After three long, hot, tiresome days of traveling, Matt and I at long last made it to Costa Rica. Leaving Utila was extremely hard and already we're planning on going back. Yes, it's that good there.
We are now in a small town along Costa Rica's Pacific Coast called Playa Tamarindo. We didn't realize when we planned to come here that this place is the furthest from a natural, traditional Costa Rican setting that there is in this country. It is quite literally a tiny California. The town is filled with Americans. Some young travelers but mostly retirees with condos here. Word to the wise, when deciding travel destinations, don't use a 10 year old Lonely Planet as a reference, it will be sorely outdated. We chose here because of the incredible surfing, and the 10 year old Lonely Planet made this place sound amazing. I'm sure ten years ago it probably was something beautiful and magical to see, but now, it is filled with newly renovated condos, malls, cafes, and boutiques at every turn. The beach is packed with wannabe surfers (us included) and wealthy tourists frying in the sun. After we arrived is when I decided to look at the internet (and up-to-date) version of what the Lonely Plant has to say about this place now..
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica/peninsula-de-nicoya/playa-tamarindo
Made me laugh. It pretty much sums this place up to a tee. Anyway, with only 5 days left on our trip, we're not about to go scouring the countryside looking for Costa Rica. Not to mention, we asked around and it seems that the tourism industry has had a major impact in Costa Rica and development is booming everywhere. So, we're spending the last of our trip in a beautiful, clean and first air-conditioned room of the trip and enjoying every minute of it. Today we rented surfboards and gave our best attempts. I got a delightful farmer's tan (burn) from the rashtop and a few cuts and bruises. The waves here are extremely rough and it's hard to even get out to the waves, let alone stand up on them. But tomorrow we've planned a private lesson with one of the guys who works at our hostel, so who knows, after 2pm tomorrow, we might be pro? (HA!)
I should get going, Matt's hovering over my shoulder to play some ping-pong.
Much love, Christine (and Matt too)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Sea legs
Well Matt and I have finished up our diving in Utila. We are now both certified Open Water and Advanced Open Water Divers! The Advanced was a really fun course, we got to go down to 30 metres (which doesn't actually feel much different than 18, it's just darker and more sand); we saw a ship wreck, which we got to swim through a little (first diving through more confined spaces!); and we got to do a night dive! The night dive was pretty neat, we all had flash lights and had to go searching under rocks and coral to find sea life. After our course was over we got to do our fun dives, unfortunately, Matt has an ear infection so we only ended up doing two of our four.. oh well, diving is exhausting when you're going out every day! Our fun dives were great. We went out with a dive master named Lydia from Colorado, who I'm pretty sure hasn't been diving for necessarily the longest time but she was confident and easy going so it was really fun. She took us to some underwater caves that we got to swim through. The water temperature throughout them changes so many degrees every few feet - it's a very cool feeling! At one point in the caves we turned a bend that was swarmed with a school of fish called Glassy fish. They're small, beady-eyed, shimmery grey fish that just huddled in this corner. You have to swim directly through them to get out which was kinda cool! Once we got out of the caves we planned to make our way back towards another buoy where our boat was going to pick us up. The reason I don't think Lydia is an overly experienced diver is because she managed to get us lost, underwater, in the middle of the ocean. She stopped us all at one point (there were 4 of us diving) and signaled that she was going to surface to look for the boat and we should stay down, so we drifted around checking things out. When she came back down we set off again but by this point, some of us were getting low on air. Matt has a tendency to go through his air at an alarming rate. We aren't sure if it's because he's got bigger lungs, he gets too excited underwater and starts hyper-ventilating, or if he just exerts energy too quickly. Either way, he ended up becoming very low on air and was signaling me this. I knew that we must be near the end of our dive because I was getting low on air too and I'm usually really good with my air consumption. Lydia finally signaled us to do our 3 minute safety stop 5 metres below the surface but we were already too late. Matt came floating over to me, desperately signaling he was out of air by cutting his arm across his neck in large exaggerated strokes. I tried to remember our out of air training and fumbled around for only a moment before covering my mouth piece and pointing to my alternate under my right arm. Matt yanked it out, popped it in his mouth, and took a long inhale. I could tell he was slightly panicking because he started to immediately swim up, but we hadn't finished our safety stop yet so I had to yank him down, hold him, and then eventually we got to surface together, doing the Roman handshake and all. Luckily, Lydia got some of this on camera and we promptly bought a burned disc from her of all our adventures from that day.
Since we've been diving so much, both Matt and I have noticed the non-stop swaying, almost floating feeling that seems to follow us wherever we go. While making breakfast yesterday, I had to lean right against the counter for full support otherwise I would've fallen over. This is apparently common with new divers, boaters, snorkelers, etc. Basically anyone who spends a prolonged amount of time on or under water. We haven't yet developed our sea legs but I think we will soon. In the mean time I actually don't mind the constant swaying feeling that follows me around! In bed it's like being rocked to sleep every night and anywhere I sit it feels like I'm being gently rocked in a boat. I've always enjoyed that feeling, I've heard of others who pass out or puke from it though, so apparently I'm among the lucky ones.
Yesterday, after a prolonged international Skype call, Matt learned that he'd passed his exams for his third and final year of school and is now (minus the hours he needs) basically a journeyman! HURRAY MATT! Naturally, we went to celebrate with milkshakes as soon as he found out and then of course, we went out that evening too! We started our night at a bar called Skid Row, where if you can slam back 4 shots of this infused rum, you get a free shirt. Sounds easy right? Except that this rum is infused with like.. grass, or hay, or some kind of random weed. I didn't mind it so much as others, it kind of had a cinnamon after-taste, but it definitely burned going down and left my belly very warm. Our whole dive class ended up coming to this bar to do it together and we all left with our free t-shirt! By now (about 7pm) everyone was well on their way to being too drunk and Matt and I wanted some dinner so we went to the Indian Wok (such good Indian food!!!) for a drunken bite to eat. We finished up and headed next to Alfredo's house where he was having another bbq party (not in Matt's honour, it just worked out that way). It was a great party! Beach volley ball, free food (even though we didn't eat any of it), free beer, and rocking 90's music all night long (listened to "Mr.Vain" twice in one night!!!!). Matt got his money's worth slugging back a ton of beer and I had the pleasure of walking him back to the hostel and getting him to bed. He's quite the chatter when he's drunk and it was a hilarious time for me, listening to him ramble away about his ingenuity of who's hooking up with who amongst our dive class.
Tonight is at long last, our last night in Utila. We've made friends with a few of the locals and today is Danito's (our boat captain) birthday. So we're going to go find him later on to hang out for a bit and heading to his house later tonight for his party. Also tonight, we are going to watch the local soccer tournament. Everyone here is hooked on soccer and most have been playing since they were quite young. They have organized a rec soccer league and we just happened to be here during the tournament! Apparently they are phenomenal, which I don't doubt in the least, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some spectacular amateur football tonight! Matt thinks that all of his friends who play should plan to come down here and organize a game against the team here. I think that the locals would love that! Although I also think they have a huge upper hand being climatized to this god-awful humidity and anyone from away would have a hard time running around for any prolonged period of time here. I've tried, it lasts about 5 minutes.
Swimming is really the only exercise I've been able to do here, and the 17 countdown of pushups and situps, which, Jessie, I've been doing everyday! I'm actually excited to get back to Canada to start exercising regularly again! In the meantime, may as well enjoy the fact that it's too warm to move and drink and eat as many cold things as possible. Smoothies have quickly become a staple in our diets and we average at least one a day each. I don't know how they make them so tasty here but the banana smoothies are actually the tastiest treat ever. Not to mention that when you get them to go, the put it in a plastic bag, tie a not in the top and stick a straw in it. Best to-go cup ever.
Mmm. Now I want a smoothie in a bag. I think I'll be off then! Matt wants to play a game (I've been beating him a lot lately and he keeps wanting to "redeem" himself) and I want the first round of my daily smoothie!
Much love to everyone. Hope all are safe and happy!
Love Christine (and Matt)
Since we've been diving so much, both Matt and I have noticed the non-stop swaying, almost floating feeling that seems to follow us wherever we go. While making breakfast yesterday, I had to lean right against the counter for full support otherwise I would've fallen over. This is apparently common with new divers, boaters, snorkelers, etc. Basically anyone who spends a prolonged amount of time on or under water. We haven't yet developed our sea legs but I think we will soon. In the mean time I actually don't mind the constant swaying feeling that follows me around! In bed it's like being rocked to sleep every night and anywhere I sit it feels like I'm being gently rocked in a boat. I've always enjoyed that feeling, I've heard of others who pass out or puke from it though, so apparently I'm among the lucky ones.
Yesterday, after a prolonged international Skype call, Matt learned that he'd passed his exams for his third and final year of school and is now (minus the hours he needs) basically a journeyman! HURRAY MATT! Naturally, we went to celebrate with milkshakes as soon as he found out and then of course, we went out that evening too! We started our night at a bar called Skid Row, where if you can slam back 4 shots of this infused rum, you get a free shirt. Sounds easy right? Except that this rum is infused with like.. grass, or hay, or some kind of random weed. I didn't mind it so much as others, it kind of had a cinnamon after-taste, but it definitely burned going down and left my belly very warm. Our whole dive class ended up coming to this bar to do it together and we all left with our free t-shirt! By now (about 7pm) everyone was well on their way to being too drunk and Matt and I wanted some dinner so we went to the Indian Wok (such good Indian food!!!) for a drunken bite to eat. We finished up and headed next to Alfredo's house where he was having another bbq party (not in Matt's honour, it just worked out that way). It was a great party! Beach volley ball, free food (even though we didn't eat any of it), free beer, and rocking 90's music all night long (listened to "Mr.Vain" twice in one night!!!!). Matt got his money's worth slugging back a ton of beer and I had the pleasure of walking him back to the hostel and getting him to bed. He's quite the chatter when he's drunk and it was a hilarious time for me, listening to him ramble away about his ingenuity of who's hooking up with who amongst our dive class.
Tonight is at long last, our last night in Utila. We've made friends with a few of the locals and today is Danito's (our boat captain) birthday. So we're going to go find him later on to hang out for a bit and heading to his house later tonight for his party. Also tonight, we are going to watch the local soccer tournament. Everyone here is hooked on soccer and most have been playing since they were quite young. They have organized a rec soccer league and we just happened to be here during the tournament! Apparently they are phenomenal, which I don't doubt in the least, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some spectacular amateur football tonight! Matt thinks that all of his friends who play should plan to come down here and organize a game against the team here. I think that the locals would love that! Although I also think they have a huge upper hand being climatized to this god-awful humidity and anyone from away would have a hard time running around for any prolonged period of time here. I've tried, it lasts about 5 minutes.
Swimming is really the only exercise I've been able to do here, and the 17 countdown of pushups and situps, which, Jessie, I've been doing everyday! I'm actually excited to get back to Canada to start exercising regularly again! In the meantime, may as well enjoy the fact that it's too warm to move and drink and eat as many cold things as possible. Smoothies have quickly become a staple in our diets and we average at least one a day each. I don't know how they make them so tasty here but the banana smoothies are actually the tastiest treat ever. Not to mention that when you get them to go, the put it in a plastic bag, tie a not in the top and stick a straw in it. Best to-go cup ever.
Mmm. Now I want a smoothie in a bag. I think I'll be off then! Matt wants to play a game (I've been beating him a lot lately and he keeps wanting to "redeem" himself) and I want the first round of my daily smoothie!
Much love to everyone. Hope all are safe and happy!
Love Christine (and Matt)
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Scuba scuba
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE LOVELY MAMAS OUT THERE READING THIS!
And most especially to my beautiful Mama!!
Our trip across Central America is quickly turning into a trip to Utila. We love Utila. I haven't explained the amazingness of this island yet, let me begin..
When we arrived off the ferry we were both overwhelmed with how relaxed and peaceful (but still ready to party as hard as possible) everyone seemed to be. Everywhere we went people were so friendly to us and the attitude definitely has not changed in the week that we've been here. At Parrot's Dive Centre especially, the workers are so welcoming and try to make everyone feel at home. Alfredo, scuba master extraordinaire and owner of PDC, held a party at his house on Friday where it was $13 to get in and then all you could eat and drink all night. It was a pretty crazy night - he has speakers in his house that are about the size of a full couch and his house is a series of cylinders so everything is really open. I noticed that most of the people there were other travelers who were doing scuba lessons at PDC so it was a cool way to get to know everyone outside of your own class as well (the classes can become pretty cliquey pretty quick). Our class has a total of nine people in it, used to be ten but one unfortunate girl has severe asthma so was having troubles underwater on the skills sessions, and then got kidney stones and extreme traveler's diarrhea so she dropped out.. Then we have three jacked up UFC wannabe guys from Vancouver and Edmonton (but work in Fort Mac and have too much money for their own good), a slightly over-dramatic girl from Australia who seems to have a million different woes everyday but is so dramatic about them that you can't help but laugh a little, one other guy from Aus who is your typical tanned, beach hair surfer dude guy, a 30-something guy from the States who's so shy and traveling alone and seems relatively normal so we're all really curious what his back-story is, and then a scrawny little English guy named Angus, who is an absolute hoot - completely unintentionally I think. On our first open water dive (where we were actually out in the ocean and not just doing skills on a tarp in 5 metres of water) Angus, somehow, ran out of air. What's really strange is that when we got back to the surface, his regulator (the hoses that the air flows through) was working perfectly and he still had quite a bit of air left. What Mark (our instructor) thinks happened was that he started hyperventilating or something from being underwater/being too excited/etc. and just wasn't able to catch his breath properly. Either way, what a freaking scary thing to happen on your first dive! After that day we all went out for dinner together and Angus was telling us the story of his brush with death. As soon as he finished, he lit up a cigarette and ordered an espresso to calm his nerves..haha I don't know why I find him drinking and espresso and having a smoke so amusing but I think it was the whole atmosphere of that moment, plus you really have to see Angus to understand how funny it looked. He's probably in his early 20s but looks about 15 and 90lbs soaking wet.
Anyways, back to scuba classes. Matt and I are officially Open Water Divers! We finished our last session yesterday afternoon where we went down to 18 metres and explored the amazing coral reef (second largest in the world!) off the shores of Utila. There are some incredible sights under water and seeing them first hand is indescribable. You know how amazing everything on those Planet Earth ocean videos appear? It's like that, but a million times more thrilling. It feels like flying and being able to explore a whole different world while doing so. We saw many beautiful fish and different sea life and so many unbelievable colours everywhere. It seems like everything has electricity running through it to make the colours glow on everything.
Needless to say, Matt and I are both completely hooked on scuba diving. So much so that we've decided to prolong our stay here to do the Advanced Deep Water course! In fact, everyone in our class liked it so much that we're all staying to do it. Which means that we'll be here at least another week - hence, the trip across Central America has turned into a trip to Utila.
With the advanced course, which we start tomorrow, we'll be going down to 30 metres right off the bat. Then we'll be doing some more skills training (like how to use compasses and navigate underwater), we'll be doing a dive down to a shipwreck called the Halliburton, and a night dive! Not to mention two free dives and another free dive that Alfredo through in for us last night which I'm most excited about: a night dive to the Halliburton! At night, and in the deeper waters is when all the big cool species come out like octopus and eels. Also at 30 metres is when divers can start experiencing something called nitrogen narcosis. Apparently, nitrogen narcosis is a lot of fun. It gives you a euphoric feeling and you usually end up just giggling or smiling uncontrollably. But it can have other effects, Mark told us a story about one guy who took out his mouth piece and was chasing fish around with it. When they were talking about it later out of the water, the guy said it was because he thought the fish needed air to breath! Although it can make you do stupid stuff at times, there will still be five supervisors down there with us to make sure we stay safe, and one of the many other reasons that you always dive with a buddy!
Besides the diving, we have been thoroughly living it up in Utila so I figure this is a good part to add in Vanessa's post that she couldn't figure out how to post...
"yo! wheres all the stuff you don't want your mom to find out about? or are you really going to bed at 7:30pm each night? hows the music scene? whats the local drink equvilent to the sour toe?whats the big no-nos for you gringos? hows the food? anything worth mentioning? what about bugs and animals? which ones should you not lick? hummmm, i'm already looking forward to your next report...lotsa love, nessa "
Well Ness, obviously I can't tell you about the stuff that I don't want Mama to know about because she's an avid reader! But basically no, we are definitely not going to bed at 7:30 everynight. The night scene here is pretty crazy since the majority of the people here are 20 something to 30 something year old travelers. There's a bar called Tree Tantic that we're going to tonight that has been rated the 3rd best bar in the world. We haven't been there yet but it looks CRAZY! It's been described to me as an acid trip without the acid. It's also the home of a restaurant and hotel called the Jade Seahorse which was one of the first places I looked into when planning this trip and one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Utila - check it out!
------> http://www.jadeseahorse.com/modules/photo_gallery/category/JadeSeahorse The music here is pretty much just ipods playing lots of chill Caribbean style music but they play it LOUD and all day long. I haven't really found a local drink besides infused rums, everywhere. There's a little cafe that we like a lot that has jalapeno infused rum, which I have yet to try, but I'm interested in giving it a shot (haha!). The food is pretty good so long as you don't try to order anything too fancy. Everyone here is pro tortilla makers which are always delicious and I have yet to find a veggie fajita that I don't like. Also, the fish here is absolutely to die for. If any of you know me well, you'll know that up until this year, I wouldn't even touch fish. Now it's pretty much a staple food in my diet. I've been eating fresh fish (and I mean caught hours before eating it) nearly everyday. The tuna is like butter and steak mixed and I don't know how they're able to make up such incredible spice combinations but they're all so good.
Bug and animal report: lots of sandflies. You should see my body, my left arm especially. It looks like I have a disease my arm is so covered in bumps. And they're so itchy. It's so hard to not scratch them but I've been dousing myself in bugspray and anti itch cream (thanks Sally!) for days now so they're finally starting to go down a little. Other than the sand flies, lots of little beetles and bugs. Yesterday I bought a bag a pasta to make lunch. I had just finished making it and was cleaning up the bag when I noticed a bunch of tiny beetle looking things scurrying around in the grocery bag. I just thought that they had crawled in from somewhere in the kitchen. I noticed there were some in the pasta bag so I dumped out the pasta into a bowl to try and pick them out but when I emptied the bag, about 100 of these tiny things came pouring out with it. So disgusting. I looked in the pot of pasta, still sitting in water on the stove, and saw that a ton of them were in the water, boiled to death (little f**kers). It then dawned on me that the bag of pasta itself was infested and now I'm a little weary on eating pasta. As for animals not to touch, everything in the ocean is off limits unless our instructor says we can touch it (because it could be poisonous or bite or whatever) and otherwise there aren't really any animals on the island. Just lots of cats and dogs and I know to stay away from them lest I have another brush with rabies.
All in all this trip is amazing thus far and we're dreading having to get back on the ferry and withstand more 6 plus hour bus rides. But the time will come soon. In the meantime I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the time we have in Utila! I'm off to our hostel now to work on my homework (yeah our courses come with paperwork) and jump of the dock in front of our room! Jumping into the ocean is about the only relief to get from the humidity, plus, it gives you fantastic beach hair and is good for burns! I love that salt water.
Also, it's time for me to call my Ma and sister. Much love to everyone and especially to Mums!
Love Christine (and Matt)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Sitting on a dock of the bay
Well I'd like to first say VERY HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY'S TO LAINA AND HALEY!!
So, let's go back a couple of days to Copan. So as you know, we've made it to Honduras. Copan was very beautiful. When we arrived (after the 7 hour van ride) it was pretty late in the evening and for whatever reason most of the hostels in town were booked up. I say for whatever reason because the busy season had passed with Semana Santa.. but apparently not so much. So we ended up treating ourselves to a hotel. It was beautiful with free breakfasts and all the drinks you wanted throughout the day - which, when it's 40 degrees and you're constantly sweating and needing to refuel, is extremely valuable for money-pinchers.
So we stayed here two days, just long enough to have a look around the ruins and see a bit of the town. The ruins are only about 1 km outside of town so we woke up early and walked over there on our first morning. The ruins were pretty impressive. The carving and structure that the Mayans were able to construct some 3000 years ago are incredible! We walked around for quite awhile, were harassed by countless guides wanting to give us a walking/horseback riding tour all for "the best precio for you senorita" but we'd just spent $37 to get into the damn place and didn't feel like spending another $25. The ruins are pretty extensive and it took us a good 2 hours to walk around the whole area. By the time we'd finished we were both extremely sweaty and our water bottles were running low so we walked back to town. It is just so humid and hot in Honduras that it's difficult to do much else than sit and stew in your own warmth, so when we got back into town that's pretty much what we did. We found a pizza joint (Matt's obsessed) which had probably some of the best pizza I've ever eaten and after that we were too full and hot to move. Back at our hostel there was a cat that just had three kittens who were about three weeks old. Playing with them quickly became one of our favourite past times at the hostel. Oh which leads to my "scare" with rabies!
We were coercing the kittens out of their home in the bamboo patch when a hideous grey bug that looked like a miniature crab crossed with lizard landed on Matt. I tried swatting it off of him but it landed on his knee and we both jump and did the standard freak-out jumpy dance thing. Well in this nonsense, I jumped up and stepped on Mama Cat's tail which rightfully earned me a claw to my heel. It was really only a scratch with the smallest amount of blood but Matt immediately started stressing out about stray cats having rabies and how I was going to die if we didn't get treatment right away and whatnot. I thought it was a bit of an over-reaction but he was so concerned that I started to get worried as well. We asked the owner of the hotel (a kind of strange, 50 something New Yorker) who said he wouldn't worry about it and that the cat has been living there for about three years now with no sign of rabies (not to mention she birthed three healthy looking kittens 3 weeks earlier), but that did not prevent Matt from having us go and do some internet research. So off we went to the internet cafe. I wrote on the blog (the last entry) and Matt looked into rabies. Well we both learned something that day: rabies is a saliva born disease! And since I was definitely not bit, had washed the wound and already put antibiotic ointment on it, the whole rabies scare was put to rest. But it was, if nothing else, a funny story and a learning experience.
Copan was lovely but besides seeing the ruins, there wasn't much more that we were wanting to do so we took off on the morning of day two for the Bay Islands. Which is where we are now!
The ferry ride to Utila (pronounced U-tee-la) was amazing! Not amazing in the sense of being beautiful (although the ocean, I find, is always quite beautiful), but more in the sense of amazingly rough/hilarious/bumpy/not what I expected at all. We hopped onto the little Utila Princess II at about 4pm. A smaller ferry with only one open cabin with row seating and high windows, and then an outdoor area with one bench to sit on right in front of the motors. The outdoor seating filled up before we could get a spot (it only fit about five people) so we, wanting to be outside, took up seats just on the floor and on some cargo boxes. Well the moment the boat took off we were both completely taken by surprise. It shot off and knocked both of us off our feet. As we tried to regain our composure we knocked around by the ocean waves, already pounding against the side of the boat. We stayed outside for about 10 minutes or so but the shrill squealing of the engine drove us inside. Inside was a whole different story. While outside, the boat was obviously rocky but being able to see the ocean and the waves I guess is somewhat of a stabilizer. Once inside we noticed just how much the boat was being tossed about. Each wave seemed as though it could've easily engulfed us, we were tossing and rocking every which way and soon learned why this particular boat was nicknamed the "Vomit Comet". There were actually people all around us throwing up into the bags that the crew passes out at the dock. Thankfully Matt and I both had no problem with the rocking boat but the smell and sound of people puking lead us back outside pretty quickly, although about 15 minutes from shore, a lady sitting on the outdoor bench threw up all over the floor anyway.. there was really no escaping the puke.
On the ferry we met a couple from Utila, the girl (Yuyu) works for a diving company called Parrots and her boyfriend (Danny) is a native of the island and one of the boat captains for Parrot's diving. Yuyu ended up offering us a free night accommodation and offered us a guide around the Parrot's diving school. It didn't take much to have us signed on to their open water program. I know it's recommended to look around at the different schools and shop around for the best deals and teachers but there are just so many and they all bombard you right as you come off the ferry so we kind of just went with the first people we met.
As it turns out, Parrot's diving is quite wonderful, but on to that in a moment! Parrot's hotel was in a complete dive (haha pun intended?) and we've since moved to a nicer place where it's only $17 per night for a beautiful beach front room, hot showers (not that we need them) and fresh linens. The diving is fantastic! We started our open water 2 days ago with an orientation with our instructor, named Mark from England - he's been diving for nearly 10 years - and the rest of our class. There is a total of 10 people in the classroom work but we were split into two groups to do the water training. Yesterday was both mine and Matt's first time ever breathing underwater! It's an incredible feeling. Mark's a great teacher, he's really patient and outgoing - so much so that he almost seems fake at times but I think that's just his attitude. Either way, I feel completely safe in his care underwater. Our first scuba diving experiences were in one metre and 3 metres of water for a total of about two hours learning basic skills and underwater signals. The first 10 minutes or so that I was under, I think I was a little nervous because I was having difficulty catching my breath and could only think about coming back up to the surface to take a deep inhale of fresh air. It's really a matter of mind power though and I was able to calm myself down, catch my breath, and enjoy the experience. I'm now a pro a clearing my mask of water below the surface. I didn't even realize that was possible and was always so curious how scuba divers either 1) managed to not get any water in their masks while diving or 2) weren't bothered by water in their mask while diving, because it inevitably seems to happen! Well, turns out its a pretty easy trick of taking a deep breath in and facing your head down then breathing out through your nose while pushing the top of your mask slightly up and off your face while lifting your head back. I was most impressed with how easy and effective this is. We also learned how to breath through the regulator with only half of it in your mouth and the other half shooting bubbles and air out, what it feels like to be low on air and out of air underwater (and the appropriate signals for each), and then how to ask your buddy to share air, and about 20 other basic skills for our future diving careers! Matt caught on to everything really quickly and was doing everything right on his first try. He got lots of underwater fist pounds and hand clapping. The two dive mater instructors and dive masters in training that were with us underwater were all very encouraging and patient with us, it makes all the difference to feeling safe and secure underwater.
Today we only have a classroom session while the other group gets to do their first day in the water and then tomorrow we get to go out into a bit deeper water to learn a few more skills before our first reef dive! In total we'll have 4 dives with the program and two free dives after completion. I am hooked to say the least and so excited for the reef dives!
I still have so much more that I could write about the beautiful Caribbean weather, Matt's insane whole-back sunburn, the crabs that are literally everywhere on the streets at night (one scittered over Matt's foot at dinner the other day and he SHOT up screaming "a crab bit me!"), and the overall amazement of everything on this little tropical island but I'd say that's about enough for one sitting. I'll try to get back on here more frequently now that we're in one place for awhile so that I don't end up writing anymore novels like this. Also I'll try and figure out how to put up pictures, haven't found a place to upload them to comps yet.
Miss everyone very much and will be telling more stories soon!
Much love, Christine (and Matt)
So, let's go back a couple of days to Copan. So as you know, we've made it to Honduras. Copan was very beautiful. When we arrived (after the 7 hour van ride) it was pretty late in the evening and for whatever reason most of the hostels in town were booked up. I say for whatever reason because the busy season had passed with Semana Santa.. but apparently not so much. So we ended up treating ourselves to a hotel. It was beautiful with free breakfasts and all the drinks you wanted throughout the day - which, when it's 40 degrees and you're constantly sweating and needing to refuel, is extremely valuable for money-pinchers.
So we stayed here two days, just long enough to have a look around the ruins and see a bit of the town. The ruins are only about 1 km outside of town so we woke up early and walked over there on our first morning. The ruins were pretty impressive. The carving and structure that the Mayans were able to construct some 3000 years ago are incredible! We walked around for quite awhile, were harassed by countless guides wanting to give us a walking/horseback riding tour all for "the best precio for you senorita" but we'd just spent $37 to get into the damn place and didn't feel like spending another $25. The ruins are pretty extensive and it took us a good 2 hours to walk around the whole area. By the time we'd finished we were both extremely sweaty and our water bottles were running low so we walked back to town. It is just so humid and hot in Honduras that it's difficult to do much else than sit and stew in your own warmth, so when we got back into town that's pretty much what we did. We found a pizza joint (Matt's obsessed) which had probably some of the best pizza I've ever eaten and after that we were too full and hot to move. Back at our hostel there was a cat that just had three kittens who were about three weeks old. Playing with them quickly became one of our favourite past times at the hostel. Oh which leads to my "scare" with rabies!
We were coercing the kittens out of their home in the bamboo patch when a hideous grey bug that looked like a miniature crab crossed with lizard landed on Matt. I tried swatting it off of him but it landed on his knee and we both jump and did the standard freak-out jumpy dance thing. Well in this nonsense, I jumped up and stepped on Mama Cat's tail which rightfully earned me a claw to my heel. It was really only a scratch with the smallest amount of blood but Matt immediately started stressing out about stray cats having rabies and how I was going to die if we didn't get treatment right away and whatnot. I thought it was a bit of an over-reaction but he was so concerned that I started to get worried as well. We asked the owner of the hotel (a kind of strange, 50 something New Yorker) who said he wouldn't worry about it and that the cat has been living there for about three years now with no sign of rabies (not to mention she birthed three healthy looking kittens 3 weeks earlier), but that did not prevent Matt from having us go and do some internet research. So off we went to the internet cafe. I wrote on the blog (the last entry) and Matt looked into rabies. Well we both learned something that day: rabies is a saliva born disease! And since I was definitely not bit, had washed the wound and already put antibiotic ointment on it, the whole rabies scare was put to rest. But it was, if nothing else, a funny story and a learning experience.
Copan was lovely but besides seeing the ruins, there wasn't much more that we were wanting to do so we took off on the morning of day two for the Bay Islands. Which is where we are now!
The ferry ride to Utila (pronounced U-tee-la) was amazing! Not amazing in the sense of being beautiful (although the ocean, I find, is always quite beautiful), but more in the sense of amazingly rough/hilarious/bumpy/not what I expected at all. We hopped onto the little Utila Princess II at about 4pm. A smaller ferry with only one open cabin with row seating and high windows, and then an outdoor area with one bench to sit on right in front of the motors. The outdoor seating filled up before we could get a spot (it only fit about five people) so we, wanting to be outside, took up seats just on the floor and on some cargo boxes. Well the moment the boat took off we were both completely taken by surprise. It shot off and knocked both of us off our feet. As we tried to regain our composure we knocked around by the ocean waves, already pounding against the side of the boat. We stayed outside for about 10 minutes or so but the shrill squealing of the engine drove us inside. Inside was a whole different story. While outside, the boat was obviously rocky but being able to see the ocean and the waves I guess is somewhat of a stabilizer. Once inside we noticed just how much the boat was being tossed about. Each wave seemed as though it could've easily engulfed us, we were tossing and rocking every which way and soon learned why this particular boat was nicknamed the "Vomit Comet". There were actually people all around us throwing up into the bags that the crew passes out at the dock. Thankfully Matt and I both had no problem with the rocking boat but the smell and sound of people puking lead us back outside pretty quickly, although about 15 minutes from shore, a lady sitting on the outdoor bench threw up all over the floor anyway.. there was really no escaping the puke.
On the ferry we met a couple from Utila, the girl (Yuyu) works for a diving company called Parrots and her boyfriend (Danny) is a native of the island and one of the boat captains for Parrot's diving. Yuyu ended up offering us a free night accommodation and offered us a guide around the Parrot's diving school. It didn't take much to have us signed on to their open water program. I know it's recommended to look around at the different schools and shop around for the best deals and teachers but there are just so many and they all bombard you right as you come off the ferry so we kind of just went with the first people we met.
As it turns out, Parrot's diving is quite wonderful, but on to that in a moment! Parrot's hotel was in a complete dive (haha pun intended?) and we've since moved to a nicer place where it's only $17 per night for a beautiful beach front room, hot showers (not that we need them) and fresh linens. The diving is fantastic! We started our open water 2 days ago with an orientation with our instructor, named Mark from England - he's been diving for nearly 10 years - and the rest of our class. There is a total of 10 people in the classroom work but we were split into two groups to do the water training. Yesterday was both mine and Matt's first time ever breathing underwater! It's an incredible feeling. Mark's a great teacher, he's really patient and outgoing - so much so that he almost seems fake at times but I think that's just his attitude. Either way, I feel completely safe in his care underwater. Our first scuba diving experiences were in one metre and 3 metres of water for a total of about two hours learning basic skills and underwater signals. The first 10 minutes or so that I was under, I think I was a little nervous because I was having difficulty catching my breath and could only think about coming back up to the surface to take a deep inhale of fresh air. It's really a matter of mind power though and I was able to calm myself down, catch my breath, and enjoy the experience. I'm now a pro a clearing my mask of water below the surface. I didn't even realize that was possible and was always so curious how scuba divers either 1) managed to not get any water in their masks while diving or 2) weren't bothered by water in their mask while diving, because it inevitably seems to happen! Well, turns out its a pretty easy trick of taking a deep breath in and facing your head down then breathing out through your nose while pushing the top of your mask slightly up and off your face while lifting your head back. I was most impressed with how easy and effective this is. We also learned how to breath through the regulator with only half of it in your mouth and the other half shooting bubbles and air out, what it feels like to be low on air and out of air underwater (and the appropriate signals for each), and then how to ask your buddy to share air, and about 20 other basic skills for our future diving careers! Matt caught on to everything really quickly and was doing everything right on his first try. He got lots of underwater fist pounds and hand clapping. The two dive mater instructors and dive masters in training that were with us underwater were all very encouraging and patient with us, it makes all the difference to feeling safe and secure underwater.
Today we only have a classroom session while the other group gets to do their first day in the water and then tomorrow we get to go out into a bit deeper water to learn a few more skills before our first reef dive! In total we'll have 4 dives with the program and two free dives after completion. I am hooked to say the least and so excited for the reef dives!
I still have so much more that I could write about the beautiful Caribbean weather, Matt's insane whole-back sunburn, the crabs that are literally everywhere on the streets at night (one scittered over Matt's foot at dinner the other day and he SHOT up screaming "a crab bit me!"), and the overall amazement of everything on this little tropical island but I'd say that's about enough for one sitting. I'll try to get back on here more frequently now that we're in one place for awhile so that I don't end up writing anymore novels like this. Also I'll try and figure out how to put up pictures, haven't found a place to upload them to comps yet.
Miss everyone very much and will be telling more stories soon!
Much love, Christine (and Matt)
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Well, were to begin? It´s been awhile! Trying to get onto internet can be difficult sometimes...
Let me begin with a few days ago. We left Antigua (at last) to head to San Marcos which is on the beautiful Lake Atitlan. It´s a good thing this lake is so amazing because the ride there is absolutely nausiating. Imagine an eight passenger van that has been reconfigured so it no sits 16 (including the driver), that has no air conditioning and no seat belts, careening and lurching along dirt and cobble-stone roads at an alarmingly uncomfortable speed. Add to this a 40km climb with about 150 degree turns every few hundred feet and then another 40km drop with the same sharp angles. I´ve never had motion sickness in my life til that day. All in all it was about 100km to get there but took nearly 3 and a half hours. If I wasn´t feeling so sweaty and nausiated, I may have been able to enjoy the beautiful scenic countryside of Guatemala. Once we arrived in San Marcos, I looked up back towards the mountain we´d just scaled in our overcrowded passenger van and found it astonishing that somewhere in the lush canopy of Guatemalan jungle, there´s a winding road that people drive on regularly!
We stayed in San Marcos only two nights, which were quite pleasant. The town is kind of hilarious, it´s filled with a bunch of middle-aged hippies soul searching through yoga and meditation.. The lake is massive and the water is warm by my Yukon-blood standards. All around the lake there is a walking path (of sorts) and we found a platform area at one point that had a 40 foot drop down to the water, so naturally, we spent one afternoon jumping into the lake and sunbathing and reading on the platform. Ande, you will be pleased to know that I´m now halfway through H.Potter # 2!
After leaving San Marcos we went back up to Antigua for a last night in Guatemala. We didn´t spend nearly enough time in the beautiful country and we´re already planning our trip back to visit the more remote areas.
Yesterday we spent a disgusting 7 hours passenger vanning our way to Copan, Honduras. Luckily, this van had only 6 of us in it so it was quite spacious, and, thank the Lord, was airconditioned! The air becomes unbelievebly more muggy and humid in Honduras. The temperature here today is 40 degrees, and it definitely feels it!
Ok, so I´ve just got my 5 minute warning on the computer and I don´t want to get kicked off without saving this. So I guess I´ll sign off and hopefully return soon with stories about the Copan Ruins we went to this morning!
Cheers.
Let me begin with a few days ago. We left Antigua (at last) to head to San Marcos which is on the beautiful Lake Atitlan. It´s a good thing this lake is so amazing because the ride there is absolutely nausiating. Imagine an eight passenger van that has been reconfigured so it no sits 16 (including the driver), that has no air conditioning and no seat belts, careening and lurching along dirt and cobble-stone roads at an alarmingly uncomfortable speed. Add to this a 40km climb with about 150 degree turns every few hundred feet and then another 40km drop with the same sharp angles. I´ve never had motion sickness in my life til that day. All in all it was about 100km to get there but took nearly 3 and a half hours. If I wasn´t feeling so sweaty and nausiated, I may have been able to enjoy the beautiful scenic countryside of Guatemala. Once we arrived in San Marcos, I looked up back towards the mountain we´d just scaled in our overcrowded passenger van and found it astonishing that somewhere in the lush canopy of Guatemalan jungle, there´s a winding road that people drive on regularly!
We stayed in San Marcos only two nights, which were quite pleasant. The town is kind of hilarious, it´s filled with a bunch of middle-aged hippies soul searching through yoga and meditation.. The lake is massive and the water is warm by my Yukon-blood standards. All around the lake there is a walking path (of sorts) and we found a platform area at one point that had a 40 foot drop down to the water, so naturally, we spent one afternoon jumping into the lake and sunbathing and reading on the platform. Ande, you will be pleased to know that I´m now halfway through H.Potter # 2!
After leaving San Marcos we went back up to Antigua for a last night in Guatemala. We didn´t spend nearly enough time in the beautiful country and we´re already planning our trip back to visit the more remote areas.
Yesterday we spent a disgusting 7 hours passenger vanning our way to Copan, Honduras. Luckily, this van had only 6 of us in it so it was quite spacious, and, thank the Lord, was airconditioned! The air becomes unbelievebly more muggy and humid in Honduras. The temperature here today is 40 degrees, and it definitely feels it!
Ok, so I´ve just got my 5 minute warning on the computer and I don´t want to get kicked off without saving this. So I guess I´ll sign off and hopefully return soon with stories about the Copan Ruins we went to this morning!
Cheers.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sneaky buggers
So as I was taking out money at the armed guarded ATM machine today (the same one we`ve been using since we arrived in Antigua), when a very distraught lady informed both Matt and I that these particular ATMs record card information and use it to steal money from people´s accounts. Super. So I´ve just spent the last hour on an extremely bad skype connection talking to five different customer service representative with CIBC and VISA, organizing the shippment of an emergency VISA and putting up blocks on my account. Luckily I took out a ridiculous amount of cash on my last withdrawl and I should be alright until the new one arrives.. hopefully it all works out, otherwise I´m depending on Matt for money?
Matt spoke with his VISA company through Scotia Bank and they told him that it´s not possible for ATM companies to do that, but I`ve read a ton of stories of this exact situation happening to people where they end up being robbed of thousands of dollars. Matt´s going to risk it; I´m not taking any chances - I´m already poor, I don´t need someone ripping off the rest of my money!
That`s been my adventure of the day thus far, it`s only noon, so I´m going to head out and see what other kind of mischief we can get ourselves into.
Much love! Christine (and Matt)
Matt spoke with his VISA company through Scotia Bank and they told him that it´s not possible for ATM companies to do that, but I`ve read a ton of stories of this exact situation happening to people where they end up being robbed of thousands of dollars. Matt´s going to risk it; I´m not taking any chances - I´m already poor, I don´t need someone ripping off the rest of my money!
That`s been my adventure of the day thus far, it`s only noon, so I´m going to head out and see what other kind of mischief we can get ourselves into.
Much love! Christine (and Matt)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Day 5 of 35
Well, as promised, I´m attempting a blog! And, as per Haley´s request, I´ll try not to make it boring.
So as most know, we´re currently in Guatemala - Antigua to be precise. It´s quite beautiful here but not a lot to do so we´re heading out tomorrow. To get around, all the locals use the chicken buses, which are the cheapest (about $1.50) but also craziest way to travel. They´re called so because they are sketch as can be and they´re a little unnerving to be driving around in (and I guess you´re a chicken if you can´t stand it?). There are many different rules that apparently should be followed on these buses but they sometimes contradict each other so I´m not sure which to follow. We were told to sit at the front of the bus because the middle and back become so crowded that you´re more likely to have your things pick-pocketed if you get squished back there. But then yesterday we were told that if a bus is hijacked by bandits (which I guess is kind of common) then every now and then they will shoot the person in the front row to show that they´re serious.. So I think the frontish middle is the way to go for us. We were also told not to put our bags up top because that´s also just a way of offering your things to be stolen - fair enough - I don´t mind squishing my bag in front of me, I´m relatively small so I don´t mind, but Matt literally has no leg room whatsoever. And besides having our bags in front of us, it´s common to sit three to a seat. Now you have to understand that these buses are just old school buses so there is really not much room, yet somehow they manage to crowd some 50 or so people onto them. There are literally people in every nook and crany of the bus. And everyone seems to have a baby or small child which the parents don´t hesitate to pass off to some stranger to hold if they have to stand. All the children are so adorable and I´m sercretly waiting for someone to pass me their baby so I can oggle over it. I´ll just have to sit patiently and not look like a crazy gringo lady and maybe they´ll trust me. We´ll see what happens tomorrow- Matt and I are going to take off to Lake Atitlan which is only about 40 kms away but I think it´s going to be slow moving on the bus..lots of stops and I´m pretty sure they top out at 90kms per hour.
I´ll try my best to keep up the blog! And perhaps have more stories by the next time I´m ready to write! Miss everyone!
Love Christine (and Matt too)
So as most know, we´re currently in Guatemala - Antigua to be precise. It´s quite beautiful here but not a lot to do so we´re heading out tomorrow. To get around, all the locals use the chicken buses, which are the cheapest (about $1.50) but also craziest way to travel. They´re called so because they are sketch as can be and they´re a little unnerving to be driving around in (and I guess you´re a chicken if you can´t stand it?). There are many different rules that apparently should be followed on these buses but they sometimes contradict each other so I´m not sure which to follow. We were told to sit at the front of the bus because the middle and back become so crowded that you´re more likely to have your things pick-pocketed if you get squished back there. But then yesterday we were told that if a bus is hijacked by bandits (which I guess is kind of common) then every now and then they will shoot the person in the front row to show that they´re serious.. So I think the frontish middle is the way to go for us. We were also told not to put our bags up top because that´s also just a way of offering your things to be stolen - fair enough - I don´t mind squishing my bag in front of me, I´m relatively small so I don´t mind, but Matt literally has no leg room whatsoever. And besides having our bags in front of us, it´s common to sit three to a seat. Now you have to understand that these buses are just old school buses so there is really not much room, yet somehow they manage to crowd some 50 or so people onto them. There are literally people in every nook and crany of the bus. And everyone seems to have a baby or small child which the parents don´t hesitate to pass off to some stranger to hold if they have to stand. All the children are so adorable and I´m sercretly waiting for someone to pass me their baby so I can oggle over it. I´ll just have to sit patiently and not look like a crazy gringo lady and maybe they´ll trust me. We´ll see what happens tomorrow- Matt and I are going to take off to Lake Atitlan which is only about 40 kms away but I think it´s going to be slow moving on the bus..lots of stops and I´m pretty sure they top out at 90kms per hour.
I´ll try my best to keep up the blog! And perhaps have more stories by the next time I´m ready to write! Miss everyone!
Love Christine (and Matt too)
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