Alison's Visit

On Monday, May 12th, one of my best friends, Alison came to visit me for about 6 days. We've known each other since Kindergarten, and went to the same school up until high school. Since then, we've been living in completely different areas, states, and even countries, so it was really nice that she was able to find time to visit so we could catch up and spend some time together. She has been living and going to law school in Iowa for 3 years, and was just leaving extremely cold weather right before she came to Honduras. Our plan was to go to Utila, one of the 3 Bay Islands, and go to Pico Bonito to do rafting and the canopy tour. I'll break up this blog into each day that she was here:


MONDAY, MAY 12:

I picked her up from the airport at 12 noon in a taxi, and from there we headed back to Tela. We went to the beach in town, and walked around, laying on the beach, and enjoying all the food you've heard me go on and on about before like beleadas, pupusas, and liquados. After dinner at Paseo Junior's, we headed back home to start packing up for our trip to Utila.

TUESDAY, MAY 13:

We woke up early at 6:00 am to eat breakfast and get ready. We had to take a bus to La Ceiba (about 1 1/2 hrs away), where we were catching a 9:30 am ferry to Utila. I was a little weary about the hour ferry ride to the island, the boat was not very big, and like I mentioned before, my motion sickness has been acting up since living here, so both Ali and I opted to take Dramamine to help us get through the trip. Although the ride was bumpy, we sat outside to get fresh air, and luckily didn't neither of us got sick. We took the picture below right before the ferry took off.
Unfortunately, we sat nest to a loud group of travelers, who talked the entire trip. I tried my best to block them out, just trying to focus on the water ahead, but poor Ali was pushed up right against them and had to hear their entire life stories the whole way there. I offered her my ipod to help drown them out, but of course only one earphone was working, so that plan didn't go a planned.

An hour later, around 10:30, we arrived in Utila. Utila is a greatly smaller island in comparison to Roatan (where I went with Aaron), and has a more younger "backpacker" atmosphere, as opposed to Roatan that tends to cater to travelers who aren't so much on a budget. As soon as we got off the ferry we were approached by many dive instructors from various companies handing out flyer's, all trying to get people's attention to sigh up for their dive courses. The Bay Islands (Roatan, Utila, and Guanaja) is known to be one of the most popular, top-rated, and cheapest places in the world to become a certified scuba diver. Sara and I are actually thinking of spending our last week in Honduras in Utila, getting certified in scuba diving, which takes about 4 days.

However, on this shorter visit with Ali, our plan was to stay for a few days, just to check out the beach and island. We walked around the main street of town trying to find a hotel to stay in. It was a little tougher for us to find a place, like I mentioned before this is an extremely popular place to dive, so many hotels reserve cheaper rooms only for students who are also taking dive classes. We were both pleased to see what a small, laid back, friendly atmosphere we were in, but eventually that happy feeling faded a bit, after what seemed like hours walking around in the hot sun, carrying our bags, trying to find a place to stay. We found out fast that many "businesses" on the island, such as hotels, inns, stores, and restaurants have random signs placed on the street, but as soon as we walked up past the signs, we pretty felt like we were trespassing into someones private property. Often times, we had to slowly walk into the yard or house while calling out for someone to help us. Another thing that added to this "fun" moment of the trip was that island and the main street was so small that we were running into the same people over and over again while walking up and down the street like 2 lost puppies. We even had a dive instructor come up to us, after the 4th time passing him, if we needed help, obviously we did!

We were so tired that we decided to stop to rest and eat, before continuing on our hunt. We stopped at a cute restaurant called Munchies. Its on the 1st floor of an old, restored island home built back in 1864. Unfortunately the food and service took forever, but the food was pretty good.

Finally, soon after lunch, we found a cute hotel called the "Hotel Bavaria." Once again, we had to walk up to the porch of the house, and call out to the owner, through her screen door while her kids were sitting on the couch eating lunch and watching TV. The hotel was perfect, and luckily we found it just when we were about to loose hope! It was a small hotel on the 2nd floor of a huge house (where the owner lived with her family), with six double rooms (all with a private bathroom). All the rooms had fans, and opened up to a large, breezy balcony that wrapped around the 2nd floor of the house. It had everything we needed, was clean, and it only cost $8 a night for each of us.

After getting our things settled, we got dressed for the beach and decided to visit Bando Beach. This beach is actually a man made beach, weird! The beach was pretty nice, had white sand, and was lined with many beach chairs and palapas (small thatched-roof huts).The water was very warm, but not as clear and bright blue as a typical Carribean beach. The weather was really nice, and we laid out for a while, and I actually dozed off for a while. When I woke up, I found Ali walking along the water, apparently she was getting attacked by bugs and couldn't lay in the sand any longer. This was the very first time I've been with anyone who has gotten bit more than me! Sympathizing with her pain, we decided to head back to our hotel to take showers and get ready for dinner before the bugs had a chance to suck up any more of her blood.

After getting cleaned up, we headed out for dinner. We went to a nice hotel right down the street called Mango Inn that had a restaurant called La Dolce Vita Pizzeria. I had read about it in my travel book, boasting that they had the greatest brick oven pizza, so we had to try it! We were starving so much, that we each decided to order our own pizza.....BIG mistake! We quickly realized how much our eyes were bigger than our stomachs as soon as they brought our food out! We each were only able to finish half our pizza, of course the smart thing would've been to share one pizza, but we decided just to wrap it up and take it back to our room to eat later for a yummy midnight snack.After stuffing our faces, we headed back to our hotel, to relax a bit, before going back out to walk around town and get a few drinks. While at the hotel, Ali decided to eat another slice of pizza while she waited for me to get ready. Soon after, I heard a loud yell.....seconds before she was about to take anther bite, she just happened to look down to find a large, dead fly in her pizza, wings and all!! Not one that had looked like it had just landed in the pizza, but one that looked like it had actually been cooked with the pizza, hidden under a tomato. Ewwwww!!! We were both nauseous trying to block out the fact that we quite possibly could have already eaten many other dead bugs while eating at the restaurant. Needless to say, we immediately threw out the pizza!

Later that night we ended up at a bar/restaurant called Bundu Cafe. It was pretty crowded, filled with many young backpackers. We sat down at a table on the porch and enjoyed beers and a "flaming brownie sundae".........yeah right....sadly, they brought it out with no flames, which defeated our whole purpose for ordering it, and it wasn't even that big of a desert!! Boo hoo!

After that we went to the famous Treetanic Bar. It's a bar located in the Jade Seahorse (I'll write more about that later). It gets it's name from the fact that it is literally a bar built in a large mango tree, decorated to look like a ship. It was a nice, interesting place, very crowded, but eventually we were able to find a place to sit down and catch up on things while sipping on some yummy drinks. After that, we walked up the street to our hotel to pass out for the night.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14:

We had planned to take a day trip to one of the many cays (pronounces "keys") off the coast of Utila, called Water Cay. It's a tiny, 3-acre uninhabited island, lined with white sand, palm trees, and blue water. It's very easy to hire a boat to take you there in the morning, and arrange it to pick you up that same afternoon. However, after Ali's experience with the brutal bugs yesterday at the beach for only a few hours, we both decided that spending an entire day on a deserted island might not be the best thing. So, instead we decided to head back to La Ceiba on the 2:30 ferry, a day earlier than planned, so we could get an extra day at the Jungle River Lodge in Pico Bonito.

Since we had some time to spare on the island before the ferry left, we ate breakfast at a restaurant called Zanzibar. Again we ran into the same group of people we had already run into about 5 times the day before (inevitable on such a tiny island), sat next to them, and ordered a huge breakfast.

After breakfast we decided to walk around and see some sights in town. We walked to a small "gallery" called "Gunter's Driftwood Gallery." An artist/diver, named Gunter Kordorvsky, creates art in this gallery using materials he's found in the ocean and on the beach. I use that word gallery in quotes because again, it was of course another private home we felt like we were trespassing into. We only actually continued walking up the road to the house because we ran into a local who said we were going in the right direction.

We walked up to the large, wooden two-story house, passing though clothes hanging on clotheslines and various other clutter like wood scraps, and a lot of random junk and knickknacks scattered throughout the floors and shelves in the entrance. The door was open and after slowly stepping into the house and calling out, two young girls emerged. I wasn't sure if they were the daughters of the artist, but after looking up I realized that the front room was this "gallery" that my guidebook had explained. While walking around the room we saw that the artist actually did all his work in that same room, there was a desk with all his materials spread out across the top. The place and the art was interesting but was not at all what I had expected. He had many pieces carved from wood, and many pieces containing sea shells, shark teeth, sand, and other remnants from the sea.

After our trip to the gallery, we decided to return to the Jade Seahorse (where we had been the night before), so we could see the crazy garden and Treetanic Bar that we had heard so much about, in the daylight. The Jade Seahorse is a hotel, restaurant, bar, and gift shop, and garden. A former art professor from San Francisco, moved here and has created a fun and eccentric fantasy wonderland. Looking through the colorful front gate, you would never imagine all that is hiding behind it! There is so much to look at all the explanations and pictures couldn't capture this very unique place. The entire place is decorated with mosaic tiles, broken glass bottles, porcelain figurines, mirrors, plates, paint of all different colors, and just about everything else you can think of! If you are not a customer at the hotel, restaurant, bar, or store you have to pay 20 lempira ($1) to even get inside and walk through the garden. The $1 is well worth it to be able to walk through this giant art exhibit.There are about 5 or 6 small cabins, called the "Nightland Cabins," which are scattered within the large, winding garden. Each of these cabins is unique in its own way, each having a special name and theme, such as " Mona Lisa" and "Dalai Lama."The garden had many different paths and stairs leading to different gazebos, sitting areas, and even to the Treetanic bar, built high up in a large mango tree (the bar Ali and I had gone the night before).

After visiting the Jade Seahorse, we decided to walk to the large Iguana Research and Breeding Station. We had heard a lot about it, so we decided to try to get a look at these endangered animals before having to get on the ferry at 2:30. Notice I say try because after walking around the island again for what seemed like forever in the heat, we followed the many signs failing to notice that on a few of them, they said in tiny print at the bottom the hours: 2-5pm!!!! So, even if we made it there, we couldn't see anything because we would miss our ferry if we waited for it to open! Sadly, Ali and I didn't notice the hours printed on the sign until we were almost there and had already been walking around for about an hour and were covered with sweat!
After that we decided to visit one of the dive shops where Sara and I were thinking of taking our scuba diving lessons when we returned to the island in June, called Cross Creek Dive Center. One of the instructors took us on a tour to show us the classrooms and accommodations, and answered all my questions. Everyone there seemed very nice, we'll probably return here in June. I'll keep you updated on the scuba diving part later. We'll see if I can make it though the classes and actually get certified, I'm a little scared and nervous about the whole idea of it, but know I'll regret it if I don't at least give it a good try!

Then we walked back to the pier where we joined a few others also waiting for the ferry. Unfortunately, we had to wait until about 4 pm for it to finally arrive. Apparently the ferry had broken one of its engines during the earlier trip to La Ceiba, so it took them a while to repair it.

After arriving back in La Ceiba, we took a taxi to the Jungle River Lodge in Pico Bonito. If you remember me writing about this place from my earlier blogs, this is my forth time here. Out of all the places in Honduras, I can't pass up taking a visitor there, it's too gorgeous a place to miss, and it's so close to Tela! We settled into our room and returned to the restaurant to sit, relax and enjoy the beautiful views before dinner.

Sara and her friend, who was visiting the same time, actually came later that night. It was nice to all meet up and have dinner together. We all made plans to take the canopy tour together the following morning.

THURSDAY, MAY 15:

We woke up early to eat breakfast before starting our canopy tour at 9:30 am. The picture below shows Ali about to fly over the Rio Cangrejal.

After the canopy tour through the jungle and all the hiking we were ready for a big lunch! The four of us walked up to the Pico Bonito Visitor's Center, where we walked across a large hanging bridge going over the river. Sara and her friend then headed back to the Jungle River Lodge, they were returning to Tela that afternoon. Ali and I continued to the Omega lodge to have our huge lunch.
After lunch, we headed back to our lodge to relax, hang out, and wait for dinner. Can you tell we did a lot of eating on this trip! At dinner we booked our rafting trip for the next morning, then passed out for the night.

FRIDAY, MAY 16:

We woke up early again this morning, ate breakfast, then started our rafting trip. This was my fourth time rafting on this river, but I didn't mind it at all, knowing htat this was going to be my last, and I was able to do it with Ali! It was only hte two of us and two tour guides. WE had so much run hiking up the river, jumping into the river off large boulders, and floating down the cool rivier with the current. This rafting trip was a little bit different than the past ones. Since it hadn't rained in a while and the water level was pretty low, we stayed more upriver, and did a lot of rafting down the rapids, then turning back around up the river to "surf" on the rapids (which basically means paddling the raft into the rapid to let the cool water splash into the raft and onto us), then jumping off the raft many times to float down the safer, smaller rapids one by one. It was so much fun, and nice to be able to do some different things than the last times. I even fell of the raft for the first time, and Ali luckily pulled me out of the river and saved me!

We hiked up to a large boulder, where in all the rafting tours I've taken before, we jumped into the river below, the jump's about 5 meters (15 feet) high. Last time whenI was with my sister, Belinda, we were in a large group with about 10 people. At this point in the tour, the tourguide toook all the brave guys across to the oposite side of the river, where we watched them scale up the rocks to jump off an even higher platform, about 12 meters high, 36 feet! At that time I was too terrified to try it. all the girls, opted just to watch, and jump into the river off the smaller boulder.

This time however, knowing this was going to be my last time here, and having already seen those 6 guys jump off before, and come out fine, I felt like I needed to try it, or else I knew I'd regret it. Since living here, I've really faced my fear of heights by jumping off bouldres and rocks.

So, with the two tourguides helping me, I actually did it!! I jumped off the smaller boulder, swam across the river, and the two guides literally had to pull me up with a rope, and help me climb up to the higher platform. This is seriously the closest I've ever gotten to rock climbing, and honestly, the closest I ever want to be to it again. I had to pull myself up the wall, hanging on for dear life to the small ledges and grooves between the rocks, trying desperately not to look down, or think about how high I was. We I finally arrived at the top, about 36 feet over the river, I was so proud of myslef for doing it, but now I had to worry about the part of actually jumping off the rock.....NOT EASY!! I just kept thinking I had to do it fast, before I chickened out, and climbing back down the rocks wasn't really an option because that looked 10 times scarrier than climbing up! So after I watched the first guide jump off, it was my turn. It helped as I looked down and saw Ali down below cheering me on, and there were a few other guys down on that rock with her that were on a rafting tour from another lodge. With all of them looking up at me and cheering, I finally found enough guts to jump off. It was seriously the best and most exhilarationg feeling ever!!! It felt like I was free falling forever before I finally hit the water! This is probably the most amazing thing I've experienced since living and traveling here. I'll remember that feeling forever, and it makes it that much better, knowing that I've faced my fears of heights like I never though I could! The picture below shows us with one of our tour guides, yes, he had a mullet!!!

After our rafting trip, we went back to the lodge to enjoy some fresh fruit. We hung out and swam in the pools overlooking the river, relaxed and enjoyed the amazing views around us and hte nice sunny weather.Since I still had my helmet and lifevest on, I decided to take advantage of it and finally jump off the bolders near the pool, down into the river below (about 6-7 meters, 20 feet , high). In all my times visiting here, guests and tourguides alike jump off the boulder like nothing without helmets of vests on! I've always hesitated, but I figured now, after jumping off that much higher one before, I definately do this! Plus, I felt safer doing it with some protection. Luckily, Ali was able to catch this jump with her camera, we weren't able to bring a camera on the rafting trip earlier, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, I forgot to keep my legs straight, and landed right on my bottom, OUCH!!! My butt was so sore I couldn't move, luckily, the pain died down after a few minutes!

We had planned to go back to La Ceiba early, so we would have time to hike to Rio Maria, but becasue we had to wait so long for a ride back into town, we ended up not having time to go. Instead, we headed back to Tela where we went out to dinner with Sara and stayed for the night.

SATURDAY, MAY 17:

Ali and I went into town to get a few more souveniers for her to take home to her family, and to walk around town and get lunch. We had to make it back home by 10 am to catch a taxi to the airport.

While in town, Ali had her last typical Honduran meal: beleadas (fresh tortillas with beans, tomato, and avacado), and a large soda in a glass bottle.She even took the soda to go, in a handy dandy plastic bag, just like everyone else here!

I was so glad that she came to visit!! We had a great time, and it was nice to spend time together, catching up, and being able to show her a little bit of where I've spent the last 10 months! Now that she's gone, the countdown begins until I'm home on June 21st for good!!! Wow, how time flies!!

Events at School and in Tela

MOTHER'S DAY:

on Friday, May 9th, our school celebrated Mother's Day. The kids did not have to sing or perform for the mothers, instead the school hired a band, singers, and different dance groups to perform for the mothers and the children. The women below performed a beautiful dance. I don't know how they did it, it was extremely hot, even in the shade, and these women were dancing around for about 10-15 minutes in the direct heat. The weather has definitely been getting more humid and hot here!Some of the little girls in Kindergarten and Preparatory (the grade between K and 1st) have been talking ballet lessons. The picture below shows these adorable girls performing a special dance for the mothers where they all pretended to be trees in a forest (hence the green outfits). Like when we celebrated Father's Day, each class choose a mother to represent their class, and all the kids pitched in money to buy a small present for her. The picture below shows the mother of my student Carlos, who was chosen by our class.

After all the performances, the mothers were treated to fresh pupusas (corn tortillas stuffed with cheese served with pickled onions and cabbage) from a local restaurant called Paseo Juniors (mine and Sara's favorite restaurant). Yum! Yum!

That Saturday night, May 10th, the children at the church I volunteer at, Amor Viviente, also put on many special performances for the mothers in the church. The picture below shows the kids I teach English to, singing a song called "Mommy, Mommy." The picture below shows some the kids in my class also dressed up in costumes. They acted out a play about Mother Mary in front of the church.

OUR SCHOOL'S SECOND ANNUAL MARATHON:

On Thursday, May 22, our school had their 2nd annual marathon. All of the kids' participation in this marathon counted towards their final P.E. grade. The kids had to be at school bright and early at 7:00am (instead of the usual 12:00) Each child was given a number to wear on the backs of their shirts, like real marathon runners.

The students ran in different groups, 1st-3rd grade, 4th- 6th grade, and the junior high and high school students, there were even a few parents who ran in the marathon and competed in their own group!The students in each group that came in third, second, and first place received medals. In all, it seemed like the kids and parents had a fun time participating! There was even a camera crew present to interview and take pictures of the kids.After the marathon, the high school students competed in a Ping Pong tournament, while the kids in elementary school went back home for a few hours. They were to return to school at 1:00pm.

CHOOSING A PRINCESS FOR TELA'S ANNUAL CARNIVAL:

After the kids arrived back at school that day, we spent 1:00-2:00 making banners, posters, and confetti, for yet another princess competition. They do like there beauty pageants here! We visited another school in town, San Antonio, where the competition was being held. The town had to choose a princess to represent Tela in their annual carnival in June. Two out of the four contestants were girls from our school, so we were there to show our support to them.

The fancy dresses, costumes, singing and dancing, was just like the competition I wrote about before. It's shocking that girls so small dress up in huge, usually inappropriate clothing and make-up, and prance around on the stage. I guess it's not that different from the beauty pageants in the States, but it still wasn't easy to watch!

The competition lasted a long two hours, our kids were getting so hot and impatient that many were buying treats, and toys from the vendors in the auditorium. The picture below shows my kids slurping up, what else, but sugary snow cones topped with honey...yes honey!!! I still can't get over how much sugar and sweets the kids consume every day! But as I looked around, many adults were also eating the same sugary snacks, so I guess it's not just the kids!

OUR SCHOOL'S FIRST ANNUAL SPELLING BEE:

The next day, Friday, May 23, the school had their first annual spelling bee. Three children from each class were chosen to compete in 3 separate groups: 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and 5th and 6th grade. Sara and I were chosen to be two of the judges during the competition.

The picture below shows me and my students Rixi, Nahomy, and Loany who were chosen to compete. Nahomy won first place in her group, and Loany won second place. They received ribbons, and all the students who participated received certificates. Even Sara and I received certificates! The spelling bee overall went great, especially for it being the first ever! The kids all seemed motivated and very excited to participate, and it was clear, are all looking forward to next year's spelling bee.

ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT:

This coming week, May 26-30th, the kids have their last official week of school. They take exams all this week. then the following week, only the students who are failing return for what they call a "recuperation week" where they study all week with us, and take a second exam.

Sara and I are both blown away by how fast these 10 months have gone! I am so sad to leave these kids, especially since this is the first class I have taught for an entire year, beginning to end. They have all worked so hard the entire year, students who knew very little English and were very shy and insecure, I'm realizing have finally become confident in speaking English, and are always participating in class. It's so great to see such a great improvement and growth in them, and I'll miss them so much!!! I'm really proud of them!

Also during this week, Sara and I are working with the kids to finish putting together the school's first library, so I'll keep you posted on how that goes. The week after recuperation week, we finish our work at the school, and attend the different graduations. After that, Sara and I have one extra week to travel, and then we head back home on June 21st!! Wow, only 4 more weeks!

Aaron's Visit

On Saturday, April 18th, my boyfriend, Aaron came to visit me for about 10 days. After being together for over 3 years, and dealing with a long-distance relationship (him living in Anaheim and me in San Diego) for the first 2 years, then after my decision to move even further (in another country no less!) for the past 10 months, it was definitely nice to finally spend some time together. Our plan was to spend some time in Tela, Rio Maria, Lago de Yojoa, one of the Bay Islands off the northern coast of Honduras, Roatan, and then end his trip in Pico Bonito. Thus, to make things a bit easier to follow, I'll write about each place we went to.

Saturday, April 18:

After picking him up from the airport, we got his 2 huge suitcases settled at my house (he was nice enough to fill an entire suitcase with school supplies for the kids that I wasn't able to ship down here yet), then went into town to have dinner and walk around. The next morning we had to get up early to catch a bus to Lago de Yojoa (about 4 hours away).

LAGO DE YOJOA:

Sunday, April 20:

We caught a direct bus to Lago de Yojoa, where we got dropped off in a small town along the lake called La Guama. From there we took a small bus to a nearby town called Pena Blanca, where we then had to take a final bus to Los Naranjos, the town where our hotel, D&D Brewery was located. If you remember, this is the same place Sara and I had visited back in September, and where I returned with my friends, Abbie and Lindsey, in October. So this would be my third time there, which you think would make me at least a little bit of any expert at getting there. But low and behold, of course I got us lost! Well, in my defense, it wasn't entirely my fault.

The idiot of a guy (the man who collects the money on the bus), whom I asked even before we got on the bus, if he went to Los Naranjos, and who said YES, proceeded to take our money, and drive us in the opposite direction of our hotel. It wasn't until after about 10 minutes and we passed my a sign I had recognized, that I finally realized we had taken a bus with the correct name, only it was going the opposite direction! That jerk took our money, and when I asked him another question to verify which way were going, he ignored us, we had to get up and yell at them to stop the bus before we went even further in the wrong direction. Basically, they took our money, and knew from the beginning that we were on the wrong bus. Extremely annoying to get ripped off like that, but I guess in the long run it was only $1 that we lost, but it was still rude on his part. Sara and I deal with this often when we travel, some people assume we're just tourists who have a lot of money, so of course they try to rip us off. It's the reality of living here and standing out I guess, but it doesn't make it any less annoying! Anyways, when we finally got off the bus, we were able to catch another (correct bus) in just a few minutes, that finally took us to the D&D. When we finally arrived, we were very happy to set down our bags, take a dip in the pool, eat a late lunch and drink a few of the freshly brewed beers before passing out for the night.

The hotel is one of my favorite places to stay, it's a small, quaint hotel made up of a few small bungalows nestled within the jungle and wildlife.

All that traveling for the day had finally caught up with us. The picture below shows Aaron at his favorite spot relaxing in the porch in front of our cabin at the D&D.

Monday, April 21:

We woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. During our breakfast we met a man named Don from Texas, who was traveling alone. When he heard we had plans to visit the nearby Pulhapanzak Waterfall for the day, he decided to join us, and even offer us a ride in his car there and back! Dan was extremely nice, friendly, and very easy going. I had wanted Aaron and I to try the canopy zip line that goes across the 130 ft waterfall (Lindsey had tried it back on our trip in October), but after Aaron saw it, his fear of heights got the best of him, and he opted out of it. We instead decided to pay for a guide to take us on a hike behind and around the waterfall. We somehow were able to con Don into trying it with us, which I'm so glad we did, because we had so much fun with him!

We started by walking along the side of the waterfall, then when we were behind it, we were able to go inside one of the small caves. From there, we jumped off a few boulders into a small swimming hole on the along the side of the waterfall, and then continued hiking back down along the waterfall. When we got to the bottom of the waterfall the views were even more magnificent! Being able to look up at the waterfall from down below, with rainbows, and the sea of bright green from all the jungle and plants surrounding us was absolutely breathtaking. It was the first time I had been to this part of the waterfall, the first two times I went on this hiking tour, we didn't go to this part of the waterfall, I guess because the guide said it was the rainy season. So I am so glad I came back this third time, because this part of the tour definitely will be one of the greatest things I will remember from my entire time here in Honduras!

From the bottom of the waterfall, we jumped off even higher (30ft) boulders into the cool, clear water below (the picture below shows Aaron just about to jump). We had an amazing time! And made a new friend, Don, who was able to share in this amazing experience with us!

The picture below shows Don and Aaron posing with their guns by the swimming holes on the top of the waterfall.

Tuesday, April 22:

Today was Aaron's 26th birthday! We woke up, had a huge breakfast, and at around 9 am, started on our long (and interesting to say the least) trip back to Tela. We first had to catch a public bus that took us to San Pedro Sula's main bus station where we would take a direct bus to Tela. Sounds easy enough right?!

Well, early on into Aaron's visit here, we started catching on to the fact that our experience with transportation though out all our traveling was no at all going to be easy. Random obstacles and problems were already popping up left and right, things that I swear had never happened to Sara and I in all the times we've traveled, and things that have never happened all while other people have come to visit. So this trip back to Tela on the buses had a few more surprises in store for us...

I've always known the buses in Honduras to drive a lot differently then any buses I've been on in the States. Aside from the hundreds of people they pile into the buses, most of them tend to drive rather fast. It's a little more unnerving in the areas around Lago de Yojoa because the streets are more narrow, a lot more winding, and go up and downhill. Of course out of all the buses we could have been on going the San Pedro, we chose the one bus that decided to have a racing contest with a smaller bus (the size of a shuttle).

Apparently, the small bus had cut off our bus (a larger public bus -old American school bus) and slammed on his brakes repeatedly. And after that, all hell broke loose. The next 15-20 minutes was absolutely terrifying, we were speeding by sometimes at 70 mph, mind you we were in a school bus, on a winding mountain road. Our bus and the small van kept speeding, passing each other back and forth, all the while slamming on the brakes to drop off and pick up passengers. The few other people on the bus seemed just as nervous as us. Aaron and I didn't know what else to do but sit back, pray and hope that they slow down. Apparently, our bus was speeding so fast to try to stop at the nearest police station along the road before the van was able to drive by, without stopping.

The driver and other workers on our bus quickly parked and ran into the police station, and since the van was behind us, the police made them stop as well. We sat there on the bus, looking at the other passengers in the van, who looked all just as shocked as we were that this was all happening. All the while outside, the bus drivers were arguing and yelling at each other trying to tell their sides of the story to the police. It was the most bizarre and random thing! A few police came onto our bus to ask a few passengers questions.

About 15 minutes later, the driver and other bus workers got back on our bus, while the other bus stayed behind and was questioned more, and we continued on our trip to San Pedro. However after about 30 minutes of thanks to God, safer and slower driving, we heard sirens behind us, and sure enough it was the police again, followed by the same small bus. We had to pull over again, where they talked the bus driver argued more and talked with the police. Another 10 minutes later, The driver got back on the bus and we finally made it to the big bus station in San Pedro, but all the way, we were followed by the police and the small van. It seemed that whatever was going on was far from being resolved, and after they dropped us off at the bus station they were going to continue talking. Wow, quite a lot of drama! From the bus station we bought tickets to a (supposedly) direct bus to Tela. By now, the heat and humidity were at their peak, and Aaron and I were getting a bit more irritable and anxious to make it back to Tela because of all of the stopping and going, and waiting we had already been though. Sure enough the bus we got on to take to Tela had a few problems of its own! We sat in the unbearable heat, in a smelly bus for 20 minutes, then when we finally got going, we pulled over another two times before even making it out of the bus station parking lot. Apparently there was something wrong with one of our tires, and the driver had to keep getting on and off the bus to check it. We finally make it out of the parking lot, only to pull over down the road, at the bus company's main office, where we had to sit and wait another 30 minutes for them to change the tire. Let me remind you, sitting on a bus that isn't moving, with the sun beating down on you, in the heat and humidity, with the added smell of B.O. and sweat is pretty much the most uncomfortable thing I've ever experienced. I felt worse for Aaron, who is usually always hot in normal weather, and who had to put up with all this nonsense on his birthday out of all days! Eventually around 3:00 we finally made it back to Tela. (We were traveling for about 6 hours in the heat!)

TELA:

As soon as we made it back to Tela we rushed home, changed into our bathing suits, and took the first taxi we saw to the beach at a nearby resort called the Telamar. We were dying to jump into the water, relax and cool off, and try to erase the horrible trip back home we just had to deal with!After the beach, we headed back to my house where I made Aaron a birthday cake, and we got showered and ready for dinner.We went to eat at Paseo Junior's and Aaron was able to try traditional tacos, pupusas, beleadas, and the best beer, Imperial.

RIO MARIA:

Wednesday, April 23:

Aaron and I woke up early again to catch a bus to La Ceiba. La Ceiba, is another coastal city, that's about 1 1/2 hours from Tela. It's the jumping off point for the Bay Islands, Pico Bonito, and is near Rio Maria, a beautiful river with waterfalls that you can swim in. Our bus dropped us off at the airport in La Ceiba, where we bought our 5:30 pm tickets to Roatan and checked in our luggage. From there we took a taxi to the main bus station, and then jumped on a bus to take us to Rio Maria, which took about another 45 minutes. To get to the gorgeous swimming holes on Rio Maria, we had to hike up a dirt road for about a 30-40 minutes from where the bus dropped us off. We passed by numerous women washing clothes in the river, a few one room huts...made friends with chickens and roosters freely running around...and beautiful views of the ocean and surrounding jungle.Off the main path we had to climb down a narrow path (about 1 foot wide) which led to a beautiful secluded swimming hole and waterfall.

After taking some time to swim around and relax by the waterfall, we made our way back to the airport. We unfortunately had to wait about 3 more hours at the airport until our flight left for Roatan. Poor Aaron just spent the entire month of March in and out of various airports, traveling for work, and now he was on vacation, waiting in yet another airport. We boarded our tiny plane which sat only about 15-20 passengers, and took our 15 minute flight to Roatan.

ROATAN:

We arrived in Roatan at around 6pm, got our luggage, and got a taxi to take us to West End, the area of the island where most of the hotels and restaurants were. The hotel I had planned on us staying at was booked for the night, so we walked around and it only took about 5 minutes to find another hotel. The hotel was called the Seagrape Plantation. It's about a 2 minute walk from the main street lined with hotels, stores and restaurants, so it was nice to stay in a more quiet hotel away from all the traffic and people, but still a very close walk to everything we needed.

We had an adorable, yellow oceanfront bungalow, complete with our own porch and hammock overlooking the swimming pool and ocean, a perfect place to watch the sunset.

The hotel had a swimming pool and nice open deck looking over the blue ocean. The shore along the hotel was lined with ironshore (sharp, black rock, made from coral, mullosk shells, and limestone). After getting settled at the hotel we headed out for dinner at The Cannibal Cafe. Although the name is rather scary, the food was absolutely delicious! They served mostly Mexican food,(real Mexican food!), with sour cream, salsa, and burritos!! I was so excited to be able to order food outside of the monotonous menus you tend to find in Tela. Aaron ordered a giant steak burrito and I got a large order of a chicken quesadilla, and we ordered "killer margaritas." Aaron loved them so much, he took down the recipe and has been making it for family since he got back from his trip!
We shared our table with two older couples who had moved to Roatan from the States and had been living on the island for a few years with their kids. they were very friendly and nice, especially after the night went on and they had had a few more drinks. They must have been in their mid forties, and they went on and on to us about all the cool bars and clubs to hang out at night. They were shocked when Aaron and I both said we were both tired and wanted to pass out after dinner (it was maybe only 8pm). Here were these forty year olds that went out partying and drinking night after night and here Aaron and I are, mid 20's and we're the ones acting like old farts!

Thursday, April 24:

After breakfast we decided to walk to West Bay, about an hour walk along the shore. West Bay is said to have one of the nicest beaches in all of Honduras, with cystal blue water perfect for snorkeling, swimming and sun bathing. And I must say, I was not at all disappointed!

During our walk along the beach we quickly realized the guidebook only said the walk would take 1 hour not because of the acutal distance, but because of all the manuevering you have to do around the rocks and beach. The walk, though hot, was nice because we passed what seemed like miles and miles of beautiful white beaches, with only a few hotels and houses spotted here and there. We even came to a very high, wobbley metal bridge we HAD to climb in order to get to the other side of the beach, which of course Aaron wasn't at all happy about because of his fear of heights.

When I took the picture above of Aaron holding on for dear life as the rickety metal bridge wobbled with every step, I myself had to sit down and slowly take the camera out of my bag without letting go of my death grip on the railing.

Aaron's happy he made it off the bride alive, and he's looking up at me laughing while I'm trying to make my way down the rusted stairs.

When we finally made it to West Bay we were estatic, not only because that meant our 1 hour walk was over, but because the beach was absolutely gorgeous. As beautiful as the pictures below look, it still doesn't do it justice, you have to see it for yourself!Just when we thought we were going to get to lay down and relax on the beach, we found out there were no working ATM's on the beach that took Mastercard, and barely anyone took credit cards, so we sadly had to take a water taxi back to West End (about a 5 minute ride costing about $2.50 each). But from there, none of the ATM's were working either, so we had to take a taxi to Coxen Hole, the main town where the taxi driver had to take us to about 5 different machines until we found one that took our Washington Mutual ATM card. The whole ordeal was very annoying. When we finally had cash, we were able to take a taxi back to West End and then get on yet another water taxi to take us back to the beach at West Bay. Finally after all that, we were able to spend the rest to the day on the beach!After the beach we took another water taxi back to West End where we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We were excited to have dinner at an Argentenian Grill that we had heard so much about. The restaurant overlooked Half Moon Bay, and had picture perfect views of the sunset.Unfortunately, the gorgeous sunset was the only thing we enjoyed about our dinner. The service we had at the restaurant was great as first, but then after we ordered our meals and the place got more busy, everything went downhill. I'm not sure if it was because our waitress was new, or what exactly was going on, but we had to wait forever for our drinks and food to come, often having to literally flag down someone (and often that didn't even work) to come to our table to refill water, get a desert menu, or ask for anything we needed. The food that came out was not what we ordered, and not at all what were we expecting to get for such an expensive place.
These are some of my favorite pictures of the whole trip!

Friday, April 25:

After breakfast we took a water taxi back to West Bay and spent the whole day snorkeling, swimming, and laying on the beach. We saw many colorful schools of fish while snorkeling. It was a beautiful day, but unfortunately, by about 4pm, my entire body had been viscously attacked by mosquitos and I was dying to get back to the hotel, take a shower and pile on anti-itch cream. For some reason, the mosquito bites I was getting on Roatan seemed like the worst bites I've ever had in my life. All the bites were different sizes, but they all grew into large welts on my body. It was difficult to even just sit still without being itchy!

That night we ate at a restaurant called Creole Rotisserie Chicken wherre we had a delicious meal, it was nice to redeem ourselves after our horrible experience at dinner the night before. Aaron got rotisserie chicken with pasta salad and coleslaw, and I got a huge chicken burrito. We even enjoyed a yummy hot fudge brownie sundae and key lime pie for desert, I swear the food on this island alone is enough to bring me back numerous times!! Yum Yum!

Saturday, April 26:

Our initial plan was to stay in Roatan until Sunday, but after having to deal with my massive bug bites (by this time I had counted over 40) all night, and not being able to sleep, and Aaron a little sunburned, we decided spending another whole day at the beach might not be on the top of our list. So instead we decided to take a 2:00 ferry back to La Ceiba. First, we had a delicious breakfast at a restaurant with a view overlooking Half Moon Bay. The picture below shows our view during breakfast.Then we went back to our hotel where we enjoyed the rest of the morning/early afternoon relaxing on our porch in our hammock and reading by the pool, enjoying our last views of the wonderful ocean, while waiting for our shuttle to pick us up to take us to our ferry.

We arrived at the ferry about 30 minutes early, just enough time for my nerves to take over about getting on the ferry. My tendency towards motion sickness has multiplied since living here for some reason and I was afraid at how my stomach would handle the ride back to the mainland. Especially since Sara had taken a trip on this ferry back in January of last year, and apparently every single person on the boat got sick. Luckily, our trip was the exact opposite (thank God) and the ride was so calm and relaxed that I even started to doze off a bit, maybe our trip wasn't as bumpy because it's past the rainy season. Glad we saved some money on our trip back from Roatan (the flights cost more than double what the ferry costs), we took a taxi to the Jungle River Lodge in Pico Bonito. The picture below shows one of 2 random, half sunken, abondoned, old, rusting ships that were near the dock in Roatan....weird, but really cool at the same time!

PICO BONITO:

You may remember me writing about this place, one time in October, and once more in February, when my sister, Belinda, came to visit. I loved it so much here, that I came back a third time with Aaron so that we could take the whitewater rafting tour. We arrived at the lodge around 4pm, got our things settled, and then decided to take a little hike up the hill to the Pico Bonito visitor center where thereis a large hanging bridge that goes across the Rio Cangrejal, and has nice views.

Aaron and I only made it halfway across the bridge. once again Aaron's fear of heights got to him, so we turned around. In his defense, I didn't properly describe the "hanging" bridge idea, and apparently the swaying of the bridge was what made him nervous. The picture below shows Aaron basically cursing at me in his head for making him even step foot on the bridge, and me trying to ease the tension by smiling nonstop and apologizing.

He's going to absolutely hate me for posting this picture, but I just thought it was refreshing to see another person as afraid of heights as I am. Niether of us could take our hands off the sides of the bridge. After our fiasco at the bridge we walked up the hill more for about 30 more minutes until we reached another lodge called "Omega Lodge." Another foul on my part was that I underestimated how far this lodge was from the bridge (that last time I walked up this road to Omega lodge was back in Ocotber). So by the time we finally arrived at the lodge, it was already dark, and it was only going to even darker the later it got, and we didn't have a flashlight, nor are there any street lights..... not very smart Christina!

We decided to make the best of it, and since we walked all this way we decided to have a big delicious dinner there, since they have a large selection of food (the Jungle River Lodge, though the food is good, has a set menu). After dinner, we started on our pitch black walk back to our lodge. Luckily there wasn't much traffic on the road, and we had the lights on our ipods to help light up at least some of the path in front of us.

After we finally made it back to our hotel, we hung out at the restaurant, had a few drinks, talked to some other guests, and booked our rafting tour for the next morning at 9:30.

Sunday, April 27:

The one morning we actually needed to be somewhere early, we completely passed out. We usually woke up without any alarm at around 7:30 or 8 am, but for some reason, today we woke up exactly at 9:30 the same time we were supposed to be ready to start our rafting tour! We rushed around our room getting ready and ran outside to find we didn't have time for breakfast...boo hoo, my favorite meal of the day! Weirdly enough, I for once wasn't that hungry anyways, so we just decided to get straight to the rafting!

Our tour guide as great, it was only the three of us rafting, so it was a nice change to have a small group, there were 10 of us when I went rafting with my sister. We took a truck about 5 minutes up the river, where we were dropped and hiked down to the water. Because it's the dry season, and the water level was so low, we had to take a smaller special raft. After jumping off rocks into the river, practicing how to let the current take you, how to swim across the river, and how to paddle, we were ready! I was excited for Aaron since this would be his first time rafting.

We had a blast paddling though the water and rapids, until our guide decided that we should paddle back to towards one of the rapids and "surf," which basically means you paddle towards the water, and just let it spash into the raft and it gets you soaked. I did it when rafting with my sister and it wasn't scary at all, but fun and refreshing to have all the cool water splashing down on you.

That is until Aaron flew off the edge of the raft and into the river! Luckily he stayed calm the entire time, actually smiling up at me as I looked down in horror, panic stricken and absolutely frozen! I practiced numerous times what to do when someone falls off the raft, you have to move quickly, key words, MOVE QUICKLY, and pull the person back up into the raft by grabbing their life jacket. However, when I saw Aaron's legs fly over the raft and saw him lying in the water, all I could do was stare down at him without moving!

Luckily our guide helped me snap out of my panic by yelling at me "Hurry, get him back on the raft!" only then did I finally reach down and attempt to pull him up. Luckily, the water was so low, Aaron said he was able to step on a rock and use it to jump back onto the boat, thank God because I don't think my pewney little arms could've saved him on their own. Thanks for not holding the fact that I froze when you needed my help, against me Aaron! :) All and all, we had a great time rafting!After rafting, we got a ride from the lodge back into La Ceiba, where we got on a bus to get back to Tela. We spent the rest of the day in Tela, walking around the town and the beach.

Monday, April 28:

We spent Aaron's last full day here in Tela lazying around. After all the traveling it was nice to have a day not to have anything really planned. We had lunch in town at a hotel called Maya Vista, that has the highest views of Tela and the beach. Then we ran some errands in town, and went to visit the kids at my school. Aaron brought over all the school supplies he had brought with him, and he met all the kids I teach, and all the other teachers and people I work with. He was a big hit with everyone! Graciella, the founder of the school was trying to get him to come back to teach with me next year. Which suprisingly, Aaron said he could see himself doing sometime in the future. It was really nice to have someone from home see where I've spent all my time the past 10 months, and where I spend everyday working, and who I work with. Unfortunately, when my sister came to visit, we didn't have time to stop by the school.

We had Aaron's last Honduran dinner at a steakhouse restaurant in town, then headed back home, where we packed Aaron back up to go home the next morning. I say that " we packed him up" because once again, he was nice enough to lug around an extra suitcase for me, taking back some of the heavier things I know I would have trouble taking back with me in June! What a nice guy!

Tuesday, April 29:

We took a cab to the airport, his flight was at 11am. Then I headed back to Tela, straight to work, where I was greeted by anxious kids all asking me when Aaron was going to come back and visit!

One last visitor....

One of my best friends, Alison, is coming to visit from May 12- May 17th. We've known each other since kindergarten. She's been living and going to law school in Iowa for the past few years, and before that we were always living in different cities all though college. Since high school, we haven't had much time to spend together, so it'll definately be nice for her to come visit! I'll be posting a blog soon about her visit, so stay tuned!