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#
Cool stories, cool pictures. Thanks, man. I live vicariously through you. :-) Except for the execution, I'm glad I did not have to see that.
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