tela honduras, amapala, honduras, san miguel el Salvador and misc ramblings

Nocided internet for a few days hence no blog entries.

I left utilla 6 am as planned. Actually I got there early just in case and it turned out it was 6:20 departure. I was glad to leave utila because of the humidity there and the sand flies, which I hear are also predominant in new Zealand. They are really annoying. they are like Mosquitos but very small so you don't even know when they bite you. eventually I was told this Mosquito repellent does not help but baby oil does. I tried that and it seemed to help a little. A few days later I was told you should use Mosquito repellent and baby oil so I did that and that seemed to help but by then they had already taken quite a few bites on me.

I decided to go to tela Honduras. Unfortunately I was told that the things I wanted to do were too late for that day so I just walked around town and hung out at the beach. The rooms were relatively expensive and I decided that the animals I wanted to see there I could see elsewhere so I left Saturday morning. From talking to people I then decided to go to amapala island. this is not work as planned either. There were a couple of problems. 1 by the time I got there Saturday afternoon the Tourism office was closed. They are also closed on Sunday and my plans were to leave either Sunday or Monday. The rooms were expensive there also so I just hiked around on Sunday and then left. the second problem was that neither of the three stops we made had a atm machine anywhere nearby and I wAs very low on cash. on the island most places do not accept credit cards either.

I was thinking of skipping el Salvador and only going to utila in Honduras and heading straight to Nicaragua but got convinced otherwise. I think lake coatapeque and other areas of el Salvador will be nice. I dont think I will get as far into south america as originally planned.

GRANDPA
So twice some young smart a** kid referred to me as grandpa. The first one said time to go home grandpa at as bar trying to impress his friends. I turned to him and said I can't find my walker. That pretty much shut him up.

The second  time was at a restaurant/bar. He was upset that he scratched on the 8. I was up next to challenge the table and he was hesitant to give me the cue. when he came up to the table to challenge me it was one of the best wins I have ever had. afterwards a couple people came up and congratulated me. They said he was the person to beat. I am Not sure if they were saying he was the best player in the restaurant or the best player in utila, which is a small town. Either way that shut him up.

HARD TO GET GOOD INFORMATION
I may have told this story already.
When I was in one town guatemala for 1 night I got a little lost going back to my hostel. They were only a couple blocks from the police station and i had a map with their address as well as indicating where on the map they are and where the police station was. I could not find the hostel but I found the Police station. they told me to go 3 blocks to the right. As I left I realized it was to the left so I went back to the police station. They were kind enough to send two officers with me to walk me to my hostel. the problem was we walked for 15 minutes until they eventually call the hospital to ask for better directions.

when I was leaving tela I was told by a bus driver that busses leave every 2 hours starting at 4 a.m. about a block from where I was staying. since I went to bed early and did not sleep that well I decided to catch the 4 o'clock bus. The only problem was the bus did not leave from where I was told and it did not leave at 4 o'clock. I ended up having to take a taxi to the bus terminal and I caught the 4:45 a.m. Bus.

when I was having dinner in Amapla I went near a light so I could read the menu. Something landed on my glasses and when I went to push it away I got stung. They gave me a lime to ease the pain and I also asked for some ice and that seemed to alleviate the pain.

SCUBA DIVING
On my dives we saw parrot fish, sergeant majors, blue chromis, reef SquirrelFish, yellowtail, slippery dick, yellow striped grunt, brazillian basslet, scrawled file fish, Atlantic trumpet fish, porcupine fish, stoplight parrot fish, fairy basket, dog snapper, red hind, barred hamlet, tomtate, mutton snapper, gray snapper, spotfin, butterfly fish, four eye butterfly fish, gray angelfish, blue tang, saucereye and porgy.

 My scuba instructor from el Salvador, alessandra

 Skid row challenge. Four shots of this. I chose not to participate especially with early mornings the next day both times I was there.

 Well at least the horses kook healthy. No false claims here.

Amapala.

Pictures went in the middle of my text....user error.

Unfortunately the day before when I was on cay island instead of diving they saw whale sharks.

Gotta go. I need to figure out where I am going tomorrow.
Thanks to those who have emailed me and/or commented on my posts.

scuba

I was supposed to go diving yesterday but went to day island instead. An island with nothing but trees and beach. The water is about a foot deep and you just sit in it and eat and drink. I was then supposed to dive this morning but they could not find my prescription googles. They found them eventually and I went out in the afternoon.

Due to my inability to pass the swim test I did discover scuba diving instead of getting licensed. It was two 35 minute dives and lots of fun.

I am probably leaving tomorrow either for tela Honduras or el Salvador. The morning boat leaves at 6 am so it is partly dependent on how late I am out tonight and partly dependent on if I want to stay here another day.

 Dock at my dive center.

Some gals I met at dinner...pre tequila Tuesday

 One of many beautiful butterflies

 Tequila Tuesday jumps

My dive instructor, alessandra

SCU-bah

So after enrolling to get certified to SCUBA dive I find out that there are medical questions which, if answered affirmatively to any, need a doctors approval.  It seems like I am okay as the big one for me are asthma, which has been 5-10 years.

So I thought I was good to go. Then, although I was told you dont need to be a great swimmer, I found out that there are two swim tests.
1) to swim 200 meters (or to swim 300 meters with snorkel, fins and mask)
2) to float for 10 minutes

I was unable to complete test 1 however I can do a "discover scuba" class which let's you scuba dive once without swim tests or certification so that is what I will do.

Then I need to figure out where I am going next and when.

September is the most humid month here and the day I arrived was the worst with no breeze. The weather either has gotten a little better or I am just getting used to it.

utila bay islands honduras

Great place but hit and humid. I am going to get certified to dive unless my doctor says no. Almost got ac room but my new Israeli friend who I am sharing a room with said no to the extra $35 each for 5 nights total. He now has second thoughts since it is hard to sleep. We will survive.

 Macarena!

 Graduation celebration

 A dive instructor I met at the party, Marcia from el Salvador and

A bar in a tree House

Stay tuned for tequila Tuesday

agua caliente photos

agua caliente in rio dulce, Guatemala

First I was not going here, then I was,then I was not again. I ended up stopping here on the way to Honduras and am I glad I did.

Lonely planet did not even mention agua caliente. What is it? The only waterfall in the world that has hot water flowing into a cold river. It was like mother natures hot tub. You have "jets" massaging your body.....and they also have a guide who knows where to get the natural mud for your skin.

The fort that was not meant to be seen. So the first day we stayed in kangaroo hostel. It was nice but expensive to stay and to eat and the food was not great. We moved to hotel Rio vista and it was cheaper, better and the owners were great (sailors from new orleans). I have learned a new card game from some Israelis...yoniv, and have taught people oh hell.

Anyhow back to the fort (and unofficial pirate museum). The first day we were going to go but decided not to. The second day after agua caliente and the river We were going to go but ended up going down water slides with some local kids. The bus took 30 minutes to get us so no time. Day 3 we were going to go first thing in the am before catching a bus to utila, which takes 2 days. My roommate was sick the night before but okay to go, he ordered breakfast and so did I. After breakfast I learned we would be risking missing the only bus if we went to the first. I guess there was a miscommunication and for some reason they did not know we wanted to go for sure. We ended up getting a boat ride to see it from the water.

In utile now, which is great but humid, for diving school. Check out the YouTube video "if you go to utila" time for class. Pictures later.

semuc champey, Guatemala

One of my three favorite places so far. The other two are Georgina's Fuentes hot springs and the Amazing agua caliente