Roatan, Honduras.....The Diving was Amazing

We were not planning on going to Honduras, but somethings you just don´t want to go back to Guatemala City just to take a bus through El Salvador. After our great Belize experience at Caye Caulker we decided to take a "ferry" from Placencia, Belize to Puerto Cortes, Honduras. The ferry was just a 41 foot boat packed with people... refugee style ... complete with pucking people and screaming babies. The boat even broke down a few times due to the debrie, but don´t worry a boathand would then take a broom to the motor to disloge the objects. There were some packed bus rides and a night in a bad hotel (Amsterdam 2001) along with another ferry ride to get to Roatan, an island off of Honduras.
The first day we stayed on the west end and took a beautiful 3 mile walk on the beach to West Bay Beach where all the expensive hotels were located. We enjoyed a beach chair and the cool caribbean waters. The next day I went out with a great dive company (Ocean Connection) and did 3 dives. The company was great and my dives had 3 to 4 divers with me and a divemaster and a divemaster in trainning. We went down to 70 feet and I saw lots of tropical fish, sea fans, a turtle, and a nurse shark. I did two great wall dives and got to go through shoots and small caves. The next day my dive buddy who lives in Honduras gave us a ride to the capital. This was a 7 hour trip with Chris and Jess...no easy feat...thanks Micheal!!!!!!

Belize it or not....we swam with a manatee!

SO..after the steamy jungle we finally made it an island paradise...Belize!! We took the local ¨chicken bus¨, which is just an old American school bus (looks like the one we saw go over a cliff in Guatemala), and we decided that it was way more comfortable than some of the ´luxury´shuttles that we had been taking...at some of the main bus stops local kids got on the bus and sold sodas, popcorn, chips, and even homemade baked goods... (We steered clear of the homemade pizza...it looked a little sketchy).

Once we got to Belize City, it was a 45 minute boat ride to Cayes. We instantly felt happier upon the site of the Caribbean water (I guess we are truly beach girls at heart)! Caye Caulker is this adorable beach side town with only sand roads and golf carts. We booked a hotel with an ocean view and headed for a swim...ahhh paradise.

The next day we booked a tour with E-Z boyz boat tours. The lady booking the tours was named Bunny (and Michelle if you´re reading this, she totally reminded me of you)! She was bubbly and friendly and she guaranteed that we would have a great time...she was not lying. We went to three different snorkeling spots. At the first spot a swarm of nurse sharks came right up to the boat...it looked like a feeding frenzy. I was a little nervous (what´s new), but NO FEAR Jess jumped right in. Not wanting to be a wuss, I followed. We saw nurse sharks, coral, turtles, sting rays, lobsters and tons of fish...it looked like a scene out of Finding Nemo . We then stopped at San Pedro for lunch and then went to the third spot. Our guide told us that manatees sometimes visit the North Channel, but that he hadn´t seen any in a few days. I was so excited I could barely contain myself. Anyone who knew me when I was little knows that I was borderline OBSESSED with manatees ( I even adopted one and got the little certificate), so getting to swim with one was high on my list. After about 10 minutes ( and me almost giving up hope) our guide pointed one out...I couldn´t get my fins on fast enough. He told us to go in on the other side of the boat so that we wouldn´t scare the manatee. I caught a glimpse of the manatee but a giant wave broke on top of us and then I couldn´t see anything but bubbles. It seemed like forever until the bubbles cleared and I thought the manatee was gone for good. But then I looked down and I was eye to eye with the manatee....IT WAS UN BELIZE-ABLE!

Relaxing on the coast...alive and getting tan!

It has been a while since our last post, so I just wanted to write that we are alive and well...we've been island hopping down the coast...we just finished up Belize and are now on Roatan...an island off the coast of Hondorus. Internet is so expensive here ($15.00 and hour), so this is just a quick post to let you know that we are doing great and having a great time! We have had so many funny adventures and as soon as we get back to the mainland we'll spend some more time on the internet and share all our stories. Hope all is well with you!

~Christine and Jess

Pictures-

top- Caye Caulker in Belize

middle- Placencia- Belize

bottom- enjoying a beer at sunset in Roatan

n

She's a beauty!

Okay....being the dog lovers that we are, you know we couldn't resist posting something about the dogs we have seen in Guatemala. They are everywhere...and I mean everywhere....I swear that there are 2 dogs per person. Most of them are street dogs and most are friendly. We were lucky to be staying wit the cutest and most friendly dog in Panajachel. Her name was Nyasa and she is Fransiska's dog (that is not the dog pictured above)...she protected us at night and followed us around during the day...on the day we left she followed us to the bus station and then when the bus drove off she chased after the bus...all the way to the edge of the city...she was fast! It is was so cute (and of course I was crying becuase it was sad to leave such a great pup)!

However, in addition to meeting Nyasa we also met the world's ugliest dog (pictured above)...we encountered this "beauty" in Santiago where (we have decided) all the ugly dogs go to live. It was hard to choose, but when we saw this pup we knew that we had found our winner~ There is a show on Animal Planet called " The World's Ugliest Dog" and we feel very stongly that this pup would make the top ten!

Tikal and Flores--We don't mess around

Our alarm went off at 4am and were met not with the familiar sound of an alarm, but the sound from a scary movie. We were sleeping in a bungalow in the jungle so the noise sounded like a very hungry large animal. Chris was sure it was a jaguar. It turned out to be only the howler monkeys. We then headed to our early morning tour of Tikal at 4:45 AM. It was a fast sprint through the forest with headlight on and up some steep steps to reach the top of the largest monument. We sat silently with all the rest of the tourist while we waited for the sun to rise on Tikal. We were above the tree canopy and saw the clouds break and the other tall monuments appeared while toucans and parrots flew by. It was amazing. We then got lucky and were in a small tour group only 7 oppose to the large 30 plus set up by our lodge. Our guide Antonio was very knowledgeable about Tikal. The monuments were built 700BC and the civilization lasted until 900AD. We went to several different sites and climbed up on another one under the direction of our guide who was such a character we gave him the nickname "Captain Ron."
After the tour we headed to Flores a beautiful small town on an island connected by a bridge. You could walk the whole town in five minutes, but it was filled with restaurants, bars, and hotels. Chris and I stayed in the bare budget $10 a night keep the lights turned off, don't touch anything, don't even think about taking a shower, and we suggest a few beers before you have to go home. We took an hour private boat tour for $12 and enjoyed a cold beer and the sunset. Yes you are right we spent more money on the boat ride than the room. Beers were $1.10. We had paid $100 to stay in the jungle the night before so we took a dramatic 90% decline. We are leaving Guatemala and heading for Belize! We are still alive on day 10!

2 American Teachers Almost Killed by Chicken Bus

This would have been the headline for CNN, followed by a picture of two cute but poorly dressed backpackers all in brown. Fortunately I am alive to give you the near death experience account.
After our great waterfall rope climbing experience and on the way to the caves our minibus was stopped. The windy road leading up the hill was blocked by two other minibuses and in front of that was a chicken bus (this is an american school bus painted that gives dirty cheap rides to the locals) who had broken down in the middle of the road. The tow truck was there and after about half an hour it seemed that the bus was going to make it around the bend and hopefully move out of our way. I decided to get a picture of the whole thing when all of a sudden the chain breaks on the tow truck sending the large chicken bus backwards down the hill. I of course am just standing there...Chris runs like everyone else. The chicken bus and driver go backwards over the side of the hill stopped finally by some trees. No one got hurt. If the bus had rolled after the chain broke it would have come right for all of us and the 3 minibuses. This gets my vote for closest near death experience in Guatemala!
Jess

Semuc Champey

Jess and I are now in full backpacker mode...we left Panajachel and hit the open rode on our way to visit Semuc Champey (sem -mook -champ -pay...trust me, I didn´t know how to pronounce it either)...as you can see by the pics, this place is absolutely georgeous, but it is hard to get to. We almost gave up on going because arranging the tour was quite difficult. However, we found a travel company that handled all the details (our bus ride, our hotels, and even our meals). So at 6 am (yep, you read it right) a bus picked us up from The Tower Hotel (more on that in another post) and we began the long and bumpy road to Semuc Champey (3 hours long)....IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH ALL THE EFFORT! This is one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been...the blues and greens of the water were breathtaking, but the was not the best part....the best part was that our guide helped us scale down a waterfall!!! I have done some cool things in my life, but this ranks at the top of the list... literally our guide threw a rope ladder over the side of the fall and helped us climb down...his "assistant" (and I am using that term loosely) tied one end of the rope to a rock and acted as the "spotter"in case things went wrong. The climb was a vertical drop and I almost chickened out, but Jess talked me into it and I am glad she did...it was a total adreniline rush and I will never forget it. Once under the fall we could see the rush of water flowing into the river! So cool...I wish we had pictures of that part of the adventure, but we were so focused on holding onto the ladder that the camera didn´t enter into our minds. This was no Wild Water Rapids ride:)

-Christine