Utila Scuba Diving part 2 12/28/08

I spent another awesome weekend in Utila to finish off my scuba open water certification. This time I took the Friday evening ferry and returned on Sunday afternoon. Throughout the week, I made it known that I was planning the trip to Utila and I had 2 people request to join me. First, was Humphry, a student at the spanish school from England. Second, was Beth an older women who is here for 2 weeks volunteering at the Hogar (an orphanage near La Ceiba) and living with Humphry.

As we approached the ferry ticket window at the La Ceiba port (muelle), we noticed that it was closed. This was the beginning of a long frustrating journey. We waited in line with many other patient people as 4:00 (scheduled departure time) came and went. Eventually the window opened and tickets were sold. The only hitch being that they needed exact change because they didn’t have any cash to dispense change. That caused a lot of rustling and money shuffling, but eventually everyone worked it out. Next, we sat on the ferry dock for roughly an hour and a half waiting for the ferry, during which time it began to rain and when I say rain, I mean torrential down pour. As the rain slowed down everyone began cheering as the ferry came into sight. At this point, I wasn’t feeling very good about getting on the ferry in that weather, but my desire to get on the island trumped my fear. As we boarded the ferry, Humphry decided it was a good time to tell us that he gets ill on boats: not good in that weather.

As the boat exited the dock and set out into the open sea, it took a big wave head on and I would have sworn we were on a rollercoaster. The bow of the boat went straight (maybe a small exaggeration) in the air and then straight down. My stomach dropped, which usually I love, but in this case I felt like my life was in serious danger. Everyone on the boat screamed just as if we were at Cedar Point. The rest of the hour long tripped pretty much followed that pattern. Humphry had to lay down a quarter of the way through, but he was a champ and didn’t get sick. Unfortunately, there were many other people that were not so lucky. I would say there were about 6 people within my line of sight throwing up in bags the entire trip. I attempted to talk to the Beth throughout the trip, but the conversation took a bad turn when I decided to reveal the source of my fear being that I knew someone who died in a ferry boat accident. I couldn’t help but jump and grab the nearest person or object every time the boat was tossed. I began to think that maybe the rum and sprite that we had on the dock prior to leaving wasn’t such a great idea. Finally, the boat made it to the dock guided by a hand held spot light (Did I mention that the boat had no lights?). Typically, I love boats and the ocean, but this time I have never been so happy about getting off of one. I did not get close to throwing up, but that was the first time I have ever felt sick to my stomach on a boat and I was happy to be alive.

As we got off the boat, we were finally told that the reason for the delay was that there were so many people the ferry had to make an extra run that day. As a result, the island was very full and there were not many rooms available. Super, we were looking for at least 2 rooms. Eventually we found a hotel that had a dorm room for Humphry ($8) and a private room for Beth and I for $20 each, which was much more than I was planning to spend, but the hot shower in the morning made it all worth it. As we left our rooms to explore the night life scene, it was apparent that we some how had happed on one of the most popular hotels on the island. The “bar” area was full of young, attractive people (mostly male, yippee!) who were staying there as part of the hotel’s scuba diving package. We had one beer and then ventured out to find a place to eat. Again, we somehow managed to find, what I would say was the coolest and best restaurant on the island, Evelyn’s BBQ. You will have to see pictures to get the full effect, but the best way to describe it concisely is to say that it was a shrine to Bob Marley with awesome food and a beer bellied, Birkenstock wearing German guy with dreads manning the grill out front. I chose to branch out from my usual grilled fish and got grilled conch in coconut broth. This was a great idea; it was amazing. After dinner, we followed the music and the crowd to Tranquila Bar (although spell check doesn’t like this name, I have spelled it accurately; it is a play on spanish words). This was a bar out on a dock with a great young crowd and finally, some up to date music. We ended up running into some girls who went the spanish school and were on the island for a week for the new year. We followed them to the Treetanic bar at the Jade Seahorse hotel, which again, I can not do justice with words and I will leave to the pictures, but the entire hotel was a true work of art. The bar was up in a tree house, and the layout was like an adult bar themed chuck-e-cheese playground (you know the big tube maze that they hang from the ceiling) without a ball pit. I loved it, but it was crowded and we were tired, so we only stayed for about 45 minutes. This was the end of the night.

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30 and met the rest of the Captain Morgan’s crew at the dive shop at 7 after eating a delicious breakfast baleada. We boarded the boat and headed over to Jewel Cay, where the dive hotel is located. At the hotel, Anke and I buckled down and reviewed all of the book information that I had spent the week reading. Then, we went out on the boat for 2 more dives, which completed my certification course. Some highlights from the dives included a huge eel, a funny sea cucumber, a very long trumpet fish and a couple of rays. I finally was able to manage my buoyancy on my own for the most part, yea! When we returned from the dive, I sunned on the dock and studied in the hammock until it was time to take the written exam, which was very nerve racking, but I passed. Afterwards, the sky clouded up, so I stayed inside and watched the end of a movie with Jerry and his father, who was visiting from Canada for the holiday.

The evening was very similar to last Saturday, which is what I was hoping. About 15 of us went to the Cay View restaurant again for BBQ and beers. This time, my friend, Danny, from last weekend was the DJ and swore to play me any song I wanted, which was really the only song that I know (because it is the most popular and I hear it 5-10 times a day), Te Amo. We ate, drank and danced the night away.

This morning, I was able to go on my first “Fun Dive” as a certified open water diver. Jerry was my buddy, which was great because we get along so well. He was determined to show me a sea turtle until I told him that if we didn’t find one, I would just have to come back next weekend. Well, we did not see a sea turtle… However, we did see the garden eels, a lot of great coral, a sea horse and I did my first swim through narrow passages. Unfortunately, I had to get on the 2:00 ferry, so the boat dropped me off in Utila on its way back to the Cays. I had some time to kill, so I had lunch and coffee (the coffee here is really good) in a great café. I did some shopping and of course spent money I didn’t have. Another great weekend in Honduras!!

La Navidad in Honduras 12/25/08

First let me start with the similarities between Christmas in Honduras and in the states. There was a lot of talk and excitement leading up to Christmas just like in the states. I went to the “mall” on Monday and it was fairly busy. I also walked the streets of downtown La Ceiba, where they have many street vendors and cheap shops, and I have to say that was absolutely crazy. I think it is always somewhat busy, but there were an excessive number of people and many were pushing and shoving with little concern for those around them. (Does this sound familiar to anyone?) Every house in the neighborhood has some sort of Christmas decorations and there are a lot of houses with lights. Every house I have been in to has a Christmas tree. All of the trees are obviously fake considering this isn’t exactly the climate for pine trees. Many of the gardens in my neighborhood have at least one poinsettia planted. Also, just like in the states, the radio is playing mostly Christmas music and on Christmas eve broadcasted the religious story of Christmas.

So, the similarities end, and there are many more differences that I have noted. The first thing I noticed on my arrival to La Ceiba was the decoration of the trees. Every tree I have seen is decorated with a theme or color scheme. I have not seen any homemade decorations or out of place ornaments on a tree. (As some of you may have figured, I love this.) Also, regarding the tree, I have yet to see a gift underneath (as of now; it is 1 pm Christmas day). In fact, I have not seen any gift wrapped objects. This is the most striking difference I have encountered. Another big difference between my traditional celebration and that in Honduras, is that the primary day is Christmas eve.

Last night, I attended a party at the home of the man who owns the spanish school. They had a traditional meal of potatoes, veggies and chicken with a bean dip appetizer. There was a little bit of Christmas music, but mostly dance music. As the night progressed, the number of fireworks increased. With a huge finale at midnight and then tapered off slowly until around 3 am. I am told there were also guns being fired into the air. I returned from my party around 11:30 (the rest of the students went to the disco), which was just in time to join the family that I live with for a midnight (post church service) dinner, which included chicken (soy meat for me), fried bananas, rice and yummy homemade yucca chips called casabe. (I am told that tamales are a traditional Christmas food, but neither party I attended had them.) One very strange thing for me, was that the family sat me and the father, at the head of the table and he and I ate off of china plates while the other women used small red plastic plates. He also offered me rum to drink, which of course I accepted, and he and I drank alone. Midnight fell in the middle of our dinner and the fireworks were so loud that they seemed to be going off in the house and we were unable to hold a conversation. After dinner, there was music and the couple that I live with danced. At this point, their 2 daughters (one 30 and the other about 27) left the room to attend to their cell phones and I felt awkward just watching them dance, so I retired to my room. At about 1:30 the doorbell rang and another family joined the party. There were many people in the street and the party continued until at least 4 am. These people seriously know how to party!

For me, Christmas morning began at 11 am when I woke up. The rest of the family slept until 12 or 1. Dunia, the house mother, was not feeling well and slept through the afternoon. This was a very uneventful day and I spent most of Christmas day studying my spanish. In the evening, I went to Humphry’s house and had dinner with him and Beth, one of his roommates who is volunteering for 2 weeks in a near by orphanage. Again, it was pleasant, but a fairly uneventful Christmas dinner. Overall, it was nice to be free of the gift centered american Christmas, but I missed many of the traditions and the company of my family.

Scuba diving the Utila Cays 12.22.08

I apologize in advance for the length of this entry, but there was so much to say.

This was my first weekend in Honduras and it was awesome! Friday was fun, but not much to speak of. Went out with another student from the school, Humphrey, who is from Oxford, England. One of his roommates, Kate, joined us and she is working as a teacher at a rural school for a few months. She is from DC. We went to Expatriates, which is a typical bar that caters to people from the US and Europe. Good beer and good company.

So, the real weekend began on Saturday morning when I hopped on the ferry to Utila to begin my scuba diving certification classes. Utila is one of the bay islands off the coast of Honduras. It is smaller and not as touristy as Roatan, but well known for its diving. Directly across from the ferry dock on the island sits Captain Morgan’s Dive shop (yes, this is the school that I chose off of a list and despite it’s questionable name, it is well known and reliable). As I signed up for the course, I was joined by a Korean boy, Jung goo, who is a college student from Japan, doing a study abroad in Iowa and visiting Honduras for vacation specifically to learn to scuba dive. After a short wait and some scuba reading, we were picked up by a boat and taken to one of the very small islands off the coast of Utila, which are known as “the Cays”. The dive shop has a moderately sized house/hotel on the Cays where they offer free rooms to those people taking one of the various dive courses. As we were pulling up to the dock, I noticed there were 4 boys fishing just off the island in an old bathtub. I really wish that I would have had my camera ready. It was a good picture of the way the people here make due with what little they have. As we climbed off the boat (which was pretty much a hitched ride) the driver instructed us to go to the only street on the island and turn left. Well, there was a little confusion due to the fact that the “street” was actually a sidewalk. However, we eventually found our way and met our dive instructor, Anka. We immediately began watching the first of many instructional videos. After the video, we sat down for lunch and a quiz. Following the quiz, Anka gave us a layout of the day’s plan and then asked what seemed to me like a silly question: Can you swim? Surprisingly, Jung, said, “I honestly don’t know. I haven’t tried to swim since I was 10”. I was shocked and Anka was speechless. However, she recovered quickly and compared swimming to riding a bike: you never really forget how. As if that wasn’t comical enough, she then told us to put on our suites and get ready to get in the water. To which Jung responded, “I need a bathing suite?” Again, Anka recovered quickly from the shock and just told him to wear shorts. I was just trying to keep myself from laughing out loud.

We got into the water for the pool portion of the course, which actually took place in shallow water off of the hotel dock at the tip of the Cay. As instructed, I swam out to a tiny island and back to the dock. (This warm, clear water was a breeze after my summer training in the dark, cold water of Lake Michigan) However, Jung swam about half way then began to sink. Anka saved the day with some quick swimming and a life preserver. I guess swimming isn’t quite like riding a bike and can be forgotten. Next, we had to float on our backs for 10 minutes, which was totally relaxing for me as I basked in the beautiful sun. However, I don’t think that Jung had the same experience and actually had to get out of the water because he was hyperventilating. After a short rest, we resumed the class and it was fairly uneventful except for Jung’s frequent returns to the surface for various reasons/malfunctions. As we were standing on the dock waiting for Jung to recover, Cassandra, a dive master in training, spotted an octopus moving over the coral directly below us. It was a really cool sighting and we were all excited.

After a long day in the water, we showered (actually sponge bathed in the trickle of water coming from the only working shower in the building) and then joined the rest of the crew for dinner. The crew consisted of: Anka from Germany and living on the Cays for the last 2 years; Cassandra from Canada on the Cays for 6 weeks taking her sweet time getting certified for dive master; Jesse from Vancouver arrived 3 days prior and getting open water certified like me; Jerry (Jesse’s brother) from Vancouver Island and just returned to the Cays after spending a month earlier this year getting dive master certification and trying to find a more permanent job; and a couple from Pamplona, Spain who were planning to begin the open water dive classes in the morning. We all walked what would be about 1 block down the “street” to the restaurant for BBQ (fish for me). After dinner and a few beers, we walked to the school yard where the island was having a party to celebrate winning the World Series (this is exactly what they told us with straight faces). As it turns out, they won the baseball tournament that involved 4 teams from Utila and one team from the Cays. This is a major accomplishment for the Cays considering they don’t have space for a field of any kind and therefore really only practice their pitching in the “street”. The party was a blast and everyone on the Cay was there, which was about 50-75 people. We danced all night to various types of music from old school spanish, reggae, reggaeton, old school american music and really old twangy country music. The best part of the night was falling asleep to the waves lapping up against the building directly outside my window.

Today, we woke up bright and early because the boat was planning to pick us up at 7:45. Breakfast consisted of yummy baleadas, which is a traditional food of beans, eggs and cheese folded in a tortilla. The boat arrived late, of course, but nobody seemed to care. We spent the day on the boat and did two 45 minute dives at 20-50 feet. We saw many different kinds of fish, some eels, a sea cucumber and a lot of different coral. Unfortunately, we missed the sea turtle that the other people on the boat saw at the second dive site. The day was beautiful and the sun was out the entire day, which I am told is unusual. We are lucky that there was no rain the entire weekend. Unfortunately, I had to take the 2:00 ferry back to La Ceiba, so my day was cut short. Leaving was not bad since I will be back on Friday to continue my lessons and will dive the entire weekend. All in all it was a great weekend and I met some really fun people. I can’t wait for next weekend!

Honduras: day 2

Dec 16, 2008

I wake up on my own at 7:00 am in my top bunk bed with extreme pain in my back and right shoulder since I have been sleeping on a thin mattress and can feel every 2” board supporting me (I am not complaining, just trying to tell the story like it is). My flight leaves at 4:30 pm and I am not really sure what I am supposed to do with myself until then (turns out I am writing this entry to keep myself occupied), so I stay in bed and attempt to go back to sleep. However, Carmen has to go to work with the kids at Casa Angeles, and I have to figure out from her how I am going to get to the airport, so I drag myself up and gather my things to shower. Carmen shows me to the bathroom (I will spare you the pictures of this) and I take what I am sure is the first of many freezing cold showers. After the shower, I return to the room to find Carmen gone. I stand in the middle of the room (there is no place to sit) for about 15 minutes in confusion. Eventually Carmen finds me and leads me to the kitchen for some food. I am definitely hungry, but I totally loose my appetite the minute I enter the room and the scent of slightly rotten food hits my nose (Kuzir, you and your sensitive nose would die from this smell) and I see a big brown head of broccoli decomposing in the fridge. I tell Carmen that I am not hungry and we move on to more important issues like planning my trip to the airport.
I arrive at the airport 3 hours before my flight leaves as recommended by the airline employee that I talked to on the phone. I attempt to check in to my flight, but the check-in counter is closed, so I finally get some food (hurray!) I wait and wait and wait for the counter to open. Finally at 3:15 (my flight is scheduled to leave at 3:50!) some women mosey up to the counter and begin checking people in. Time is obviously not an issue here, which will take some getting used to. I go to the gate that the flight is scheduled to leave out of and can’t understand why nobody is there. I see another confused looking woman who, thank goodness, speaks english and ask her if she is on the same flight. She confirms that she is and does not seem to be worried, so I chill out and wait. The explanation came soon enough when the same group of people from the check-in counter cruise up to the desk and take the tickets from all 4 of us planning to get on the plane. I guess Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula isn’t a popular flight. As the plane is making its way to San Pedro Sula, I realize that my travel agent has told me that I will land in La Ceiba (my final destination) at 9:30, which is about 5 hours from the time my flight left. I don’t know much about Honduras yet, but that seems like an extremely long time to fly half way across a country that isn’t very big. In fact, my flight was roughly 1 hour long with a stop in SPS. I arrive in La Ceiba at 6 pm, which is unfortunate considering my ride from the spanish school is planning to pick me up at 9:20. For some reason everything in the airport is closed down at 6:00 and of course I am starving again. By 6:30 the airport is deserted and it appears as though the 5 people who work there are just waiting around for the next flight to get in. Eventually, I ask the airline employees if I can access the internet in the airport to get the cell phone number of the guy who is supposed to pick me up. I call my ride and he picks me up before our scheduled time.
As we enter the neighborhood where I will be living, I can’t believe how close the homes are to each other. I didn’t think it was possible to get closer than in Chicago, but these houses are pretty much touching on all sides. There is no visible ground in between. We arrive at my “home” and I am introduced to my house mother, Dunia. She is a sweet 60 year old woman, who speaks very little English (this doesn’t matter since we are not allowed to speak english anyways). She shows me to my room, which, for those of you who have been there, is very similar to the “back room” of my old house in Delray Beach. This is luxury compared to my accommodations of the previous night. Dunia has dinner waiting on the stove and promptly serves me scrambled eggs (yes, I ate eggs), black beans and rice and tortillas. It was delicious! We chatted a little, but the effort was so great after such a long day that I wasn’t much good at conversation. We watched the end of a Hallmark movie (the only one in English with Spanish subtitles…compromise) and then I went to bed.

First Impressions

Dec 15, 2008


As I am flying into Honduras, San Pedro Sula to be exact, I am already in love with the landscape. Coming from the midwest, I am not difficult to impress in this area. The city is moderate sized and lies in a valley area that is surrounded by green “yummy looking” mountains. The experience of flying in to Tegucigalpa later in the day is somewhat similar, but with a larger city area. The buildings and city layout remind me of Istanbul with most buildings positioned hillside and everything sort of stacked on top of each other.
I am met at the airport in Tegucigalpa by Carmen, an ex-pequena (orphan), who speaks no (NONE!) English. We make a very amusing pair as we attempt to communicate regarding transportation and money exchange. I am already getting great practice with my limited spanish, but am accutely aware that I have a lot of work ahead of me. We load my life into the trunk of a taxi and take off for Casa Angeles, which is one of the NPH (nuestros pequenos hermanos) homes in Tegucigalpa and where I will be spending the night. The taxi ride takes about 20 minutes and costs us only 80 lempira (honduran currency), which is about $4.50!!! I really wish cabs in Chicago were this cheap!
As we pull up to Casa Angeles and unload the cab, the only word my brain can come up with to capture the situation is Wow…wow, wow, wow! (I know…this does not bode well for my literary expression for future blogs) I have no idea where I am, I can’t really speak the language and this building is practically falling down. As it turns out, I am going to be sharing a room with my new friend, Carmen, for the evening. I am standing in her 10x15’ room with a bunk bed, wooden table, small armiore, wooden chair and industrial sized fryer (yes, like the ones your french fries come out of at McDonalds). I know, totally random. The time is 6:00 pm and Carmen is trying to make small talk, but only about 50% of our conversation is making any sense and I think we keep saying the same thing over and over again (at least I am). We finally give up and watch a movie on the 12” TV in her room. It is in spanish, but luckily an american movie that I have seen before and I pretty much know the story.


Side note: I now totally understand why my spanish speaking patients often times resort to smiling and nodding even when they have no idea what I am saying. After several tries at understanding, I just want the humiliation and effort to end. I have a feeling that I will be perfecting this art over the next week.

First Impressions

Dec 15, 2008

As I am flying into Honduras, San Pedro Sula to be exact, I am already in love with the landscape. Coming from the midwest, I am not difficult to impress in this area. The city is moderate sized and lies in a valley area that is surrounded by green “yummy looking” mountains. The experience of flying in to Tegucigalpa later in the day is somewhat similar, but with a larger city area. The buildings and city layout remind me of Istanbul with most buildings positioned hillside and everything sort of stacked on top of each other.
I am met at the airport in Tegucigalpa by Carmen, an ex-pequena (orphan), who speaks no (NONE!) English. We make a very amusing pair as we attempt to communicate regarding transportation and money exchange. I am already getting great practice with my limited spanish, but am acutely aware that I have a lot of work ahead of me. We load my life into the trunk of a taxi and take off for Casa Angeles, which is one of the NPH (nuestros pequenos hermanos) homes in Tegucigalpa and where I will be spending the night. The taxi ride takes about 20 minutes and costs us only 80 lempira (honduran currency), which is about $4.50!!! I really wish cabs in Chicago were this cheap!
As we pull up to Casa Angeles and unload the cab, the only word my brain can come up with to capture the situation is Wow…wow, wow, wow! (I know…this does not bode well for my literary expression for future blogs) I have no idea where I am, I can’t really speak the language and this building is practically falling down. As it turns out, I am going to be sharing a room with my new friend, Carmen, for the evening. I am standing in her 10x15’ room with a bunk bed, wooden table, small armiore, wooden chair and industrial sized fryer (yes, like the ones your french fries come out of at McDonalds). I know, totally random. The time is 6:00 pm and Carmen is trying to make small talk, but only about 50% of our conversation is making any sense and I think we keep saying the same thing over and over again (at least I am). We finally give up and watch a movie on the 12” TV in her room. It is in spanish, but luckily an american movie that I have seen before and I pretty much know the story.

Side note: I now totally understand why my spanish speaking patients often times resort to smiling and nodding even when they have no idea what I am saying. After several tries at understanding, I just want the humiliation and effort to end. I have a feeling that I will be perfecting this art over the next week.