Alice in Wander-Land: February 2012

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Some diving pictures...

The turtle in Útila

The following pictures are courtesy of Johnny Gaskell:

Diving in Nicaragua

Me, above the wreck

Part 3

We were all worried that the bus journey would be arctic, Tica Bus are known for their love of AC, so we all made sure to grab jumpers out of our bags. We needn’t have worried...the AC broke leading to an absolute sweat fest! The windows don’t open and we were not allowed to stop and change our clothes until we reached the Nicaraguan border! On reaching the border, customs and immigration were lucky enough to witness a mass striptease! So on the way back to Tegus, I thought I’d be smart and wear slightly cooler clothes, just in case...huge error. The AC was back with a vengeance and I shivered all the way home! You can’t win!

We arrived in Managua around 7pm and no one wanted to spend a night there so we decided to get a cab and split the cost; $80 between 4 of us for a 2 ½ hour journey, a deal improved by the fact that he stopped for McDonalds and rum. The frustrating thing about buses in Central America is that they don’t travel over night, which means travel time is always significantly longer, as you have to spend nights in cities you much rather wouldn’t!

Finally we got to San Juan del Sur and realised we weren’t entirely sure where the others were staying so we ended up staying one night in Casa de Oro. We eventually found the others and paid our first visit of many to Iguana Bar.

On Wednesday we moved into Casa de Olas...the best decision ever made! Genuinely the best hostel I have ever stayed in! Owned by an Australian couple, Carla and Fred/Mum and Dad, it is amazing – an infinity pool, a monkey, nice rooms, a projector/Netflix account, free pancakes for breakfast, family meals in the evening, amazing views, free WiFi and hardly any other guests. That evening we had a Nicaraguan style BBQ for supper and then went to Iguana Bar again. It was ladies night so the girls drank free from 10-12!

On Thursday, Paddy, Johnny, Luke, Jake and I went diving. I signed up without really knowing what I was in for; the Pacific is a hell of a lot colder than the Caribbean and the visibility was 7m instead of 30m! We were going to dive the wreck of a Russian shrimp boat which the boys had convinced themselves was a Russian submarine. It was perfect for me as with my open water I’d only been to 18m. I have only ever stepped off a boat, so rolling in backwards was exciting for me. The water was absolutely freezing, especially as we only had 3mm wetsuits! I am definitely a fair weather diver; warm water, blue skies and good visibility and I’m happy. I won’t be diving in the UK any time soon. On the first dive I saw some spotted Eagle rays which were great, however, I was having massive difficulties with my BCD; I couldn’t control my buoyancy in the water. I was bobbing around a few metres above our guide when suddenly my BCD self inflated and I shot to the surface! Luckily it was only about 16m, as any deeper and it could have been really dangerous! So I bobbed around on the surface until the boat came to get me, had to switch BCD’s at the surface (a PADI skill coming in useful) and then, as I didn’t have much air, waited for the boys to surface. When they did come up, they were blue! We all made it back into the water successfully for the wreck. It was great; I saw a huge jellyfish, lots of puffer fish and Johnny took my first underwater diving picture. We could have been down there for 45 minutes but after about 15, I was shivering and had to come up. At $80, for the boys, who have dived a lot in the past, it probably wasn’t worth it, but it was a good experience for me. Thursday evening lead from delicious crumbed chicken at the hostel, to another fun filled night in Iguana Bar as Codie and Emma had arrived from Granada that afternoon.

All the Aussies, minus Bree and Tim, left for Costa Rica on Friday, which was sad. On Friday evening, I had supper with Codie and Em and then Codie and I went to the Black Whale where a really good reggae band was playing.

On Saturday, we had lasagne for supper and then went to Casa de Oro to watch Bree’s friend Stu, play guitar and sing and then to a foam party. I hate foam parties. There is nothing enjoyable about them whatsoever. This one was even worse, as it was on the beach front, so it was a horrible mixture of sand and foam!

On Sunday afternoon, Sarah, Tim and I hiked to the top of the hill behind the hostel. It was worrying how much of a struggle it was! That evening, Fred made homemade burgers and we stayed in and watched films all evening. (5^th night off)

As you can see, there is not much recorded daytime activity. This is because when staying in a hostel like Casa de Olas...it is very difficult to drag yourself away from the pool. It’s a little way out of town and so it requires rather a lot of energy to get up and go somewhere! On Tuesday, we were finally persuaded to leave the hostel and go to the beach...worst decision ever! We were going to get a free lift, but ended up paying, it was so windy that there were constant sand storms and the beef tacos that Sarah and I shared gave us food poisoning as no one had told us that they have no means of refrigerating the meat! The day was made better by the fact that Fred cooked us all a full on English roast – chicken, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, roast carrots, broccoli, roast pumpkin, stuffing and gravy! Amazing! I ignored the food poisoning and just ate it anyway...perhaps not a good idea but it was delicious! As it was our last night, I tried to ignore the food poisoning yet again and go out...I made it until around 1am and then felt horrific and went home.

On Wednesday, Tim and I finally dragged ourselves out of the black hole that is San Juan and made it back to Managua, in order for me to catch a bus home and for Tim to catch the first of many flights back to Oz.

So in 19 days, I took 5 nights off...I now need a holiday to recover from the holiday! Coming back to reality is hard. I already miss being surrounded by people, one of my favourite parts of travelling. Also coming back to the daily stresses of Tegus after quiet beach towns is hard too. I don’t like big Central American cities; taxis, buses, constantly being hassled. It’s nice to be home and back with my family but I’m looking forward to my next trip...Útila at the beginning of March to do my Advanced PADI course.

Útila...

Part 2

I’d decided to stay at Alton’s Dive Centre as they offered a volunteer rate of $259 plus free accommodation and the other volunteers had done their diving there; such a good choice! I arrived and was put in a dorm with Laura, a Canadian. I ended up going out for dinner with our next door neighbours, Codie and Emma, Aussie sisters and Paul and Jason, Kiwis. (2^nd night off) From this moment on began so much laughter with the three girls that I was often in tears! Absolutely love them!

When I arrived, it was raining and I hadn’t signed up for diving in the rain, so luckily, as I started my course, the sun came out and for the rest of the course it was hot and sunny and it didn’t start to rain again until Saturday evening/Sunday morning; perfect timing!

As I went to the laundry (I’d only packed for a 5 day trip!) on Wednesday, I bumped in Amanda, Sarah and Moa, who had decided to come after all which meant a few more friendly faces on the island. Although, I don’t know what they did with their days, there isn’t a huge amount to do on Útila if you’re not diving.

I started my theory on Wednesday afternoon. I was really lucky in that I was the only one on the course and ended up with two fantastic instructors, Nina and Tom. On Thursday morning I went in the water for the first time for my confined dives...terrifying! Lots of skills; take your mask off underwater (no thanks, I like to be able to see), take your regulator out (no thanks, I like to be able to breathe). By the end of this session I was convinced I hated diving and the thought of going out on the boat in the afternoon really freaked me out! The girls and the others at Alton’s were great and it was nice having them on the same boat for support! So in the afternoon I went out on the boat and did my first 2 open water dives! The first one was slightly less terrifying than the confined but I could only look straight ahead and was much more focused on breathing than fish! By the 2^nd dive, I was starting to get the hang of it and actually managed to look around me and check out some fish. I finished my theory on Friday and did my 3^rd and 4^th open water dives, by which point I was really enjoying it. On Saturday morning, I did both my fun dives which were great. On the first dive we saw a turtle which was amazing! I also saw lobsters, a spotted moral eel, angelfish, parrotfish, and spotted drums.

Dive signals are my new favourite thing and can be useful in a multitude of situations. Although, if someone had taught me more of the fish signals, some underwater confusion would have been avoided; spotted drums = swim this way, can you see it, no but I don’t want to disappoint anyone, so just signal OK.

On Wednesday night (Johnny, Theresa, Koo and Luke hadn’t arrived at this point) we went to Tranquila and witnessed the first performance of Jake’s infectious chart topping hit, ‘Dive’ – dive, dive, drink, drink, drive, dive, dive, dive, equalise. I was walked home by Jake, Rory and Joe and on arriving home, Jake proceeded to climb into the top bunk, go to sleep and snore loudly, much to the annoyance of Laura (I’m sorry Laura!)

On Thursday we all went out for supper and ended up in Tranquila. I met Rory and Joe outside Will’s Taco, the best taco shop around, but sadly it was closing. I couldn’t persuade the owner to give me a taco, but he did give me a plain tortilla for free...and then the boys, having walked me home the night before and it being quite a long way, got in a tuk tuk with me and dropped me home.

On Friday night, we went to Tranquila and Coco’s...and this is where the picture of the tiny motorbike comes in, my ride home. The island is basically comprised of one long main road and everyone uses golf buggies, quad bikes or motorbikes to get around. Those methods of transport I can understand, but this mini bike was ridiculous. I’m just glad no one witnessed the hilarious image of me on a tiny bike!

Saturday was a big night. There was meant to be an Alton’s booze cruise but due to the lack of a captain, it became a session on the dock. By 7pm we were being loud and hilarious and/or obnoxious in the baleada shop. This was followed by Treetanic and Tranquila. Treetanic is the coolest bar/restaurant/hotel. It took the owner 20 years to make and is decorated in mosaic, bottles, shells, stones, glass, mirror and full of paths, walkways, sculptures and spiders! There are huge webs between all the trees and huge spiders! Genuinely one of the most fun nights of my life, we laughed a lot and the photos speak volumes; plenty of dive signals!

On Sunday, we tried to catch the afternoon ferry, only to be told that due to bad weather at La Ceíba, the ferry had been cancelled and it was unlikely that we would leave before Wednesday! Cue an afternoon in limbo! We had checked out of Alton’s and had to come back and check back in...We just couldn’t stay away! I was most thrown by the fact that if we were stuck, the bagel shop didn’t bake on a Monday! These aforementioned bagels got me through a lot of the early morning sessions! I was so exhausted by this point that I fell asleep fully clothed. (3^rd night off)

Luckily, we managed to catch the ferry on Monday morning. Codie and Laura had been at the dock since 5am and at 6.15am they finally announced that the ferry would be leaving! Cue panic as we tried to get hold of everyone, scattered around in various hostels, to let them know. The majority of us made it...Bree was left behind but at least she had Tim. It was pretty choppy and there were lots of sick people...what is it about people being sick; you don’t want to look, but you can’t help it!

So we were finally back on the mainland and on a mission to catch a bus to Tegucigalpa. By this point I had been persuaded, not that it took much, to head on down to Nicaragua with the others. I didn’t have my passport though so it was lucky that we all had to stop in Tegus for the night. Our bus managed to hit an accident on the way home, causing a delay as we waited for the police/tow trucks. When we finally made it back to Tegus, I had to make a mad dash to collect my passport, get home, unpack/repack and meet the others at the hostel, as our bus was supposedly leaving at 5am. The children were so excited when I got home! They had apparently been asking constantly when I was coming back. Bless them. (4^th night off)

Why are bus stations always located in the worst, most sketchy parts of town? I attempted to get a bus at 5am the next morning, only to be told that there wasn’t one. So we ended up waiting in the bus station for 4 hours, while the girls got a lie in and arrived to find preserved seats. But at last, we made it out of Tegus, towards Nicaragua.

Roatán...

I have a lot to catch up on from the last 3 weeks:

Part 1

I left for Roatán on Friday 3^rd February, for what was supposed to be a 5 day trip that turned into a 20 day holiday! I ended up taking the bus to La Ceíba on my own, as the others (Sarah, Moa and Daniel) were late and the bus was full. It was actually perfect; I hadn’t sat on my own for such a long time! I’ve always hated to be on my own, and I still prefer company, but after 3 weeks of never being able to read, listen to music or watch films in silence, the 8 hour bus journey was amazing! I sat next to the window, listened to all the new music Allie had given me, and watched Honduras go by.

Amanda and Theresa joined me at El Progreso. The weather forecast for the weekend had been awful, but the sun had been shining the whole way...until we reached El Progreso! You could see the division in the sky – blue, cloudless skies, where I’d come from, and grey, cloudy skies, where I was headed! It then started to rain. Amanda was convinced that Roatán in the rain would still be amazing...I was less convinced. Memories of our first trip to Macaneta came flooding back! Luckily, it rained the night we arrived and then not again until the day I left! By the time we reached the ferry port, it was pouring with rain! They hand out motion sickness pills when you buy your ticket and sick bags as you board, as the ferry is notorious for sea sickness! The waves were big on the crossing but fortunately I was fine.

We spent ages when we arrived looking for a hostel; the hostel we’d agreed on, $5 a night, wasn’t up to everyone’s standards! Some of the girls wanted to stay in a $16 a night place, which some us thought was a little much. It would have been fine, if everyone had been willing to half the group, but they weren’t! It’s times like this that I hate group travel! We finally found a great place called Hillside Garden Cabins, in West End, for $11 a night. That night we went to Booty Bar and ended up in Nova...and that’s where it all went downhill...in a good way. We met a group of Aussie guys; Jake, Jake, Paddy, Johnny, Joe and Rory who had been in Mexico for a friend’s wedding. These guys are part of the reason I ended up in Útila and also in San Juan and we had some brilliant times with them.

The next morning we walked along the beach to West Bay, which is the most built up beach, but still beautiful. Daniel, Theresa and Amanda spent the day making Copán out of sand. There is a coral reef 10-20m from the shore, so Amanda and I snorkelled. It’s really shallow and as we were sharing a snorkel, the one that couldn’t see would often get stuck on a piece of coral; highly uncomfortable! At one point, to minimise damage to the coral...and myself, Amanda had to tow me off a particularly sharp piece of coral by my feet! We caught one of the water taxis back which meant we got to the see the more of the coastline. We went back to Booty Bar that night and Theresa and Johnny were nearly arrested for public disturbance...nothing like a good misunderstanding!

On Sunday we only made it as far as the pier in front of our hostel! Paddy and Jake left that morning to surf in Nicaragua, Jake, Joe and Rory left to dive in Útila and Johnny stayed with us. Friends of the boys, Koo and Luke arrived and stayed and Bree arrived, and promptly left to join the dive boys. This was the morning that I discovered Rudy's coconut smoothies, blended coconut and a little added water, the best drink in the world! It came up later that Luke and I had both been to Mozambique...we raved about it for ages before we realised that we had been in Tofo at the same time, and had actually met – Luke had been trying, unsuccessfully, to take a malaria test. Everything shuts at 10pm on a Sunday and the night off was very much appreciated! (1^st night off)

On Monday we decided to go to Camp Bay, as Theresa had been told it was the most beautiful beach on the island. It is beautiful and unspoiled...probably because it is a million miles away at the other end of the island and few tourists attempt to visit it! We took a bus to our first stop, Punta Gorda, a Garífuna village. We had been told that there were buses to Camp Bay every 20 minutes...a lie. We started to walk; we love to walk at mid-day when every other sensible person is lying in a hammock. It was hot! Eventually another bus passed us and dropped us at the start of the dirt road that leads to Camp Bay. The sign said Camp Bay, 11km. We eventually managed to hitch a lift in the back of a truck that was going to the quarry. When it dropped us off, we thought we must have covered at least 6km...We had covered 3km and so still had 8km to go! We started walking and after a while, managed to get a second lift with another truck. The walk was, apart from being hot, good fun and we got to see a lot more of the island. So finally, about 5 hours later, we arrived at Camp Bay! It was beautiful and we were the only people on the beach. The sand is made up of tiny fragments of shell and the water’s really warm. Our ride decided to wait for us, which was great...although I did think we would never leave; they were very keen to have one or two of us sit in the cab on the way home...we suggested Daniel but they weren’t taken with the idea! Apparently the police don’t look kindly upon 6 in the back of a truck, but 4 or 5 is ok! That evening we had an amusing little cabin party.

I’d decided by this point that I was going to go to Útila to do my Open Water course, as it made sense since I was in the Bay Islands anyway and it meant I would know people there. I left on Tuesday and as I’d bought a return ferry ticket, went back to La Ceíba and then caught the ferry to Útila. I tried to persuade the others to join me but couldn’t.

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Útila, Roatán and San Juan del Sur...

These pictures are in no particular order; a mix from Roatán, Útila and San Juan del Sur. They will make more sense when I write a blog to go with them. I'm getting there...