Diving fun in Roatán!

After spending 12 days chilling on the mainland, Laura and I finally bid adieu to my family and set off on out own to begin our great Central American Adventure. First stop: Roatán. Spectacular diving and snorkeling draws visitors from all around the world to the Bay Islands. (Islas de la Bahía) Their reefs are part of the second-largest barrier reef in the world after Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Roatán is the largest and best known of the Bay Islands. We stayed in the West End, the area where virtually all backpackers and divers come. Though it does not win the award for the most beautiful island I have visited (that award still goes to Fernando de Noronha) it really ranks up there. It's beaches are picture-postcard idyllic with clear warm turquoise water, colorful tropical fish and powdery white sand. And lying 50km off the coast of mainland Honduras, the island is a real diving mecca, surrounded by over 100km of living reef. What better placr to get my open water scuba certificaltion?!

I started off by taking the PADI eLearning course while still in Beunos Aires. This meant once we got here all I needed to complete were the confined water dives and 4 open water dives. After researching many dive shops in the West End, I finally went with Reef Gliders as a friend of mine had worked there last summer and gave them great reviews. I could not have been happier with my decision. Everyone at the shop was so helpful and it had a really homey feel.  I spent two full days having one-one training. By the third morning I was certified and ready to do my first official "fun dive" with Laura! Diving is such a cool experience. I was a little nervous at first, but once I was in the water it came so easily. It is a very strange sensation being able to break underwater! On my 5 dives I saw so many different tropical fish, eels, lobsters and turtles. I am really excited to continue diving and work with my buoyancy.

On our last day Laura and I decided to take a day off diving. We slept in (something I was unable to do all 3 days prior due to my training) and then had a nice 45 minute stroll to the West Bay (about 5km west of West End). It was a gorgeous walk along the beach! It was really hard to not jump in the clear water every few minutes. But I restrained myself and it was well worth it when we reached the gorgeous bay! Laura and I rented snorkel and fins and took Baby Beluga (her waterproof camera) out for his first swim. It was a fun afternoon and perfect way to round off our trip. After 6 days, we left Roatán this afternoon to return to La Ceiba. As we have a 9:40 flight tomorrow to Belize, we decided it would be cutting it short to take the ferry that arrives at 8:30.

Honduras with the Fam

I have family in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and El Progreso

Last year when I came to Honduras with Jessie, we spent the majority of the time in San Pedro Sula. In all honestly it is a much prettier part of the country than the capital Tegucigalpa (pronounced Te-goo-see-galpa). However this time around Laura and I spent most of our time in Tegucigalpa and really got to explore all it had to offer. It’s a pretty big city situated in a valley surrounded by mountains (which makes the Tegucigalpa airport one of the most dangerous in the world to land in due to its short runway). Knowing how freaked out Jess was last year, I decided to keep this lil tidbit a secret from Laura.

The reason most people (including my entire family even Suyapa who lives there!) find the city so ugly is that there is very little greenery to the city whatsoever. It is all buildings, traffic and pollution. However travel 30 minutes up a beautiful mountain covered in lush vegetation and you arrive to a cute little artisan village called Valle de Angeles. The town depends 100% on tourism and is filled with cute little marketplaces - you know how much I LOVE artisan markets!

The following day, Suyapa a took us to explore downtown Tegucigalpa. She really wanted us to get to know the old centro so we could feel the true Tegus (the city's nickname). While there were a few pretty churches, plazas and more artisan shops, the downtown area did not have much to offer. It was still a nice activity to get us out of the house (by the end of the week we had memorized the TV schedule - American programming was quite a treat for us!) .

On another outing (Suyapa's attempt to entertain us) we went up to visit a giant statue of Christ. While Tegucigalpa's Cristo is no competition to that in Rio it was still really cool to go up to see it. The statue is situated on a hill overlooking the city. From here you can really get a grasp of just how big (and congested) the city is.

After spending 10 days in Tegus we finally headed to visit more family. We first stopped in El Progreso to have lunch with my tia Eda. Next we went to San Pedro Sula to eat dinner with my Tio Roberto's family. There is always a theme in visiting with my Honduran family and that is eating. I swear to you we have done nothing but eat amazing home cooked meals since we got here. My cousin Karol just had a baby girl, Camila, a month ago so it was quite exciting to visit with her! After dinner Laura and I went out with my cousin Roberto and a bunch of his friends.

my cousin Karol, new-born Camila and me

my cousin Roberto and me

out celebrating San Pedro Sula nightlife

All and all it was really great spending time with my family. I am really happy I am getting to know this side of the family. They of course asked when I would be returning next. As I will soon be employed and still have SO many places I want to travel to, I am not sure when that will be. But with Facebook and Skype we are all easily connected!

Juan Carlos´s Graduation/Prom

Juan Carlos´s graduation. The event that started it all. Last March when I came to Honduras to visit my family, my Tia Suyapa insisted that I had to come back the following year for my cousin Juan Carlos´s high school graduation. Not knowing what I would be doing in June of the following year, I told her I would try my hardest to do so. Once I started to look into it, I decided that Honduras is quite a far way to travel from Buenos Aires just for one event. It was then I decided that if I was going to come to the graduation, I should turn it into a longer trip. Laura had recently decided to quit her job and come to Argentina for the month of April before then going to Spain with her family in May. She had planned to then travel to Africa, but I convinced her to join me and thus our Central America trip was born!

Juan Carlos and me

So as mentioned the whole reason we came was for Juan Carlos´s high-school graduation. Or so I thought, but as it turned out he graduated the week before. We were coming in town for the party. Well when I think high school graduation party, I think casual. Not here! It turned out not to be a private party, rather a huge event at a local hotel with all of his classmates (read: a very fancy affair). This was a problem as neither Laura nor I prepared for such an event. I brought a few nice sun dresses but as soon as my aunt showed me her gown I knew our clothes were not going to cut it. No worries! Suyapa would find us outfits to wear. She asked our sizes and called everyone she knew to find us the proper attire. After going through the closets of my Tia Maritza, cousin Marissa, and Suyapa´s friend´s niece we found dresses, shoes and jewelery. Now, our outfits were not necessarily something we would normally wear, but we all decided that it was far better than having to buy something new.

my cousin Marissa and me

The outfits Laura and I came up with (4 closets later)

Laura, me, Tia Suyapa and Tia Maritza

The actual event was quite the spectacle! They call the grad night “prom” here, but it was basically the equivalent of a debutante ball. Laura commented on how it was just like Gossip Girl. Marissa and I both agreed! It was super elegant and each of the students (all 65 of them) were introduced with their name, age, future plans, role models, favorite movie, song, book, etc... Needless to say that part took awhile…especially since we knew only ONE person – Juan Carlos. After that, the fun began as the champagne bottles were popped, the music started bumping, and the dancing began! My Tia Suyapa sure likes to dance! Laura and I spent the majority of the night on the dance floor with her. At midnight there was a mini-Carnival complete with a drum circle, dancers and all the grads clad in masks and hats! The night was a really fun and certainly a very unique experience! The next morning Suyapa told me that it really meant a lot to Juan Carlos (and her) that I came. :) I am really glad I came too!

My Summer Itinerary

After 8 months of living in Buenos Aires I leave today at 6:30pm.  While I am SOO sad to leave this wonderful city and all of my new friends I am really excited to embark on a new journey. I will be heading to Europe for the month of June to travel with my friend Laura. We will then head to Central America for the months of July and August before heading back to The States Sept 1. This will my longest backpacking experience - 100 days total. This is 23 days more than my trip last summer!

Argentina > Turkey on Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Turkey > Greece on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Greece > Croatia on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Croatia > London on Tuesday, June 21, 2011
London > Honduras on Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Honduras > Belize > Guatemala > Nicaragua >  Costa Rica >  Panama during July and August, 2011
Panama > LAX on Thursday, September 1, 2011

Thank you to all who have started following my blog again.  I promise to keep up-to-date on my travels!  I hope you enjoy!

Funemployment

My last day at work was March 12th. I’m not going to lie being unemployed (by choice) is amazing. I had planned to start this blog back in March so I could write about all the mini adventures I was having, but the time flew by and here I am about to depart on my big trip and no blog. So here is a recap of what I did during my “funemployment”

March 19th – 28th: Visit to the “Fatherland” (Honduras)
My father passed away when I was two years old. My mom was always very good at keeping in touch with his family in Honduras. She would always call and send updates, photos, etc… When my mom passed away my two aunts did a great job at making sure our communication was not lost. They would often call to check-in and give me updates. They would always ask when I was going to visit (the last time we’d visited I was 5). This question was hard to answer as I had very little vacation time. Once I quit my job I knew the first thing I wanted to do was visit. I headed down for 10 days with my best friend Jessie. Basically the trip was spent doing two things: meeting family/friends and eating. My family is HUGE: 5 aunts/uncles and about 15+ cousins/second cousins, etc… Everyone was so so excited to have us in their homes. Which led to the eating. I have never eaten so much food in my life, but it was all so delicious that it was too hard to refuse! It was really an incredible experience. I am so happy that I got to connect with that side of my family and I look forward to visiting more in the future…. I definitely will not wait 21 years next time!

April 2nd – 6th: Hallie and my romantic road-trip
I had never driven down the CA coast line so for Hallie’s spring break we decided to have a roommate vacation. We had a lovely weekend visiting friends in San Francisco and then departed down the coast. We spent the first night in an adorable bed and breakfast in Carmel, drove down the coast stopping at Big Sur and Hearts Castle then into Solvang for some wine tasting.

April 16th – 18th: Coachella
Despite the fact that I came home completely exhausted this was such AH-MAZING weekend!! Recap – Friday: La Roux, Echo and the Bunnymen, LCD Sound System, Vampire Weekend and Jay Z (with Beyonce!!!). Saturday: Stated the day @WB Records Hospitality Suite, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Gossip, XX, Coheed and Cambria, Hot Chip, MGMT, Muse, Devo and 944/AX after party. Sunday: Florence and the Machine, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miike Snow, Spoon, Phoenix, Little Boots and Thom Yorke.

April 21st – 26th: Hawaii
What better excuse for a Hawaiian vacation than the Kokua Festival put on by Jack Johnson? The girls I went with had all lived together in Hawaii a few years back so the trip was packed full visiting their favorite beaches, food spots, bars, etc…

May 5th – 10th: Visiting the fam in AZ
I had a really great time visiting my cousins and their kids. It was a perfect week to go because I was able to celebrate my cousin Janine’s husband Mike’s birthday, and Mother’s Day. The kids are all getting so old: AB is about to turn 4, Scotty and Mady 3 and Logan 1. It’s so fun to play with them now because they all have so much personality.

May 11th – June 8th: Packing up and saying my good-byes
After spending two months traveling, I made myself devote the last month to organizing my life for my move. Packing all of my belongings was no easy feat, but eventually I put 38 boxes and 20 pieces of furniture into storage. Even though I was in LA/SD, my last month was still busy with good-bye dinner and drinks. It is really crazy how three months few by!