Nothing says fun like an early morning ferry back to the mainland filled with people puking all over the place. And with that I said goodbye to Utila, and the Bay Islands which had become like home to me and an incredible stop on the journey. Once arriving on the mainland I started the push north, to try and catch not only the ferry to Belize but also my flight home from Cancun, Mexico. Making my way on yet another bus to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, I was needing to make it to Puerto Cortes to make the ferry the following morning. At the bus terminal in San Pedro, an Auzzie couple with the same plan that I had, so through convenience we started to travel together and make our way up to the port. After arriving we settled into a hotel in town. It was really nice to have my own room, with a private bathroom for the first time in a long while. Some simple things like that, become quite big once you haven't had them for a while. The next morning after a very painless Immigration process at a small office near the port we made our way over to catch the ferry. The "D-Express" was to be our ride. We all had our own thoughts about what the "D" stood for, by I will let you form your own opinion of a small speed boat headed north from Honduras. While waiting for the ferry I was hoping to change some money and was told that I could do so. When I decided I wanted to I was taken onto the boat and hidden behind a small wall to make the transaction. Easily one of the sketchiest feeling things that I had done on the whole trip. After a fairly quick 2.5 hours to Belize where I thought the lady beside me was either going to die or vomit all over me, we arrived in Belize. The Immigration officers came right onto the boat and did our paper work there. We then had to get off and get the bags checked. I had a pretty intense search...the officer actually opened my bag, which I believe is only the second time that has happened! OH NO! Once we were all cleared we jumped back on the boat for a quick 5 minute ferry over to the town of Placencia. Here I partnered up with 2 Norwegians who where just finishing their study in Leon, and 2 Canadians from B.C. and we caught a taxi out the the main road, at a price a bit steeper than what I have been used to, but was able to get some sweet street knowledge and wisdom from the driver. We were hoping to make it in time for a bus that would allow us to skip the stop in Belize City, which is incredibly dangerous and dodgy, with not many redeeming points to it, but unfortunately this couldn't happened and we needed to stay the night in the city. As I said, upon arrival in the city we were warned by the bus driver that we needed to get a taxi, and that walking anywhere would be stupid and dangerous. This to was echoed by the hotel owner, who, when we asked if there was any place to go and eat were told that there was a place a block or two down but if we were going to go there we should only take the money that we need and nothing more because the chance of us getting robbed was really high. Yes, that is the type of city Belize City is. Early the next morning we made our way back to the bus station for the final push through Belize. Upon arriving at the boarder I pay the 16$ exit fee, for my 24 hour trip through the dodgy country of Belize and I am then on to Mexico. The final stop on the journey. After the customs stop we head back to the bus only to find that it had left us at the border, and because of that some taxis were needed to make it the final way to the bus station where I would find my final bus to Cancun. After departing from the friends that I had met leaving Honduras, and on the trip through Belize I was now on my way to the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, and the western worlds vacation paradise of Cancun. Mexico initially had a much different fell from the rest of Central America. There was a more developed feel to the area. I'm sure that this is not the case in all parts of the developing nation but the tourist haven of the peninsula had a much different feel from anything that I had seen in the past 4 months. Nice roads, better vehicles and a cleaner environment had a foreign feel to me. Upon arriving in Cancun I made my way from the very modern bus station to a hostel near by. I was now in my final destination and on the home stretch of the trip, a really sad realization to come to. After a fairly lonely night in the hostel, and quite dinner on my own, I decided to head into town and try to see some of the sites. The hostel is not very near the resort and hotel rich area of the peninsula and I am required to take the very modern bus system to see what is out there. When I get out to the "Hotel Zone" I am blown away by what I see there. Massive hotels lining the entire stretch of the beach with stores and restaurants included in the mix. I feel so out of place here and am experiencing this strange feeling of a reverse culture shock. After being away from everything and living in a more organic way, this all seems to be a shock for me. I walk along the beach and through the store to see what there is to see. This shopper paradise isn't sitting all that well with me. I have a really tough time seeing the appeal to this all. It seems to have any last trace of culture sucked out of it and replaced with an Americanized caricature of what Mexico and central America really is and has to offer. I feel sorry for people if that is the only experience of Central American culture, because it is much deeper and vibrant that Cancun seems to lead on. No it is not wrong to go here and have a vacation but I hope people realize there is more than malls, clubs, beaches and big hotels in this part of the world. This however is all I really needed to see for me to know that the resort style vacation is not quite for me. After this eye opener of a day I made my way back to the hostel to see that I had a new roommate from the U.K. After chatting for a while we went out for dinner at a road side stand and had my last taste of the food of Central America. Upon returning to the room I finish my final packing and get ready for the early morning flight back to the homeland. As i lie in bed I am filled with a tremendous mix of feelings. On one had I am excited to head home and see friends and family and so sad that this journey of a life time is now coming to an end. I have seen and experienced so many things that have changed me, and helped form my world view and outlook on life. I have met some incredible and inspiring people along the way that have taught me to dream bigger, and really enjoy life to the fullest in whatever you are doing. Not really looking forward to getting back into the real world but realizing that for me this is the end of a chapter in my life. However, this will not be the last trip like this and already feel the creative juices flowing as I ponder future trips. I get up early in the morning and head off to the bus station to get my ride to the airport. A few hours from now I will be back on home soil. Getting on the place I feel an excitement about going home. After arriving at the airport, in Toronto, I met my parents and we headed home. My trip was finally over. Now being home for a while I want to be back on the road. I have tasted something so sweet and now want that again.
I want to thank people for reading along and taking part in my journey. Your encouragement has been huge as I made my way though 8 countries over 4 incredible months.
Thanks
Bye for now
Mike
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Utila - Part 2
Its incredible to think that in just under a week I will be back home in Canada after 4 months on the road, traveling and experiencing some of the amazing things that Central America has to offer. I have really loved my time here on Utila. This little island with only two main streets that are full of people and golf cart, has been home for almost 3 weeks now. It has been nice to spend a bit of time in one place as opposed to constantly being on the move. I guess part of me has succumb to a big lie of Utila, and that is "I am leaving tomorrow." Its really easy to hang out here when you are surrounded by really friendly people and some incredible diving. I was planning on doing a few other things here in Honduras but have decided to stay here basically until I leave for Mexico. I do not feel bad for staying here and missing out on other things, this place is great and I'm enjoying my time.
After I finished my Advanced Open Water course with Alton's Dive Centre, I decided that I wanted to continue on with the next step in the diving ladder. For me that meant I was going to be getting my Rescue Diver certification. This course was a lot harder than the previous two that I had taken and made for some really long and tiring days in the water and a good wet suit sunburn to go along with all that. Thankfully I had my First Aid training, and because of that it cut of a day of the course and saved me a bit of money. The idea behind the Rescue Diver is that you are there to provide help to other divers. This could mean dealing with panicked divers, tired divers, or even unconscious ones. The course was 3 days of jumping in and out of the water "saving" people through different scenarios and learning how to handle situations both on the surface and under water. Learning search patterns, diver tows, and how to bring unconscious people to the surface, was all part of the training. By the time I finished the high stress and high intensity course I was a bit relieved and really proud of myself. It was really rewarding and a huge accomplishment. Open Water courses show you how to have fun while diving, but the Rescue program teaches you how to take care and be responsible for other divers around you. I feel that because of this course it has made me a better and more confident diver.
After my time with that I needed a chance to relax again. A few of the people from the dive shop decided they wanted to go up to the fresh water caves on the island where you can do some skin diving and snorkeling in the caves filled with water. Going up there I thought that it would be very similar to my experience at Semuc Champey, but this didn't turn out to be the case. When we arrived at the caves I was looking around for the area to begin out expedition. It was a small crack in the earth that went down into the darkness. After lighting some candles five of us made our way into the cave, with parts of the cave forcing you to crawl on your stomach through some very narrow holes. This probably would not have been an overly enjoyable experience for someone with claustrophobia. Finally we made it to the water and jumped into the refreshingly cold pools, after a sweaty walk in. Having a few underwater torches we decided to go swimming from cavern to cavern through little underwater tunnels. It was crazy to see all the little passage ways that were tuck away in the caves. Once made our way into one of the caves there was an opening we wanted to check out. I went in to take a look at the area underwater to see if there was another opening to be seen, allowing us into another room. After a quick scope out I gave the light off to another guys to check it out. He took his breath and headed under. After a few moments we were all impressed with how long he could hold his breath, a few more moments passed by and then we started to get a bit worried. I looked down into the water to see if I could see him, but the water had silted up and we could no longer see the torch and that meant it was really disorienting in there. That's when we really started to worry. I thought that Alban was going to die. The group of us just sort of sat there for a second trying to decide what we were going to do, but at the last second we saw a light, and one of the other guys, Andrew, pulled Alban out. Alban didn't have his mask on his face and looked totally panicked. What had happened was that he kicked the roof of the cavern while swimming and that dislodged a lot of silt. After that he had no idea where he was and started to panic. He took off his mask and then started to take in a lot of water, in a panicked effort to save himself. As bad as it sounds, if Andrew had not seen the light and grabbed him, I don't know if Alban would still be around. After the scare we decided it was probably best if we just went back to the dive shop. So we all took a nice relaxed walk along the coast as we made out way back, thankful that nothing too bad had happened.
The time at the dive shop has been really great. Other than the diving there has been lots of opportunities to talk with the Dive-masters and Instructors. It was really cool one night when the shop put on a fish fry with some fresh local catch. Some of the locals prepared the meal and we all just ate to our hearts content on a typical plate of coleslaw, plantains and some tasty fresh fish.
I have really enjoyed the opportunity to relax in the hammock on the end of the dock looking out over the ocean watching the world slowly go by as I listen to Jack Johnson, Snow Patrol or some jonnymeloband. This is really beautiful, and something that I am going to miss when I get home. I had thought about staying here longer and doing my Dive-master training here, but decided against it because of time and money. But I know that at some point I will do it. Possibly coming back here to continue, or maybe doing it somewhere else, who knows. All I know is that I love diving and want to keep on doing that, and possibly make some money with it at some point.
And so on Sunday I will start to make my push back north. I will make my way via ferry from Honduras over to Belize on Monday morning. After that I will basically move as fast as I can through Belize and hopefully get to the Mexican boarder in a day or two. I will then continue on up to Cancun in order to make my flight on Thursday the 6th.
I hope that you have enjoyed one of the last posts. I will see many of you very soon when I return home.
Bye for now
Mike
After I finished my Advanced Open Water course with Alton's Dive Centre, I decided that I wanted to continue on with the next step in the diving ladder. For me that meant I was going to be getting my Rescue Diver certification. This course was a lot harder than the previous two that I had taken and made for some really long and tiring days in the water and a good wet suit sunburn to go along with all that. Thankfully I had my First Aid training, and because of that it cut of a day of the course and saved me a bit of money. The idea behind the Rescue Diver is that you are there to provide help to other divers. This could mean dealing with panicked divers, tired divers, or even unconscious ones. The course was 3 days of jumping in and out of the water "saving" people through different scenarios and learning how to handle situations both on the surface and under water. Learning search patterns, diver tows, and how to bring unconscious people to the surface, was all part of the training. By the time I finished the high stress and high intensity course I was a bit relieved and really proud of myself. It was really rewarding and a huge accomplishment. Open Water courses show you how to have fun while diving, but the Rescue program teaches you how to take care and be responsible for other divers around you. I feel that because of this course it has made me a better and more confident diver.
After my time with that I needed a chance to relax again. A few of the people from the dive shop decided they wanted to go up to the fresh water caves on the island where you can do some skin diving and snorkeling in the caves filled with water. Going up there I thought that it would be very similar to my experience at Semuc Champey, but this didn't turn out to be the case. When we arrived at the caves I was looking around for the area to begin out expedition. It was a small crack in the earth that went down into the darkness. After lighting some candles five of us made our way into the cave, with parts of the cave forcing you to crawl on your stomach through some very narrow holes. This probably would not have been an overly enjoyable experience for someone with claustrophobia. Finally we made it to the water and jumped into the refreshingly cold pools, after a sweaty walk in. Having a few underwater torches we decided to go swimming from cavern to cavern through little underwater tunnels. It was crazy to see all the little passage ways that were tuck away in the caves. Once made our way into one of the caves there was an opening we wanted to check out. I went in to take a look at the area underwater to see if there was another opening to be seen, allowing us into another room. After a quick scope out I gave the light off to another guys to check it out. He took his breath and headed under. After a few moments we were all impressed with how long he could hold his breath, a few more moments passed by and then we started to get a bit worried. I looked down into the water to see if I could see him, but the water had silted up and we could no longer see the torch and that meant it was really disorienting in there. That's when we really started to worry. I thought that Alban was going to die. The group of us just sort of sat there for a second trying to decide what we were going to do, but at the last second we saw a light, and one of the other guys, Andrew, pulled Alban out. Alban didn't have his mask on his face and looked totally panicked. What had happened was that he kicked the roof of the cavern while swimming and that dislodged a lot of silt. After that he had no idea where he was and started to panic. He took off his mask and then started to take in a lot of water, in a panicked effort to save himself. As bad as it sounds, if Andrew had not seen the light and grabbed him, I don't know if Alban would still be around. After the scare we decided it was probably best if we just went back to the dive shop. So we all took a nice relaxed walk along the coast as we made out way back, thankful that nothing too bad had happened.
The time at the dive shop has been really great. Other than the diving there has been lots of opportunities to talk with the Dive-masters and Instructors. It was really cool one night when the shop put on a fish fry with some fresh local catch. Some of the locals prepared the meal and we all just ate to our hearts content on a typical plate of coleslaw, plantains and some tasty fresh fish.
I have really enjoyed the opportunity to relax in the hammock on the end of the dock looking out over the ocean watching the world slowly go by as I listen to Jack Johnson, Snow Patrol or some jonnymeloband. This is really beautiful, and something that I am going to miss when I get home. I had thought about staying here longer and doing my Dive-master training here, but decided against it because of time and money. But I know that at some point I will do it. Possibly coming back here to continue, or maybe doing it somewhere else, who knows. All I know is that I love diving and want to keep on doing that, and possibly make some money with it at some point.
And so on Sunday I will start to make my push back north. I will make my way via ferry from Honduras over to Belize on Monday morning. After that I will basically move as fast as I can through Belize and hopefully get to the Mexican boarder in a day or two. I will then continue on up to Cancun in order to make my flight on Thursday the 6th.
I hope that you have enjoyed one of the last posts. I will see many of you very soon when I return home.
Bye for now
Mike
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Utila - Part 1
I'm sorry that there hasn't been a post in a while. I've been incredibly busy since I arrived here on the island. Utila is one of the three Bay Islands of Honduras, located in the Caribbean, with beautiful sunny warmth and people that speak a difficult form of English. Its a mix of English, Spanish and the local Garifuna language, but when it comes out sounds much like a Jamaican accent but a lot less understandable at times It is a very big traveler stop and probably most famous for all the diving that can be done on the Meso American Reef which is the second largest reef in the world.
I took a ferry ride over to the island, which is the only real way unless you want to pay a stupid amount of money for a 15 min flight. The price of the ferry isn't much better ($23 for an hour long ride) When I got off and got my bags I don't think that I was quite ready for the madness that awaited me at the end of the dock. What happens is all of the dive shops on the island, of which there are probably 10 or 15, congregate at the end of the dock awaiting the new batch of travelers to try and sell them on their shop before they are picked up by another. So this means there is 20 or 30 dive shop employees trying to hand you pamphlets about them and why you need to choose their outfit. A couple times I just laughed because it was overwhelming all the commotion in the area. I decided to go with Alton's Dive Centre, because they offered me a free night to stay and a place to put my bags while I checked out the other shops of the island to choose which one I want to go with. So I set of and checked in at almost all the shops on the island collecting some information and prices, and they were all about the same. So I ended up staying with Alton's because it had a good friendly feel with a welcoming attitude. I signed up to do my Advanced Open Water course which would allow me to now max out my depth at 40m instead of 18m as well as get some practice in other areas of diving. The course was 7 dives in total. They included, peak performance buoyancy skills, navigation, deep, wreck, current, night and then a free fun dive at the end. In each of the dives we learned some basics about the specific type of dive. The reef here is incredible. I am really quite glad that I did my Open Water in Panama, because with a less impressive reef and terrible visibility it has made this time on the Meso American Reef even more mind blowing. The colour of the coral, visibility and abundant aquatic life has been truly amazing.
Another thing that makes Utila quite famous is the whale sharks that come around for a while in the month of April. They are the largest fish in the ocean and are remarkably beautiful, and so part of the reason for me coming to Utila was the prospect of getting to swim with these massive creatures. When I arrived there hadn't been any whale sharks sighted as of yet, which meant that they were a bit late. But after a day or two there had been a couple of sighting by some of the local fishermen, which got me quite excited. On my first day of diving, in between the first and second dives we were told that we were going to be going whale sharking! How exciting. The event of whale sharking is unlike anything Ive done and carries with it an incredible adrenaline rush. What happens is that the captain of the boat gets in contact with the other captains too see if there have been any sightings and where abouts they were. Then the go around and look for the boils of tuna. This is when the tuna swim in a circular motion trapping a bunch of tiny fish and force them up towards the surface. Once the tuna have reached the surface they all start jumping for the fish that they have trapped, ocean a look of boiling water. These are generally good indicators of where to find whale sharks because they eat the same type of small fish. When a boil is spotted we are all told to get down in two lines with our fins, mask and snorkel ready to go. Sitting on the deck in eager anticipation of what is to come we waited, and waited and waited, scanning boil after boil for a mouth of a whale shark as it goes vertical to eat or a dark shadow as it swims below. The silence is then quickly broken with shouts of GO! GO! GO! Its to the left! Everyone in the chaos pours into the water and starts swimming around trying to see it. The first one I saw was beautiful. I froze. This massive fish right in front of me, so calm and serene majestically moving through the water. I did no know what to do but sit and stare. I have never seen anything like that before let alone swim with it. After a bit of time with the whale shark it swam away and we were left floating alone in the deep blue of the ocean, as you look down and can't see a thing, but a deep and entrancing colour. That day we went for a few more jumps to try and see them and each time they blew me away. After getting in the boat we all recalled our personal experience and thoughts about what had just happened, all equally stunned. The next day when we went we had the same procedure. This time when we jumped in I didn't know where I was to be going and was left in s pile of bubbles. But when the bubbles cleared right beside me was a 40ft whale shark, had I reached out I could have touched it and actually had to move back so that I didn't hit it. The shark just sat there for a while with us curious as to his new visitors, even looking some of the people in the face as they had their cameras rolling and taking some incredible footage of these animals. Then again it slipped back into the deep blue and headed off on its own. This was probably one of the big highlights to my trip and something that I probably wont get the chance to do again.
Those experiences already made this tiny island an incredible stop for me but that wasn't the end. I have broken this up into two different parts and will post the rest in a few days. I hope that you have enjoyed and look forward to hearing from you
Thanks
Bye for now
Mike
I took a ferry ride over to the island, which is the only real way unless you want to pay a stupid amount of money for a 15 min flight. The price of the ferry isn't much better ($23 for an hour long ride) When I got off and got my bags I don't think that I was quite ready for the madness that awaited me at the end of the dock. What happens is all of the dive shops on the island, of which there are probably 10 or 15, congregate at the end of the dock awaiting the new batch of travelers to try and sell them on their shop before they are picked up by another. So this means there is 20 or 30 dive shop employees trying to hand you pamphlets about them and why you need to choose their outfit. A couple times I just laughed because it was overwhelming all the commotion in the area. I decided to go with Alton's Dive Centre, because they offered me a free night to stay and a place to put my bags while I checked out the other shops of the island to choose which one I want to go with. So I set of and checked in at almost all the shops on the island collecting some information and prices, and they were all about the same. So I ended up staying with Alton's because it had a good friendly feel with a welcoming attitude. I signed up to do my Advanced Open Water course which would allow me to now max out my depth at 40m instead of 18m as well as get some practice in other areas of diving. The course was 7 dives in total. They included, peak performance buoyancy skills, navigation, deep, wreck, current, night and then a free fun dive at the end. In each of the dives we learned some basics about the specific type of dive. The reef here is incredible. I am really quite glad that I did my Open Water in Panama, because with a less impressive reef and terrible visibility it has made this time on the Meso American Reef even more mind blowing. The colour of the coral, visibility and abundant aquatic life has been truly amazing.
Another thing that makes Utila quite famous is the whale sharks that come around for a while in the month of April. They are the largest fish in the ocean and are remarkably beautiful, and so part of the reason for me coming to Utila was the prospect of getting to swim with these massive creatures. When I arrived there hadn't been any whale sharks sighted as of yet, which meant that they were a bit late. But after a day or two there had been a couple of sighting by some of the local fishermen, which got me quite excited. On my first day of diving, in between the first and second dives we were told that we were going to be going whale sharking! How exciting. The event of whale sharking is unlike anything Ive done and carries with it an incredible adrenaline rush. What happens is that the captain of the boat gets in contact with the other captains too see if there have been any sightings and where abouts they were. Then the go around and look for the boils of tuna. This is when the tuna swim in a circular motion trapping a bunch of tiny fish and force them up towards the surface. Once the tuna have reached the surface they all start jumping for the fish that they have trapped, ocean a look of boiling water. These are generally good indicators of where to find whale sharks because they eat the same type of small fish. When a boil is spotted we are all told to get down in two lines with our fins, mask and snorkel ready to go. Sitting on the deck in eager anticipation of what is to come we waited, and waited and waited, scanning boil after boil for a mouth of a whale shark as it goes vertical to eat or a dark shadow as it swims below. The silence is then quickly broken with shouts of GO! GO! GO! Its to the left! Everyone in the chaos pours into the water and starts swimming around trying to see it. The first one I saw was beautiful. I froze. This massive fish right in front of me, so calm and serene majestically moving through the water. I did no know what to do but sit and stare. I have never seen anything like that before let alone swim with it. After a bit of time with the whale shark it swam away and we were left floating alone in the deep blue of the ocean, as you look down and can't see a thing, but a deep and entrancing colour. That day we went for a few more jumps to try and see them and each time they blew me away. After getting in the boat we all recalled our personal experience and thoughts about what had just happened, all equally stunned. The next day when we went we had the same procedure. This time when we jumped in I didn't know where I was to be going and was left in s pile of bubbles. But when the bubbles cleared right beside me was a 40ft whale shark, had I reached out I could have touched it and actually had to move back so that I didn't hit it. The shark just sat there for a while with us curious as to his new visitors, even looking some of the people in the face as they had their cameras rolling and taking some incredible footage of these animals. Then again it slipped back into the deep blue and headed off on its own. This was probably one of the big highlights to my trip and something that I probably wont get the chance to do again.
Those experiences already made this tiny island an incredible stop for me but that wasn't the end. I have broken this up into two different parts and will post the rest in a few days. I hope that you have enjoyed and look forward to hearing from you
Thanks
Bye for now
Mike
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Now to Honduras
Into Honduras. Upon arriving at Copan Ruinas, just a few minutes from the boarder with Guatemala, I was looking for a bit of a chance to slow down the travel, as I had been going rather quickly for the past few weeks. And that is what I have done. I spent a bit of time in Copan just relaxing and taking in some of the sights around town without really doing a whole lot. Copan is a sleepy little town set on the side of a hill. A beautiful place to stay for a bit. A few casual walks here and there, taking it pretty easy was what I wanted from it. I figured that with being so close to the Mayan ruins that the town takes its name after, I would be a bit of a fool not to go and see them. I made my way from the town about 2kms out of the centre to the ruins which lay beyond. Now most people say that if you are going to go to Copan you should do it before Tikal, because the scale and grandeur really does dwarf that of Copan. I did it the other way around. After paying my ticket, which was a fair bit more expensive than I had expected ($15, when Tikal was $20) I made my way into the park. Tikal is known for it massive building and the grandure of all the construction. Copan on the other hand is more know for the artistry and carvings that scatter the land in that area. Tikal made it big, Copan made it beautiful. All round the grounds there were "stelas." These are large, beautifully ornate statues that depict stories and rulers of the Mayan dynasties. These types of things are all over the property. There are still a few buildings in the area that are quite nice, with one stair case being the largest hieroglyphic stair case in all of the Mayan world. The one thing that surprised me the most and I think was just as impressive, was the number of Scarlet Macaws that few freely around the park. These are the beautiful red parrots that you usually would think of when a parrot comes to mind. Besides having a terribly painful call, they were so beautiful and could easily be found in the trees, often in groups of 3 or 4. So I spent the afternoon in the park walking around and admiring all that was there, stopping occasionally to read a book for a while continuing on with the relaxed nature of the trip. The next day I decided to move on to Los Naranjos, near the Lago Yojoa, further in land from the boarder, and this meant another long bus day. When I arrived to the place it was basically a continuation of Copan in the sense of relaxation. One day I did make my way to a waterfall near the area, which was rather nice to see. 42m's of cascading water, and some swimming that followed was a nice way to break up the time there. After a few days of relaxing there and a lot of reading I moved off to La Cieba, on the Carribbean coast of Honduras. This was to be my staging area for the jump to the Bay Islands. So far I would say that my time in Honduras has been really nice, not all that eventful and I am sorry because that makes for a boring blog post, but now I am on the Utila, one of the islands off the coast and am getting ready to do another dive course here. Hopefully that will be able to produce a bit more of an exciting read for you all.
I hope that you have enjoyed so far, and any comments or questions please feel free to let me know!
Thanks
Bye for now
Mike
I hope that you have enjoyed so far, and any comments or questions please feel free to let me know!
Thanks
Bye for now
Mike
Friday, April 9, 2010
Tikal!
After the craziness of Semana Santa now behind, and Antigua finally returning to normal I headed off for Tikal, located in the northern Peten Province of Guatemala, near to the boarders of Mexico and Belize. Making my way into the capital, Guatemala City, I boarded a bus for what would be a near 12 hour ride to the city of Flores. Thinking that booking a ticket for a coach bus would make the trip a bit more comfortable and less of a hassle, I was fine with spending a few more dollars. This however did not turn out to be the case. This was more or less just a chicken bus with some comfortable seats. Stopping everywhere to pick up and drop people off, this made for a long and incredibly crowded trip. This was not quite what I was expecting to be in for on this particular bus. It did end up getting interesting. When we stopped for a quick rest break and a chance to get some food, I ended up meeting some Honduran men that seemed rather friendly. Through some more conversation I found out that they were headed to the States, and yes probably in the way you may have guessed. These guys were illegals! This ended up turning out to be an incredible experience for me as I sat with Jose, a 19 year old Honduran making the trek for the boarder, learning about what they would have to go through in the following month or so, how the crossing works, why they are doing what they are doing and much more, but I am going to save that for another post because its a bit of a long story.
After arriving in Flores quite late, I bid farewell and good luck to the guys I had met on the bus and then made my way off to find a hostel for the night. The next morning I was quickly off to find a shuttle for the 1.5 hour trip further north to the tourist Mecca of Guatemala, Tikal. Packed with far more people than the mini bus was designed for we moved off into the jungle. Seeing signs warning of panther crossing and large snakes, I got quite excited about where I was going. Though it was destined to be a bit of an expensive trip I was looking forward to seeing the ruins that I have heard so much about.
Full of clean, old, rich, white tourists I just fit right in...only a bit dirtier, a lot younger, and with a lot less money.
I arrived at Tikal around noon, but waited until 3:30 to enter the park, because if I waited till then I would be able to use my ticket again the next day. with a ticket costing around $20 to get in I thought this would be wise. As a side note, the Guatemalan people get to enter for about $3, and I thought about trying to convince the guard I was a local but I'm not sure I would get through...maybe the lacking Spanish or possible the incredibly pasty white skin might give me away. So I bit the bullet and bought my white ticket.Walking though the "proper jungle with Tarzan vines and all," in the words of a English guy Will(who I met and lived with in Antigua for Semana Santa) I stumbled across the grandeur of Temple I. Sitting there in all its beauty, I stood dumbfounded, not really knowing what to do. In a bit of shock as to what was before me all I could really do was take pictures in hopes of capturing the this Mayan architectural masterpiece that has been tucked away in the Guatemalan jungle for hundreds of years. Wandering around the Grand Plaza, I tried to take in the beauty of it all. The place is so interesting and I found myself drifting off and thinking about what it would have been like years ago with all its original inhabitants, and also later to be the one to make the discovery of this place. Climbing Temple IV, I got an incredible panoramic view, and thoughts of "is this happening for real?" came into my head. It was so nice to walk around the grounds more or less alone, since most of the tourists has already gone back, allowing for some time alone on top of some of the temples. The one big downer to the Tikal is that there is so much backhanded dealing going on. If you want to climb some o the temples that are not allowed to be climbed, you will find a friendly guard there that is more than willing to let you go up for a few bucks. All I wanted to do was get some nice pictures and watch the sun set, and they were fine with that as long as they got some cash for it.
The next morning I return to the park early, so that I can have it to myself with out being smothered by tourists that would arrive later in the day. Walking around, I saw some of the other temples that I had skipped the previous day like Temple V. This one was huge, and to get to the top you had to climb a super sketch ladder to the top, and once there you felt as though you were going to fall all the way back down. But the view from there over the Grand Plaza was beautiful.
Tikal turned out to be a great experience and lived up to its name. It was another one of the things that I had planned on doing this time around and was glad to have accomplished it.
Later that afternoon, I made my way back to Flores and then down to Rio Dulce for the night before I would head on to Copan Ruinas, Honduras. Rio Dulce was a nice little town, but the hostel gave me new meaning to "don't let the bed bugs bite!" Yes, the next morning I was quite itchy.
From there I made my way on a series of buses to the Honduran boarder, and onto Copan Ruinas. A fairly painless experience, this is now where I find myself. This is the 6th country of the trip.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you have enjoyed the blog and catching up on what is going on. I would also encourage you to check out the link on the side, which shows all the places that I have been on the trip so far.
Bye for now
Mike
After arriving in Flores quite late, I bid farewell and good luck to the guys I had met on the bus and then made my way off to find a hostel for the night. The next morning I was quickly off to find a shuttle for the 1.5 hour trip further north to the tourist Mecca of Guatemala, Tikal. Packed with far more people than the mini bus was designed for we moved off into the jungle. Seeing signs warning of panther crossing and large snakes, I got quite excited about where I was going. Though it was destined to be a bit of an expensive trip I was looking forward to seeing the ruins that I have heard so much about.
Full of clean, old, rich, white tourists I just fit right in...only a bit dirtier, a lot younger, and with a lot less money.
I arrived at Tikal around noon, but waited until 3:30 to enter the park, because if I waited till then I would be able to use my ticket again the next day. with a ticket costing around $20 to get in I thought this would be wise. As a side note, the Guatemalan people get to enter for about $3, and I thought about trying to convince the guard I was a local but I'm not sure I would get through...maybe the lacking Spanish or possible the incredibly pasty white skin might give me away. So I bit the bullet and bought my white ticket.Walking though the "proper jungle with Tarzan vines and all," in the words of a English guy Will(who I met and lived with in Antigua for Semana Santa) I stumbled across the grandeur of Temple I. Sitting there in all its beauty, I stood dumbfounded, not really knowing what to do. In a bit of shock as to what was before me all I could really do was take pictures in hopes of capturing the this Mayan architectural masterpiece that has been tucked away in the Guatemalan jungle for hundreds of years. Wandering around the Grand Plaza, I tried to take in the beauty of it all. The place is so interesting and I found myself drifting off and thinking about what it would have been like years ago with all its original inhabitants, and also later to be the one to make the discovery of this place. Climbing Temple IV, I got an incredible panoramic view, and thoughts of "is this happening for real?" came into my head. It was so nice to walk around the grounds more or less alone, since most of the tourists has already gone back, allowing for some time alone on top of some of the temples. The one big downer to the Tikal is that there is so much backhanded dealing going on. If you want to climb some o the temples that are not allowed to be climbed, you will find a friendly guard there that is more than willing to let you go up for a few bucks. All I wanted to do was get some nice pictures and watch the sun set, and they were fine with that as long as they got some cash for it.
The next morning I return to the park early, so that I can have it to myself with out being smothered by tourists that would arrive later in the day. Walking around, I saw some of the other temples that I had skipped the previous day like Temple V. This one was huge, and to get to the top you had to climb a super sketch ladder to the top, and once there you felt as though you were going to fall all the way back down. But the view from there over the Grand Plaza was beautiful.
Tikal turned out to be a great experience and lived up to its name. It was another one of the things that I had planned on doing this time around and was glad to have accomplished it.
Later that afternoon, I made my way back to Flores and then down to Rio Dulce for the night before I would head on to Copan Ruinas, Honduras. Rio Dulce was a nice little town, but the hostel gave me new meaning to "don't let the bed bugs bite!" Yes, the next morning I was quite itchy.
From there I made my way on a series of buses to the Honduran boarder, and onto Copan Ruinas. A fairly painless experience, this is now where I find myself. This is the 6th country of the trip.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you have enjoyed the blog and catching up on what is going on. I would also encourage you to check out the link on the side, which shows all the places that I have been on the trip so far.
Bye for now
Mike
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The Map
Check out the link on the side, Map of the Journey, to see where I have been so far! I will try to update it often and add some more detail to the places.
Enjoy
Mike
Enjoy
Mike
Semana Santa
Slowly moving from side to side, their sombre sway moves the massive, ornate float down the road.
Semana Santa has been an incredible experience. The colour, atmosphere, the number of people have all been something so different for anything that I have been a part of here in Antigua. Semana Santa here in Antigua is said to be the second largest Easter week celebration in the world, next only to the Vatican City. Thousands of people, Central Americans and tourists alike all decend on the city for the week long celebration consisting of many different processions though the cobble stone streets of the colonial city. The city has been famous for this for many years and this one was not going to be any different in that regard. The idea behind the processions is that the people pay handsomely (500Q or about $65) for a chance to carry one of the floats for one city block, in the hopes of cutting some time off their stay in Purgatory.
The floats they carry are incredible, both in size and beauty. Many of them require over a hundred people to slowly carry the solid oak float through the streets. Once they have finished their turn the next group stands in beside them and they systematically change out and continue on down the road.
The processions started on the previous Sunday and continue all through out the week, until they come to the climax on Friday. It is incredible to see how many people have fit into this relativly small city as people dressed in purple tunics occupy the streets. Friday, which is arguably the biggest day of the week, start the celebration on Thrusday night. At this point hundreds of people take to the streets to create these ¨alfombras¨ or carpets of sawdust, pine needles, produce, flowers, or a combination of them all. The ones of sawdust are arguably the most beautiful and the most intricate. The streets are packed all night with people walking around and taking in the celebration. The carpets are to signify how people placed palms before Christ as he entered the city and do the same for the representations carried on the floats. People will start them in the early evening and work through the night for the procession that starts a 5 the following morning, on carpets 10m or more in length. Working 8 to 10 hours, making some of the most beautiful and detailed pieces I have ever seen, you can see that it is an incredible source of pride for the artists as thousands of people file past their work and take pictures all enamoured by the work . The incredible thing is that folling the hours of work, they are all trambled and distroyed in a matter of minutes as the procession makes its way over them. After the procession passes there is nothing left that resembles the previous beauty, rather all that remains is a pile of colourful dust that is then hurridly swept up and taken of to the trash by the cleanup crews that follow.
There is a weird feels to it all though. Quite dark feeling and at times it lacks the spirituality that one may assume surronding an event like this. Many people seem to be doing this as their one good deed for the year, and hope to keep themselves in the good books. They chat on cell phones, and listen to music during this time that is to signify the great suffering and life of Christ.
Each of the different floats signify something different, with one carried by men and then followed by another carried by the women. There is even one for the children to carry as not to be left out of the event. They make their way on a marked path through the city streets and then eventually make their way back to whatever chruch they began at.
Also during this week I did a bit more Spanish school in order to get myself a place to stay and finish off the course that I had started before. I lived with the family that I did back in January and it was nice to see them and catch up on what has happened in between. This week I have had some pretty good people to live with, a girl from the States, a guy from England and then a fellow Canadian from Quebec. It has been good to get to know them over the week and take in the processions and celebrations that have happened.
It is strange though that during the week there are so many procession and a really festive attitude about the place, and then on Sunday there is nothing much to be said. It is different because many places around the work this is the day of greatest celebration and here it is almost a non-event.
The week here has been incredible to see all that goes on and the magnitude of the celebration and ceremony that the people take part in. Im sorry if there are some things that are a bit unclear, but there was so much to take in and getting that altogether to post here is a bit of a chore. However, if you have any questions about the celebration or about anything surrounding my trip please let me know.
As well as a side note...I have now changed my ticket and will be returning home on the 6th of May instead of the 13th of April. I felt as though I needed more time for me to complete what I wanted to here and not be rushed in the process. I suppose to you could also say that I have been bit by the travel bug and don´t want it to end. Take your pick.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have enjoyed it.
Bye for now
Mike
Semana Santa has been an incredible experience. The colour, atmosphere, the number of people have all been something so different for anything that I have been a part of here in Antigua. Semana Santa here in Antigua is said to be the second largest Easter week celebration in the world, next only to the Vatican City. Thousands of people, Central Americans and tourists alike all decend on the city for the week long celebration consisting of many different processions though the cobble stone streets of the colonial city. The city has been famous for this for many years and this one was not going to be any different in that regard. The idea behind the processions is that the people pay handsomely (500Q or about $65) for a chance to carry one of the floats for one city block, in the hopes of cutting some time off their stay in Purgatory.
The floats they carry are incredible, both in size and beauty. Many of them require over a hundred people to slowly carry the solid oak float through the streets. Once they have finished their turn the next group stands in beside them and they systematically change out and continue on down the road.
The processions started on the previous Sunday and continue all through out the week, until they come to the climax on Friday. It is incredible to see how many people have fit into this relativly small city as people dressed in purple tunics occupy the streets. Friday, which is arguably the biggest day of the week, start the celebration on Thrusday night. At this point hundreds of people take to the streets to create these ¨alfombras¨ or carpets of sawdust, pine needles, produce, flowers, or a combination of them all. The ones of sawdust are arguably the most beautiful and the most intricate. The streets are packed all night with people walking around and taking in the celebration. The carpets are to signify how people placed palms before Christ as he entered the city and do the same for the representations carried on the floats. People will start them in the early evening and work through the night for the procession that starts a 5 the following morning, on carpets 10m or more in length. Working 8 to 10 hours, making some of the most beautiful and detailed pieces I have ever seen, you can see that it is an incredible source of pride for the artists as thousands of people file past their work and take pictures all enamoured by the work . The incredible thing is that folling the hours of work, they are all trambled and distroyed in a matter of minutes as the procession makes its way over them. After the procession passes there is nothing left that resembles the previous beauty, rather all that remains is a pile of colourful dust that is then hurridly swept up and taken of to the trash by the cleanup crews that follow.
There is a weird feels to it all though. Quite dark feeling and at times it lacks the spirituality that one may assume surronding an event like this. Many people seem to be doing this as their one good deed for the year, and hope to keep themselves in the good books. They chat on cell phones, and listen to music during this time that is to signify the great suffering and life of Christ.
Each of the different floats signify something different, with one carried by men and then followed by another carried by the women. There is even one for the children to carry as not to be left out of the event. They make their way on a marked path through the city streets and then eventually make their way back to whatever chruch they began at.
Also during this week I did a bit more Spanish school in order to get myself a place to stay and finish off the course that I had started before. I lived with the family that I did back in January and it was nice to see them and catch up on what has happened in between. This week I have had some pretty good people to live with, a girl from the States, a guy from England and then a fellow Canadian from Quebec. It has been good to get to know them over the week and take in the processions and celebrations that have happened.
It is strange though that during the week there are so many procession and a really festive attitude about the place, and then on Sunday there is nothing much to be said. It is different because many places around the work this is the day of greatest celebration and here it is almost a non-event.
The week here has been incredible to see all that goes on and the magnitude of the celebration and ceremony that the people take part in. Im sorry if there are some things that are a bit unclear, but there was so much to take in and getting that altogether to post here is a bit of a chore. However, if you have any questions about the celebration or about anything surrounding my trip please let me know.
As well as a side note...I have now changed my ticket and will be returning home on the 6th of May instead of the 13th of April. I felt as though I needed more time for me to complete what I wanted to here and not be rushed in the process. I suppose to you could also say that I have been bit by the travel bug and don´t want it to end. Take your pick.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have enjoyed it.
Bye for now
Mike
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
