Here we are , last day of our trip.
It was a good day, relaxing although a bit cloudy.
We plan to end our night with a beach bbq dinner of some sort, or a place called Habenero's, a fave haunt of Matt and Tracy.
Sorry the picture loading has failed, I plan to load a bunch when we get back on Monday. I won't tell Casey that, I am supposed to be hard at work on Monday, since he will be hard at work..ya right! Casey does not find this funny.....
It's been a fantastic trip, and very different from our first adventure.
We'll be having some sort of get together soon and can fill you in all the details.
ps - I know you will find this hard to believe, but hold your hats, it is TRUE - Casey has now read a total of three books, I did not make him either. Those are the first books he has read since I've known him and he claims the first books he has read since he was still a kid. He claims to not have read in school....:0
The PAGES,
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Jan 23 still on Caye Caulker
What can I say, we just finished breakfast, it's about 1100 am. Lobster burger, fry jacks, eggs, ham and salsa. Oh I forgot the refried beans. We found our new favorite place, Marin's on the beach. We decided to try lobster "burger" even though it was only 1030, they said they'd make it, it was $2.50 Canadian. Yummy!!!!
We've had many, many days (I've lost count) of beautiful sunny days spent in the water, hammock, water, beach, hammock and so on. It has been very relaxing to say the least...
Last night we went out for dinner but before had many, many drinks with our new friends Stephanie and Sean (from BC). Let's just say 7 beers in one hour = getting a major buzz on. They had just gotten back from an all day snorkel tour and had spent the last hour drinking alot of rum. We took off to eat and came back at 800, they were done! We got them out of bed and decided we'd had enough too. Walked home and crashed by 830.
Today is a bit cloudy, we've got 2 new books to read. This is good since Casey has again found that he does like reading more than the business section of the Calgary Herald or nfl.com
Headliner - Casey has read 2 books without any coercing. He has I believe actually enjoyed it!!!
Expect alot of grumbling about us returning to reality when we get back. We will not enjoy cooking or doing laundry or household chores for that matter. Did I forget to mention we will not like wearing socks or shoes or shovelling snow.
Miss you all,
See you soon.
PAGES
We've had many, many days (I've lost count) of beautiful sunny days spent in the water, hammock, water, beach, hammock and so on. It has been very relaxing to say the least...
Last night we went out for dinner but before had many, many drinks with our new friends Stephanie and Sean (from BC). Let's just say 7 beers in one hour = getting a major buzz on. They had just gotten back from an all day snorkel tour and had spent the last hour drinking alot of rum. We took off to eat and came back at 800, they were done! We got them out of bed and decided we'd had enough too. Walked home and crashed by 830.
Today is a bit cloudy, we've got 2 new books to read. This is good since Casey has again found that he does like reading more than the business section of the Calgary Herald or nfl.com
Headliner - Casey has read 2 books without any coercing. He has I believe actually enjoyed it!!!
Expect alot of grumbling about us returning to reality when we get back. We will not enjoy cooking or doing laundry or household chores for that matter. Did I forget to mention we will not like wearing socks or shoes or shovelling snow.
Miss you all,
See you soon.
PAGES
Monday, January 19, 2009
Jan 19 - last week
A picture perfect day here on Caye Caulker, Belize
blue skies, little breeze, blue waters and green palms everywhere
CAsey is diving the Blue Hole today, and 2 other dives. it will be a full day, just the ride to the Blue Hole is 2 hours alone.
I've spent the day with very leisurely activities.
Pedicure
Out for breakfast
Bike rental and crusing the island like the locals do, no direction or place in mind, just driving to the next place
Beer on the beach
Tanning
Hammock swinging
Cruising the shops to buy things I don't need and to drive Casey crazy :)
We met a very nice couple from Duncan BC and have been hanging out with them in the evenings. They have a nice cabana off the beach, and have made us dinner. It has been nice to have someone interesting and fun to hang out with and no pressure to do so, we're all here for the same reason: relax! Stephanie is a bit sunburned and staying in today, we'll drag her out tommorrow and get her caught up on the beer drinking.
5 work days left to be away, we are not wanting to return to Calgary let's just put it that way.
I see it's +8 there today but I've heard the weather has been freezing, which as you all know, exactly what you want to hear when you are away on vacation.
TTYL,
Stef
blue skies, little breeze, blue waters and green palms everywhere
CAsey is diving the Blue Hole today, and 2 other dives. it will be a full day, just the ride to the Blue Hole is 2 hours alone.
I've spent the day with very leisurely activities.
Pedicure
Out for breakfast
Bike rental and crusing the island like the locals do, no direction or place in mind, just driving to the next place
Beer on the beach
Tanning
Hammock swinging
Cruising the shops to buy things I don't need and to drive Casey crazy :)
We met a very nice couple from Duncan BC and have been hanging out with them in the evenings. They have a nice cabana off the beach, and have made us dinner. It has been nice to have someone interesting and fun to hang out with and no pressure to do so, we're all here for the same reason: relax! Stephanie is a bit sunburned and staying in today, we'll drag her out tommorrow and get her caught up on the beer drinking.
5 work days left to be away, we are not wanting to return to Calgary let's just put it that way.
I see it's +8 there today but I've heard the weather has been freezing, which as you all know, exactly what you want to hear when you are away on vacation.
TTYL,
Stef
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Jan 18 Caye Caulker
Hi there,
Thank you for the emails, I got a few! Whew, not forgotten...;)
We are still in CayeCaulker, we had our first sunny day today, our new friends Stephanie and Sean got a bit scorched but we did enjoy the day.
Casey booked his dive to the Blue Hole for tommorrow. Three tank dive, first stop, the Blue Hole and then 2 other dives which may seem less impressive than the Blue Hole, we'll see tommorrow when he gets back. He has to be at the dive shop at 530am, I'll be sleeping in thank you.
I'll be renting a bike, shopping and generally have a Stef day.
we do really love the island, chilled out but still alot of things to see, restaurants, small little shops and not too many tourists, In fact, it is pretty slow here but less people to fight for towel space, no waiting in lines, etc.
We found a cute guest house on the north back side of the island. Tonight was an amazing sunset. we are about 20 feet from the water. It's a great spot.
Stef and Casey
Thank you for the emails, I got a few! Whew, not forgotten...;)
We are still in CayeCaulker, we had our first sunny day today, our new friends Stephanie and Sean got a bit scorched but we did enjoy the day.
Casey booked his dive to the Blue Hole for tommorrow. Three tank dive, first stop, the Blue Hole and then 2 other dives which may seem less impressive than the Blue Hole, we'll see tommorrow when he gets back. He has to be at the dive shop at 530am, I'll be sleeping in thank you.
I'll be renting a bike, shopping and generally have a Stef day.
we do really love the island, chilled out but still alot of things to see, restaurants, small little shops and not too many tourists, In fact, it is pretty slow here but less people to fight for towel space, no waiting in lines, etc.
We found a cute guest house on the north back side of the island. Tonight was an amazing sunset. we are about 20 feet from the water. It's a great spot.
Stef and Casey
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Trip over to Caye Caulker
Forgot to mention our "direct shuttle" from Tikal to Belize City was a shitty ride to say the least. Way too many stops, oversold bus, they almost lost our bags (which had our cameras). A 5 hour shuttle became about 8 hours, "Belize time". we landed in Belize City and caught the water taxi over to Caye Caulker. Other than the long, dragged out trip to CK, things have been relatively calm, travelwise.
Will try to load some photos in the next day or so.
Pages
Will try to load some photos in the next day or so.
Pages
Jan 17 Caye Caulker
We've been here for a few days now, they've been mostly rainy and windy. This morning we woke up to the sound of the wind and oh should i mention all the banging doors of the people in the rooms around us. Not like it's a pet peeve or anything but why the hell do people have to slam doors at 630 in the morning? Ear plugs here we come!
ok, back to the wind, woke up to the sound of the wind blowing over the water and sunshine. our new place (we moved from China Palace hotel) is right on the water, 10 feet away on the leeward side (backside) of the island. We've shopped around, Casey got his TV fix and now we hope to be spending our last week (yikes!) mostly outside enjoying the sun. We met a nice couple from Duncan, BC on our ferry ride over. They had us over for dinner and drinks last night. Thankfully, this guy loves to hunt, they live on a acreage and he has a charter fishing business. Many, many rums later we found our way back home at about 2 last night.
Haven't seen to many emails from y'all!! Where are my peeps? Hope you are all doing well and that there is someone , somewhere out there still thinking of Stef and Casey.
xxoo
Stef
ok, back to the wind, woke up to the sound of the wind blowing over the water and sunshine. our new place (we moved from China Palace hotel) is right on the water, 10 feet away on the leeward side (backside) of the island. We've shopped around, Casey got his TV fix and now we hope to be spending our last week (yikes!) mostly outside enjoying the sun. We met a nice couple from Duncan, BC on our ferry ride over. They had us over for dinner and drinks last night. Thankfully, this guy loves to hunt, they live on a acreage and he has a charter fishing business. Many, many rums later we found our way back home at about 2 last night.
Haven't seen to many emails from y'all!! Where are my peeps? Hope you are all doing well and that there is someone , somewhere out there still thinking of Stef and Casey.
xxoo
Stef
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Jan 13 - Rest Day
Woke up today to raining, raining and more raining. good thing we got to Tikal yesterday, it would have been a slippery slope today.
Casey woke up to a stiff knee, or shall we say, not being able to walk. the knee he triggered something in during his company softball game last year was back with a vengance. Tikal 1, Casey 0.
Went to the local market
Tuk Tuk for $1 , we´ll take it. Managed to find an awesome pair of men´s cowboy boots (black and they don´t look like Cowboy boots but don´t tell Casey that) for $215Q which is about $35 CAD. I found a souveneir for my sister, finally, after much wandering about. We were at the local market and yes, we were the only non-Guatemalans. We like that though, interesting for sure.
Anyways, tuk tuk back to our hotel, well close to it. The last block took about 20 minutes in a downpour. I should have brought some soap, we could have showered in the streets. Casey is resting comfortably as they say, with a block of ice and elevated knee. He plans to stay that way until he either 1) has to use the bathroom or 2) has to eat or 3)wants some $6Q Brahma beers. We will then make our way to 1,2, or 3, at which point we may stay there for a while (except 1).
It is not nice out today, so we´ll be in our room, resting the knee and repacking all of our crap. Somehow our large pack is very heavy, and until now Casey has been carrying it which may have not helped the knee. Oh, we did stop by the Farmacia for some anti-inflammatoria´s, well that is what the box said. That should help.
Almost down to 10 days now. I am missing regular hot showers vs. regular cold showers as well as a nice towel and not wearing my sandals in the shower. I checked the weather channel, it said CAlgary was above zero which is complete crap. It is supposed to be freezing while we are gone. Oh well.....
Well, that is it for now, I´ve left Casey with 3 books that I exchanged here at Hostel Dona Goya#1, we all know how much he loves reading. He said that ¨¨Its come down to this (knee injury) ¨to make him sit still and relax, oh, and READ.
Later,
Stef
Casey woke up to a stiff knee, or shall we say, not being able to walk. the knee he triggered something in during his company softball game last year was back with a vengance. Tikal 1, Casey 0.
Went to the local market
Tuk Tuk for $1 , we´ll take it. Managed to find an awesome pair of men´s cowboy boots (black and they don´t look like Cowboy boots but don´t tell Casey that) for $215Q which is about $35 CAD. I found a souveneir for my sister, finally, after much wandering about. We were at the local market and yes, we were the only non-Guatemalans. We like that though, interesting for sure.
Anyways, tuk tuk back to our hotel, well close to it. The last block took about 20 minutes in a downpour. I should have brought some soap, we could have showered in the streets. Casey is resting comfortably as they say, with a block of ice and elevated knee. He plans to stay that way until he either 1) has to use the bathroom or 2) has to eat or 3)wants some $6Q Brahma beers. We will then make our way to 1,2, or 3, at which point we may stay there for a while (except 1).
It is not nice out today, so we´ll be in our room, resting the knee and repacking all of our crap. Somehow our large pack is very heavy, and until now Casey has been carrying it which may have not helped the knee. Oh, we did stop by the Farmacia for some anti-inflammatoria´s, well that is what the box said. That should help.
Almost down to 10 days now. I am missing regular hot showers vs. regular cold showers as well as a nice towel and not wearing my sandals in the shower. I checked the weather channel, it said CAlgary was above zero which is complete crap. It is supposed to be freezing while we are gone. Oh well.....
Well, that is it for now, I´ve left Casey with 3 books that I exchanged here at Hostel Dona Goya#1, we all know how much he loves reading. He said that ¨¨Its come down to this (knee injury) ¨to make him sit still and relax, oh, and READ.
Later,
Stef
Monday, January 12, 2009
Jan 12 - Temple Hopping
We´ve made it back to another Mayan ruin. Wait, it´s our first. we´ve done this right, we are supposed to be excited right? Up at 530 am, nothing is too god darn exciting or fun for that matter. Got our 1.5 hour shuttle to Tikal and got ready for temple climbing at 8am.
Sun was already up, we wandered from temple 1 through 5, and then 38,Hit the Grand Plaza and hung out with the groups of tourists from basically everywhere. It was cool, different, but not a huge place. For some reason, our days of relaxing left us beat, we were done at noon. I don´t know how me made it through almost 3 days of templing in Angkor Wat but we did...anyways, got our shuttle back at around 1230 and headed out for lunch.
It´s raining, we played chess and had a bite to eat. Oh, did I mention we are back in the land of cheap eats and beers and accomodations for that matter. 4 Brahva beers, 1 chicken burrito and spaghetti for lunch. Our breakfast consisted of left over pizza from last nght, eaten at approximately 9am as governed by Casey so we did not get hungry too early ;= I know you can picture it, Casey rationing the food. Ok, I´m kidding there was really nothing open this morning.
anyways, we had some leftover pizza on temple 2 today (no we did not have a fridg in our room is the funniest part). So far we don´t feel queasy. Saw a few mosquitos´but thanks to Josee and Sandeep for their drug tip. We got chloroquine in Antigua, 8 weeks worth for $2. Sure beats ths 6 weeks worth for CAsey and I at $405 courtesy of Canada Safeway (we didn´t get it at Safeway though)
Nap time.
$6 Quetzal beers tonight ($1uS per beer)
Not sure when we head to Caye Caulker Belize, but it will be in the next 2 days.
That will mean walking to bus terminal, shuttle to border, GUA exit fee, BEL entry fee, walk across border, shuttle to next BEL terminal, 2 buses, 1 ferry and we´ll be at Caye Caulker.
xxxxx
Stef and Casey
Sun was already up, we wandered from temple 1 through 5, and then 38,Hit the Grand Plaza and hung out with the groups of tourists from basically everywhere. It was cool, different, but not a huge place. For some reason, our days of relaxing left us beat, we were done at noon. I don´t know how me made it through almost 3 days of templing in Angkor Wat but we did...anyways, got our shuttle back at around 1230 and headed out for lunch.
It´s raining, we played chess and had a bite to eat. Oh, did I mention we are back in the land of cheap eats and beers and accomodations for that matter. 4 Brahva beers, 1 chicken burrito and spaghetti for lunch. Our breakfast consisted of left over pizza from last nght, eaten at approximately 9am as governed by Casey so we did not get hungry too early ;= I know you can picture it, Casey rationing the food. Ok, I´m kidding there was really nothing open this morning.
anyways, we had some leftover pizza on temple 2 today (no we did not have a fridg in our room is the funniest part). So far we don´t feel queasy. Saw a few mosquitos´but thanks to Josee and Sandeep for their drug tip. We got chloroquine in Antigua, 8 weeks worth for $2. Sure beats ths 6 weeks worth for CAsey and I at $405 courtesy of Canada Safeway (we didn´t get it at Safeway though)
Nap time.
$6 Quetzal beers tonight ($1uS per beer)
Not sure when we head to Caye Caulker Belize, but it will be in the next 2 days.
That will mean walking to bus terminal, shuttle to border, GUA exit fee, BEL entry fee, walk across border, shuttle to next BEL terminal, 2 buses, 1 ferry and we´ll be at Caye Caulker.
xxxxx
Stef and Casey
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Jan 11 back in Guatemala and left Tobacco Caye
hi everyone,
we spent the last 2 nights and 3 days on a 5 acre island off the coast of Belize called Tobacco Caye. We´ve taken lanchas (small boats that should not cross the ocean) cabs, buses, more buses and more cabs.
Our boat over to the island, let´s say I was thinking I might have died that day but n the end, we hit land, that was all we cared about. It was scary, only 3 of us in the boat made it very light and i thought able basically blow over.
Waving palms
Beautiful sunsets
lovely sunrises
homecooked meals
We stayed at a place called Lana´s on the reef
This island is 5 acres large, so able to cross it in like 1 minute all around. The boat ride is about 40 minutes across. 20 people live there full time, the rest are tourists coming for a day or more.
We did love it, very relaxing Walk off the shore or jump off the dock and see fish, eagle rays, manta rays, stingrays. Casey did a fishing trip which did not result in alot but he got out on the boat lets just say. Met some interesting people from Holland , US and of course some cool Belizians.
Left this morning at 9 am after a nice breakfast cooked by LAna. A much nicer ride back to the mainland and we dashed off Amazing Race style to get our bus to Belmopan City, the Capital of Belize. Got there early but that´s ok, sometimes gettign on a bus is like the WWF. Bus to San Ignacio, then the border of Guatemala. Pay our stupid exit and entry fees and then a cab to Flores.
Cool town built with a lake around it. Met some more people from the Netherlands while scoping out the ATM machines which did not work (we had no money) and then went for pizza and a few beers with them.
Casey is going to catch up on NFL scores and we will probably go to bed early. We are going to Tikal tommorrow, more Mayan temple climbing.
Stef and Casey
we spent the last 2 nights and 3 days on a 5 acre island off the coast of Belize called Tobacco Caye. We´ve taken lanchas (small boats that should not cross the ocean) cabs, buses, more buses and more cabs.
Our boat over to the island, let´s say I was thinking I might have died that day but n the end, we hit land, that was all we cared about. It was scary, only 3 of us in the boat made it very light and i thought able basically blow over.
Waving palms
Beautiful sunsets
lovely sunrises
homecooked meals
We stayed at a place called Lana´s on the reef
This island is 5 acres large, so able to cross it in like 1 minute all around. The boat ride is about 40 minutes across. 20 people live there full time, the rest are tourists coming for a day or more.
We did love it, very relaxing Walk off the shore or jump off the dock and see fish, eagle rays, manta rays, stingrays. Casey did a fishing trip which did not result in alot but he got out on the boat lets just say. Met some interesting people from Holland , US and of course some cool Belizians.
Left this morning at 9 am after a nice breakfast cooked by LAna. A much nicer ride back to the mainland and we dashed off Amazing Race style to get our bus to Belmopan City, the Capital of Belize. Got there early but that´s ok, sometimes gettign on a bus is like the WWF. Bus to San Ignacio, then the border of Guatemala. Pay our stupid exit and entry fees and then a cab to Flores.
Cool town built with a lake around it. Met some more people from the Netherlands while scoping out the ATM machines which did not work (we had no money) and then went for pizza and a few beers with them.
Casey is going to catch up on NFL scores and we will probably go to bed early. We are going to Tikal tommorrow, more Mayan temple climbing.
Stef and Casey
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Jan 6 - Punta Gorda Belize to Placencia, Belize
Early morning boat to Punta Gorda, Belize. It was a beautiful morning, bright sunny and CALM waters. I was hoping there were as CALM out on the BIG ocean as they were near the port. Turned out, they were, about 8 minutes into it the engines stalled. That was comforting, but it turned out they were gearing them both up to go 'both engines'. We arrived in Belize about 40 minutes later.
Met a nice couple from San Fran, had breakfast with them while we all waited to catch our school but to Placencia. Fairly uneventful, no oversold bus, well, not too badly, ended up in Placencia at around 1pm. Caught the "Hokey Pokey Water taxi" to Placencia and wandered around to find a place to stay. Ended up at a guesthouse called Lydia's about 100 feet from the ocean on a huge beach. I'm still wondering today where the heck all the people all, huge beach, great weather and no people. we like it this way...
We've spent the last 2 days on the beach, having a few Belikins ($2 US :) and relaxing. We may gear it up a little tonight, we have a nice bottle of rum and some fresh OJ in our fridge. We will stay for another day or so and then head up to Dangria and hopefully over to a 5 acre island called Tobacco Caye.
17 days to go before he have to goto Belize City and catch our flight on Jan 25th.
BOOOOOOO
Met a nice couple from San Fran, had breakfast with them while we all waited to catch our school but to Placencia. Fairly uneventful, no oversold bus, well, not too badly, ended up in Placencia at around 1pm. Caught the "Hokey Pokey Water taxi" to Placencia and wandered around to find a place to stay. Ended up at a guesthouse called Lydia's about 100 feet from the ocean on a huge beach. I'm still wondering today where the heck all the people all, huge beach, great weather and no people. we like it this way...
We've spent the last 2 days on the beach, having a few Belikins ($2 US :) and relaxing. We may gear it up a little tonight, we have a nice bottle of rum and some fresh OJ in our fridge. We will stay for another day or so and then head up to Dangria and hopefully over to a 5 acre island called Tobacco Caye.
17 days to go before he have to goto Belize City and catch our flight on Jan 25th.
BOOOOOOO
Jan 5 - Travel Day / Livingston, Guatemala
Up early again, ha ha 730, to get our bus from Antigua to Guatemala City, switch buses to goto Puerto Barrios. Not bad, other than paying 5x what we should have for our shuttle to Guatemala City. We did get a first class bus to Puerto Barrios like they said, and met another American who has disappeared to live in the jungles of CA. He was travelling with his rastafarian buddy, he's livedin a placed called Livingston for almost 10 years. We figured out by the end of the trip he was living in a shack on the beach, but oh well, I guess everyone's paradise is different right. His talks of paradise had us interested so we diverted from going right to Punta Gorda and went to Livingston instead.
Caught a lancha (fast boat, small however) over to Livingston which is only reachable by boat. Kind of an again, island of Dr. Moreau feeling, like when we went to Kat Ba island in Vietnam. Sort of moody, broody, alot of garifuna people. When we got off the boat, after I was either going to pee my pants our throw up because the ride was rough, very rough. Casey and the other 2 guys found this quite entertaining however. The guy next to me said it wasn't so bad, he'd been thrown out the boat a few times!
Found out when we got there that the only boats leaving to goto Belize left the next day or 3 days later. No knowing what was in the town, we decided to leave the next day. A rasta guy took us over to immigration to pay our 'exit fee' of $160GUA dollars to leave the country, which is about $10US. However, the receipt was issued from a national park in Guatemala. I asked the nice immigration lady why she was giving us a receipt for the park and not for the marine fee she mentioned :) Of course, she did not like this and kindly ripped by passport out of my hands and asked me if I really wanted to ever leave Livingston. On this one, Casey was on my side. she was rippijng us off, she knew it, rasta guy knew and CAsey knew. So, we sort of stood there for a bit deciding to play it out. End result, we lost, we paid the $10 and carried on. Found a room at a place called Africa Hotel which was a bit of a walk but decent enough.
We found our $1 beer. This is our measuring stick. how much for a bottle of beer? So far we had paid as much as $3 on Roatan, Honduras, we got back down to a more cheap option. So, we had several....Met a cool couple from Estonia, and hung out at a bar (outside) that looked like you'd find in Mogadishu, Africa. The bathroom, well, there was water a few inches deep, and don't get to close to the lid, in fact, don't use it at all. Getting the picture here? had some more cheap beers and hit the bed at midnight. We were up the next day for our fast boat from Livingston to Belize.
Small boat, big ocean. I was hoping it was not rough:)
Caught a lancha (fast boat, small however) over to Livingston which is only reachable by boat. Kind of an again, island of Dr. Moreau feeling, like when we went to Kat Ba island in Vietnam. Sort of moody, broody, alot of garifuna people. When we got off the boat, after I was either going to pee my pants our throw up because the ride was rough, very rough. Casey and the other 2 guys found this quite entertaining however. The guy next to me said it wasn't so bad, he'd been thrown out the boat a few times!
Found out when we got there that the only boats leaving to goto Belize left the next day or 3 days later. No knowing what was in the town, we decided to leave the next day. A rasta guy took us over to immigration to pay our 'exit fee' of $160GUA dollars to leave the country, which is about $10US. However, the receipt was issued from a national park in Guatemala. I asked the nice immigration lady why she was giving us a receipt for the park and not for the marine fee she mentioned :) Of course, she did not like this and kindly ripped by passport out of my hands and asked me if I really wanted to ever leave Livingston. On this one, Casey was on my side. she was rippijng us off, she knew it, rasta guy knew and CAsey knew. So, we sort of stood there for a bit deciding to play it out. End result, we lost, we paid the $10 and carried on. Found a room at a place called Africa Hotel which was a bit of a walk but decent enough.
We found our $1 beer. This is our measuring stick. how much for a bottle of beer? So far we had paid as much as $3 on Roatan, Honduras, we got back down to a more cheap option. So, we had several....Met a cool couple from Estonia, and hung out at a bar (outside) that looked like you'd find in Mogadishu, Africa. The bathroom, well, there was water a few inches deep, and don't get to close to the lid, in fact, don't use it at all. Getting the picture here? had some more cheap beers and hit the bed at midnight. We were up the next day for our fast boat from Livingston to Belize.
Small boat, big ocean. I was hoping it was not rough:)
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Jan 4 - Pages take on Volcano Pacaya
We decided we´´d try to hike up the volcano and check out some lava.
Nice idea right.
Sure, but we had to get up at 545 this morning. Not cool!
Got our shuttle and drove 1.5 hours to the base of the volcano. when I say base, I mean base. Mel and Nelson, take the Thailand hike and cram it into 3 hours.
It was a long and uphill battle , our group of about 20 kept up a steady pace..It was not bad til you got to the foot of the volcano where it was all loose volcanic rock. There were a couple of mini rock slides while I was going up. Casey was ahead and yelling for me to come meet him up there. I tried 2 times to get up, there were other people who did not go either. Anyways! Casey conquered the mountain, got right up close to the lava and managed to turn his face into a tomato for at least the time he was up there. Lava comes out at 1000 degrees, so don´t fall in! He poked the lava with his walking stick, his face and hands were burning from the heat, and his legs even through his pants. His cool used market boots melted from the hot liquid magma¨. Shoes were melting and people had to leave and go back down. It was very windy so the group could not stay up there long - the wind was blowing the heat from the lava in their direction. The hike back down was very, very steep, like really, don´t fall or it´s a long way down. We hiked up where we came from, so it was no easier going back. Back to the hot bus, with no air circ. I know, boo hoo!!!
Got back at about 230 and chilled out, got cleaned up and decided where to go - or stay.
Decided we wanted to see more of Belize, so we are headed to Puerto barrios still in GUA tommorrow, to then ferry over to Punta Gorda, Belize. We´ll hit the south part of the country and then pop over to Tikal and Flores in Guatemala.
Travel day tommorrow, we may not blog for a couple of days.
Hope everyone is well.
Enjoy your first day back to work ;)
Casey and Stef
Nice idea right.
Sure, but we had to get up at 545 this morning. Not cool!
Got our shuttle and drove 1.5 hours to the base of the volcano. when I say base, I mean base. Mel and Nelson, take the Thailand hike and cram it into 3 hours.
It was a long and uphill battle , our group of about 20 kept up a steady pace..It was not bad til you got to the foot of the volcano where it was all loose volcanic rock. There were a couple of mini rock slides while I was going up. Casey was ahead and yelling for me to come meet him up there. I tried 2 times to get up, there were other people who did not go either. Anyways! Casey conquered the mountain, got right up close to the lava and managed to turn his face into a tomato for at least the time he was up there. Lava comes out at 1000 degrees, so don´t fall in! He poked the lava with his walking stick, his face and hands were burning from the heat, and his legs even through his pants. His cool used market boots melted from the hot liquid magma¨. Shoes were melting and people had to leave and go back down. It was very windy so the group could not stay up there long - the wind was blowing the heat from the lava in their direction. The hike back down was very, very steep, like really, don´t fall or it´s a long way down. We hiked up where we came from, so it was no easier going back. Back to the hot bus, with no air circ. I know, boo hoo!!!
Got back at about 230 and chilled out, got cleaned up and decided where to go - or stay.
Decided we wanted to see more of Belize, so we are headed to Puerto barrios still in GUA tommorrow, to then ferry over to Punta Gorda, Belize. We´ll hit the south part of the country and then pop over to Tikal and Flores in Guatemala.
Travel day tommorrow, we may not blog for a couple of days.
Hope everyone is well.
Enjoy your first day back to work ;)
Casey and Stef
Jan 3 ' Market Day \ Mayhem at ¨¨Los Tacos¨Restaurant
Gotta love the market days in Central America.
Casey´s favorite - shopping day!
We found a new place, the Juma Ocag, right across from our fav new place ' Weiner´s!
or maybe it´s Weinders, not sure.
Ok
Shopped up a storm, came out ok with a few cool things.
Decided we were doing the volcano hike tommorrow so we had to find better shoes. we wandered through the market and found that they sell all kinds of used stuff, but sort of set up like winners, casey and I each found boots for our hike. $30 for 2 pairs, not bad.
Casey also found the peanut stand lady who he visited today also (Jan 4)
Did our usual, wandering about to find a place for dinner and then got cleaned up.
We decided to try Los Tacos. Sounds fine, right? The menu was only in spanish, which was fine except for the few words I could not figure out.
We wandered in, only gringos of course, a family with 2 kids and 2 guys who had polished off about 6 litres of Gallo beer. We decided to stay.
Buddy at table 2 decided to befriend us, which was fun, for now.
we did not know what to order, so he decided to walk into the kitchen and get various samples off the menu. Wait, it gets better. He brought us a ¨deliciouso..something ¨ - turned out to be grissle, fat chunks and some sort of sauce. Basically unedible. The best part was that buddy from table 2 fed it to both Casey and I, to the pure delight of the rest of the customers.
We ended up ordering a carne taco for casey and pollo for me. Mine came with a piece of chicken, bones and all, Casey´s looked like a small dead squirrel on a bun. Did I mention the 3 tortillas and that you have to cut your stuff up (ie ' meat) and throw it into the tortilla. this while buddy from table 2 keeps at it, and gets louder and crazier. It was getting a bit, iffy, he went to the bathroom, we each downed a beer in like 20 seconds, dropped our money in the kitchen and ran down the street.
Where did we go, our fav place, Weinder´s . Casey was able to order spaghetti bolognese and we had more beer.
Today, volcano action...
Casey´s favorite - shopping day!
We found a new place, the Juma Ocag, right across from our fav new place ' Weiner´s!
or maybe it´s Weinders, not sure.
Ok
Shopped up a storm, came out ok with a few cool things.
Decided we were doing the volcano hike tommorrow so we had to find better shoes. we wandered through the market and found that they sell all kinds of used stuff, but sort of set up like winners, casey and I each found boots for our hike. $30 for 2 pairs, not bad.
Casey also found the peanut stand lady who he visited today also (Jan 4)
Did our usual, wandering about to find a place for dinner and then got cleaned up.
We decided to try Los Tacos. Sounds fine, right? The menu was only in spanish, which was fine except for the few words I could not figure out.
We wandered in, only gringos of course, a family with 2 kids and 2 guys who had polished off about 6 litres of Gallo beer. We decided to stay.
Buddy at table 2 decided to befriend us, which was fun, for now.
we did not know what to order, so he decided to walk into the kitchen and get various samples off the menu. Wait, it gets better. He brought us a ¨deliciouso..something ¨ - turned out to be grissle, fat chunks and some sort of sauce. Basically unedible. The best part was that buddy from table 2 fed it to both Casey and I, to the pure delight of the rest of the customers.
We ended up ordering a carne taco for casey and pollo for me. Mine came with a piece of chicken, bones and all, Casey´s looked like a small dead squirrel on a bun. Did I mention the 3 tortillas and that you have to cut your stuff up (ie ' meat) and throw it into the tortilla. this while buddy from table 2 keeps at it, and gets louder and crazier. It was getting a bit, iffy, he went to the bathroom, we each downed a beer in like 20 seconds, dropped our money in the kitchen and ran down the street.
Where did we go, our fav place, Weinder´s . Casey was able to order spaghetti bolognese and we had more beer.
Today, volcano action...
Jan 2 - Flat tires and hot air
We hopped on our shuttle to Guatemala City and onwards to Antigua. Started out great, had breakfast, relaxed at Posada Belssy and then caught our shuttle. Nice people, young, interesting, etc...Crazy driving, yes! I was wondering on the drive how much the tires could take. Well, going up a steep slope, somewhere in the Guatemalan countryside...flat tire! What the...
So, the three men put on the spare and flagged down traffic so our driver wouldn´t get hit by the maze of vehicles whizzing by. Not bad, 30 min stop to rest our legs and chat. We happenned to find a tire repair shop not more than 2 miles down the highway. Cliffside stop to say the least. 4 kids, 1 guy and his tire repair shop. The tire was fixed but we noted the driver did not blow up the spare - see later.
We carried on to GUA city and then towards Antigua. Not more than 1.5 hours later - another friggen flat. This time we knew the spare was shit. Casey changed the tire on the shuttle and we hobbled on to Antigua. By now it was like 830, no hotel, and our wobbly tire.
Got to Antigua´s main square, central park area. The main Cathedral was lit up and it was beautiful However, we hadn´t really eaten or gone pee for that matter for a LONG time. Casey carried our big pack and a little one and we soldiered on through the streets to find a place to crash.
Let´s just say bomb squad come in please. we looked at a few places, they were really really bad. We found one at about 900 or so, Casa Santa Lucia. went for a beer, guess where Josee ' Weiner´s!!! You know the place. 1 litre Gallo here we come.
So, the three men put on the spare and flagged down traffic so our driver wouldn´t get hit by the maze of vehicles whizzing by. Not bad, 30 min stop to rest our legs and chat. We happenned to find a tire repair shop not more than 2 miles down the highway. Cliffside stop to say the least. 4 kids, 1 guy and his tire repair shop. The tire was fixed but we noted the driver did not blow up the spare - see later.
We carried on to GUA city and then towards Antigua. Not more than 1.5 hours later - another friggen flat. This time we knew the spare was shit. Casey changed the tire on the shuttle and we hobbled on to Antigua. By now it was like 830, no hotel, and our wobbly tire.
Got to Antigua´s main square, central park area. The main Cathedral was lit up and it was beautiful However, we hadn´t really eaten or gone pee for that matter for a LONG time. Casey carried our big pack and a little one and we soldiered on through the streets to find a place to crash.
Let´s just say bomb squad come in please. we looked at a few places, they were really really bad. We found one at about 900 or so, Casa Santa Lucia. went for a beer, guess where Josee ' Weiner´s!!! You know the place. 1 litre Gallo here we come.
Jan 1 - Happy New Year - visit to ruins
Well, thank goodness no recovery necessary this time...we did not go to crazy so we were up at 930 and found breakfast at VIA VIA (delicious!) and then got our own hotel room at Posada Belssy, it had a rooftop pool and TV (whoot whoot, Casey can catch up on his TV ).
I hate to say it , but after going to Angkor, Copan was like childs play. It was nice though to know you could be done seeinig it all in a few hours. We walked there (after not using the map and getting lost initially) and checked it out. It is an important Mayan site, but not as important as Tikal and Flores. We will be going there in about a week.
Got back from that and decided we wanted to find some beans to bring home. Welchez coffee is supposed to be the best, so we loaded up on a big bag of that.
Back to our room, for TV, relaxing, reading...
Headed to Guatemala tommorrow...we´ll update more soon. Trying to post pics now.
Stef
I hate to say it , but after going to Angkor, Copan was like childs play. It was nice though to know you could be done seeinig it all in a few hours. We walked there (after not using the map and getting lost initially) and checked it out. It is an important Mayan site, but not as important as Tikal and Flores. We will be going there in about a week.
Got back from that and decided we wanted to find some beans to bring home. Welchez coffee is supposed to be the best, so we loaded up on a big bag of that.
Back to our room, for TV, relaxing, reading...
Headed to Guatemala tommorrow...we´ll update more soon. Trying to post pics now.
Stef
Dec 31 Copan Ruins
We had to get up early for our travels, 525 to be exact. Hit the alarm when it went off and we both fell asleep. Whoops! Got to the ferry in plenty of time, but it was a zoon, no boats tommorrow. So, 1.5 hours later we wer back on the mainland and headed to get tickets for our bus to San Pedro. Sold out. Crap! we hopped in a cab with a couple of Americans and headed for the main bus terminal. Along the way the cab pointed out a bus headed there, so we jumped out, Amazing Race style and hopped on. $4.25 for the 3 hour ride, which was full of Hondurans , and ended up taking 5 hours. Bit of a chicken bus ride but whatever. So, next mission, find our way around the mounstrous bus terminal for our next bus ride, San Pedro to Copan.
This was not so bad, grabbed a Pizza Hut personal pizza and headed to the gate. Plenty of time, no worries right. Oh, no, as soon as the bus door opened, major panic and people trying to get on, which took about 15 minutes. THey had oversold the bus by about 30 people. I managed to get on but Casey was stuck in the back while putting our bag under the bus. He got on, but the seats were being ´saved´. Nope! Casey sits down and proceeds to have about 10 hondurans yelling at him in Spanish. It was not pretty. WE found out later alot of those people did not even have tickets so why the hell were they mad about no seat!!!CAsey had about 20% of a seat the entire trip. IT was not fun.
Ended up in Copan at about 730, looking for a room. Hotel rooms were booked, we ended up in a hostel for $5 each a night, the only catch, sharing a room with 5 other people. We got the last double bed, at least we did not have to sleep on the floor. Water was out, had to wait a couple of hours to shower, so we drank instead. Met people from Israel, US, Sweden, Japan, Italy and so on.
Copan is a really cool town. Cobblestone streets, low traditional buildings, a big central park and the ruins are only 1km walk from town. There were a ton of people in town for new years, it was a very festive feeling.
Wandered around town, looking for any restaruant still open at 9. they were closing early of course, new years , time to celebrate. Found one and had a bite to eat. BAck to the hostel to meet up with some people and over the the happennning place in town, VIAVIA cafe. Good times, and plenty of fire crackers. IT felt like a war zone after midnight, kids were setting them off everywhere. It was crazy but fun. I didnt stay out too late, I headed back at 1, Casey walked me home and then went back for a few more....
This was not so bad, grabbed a Pizza Hut personal pizza and headed to the gate. Plenty of time, no worries right. Oh, no, as soon as the bus door opened, major panic and people trying to get on, which took about 15 minutes. THey had oversold the bus by about 30 people. I managed to get on but Casey was stuck in the back while putting our bag under the bus. He got on, but the seats were being ´saved´. Nope! Casey sits down and proceeds to have about 10 hondurans yelling at him in Spanish. It was not pretty. WE found out later alot of those people did not even have tickets so why the hell were they mad about no seat!!!CAsey had about 20% of a seat the entire trip. IT was not fun.
Ended up in Copan at about 730, looking for a room. Hotel rooms were booked, we ended up in a hostel for $5 each a night, the only catch, sharing a room with 5 other people. We got the last double bed, at least we did not have to sleep on the floor. Water was out, had to wait a couple of hours to shower, so we drank instead. Met people from Israel, US, Sweden, Japan, Italy and so on.
Copan is a really cool town. Cobblestone streets, low traditional buildings, a big central park and the ruins are only 1km walk from town. There were a ton of people in town for new years, it was a very festive feeling.
Wandered around town, looking for any restaruant still open at 9. they were closing early of course, new years , time to celebrate. Found one and had a bite to eat. BAck to the hostel to meet up with some people and over the the happennning place in town, VIAVIA cafe. Good times, and plenty of fire crackers. IT felt like a war zone after midnight, kids were setting them off everywhere. It was crazy but fun. I didnt stay out too late, I headed back at 1, Casey walked me home and then went back for a few more....
Dec 29\30 = shark dive
So, we finally got a hold of the shark dive guy. Many phone calls and a trip all the way to the other side of the island.
After the nasty bugs in my coffee we decided to get a quick snack, maybe from the supermarket just up the street. mold city. we walked in a right back out, onion rings from the Chippy guy, $8, no thanks - we decided to just wait for dinner. Mold and salt seem to be a prevailing theme on Roatan. Anyways, we got cleaned up and went for pizza and you guessed it...beers! Salva Vida please. Hit the sack early, Casey was going for the shark dive in the morning.It rained like buckets today. I didn´t hit the beach much.
Dec 30
Shark dive day. Oh yes, this is a big day after waiting many, many days to arrange the dive. Casey went down about 75 feet, sat on the bottom and waited for the feeding frenzy. They were able to swim around with them, they came up close and personal. He said it was awesome. Two sharks had lines and hooks still in them, they had been caught but got away. He had a huge grouper touch his leg while hanging out in their group.
More of the same, dinner, drinks, relaxing walks.
We decided to goto Copan tommorrow, Dec 31st, we will have to take a ferry to LaCeiba, bus to San Pedro Sula and then bus to Copan Ruinas. It will be a long travel day.We are looking forward to Copan for sure. It´s got cobblestone streets, the ruins, walkable town.
After the nasty bugs in my coffee we decided to get a quick snack, maybe from the supermarket just up the street. mold city. we walked in a right back out, onion rings from the Chippy guy, $8, no thanks - we decided to just wait for dinner. Mold and salt seem to be a prevailing theme on Roatan. Anyways, we got cleaned up and went for pizza and you guessed it...beers! Salva Vida please. Hit the sack early, Casey was going for the shark dive in the morning.It rained like buckets today. I didn´t hit the beach much.
Dec 30
Shark dive day. Oh yes, this is a big day after waiting many, many days to arrange the dive. Casey went down about 75 feet, sat on the bottom and waited for the feeding frenzy. They were able to swim around with them, they came up close and personal. He said it was awesome. Two sharks had lines and hooks still in them, they had been caught but got away. He had a huge grouper touch his leg while hanging out in their group.
More of the same, dinner, drinks, relaxing walks.
We decided to goto Copan tommorrow, Dec 31st, we will have to take a ferry to LaCeiba, bus to San Pedro Sula and then bus to Copan Ruinas. It will be a long travel day.We are looking forward to Copan for sure. It´s got cobblestone streets, the ruins, walkable town.
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