Extended stay...

I am sure you are all shaking your heads. Of course Robert and I had trouble getting back. I have been slightly anxious about our extended stay because of the library and doctor´s office, and of course the extra money. We were already over budget about 7 days ago. On the other hand, not necessarily a bad place to be stranded. We are here now until Saturday. We have been lucky and had beautiful days on our extended stay.

Normally the moutains in this picture are covered with mist and clouds. When they are clear like this it was what the expatriots call a ¨screaming hot day¨.

I am taking every last oppurtunity to work on my tan.

One last day in paradise...

Yes, it´s true, our last day. We hoped it somehow wouldn´t come, but it always does, doesn´t it.

Here is our setup for the last day...

Yesterday we walked around La Ceiba to do some last minute shopping. Here is a pic from a tree with gorgeous flowers on it. This was taken at a art gallery - gift shop.

This is a picture of me after I had been tossed around the ocean for 20 minutes today.

See you all back home in the next couple of days!!

Walt Disney makes lagoons seem romantic...

Sorry about the long string of photos. For some reason I couldn´t get them to move to the proper places in the email. The first four pictures are of the locals hanging out on Sunday night in Sambo Creek. You sort of forget you are in central america because this is a Garifuna community, descendants of African Slaves.

Today we took a kayak tour of the Cacao Lagoon which is just east of where we are staying. It was somewhat physically demanding as we were paddling for about 5 hours. The next six pictures are of various places in the lagoon. We started out by paddling through a disgusting little river until it opened up into the main part of the lagoon. While loading up we were visited by the local fire ants. For some reason, they actually don´t like me so I was safe. The guide and other customers however were bitten. Once into the main lagoon it was definitely less fetid. We stopped near the opening to the ocean to have some lunch and then continued on around the rest of the lagoon. In the afternoon we veered off into a narrow channel that started off quite inocently. We saw some howler monkeys, some lovely trees, but the further on into this channel we got, the more it narrowed and became more fetid again. Imagine trees growing into the water with barnacles on them and a weird bacteria, that takes the salt out of the water. On these trees live ginormous termite communities that create this big ugly brown nests. Then on some of the trees you find these dark lines running up and down them. This turns out to be ant trails. They too have developed a coating around their trails so they are left to roam in piece. As we ventured further we discovered the largest bees nest I have ever seen. You could hear it coming. So imagine your are trying to maneuver through a tiny channel, filled with obstacles and dangling branches covered in spikes while trying to not get too close to the nest. All I could think about was which would be worse, enduring the bee stings, or hiding in the water. It´s a tough call. As we got in further the bugs started to be a little more prominent including spiders that would drop down onto you and into your kayak. This was when the journey into the little channel concluded and we turned around and went back out into the lagoon. While all of these was definitely an experience and a wonderful one at that, I definitely have a new perspective on lagoons!!

Only two more days left, very sad.

Mandy

Back to the sea...

We are back at the ocean now. We just got in late last night and are just having a look around today. Sambo Creek, the village we are staying in, is a fishing village. It actually reminds me a little of Grand Manan, the island I went to a couple of summers ago, off the coast of New Brunswick.

All is well. I will post pics of this area soon.

Mandy

A view from 370 meters...

Woohoo,

Today we went on the Ziplines. It was a total of 16 different lines that make your way over the rainforest. Two of the lines were 1 km long and 370 meters above the ground. Very exciting.

The first two pics are actually two views from the bed and breakfast we are staying at. They have this little open room that is tucked away where they give massages. I don't know how much the massages usually are, but this week they are running a full one hour relaxational massage for $20. I had one yesterday and booked another for today. Very decedant.

This next picture is of one of the streets in Copan Ruinas. The town is very hilly and all streets are lined with cobblestone. Makes for some treacherous walking, especially when it rains.

These two pics are of Robert and I on the ziplines. Really it was a blast. My technique was to go as fast as I could and then scamble at the end to try to stop myself, which you do by putting weight down on the lines with your hands. More often than now, the poor bloke had to stop me with his body!!

This last pic is of the drive back into town after Ziplining. This is a regular occurance.

The rest of these pics are samples of the flowers around Honduras. Mom, you were requesting these. Interestingly, they have a lot of the same flowers we do, except they grow all year round and therefore have a chance to get really big.

Take care,

Mandy

Back to the land of sunshine

Hi Everyone,

Here are pics of the finca as promised...




The first picture is of my sexy cowboy. The second is a shot of us horseback riding through the finca. The mountains in the background is all untouched rainforest as the owners have never cut anything down in it. The last picture is of some local fruit.



This next picture is of me wearing my new cowgirl hat. This is a rare photo op as I have deleted almost every picture of me that has been taken. Way to chunky monkey to have any formal record of. Besides, the files would be "too large" for me to upload anyway!!



These last two pictures are at the Mayan Ruinas. The first is of one of the temples and the second is of one of the kings. Not sure which temple or which king. We did actually hire a English speaking guide and it was interesting, I just don't remember anything now.

Tomorrow we are off to the Ziplines, the next day we will be traveling to La Ceiba where we have booked a bed and breakfast on the beach.

Health update:

Robert has been attacked by some bug and is horribly itchy. I personally find this amusing as he has never been overly sympathetic to my insect attacks back home.

I can finally clear my nose and so we may ran back to Roatan for a day to finish my Advance diving. The cold seems to have moved into my chest and I have a nasty little cough. Today I seemed to have added a fairly major case of the traveler's diarrhea. So much for DUKORAL.

Will write more soon,

Mandy

Hola from the misty mountains...

So now that we have really entered Honduras!, things are quite different. When we got on the ferry, we had to go through security just like at the airport. When we got on the bus to go to Copan, they first scrutinize your ticket against your passport, and then they take a digital photo of you, then they search you and your carry on baggage. They go through the same process when you connect on another bus.

We feel like we are in a different world. We are up in the mountains now and it is much cooler and rainy. Yesterday we arrived at the finca and went for a 4 hour horseback ride through the coffee fields. The coffee fields are actually planted in the rainforest that has been cleared except for all the tall trees. The horses were great. My horse´s name was Bonita. We then had lunch and went to visit the coffee processing plant and cardomom fields and plant. This was really interesting and we learned a lot about the process as well as the economics of coffee. Did you know that the ¨fairtrade¨ coffee that starbucks sells isn´t really fairtrade at all. They buy and therefore control the entire coffee industry in Guatemala. Everything grown there is sold to them exclusively. We also learned a lot about running a finca, which is actually a plantation, not a farm.

The hot springs were interesting. Not exactly as I had imagined them to be, but interesting nonetheless.

Today we went again for a horseback ride. We had several oppurtunities to run with the horses today. Exhilerating but somewhat scary. Also, my horse decided today that she didn´t want to get her feet wet and instead of walking through a small stream, she at the last minute decided to jump over it. Not only was I untrained to jump on a horse, I was also caught completely off guard. No worries though. I managed to stay on!

Tomorrow we are heading back to Copan to go to the ruins and the next day go to the Ziplines and Bird Park. I think we are going to cut this portion of the holiday a little short and get back to the beach. We are already missing the warmer, sunny weather.

I´ll post some pics of the finca tomorrow.

P.S. The food has been absolutely fabulous. Everything single thing has been grown and prepared on the finca. We have tasted so many vegetables and fruits that we have never had before.

Mandy

Life is just too ironic...

Hi Everyone,

First I will post a few pics from yesterday's butterfly/bird sanctuary.

The first picture is of some bird. You know me and details. These particular birds were in an open cage that we were in and the "guide" would stand behind you and hold up a piece of fruit. The bird proceeded to fly in a direct line from where it was perched to her which meant it was flying directly at us. I think she thought it was funny. The second picture, I was lucky to get. This butterfly was brown on the outside and has seven spots on it, which distinguished it from ones that only had one big spot. But inside was this gorgeous blue colour. When I managed to get the picture in the split second it opened its wings in her hands she said hundreds had people had tried and failed.

Today, our last day on Roatan was spent touring around the island on our scooter. Actually it was our second scooter. The first scooter had a malfunctioning fuse so first we couldn't start it, then the lights went wonky, then we couldn't even really kick start it. We brought it back this morning and ended up getting to keep it for the rest of the day.

It was an exhilarating ride around the island and we went all the way as far east as we could before the road turned to gravel. The eastern side of the island is much different than this side. It is much more under-developed and there were potholes so bit, people were crawling out of them!!

These two pics were taken in Coxen Hole. This is the main town on the island. The first is a "Roatan traffic jam". The second was just a store we went by. This picture and the next few may not be the most clear as I was taking them we were actually driving. Incidently, taking pictures on the back of a scooter while trying to hang on with one hand is not the easiest task.

The first picture here is from a higher point on the island and the second picture is at Oak's Ridge which is the last village on the paved road. Here most of the houses are built on stilts over the river.

Tomorrow we leave the island for Copan Ruinas. We are staying there just the one night and are being picked up to go out to a farm. I likely won't post anything for the next three days. If you don't hear from me that is why. I hope to have some great pics from the finca at that time.

Mandy

Scootering around

Okay, here are some pics as promised...

The first picture is of Robert and myself on the scooter we rented, the second picture is of a small boy who helped his father with his water taxi. The third picture is of course me.

These two pics are views from the dive shop. On looking down the road, the other across the street to the beach.

Today, once again I didn't dive. I actually didn't even try this time. After Robert finished diving we decided to rent a scooter for 24 hours. We took a drive to Coxen Hole, which is a completely different place than this end of the island. Much more poor. We stopped for gas and then couldn't get the scooter started again. Luckily I was listening to the guy who rented it to us and he said if we had problems starting it, that we would have to kick start it. Worked like a charm!!

We are going to go out for dinner just out of town tonight. Are we crazy, scootering around these crazy roads at night. Oh who am I kidding, of course we are!!

Clear skies again...

Sorry guys, I took photos today but my camera battery died and I needed to recharge it. I will post the photos tomorrow.

No diving for me again today. I tried but was unsuccessful. Right now Robert is out on a night dive and I am very jealous!! De-congestants, antibiotics, sinus medication, copious amounts of water, and rest have not worked therefore I am now turning to alcohol!!

I am trying to remind myself that hangng out in a pool drinking fresh pineapple and rum drinks while listening to "Thousand Splendid Suns" on my MP3 is not a bad alternative. (talkng books while lounging in a hammock is definitely the way to go. You don't even have to hold the book or keep your eyes open!!!) I am going to be finished the book soon and I am wondering what chance I have to find a library, with english talking books, that have unlimited Internet time so I can download a new book onto the MP3 player. I'm thinking the chances are slim. :)

We took a water taxi to a different town today to go for lunch. West Bay doesn't really have much going on except larger resorts and that is where the cruise ship unloads its people for the day. We had lunch and hightailed it back to West End.

We realized today that we are 1/3 through our vacation already. Gulp. Times goes too quickly!!
We are sad that we are going to be leaving Roatan soon, but are looking forward to the next portion of our vacation.

I'll post pics tomorrow.

Mandy

Raining day in Roatan

Sorry no pics today. It was raining most of the day and I spent the better part of the afternoon sleeping. I wasn't able to complete my dive today because of my cold. It is so frustrating. Today was particularly painful since instead of hanging out on the boat suntanning while everyone else dived (which really isn't a bad life), I was sitting on the boat during a Honduran rain storm.

So far I have been trying to clear my ears with copious amounts of water (5-7 litres a day), now I am starting in with the de-congestants. I have been hesitant to do so prior to now because if you are able to clear your ears only because of the decongestants, and then if they wear off under the water, then you can't come up. You end up getting reverse ear problems. No worries though, I'll just make sure I take it at the right time.

Take care. More tomorrow.
Mandy

Moray Eel siting

Hi Everyone,

We have completed two more of our advanced training dives. Our first dive today was our deep dive and we got down to 83 feet. I was very nervous beforehand and had trouble with my ears again, but managed to get it all sorted out. The ocean is quite different at that depth. Our second dive was "Peak Performance Bouyancy". On this dive we saw a baracuda, and huge grouper and a moray eel. We actually saw it swimming around and playing with the grouper for about 10 minutes. Apparently it is rare to see this. They are not the most common, and when you do see them, you only see their heads peeking out.

The first picture is where we load up our gear for diving, the second is a view from the beach near where we dive and the third picture is Robert waiting for an order of beans & rice (delicious) at Rudy's.

Tomorrow is our last dive towards our certification and it will be a wreck dive at just over 100 feet. On Wednesday we have a night dive planned.

Weather has been fabulous so far. Sun every day. The sun really is ridiculous here. Very very strong. Robert and I are fine. Robert seems to have a case of "touristsa"?? (the runs!!) and I started taking antibiotics in hopes that it will help the cold I have.

We still have five days left on the island. I think we are going to rent a car one day and go travel around the island and then go to a restaurant called "Hole in the Wall" for all you can eat lobster and steak bbq. You have to get to it by boat. Then we will be on to Copan Ruinas where we will stay just one night at first. Then the next morning we are going to be picked up in a pickup truck to stay at a finca (farm) for two days. Here we horseback ride, help in the cardamom and coffee fields and eat homemade farm cooked meals. The farm has been around since 1885.

Anyway, will keep in touch.

Mandy & Robert

Life under the sea is just plain weird...

Today we had a much more successful diving day. We went on two dives and decided to sign up to do our advance diving course. This consists of 5 speciality dives. The two mandatory dives include underwater navigation and a deep dive (100 feet - yikes!!). Then we get to chose three other speciality dives. We are going to take the Naturalist dive as well as a night dive. We haven't decided on the third dive yet.

The above picture was just a test because I have been having problems loading images. This one I took on the smallest image size with the lowest resolution, and it worked!! I will take more pictures later with these settings. This picture one of the walkways at the bed and breakfast we are staying at.

By the way, apparently the little mini jelly fish like me as much as mosquitos. I keep getting stung by them under the water. It isn't overly painful, but definitely uncomfortable and highly irritating.


Hope all is well back home. If anyone wants to respond to the blog, you can click on the
"comment" link just below each blog.

Mandy & Robert