Nicaragua

I just realized that I have not blogged for more than a week now. I definitely doesn´t feel that long...

So, yes on the Sunday I last wrote I did the last two dives of my Advanced course. The Peak Performance Buoyancy was great fun. Swimming through hoops, doing high jump under water etc and always controlling your position by holding a deep breath or breathing out completely. THe problem is that if you laugh under water, your mask floods. I had to clear mine very often...

With the course I did, I also got two free fun dives. Those were planned for Monday. Luckily they only started in the afternoon, so I could have a long sleep and then slowly make my way to the dive shop. The dives were supposed to be down to a large ship wreck at 30m. Very exciting. The coolest thing about the dives were that the people I went in group down with were all either Dive Masters or Instructors that came to Utila to have some fun. So they were just schmaking around and we had an awesome time. Nitrogen narcosis is awesome as well. I laughed my head off at a fish... The rest of Monday night was to relax. Have a beer and take it easy.

The plan was to leave on Tuesday afternoon to Nicaragua with a Swiss girl (Daria) I met. Tuesday came and plans changed. We made it a sports day. Went kayaking, swimming and running. Very nice to do some sports again, but running in the heat is not always very easy... Having an extra day was nice, since walking through the streets on Utila, having a drink, a bite to eat and just enjoying how different every part of the world is just awesome fun to me.

Wednesday it was definitely time to leave though. The plan was to start a long trip all the way to San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. It would take us at least two days to get there. But there is a bus from San Pedro de Sula in Honduras to Managua in Nicaragua, which is most of the way. So we took the afternoon ferry from Utila to the mainland and made it to San Pedro de Sula on Wednesday night after nightfall and took a taxi to a hotel. Everyone said one has to watch out in Honduras because of the Cou and stuff. It turned out that that was no probelm, but the part of town where the hotels are is a real rough one. Guys in shot guns in front of every hotel and guys sleeping on the road between the hotels. Weird feeling.
So we arrived in San Pedro at 9 in the evening and ordered a taxi for 3.45h the next moring to take us back to the bus stations. Good nights sleep.. (???)

Thursday was torture. Up at 3.15h. 12 bus ride from San Pedro to Managua. With the lowlghts being: My bag took a beating. Within 10 minutes, the zip broke, a water bottel ran out inside it, wetting all my books and a woman vomitted on it. Good fun. The plan was to sleep in the bus. But after that happened I couldn´t even think about sleeping any more... Well, the 12 ride didn´t take us to were we wanted to go yet. Taxi to the other bus station, chicken bus for two hours, which was cramped like hell and then 30 minutes more taxi, beacause the buses stopped by then. Finally at around 9 in the evening we arrived in San Juan. Beautiful. All worth it again. Small town on a bay, with fishing boats just off the beach, lots of bars and restaurants on the beach and a slight evening breez. The one beer I had that night tasted like heaven. Unfortunately though the hostel we wanted to go to was full already that night.

So Friday morning we changed into the hostel we wanted to go to. Friday was a day of relaxing, sleeping, getting over the trauma and getting to know San Juan. Really, really cool here. Eventhough is almost a bit like package touristy with lots of americans, its still very relaxed. We booked a surf lesson for Saturday. I was very excited about that.
While walking through the shops, we realized how much silly cloths they sell here. We decided to buy lots of it and have a bit of a dress up party that night. Awesome fun. Unfortunately all the pictures were never found again...

Saturday moring we headed out to the beach with lots of other guys from the hostel and the instructor. All I can describe the day as is really 7 hours of heaven. Warm water, perfect waves, relaxed people, a nice beach and I caught quite a few good waves. Most of the peole left at 3.30 back to the hostel. I stayed until 5.30 and was out on the water most of the time. Only locals left with amazing skills. Just watching and learing and every now and then get beaten up by a wave. So much fun.
One should expect that we had a quite night, but it was the weekend really, so we decided to go out again. When I got to bed at 3.30 though I was dead as it gets.

On Sunday moring we were all so dead, that there was not even the slightes idea of going surfing or big activities. Surfing is really quite tiring and al my muscles were acing like hell. By the early afternoon I was back to old strenght and managed to convince 4 other peole to go on a fishing trip with me. It was 15 US and lasted 2.5 hours. WOW. So much fun. 10 people on the boat. We caught 16 fish. Tuna, Makrel and Jack fish. Great, great time. The only downside. I had a 2 meter shark on the line, which I lost when it was just by the boat. When it was giving me a bit of slack, it tightened the reel to get it further and then it chared. The line snapped. So upset! Couldn´t even fall asleep last night cause I was so upset. We still had the best dinner last night ever We took 5 fish between the 5 of us and cooked them at the hostel. So much fun to cook and be in the kitchen with a cool crowd of people. I filleted the fish and Daria (having never done it before) cleaned and filleted half the fish. With all the blood and guts. She liked it as well, which scared me a bit. Jokes aside. An aweome experience! The guys from the boat were trying to get money off me for the lost lure though, which put me in a bit of a moral delemma. I dont really think that losing a lure is a mistake that I should pay. Especially becasue they never said anything beofrhand and told us everything was included... Anyways, I´ll go to the shop again today and talk to them. It would be ok to pay a bit but they wanted 25 US. Hope we´ll find an agreement (in spanish...)

Today, Monday is not planned at all, so I´ll live it as it comes...

Honduras

Well,to get from Livingston in Guatemala to Utila in Honduras was a mission. Quite a cool trip as well though. As it is always the case, crossing a boarder changes so many things. People act differently towards you, the wealth of the people is different, the roads are different, the food is different and well the ladies look different...

So I started the trip on Thursday at 6.30 the morning. A boat ride to Puerto Barrios, a bus ride to the boarder to Honduras, a bus ride to Puerto Cortes, a bus ride to St Pedro de Sula and then a bus ride to La Ceiba. As easy as that. The last boat from La Ceiba to Utila was at 4.00. We got there at 4.10. Well, I can say that I almost made the trip in one day. I met a Irish girl in Livingston that went the same way, so we teamed up and went looking for a hostel in La Ceiba for the night. Got ripped off by a taxi driver on the way but found a decent enough place to stay for the night. I was really quite tired after several nights of bad sleep and lots of travelling, so I slept 14 hours in La Ceiba and then it was time to go to boat already. Exciting night....

As I said, on Friday morning we headed for the ferry across to Utila. I was quite scared of the trip, as I heard that many people get sick on the boat if the sea gets rough. Luckily the sea was nice and calm and I survived without any damages. Utila is quite a big Island off the coast of Honduras and know all over the world as a spot of very good and extremely cheap diving. There is a small town on the island that most of the travellers stay at and where also most of the dive operators are. The first night here I decided to treat myself to a single room for the night with my own bathroom and clean beds. It was fantastic. I felt so clean leaving the room every time. Good times :-) Most of the places by the water here are built of heavy wood and are quitenew, which makes very nice places to hang around on. There are bars by the water, which extend to jetties on the water. Really beautiful for sundowners.
Since this is one of the cheapest places in the world to go diving, I signed up for an Advanced Open Water course here. Starting Saturday afternoon. All excited.

The plan for the next few days. 5 dives for the Advanced course, 2 fun dives and accommodation at the dive operators hostel. When you do a course at a dive operator here, you get free accommodation during your course. Quite nice. Choosing an operator was a bit tricky as there are loads, but I decided to go for one of the bigger and slightly more expensive ones. Just to be able to meet more people, get good gear and good instructions. That woked out very well.
We did three dives on Saturday. First a deep dive to 30 meters, then an orientation dive with compasses and later the night a night dive. All of them very great fun and the reef around here is amazing. After the night dive it started pouring down with rain and wouldn't stop for the whole night. 3 friends and I decided to have a private pool party and so we got drinks, we playing in the pool drinking and it was pouring down with rain. Was good fun.

Today (Sunday) I did two dives in th morning, a Search and Recovery and a Peak Performance Beouancy. Both were great fun. Much better diving than in Cape Town. Wearing a 2mm shorty and colourful reefs and loads of fish just beats everything. The plan for the next few days is to enjoy Utila for a bit more and then to find a way to go to Nicaragua. Appartenly they have an amazing surf there. Have to check that out!

Caribbean sailing trip

I´m not sure I will ever be able to adapt to a european pace lifestyle again. Coming back from a three day sailing trip through the Caribbean, where the only real thinking process of the day was: what time should we start drinking rum? All I know is: Arrrggggghhhh. Because I´m a pirate now.

So, I left off on Wednesday the 5th. That day was quite hectic. I read a book, went to the internet and booked a trip for the next day... True Belizean style.

The three guys I had been travelling with for a bit decided to go for a dive on Thursday. I decided to give tat a skip, since it would have been 190 US and I though was slightly out of proportion. So on Wednesday I booked a full day snorkwling trip. We went on a sail boat (which turned out to be the same one, with which I went on the cruise later) and sailed out to three different spots to snorkel, each time we cam out of the water, there were fresh fruits, lunch or snacks ready and we were looked after quite superbly. Under water, there were amazing corals, lots of sharks, eels, loads of colourful fish and we saw two manatees. Quite amazing creatures. Seeing that they are related to the elephant, it gives away a hint at their size... We trip ended with a two hour sail home with free rum punch. Well, that reall has to be done in the Caribbean with two guides who look like pirates and have small monekeys as pets... The afternoon and the night after the trip got quite long and I had a really good time with the people from the trip and all the other people I had met at the backpackers before.

Friday was recovering time. I had managed to go to the bank and draw money by 3 o´clock and was quite proud of myself. Looking back that does seem a bit sad... Well I had booked a the three day sailing trip for saturday and so relaxing a bit in the shade before that seemed reasonble anyways. In the evening we had a pretrip meeting and I got to know the whole crowd that would come on the trip. They seemed nice, but as Belize is a country where lots of people come for shorter holidays, some of the people seemed to have a bit of a different attitde towards holidays than I have. But I definitely didn´t let that dampen my mood. I called it an early night as we would have to get up early the next day.

On Saturday I woke up before my alarm clock (not sure what got into me) and so decided to go for a quick run (not sure what got into me there either) before we would embark on the trip. When we (Spencer, an american guy came with me) got to the docks, the word was that the big boat we were supposed to go on had an engine problem. So wen had to go on a boat half the size. Quite a pitty, but what can you do. Two hours late we sailed off. A more or less 12 meter boat for 13 pax and two crew. Since we didn´t have to sleep on board that seemed fine. We had two snorkeling stops on the way and were trawling for fish all day. The weather was not too great, since it was a bit cloudy and we had the odd shower, but the wind was good, which made us go wuite fast. To make up, one of the girls caught a nice baracuda on one of the rods, which was gonna be dinner. At about 4 we arrived at the island we would sleep for the night. It´s called Rondevou (incorrect spelling) and is unbelievable. It would take you 30 seconds to walk around it and it had 8 palm trees and a jetty. that´s it. Well, almost, since two people lived on it. Pablo and his son. Quite the couple. We asked them what they did whole day, wherther they went fishing or something else. They answered rather uspet about us not appreciating their job, that they would clean up after we left... They have a hectic lifestyle. When we arrived they were lying in hammock and bed and that position they were able to keep throughout most of the day. Maybe seeing people just made them drowsy... Noone knows. We pitched tents on the island, the captain cooked dinner and we had Baracuda in cocnut sauce with rice and veg. Amazing. The night we had a bond fire on the beach and had a good time. Oh, well, yes there was free rum the whole night. Later the night though it turned out that the whole tent idea was a very bad idea. It was extreely hot inside, the wind made it flap around the whole time and the rain came inside. So my ni9ght was not exactly the best. But it was loads of fun on the island!

On Sunday moring it was another day of stress. Breakfast, sailing, fishing, snorkling, eating, sailing. Highlight was catching a baracuda from the back of the boat. Otherwise lots of hanging around in the sun. In the afternoon we arrived on Tabacco Caye. An island with 20 inhabitants (gross estimation from 2007) and about 4 ´hotels´. It turned out to be very relaxed and the hotels were just small huts with rooms. I was sure not to make the same tent mistake again and I decided to sleep out on a dock that night. That was the best night ever. The moon above and below a light which showed the sea with all the fish. Really great.

Monday was going to be the last day of the cruise and we set off to go to Placencia. Clearly on the way there was fishing snorling and drinking involed. We arrived in Placencia at about 5 in the afternoon and headed out to look for a place. The cheapest place in town was mine and in the evening I went out for some fodd and a few drinks. My plan was to stay in Placencia for two nights, as I could not eb bothered to get up early the next moring to head out.

The next morning (Tuesday) I got up at 10.30 and had to check out or pay for the next night by 11. Somehow though I had the feeling I needed to head out. My plan was to go to the Bay Islands in Honduras, but as this is not possible in one day (more like three) I decided to head out in direction Livingston in Guatemala. The trip was a bit epic, but as I only started at 12.30 it was clear I would arrive late.So I ent from Placencia to Independence with a boat there the 12.45 bus usually comes at 1.30 according to the locals, which it did exactly. that bus took me to the Puerto Gorda in Belize still. From there I took a boat to Puerto Barrios in Guatemala and from there a boat to Livingston. I arrived at about 7.15 in the dark. The trip started off quite nice, but there were a few low points: The ferry from Belize to Guatemala was an open speed boat, which was supposed to take two hours. After about an hour it started raining... Quite wet. About 20 minutes later the word from the captain was : Oh, sin gasoline. That´s really the one thing I didn´t want to hear. But then 10 minutes later another boat came to get us some more petrol. The boats are all about 10 meter long, made out of fibre glass and have 200 horse power engines. So the trip is quite fast. The last trip from Puerto Barrios to Livingston was all in rain. Well, let´s say I was happy to be there in the end and luckyly the rain around here is not really cold. I found a very nice hostel in Livingston, so I felt all good again.

Today, Wednesday, is relaxing a bit, trying to figure out how to get to Honduras tomorrow and have a good time. I hope I will find an easier way to the Bay Islands still, as at the moment the best option semms to include 6 different buses and boats to get there. Wish me luck

Mexico to Belize

On Saturday I had arrived to Tulum. Mexico was really quite different to Guatemala. Big roads, much more developed and quite a different lifestyle as well. Was very cool to live the Mexican life for a while.

On Sunday is was big diving time. I met a few english guys and girls and we decided to go for a double dive the afternoon. The trip was going to be to fresh water caves, which used to be dripstone caves, but are now flooded with water. The viz was supposed to be more than 100 meters. We set off the afternoon to the Dos Ojos caves. It was really quite cool to walk trough the rain forest with diving gear on and then all of a sudden to find a small bit of water, where we went into and descended into the caves. There weren't many fish around but it was amazing to swim through water which is as clear as air, but has such wonderful refelctions all over. In most parts the cave was quite wide, but we went through one strech, where both my elbows touched the sides and I had to watch out that my tank didn't scrape the limestone. Really quite a different dive to the normal open water dives. We went for two different dives in the cave, going off in different directions. Definitely worth the money! The rest of Sunday night, we had a good dinner on the street and then went out for a few drinks and decided to head out the next morning to go to Belize.

Monday moring we headed out to the bus and caught a bus to the Belizean boarder at 10.30h. Crossing into Belize was slghtly difficult as the Mexican officer decided that today the exit fee out of Mexico would be double the normal price. If you looked rich it could also be quite a bit more... What a nice guy. As soon as we crossed into Belize things changed drastically. We had arrived in the Carribeans. What a wonderful feeling. The people speak English and have a wonderful accent and are very very relaxed. The plan was to go to Cay Calker the same day still, but we arrived in Belize City 10 minutes after the last ferry departed. So we stayed in Belize City for one night. We were told before that the city was not really worth a visit. But we really had quite a fun time and found the city live super interesting. We went to a hostel;, with the weirdest characters ever running the place and walking on the streets was sooo cool. People just chat you up and start talking and are all relaxed. The dialect is just soo cool.

Tuesday moring we headed out to Cay Calker and we arrived in Paradise. A small island, everyone is super relaxed, good weather, cool people and lots of things to do. After we arrived we just walked around the island a bit, picked some coconuts from the trees and opened them and started making plans for the next days. In the evening we went to buy some drinks in the supermarket, had those and then went out to a few bars and a club. A real fun day. Unfortunately though Belize is quite a bit more expensive than the countries I have visited so far. That just means not going out for food and drinking stuff from the supermarket. We bought quite a bit of food in Mexico and brought that along to save a bit as well.

Today (Wednesday) the plan is to do lots of nothing. Read, write and book trips. I had heard a while ago about a sail trip that would go from here 3 days and 2 nights south past all the small islands, snorkeling, fishing and sleeping on deserted islands. That just sounds like heaven to me. So on friday I will head out of Cay Calker on a three day sailing trip to Palencia. It's quite expensive to do the trip, but it just sounds too good to let it pass. I might try to get a spearfishing trip in for tomorrow and otherwise just live the carribean livestyle - go slow, maaan.

Made it to Mexico

Ola.

I in fact managed after all to book a trip to Mexico on Wednesday night.

On Thursday morning at 5 my bus left, heading for Palenque in Mexico. The idea was to go there for one night, since there were supposed to be nice ruines and beautiful blue pools in a river. The trip there included two long bus rides and a 30 minute boot ride to cross the river at the boarder. In Flores already I had met a girl that was going to do the same trip, so we bought the tickets together and joined up for a few days.

In Palenque the first thing I did was try to get money with my card and I succeded, which really calmed me down a bit. Mexico here I come...
The lonely planet said,that the best place to stay was slightly out of town and so we headed there and found a place quite easily. We got two hammocks. It turned out that the full service of the hostel included that they gave us really really uncomfortable hammocks, which they just threw in front of our feet for us to set them up. It was reasonably cheap though.

There were a few things about the place, which could have really spoiled the one night there, which include:
- The toilet was dirty and the shower very simple
- We were staying with four hippis and a dog, who made and sold beads-stuff for a living
- In the village was a small stream that smelled like one would die instantly upon touching it
- It was so hot, that even after dinner, when I had a beer I was still sweating like crazy
- After 2 hours of bus driving we arrived at the blue pools and found about 100 people in them, 15 Restaurants and 50 people trying to sell us stuff. We left affter 20 minutes.

But the good thing was that the girl I met was german and we managed to use german sarcasm to the absolute max and we really had a very good time, just laughing and talking about how awesome the place was. But to defend the place I have to say that there was a good restaurant. (Which was unfortunately packed with package tourists who came from their hotels...). This all might sound quite bad, but I really look back at the time and think that I enjoyed myself. Quite proud of that...

So then on Friday night I caught a night bus from Palenque to Tulum. It took 11 hours and we had to get out twice at army checkpoints. BUT I had the best sleep I had in about a week. No hammock, a bit of shaking from the bus and a good aircon. I litureally fell asleep 20 minutes after the bus left and woke up 1 minute before the bus arrived in Tulum. I have to admit that I took a first class bus though, which was about twice the price of the second class buses, but it had an aircon and was not 30 years old and stuffed with people...

When I arrived here at 7 in the moring I walked to the Hostel I had found in the lonely planet and managed to get a bed immideately. At 12 I went on the bus to get to the beach. Stunning. Turquoise, warm water and white sand. Spend the whole day there, talking to people, hanging around and swimming. Awesome day. Just got back from that now and now starting t0 think what to do the next days. Might stay here for another one or two nights and then head on to Cay Calker in Belize probably. Supposed to be good diving and kite surfing there. Let´s see how it goes.