Puerto Cortés

I am so so behind!

i’ll go back to two weeks ago when I went to Puerto Cortés to visit Jacob(this is the guy that knows the flynns). I took a really shifty bus to get there and then him and his host brother found me in the market in the city some time after i had arrived (it took about an hour and a half to get to the city). they took me to their house which was a while out of the city, just a little neighboorhood and very very different than my house and life in San Pedro. his family was really nice and i chatted with his mom for a while. that night we walked to a girl named Ida’s house, she is from Norway and is here with AFS community service, her and Sandra from Switzerland had arrived in nearby close towns in january.(I hang out with them every once in a while) we spoke spanish all together in that house that night but later that changed because Ida’s real dad is american and she was raised bilingual and Sandra of course knows english too. The next day Ida picked me up and my house and we caught a bus to Omoa which is where Jacob’s school is, and also Joel’s school(that´s me!), a guy from california who is also with AFS but came in august. we met them at school and chatted for a while and then decided to go to the calm beach of Omoa. it was really fun just relaxing with Joel Ida and Sandra (Jacob ended up leaving actually and going back to his house) and it was nice to speak english and enjoy the water too. as we were walking back to Joel’s house we passed some guys playing basketball so Ida and Joel joined in. Ida ended up cutting up her foot really bad so Joel helped her limp to his house as me and Sandra jogged back to the beach because i had forgotten my sunglasses at a restaurant. we later took a bus back to our neighboorhoods and i had to find Jacob’s house by myself and his family was really mad at him for leaving me alone.

the next day Sandra, Ida, Joel and I went into the city (Puerto Cortés) and went shopping and hung around. spur of the moment Joel decided to come back to San Pedro with me to hang out that night, we didnt know where he would stay or anything but it was okay. we got back to my house and met up with Nico and Tina (two of her friends in San Pedro. Nico´s from french speaking Belgium and came with AFS here to Honduras a couple years ago. He´s back now with his original host family working with his “practice” or something like that, doing marketing stuff for some car company. Tina´s from Germany and is here volunteering teaching english. She had actually gone to the US with afs a couple years ago and stayed in Laguna Beach)to eat baleadas at Los Tipicos. and then went to Nico’s for a while and then out to a nightclub called 1201 (he actually lent me some clothes, cuz I came to town with my yellow shorts and t-shirt. He didn´t have any shoes for me, so I ended up rockin the flip flops =) Actually, David (read a little more)told me later that they weren´t gonna let me in with them, but they did cuz I´m a gringo. Cool huh?). I met a bundle of people and danced a lot and it was fun. Joel ended up being able to stay with David, a guy that had been an AFS volunteer with Joel in Copan back in october or whatever so it all worked out.

now this is where it gets crazier. we decided that the next day (saturday) Joel would go home (to get clothes and stuff) and then return to San Pedro and then we would imediately leave for La Ceiba, stay there a night and then go to Utila on sunday. i had some problems with Nico that night, and the other people i was suposed to be going to Utila with were being confusing, so we just decided to go and wing it. (BOO YA!)

La Ceiba

It all starts even before we leave San Pedro. we get to the bus station and i start chatting with a girl waiting next to me and it turns out that her and her group are americans but have been working for the past half year in El Salvador at an american school teaching all ages of kids. There were six of them and we ended up talking a lot and sitting around by each other on the bus. When we arrived 5 hours later in la Ceiba (que horrible el tráfico!) they didnt have plans of where to stay so the 8 of us went to the hostel that Joel knew about and stayed in a lofted dorm together for $5 a night. It was fun and we went out for dinner and ended up meeting a guy named Erik from Michigan who has been living in Costa Rica for the last 3 years (this guy was great, I actually ended up hanging out with him a lot in Utila). we went to a very strange rock concert across from the hostel that night (you had to buy a beer to get in and they played US covers form the 70′s) and then in the morning all (9 now) of us went to the ferry ticket place at 7am. standing in line there i saw three girls behind us speaking german and eating pancakes so i went to go talk to them. i spoke to them in spanish and they answered back in spanish, but this converstaion was probably our last we had in spanish. there was Magda from Austria and Mika and Christina from germany and they are here with ICYU staying in Tegucigalpa for communitty service. (turned out that they were with the same program as Tina in San Pedro and they knew each other! what coincidences). so they were sort of added to our group then too… i think you’re starting to see the picture, how traveling seems to work out because you meet amazing people along the way and all end up going together.

we finally got on the ferry and it was a really rough sea so everyone was basically throwing up the entire time. but a few of us (me included) had the brilliant idea to sneak under the rope and go stand outside on the front of the boat, clinging onto a railing and getting pounded and soaked by every wave. truly it was fun, cold, fun and very very satly. (satly?)

Utila Day One

when we got to the island, we went with the six americans to their hotel because they had it all set up and everything and though we could maybe get in on it with them and get into their scuba diving class. we walked for about a half an hour (they got the last hotel on the whole island i think because it’s NOT a big island…) and when we finally got there it turned out that the reservations had gotten screwed up and so now nothing was going to work. the problem with this is that it is SEMANA SANTA which means most people in the world are trying to get to this island, and so all the hotels are full and booked. Joel knew of a hotel so we set back out with all of our luggage to see whate we could find. when we got back near the center (there are only two streets on the island, one long one that goes through everything and then a vertical one that cuts up through the middle) we asked around at a bunch of hotels and of course all of them were full.

oh i forgot to say that i had decided saturday that i was going to come to scuba dive here (thanks to me! I told her man, you can´t go to Utila and not dive…). uitla is one of the best places in the world to scuba dive and they have the cheapest diving of the whole world. another cool thing about the island is that the natives speak a creole, an english creole, and most speak english too and some only speak spanish if they came from the mainland. (here i am going on again about languages i know i’m obsessed) but the funny thing is that you never really know what language to speak because sometimes you’re hanging out with people from norway and speaking spanish but the waitress doesnt understand when you order in spanish or you’re with germans, americans, and islanders speaking english, but you have to buy your sandals in spanish and of course the ATM is in spanish too. it’s very confusing. (BY THE WAY during this week I broke my cheap sandals TWICE. Well, different pairs of cheap sandals.)

me and joel left our bags somewhere (it was in a hotel lobby, so they were safe) and continued walking around asking for anything. we went to a dive shop (the one that I had dove with last time) and i had almost signed up and they had rooms for us that would be free for me while i was doing to course and $8 a night for Joel (he’s already certified (that´s RIGHT)) but the course was a four and a half day one and i wanted to be done before friday. we walked next door to the next one and i fell in love. they were so nice and a native girl explained everything to us and gave me a book and us a room and told me i had homework for that night to read and that classes started the next day (monday) at 3:30. this place was even cheaper (the other place was $250 for the Open Water course and here is was $238) AND i got free room for 4 nights and for Joel it was $3 a night which was the price range we wanted. now if you dont know scuba diving prices around the world i know the same course in Costa Rica (they dont even have very good diving) is around $500 and in norway my friend payed $2000 for the same class too. we actually even got a hold of our six american friends and the three that wanted to scuba dive came to the hotel and got into the class with me! it was a full class now with 12 people i think, and crazy enough the german girls from la Ceiba were in it too and it the hotel thing too!

me and joel went to our room across the street and found a small damp room with a broken fan and flickering light. the shared bathroom was down the hall, the shower across the street, and our ceiling leaked some water too. but it had two beds and we got to put our suitcases down so it was good enough for us.

we met my instructor who was a crazy guy that we were later told is a pirate. he’s funny and loud and has been diving for ever. right off the bat he invited us to a huge party at his house that night and told us to meet at the dive shop at 5pm. he said it was catered so you paid for the food and then booze was free. the house was big and he had a crazy sound system that was being used in a room to watch wrestling, i know. it was really fun though and i met probably a hundred people from all over the world (that´s exagerated, there weren´t even a hundred people there) and of course no one spoke spanish. me and joel went home around 1am pretty early because we wanted to settle into our room and get cleaned up.

Utila Day Two

the next day i cant really remember what we did but we did go to a bakery that Joel had gone to when he’d been to Utila before and its owned by a really nice lady and they all actually speak spanish (the lady´s my freaking favorite Utilan. And she remembered me! She´s this gordita hondureña and is seriously the bread store lady más lindita del mundo.). i’ve been working pretty hard trying to find the best place on the island to have my smoothies (she eat´s banana smoothies every day), but it’s frusterating because everything on the island is almost twice as expensive as it is in our other cities of honduras. i went to class at 3:30pm and got to meet all the other students. there was a couple from norway, a guy from france, a girl and a guy from australia, the two girls from germany Mika and Christina, Magda from Austria, and of the six americans we came with Ann, Tim, and Josh. the classroom sessions are really really boring and PADI (the like number one dive organization thing in the world, from the US. they’re the ones that regulate everything and certify people and places and control what the dive shops do) is rediculous but very well advertized. (I had the same padi deal too, it´s sooo cheesy)

that night Tina and Nico arrived and i had found them a hotel so we brought them to it and then went out to dinner and then out to some bars or clubs. there are about 5 places to go at night in Utila: Coco Loco (bar and disco), Tranquila Bar (and disco, right next to Coco Loco), Treetanic (an amazing hand decorated hotel/bar/restaurant that is built partially in a tree and continues up a hill in back, everything is art and is convered in stones and glass and carvings and decorated. it’s impossibel to explain actually), Bundu (but only early in the night, for dinner or something it has a good bar too), and Bar in the Bush which is basically a disco but it’s only open wednesdays and fridays and it’s a bit of a walk up the vertical street. i think it might have been this night that we went to the beach and went swiming really late at night after Coco’s and my cell phone got stolen because Nico didnt feel like staying with our stuff. i was really mad at him and i walked back to the hotel alone.

the fabulous thing about a tiny island is that once you meet people, you see them everywhere and all the time because theres really no where you can go except to run into them. so of course we’ve seen Erik from Costa Rica a lot, and the german girls, and all the people we met at the first party, and a bunch of freinds from San pedro have begun to arrive as well. (like David, who´s house I stayed at that night in San Pedro)

Utila Day 3 and 4 (actually, I think she´s getting days mixed up now)

so tuesday we had to wake up early and go to class and then later in the mornign was our first confined water dive. so we met our DiveMasters and we got dive buddies. Tim from New York turned out to be my buddy, and we had soe much fun together all week. also, each dive buddy group gets their own personal DiveMaster, or DM. all the DMs there were really cool guys from all over, but mostly the US. Charles from chicago was really funny and called my Minnesnowta and we had our midwest bond. then Lance and mark were from Seatle i think and Jared i’m not really sure. they were all tall and blond and blue eyed and very gorgeous so all the girls were basically drooling. so mine and Tim’s DM was Mark and he was super chill and nice and helped us that first extremely awkward day trying to get into our wetsuits, weightbelts, fins, and BCDs. as well as guiding us through setting up our tanks and regulators and second stages and gauges and hoses and all that. when we finally all got into the water we have to do a “buddy check”, which is just standard procedure to make sure each other’s gear is properly set up and functioning. that first time we went underwater was scary and really really strange. it’s hard to let yourself trust the equipment and breathe from it underwater. plus there is so much to think about and so much awkward equipment on you that its just really uncomfortable. we only went like 5meter under i think, it was a confined water dive just for practicing skills and getting used to it. you kneel on the bottom all holding hands looking around in a dazed manner while your DM holds you and your buddy’s tank valve so that you dont go anywhere. then we have to practice skills like signals and flooded fask mask clearing and sharing air and replacing regulators and a lot more. we also learned how to become bouyant in the water and control your movements just be filling your lungs or exhaling. (my first experience was practicaly the same, except her class was WAY bigger (mine was 4 including me) we only had 1 dive master (apart from the instructor) and our dive master wasn´t holding on to us all the time. But we did all the same skills and stuff. Cuz you know, it´s padi.)

we had dives all day and classes into the night so everyone was too tired to even go out, plus we had to get on the boat at 6:45 the next morning for our first open water dive.

the next morning we trudged up onto the dock and started suiting up, each time it gets easier and less awkward to figure everything out. we went to Northside and our first dive site was called Black Hills. everyone was nervous and excited and when we got in the water you could tell we were somewhere new cause the water was so bright blue and crystal clear it was amazing. we were descending and equilizing and looking around in awe. we had to work on some mor skills when we got to the bottom but then we got to go on an actual dive around the reef. me and my buddy were suposed to hold hands (i never had to do that) but we kept getting so distracted by fish that we would lose each other. our DM mark had quite a hard time keeping us in line and all that jazz but he was cool because he let us have some freedom. by the second dive i was feeling so much more comfortable in the water, i was figuring out how to float really close to the reef and follow its bends and changes and never hitting it, without using my arms or feet, only breathing. you can breathe in to bring yourself over things and then exhale when there is space for you to come down close again… it’s exhilarating when you figure it out. (that´s RIGHT it is!)

tonight we had to take our final exam and everyone in the class passed (they each got to take it in their respective languages) and we had a picture and a happy party like thing. everyone was so so excited because the next day was friday (good friday) and the whole island was getting ready to party so hard tonight that everything was cancelled and shut down for friday. no diving, no stores, no being awake at all. what was planned was a rave on the beach (I think I was actually the only one that stayed home and went to sleep that night…I know, I´m party pooper). first my dive master invited me to come over to his house with some other dive guys just for a little preparty. then my crazy cool instructor wanted us to come bar-hopping with him and then we got into the rave for free with him because he’s basically just known everywhere. stories from this night are for individuals not the internet but i can say that eventually ann josh and tim took me to their hotel room and made me drink water and put me in Tims clothes and we went to bed, around 5am. but the next morning i felt so good and was up by 10am and around 11am a truck drove down the street that was loaded with about 30 people yelling and singing and drinking (still) from the night before at the rave (I was there for that, it was one of the funniest, most rediculous images I´ve seen). that day no one was outside and me and Tina layed around in the sun and had some cocktails. there was actually a few people (Alfredo my instructor and Jared a dive master included) who were still up that night and went out and partied with us again, never having slept. (actually that day I went with the 6 americans to Water Cay, this really sweet island right off of Utila. It was so freaking beautiful. They took pictures, you´ll see)