ear infection for the past few days. When the Witwers were still here Brian hooked me up with and antibiotic and a recommended ear drop concoction that the pharmacist gladly sold me. But, two days later, my ear was worse, I could barely hear and it felt like water was permanently trapped in my ear. I decided to go to the doctor, a first for me in foreign travels. It was easy. I knocked on the door that said Doctor and was immediately seen by Doctor German Enrique de Jesus Moreno-Rojas. Upon looking into my ear he said "this is very bad" and started speaking to his assistant, who was a teenage boy with presumably no medical education whatsoever, in Spanish. He explained my ear was badly infected and that if I didn't get it taken care of asap, a part of my ear may form a hole in it, which did not sound good. $200 later I was out the door of the doctor's office and the pharmacy with 5 prescriptions including twice daily antibiotic shots one of which he would administer to me and one of which I need to administer myself at 3 am this morning, in the buttocks. First I need to mix the antibiotic cocktail consisting of a glass vile of liquid which needs the top broken off before it is mixed with a powder. Next I need to make sure that I don't hit an artery (didn't know there were any down there) and inject myself in just the right place. All this in the middle of the night. Wish me luck, I am totally nervous. I should be better in 2 to 3 days and back in the water to continue my surfing lessons.

Dangerous driving in Costa Rica

Anyone who has been to Costa Rica knows that the roads leave much to be desired. Most roads are unpaved and filled with potholes and deep trenches created by the torrential downpours of tropical storms. It is especially bad after rainy season, which is right now. The Witwers and I decided to go with Richard, our surf instructor / real estate agent / home builder / farmer / smoothie king, to look at some land for sale in Santa Teresa. About a quarter of a mile past Giselle's house - yes, I mean Bundchen, wife of Tom Brady - the edge of the dirt road fell out from underneath us and the back passenger side tire fell into a hole leading down into a deep ravine with vegetation being the only thing that might slow us down if we rolled to the bottom. I was in the back passenger side, so I slid over. This prompted Richard to get out of the car, quickly. Stephanie, who crawled into the back seat to exit the teetering car, and I, followed him. As soon as we got out we realized the car was balancing on the rear license plate and this was not going to be an easy fix. Brian asked if he was safe and Stephanie replied that she wasn't sure, but she wanted him to hand her the camera. How can you miss a photo opportunity like this?

Knowing that if Brian got out of the driver's seat, the car would likely fall into the ravine, he stayed put while Richard called over two locals clearing a nearby hillside and a neighbor driving home. I stood on the door frame next to Brian and the guys pushed us from behind while Brian gently tried to use the two wheels remaining on the ground to drive the car out of the hole. At this point I was calmly (at least that's how I remember it) calling out explicatives indicating my fear of being launched into the ravine. But in a few short seconds Brian was driving up the hill, the locals were back to clearing their property and we all signed in relief that we were still breathing. Richard asked if we wanted to keep going to the property, to which we replied "no, since we are definitely not buying anything up there." We had, after all, taken out a quarter of the road.

The Witwer's have left and I have settled into my new home at Pacifica Surf School, it is great; $40 per night for a large room with kitchenette, bathroom, AC, pool and steps to the beach. I am out of the water for a few days due to an ear infection, but hope to be back in soon.

Surfing Mal Pais

After a couple of days of playing around on a small board, I moved to a table; this giant 8'-8" board could keep everyone in our house safely afloat and it is perfect for this part of my surfing journey. I struggled to my feet on the table for a few surf sessions, getting there only because of the massive floatation device I was riding, but knew that I wasn't getting it quite right. My pop up was forced and clumsy and I knew this would never work on a respectable board. My next step was to take a lesson.

Richard, our surf instructor, is from Canada and has been living here for 20 years. According to Aaron, the guy who rented us our boards from the outside of a Jui Jitsu studio, he is the best teacher in the Mal Pais / Santa Teresa area. Although I have nothing to compare him to locally, he is the best teacher I have had. Before we even got into the water, he fixed my pop up and I knew it was going to be a great day. My mistake was in the way I was pushing my upper body off the board. Instead of pushing it up like a traditional gym pushup, I needed to push up and arch my back (similar to a cobra position in yoga) then jump up into a crouched stance on the board. The first time I tried it was an effortless jump to a standing position on the board and I spent an hour doing it over and over again in the white wash. Stage one of my surfing conquest is complete and I have a renewed energy and excitement for surfing. It's amazing how a small adjustment can change everything about a sport. Today I took my new skill into the big waves. Most of the 2 and a half hours I was out there was spent watching the waves trying to determine how to tell when a good one is coming (still unsure) and paddling my you-know-what off trying to catch a wave but missing it. However, on my way in, I paddled into the perfect spot on a giant wave, popped up perfectly and glided all the way to the shore. It was incredible and I can't wait to do it again.

I found a great place to stay after the Witwer's leave, Pacific Surf School. It's in Santa Teresa, which is the name of the beach town where we've been staying. Pacific Surf School is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) north of Playa Carmen. The main intersection of town is at Playa Carmen and the Town of Mal Pais is a south and Santa Teresa is north. Mal Pais and Santa Teresa run together as if it's one town. Generally speaking, the waves at Playa Carmen are friendly and gentle, versus fast and steep at Santa Teresa. From my new house at Pacific Surf School, it will be a hike each day to get to Playa Carmen to surf, but the room, the pool, the ambiance and price is too great to pass up.

Another adventure...to Mal Pais Costa Rica

The saying ‘life is a journey, not a destination’ could not be more accurate. Traveling to and from international destinations offer some of my most interesting memories. To get to Mal Pais, Costa Rica I flew from San Diego to Atlanta then Atlanta to San Jose, Costa Rica, both flights being uneventful. My third and final leg of flying was on a small Costa Rican airline, Sansa. We were scheduled to fly for about 23 minutes (the trip taking 6 to 8 to 12 hours by land) on a small propeller plan from San Jose to Tambor. About 30 minutes before our scheduled departure, it started to storm. Thunder and lightning accompanied the torrential downpour. As soon as there was a small relief in the buckets of water raining down, we grabbed a partner and an umbrella and ran to the plane. On the way out, my umbrella mate asked if this was really safe. I responded with my only thought…. they wouldn’t let a plane full of tourists go down, that would be really bad for the economy. The flight itself was minimally turbulent and the terror of taking off in the middle of a tropical storm turned out to be unnecessary. The landing however, was insane. From my seat (one of 12 on the plane), I could only see a strip of sand where the ocean met the rain forest. I thought we were going to fly over the tree canopy and was shocked when we landed in the middle of the rainforest. The landing strip was a narrow space of cleared jungle with a thin layer of asphalt used to ease the plane in. There were about a half of a dozen people waiting at the landing strip, one of which was an employee of Sansa airlines who took me to my final destination, Mal Pais, in his small car that looked like it had been retrieved from the junkyard partially into the crushing operation. But it was dark, there were no buses and his orange vest made me fell like he was safety conscious. Mal Pais is wonderful. It is a small surf town with miles of beach breaks and yoga everywhere.

For more detailed travel information, see my article on the examiner website.

The End of the Road

It's the end of the road.  For now at least.  My time on Caye Caulker was amazing, I went kiteboarding, fishing, to private islands and passed some parts of days playing dominos.  I fell in love with the island and am looking forward to going back someday soon.  Since it was too difficult to make it to Mexico to fly out (OK, not that difficult, but something I wasn't looking forward to), I decided to fly out of Belize City.  I am back in the states and on the East Coast for the next week.  It's going to be difficult to process what's next.

Caye Caulker, Belize: Out on the Sea!

The Raggamuffin one-day snorkeling trip to the Holchan Marine Reserve site of Shark Ray Alley is one of the best day trips I have ever done and one of the best days I have had for a long time; and I've had some pretty great days in the last few months.  We took out a small sailboat and sailed our way to a variety of snorkel sites.  The ambiance on the boat was amazing.  There was food, drinks, reggae music, sun and lots of relaxing as we made our way through the Caribbean sea to our destinations.At our first site, Jermain, the captain, said we would be looking for Manatees.  I didn't even know they were in season and I immediately thought to myself, yeah right.  But we saw two Manatees playing around in the water as soon as we jumped in. They kind of remind me of giant, graceful, underwater blobs.  

The second site was in the Holchan Reserve, Shark Ray Alley.  We saw tons of Nurse Sharks, sting rays, spotted eagle rays and tons of other fish.  This is a picture of my Australian friend, Kirsty, holding a Nurse Shark.  That's my hand on the right touching it and yes, those are his fangs hanging out of his mouth.  The shark had a rough plastic-like texture that felt like a cross between a plastic cup and a miniature tile floor.  The third site was also in Holchan Reserve and there we saw more sharks, sting rays, turtles and a giant green morey eel pictured above.

On the trip back, we ate ceviche (which was delicious, as I helped prepare it - yes, they actually gave me a knife on a rocking boat) and drank some of the 5 gallons of Rum punch that was made.  We sailed through 'the split' (the split is the channel separating the two islands of Caye Caulker, formerly one island until a hurricane in the 1960s split the island in two), listened to reggae and danced.  We made friends the the captain and this turned into the first of a string of days on the water.  

The next day Jermain took us fishing on his boat.  At first I was afraid that it would be boring, fishing has never really been my sport of choice, but upon dropping our lines in, we got bites immediately.  We caught almost 20 fish through traditional fishing methods and a few by spear fishing.  We caught grouper, hog fish, red snappers, grunts, all delicious after Jermain and Patrick barbecued them up, whole, on the beach.  By whole, I mean the entire fish is cooked and served, eyes and all.  These guys know how to cook expertly on a grill of homemade coals lit by coconuts.  The guys used a nearby bar's oven to cook up rice to compliment the fish and the garlic bread from the grill.  The garlic bread was our idea, and Jermain and Patrick wondered, more than once, why we wanted it and initially cooked only half of our supply.  After Megan (a California/New York friend) requested the second loaf of bread also be cooked, she affectionately was called 'bread girl' the rest of the night.  

The next day we took the same small boat and a larger group of people to a private island off the coast of Caye Caulker.  We were going for a 'crab' cookout, but when we arrived on the island there were only a few 'crabs', not nearly enough to feed a dozen people.  I went with three of the guys in search of more and was amazed when they went directly to a spot in the middle of the sea, anchored and expertly hooked and speared about 20 more 'crabs' for dinner.  This whole process took under 10 minutes.  It was mesmerizing.  I wanted to help, but it all happened so fast.  By the time I asked for a spear (like I was going to be able to actually hit something while free diving and holding my breath underwater), dinner was caught and we were heading back.  The guys, lead by Jermain, again, cooked up a restaurant worthy meal of grilled crustaceans, rice, veggies and more bread for the Westerners.  What I find fascinating about cooking in Belize is that they have, out of necessity, perfected a method of cooking where you can leave food cooking, warming, etc for hours while you wait for other food to be prepared and people to arrive and it never gets overcooked or dried out.  Given the slow pace of life here, this is important!  The reason why 'crab' is in quotes will be revealed after June 15th.

Diving Turneff Elbow, Caye Caulker, Belize

We saw a Hammerhead shark!  It was amazing.  We went on a one-day, three tank dive on Turneff atoll, south side, known as the elbow. The corals were great and we saw a giant turtle, tons of snappers and jack fish.  I may be somewhat spoiled by having dove in Asia; while the corals here are fantastic, the fish life is, generally, not nearly as abundant. At the beginning of the day, we had a few minor equipment mishaps such as leaky BCDs, half full tanks of air and mouthpieces which were missing the grips you hold on to so you can breath.  Since nothing is a problem in Belize (the island mantra along with one love, mon and I gotta smoke me a spliff), we  just cleaned it up and headed out.  The boat ride to the dive site was a little over an hour and a half mostly inside the reef, therefore not too rough of waters.  Our first dive was great.  At the end of the dive, we saw a 10' Hammerhead Shark swimming about 20 feet below us.  It was amazing!  The second dive wasn't as good.  We had a new, inexperienced dive master leading us.  When one of our group members had problems equalizing the pressure on her ears during the decent the dive master went to hep her and never returned.  Three of us were swimming around for about 10 minutes before we surfaced to find our dive master had in fact forgotten where he left us.  He looked around, but couldn't get back to where we were.  Well, he says he went back to where we were, but since we didn't move, I deduced his inability to find us.  This particular dive didn't get much better and ended with us coming up from our dive early because our dive master was hungry.  He was such a small, skinny guy, I found it shocking he ate at all, better yet ended a dive because of hunger.  One the third dive, we were back on track and without our hungry friend who can't seem to find his way around the sea.

Caye Caulker, Belize

Caye Caulker is a small island off the northeast coast of Belize.  It is a beautiful Caribbean island with great scuba diving, snorkeling, and kite boarding.  I ended up going back to Dangriga on my way from Utila.  When I got to Dangriga I went to the same hotel we had stayed at before and the guy looked at me and said, why are you back, it's so hot here.  He was right, it was even hotter than before and I didn't think that was possible.  From Dangriga, I took an express bus to Belize City, which means few stops and AC, then a water taxi to Caye Caulker.  The whole thing took about 4 1/2 hours.  The boat stopped by Caye Chapel, a small golf resort island on the way.  It was gorgeous.

Since I have been here I have encountered some noteworthy things:

 - Mandingo, again.  Our Belizian friend we saw in every Belize stop going back to Lamanai.  He is still wearing his self-made, palm leaf, viking hat and is a legend on the island.

 - a local who had "Trust no Bitch" tattooed to his forearm.  I think this is going to be a problem for him and his ability to find a good woman later in life. At first I couldn't read what it said and asked him.  He tried to tell me it said trust no one, but I knew better.  He was clearly embarrassed, and rightfully so.  The trust no bitch guy is perpetually drunk and claims to work at every restaurant we are eating at.  His intro line is, "do you know I work here?"

 - a middle of the night 7.3 earthquake centered about 40 miles off the coast of  Roatan, Honduras.  It wasn't too bad here, but the short-lived tsunami threat was a little scary.  We were right on the edge of the suggested impact zone and if a tsunami hit Caye Caulker, there would be nothing anyone could do.  The island is no more than 1/2 mile wide and totally flat.  When reading about the destruction in Honduras, I realized I was in the most effected places, Utila, Puerto Cortez and La Ceiba, all of which I was in a few days ago.

Next on the agenda is some diving and kite boarding.

Coming Home

Oops, I said I was coming back July 18th on my last blog.  I am actually returning on June 18th.  I am back in Dangriga.  I came here as opposed to Placencia since it was closer to my ultimate destination of Caye Caulker.  I head out there tomorrow.  The last leg of 3 days of travels (3 short days).

Utila, Honduras

After the long trip, it was nice to get to Utila. I started my adventue here by walking, and sweating, as I looked for the perfect place to stay. Ubber important, right? I found my place at Underwater Visions Dive Center. The rooms are great and surrounded by a beach (with volleyball court), hammocks and the ever important, bar in the center. The staff is a bit spacey, but manageable. The bar music is awful, second only to the long wait for the attention of the bartender. The combination manages to even hases off the divemasters on occasion, and that´s a hard thing to do.

Most of the diving here reminds me of fall colors and small, water trees in the desert. It's nice and there are some beautiful corals and fish, but not a ton of fish life. I met up with two Danish sisters and we had a great time, diving and renting a golf cart to tour around the island. We visited the cave pools (caves with fresh water pools), the two beaches on the island, Doctor John (the local doctor who smokes cigarettes and purposely dresses in the ugliest clothes that anyone on the island can find and donate to him) as well as almost every restaurant on the island. Although extremely slow, slow as in I´m not sure were going to make it up this tiny hill, it was great fun. While slow, the cart was sturdy and we were able to do some off-roading on paths that would make an ATV cringe. One path lead us to a dead end. Well, not exactly a dead end because we were able to see a local cutting up one of 3 large iguanas for dinner. Yummy, lizard.

I left Utila on Sunday, making my way to Caye Caulker, Belize. I will get there Tuesday. Sunday I made it to Puerto Cortez. The town is not that great and after reading the bible, I kind of wished I would have opted to stay at Playa Travesia, just a few kilometers away. I went to Coca Cola beach. It´s not really a beach, but rather a sandy-grassy bayfront space the locals swim in. The beach was obviously sponsored by Coca Cola, as their signs are on all the refuse cans and their banners hang along the street. However, the restaurants only sell Pepsi. Looks like someone cut a deal at Pepsi to flip the bird at their main competitor, right in their backyard. I thought it was genuis. Monday I am taking a boat back to Placencia and head to Caye Caulker on Tuesday. I will be there for a week then head to Mexico. I booked my ticket home and am leaving from Cancun on July 18th. I think the US has the worst of the bird flu now, so I figure I should be safe to go back.

To Utila, Honduras

Placencia, Belize is a great place (photo to the right). There are a ton of American ex-pats intertwined with the local community and everyone is great! Its a small village, but a lot of character.

From Placencia, I took a boat to Puerto Cortez, Honduras. A 2 1/2 hour boat ride took 6 hours. Not surprisingly, we left about an hour late and had to stop to fuel up, one would have thought that would be done in advance since the boat had been docked in Placencia for days before the trip. We took a short ride to immigration and the short, stocky, painfully unpleasant immigration officer graced us with his lack of personality about an hour after our arrival. One by one he slowly and methodically stamped our passports and collected our 'conservation fee.'

Upon arrival in Honduras, we were checked by a masked 'doctor' for swine flu. He was given the gift of being able to tell if we were sick by a quick glance into our eyes. From Puerto Cortez we had a 4 hour van ride to La Ceiba where we could catch the morning ferry to the island of Utila. The van ride took about 6 hour. It was a long day. On the way we had a short discussion about where to stay and it was mentioned that one of the Lonely Planet's recommendations, Hotel Caribe, was actually a brothel. There were comments on the internet, and we all know if it's on the internet, it must be true. There were 12 of us in the van and it made it kind of complicated to find rooms. After 12 hours of traveling, everyone was a bit tired, but there were only a couple of rooms at each place we tried. The 3rd place was a little sketchy, but cheap and nice on the inside. I stayed, as did another couple. The remaining people in the van didn't even get out. We went out for dinner at Wendy's (yes, the fast food chain Wendy's is all over in Honduras) during a torrential downpour. The streets were instantly flooded and people were walking in the streets with water to their knees. Upon returning to our Hotel, I finally noticed the name. We were staying at the brothel. I locked myself in my room and was pleased that I was not woken by the sounds of pimps beating their women and/or porn. I did have a small contingent of drunk, homeless men sleeping on the sidewalk outside my window, but they went to bed early. I woke to gospel music. What a difference from night to day.

I am in Utila now, it's hot here, but nice. You can buy a package of 10 dives for $250. I think I'll have fun here.

I realized today that this is my 17th country in the last 10 months.

The Whale Shark

The Whale Shark is the biggest fish in the sea and polka dotted.  Today I went on a Whale Shark dive off the coast of Placencia, Belize and I knew it was going to be a good day when we saw 2 Whale Sharks from the boat.  We saw 2 more on our first dive and 2 more on our second dive along with a few other sharks.  It was amazing.  On the first dive, we dropped in and only swam a minute or two before we came face to face with a 25' Whale Shark.  It was vertical right in front of us and amazingly beautiful.  I could see the detail in the sharks' gills and the ridges on the body.  And those polka dots, I just love them.  The fine for touching a Whale Shark is $5,000USD, so you don't dare go near enough, but on the second dive I had one heading straight towards me.  It was kind of scary and definitely paralyzing.  This whale shark gradually moved up and swam right over my head!  I felt like I could have lifted my hand up and rubbed it's belly as it swam over me. Breathtaking.  I can't even begin to adequately describe the grace, beauty and size of this creature.  And to have the ability to swim beside it, under it, over it is incredible.

Here's the whole story.  I went out with Splash Divers, located near the pier in Placencia, Belize.  There are certain fish that spawn here around the time of the full moon and the Whale Shark feeds on those fish. The perfect time is about 3-4 days after the full moon, when all the whale sharks have had a chance to move into the area. The full moon was on Friday and I booked whale shark dives for Tuesday through Thursday.  As I waited, I checked in at the dive shops daily to see if they had come yet.  As of yesterday, there was a sighting here or there, but nothing major.  Today, the 4th day after the full moon, they were out!  We took a big speed boat out about an hour and a half.  The water was like the picturesque blue and green Caribbean water you see in the movies.  The first part of the boat trip was smooth, but after we checked in with the park rangers and passed the reef, it got rough.  When the boat wasn't acting like a roller coaster over the large swells, the front would edge over the crest of a swell and slam down, lifting you clear out of your seat and slamming you back down.  I could literally feel my internal organs slamming with the boat.  This was not a ride for the weak of stomach.  In fact, one girl took 3 Dramamine and still got so sick, she spent the first part of the day on our boat and the second on the boat of the park rangers so she didn't have to take the large waves outside the reef again.  Enough about that, back to the fun part.  Our first sighting was of a small dolphin who made his way along side our boat for about 5 minutes.  Our guides said this was a good sign, but I'm not sure why.  They hunt the Whale Shark by tracking a combination of marine life, birds hovering at water level and surface bubbles.  The Whale Shark loves bubbles. When we saw the first whale in the water, I must admit, I got slightly emotional.  Everyone on the boat ran to the side with the shark and jeopardized the boat's floatability significantly, but no one cared.  It was beautiful. From there it was a back and forth over whether we were going to jump in and snorkel with the shark or wait until we began our dive.  After 3 or 4 times of putting my weight belt on then taking it off, we decided to head to the wall and start our dive. As I said before it wasn't long before the giant was right in front of me, vertical.  And an amazing sight.  I kept moving closer to get in front of the air bubbles from the other divers and just watched as the shark moved about the water.  We saw our second shark a few minutes after number one left and then spent the rest of the dive swimming in the sea.  Since you are not around any coral and the wall is about 80 feet below you, there is not much else to see on this dive, just blue water.  After the first dive, we went back to the reef where the water was calmer and had lunch, then out for our second dive.  It took about 10 minutes to find the Whale Sharks this dive, but we saw two at the same time and for about 5 minutes.  It's equally as amazing the second time as it is the first. 

I decided not to go out again Wednesday and Thursday.  I figured, it really can't get much better than this.  Next time I am around the Whale Shark I will go again, but for this trip, I am elated with what I saw.

Palacencia, Belize

I went to Placencia to catch a boat to Honduras.  I got here on Thursday and the boat left on Friday.  But, since the whale shark was supposed to be in town in a few days, and the beach was so beautiful, I decided to stay for a week.  I got a great cabana right on the beach complete with a comfy bed, hot water, a fridge and wi-fi internet.  I am in heaven at Bull's cabanas (located right next to the Cozy Comfort Hotel and about 100 meters from the Barefoot Beach Bar).  

Since we have been speaking Spanish since Nicaragua, it was a shock to get to Belize where Spanish is not spoken at all.  Many Belizians know Spanish, but everyone speaks English and Creole.  It took some getting used to at first (I kept saying hola, gracias, and trying my other words), but now that I have settled in, it's quite nice to speak in my native tongue.  I continue to have great experiences with Belizians.  They are friendly without wanting anything in return, much different from the rest of Central America.  Like most other countries, they are very proud of their country and are constantly promoting the food, the hot sauce (Marie Sharps is the Belizian hot sauce and it is great), their village, and everything else as, undoubtedly, the best in the world.  Belizians are very well educated and a lot of the people I have encountered have lived and studied in the states for several years.  Those who haven't have family and friends there.  Not  'friends' they met, but don't know where they live or remember their names, but real friends.  In fact, in a quest to impress us with Belize's presence in America, one guy told us the story of his rapper cousin who lives in the states.  He was involved with the P. Diddy, J Lo bar shooting a few years back.  I can't recall his name, but he is currently in jail.  Not the most impressive connection, but the story was still told with extreme pride and not a hint of regret or embarrassment for the situation putting his famous cousin in jail.  Today, while reading on my patio, I was offered some of the world's best cocaine by a random guy walking by wearing a white t-shirt ripped from the neck line to mid belly.  I acknowledged that it might be the best cocaine in the world, but politely declined to confirm on my own.

I have been in Placencia for a few days and done a lot of r&r.  Tomorrow I start a series of dives off the coast.  I am very excited to get back to diving as I haven't done any since Bali.

Lamanai, Dangriga and Hopkins

Our trip to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai was quite interesting.  We were joined by a crazy woman from Australia and her native Belizian, unofficial tour guide, Mandingo.  The woman was a combination of a paranoid schizophrenic and bipolar depressant on an extreme high.  She spent the first 15 minutes cursing her official tour guide for "changing his story regarding the f*@%ing cost of the trip, which was giving her a f%#*ing headache and ruining her day," in between telling incomprehensible dirty jokes and laughing hysterically at herself. Regarding the cursing, it was evident to everyone else there her guide was saying the same thing she originally understood, although she just didn't seem to understand anymore.  

After this initial turmoil, we headed to Lamanai via a small boat.  The trip along the jungle-lined river took a little over an hour and was met with frequent sightings of cool looking birds and a couple of alligators.  I saw only water splashing during the first sighting, but I saw beady little eyes lingering above the water during the second sighting.  My first real alligator.  The ruins were fairly minimal, but we did make a short, albeit steep and exhausting, climb to the top of the main temple.  The view was amazing.

Upon returning from Lamanai, we headed straight to Dangriga, a small beach town full of Garifuna influence, Punta Rock, and Chinese food.  It was quite unexpected to go out for dinner in this Caribbean influenced town and find only Chinese restaurants open, all serving the exact same menu varieties of Chow Mein and Chop Suey.  Unfortunately, it was Monday and there wasn't much going to showcase the Garifuna influence outside of the mid-week wake, which was quite a party in the village.  We were invited, but unable to find our friends or the location.  The people here are great.  Very friendly and similar to Jamaicans in their slow paced, 'one love' views of life and continuous spliff smoking.

We headed to nearby Hopkins beach for a day.  We were going to attempt to scuba dive, hoping to find the nearby whale shark.  Upon arrival, we learned that the whale shark was coming in about 5 or 6 days, supposedly he feeds off of spawning fish 3-4 days after the full moon, and there were no afternoon trips for any other kind of diving.  We gladly spent the rest of the day on Hopkins beach.  It was quiet, secluded and very relaxing.  In the evening we had a great dinner, pleased to be out of Dangriga for a non-Asian variety, and listened to some Punta Rock

 drummers.  Our friend from Dangria offered to come have dinner and pick us up, but wasn't able to make it due to car failure, so we took a shuttle home.  The shuttle driver was our bartender and he drank the local bitter (Belizian alcohol) and smoked a blunt on the drive back.  Good thing there wasn't anyone else on the road.

We also ran into our old friend from Lamanai, Mandingo, who is pictured on the left.  In Hopkins, there is a great drumming center where locals go to jam on the drums. We headed down for a great private session of drumming and even got a lesson.  It's not as easy as it looks.

I would definitely suggest Hopkins and Dangriga as great places to visit.  They are quiet places, not a lot of tourist.  The locals are friendly and the vibe is very Caribbean. Hopkins has a bit more variety in restaurants, a few bars open midweek, the drumming center and is an easy launching point for reef dives and to get to some of the Caye islands in this region of Belize.  Placencia is said to be a better launching point for whale shark sightings.  I am heading there tomorrow.

To Belize

From Puerto Escondido, we headed to Huatulco where we caught a flight to Chatumal, via Mexico City. Chatumal is right on the border of Belize, so it made for an easy crossing out of Mexcio. Since Mexico City was the center of the swine flu outbreak, we were a little anxious about how the trip would go. Everyone was sold out of masks and no one could not sell antibiotics unless the purchaser was really sick, therefore, at the onset we were equipped with only hand sanitizer. It was pretty painless. In Mexico City, the amount of masks increased significantly from what we had been seeing, which was next to none, but only about 60% of the people in the airport had them, and some were just hanging around their necks. We got masks from a mobile truck, handing them out on the street. However, when we got to Chatumal, we were instructed to give our masks back so they could be used by the medical service providers. I do not understand how that is safe nor do I understand how they might go about sanitizing the masks so they do not act as a conduit for the swine flu and backfire as a method of protection. I continue to be stumped by this one.
The "free zone," which is the the area between Mexican immigration and Belize immigration, was shut down, meaning the stores, restaurants and large casino/hotel was closed. According to one local (from Belize), there are about 2000 Belize workers who are employed in the free zone and they did not want the Mexican's giving them swine flu. Fortunately, we found the only cab driver working that area and were able to secure a ride from the border to neighboring town, Corazol. From the look of this cab driver's face and the sound of his sneezes, my guess he is an example of why the free zone was shut down in the first place. We sanitized immediately upon exiting the cab.
Since there is nothing to see or do in Corozal, the morning following our arrival, we headed to Orange Walk. In the bus we caught a glimpse of the green-blue Caribbean Sea and it was beautiful. Orange Walk is a small town with not much to see and nothing to do on Sunday, everything is closed. Even during the other days of the week, my guess is there is still not much to do besides play slots in one of the numerous small casinos that line the streets. It is quite possible there are more "Entertainment Centers" (this town's name for casinos) than any other establishment in Orange Walk. We headed here for a river boat trip to Lamanai.

Adios Mexico

We spent the last 2 days in Puerto Escondido in the pool at Hotel Ines.  We indulged in the local favorite, frozen margaritas and saw the giant surf waves this town is known for.  It's a cute town.  We also prepared to fly to the south of Mexico where we are going to cross the border into Belize, we leave in a few hours.  Although the swine flu is catching everyone's attention, we have not seen and impacts of it here yet but will be pleased when we are out of Mexico just the same.  Adios Mexico, it's been great!

Zipolite, Mexico

Zipolite is perfect.  It is a small town with a few restaurants and bars and a great beach.  The first day we came, the waves were insane.  They were probably 12-feet high, closed quickly and crashed so hard it sounded like thunder and looked deadly.  It was deadly.  Since, the sea has calmed down tremendously and is swimmable.  

The beach is long enough for walks and while I was on a sunset walk the other day I saw a completely naked woman, laying ass-up in the sand, with no clothes around her, but a lot of local friends.  Immediately following this I witnessed a small dog trying to hump a larger dog, but the small dog was too small.  He would mount the larger dog from behind, and when that did not work, make his way around to the larger dog's head.  It was pretty creative, but once his owner saw what was going on, he was immediately put back on his leash.  When I returned past this scene the second time, the tied up dog was staring at his former playmate, tongue dragging on the sand and panting.  It was pretty funny.

Since we've been here, we've spent a lot of time lying on the beach, we've done a beach tour (by boat) and were going to do a crocodile tour, but I got a small stomach reaction to some local food.  This was not the swine flu, although our trip to Zipolite has also been marked by the swine flu outbreak.  It appears to be centered in Mexico City, so we have not been greatly impacted, but we are being careful and stocking up on antibiotics and masks, just in case.  Veronica had a wedding in Playa del Carmen on May 9th, but their Canadian airline cancelled all flights to Mexico and the wedding has to move to Dominican Republic (in a week and a half, all new plans have to be made).  Given this, we have decided to fly out of Mexico on Saturday so we don't get stuck here.  We will be going to Belize on Sunday.

Puerto Angel

We spent 4-days in Puerto Angel at a great hotel, Buena Vista.  It is a small town on a small bay.  It's hot, beautiful and completely shuts down after 10pm.  We spent our days at the nearby Playa Panteon, a small beach with a restaurant, chairs and umbrellas on the beach.  The first day the water was like a pool, perfect for much needed cooling off periods from the heat.  The second day the bay was raging with waves that would consume the entire restaurant.  It was like a totally different place.  Puerto Angel was very relaxing and we decided to head to Zipolite after for a few days as there is a lot more to do there.

I have found something that surpasses my previously mentioned new favorite Mexican dish, Tlayudas, enchiladas verde in this little comedor in Zipolite.  These are not your traditional enchiladas, they are served open-faced with the cheese and verde sauce cooked into the tortilla and the 'prime' beef, for $0.70 extra, on the side.  Amazing.  I've eaten them the last two nights. 

Eating in Mexico is a whole experience unto itself.  For starters, it is not unusual to sit in a restaurant for 30 to 60 minutes without being approached by anyone other than the ladies selling over-sized white tops with multi-colored knitted bands.  This lack of service is certainly not due to an abundance of customers, as often, there is no one else there.  Once you flag down a waiter, get a menu and get your food, you can forget about seeing the waiter again, unless you happen to be sitting next to another table performing the same routine and can piggy back onto this.  It is necessary to ask for all desired condiments and napkins up front.  To get what is on the menu or what the waiter says is on the plate is a unique pleasure.  For example, the other day I asked what was included with my chicken breast.  The waiter said vegetables, to which I replied, Fantastic!  Instead of vegetables, I got pasta salad, french fries and rice.  In this situation any question as to what happened is responded to with either we did not have it or this is what is comes with, regardless of what is written or has been said.

We have just moved to Zipolite, a small beach town about 1 mile north of Puerto Angel.  We are moving slowly through this part of Mexico.  We've got a great beachfront hotel with an amazing view of the ocean.  And every once in a while, one of 2 naked men who walk back and forth along the beach, will strut by our balcony.  The room also has a great daytime breeze, which is key given that Mexico is about as hot as I imagine hell to be.  It's impossible to walk down the street without enjoying the sweat of an hour-long workout.

Miscellaneous Mexico

I think I perfected the art of adding salt and lime to a cerveza. First, squeeze the lime into the beer then add a dash or two of salt, slowly. This is truly an art form and took ´a few´ times to perfect.

In my haste in writing my last blog, I forgot the most interesting part of Puerto Arista; our room. After hunting around for a while, we found the best room we could and it was a total dump. But, a dump with air conditioning, which was wonderful during in the sweltering heat of the day. The room had large holes in the ceiling and the randomly painted portions of the walls dropped paint chips on a regular basis. I do not believe the room had been cleaned, but if it was, it was definitely cleaned by a non-domestic male. The walls were filled with cobwebs, most well below reachable levels. We had many eight-legged friends living with us. In fact, the first night, I thought I felt something crawling in me. Usually, when this happens, it is my imagination, but this time it was a medium sized daddy long legs spider. I spent the rest of my waking hours chasing his invisible friends off my body. Did I mention the toilet had no seat and the shower spit water?
As previously explained, albeit quickly, the locals of Puerto Arista had no sense of time or direction. As instructed, we arrived at 9am to catch a 3-hour bus to Pachutla, a bus that supposedly left every hour in addition to the trucks that leave every hour. When we arrived we discovered that there are no trucks and only one bus each day, it is 6-hours and it left at 2am. Not wanting to spend a day in the hot box called Tonala, or return to the beach at Puerto Arista, we started moving towards our target bus by bus. After 2 buses, we had a 4-hour wait in Juchitan where we enjoyed a great ceviche lunch and some much needed internet time (there was no internet in Puerto Arista. They have internet in the himalayas, but not there?). Since we were heading out for another 3-hour bus ride, and traveling by bus seems to work up an intense hunger, we searched for dinner to go. We were able to secure an entire chicken, cut into pieces with kitchen shears, bones and all.

A new random fact about me: my favorite Mexican name is Lupita. I think it goes back to the early seasons of the Showtime series, Weeds. Lupita was the housekeeper. Here, whenever I see a restaurant called Lupita´s, I want to go, regardless of the general condition of the premises.

We are now in Puerto Angel, it is fantastic. A beautiful bay with the added bonus of beach chairs and umbrellas. It is amazing how these simple items can change a beach experience. It makes it possible to forget about the insane heat and enjoy the day. At this point it is 9:30 at night and I am sitting in an internet cafe completely open to the street and sweating like I just took a 4-mile jog. It´s almost summer in Mexico. I have found the most amazing food down here, Tlayudas. They are large tortillas either stuffed or topped (like a pizza) with cheese and meat and beans and all sorts of great Mexican foods.

San Cristobal and Puerto Arista

The 12-hour trip from Antigua to San Cristobal, Mexico started off rough. I did not sleep the night before we left which turned out to be a blessing when the alarm didn't go off and I was awake at 4:30am to get us on our way. On the first mini-bus leg of the trip, we had the worst seats (those without backs for those of you who have been in a Mexican mini-bus before) and there was no sleeping for those first few hours. When we changed buses in Lago de Atitlan, I was going on 24 hours without sleep and was elated to secure sleepable seats. The next time I opened my eyes was to view the 'Welcome to Mexico' sign. I'm not sure what it is about this country, but that sign brings about a great feeling.
San Cristobal was great. The temperature is cool, the town is lively and full of culture and there is a lot to do. The colonial town is similar to Antigua, but with the added energy of Mexico that compliments the town well. We managed to find the best margaritas, the best live music and a salsa competition. The salsa competition was great to watch and I even managed to dance a bit in between sets. My salsa dancing needs some fine-tuning, but I´ve got the basics down. When the turns start coming, watch out, I lose all sense of rhythm after the second one. I hear that gets better, but patience has never been my strong suit.

After San Cristobal we decided to head to Puerto Arista. If you´ve never heard of it, that is because we were on a quest for a non-touristy location and we found it. The only tourists were from Mexico. Below I have outlined the high and low points of the weekend, which are one in the same. In no particular order:
- I chased my first mirage. Walking down the beach it appeared there was a water inlet or outlet ahead. When the water did not seem to be getting closer, Veronica suggested it was a mirage. Not believing in the deception I was witnessing, I spent a fair amount of the afternoon walking to random points where the water had previously appeared before I agreed it was a mirage.
- The sort-of transsexual. Our first best friend in Puerto Arista was a transsexual who had clearly gone through some medical procedure to change his sex from male to female, however, did not go so far as to shave his legs. Our new best friend sought us out because she saw us as her ticket into the heterosexual male crowd in Puerto Arista. She even made us promise we would attend the non-existent discoteque on Saturday night and dance with her.
- The people were a bit off. It´s hard to put a finger on the source of the social awkwardness in this town, but it was blatant. One of many examples is how our actions spread as news through town. When the locals fabricated a discoteque and karaoke bar at someone´s house, we said we could not attend because we were tired (which really meant not a chance in hell are we going to a random person´s house to dance and sing). The next morning, everyone in town knew we had gone to bed early, even strangers who we had not yet met.
- Pool hopping. They were actually reservoirs, not pools. These semi-below ground, non-filtered tanks lined the bars along the beach and provided a welcome relief from the giant waves of sand in the Pacific. One afternoon, we made our way down the beach from dirty reservoir to dirty reservoir, each time taking a photo as evidence of our bravery. We knew we´d been at it for too long when we actually agreed that we had found the best pool and settled there for a while.
- No one knew how to get anywhere. We took a day trip to Boca del Cielo, a small island about 2o minutes from Puerto Arista. Every time we asked how to get there we got a different response; take a bus, a taxi, a truck, it´s 20 minutes, it´s 30 minutes, etc..... Therefore, it was not surprising when we were told buses leave every hour for our next destination, but actually leave only once a day, at 2am.

Currently, we are in the middle of a multi-stop route and hope to make it to Zipolite tonight.

Antigua

Antigua is even better the second time around.  The streetscape of the colonial town is magnificent; the vibrantly colored colonial buildings and old churches (most destroyed in the 1776 earthquake which triggered Guatemala to move the country's capital from Antigua to Guatemala City) line the street with a single facade offering magnificent streetscapes throughout the city.  The town is filled with beautiful buildings, a variety of ethnic cuisines and, my favorite, vanilla lattes.  In fact, I would venture to say they might have the best vanilla lattes in the world here.  Nights are filled with salsa dancing.  I have been taking lessons and I really enjoy it.  My dancing might be a bit better than my Spanish, but that isn't saying much.  The hostel we are staying is in a great location and after they moved us from the tiny box room with a window that opened to the neighbors sewage drain trap, the experience got even better.

Semana Santa in Antigua is the largest celebration of Semana Santa in the Western hemisphere and second largest in the world. The cobblestone streets are decorated with elaborate carpets created from fresh flowers and/or dyed sawdust.  

The carpets are an amazing display of artistic creativity and are placed along procession routes and serve as a welcome mat for the many processions celebrating a variety of religious symbols, including the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  Thursday night was the biggest night for the creation of carpets.  Starting at midnight and going until the wee hours of the morning hundreds of people worked diligently to create beautiful carpets for Friday's crucifixion procession.

The processions include floats carried by large groups of people bearing the weight of the floats on their shoulders while walking and swaying in unison.  The main float in the procession walks over the newly created carpets and the remains are removed by a dump truck immediately following.  The floats were amazing.  There are no words to accurately describe the setting;maybe it is best represented in photos and video.  The link should be up shortly.

Tomorrow we are heading to Mexico.  We should be back at the beach in a few days.

 

Playa del Tunco and Barra de Santiago

Our week in Playa del Tunco ended with a daylong surf contest, show casing some of the best surfers in El Salvador.  Given that Playa del Tunco is home to a world-class break, the competition was fierce.  The contest was scheduled to start at noon, which meant 2 in Salvadorian time.  It finished by the light of spotlights about 10 at night.  The surfing was amazing; I will post videos as soon as I have time. After the surf contest there was a chica reef contest (reef girl contest).  The much-anticipated chica reefs turned out to be a group of  16 year olds parading down the stage in the bar.  It seems so illegal?

From Playa del Tunco, we took 3 chicken buses to a pick up truck to the center of Barra de Santiago (aka The Barra) where we asked locals where the gringa lived.  This was how we found our friend Meredith who is living in the Barra as a peace corps volunteer. 

 The Barra is amazing.  Not only are there pupusas every day of the week (pupusas are Salvador's gift to food, a thick tortilla stuffed with any combination of beans, cheese, chicken, meat and shrimp.  They cost between 15 and 35 cents each and 3 is a full meal), but there are miles and miles of unspoiled, sandy, coconut palm lines beaches and no tourists.  Lonely planet has not yet caught on to this amazing location, easily my favorite of the trip so far. Barra de Santiago is a sand bar on the Pacific Ocean.  It is no more than a quarter of a mile wide with one side being the Pacific Ocean and the other being a protected estuary with mangroves.  

The estuary acts as a lake and is full of Salvadorians doing water sports, some on equipment dating back to the original days of water sports.  We spent a couple of days on the estuary with some of the locals.  We took out an inflatable rescue boat loaned to one of our hosts by the fire department.  The weight of 7 people and a leak in the boat could not stop the fun.  We had wooden water skis, nearly an inch thick, a surfboard, for surfboard-skiing as pictured here, and an original hydroslide.  I was reluctant to believe that this 20 horsepower motor would pull up anyone, but once we evacuated most of the people from the boat, it was able to inch out the power needed to struggle up.  It was great.  The locals who took us out are friends of Merediths and are a great indicator of the generousity of the people who live in the Barra.   On our last night, there was an impromptu Peace Corps party at Merediths one bedroom house.  We strung up 10-hammocks throughout the patio, and it was clear the party was going to go well into the night.  Veronica and I were leaving early the next morning for Antigua, and wanted to get some sleep before we left.  We were invited to sleep on a second story patio at a local's house.  They were kind enough to give us small mattresses and blankets.  We could see the ocean and fell asleep to the sound of the waves, nature and the distant bass coming from the reggae-ton being played at the discoteque at the circus.  It was amazing.

 I would definitely recommend visiting Barra de Santiago if given the opportunity.  Speaking Spanish is a must for this location, but quality of people and unspoiled beaches make it well worth the effort.

Playa del Tunco, El Salvador

The beach here is amazing.  And the surf too.  Tomorrow is the beginning of Semana Santa, a week of holiday in Central America leading up to the ultimate celebration on Easter weekend.  Playa del Tunco is kicking the week off with a surfing contest.  From the surfing I've seen so far, it should be amazing to watch.  

Mi blog en Espanol (sort of)

Hoy yo tuve un autobus de pollo a la supermercado y vi un perro comiendo de la diaper.

In English:  Today I took a bus to the supermarket and saw a dog eating out of a diaper.  

Does anymore need to be said?  

A local has adopted Veronica and me and is teaching us to surf.  It is great.  Surfing is so much more fun when someone is there to tell you when to go, where the waves are and to give you that much needed push when the wave comes.  Playa de Tunco continues to be amazing.  I will post photos soon. 

Through Managua to El Salvador

We started our trip to El Salvador by dragging our backpacks across the median on the Pan American Highway to catch a chicken bus to Managua.  Our hostel in Laguna de Apoyo, Crater's Edge, drives a group of people to Granada each day.  From the laguna, Granada is in the opposite direction of Managua, where we needed to go.  We took the transportation to Granada and upon seeing the bus to Managua our driver furiously flashed his lights and honked his horn, which, surprisingly, was understood to mean that the bus driver on the opposite side of the highway should pull over and pick us up. We grabbed out luggage and made our way, frogger-style, across the Pan American Highway.  Did I mention we were with a blind masseuse who was making his way home from a typical workday? 

Managua is the capital of Nicaragua and not a place I was overly excited to see.  We arrived late in the evening and had just enough time to eat some chicken and fried cheese from a street vendor (I love fried cheese) and settle into our hostel, which was secured by bars on the windows and prison style locked down gates on all sides.  I was thankful for these features when I heard the Nicaraguan gangbangers hanging out on the street later that night.  I can't say for sure what happened but at one point, I heard a small child screaming.  When I snuck my head out the window, a gangbanger was picking up the child and the group was quickly walking down the street, on a mission.

We got up at 3:45 am to catch the Tica Bus from Managua to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador.  It took us 11 hours to go 300 miles on the Pan American Highway.  The Pan Am is a well-paved road, but the cars here go so slow our trip averaged less than 30 miles per hour.  We stopped at the Honduras border and had fried chicken for breakfast and again in El Salvador to enjoy chicken fajitas courtesy of a gas station buffet.  The fajitas were pretty good and the gas station buffet was packed, quite a hit in El Salvador.

We ended up in Playa de Tunco, a beach on the Pacific Coast of El Salvador.  It is amazing here! The town is small, the beach is beautiful, the surf is great (the waves break in a picture perfect right-hand point break) and the locals are very nice.  There are a few tourists, but not enough to inhibit our desire to speak as much Spanish as possible.  I am traveling with a friend from Quebec.  With French as a first language, Spanish comes much easier to Veronica.  At least that is what I tell myself when I can't keep up.

Ometepe and Laguna de Apoyo

After a few days of partaking in the local festivities in San Juan Del Sur, it was a welcome relief to get to Ometepe.  Ometepe is a volcanic island located in Lake Nicaragua.  There are two volcanoes, Maderas (not active and about 1,300+ meters high) and Concepcion (active and about 1,600+ meters high).  Both are available for climbing, but we chose R&R instead.  We went to Playa Santo Domingo, a small black-sand beach located between the two volcanoes.   Day one included a trip to Ojo de Agua, a small mineral pool said to either reduce your age by ten years or keep you the same age for the next fifteen.  Not sure how long one needs to spend in the water to achieve either of these, but I am hoping for the later.  Day two included beach time on the shallow beach of Playa Santo Domingo.  The water was warm and a welcome change from the salt water from the Pacific Ocean. 

 

After Ometepe, we headed to Laguna de Apoyo, a crater lake located outside of Granada.  It is amazing!  Very tranquilo and beautiful.  The lake water is even warmer than Ometepe, there are tons of hammocks, kayaks and only a few people.  The sounds of nature are amazing, the birds sound like musical instruments and it's a much better wake up call then the roosters.  This is quite possible my favorite place in Nicaragua so far.  There are only two hostel options here, one is bring your own food, and the second is Crater's edge.  The food is amazing and the atmosphere breeds relaxation along the waterfront.

Tomorrow, we head to Managua for then night in order to catch a 5am bus to El Salvador to surf along the Pacific Coast.  Somehow my 'trip to Costa Rica' has taken on a life of its own in countries north of Costa Rica.  

I added a link to more photos on the right.

I got stuck....

I was planning on leaving Friday to go to Isleta de Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua, but I got stuck.  By stuck I mean sucked into the ever-interesting vortex of nightlife in San Juan Del Sur.  San Juan Del Sur is a quaint local town with a few tourists and has quite a late night party scene.   Around 10pm you can start getting a flavor for where the evening may go.  It's exactly like college spring break: Drunk girls dirty dancing to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and Milli Vanilli (actual Milli Vanilli, not Queen. I have heard almost as much MV here in the past 3 weeks as I did back in the day).  Guys hovering in the corners waiting for the proper time to pounce on their prey. Shots. Short skirts. More shots.  People teetering on the edge of falling off a barstool.  And lots of making out on the dance floor.  It's quite possibly the best people watching ever.  Every evening is the same.  The night starts at The Iguana or Coquito bar, then moves to the Crazy Crab (the discotheque of San Juan), which is open until 5 or 6 or 7am, not sure.

 

I only recently discovered this part of San Juan and the town is not all Flor de Cana and Tona (the local rum and beer).  Other compelling factors influencing my decision to stay in San Juan Del Sur a little longer include:

 - The seafood.  $10 for 3 fantastic lobster tails

 - Chicken Gordon Blue (not sure who Gordon is, but he's on every menu here)

 - Vanilla Latte.  There is one gringo coffee shop with vanilla lattes and wi-fi.  I am hooked again.

 - Death announcements are made from a truck, on a bullhorn.  The truck drives around town for hours notifying every one of the details.  This is kind of morbid, but the randomness makes it note-worthy.

 - I met some really great people in my final week of Spanish School, so I wanted to stick around for a bit longer.

 - Fantastic sunsets on the Pacific, my favorite.

I am planning to leave on Monday.