Isla de Ometepe

Here in Nicaragua, we recently visited the largest island within a fresh water lake! Isla de Ometepe is an island within Lake Nicaragua (or Cocibolca). This island is really quite remarkable because it has basically been formed by two volcanoes that protrude from the lake. Volcan de Concepcion and the slightly smaller Volcan de Maderas form two sides of the island that is only connecting by a small piece of land. Originally they were two separate islands before one volcano erupted and joined them together. It is possible to hike up both volcanoes, but after our last summit in El Salvador we weren't feeling too eager to climb another. Instead we opted for the best beach on the island.

Playa Santo Domingo is on the strip of land between the two volcanoes and offers a long 4 kilometer stretch of gray sand. During our walks along the beach we hardly saw a soul! It was a pretty relaxing time since we stayed in a little guest house outside of the "town". Each night offered great breezes off the lake as we lounged in hammocks reading and listening to the thunderstorms and insects chirping.

One day we ventured to a little swimming hole (3.5 kilometer walk) just outside of the town. This little place is called El Ojo del Agua, where we swam in the cool water collected from a flowing stream. We had to tromp through an orchard of plantain trees to get to the swimming spot, but it was worth it. After the long walk we really appreciated the refreshing swim. This impressive island really offers a lot of opportunity for relaxation and we took advantage of it!

Cerro Verde Park

After some relaxation and mall visits in Suchitoto and San Salvador, respectively, we went on the hunt for adventure, heading north to Santa Ana with the hopes of using that as a jumping off point to Cerro Verde Park where we would climb one of the three volcanoes. We had to make sure to leave early because the hikes last around 4 hours and we needed to be able to catch the last bus back to Santa Ana at 3:00pm. Arriving at the bus station at 8:05am to catch the 8:30 bus we were told that the bus now left at 8am and we just missed it. Extremely upset we asked it there was any other way to get there. The friendly ticket salesman (everyone in El Salvador seemed VERY friendly and helpful) told us that we could take a different bus at 8:30 that would somehow catch up to the first bus, that would take us all the way to the park entrance. A tad nervous, but not wanting to miss our chance to see the park, we went for it and sure enough, met up with the first bus after about a half hour. Once there, we had hoped to climb one volcano that we had read about in our guide book that offered a beautiful view of the nearby lake, however once arriving we talked with the guides who told us that it had unexpectedly erupted a few years back and that no one was allowed to climb it anymore. With some time to spare before the climb began, we walked around an orchid display and breathed in some fresh mountain air. Come 11am, we began the hike to climb the newest volcano, essentially a cone of loose cinder rock. The climb consisted of about a half hour of stairs down, the a scramble up the cinder cone that took about an hour in the thin air. Once to the top the view was nice, even allowing for a view of the Pacific Ocean, many miles away, before the clouds rolled in from the north. Around the rim of the crater we walked around and explored some of the steam vents at the top that were a nice relief from the biting wind. The way down was a different story... A few hundred meters from the way we came up was a very loose cinder slide, covered with scree (sandy like cinders). The fastest way down was to simply run and slide, letting the loose rock arrest one's fall. Perhaps the highlight of the trip was watching the group of Mennonite women who accompanied us to the top, do this in their nice dresses. We all had a good laugh watching everyone make their way down, some more graceful than others. Once off the cone, all that remained was the massive staircase that while taking only 30 minutes to descend, presented much more of an obstacle on the way back up. We treated our then tired bodies to some papusas from a woman at a small eatery at top and some Gatorade. Toby also befriended a little fox that gladly accepted a few of his peanuts and nipped him just the slightest bit on the finger.

Despite the effort needed to pull ourselves back up the hill to the top and the subsequent days of sore legs, the trip was fun, beautiful, and helped us to justify having a latte or two after the physical exertion.

Suchitoto

Planning on only having about one week in El Salvador, one of the places we wanted to make sure we visited was Suchitoto. Having heard that it was "Antigua before the tourists got there," we were anxious to see what it was all about.

We got into our Hotel Balanza just before a HUGE rainstorm hit. This was the first hard rain we had seen on our travels...although there are many more to come since the rainy season is beginning. We really lucked out with a great hotel that was basically an entire house almost to ourselves, including a kitchen, but the best part was our sweeping patio with hammock, table and chairs, and a view of Lake Suchitlán.

Although we stayed 3 days in this little colonial town, we really didn't do too much. Brittany purchases an indigo dyed shirt in the market, since indigo (añil) has been a pretty big industry in this par of the country. This town also has lots of galleries and local art, so we wandered around some of these. Most of all we just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the town and the lake vista. We got plenty of reading done as well, which is important, because we're carrying a lot of books around with us for the trip. Visiting Artex Café was a daily ritual to get 75 cents lemonade and americanos, where we also established a long running tally for who is the Backgammon and Rummy 500 champion of Central America. We haven't yet decided what the prizes for each title will be, so any suggestions are welcome.

On our last day we met the local gringo Robert who runs a little restaurant called El Rinconcito del Gringo with his wife. He is very involved with the local community and helping to establish better tourism initiatives as well as help run non-profit projects throughout El Salvador. We had a great time visiting with him and gorging on a veggie burrito and gourmet pupusas (a local El Salvadorian dish).

Honduras Recap

On our way to the Utila, we planned a stopover in Copán Ruinas to have a rest and visit the Mayan ruins just outside town. Although small in comparison to Tikal, they have quite a lot of detail and they're known for their glyphs. One of the most impressive parts of the ruins is a grand scripted staircase leading up a temple. Each step is ornately carved telling history about this ancient community with side channels and larger figures that go up the middle. This was a great little afternoon location to chill out in the grass and appreciate the splendors of this ancient place. We even were lucky to spot quite a few great macaws. Then, we were on our way to Utila.

Here's a little recap of our time spent on the island. Our main goal was to dive and get my Open Water since Toby already has his. This island is supposed to be one of the cheapest places to dive in the world so "they say." We arrived on the island at a perfect time when there seemed to be few tourists around. We were fortunate to head to Utila Water Sports and lock in a private instructor for my course and for Toby's Advanced Open Water at the normal rate. We also ended up staying in a little apartment with kitchen right on the water for dirt cheap. Special thanks to Erik and Kris for their excellent instructing and personal attention.

Our classes went really well, and after our first free fun dives (4 included with each class) we figured Toby should just do his Rescue Diver course as well to get 4 more fun dives and have a private instructor. It was basically 3 to1 for him, since 2 Dive Master Trainees (Kiara and Jonathan) were assisting in the course. Why not take advantage of this unique opportunity and feel much more confident in our diving abilities for the future. Needless to say, Toby's class was pretty exhausting since he was on high alert from the time we left the dock until we were safely back again. At one point 4 people jumped in the water that he had to go and rescue. During one of the simulations of rescuing a victim that wasn't breathing, Toby actually kissed Jonathan because he was so in the groove of giving mouth to mouth and had his adrenaline pumping. Kiara and I had a good laugh at our husbands and we all joked about it the rest of the trip!

As we already mentioned we did see dolphins on our trip. We actually spotted them on 4 different occasions including our ferry ride back to the mainland when we left. We believe they were spinner and bottlenose dolphins. Other cool stuff we saw while diving or snorkeling included: spotted eagle rays, yellow tail rays, southern stingray, 2 hawksbill turtles, trunk fish, parrot fish, arrowhead crabs, ocean and queen triggerfish, black durgon, green moray eels, lobsters, anglel fish, and many more creatures!

After just about 2 weeks of being on the island of Utila, we decided that it was time to move on. We really didn't want to leave, but we have other things to see and do in Central America, so it was necessary.

SCUBA Diving and more SCUBA Diving in Honduras

Well, this is our first time getting to the internet in awhile, but, alas, we are safe and sound and very happy in Honduras. After a total of 11 hours on a bus and a one day stopover in Copan to visit the ruins outside of town, we made it to the island of Utila in one piece. After a dingy motel stay across the water in La Ceiba and finding a private boat to get us (and some other stranded tourists) here when the ferry went down the day we were to come over. We made it though as about 30 of us had to get over and were on the first boat of 10… so we were lucky. We found a great dive center upon our arrival called Utila Watersports, with cool staff members and not a lot of students, so it just so happened that both Britt and I are one on one with our instructors. We also got our course, four extra fun dives each, and a private oceanside house (small) for 250 dollars each which is a great deal. Britt was a little weary in the water at first but after a total of 5 dives she is a Certified Open Water Diver. All she has to do now is use up her four free fun dives, hopefully on a few trips to the northside of the island in search of whale sharks. Toby's first dive was a little rough, being his first in about two years, but the second dive was much better as his skills came back to him. Just the other day, Toby and his instructor dove to a wreck at 100 feet (anything more than 60 feet is advanced only) where they saw some big tarpon, a huge grouper, and a giant spotted eagle ray that was very cool. Toby has since done 5 additional dives and wrapped up his advanced certification. After Britt planted the idea in Toby's head, they have decided to stick around on the island a little longer, enjoying the oceanfront house while Toby does one additional course to become a Rescue Diver. This course dives (no pun intended) into a skillset that focuses on rescuing struggling divers and diver specific first aid. With one on one instruction and a discounted price, the opportunity was hard to pass up. In general, Honduras is HOT, as we only get down to about 83 at night and it is constantly humid. It is much better when the wind picks up but still, hot. We have jettisoned a sweatshirt or two and a pair of pants each along the way to cut weight. I think we are looking forward to Oregon as much as we are looking forward to the rest of our time here in C. America. So far nothing is as good as Guatemala in our eyes, but we will see. I think we will like Nica a lot. Prior to the island we visited some ruins as mentioned earlier where giant macaw birds (the big red and blue parrot like things) were flying around wild which was cool. The above picture is of some dolphins following the dive boat. We would later jump in and swim with about 20 of them for a minute before some other dumb divers scared them off.

Beaching...and More...Wish You Were Here

We thought we would post a picture of were we will be in about 2 days as we leave Guatemala in...7 hours on a 3:30am bus for Honduras and ultimately the island of Utila in the Atlantic Ocean where we will be Scuba diving for...well, as long as our hearts desire. Hope this makes you jealous :-)

Dad & Yee Visit

Cutting it just under the wire of our departure from Guatemala, my dad and his girlfriend Yee made a little visit to us. Yee traveled all the way from London and my dad worked in his visit between business trips to Los Angeles. Although we only had four days to visit, it was very nice to share sometime with both of them. Due to the fact that we were ending our work with Ajb'atz' and sending home our kitty Nieve to be with my mom, we only spent time with Dad and Yee in Antigua. It made for a much more relaxing vacation and pleasant visit to not be traveling around to other cities.

During most of their visit we hung out around the city, enjoying the many shops and cafes that abound. Lucky for us, Dad and Yee to a liking to one of our favorite coffee places, & Cafe, which became a daily ritual. Many thanks to Dad and Yee for taking us out to quite a few delicious restaurants like Nicolas, Nokiate, and Cafe Mediteraneo for dinner. We hadn't eaten that well in a long time!


Other highlights included drinks at Sky Cafe on the rooftop and driving up to the Cerro de la Cruz lookout over the city. But, probably the best experience was visiting the Valhalla macadamia nut farm just outside the city. We were treated to a personal tour from the owner, Lorenzo, and privy to a lot of his dirty jokes as well. Dad and I received special facials with their macadamia nut oil and we all oggled over an adorable kitten. He was at first nursing from his mother but allowed us all to hold and pet him before he climbed a rock wall to get outside! This kitty encounter has helped "seal the deal" for Dad and Yee to get a few kittens of their own now that Yee has fallen in love with them again.


We had a great visit and really appreciated all the traveling, expenses, and energy Dad and Yee put into visiting us in Guatemala. Our time with them was a great goodbye to Guate, but also a send off onto our travels in Central America.