The past two days I’ve been diving a lot, 2 times yesterday and as of now I’ve done 2 today and will have a night dive tonight.  Not much else to post since we’ve just been diving mostly.

We’ve made it to Roatan. Let me tell you about the journey. Our minibus picked us up at the hotel at 6am and by 9:30 we were in San Pedro Sula rounding the corner for La Ceiba (La Say-bah) the port for the Bay Islands (our specific island being Roatan). Our ferry was a big (350+ people) catamaran with two floors that went FAST, FAST FAST. Little did we know that the sea was giving us 10+foot swells, most of which were towards to the sides of the boat, not straight on. At first everything was fun and great and then they started handing out the bags. Ashlee asked me what they were for and I made the assumption they were for the people to place their valuables in to cover up from the water spray. WRONG. They were puke bags. Vomit of the most sea sick kind. At first when the boat when over the big waves and made big splashes people were cheering and having a great time… then the same people started breaking down left and right, heads down, bags up, and green faces. The bathroom was hosed down twice and luckily a few of us were on the second floor so we received moving air, unlike the unlucky lower floor that was trapped into a big box of puke smell. When I laid down I felt much better, so, NO I did not puke.

Once the boat docked at Roatan everyone piled off to grab their luggage. All the luggage was tagged when you checked in and you were given a ticket. Imagine a waist high wall where on one side there is a mass of people and on the other a pile of bags and a few people handing them out. Such is the system here. Everything was grabbed and it was time to look for a place to stay. We all piled into a small van and headed over to the West End near Halfmoon Bay. Most places were full or too expensive. Luckily for us we found a sweet house and cabana for the whole group. The house has a LARGE kitchen/living room with television and ceiling fans. The bedrooms are airconditioned and large while the bathroom is tiled very nicely and everything is clean. Bueno. A beer and a cheeseburger later I’m ready for bed.

Yesterday a few of us went to look for another place to stay that was a little less expensive but nothing struck us as a great replacement for our awesome house.  Right now there are 5 staying in the house and the rest of the group went to a place with some cabanas right down the road.  I’m glad we have the house with a/c because it is hot, there are 5 types of malaria and I sleep much better in a comfortable bed (which this has).  Also, the kicker is the large kitchen with 6burner stove, full fridge and large sink.  Eating out is expensive here but things like eggs, meat, flour is fairly cheap and cooking is the way to go.  We also went to find a dive shop and decided on the locally owned Native Sons (probably one of the ONLY Honduran owned shops here).  They are all very nice and seem to be highly regarded.  With all that set we did some shopping for food, relaxing on the beach a little and believe it or not watched some of The Office and Meet the Fockers on TV also had a few Salva Vidas.

This morning we woke up, went to the dive shop to give them a credit card, figured out what we’re doing and when.  I am going to be doing the Advanced Open Water certification which lets me officially dive deeper and understand underwater navigation more.  It consists of 5 dives, two of which are required; the deep dive and the navigation dive.  There are a few people doing the Open Water diving certification and there are some doing Discover Scuba, and some just doing fun dives.  Right now I’m sitting in wet shorts after I did a quick refresher course and in 30 minutes we’ll be heading out to do a fun dive with, hopefully, some rays!

Internet is fairly expensive here because it’s an island and they CAN charge it.  As far as my opinions on the island I have been on better islands and there are a lot of things I do not like about this one.  I’m hoping the diving redeems it because I would highly suggest not coming here just to come to an island.  The main pedestrian walkway is a road with many cars, thus far I have seen 2 traffic jams, it is expensive (not prohibitively so because the diving is cheap, just food is $) and the beaches are not really that great.  I hope to check out the West Bay beach here soon though which promises to be one of the best in Honduras.   For now, it’s off to the dive shop, I shall post later!

We had a big shuttle take us straight to Copan in Honduras.  The border was a breeze, out of Guatemala and into Honduras for $3usd.  Somehow, I ended up with a lot of stuff purchased and my bag has increased in weight… esta bien.  Our drive took us from the highlands of Guatemala to the low(er) lands of Honduras where it is humid and hot.

We also witnessed Guatemala new years. One word, WOW.  The 4th of July in america is NOTHING compared to this, we have the wrong idea with all our regulation on fireworks.  Everywhere you look there were fireworks going off.  NONstop for 15 minutes, just insane from our rooftop vantage.  All over Lago de Atitlan there were lights and noises.  Forget synchronized music on the radio to a few big boomers, I will take the multitude of personal fireworks anyday.  I recorded audio from 12am on which I will post when I come home. 

We saw the ruins of Copan today and while they are not as grand as Tikal, stoic as Coba or picturesque as Tulum they have the most amazing stellae and rock art of any ruins yet.  There is a heiroglyphics stairway in which every step (and there are alot) has art across there.  In addition to the large trees and impressive ruins there are the fantastically colored Macaws and other birds that live amongst the trees.  I did not spend too much time there but it is not a large ruin either.  I wanted to check out Macaw Mountain for the birds but Chad and I ended up finding us a ride out of town and that took awhile so all in all Copan Ruinas will have to be visited for the multitude of things to do outside of the town and the ruins.

Copan Ruinas, the town itself, is small and fairly quiet though it is definately tourist orientated.  I can not complain as I have a clean room that is quiet.  The streets are old coblestone and the buildings are not very colonial nor are they very spanish.  However, the town is set in an amazing valley surrounded by lush green hills.

Tomorrow at 6am we leave for La Ceiba and the ferry to take us to Roatan or Utila, one of the bay islands, not quite sure yet.  Our ride should take us about 4-6 hours if all goes well. Hopefully I will be able to post on the island but I hear the internet can be expensive.  Do not worry though, I will just be diving and taking the advanced open water class to further my diving!

Adios, more to come soon!

Since we arrived yesterday in Panajachel we have not done much here other than relaxed and shopped. To arrive here we used an array of chicken buses that would make anyone that has ridden a traditional school bus a little nervous and possibly sick. There is no maximum speed and I wouldn´t doubt if two of the wheels were off the ground around some corners. Almost all of the buses, and we had to take 4 to arrive here, were packed with people standing. The roads are mountainous making them very curvy with lots of ups and downs. I think the roads are like the old wooden roller coasters at theme parks, except better.

Panajachel itself is fairly small and very touristy with vendors EVERYWHERE. Today at lunch I think there were no less than 10 people that either asked for our food or wanted to sell us something. Rather annoying after awhile especially when you´re sitting in the back of restaurant, not even on the street. Lago de Atitlan is as beautiful as everyone says and makes the town of Panajachel.

We have a shuttle lined up for the 1st of the year to take us to Copan, Honduras (yay, 8 hours in a van) so we can see the ruins before heading to Utila for some diving and more beach time. At least we do not have to head through Guatemala City.

If anyone has any specific requests for things they might like brought back from Guatemala… let me know

Hello, we’re still in Antigua and having fun here!  Yesterday a few of us decided to take a trip to the R. Dalton Coffee Planation outside of Antigua.  First we located the chicken bus that was heading to San Fellipe de Jesus which took probably 30-60 minutes due to the fact some people either I didn’t understand or they pointed in the wrong direction.  No problem, we were on our way.  The tour company wanted $20 for the tour but we were able to get it for $15 since we went to the source. The plantation is in a beautiful location overlooked by 3 volcanos sitting on 500+ acres all told. 

They grow the two types of coffee, robusto and arabic (i don’t think this is right but it’s close) and we were able to see the entire process; from the greenhouse, to grafting techniques, to the actual fields, to harvesting, to removing the shell, to drying, and so on.   They only roast the French blend there as most places want the green bean to roast themselves.  We had a LARGE tour group so that was the only downside, especially since half the group understood english just fine but seemed to insist on spanish.  Very interesting nontheless and I have plenty of pictures that describe the process.

Upon arriving back in Antigua ate some food, I had a nasty fried steak with some even more nasty hair in it, blech.  So now I’m hungry!  A few of us came to the consensus we would climb/hike the active volcano Pacayo tomorrow (today).  The tour includes transportation, 2 guides and security since there have been robberies and possibly even kidnappings!  All for $60q, under $10usd.  We leave at 2pm and come back at 9pm so we’ll see the sunset from the top and also see the lava flow in the dark!  Adios

Today was a big travel day! We thought our bus driver that took us to Tikal was going to pick us up at 6am’ish. 7am rolled around and no sign of him so we grabbed a bite to eat (the pancakes were amazing) and waited longer. 8:30 and still nothing so Chad and I go to the travel office to find out bus info, 180q for 1st class service to Guatemala City through them. We soon find out going to the local bus station is cheaper by 30q so we head there, buy 13 tickets, 1st class, and boarded at 10am.

The bus was nice, it had 2 tvs and we were able to watch 3 movies and take in in the amazing scenery of Guatemala. We went from the lower part with lots of jungle and dense tropical dry forest to the more mountainous high lands of Guatemala CIty with a large volcano looking over the city. After removing our luggage from the bottom of the bus Jessica soon found out that her bag had been vomited on by a small poodle that for some reason was stored with the luggage. Whoops. Guatemala City was insane for the few minutes we were there. Our cab driver constantly beeped the horn even at red lights and it took him two times to find the right bus station. Others (since only 4 in a taxi at once) had the same issues, drunk cabbies, and misplaced bus stations. We finally made it on the Chicken Bus (first one!) and it was packed to the windows with people. Quite the journey. While it all sounds so simple and fun it has been a long day.

As of right now a group is looking for accomodations for the right price/quality so we´ll see what happens. Antigua from the first night time looks is indeed colonial and is marked by cobbelstone streets with cool little buildings.

Tentatively we plan to spend a few days here shopping, taking in the sights, visiting a volcano and doing whatever the area presents us. Then possibly we will go to El Salvador for a day or two, and then Honduras where we will relax for 5-7 days to do our diving and lay out on the beach, yes more beach time!

I will write more with details tomorrow! I hope everyone had a good christmas!

Hello! We’re still in Flores and it’s really nice out here with lago de itza peten outside of the hotel and the weather is warm, almost too warm, just kidding! Yesterday we rented a 13passenger van, which was 50quetzales/person and headed to Tikal at 6am. The drive was nice and cool in the morning and we stopped to get some coffee and breakfast before the ruins. We arrived and paid our 50q to get in and headed to first of the ruins. I have all the pictures that I can post, hopefully, later today because I can not remember all the names and everything. I do know that temple 4 was HUGE and very impressive, the grand plaza was also amazing, if you have a chance go to google and look for Tikal.

We spent about 5 hours there. Not only were the ruins impressive but the wildlife was equally cool. There were tucans everywhere with bright red bellies, yellow tails, and crazy beaks! At one point there were 5 of them eating little seeds/nuts in one tree and we were about 10feet away! Later we ended up finding some spider monkeys playing in the trees so we spent about half an hour watching them swinging and eating, very cool to see them not in a cage. One cool thing about Tikal is that you can still climb over most of the ruins and that some have wooden steps going to the top of the bigger ruins so you don’t have to risk falling down as easily. Of course there are still ruins you can climb up the steep steps that are still scary to descend. I wouldn’t want to be the person thrown down those.

We wandered around and were back to the van around 2ish to head back to Flores. Flores, by the way, is a little island/peninsula in the lake right next to Santa Elena. This area is pretty desolate/unpopulated so this is the biggest city area for hours.

On the way back we stopped at the airport to try and see if we could pull out money from the money exchange.  If there’s one thing wrong, surely there’s another.  Only 3 of us were able to pull out money at the time due to the fact THE PAPER IN THE CREDIT CARD MACHINE RAN OUT.  About the ATMs here we have more details now.  There was kind of a bank scare so a lot of people pulled out money, the government  has been taking out lots of money and it’s the holidays, they are also slated to release new money the 1st of the year.  The ATMs ALSO have a software glitch apparently but they’re back up and running in Antigua and Guatemala City.

I have money now, woo.  Chad, Drew, Troy and myself went swimming in the lake when we got back from the ruins, very nice.  I think Chad described it as being perfect, one degree more or less and it would not be perfect.  A cool way to end the day.  We then went out to dinner and had A LOT of pizza and beer and met a couple from California who are teachers and actually on the same broken bus we were! There were fireworks going off everywhere and lots of revelry.

Today is a relax and call home day!

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad and Happy new years to everyone!

Today we woke up at 4:00am to head for the bus to Flores, Guatemala.  The bus was nothing special but had lots of legroom.  The trip which was to take 8 hours took 12+ due to the driver delivering goods to people along the way and the wheel whose lugnuts decided to keep coming loose.  We´ve gone through some beautiful country today and we finally arrived in Flores.

Apparently all the ATMs in Guatemala have been down for 1+ weeks and will not dispense money.  The banks will be closed tomorrow and monday due to Christmas.  Those of us with US dollars are OK… for a day or two, and those that aren´t are scraping by.  Credit card cash advances are expensive but might be mandatory to either stay in Guatemala or go back to Belize or head on to Honduras.  Hopefully that´s not the case.  If anyone has any ideas on how to get money on a SUNDAY, the day BEFORE christmas, with NO atms, I´d love to hear them

For now our plan is to go to Tikal tomorrow at 6am and hang out there for the day, spend the afternoon in Flores and the same for Christmas day.  Should be interesting as nothing will be open for eating or buying stuffs.

I should be able to update tomorrow and explain the wonders of Tikal.  Good night!

So it´s been awhile since the last post.  I did make it to Playa del Carmen no problem and as I was walking to the hotel Chad and Alisa were at Alisa spotted me from the restaurant and we walked to Posada Papaguya and had a room and then walked around a bit and to bed.  In the morning I went to the bus station early to meet Ash and Ron and they ended up taking a van and surprised me by a sneak attack.   Food was had, rooms were choosen and there was rest.  Walked around Playa and had some food and marveled at how it was possible for a small town on the sea to become something so huge in a few short years.  Ashlee and I walked around that night to soak up the various shades of bars and people.

The next day (19th) we headed to the beach and spent a lot of time on the beach and walking around.  There was some rain, nothing too much though and met up with the rest of the group.  Everyone is here, it´s time to begin!  With some good beach time under our belt the decision was made to leave for Tulum to check out some ruins and spend some time on the beach. 

On the 20th we hopped on a bus for Tulum and before you know it we were there and had a few cabanas right outside of town (but not on the beach) for $25 a night/3 to a room.  Most of the group went to Tulum ruins to see that place and spend time on the beach while Ashlee, Melanie and myself went to the playa to swim and find more sun.  Eventually the rest of the group wandered over from the ruins and we had more group beach time.  We then decided that we would check out Coba and possibly a cenote the next day and checked the bus schedule, 2nd class leaving for Coba at 7am.  We ate some food (I had chicken fajitas) at a nice place that had 6 for 80pesos beer and stayed there for awhile.  With an early start ahead of us the night soon become late and sleep was needed.

 So that brings us to today starting at 6am.  That´s early!  We arrived at the bus station and waited until 7:30 for the bus to arrive.  When it DID arrive the locals, knowing what´s going on, were quicker to move to the door to joust for the few remaining seats.  Like liquid they flowed into the bus in an amorphous mass that somehow all worked itself out.  However, we were left in the wake to find only the aisle (standing) available.  No problem, it´s only 45-60minutes.  The ride wasn´t bad and soon we were in Coba and one of the firsts to enter…

Unlike Tulum (if you´ve ever been) Coba is surrounded by dense jungle and the ruins are much larger.  Rumor has it that Tulum only contains 3% of it´s original buildings, the percentage for Coba is unknown.  We walked in and immediatly we were presented with a large imposing stone ruin/castle/something.  I have pictures that I´ll post later.  Next up was the ball court, where either the winners or losers were killed (it´s not known).  Very cool to see this stuff still intact.  We moved around to some smaller structures and the stellae which were large flat stones standing up straight with pictographs on them.  Much of the original inscriptions have been lost due to weather.  The largest ruin of Coba was a massive stone structure with very steep steps and probably as tall as 200feet.  We walked up the steps in the sun and on the sacred top performed the ancient ritual of removing the sacrificial victims heart.  Chad´s heart was torn out first, and head thrown down the multitude of steps to appease the gods while Ronni was made the next victim.  When the priests threw the heads down the steps a game was played by those below to see who could catch the head.  Much blood was spilled in order to provide for the people.  With the view from the top you could see the smaller ruin we were first at popping out of the jungle, pretty impressive as it was all in a sea of green.  We viewed a few more sites, and as we were heading out the hordes of tour groups poured in.  Thankfully our 7:30 bus helped us to avoid all that.

Taking 2 taxis home we skipped the cenote (80pesos for entrance) and headed back to the cabanas to prepare for the beach.  Beach, sun, water, sleep, redness, etc… followed.  As I write we just picked up our 1st class tickets to Chetumal (gateway for Belize and Guatemala), ate some tacos with some crazy hot sauce, and stopped by the pastry shop.  Before I wrap this up I want to say something about this pasty shop.  Everything looks great in there, you grab a tray and some tongs, walk around pick what you want.  Everything from breakfast to dinner and desert is available.  Ashlee and I picked up 2 loafs of fresh bread with countless seeds and things baked in, 2 pieces of pound cake, 1 large cookie, and two large breakfast pastries for 48pesos, $4.80usd.  Absolutely great deal in my mind.  We were only to pick up 4 1st class tickets to Chetumal at 12pm and the rest of the group might have to go second class or much later, either way we will all be in Chetumal tomorrow and hopefully on our way to Flores, Guatemala the day after.  I will update from Chetumal or Flores!  Buenos noches!

My bus leaves in 15 minutes after a long day of figuring out how to get from Punta Allen back to Tulum.  Everything finally worked out and Tobasco and I took the launcha to Muyil and from there we picked up a ride to Tulum.  Now I’m here and on my way to Playa to meet with Chad and Alisa and pick up Ashlee tomorrow!  More to come…