Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Rio Pacuare
Though there are still a couple unposted blogs in the bag, I thought I'd post something current. Since starting my current job last November, my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of activities. While I've never necessarily been opposed to the outdoors, I haven't exactly embraced it either. This job has changed all that. One activity I've started enjoying is whitewater rafting. I've had the opportunity now to raft three different rivers in Costa Rica. Yesterday was the famous Pacuare river, it's regularly named one of the top 10 rafting rivers in the world and was home of the 2011 International Rafting Federation's World Championships. And I got to raft it for FREE!!
Me and Stepansk - ready to crush it!
Stepansk puts on her game face.
The Lovely and amazing B-Pow guides the way for us.
Esquire did some tag-team guiding to help keep things fresh.
We parked the boats for a few minutes to check out this waterfall...
...and go for swim in pool.
We managed to swim up to the waterfall to snap this fun pic.
This waterfall was NOT for swimming, but it was still pretty.
B-Pow stands ready with a throw rope as students attempt to swim across the river. (Oh yeah, there were students on our little adventure too. But we sent them in different raft!)
Sad this didn't come out better, but this is Stepansk on impact after jumping off a rock into the river. Super fun.
Pretty.
"Riding the Bull"
Esquire impersonating a crocodile.
B-Pow takes a relaxing swim.
Yay for weekend river trips in a raft full of staff. Apart from the mild sun burn and the bruises from when I "swam" in a "meat grinder" rapid, couLove it!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Honduras
Continuing the series of posts I've written and never actually posted...
When I found a $200 ticket to Honduras, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. The alternative was a $60 bus ticket
to Panama (5+ hours), plus $2 bus ride (another 40 minutes) and $6
water taxi (40 minutes-ish)each way to get to Bocas del Toro. I'd
been to Bocas before, I'd never been to Honduras. I'd be flying into
San Pedro Sula (1 hour flight) and could just hop the bus to La Ceiba to the
ferry and head to Utila. Seemed simple enough.
Turns out the bus ride to La Ceiba is
3.5 hours. And the ferry and buses don't coordinate schedules, so I
couldn't actually get the ferry to Utila until the next morning. This
is a weekend trip, time is precious. I find out that there is local
airline that flies to Utila from San Pedro Sula. Score! The ticket is
$136. WHAT?!?!? Oh well, whatever, I just want to get to Utila so
that I can spend all of Saturday diving. I book the ticket. (Don't
get me started on the unresponsiveness of the travel agency and the
stress they caused me). I arrive at the San Jose airport and
patiently wait for my flight.
For whatever reason the flight left
late. When we touched down in San Pedro Sula, I was grateful to only
have my small backpack as I zipped through customs and immigration in
record time. I ran to the Sosa counter to be told, NOPE! Sorry, the
flight has already pulled away. You can catch the same flight
tomorrow afternoon! Oh good, I'll arrive at 3:30pm on Saturday
afternoon and have to catch the 6am ferry back. And there will be NO
diving! After checking with the other puddle-jumper airline and
confirming that there was no way to make it to the island that night,
I finally conceded and walked out of the airport, hopped in a cab and
headed to the bus station.
Knowing I had about 30 minutes before
the next bus left and three hours to wait for the one after that, I
kindly asked the driver if he could please hurry. He understood
completely, agreed, told me he thought we would make it on time, and
proceeded to pull over to put more gas in the car!! As we drove at a
leisurely pace I started to envision the joy of being stuck at a bus
stop for three hours. Of course I was snapped back to an even less pleasant reality every
time the driver came to a light and while stopped, opened the door to
hock a loogie. EW!
I go rushing into the bus station
(again grateful that I have learned to go minimalist and only had a
small backpack) and stand in line watching the clock tick – 2
minutes until the bus is supposed to leave. A guy on the other side
of the room shouts over the line asking if there are any tickets left
for that bus. She says yes and waves him forward. I immediately
shout, “Is there another one?” and go running up to the desk.
Once on the bus I stop and breathe and take a moment to realize how
my Spanish skills just got me that bus. YAY! Score one for Spanish
skills!
I spent a good portion of the trip
chatting with a lesbian couple from New York, dozing in and out of sleep, and reading a little. When I finally arrive in La Ceiba I realize I have no idea where to go. I'd done a
little research, but when I decided to buy the flight to the island, I'd stopped looking for hostels in La Ceiba. I asked the guy at the
bus station if there was somewhere nearby that I could use the
internet. He pointed to a mall “across the street” so I headed
out the door in search of the mall.
By this time it was dark and I was
alone walking down the street – not awesome! I make it to the mall
(which was down about 2 blocks, across two streets and a parking lot...
NOT just across the street!) and pull out my laptop and am actually
able to connect to the wifi. I find a place that looks decent and is
cheap and since I have no way to call, just hop in a cab and have
them take me there.
Upon arriving the guy working there
handed me a phone and I proceeded to talk (in English) to the owner who
told me the price, said he could get me to the ferry in the morning
and that there would be breakfast if I wanted it. He then assured me
that his cousin, the guy standing in front of me, would show me my
room and help me if I needed anything. After hanging up, the guy
looks at me and asks if I speak Spanish. I reply that I do and he
says he didn't think I spoke Spanish and that's why he gave me the
phone. (Thanks for assuming that the blond, white girl is incapable
of communicating!) I settled into my room on the second floor and
headed up to the 3rd floor balcony (apparently the only
area with wifi – not sketch at all) to catch up on facebook and
chat with a couple friends online.
The ferry ride the next morning was
rather uneventful and the guy I was couch surfing with met me at the
dock as planned. We walked to his apartment on the other end of the
island and he pointed out a couple dive shops and bars along the way
(these two things sum up all there is to do on Utila). His apartment
sits right on the water and we chatted on the balcony for a bit
before I headed off to find some diving.
I found a shop where they were somewhat
hesitant to put me on the boat, because most of the other divers were
new and were just doing the “Discover Scuba Diving” program –
meaning they weren't actually certified. I told them that it had been
two to three years since my last dive, and that I really didn't mind
being with beginners. They agreed to have an instructor run through
the basic skills with me again and put me on the boat. SCORE!!
The instructor (with a VERY thick
French accent) ran through a flip chart of info (retreiving your reg,
clearing your mask, clearing your reg, etc.) and we headed out on the
boat. I was surprised by how many people there were and started to
think maybe I made a mistake when I said I was okay on a boat with
beginners. To my pleasant surprise, when we arrived at the dive site,
the instructor who went through the flip chart refresh with me told
me to hop in the water. He followed and then the rest of the group
went a different direction. Private dive! SCORE!
We swam over to shallow area and he had
me demonstrate my skills, and then we were off. We did two dives (the
second in a different location) and sadly did not have any whale
shark sitings, but I did see Trumpet fish, several varieties of Angel
Fish, Trunkfish, Cowfish, Porcupine fish, a pretty large Great
Barracuda, one tiny Lion Fish, beautiful Spotlight Parrotfish and
Brown Garden Eel (lots more, but those were the cool things). After the second dive my instructor asked, for a second time, how many dives I'd been on. He then complimented me on my diving considering how little experience I have and how long it had been since I'd been in the water. I told him the truth... I had an awesome teacher!
That night the guy I was couch surfing
with took me to some of the local bars. I found the concept of
“Rehab” amusing. The walkway from the road to the bar has steps 1
– 12 painted on it. And there is a wall of shame that has pics of
rehab legends like Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan and more.
The next morning I was out the door
bright and early to catch the ferry back to the main land. I managed
to make the rest of my journey (cab to bus station, bus to airport,
plane back to paradise) seamlessly. Not exactly as planned, but I got to dive and got another 90 days in paradise, so overall - Success!