Sunday, April 15, 2007

Island Greetings

After two days of 8 hour bus rides and a morning of sweating in the northern Honduras city of La Ceiba (much bigger, crazier, and hotter than I thought it would be--I had to go to the mall in order to enjoy some air conditioning and stop sweating; everyone in the streets were laughing at me and calling me "sudita" aka little sweaty girl) I decided to take the ferry to the Caribbean Island of Utila. While on the "ferry"--more of a barge enclosed by plastic, with benches inside and in the bow--I met a couple women from Britain who were going to the island for scuba diving (the main reason most people go there). One of them was already certified and the other was going to learn, so I decided to take the class with her. This is the cheapest place in the world to do it and it seemed silly not to, since I was already there. So we got signed up, found a hostel together, and spent the night chatting, eat ting mahi mahi and tuna kabobs, and drinking perfectly tart margaritas. It was so lovely after all the trouble and annoyances of the past few days.

Today we had our first class: videos and quizzes in the morning and shallow water exercises in the afternoon. I found it a lot easier than I thought I would. Breathing underwater for so long seems really strange, but it was fun and I got a wetsuit tan :) I'll be on the island for at least the next three days to finish my class and maybe stick around for a bit longer to see more of the island. Afterwards, I think I'll be headed to the nearby, mainland Honduras rain forest for a few days and then to the Copan Ruinas near the Guatemalan border, before heading into that country for a month or so.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm so glad to hear from you again my little "sudita". The scuba lessons sound fabulous. Of course you just had to do it! I hope when you go to guatemala it won't be so hot. I love you, Mom

sharon said...

I hope you found some cooler weather. The water sounds pretty cool! Have fun! Thanks for keeping us posted. Love "G"