Dives, Cults, and Waterfalls

Hey guys! Amie and I are having lots of fun in Utila, the smallest of the Bay Islands in Honduras. We both just took a class and earned our PADI open water scuba diver certifications! We have two more fun dives left, and then we will be done with our scuba school. Utila is a very cool little island where the locals are black or white English speakers of the ¨Jamaicanesque¨ creole variety, although there are also some Spanish speakers who moved here from the mainland. It´s got a very laid-back atmosphere.

There´s a beautiful coral reef around the island, with loads of amazing sea creatures, but not much in the way of beaches, so scuba diving is the main tourist industry here. Amie found a pregnant seahorse yesterday! We saw a stingray too, giant anemones, a sea turtle, a jellyfish, lots of beautiful tropical fish and some bizarre little animals called garden eels, which sit half buried in the sand with their heads out and quickly slip down when you go near them. Our instructor is a 25-year old Toronto native who came here 5 years ago on a road trip. He did his open water certification and liked it so much that he did the rest of the levels all the way up to instructor, and has been working here ever since. Here is a picture of our class:



Before Utila we were in the coastal city of La Ceiba where we went attended a massive street party in honour of Saint Isidro, the patron saint of the city. People from all over come for the Carnaval, the biggest party of the year. It mainly consists of getting very drunk and walking around watching bands on different stages and lots of ¨punta¨ dancing, a very sexualized form of dance which would not go down well in Canada outside of a strip club. We did meet some very odd characters at the party, though, including members of a cult called ¨Growing in Grace¨ which believes that a Puerto Rican man named José Luis de Jesús Miranda is both God and the Antichrist. An English-speaking Bay islander with a 666 tattoo on one arm and SSS on the other very animately preached the word to us for awhile.



Amie also got her hair braided while we were there:



Before that we were in Copan Ruinas in western Honduras, which was a nice little town near some beautiful Mayan ruins, one of the most southerly outposts of the old Mayan civilization. We came there from El Salvador where we both got sick for a couple days each, so didn´t really do too much, although we were led to some spectacular waterfalls near the town of Juayua by a machete-toting young man.



We are still deciding what to do next... More updates when we do!

Joyriders

The family has been amazing, and we´ve decided to stay another week.



Here is a pic of Marvin and Ana, two of the kids in the family. Ana just turned five and Marvin is ten.

Our Spanish is coming along nicely, and we´ve been enjoying the lake! Today we went kayaking to a little village called San Juan. There were a lot of art galleries and everyone seemed very friendly. When we wanted to go home though, we found that our kayak was missing from the dock! Some kids there assured us that it would be back soon, and sure enough, a couple of men came paddling back in it within a couple of minutes. Pretty freaky for a minute there, but no harm done.

A better lava video.

You can really see it flowing in this one.



(If you are reading this on facebook, click on ¨view original post¨ to see video.)

We´re in with the family now - a pair of cute little girls led us very slowly down the street from the school to their house. The bed gave a large crack when we laid down, so we switched to something sturdier, and bigger. The mother´s name is Tina and was very sweet and welcoming. We start our lessons tomorrow - very exciting.

Lava and a Lake

Check it!

We joined a group and climbed a volcano called Volcan Pacaya near Antigua in southern Guatemala. Here you can see some lava flowing. It was amazing!



We are in San Pedro La Laguna on Lake Atitlan now. We signed up at the Cooperativa Spanish School for a week's worth of lessons starting Monday, and will be staying with a family for the duration. Should be fun!

Southward Bound

Hi all!

Haven't updated you in awhile. I'm in San Ignacio, Belize now with Amie. We're just about to head into Guatemala tomorrow, to see the ruins of Tikal. We rented a kayak and went on a great trip up the Belize River today. We watched a trio of vultures scuffling with each other and dining at the shore for awhile. There was also a large iguana sunbathing, and about 30 eagles (?) flying overhead... And lots of strange little fish. Beautiful! Belize is an amazing little English-speaking country with a population about the size of Greater Victoria, which is bizarre, especially considering how ethnically varied the population is and how much culture is here. Hopkins is a great little beach town where most people looked like Rastafarians and spoke either Garifuna, an indigenous language, or creole, or both, along with heavily accented English. We got a lot of sand flea bites there, which are now horribly itchy and look like some crazy disease! We started in the Yucatan in Mexico, where we spent lots of time lazing around on beaches, especially in white and sandy Tulum, which was relaxing. We're a bit apprehensive about travelling in Guatemala, as our minds have been filled with horror stories and we both have detailed, morbid imaginations, but we'll be careful. I'll try to post some photos soon!

Bobby McFerrin

Visions of Frank

My friend Dan turned me on to this... Very cool.