Quick update:
On Monday we left Guatemala with the hopes of making it to San Christobal de las Casas, a famous historic city in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. No chance. Too far. We decided to spend the night in the city of Villahermosa. After some frustrating searching we actually found a beautiful hostel with good beds and great prices. Spontaneously we decided a nearby nature reserve the next morning. My highlight: The tiger cage. After the tour was over, I went back. The big yellow-black tiger was lying about 15-20' away from me in the shade. Through the fence I started looking right at him. After about a minute, he got up and come over. He started walking along the fence, alternating left and then turning right again and so on, never moving more than 2 yards away from me. I was kneeling. So I decided to test how the tiger would react to an attack threat - and suddenly quickly stood up behind the fence right as he past by. The tiger - no noise, nothing - right away also jumped up, paws on the fence, ending up in a position slightly taller than me. Thanks fence!! ;-)
Later that day we made it to San Christobal - who I have to say is even better than San Miguel, which I consider my Mexican hometown. Slightly larger, and way more cute walking-only streets lined with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants etc. I do have to say that I believe the atmosphere is better in San Miguel, but of course I'm biased.
After spending the day yesterday exploring (during which I finally bought a hammock, so now I have a bed anywhere in the world where I can find two trees [or something similarly useful] close enough together). It was a nice relaxing day, and - we enjoyed the much better food Mexico has to offer compared to what I've seen of Central America.
This morning we took off for the Pacific Coast - and am sitting in a restaurant in Huatulco, Oaxaca now, trying to figure out what to do next. On the way down here, in some little town, we suddenly encountered a traffic jam in front of a bridge we had to cross. We were able to figure out that some demonstration and a political campaign speech were going on, and the bridge was gonna be closed for a while. A friendly guy close by gave us directions to bypass the bridge (sounded like a little detour). Following the directions, we suddenly noticed how most vehicle (that came from the same place) turned down a little dirt path. We followed. Down dusty roads/paths, the caravan slowly made it's way through the river delta. After crossing two rivers at shallow areas and some more dirt paths we got back on track after ~ 15 minutes - really cool.
Sorry - no pictures yet, have to get on that. They will follow soon.
And here some pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/ZipoliteWay#
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Saturday, 03/20/2010
No super-spectacular news this time. But adventurous even so.
A quick follow-up on the execution we witnessed: From what I gather this could be related to two things, 1) rival drug cartel violence or 2) political (Honduras had a military coup recently that resulted in a new leader, whom many of the poor Hondurans are not happy with and are conducting propaganda against). It appears to be an extremely rare event for Honduras.
In the border region between northern Honduras and Guatemala we saw some absolutely fantastic landscapes, and I found a valley that I'd buy in a heartbeat to built a ranch on if I had the money.
We spent a day in Rio Dulce, a small town at the edge of Lake Itzabal where the river Rio Dulce flows out of the lake towards the Caribbean.Taking a boat tour through the river to Livingston (at the coast) supposedly offers spectacular wildlife views, but we decided $30 was too much for the roundtrip fare. We did have a really, really cool hotel though, right in the middle of the jungle (see pics & below):
Leaving Rio Dulce we headed East towards Semuc Champey, a place with some beautiful (even though small) waterfalls where the river has carved out something of a tunnel, providing some great pools in the rocky areas above and fantastic sceneries. The drive certainly showed why the route was NOT recommended – first we drove along Lake Itzabal, enjoying gorgeous views, before the road turned into a rather rough path, passing the occasional village. Road signs were completely absent, as were any signs indicating the names of the places we came through. Every turn we came up to we had to guess which way to go, and ask the next possible person if we were on the right track. We arrived late at night (9pm – late for a mountain area where they have no electricity).
We spent the next day enjoying Semuc Champey and stayed another night – in another hotel – also w/ no electricity. They do provide electricity (via a generator) for a few hours a day if enough guests are there.
After that we headed up to Flores, a little island in Lake Peten Itza in Northern Guatemala. It's a beautiful little island, however, tourism has take it's toll – prices are quite step and any traditional feel has been replaced by souvenir shops and hotels. Lots of Mayan Pyramids around here. We're heading out to see one now, and then we're probably off to Belize. Pictures of this to follow.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/03gRioDulce#
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/03hSemucChampey#
A quick follow-up on the execution we witnessed: From what I gather this could be related to two things, 1) rival drug cartel violence or 2) political (Honduras had a military coup recently that resulted in a new leader, whom many of the poor Hondurans are not happy with and are conducting propaganda against). It appears to be an extremely rare event for Honduras.
In the border region between northern Honduras and Guatemala we saw some absolutely fantastic landscapes, and I found a valley that I'd buy in a heartbeat to built a ranch on if I had the money.
We spent a day in Rio Dulce, a small town at the edge of Lake Itzabal where the river Rio Dulce flows out of the lake towards the Caribbean.Taking a boat tour through the river to Livingston (at the coast) supposedly offers spectacular wildlife views, but we decided $30 was too much for the roundtrip fare. We did have a really, really cool hotel though, right in the middle of the jungle (see pics & below):
Leaving Rio Dulce we headed East towards Semuc Champey, a place with some beautiful (even though small) waterfalls where the river has carved out something of a tunnel, providing some great pools in the rocky areas above and fantastic sceneries. The drive certainly showed why the route was NOT recommended – first we drove along Lake Itzabal, enjoying gorgeous views, before the road turned into a rather rough path, passing the occasional village. Road signs were completely absent, as were any signs indicating the names of the places we came through. Every turn we came up to we had to guess which way to go, and ask the next possible person if we were on the right track. We arrived late at night (9pm – late for a mountain area where they have no electricity).
We spent the next day enjoying Semuc Champey and stayed another night – in another hotel – also w/ no electricity. They do provide electricity (via a generator) for a few hours a day if enough guests are there.
After that we headed up to Flores, a little island in Lake Peten Itza in Northern Guatemala. It's a beautiful little island, however, tourism has take it's toll – prices are quite step and any traditional feel has been replaced by souvenir shops and hotels. Lots of Mayan Pyramids around here. We're heading out to see one now, and then we're probably off to Belize. Pictures of this to follow.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/03gRioDulce#
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/03hSemucChampey#
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, 03/15/2010 Rio Dulce, Guatemala
First off - I'm sorry I didn't update the blog for more than a week. Weak or no internet access as well as loosing my camera didn't help.
Yesterday I saw three guys get killed on the side of the road - certainly one of the less pleasant sides of the trip. More about that later.
Utila:
I finished my Advanced Open Water Diver and my Rescue Diver certification, which now enables me to start a Divemaster-intership - which I'm planning to do in 2-3 weeks. However, I don't see myself as a future scuba-diving instructor, so getting an instructor license afterwards is not on the agenda. Below - our dive boat:
Other than that there is not that much more to report. Kate and I had some cool walk-the-island excursions. We tried to go see the wreck of a drug-plane, which went down a few weeks ago. Those guys use Utila on their route from South America to the US as a refueling point at night. Apparently a few weeks ago they were blocked from landing, ran out of fuel and crashed into the jungle adjacent to the airfield. Officials found $250 million worth in cocaine, which they told us was later publicly burned. (Airport below)
We, however, despite following precise directions, could not locate it - and ended up in the middle of the jungle at nightfall came. We headed back on some mysterious route that probably no man has walked before (we at some point ended up in someone's backyard and had to jump their fence to get back out on the road), but saw some really cool wildlife while walking back.
I decided to travel for a few weeks with Kate after my courses, since it's so much more fun to travel together and it's much more economical. The day before we wanted to leave Utila, Kate walks into this restaurant (where they have a better internet connection). I follow her about an hour later, and find her talking to some guy - Art - who offered us a free sail-trip to the island of Roatan (the Honduras "Bay Islands" consist of three major islands: Utila, Roatan (the largest and prettiest), and Guanaja). Art is fairly new to sailing, and felt more comfortable taking some "extra hands" along. His buddy Dave, who's been sailing for a long time, was coming along on his own boat (a little bit of comfort for me) ;-)
I spontaneously said yes, and after clearing up some of the details we were ready to go. At 6am the next morning Art picked us up at the dock, and at about 7am we took of to Roatan. While I was steering, we suddenly ran into some hefty winds, and I almost thought the boat would capsize (not even close as I learned later).
Once there, we visited Fantasy Island (a small island right next to Roatan). There is a big dive-shop and a hotel-resort there. We saw some cool white-face monkeys (pictures to follow) and just before leaving I met Jami - who owns a Live Aboard (bigger dive-ship that goes out for multiple days and has cabins in which the divers stay), and also trains diver masters as well as scuba instructors. Long story short - now I have a second option where I could do my divemaster. And this one is more economical (free room and board) and Roatan is a much nicer place. Have to do some thinking now.
La Ceiba - Harbour-city and connection point to Utila & Roatan:
We left Roatan the following day and met "Tony" on the ferry - he's an American engineer who grew up in Honduras and heads a non-profit over here. He recommended us to "Omega Tours", a hotel in the middle of the jungle (one of the biggest cloud-jungles in Central America).
We met up with him there that night, and had a small, spontaneous party - before white water rafting the next morning.
After white water rafting the next morning, we headed off for San Pedro Sula - an ugly, and somewhat unsafe city. It is a large industrial town, and somehow all the roads of Honduras seem to converge there. After we passed the city of Tela, which is about halfway, I suddenly here something like firecrackers. The traffic slows in front of me. I notice there is no car coming at me, but there is a Nissan truck kind of parked on the side of the road about 20 yards ahead. As we pass, I suddenly realize that there is a shooting going on, - or, to be more precise, an execution. I will save you further details. After passing, I view what's going on in the rear view mirror, and stop the car ~ 100 yards behind the scene as I see the truck with the killers take off. I ask Kate to hand me my first aid kit, and tell her to stay in the car - then I run off to check if I can still help anyone. I arrive at the same time with a few women from the houses around, which cry hysterically. It is right away apparent any help is too late.
Not a bright and sunny story. And no - not a common occurrence - this morning we told the story to Steve, who has lived in Honduras for 13 years - and has never witnessed anything like this. But to witness this in brought daylight has certainly left a mark. From what I hear these kind of crimes are all drug related. It still seems surreal. Time to take a moment and be glad to be alive.
So far for now. Crossed into Guatemala today. Gonna spend some time in the northern part, then on to Belize and then Yucatan.
New pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05dUtila2#
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05eRoatan#
Yesterday I saw three guys get killed on the side of the road - certainly one of the less pleasant sides of the trip. More about that later.
Utila:
I finished my Advanced Open Water Diver and my Rescue Diver certification, which now enables me to start a Divemaster-intership - which I'm planning to do in 2-3 weeks. However, I don't see myself as a future scuba-diving instructor, so getting an instructor license afterwards is not on the agenda. Below - our dive boat:
Other than that there is not that much more to report. Kate and I had some cool walk-the-island excursions. We tried to go see the wreck of a drug-plane, which went down a few weeks ago. Those guys use Utila on their route from South America to the US as a refueling point at night. Apparently a few weeks ago they were blocked from landing, ran out of fuel and crashed into the jungle adjacent to the airfield. Officials found $250 million worth in cocaine, which they told us was later publicly burned. (Airport below)
We, however, despite following precise directions, could not locate it - and ended up in the middle of the jungle at nightfall came. We headed back on some mysterious route that probably no man has walked before (we at some point ended up in someone's backyard and had to jump their fence to get back out on the road), but saw some really cool wildlife while walking back.
I decided to travel for a few weeks with Kate after my courses, since it's so much more fun to travel together and it's much more economical. The day before we wanted to leave Utila, Kate walks into this restaurant (where they have a better internet connection). I follow her about an hour later, and find her talking to some guy - Art - who offered us a free sail-trip to the island of Roatan (the Honduras "Bay Islands" consist of three major islands: Utila, Roatan (the largest and prettiest), and Guanaja). Art is fairly new to sailing, and felt more comfortable taking some "extra hands" along. His buddy Dave, who's been sailing for a long time, was coming along on his own boat (a little bit of comfort for me) ;-)
I spontaneously said yes, and after clearing up some of the details we were ready to go. At 6am the next morning Art picked us up at the dock, and at about 7am we took of to Roatan. While I was steering, we suddenly ran into some hefty winds, and I almost thought the boat would capsize (not even close as I learned later).
Once there, we visited Fantasy Island (a small island right next to Roatan). There is a big dive-shop and a hotel-resort there. We saw some cool white-face monkeys (pictures to follow) and just before leaving I met Jami - who owns a Live Aboard (bigger dive-ship that goes out for multiple days and has cabins in which the divers stay), and also trains diver masters as well as scuba instructors. Long story short - now I have a second option where I could do my divemaster. And this one is more economical (free room and board) and Roatan is a much nicer place. Have to do some thinking now.
La Ceiba - Harbour-city and connection point to Utila & Roatan:
We left Roatan the following day and met "Tony" on the ferry - he's an American engineer who grew up in Honduras and heads a non-profit over here. He recommended us to "Omega Tours", a hotel in the middle of the jungle (one of the biggest cloud-jungles in Central America).
We met up with him there that night, and had a small, spontaneous party - before white water rafting the next morning.
After white water rafting the next morning, we headed off for San Pedro Sula - an ugly, and somewhat unsafe city. It is a large industrial town, and somehow all the roads of Honduras seem to converge there. After we passed the city of Tela, which is about halfway, I suddenly here something like firecrackers. The traffic slows in front of me. I notice there is no car coming at me, but there is a Nissan truck kind of parked on the side of the road about 20 yards ahead. As we pass, I suddenly realize that there is a shooting going on, - or, to be more precise, an execution. I will save you further details. After passing, I view what's going on in the rear view mirror, and stop the car ~ 100 yards behind the scene as I see the truck with the killers take off. I ask Kate to hand me my first aid kit, and tell her to stay in the car - then I run off to check if I can still help anyone. I arrive at the same time with a few women from the houses around, which cry hysterically. It is right away apparent any help is too late.
Not a bright and sunny story. And no - not a common occurrence - this morning we told the story to Steve, who has lived in Honduras for 13 years - and has never witnessed anything like this. But to witness this in brought daylight has certainly left a mark. From what I hear these kind of crimes are all drug related. It still seems surreal. Time to take a moment and be glad to be alive.
So far for now. Crossed into Guatemala today. Gonna spend some time in the northern part, then on to Belize and then Yucatan.
New pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05dUtila2#
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05eRoatan#
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Saturday, 03/06/2010 Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras
I almost stole another boat yesterday. But then the owner gave us a ride.
However, I could not resist a house break-in.
So on Wednesday morning it was time to leave Lago Joyoa. I'm supposed to give Ari (an Israeli who is just finishing med school in East Tennessee) a ride to La Ceiba (from here the ferry to Utila leaves), and Dillenger and Ana (both Americans who travel all the time) a ride to Tela (city on the ocean straight north from here). Dillenger, who is (kind of) the nephew of the owner Bob (of D&D brewery, the place we are staying at), has essentially been running the place for the past 6 months. I was told he and Ana were going on vacation for 3 days in Tela, but this morning I suddenly figure out that he is leaving for good - I'm shocked - things change fast down here. So well. The drive goes very smooth - thanks to excellent directions we got. We get to see some interesting horse-transport methods -
but Ari and I arrive in La Ceiba too late to catch the last ferry. Since I've heard that prices in Utila for food (and drinks) are fairly high, and I'm - as always - a frugal bastard - I buy a 1 liter bottle of rum this evening. Ari does the same. The cool thing about traveling like this is that most 3rd world travelers are similarly price-conscious, and hardly anyone goes by that "I don't care what it costs, I'm on vacation"-mentality.
Next morning - this is our ferry:
the fact that is entirely enclosed is a little concerning. It's very rough sees - after the first three minutes I start feeling like I actually might get sick - and I usually never get seasick. But after a few minutes things calm down a little bit and I feel better again, even though it remains a bumpy ride.
Arrived in Utila I fight my way past all the guys that want to convince you that their hotel / dive center is the best. I make way way up the street along the bay to check out dive shops. Over here you typically get free accommodation if you do a course, and since I'm planning to do 2 courses there is no need for a hotel. Despite a good impression at Cross Creek I decide to go with Underwater Vision - they just have an awesome ambience in their complex.
After a refresher dive on day one, and my first two dives of my course yesterday morning, I went for lunch with Kate, a girl from Poland, yesterday. After lunch, we continued walking until we reached the other side of town. There is a lagoon on the inland that runs parallel to the bay, and we wondered if it was connected to the ocean. We saw a little motor-boat anchored, and since I now have experience in boat-stealing I was in the process of convincing Kate that we should steal the boat and go find out - as the rightful owner suddenly comes driving up in a small golf-cart. He has a body in one of these strap-ons in front of him, a 5-gallon container of water and a box of groceries with him. I ask him if the lagoon is connected, and he says yes - and invites us to come with him since this is his way. His house is right where the two meet, so we can walk back from there. We agree, and help him get the water and groceries in the boat (not the easiest tasks to do on your own if you have a baby strapped in front of you). It turns out he is from Corsica, his wife is from Quebec, Canada, and they bought a sailboat in Guatemala - which is where their son was born. They sailed down here, but now his wife is pregnant again and they decided to stay for a few years. As we arrive, I take out his water and groceries and then we say good-bye.
On our way back, we saw this really cool wood-home that was under construction, standing on steltz. I thought this was worth checking out, and made Kate into my partner in crime. After stepping on construction material that covered swampy-underground, we made it to the stairs. The door was open, and we get to check out the place.
Beautiful. I would have opted for a different layout, but other than that I loved it. To the back they had a nice view of the lagoon, and to the front of the ocean. The night ended calm – I was tired from only sleeping four hours the night before (I got up at 5am to read about my upcoming dives), so I went to bed at 9.30pm.
This morning I got up at 6am and read some more for my dives today. After a wreck dive and an underwater navigation dive this morning, it's time for a siesta now. I'll have a night-dive tonight, after which I'll be an “Advanced Open Water Diver”. I'll take the camera on the boat tonight and try to take some pictures. Adios ….
I've been battling with the damn uploading now for about 2 hours. The system is super slow, I just had all the pics in the blog that I wanted, and then the damn system gives me some html error. Whatever. Check out the pics on the picasa link. I'll put them in once I have a decent connection again.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05cUtila#
However, I could not resist a house break-in.
So on Wednesday morning it was time to leave Lago Joyoa. I'm supposed to give Ari (an Israeli who is just finishing med school in East Tennessee) a ride to La Ceiba (from here the ferry to Utila leaves), and Dillenger and Ana (both Americans who travel all the time) a ride to Tela (city on the ocean straight north from here). Dillenger, who is (kind of) the nephew of the owner Bob (of D&D brewery, the place we are staying at), has essentially been running the place for the past 6 months. I was told he and Ana were going on vacation for 3 days in Tela, but this morning I suddenly figure out that he is leaving for good - I'm shocked - things change fast down here. So well. The drive goes very smooth - thanks to excellent directions we got. We get to see some interesting horse-transport methods -
but Ari and I arrive in La Ceiba too late to catch the last ferry. Since I've heard that prices in Utila for food (and drinks) are fairly high, and I'm - as always - a frugal bastard - I buy a 1 liter bottle of rum this evening. Ari does the same. The cool thing about traveling like this is that most 3rd world travelers are similarly price-conscious, and hardly anyone goes by that "I don't care what it costs, I'm on vacation"-mentality.
Next morning - this is our ferry:
the fact that is entirely enclosed is a little concerning. It's very rough sees - after the first three minutes I start feeling like I actually might get sick - and I usually never get seasick. But after a few minutes things calm down a little bit and I feel better again, even though it remains a bumpy ride.
Arrived in Utila I fight my way past all the guys that want to convince you that their hotel / dive center is the best. I make way way up the street along the bay to check out dive shops. Over here you typically get free accommodation if you do a course, and since I'm planning to do 2 courses there is no need for a hotel. Despite a good impression at Cross Creek I decide to go with Underwater Vision - they just have an awesome ambience in their complex.
After a refresher dive on day one, and my first two dives of my course yesterday morning, I went for lunch with Kate, a girl from Poland, yesterday. After lunch, we continued walking until we reached the other side of town. There is a lagoon on the inland that runs parallel to the bay, and we wondered if it was connected to the ocean. We saw a little motor-boat anchored, and since I now have experience in boat-stealing I was in the process of convincing Kate that we should steal the boat and go find out - as the rightful owner suddenly comes driving up in a small golf-cart. He has a body in one of these strap-ons in front of him, a 5-gallon container of water and a box of groceries with him. I ask him if the lagoon is connected, and he says yes - and invites us to come with him since this is his way. His house is right where the two meet, so we can walk back from there. We agree, and help him get the water and groceries in the boat (not the easiest tasks to do on your own if you have a baby strapped in front of you). It turns out he is from Corsica, his wife is from Quebec, Canada, and they bought a sailboat in Guatemala - which is where their son was born. They sailed down here, but now his wife is pregnant again and they decided to stay for a few years. As we arrive, I take out his water and groceries and then we say good-bye.
On our way back, we saw this really cool wood-home that was under construction, standing on steltz. I thought this was worth checking out, and made Kate into my partner in crime. After stepping on construction material that covered swampy-underground, we made it to the stairs. The door was open, and we get to check out the place.
Beautiful. I would have opted for a different layout, but other than that I loved it. To the back they had a nice view of the lagoon, and to the front of the ocean. The night ended calm – I was tired from only sleeping four hours the night before (I got up at 5am to read about my upcoming dives), so I went to bed at 9.30pm.
This morning I got up at 6am and read some more for my dives today. After a wreck dive and an underwater navigation dive this morning, it's time for a siesta now. I'll have a night-dive tonight, after which I'll be an “Advanced Open Water Diver”. I'll take the camera on the boat tonight and try to take some pictures. Adios ….
I've been battling with the damn uploading now for about 2 hours. The system is super slow, I just had all the pics in the blog that I wanted, and then the damn system gives me some html error. Whatever. Check out the pics on the picasa link. I'll put them in once I have a decent connection again.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05cUtila#
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, 03/02/2010 Lago Joyoa, Honduras
Two days ago I stole a boat. We did return it later. We also met the rightful owner on the lake.
So after updating the blog on Friday afternoon, I went back to the hotel and overheard how the guy from the hotel wanted to rip of three American girls that needed a ride to San Pedro Sula (1.5hrs away) that night - he wanted $150. So I told them I was heading there that evening and could give them a ride. They gave me $40 for gas, and after Lise and I checked into a hotel I took them to the airport.
The next day Lise and I headed down to Lago Joyoa and got a room in D&D Brewery. Bob, the owner, used to be a civil engineer in the US but got tired of live over there about 14 years ago - and opened his microbrewery/hotel over here. Relaxing was on schedule for the rest of the day ...
On Sunday morning we went on a little tour around the neighborhood. Fidel, a neighbor who has a huge garden, invites us in and shows us around - he grows red beans right now. But it changes frequently - they have four harvest cycles over here.
As we walk on, we come by Doug's house - an American who used to live in Belize working on boats. A few months ago he came down here, bought an overgrown property and has been cleaning it up. We got to enjoy some great fauna and flora as well as got to see some great (hanging) bird's nest afterwards.
In the afternoon two German girls arrived at the hotel - Lena and Susanne. I go for a walk w/ them to get a view of the lake. The view from shore sucks! We keep going on some little path, and end up at a small canal. There are two little boats lying around. We decided to "borrow" one - which of course is stealing, even though we are planning to bring it back.
As I'm trying to figure out the rowing, we're slowly making our way to the lake. We finally get our views - even though it's overcast today. After about 10 mins we decide to head back. Approaching the canal entrance, another boat approaches us. The guys tells us he's the owner of our boat. First we're a little in shock - how upset is he going to be?? But then he just tells us we need to change boats and return the other one soon. After we switched, we noticed why - our boat had been filling a little with water - and he brought a bucket, so he can get it out. Our new boat seems to be watertight. We eat Chinese that night - huge portions, not cheap, and poor service - common over here as we find out.
The next day the three of us head off to the waterfalls. They are 43m (140ft) high and the main attraction of the area. After taking a look around, we decide to do the ziplining before the behind-the-falls tour - no reason to be wet for ziplining. They have five lines, that last one of which takes you right across in front of the falls - awesome feeling.
Then a guide takes us behind the falls. First we have to climb quite a bit a narrow path to get to the side of the falls. Then we actually make our way through the water to get behind and check out some of the caves there. There are some smaller waterfalls on the side which we also explore. At the end, the guide and I also jump off a cliff about 20' high into the water. The girls bail on this one. They are missing out - it's great.
After a relaxing afternoon we finish the night of with some (mediocre) pizza. Back to local food next time.
Today is Tuesday. Lena and Susanne had to leave this morning to pick up a friend in the capitol. I'm planning to head north towards the beach tomorrow with Dillenger (the owners nephew who helps run the place) and Anna (his friend who worked with him in Alaska). I'll drop them off in Tela, a city on the ocean straight north of here, while I'll continue to La Ceiba, from where I'll take a ferry to the island of Utila to do some scuba diving. So far for now.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05bLagoJoyoa02#
So after updating the blog on Friday afternoon, I went back to the hotel and overheard how the guy from the hotel wanted to rip of three American girls that needed a ride to San Pedro Sula (1.5hrs away) that night - he wanted $150. So I told them I was heading there that evening and could give them a ride. They gave me $40 for gas, and after Lise and I checked into a hotel I took them to the airport.
The next day Lise and I headed down to Lago Joyoa and got a room in D&D Brewery. Bob, the owner, used to be a civil engineer in the US but got tired of live over there about 14 years ago - and opened his microbrewery/hotel over here. Relaxing was on schedule for the rest of the day ...
On Sunday morning we went on a little tour around the neighborhood. Fidel, a neighbor who has a huge garden, invites us in and shows us around - he grows red beans right now. But it changes frequently - they have four harvest cycles over here.
As we walk on, we come by Doug's house - an American who used to live in Belize working on boats. A few months ago he came down here, bought an overgrown property and has been cleaning it up. We got to enjoy some great fauna and flora as well as got to see some great (hanging) bird's nest afterwards.
In the afternoon two German girls arrived at the hotel - Lena and Susanne. I go for a walk w/ them to get a view of the lake. The view from shore sucks! We keep going on some little path, and end up at a small canal. There are two little boats lying around. We decided to "borrow" one - which of course is stealing, even though we are planning to bring it back.
As I'm trying to figure out the rowing, we're slowly making our way to the lake. We finally get our views - even though it's overcast today. After about 10 mins we decide to head back. Approaching the canal entrance, another boat approaches us. The guys tells us he's the owner of our boat. First we're a little in shock - how upset is he going to be?? But then he just tells us we need to change boats and return the other one soon. After we switched, we noticed why - our boat had been filling a little with water - and he brought a bucket, so he can get it out. Our new boat seems to be watertight. We eat Chinese that night - huge portions, not cheap, and poor service - common over here as we find out.
The next day the three of us head off to the waterfalls. They are 43m (140ft) high and the main attraction of the area. After taking a look around, we decide to do the ziplining before the behind-the-falls tour - no reason to be wet for ziplining. They have five lines, that last one of which takes you right across in front of the falls - awesome feeling.
Then a guide takes us behind the falls. First we have to climb quite a bit a narrow path to get to the side of the falls. Then we actually make our way through the water to get behind and check out some of the caves there. There are some smaller waterfalls on the side which we also explore. At the end, the guide and I also jump off a cliff about 20' high into the water. The girls bail on this one. They are missing out - it's great.
After a relaxing afternoon we finish the night of with some (mediocre) pizza. Back to local food next time.
Today is Tuesday. Lena and Susanne had to leave this morning to pick up a friend in the capitol. I'm planning to head north towards the beach tomorrow with Dillenger (the owners nephew who helps run the place) and Anna (his friend who worked with him in Alaska). I'll drop them off in Tela, a city on the ocean straight north of here, while I'll continue to La Ceiba, from where I'll take a ferry to the island of Utila to do some scuba diving. So far for now.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joegrass76/05bLagoJoyoa02#
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