Great diving, sad to say goodbye

After saying goodbye to Sara I bus thru to Trujillio. This takes all day and is damn boring. Especialy after La Ceiba, when i get on a chicken bus.. which takes 3 hours to travel 120km. Not good.

My main aim in Trujilio is to catch a ferry out to the island of Guaranja. If it even goes.. nobody seems sure if it does or not... By the time i arrive its 9.30pm and hosing with rain. I am exhausted after getting up at 3.30 this morning, and crash hard in the first place i see.

Next morning... its still raining. Hard. Real hard. I have a TV in my room for a change so i watch some Hollywood nonsense till it settles. The town itself is much smaller than i expected. After a look around, and a walk on the supposedly perfect beach.. which seems pretty average.. I decide to walk out to the Casa Kiwi, a backpackers lodge. I figure the owner is from home and might offer some insights to living here.

As it turns out she is away for the day, but a couple around my age from Queenstown are doing some work there for free board. We spend most of the day chatting, which is nice.

By evening I decide I am actualy more interested in returning to Utila for more diving, than going to Guaranja. This is pushed on by the revelatin that the next ferry isnt for 3 more days.

So the next day I am away (in the rain again) by a direct bus this time, and onto the ferry for Utila in the late arvo.

Returning to Paradise Divers feels ike coming home. Sandra and Tullio (DMs), Jason from Canada, Dave from Wales all greet me enthusisticly which is very warming.

Jason has been thinking about doing the rescue diver course, so I agree to do it with him. At $199US, and $60US for the first aid course, it wont get any cheaper anywhere else, and I still think of going thru Dive Master at some stage.

The course is run by Tullio. I like the guys cos hes laid back and fun etc, but i do question his teaching ability a bit. His explanations are a bit flakey sometimes, and most questions I have get answered with "dont worry about it" ... But as it turns out it is pretty straight forward and I do get some benefit, thinking about what to do in a bad situation.

After seven nights on the island the day finaly comes to leave. I genuinely dont want to go. I have felt more at home here, than anywhere else we went on the trip. Staying around and doing the DM exam is pretty tempting. But I have flights paid for and people to meet in Europe before returning to South America. So with almost a small tear in my eye I get on the 2pm ferry, then catch the boring bus back to San Pedro Sula.

On Sunday the 1st of April, I write this blog, then go to the airport, a bit bemused that I am returnign to the "civilized world" again... I really hoipe it wont be too bloody cold ! (and expensive!!).. fingers crossed..

Honduras, from bad to great

11-22 March 207

Somewhere along the way into Honduras I get sick. It’s a long day, changing busses several times in high heat. By the time we get to San Pedro Sula its 9pm, and I collapse straight into bed. At the time I assume it is just tiredness.

The next moring we are on another bus for 3 hours to Copan, and its then I realize something is wrong. I have no energy and am stiff all over. Sara has escaped it as ñeaves me to it. For the next thre days I eat no more than a couple of pieces of bread each day. Not good.

I am particularly put out cos we are leaving soon! And I almost never get sick, so when I do I don’t seem to handle it well.

We do manage to see the ruins at least. Maybe its my condidtion, but they do not impress me much. They are small and the ¨amazing¨ detail of the carvings seems to be missed by me. In fact most of the better pieces are replicas!! We are shocked at having to pay $15 US each to get in!! And the guide stings us another $7 each, even after teaming up with some travelers… ouch!

So we bus back to SPS then onto La Ceiba. Having to cab the transfers between bus stops is highly frustrating.. they charge ridiculous gringo prices and get surly at the concept of bargaining. We get on the ferry to Utilla just on time…

Utila has the reputation of being the cheapest place in the world to get dive certifications. And the water is warm and clear. It’s a tall order, but it does indeed come true. We speak to a few dive shops and end up going with the skankiest, cheapest and most laid back one, Paradise Divers.

Its so cheap Sara ends up doing her Advanced Course for all of $210US, including 2 free fun dives and free accom. I am happy with 10 fun dives for $150!!

The accom is basic, which is fine, but the location between two loud discos could be better! The best two dives are a night dive where we see an enormous King Crab, and a wreck dive which is surrounded by massive fish. The instructor takes photos with his very flash 10mpx camera (I didn’t know such high definition existed yet!), which are too big to post here, but look fantastic.

The island itself is basically one small town. Only 2 roads and quite crowded. Not quite what we expected, but pretty cool.

On the last two days we decide to check out the next island over. Roatan. The big interest here is the current real estate frenzy. We fly there (as a treat!) and hire a car at $45US a day. This is a budget blower, but allows us to have a good look around.

The East end is much less developed, and super laid back. We stay at a private cottage on the beach. Costing $50, its steep but is very nice. We organize this thru the Windsong restaurant, where the local gringos have a great yarn to us about living on the island, then one goes and pays for our dinner!!!

The West end is very expensive, and while very commercial, no where near as ¨civilized¨as we expected. It still has sand roads etc. We eat a flash lobster dinner on the beach which is nice, fully aware that we wont see each other for ages very soon.

Back at SPS for a night it pours with rain. It’s a 3.30am start to get Sara on her flight. Its an emotional farewell, and we both hope that the next 6 months will deliver to each of us what we are looking for.

178 days on the road together. Its been a great trip….

Nicaragua, highs and lows..

8-10 March 2007

Crossing into Nicaragua we get hit by our first true scam on the entire tyip. Its not a good way to enter a country…

Having been told there is no bank there to change money, I use a street trader. I am dead tired after the long bus ride yesterday and not thinking straight. The exchange rate is 18 Cordobas to 1USD. I change $40 and just cant seem to do the arithmetic in my head. Getting frustrated I cant find my calculator, and believe the money changers one. Something feels wrong but we trade $40. About a minute later I finaly click. He has used a rigged calculator and short changed us by almost $25…..

I am furious. More at myself than him. We try to find him but he has disappeared. His friends say that hes not their friend when we ask them. After 10 mins we give up. This leaves me fuming for days
On a positive side the process of immigration is quite straight forward, which is an improvement on the minimum of two hours stated in our guide book.

The book also says positive things about the Pacific side beach town of San Huan del Sur, which is not too far away.

Unfortunately the book is wrong again.

The place is far from awesome, but is amazingly expensive. The dorms cost &US a head, and we finaly get a double for $15. The most we have ever paid till this point os $13, and even that was an exception…. Normaly we are under $10. This is concerning cos Nicaragua is supposedly the cheapest country in all of Latin America, ie Central and South America…

Amusement comes from the huge plethora of real estate shops. All in English and quoting incredible costs. Condos nowhere near the (dirty) beach come in at $250,000 USD… and the average wage for most people living here is $3 per day!!! Total ridiculous.

The other amusement comes from a mad Canadian who owns a seafood restaurant, Captain Barneys. He states that his beer battered fish and chops are the best in the world. He will make them for us, and we only have to pay half price. Or they will be free if we don’t like them. Then he throws in a milkshake for free. And of course tells his life story. Admitedly the fish is very nice, we finaly prise ourselves away later in the afternoon… hes as mad as a snake…

Climbing the high hill gives a great view over town and the coast line. We see an amazing sunset (the first in the entire trip) and are met by an El Salvedorian, who is drunk as a skunk and mad as a hatter. In a small world curiosity.. he is the business partner of the restauranteer!!

We had planned to stay here for 2 nights, but on the strength of this arvo, amusing as it has been, we decide to boost tomorrow morning.

The day of travel is not so long, but is soured by the second scam attempt in 2 days, this time in the dirty great capital of Managua. We have to taxi from one bus terminal to the other. A taxi driver agrees to 15 cordobas, then moments later his friend jumps in the front seat. As we pass a gas station he says I need gas money. I give him the agreed 15 cords while his friend gives him150. He then tells us that 15 was the agreed price just to get into the car, and travel was additional. I am still fuming about the border scam and tell him to get fucked. This turns into a screaming match, while Sara tries to be the voice of reason. The two of them threaten to drive off with our bags as soon as we get out. They then say lets go to the police station. We says that’s a good idea, noting that we are driving past a gaggle of cops and not stopping. In the end after five full minutes of this he gets out pulls our bags from the trunk and throws them on the ground. All but one that is, speeding off with it.

I have a rare explosion of extreme anger around now. Not pretty at all.

Then as we walk 200m back to the bus station, the cabs drives past us and throws the bag on the ground. It has been opened of course, and there is nothing of value in it. I am amazed that they gave it back though, and this eases my temper a little at least….

The drive to Leon takes 1 hour and I have mellowed by then. We get thru to the Big Foot Hostel no problems, and check in to their newest room, finished about 5 mins ago!

The operator here is Darren, an ex Oz Experience driver, who a mutual friend of ours told me about. We came here wanting to gain some insight into running a hostel in this part of the world, and Daz is more than forthcoming. He has a pretty sweet setup, and his Volcano Boarding trip is fun too. Basicaly we walk up a small volcano, run down into the center, climb back up, and slide down the side on homemade sleds. The speed of the sleds is pretty quick if you don’t brake. I highly appreciate the goggles and overalls, and am amazed that these are a very new addition!

Daz also takes us down to the beach to check out a surf comp. The beach is nicer than San Juan at least, and the water is amazingly warmer. Leon itself though doesn’t do much for us, and tempting as it is to stay there and hang with him, we decide to move on again. Sara has read about the Copan ruins in Honduras, and we are now going to try and sqeeze them into our busy schedule..

Zipping over Panama & Costa Rica

6-7 March 2007

The Panama Canal has been something I really wanted to see on this trip. Preferably sailing thru it. But by the time we arrive in Colon we are running short on time, and getting line handler positions at short notice requires quite a lot of luck. We ask around, and are told later in the week is fine, but not tomorrow. We are a bit over sailing just now anyway.

So we cab out to the Gatum locks. It is a scerene experience. The filling and draining of each lock is much quiter than I expected. As is the sight of HUGE freighters getting pulled thru by mechanical mules.

Panama uses the US dollar as official currency. That’s all fine, but paying $5 to see the locks is a bit rude!

We stay for a couple of hours then catch a late arvo bus over to Panama city. We stay in the old town which is like a giant construction site, with money coming from somewhere to return it to its former glory. What has been finished is nice indeed, but on nowhere near the same scale as Cartagena. In the middle of it all we find a Portugese restaurant. Its looks flasher than any we have visted in the entire trip, but we decide to go for it anyway. Excellent food, and a good bottle of wine later we are happy, but $65US poorer…

We are so short of time now we have to plan ahead. From here we want to see Leon, and an ex Oz Experience driver´s hostel, and the Bay Islands for some diving. This means bypassing the rest of Panama and all of Costa Rica. A shame, but they can be done on another trip…

So we spend a day organizing… I do manage to find a cheap flight to Madrid, but flights to anywhere in Central America are just extortionate. $350US one way!! This means we have to catch a bloody night bus.. never good.

At least the bus is pretty comfortable I guess. I don’t really sleep and feel like a zombie as we cross into Costa Rica at 5am. It is amusing that the border guards on the CR side don’t wear any form of uniform. 1^st place in the world I have seen this. And CR is supposed to be the most advance country in the region…

After 17 hours on the bus we get to the capital of San Jose. Its supposed to be pretty uninteresting, so we literally jump on another bus within 5 mins. And another 4 hours of travel. In the small town of Liberia its amusing to see quite a few other gringos, and loads of trendy surf shops…

Two beers over dinner almost sends me to sleep immediately, so after 21 hours of almost continuous bus travel we sleep well…

Sailing to Panama

26 feb - 4 March 2007

As we sail towards Panama, things start well enough. On day one the five of us talk away the arvo, getting to know each other a bit better. Mark, from Whales looks like he is mid 20´s. His subject matter is normally crap like meeting the Sweedish volleyball team out here etc, which makes him sound even younger. Somewhat incredulously he is 40. Brian and Jamie are an odd couple it seems. They both escaped reality in their early 30´s and have lived on boats ever since. By the end of 6 days, we realize thy are pretty over it.

And that’s exactly how they sail, like it’s a chore…. Using auto pilot is fine I supposed, and bitching about the unexpected head wind is normal too I guess. But neither seems to be having much fun.

In general it appears they desperately needed the money, which is why we are here, but they really didn’t appreciate crowding their boat. The water supply becomes a constant nagg, and we virtually run out of food before the trip is over…

We do stop in a couple of nice little anchorages and enjoy the warm water. Unfortunately the snorkeling over ¨reefs¨ turns out to be reefs of sand and weed, not too interesting. A couple of nice BBQs off the back of the boat are nice too.

One positive thing we gain is an appreciation of whether we could live like this. I ask Brian loads of technical questions about buying a boat, maintaining it, and what to do to pass the time. In the end we conclude that we are too young and active to sail around the world just now. There is a lot of nothing time, and most of the other boaties are retired, and conversation just isn’t us.

On the 2^nd to last night we stop at the tiny town of Portabello, in Panama. By sheer chance their carnival is on, and its heaving. It turns out that Brian and Jamie are shocking racists and grizzle that there are too many blacks… the warning from other boaties anchored there about a psychotic Frenchman who tried to firebomb three boats last night is concerning, and gives Brian the perfect excuse to insist we return to the boat within the hour. This pisses us off quite badly cos the fest is in full swing with huge black people dressed as dragons and dancing wildly to some bloody awful music.

And getting into Colon, Panama, we get to see how busy the port really is. Very. Huge tankes everywhere. Quite cool.

Checking into Panama immigration the next morning we have to trot to several different offices. Its no real drama, but Brian again insists its all the fault of the blacks. Unbelievable. We aren’t that sad to say good bye to them….. oh well…

final thoughts on Colombia

So as we leave Colombia, by sailboat, I reflect. Colombia is pretty sweet. Very different from how the media portrays it like a warzone, but also not as incredibly friendly as travelers are currently trying to promote.

Its surprising how easy it is to get used to a huge military and security presence. Opening bags to be inspected every time you enter a shop or train becomes normal too.

The people are a lot more motivated and generally intelligent than in other countries we have visited recently. This does make a nice change!

Travel domestically is expensive. Busses are pretty comfy though.