Whale Sharks Next Time

Spending one last sunset on the top deck of Colibri Hill. Tomorrow will be our last day here in Utila. It will be sad to say goodbye to such a lovey host and beautiful island, but Lewis and I are both excited for the next leg of our adventure and one more stamp in our passports!

For all of you dedicated readers out there (mom) the chicken noodles were a success and many funny stories of my grandma have been told. Mango Tango Inn has amazing pizza and we are currently in a deciding if we need to go back one more time before we leave. We did revisitour second favorite restaurant last night, Foo King Wok, for some great Chinese/Thai take away to eat our feelings as we watched the latest episode of US presidential debates. Politics aside, the rest of Central America has some serious competition in good Chinese/ Thai food. So in conclusion this week has been allllll about food!

Originally we had planned to take a tour to try to see a whale shark. Due to lack of gossip of anyone seeing any we skipped the tour and added back onto our bucket list.

Our last day on the island is planned to be action packed, because I turn a quarter of a century. Five year old me definitely didn't expect to be celebrating her birthday on a small island, with her charming Australian boyfriend. Go present day me! We will spend one more lazy afternoon at Neptunes beach, grab a sunset drink at the Venue and finish the night off with one last amazing meal here!  I am a pretty darn lucky lady!!!!

Then we get to enjoy another 15 hour bus ride! Lewis has a mystery trip planned for us, so updates to come!

Beachloaf

The rainy season has finally caught up with us. Our nearly three months of travel through three different countries all during their "rainy season" and in our last two weeks here in Utila we are getting a taste of tropical rain storms. The loudest thunder I've ever heard, terentail down pours, lack of power, and thousands of ants fleeing to higher ground!

This time last week, all of the Colibri Hill staff was spending the day on a little island called Water Cay. It was a gorgeous day! Blue skies and sunshine. Lucy made a lovely little picnic for everyone, with meatloaf included! Lewis and I had been joking all week calling it beachloaf because I don't normally imagine myself soaking up some rays while enjoying a nice thick chunk of ketchup smothered meatloaf! Turns out meatloaf is different down here, it's served cold with a hard boiled egg in the center, it was delicious and I may of enjoyed seconds and thirds.... Anyway the island was amazing and Lewis and I did some solo snorkeling along the coral reef that runs parallel to Water Cay. We witnessed a school of about 300 black fish swim right past our snorkels, massive brain and fan corals, and my favorite were the large green and rainbow tailed fish that are a part of the parrot fish family. And to top the day off on the boat ride home we visited a fishing village island, and we picked up a yellow tail fish which Lewis made into a super yummy dinner!

Today however has been rainy since late afternoon and it doesn't look like it will let up. But I can't complain! The rain sounds wonderful on the tin roof and take away pizza may be in my future.

On a side personal note, my Grandma passed away last week. Our family had been accepting her passing to be soon, so while I am sad I can't be with them all now, I am enjoying celebrating her life here on the island. This week I will attempt to make her homemade chicken noodles. I've made them I humid Ghana, but I fear the ants will like to take them as a midnight snack! But I'm looking forward to honoring her in a way that I love to remember her, cooking delicious home cooked food! Wish me luck :)

Sh*t Bags & Sawdust

Hello out there,

Here's another update of Lewis and I's very glamorous life.

Last week I picked up a housekeeping job here at the hotel. Overall it's not too bad, very sweaty, learning how to fold things to perfection, and I get to remove people's toilet trash for $1.50 an hour!!!!! So I try to pretend I'm like J-Lo in Maid in Manhattan, and constantly remind myself that I'm living on an island in the Caribian, traveling Central and South America with a good looking Australian.

Speaking of.... Lewis is more like Ryan Gossling in the Notebook. He wakes up early every morning and stops work just before the mosiquotes get really bad, all while he hand sands the two stories of railings of the hotel. All for love and. $1.50 an hour.

We try to make light of this, and were very proud of ourselves last week when we earned $150 for the week. Crazy to think I used to make that or more in one night waiting tables and Lewis made that just by sneezing at his old job.

But don't worry we do have some fun around here! Last Thursday was Indepence day for Honduras and a few other surrounding countries. We had been listening to the highschool band practice since we arrived on the island so we decided to check out the parade. The music was good, but it was nothing like th surprise parades we saw in Antigua. But the funniest and oddest thing was the assembly at the school stadium. We got to listen to the national anthem, THREE times, each time sang by a different person. The second woman who sang, was just awful. The school band couldnt keep rythem with her and the whole crowd was trying not to giggle. We just wondered why her???? There were plenty of people to pick from! It was a great place for some people watching and the town really did seem to go all out for th celebration.

This weekend the hotel is hosting some live music and they are doing a pig roast!

Now we're off to the beach, life isn't too bad!!!

Tarantulas, Personal Space, and Island Time

Ya Man! We're back in the Caribbean!!!!!

Our journey to our new host was long and slightly stressful, but the island greeters came in the form of a pod of dolphins that followed our ferry, a exciting surprise following our 13 hour trip in a van. 

After being broken up with by our Nicaraguan Surf Camp Hostel stay, we hooked up with an even sweeter relationship with a host on a small island off of Honduras.

Utila is known as the place where backpackers come to get their PADI dive certificate. This small little island is full of scuba shops and tanned bodies. After living in a constant party in Antigua, Lewis and I are very pleased to be staying off the main path, away from the thump thump of island party hostels. Colibri Hill Resort is a lovely little old colonial style building, over looking a small garden, pool and its own five star restaurant. Our boss is wonderful and we get to practice our spanglish with the other employees! Our work hours are relaxed and I get to waitress again on the weekends, while Lewis gets to be a handyman.We've committed two months here, at $2 an hour, and are happy we've done so!

After living in a 23 person open loft, it's nice to spread out in our own mini apartment. Although I did just have to evect a tarantula from our room!!!!! Plus Lewis bravely removed a HUGE  one from the outside pool bar yesterday. What a hero!

One last note to squeeze in is the way people talk here. I know they are speaking English but I can hardly understand what they are saying!!!! And apparently they speak their own style of Spanish so that will be fun for Lewis and I's learning!!!!

Life is good, back to the go slow vibes :) Fingers crossed we spot a whale shark!!!! 

Above the Clouds

Now that my body is less sore I can share our story of climbing a 4,000 meter volcano!!!

When we first arrived here in Antigua I had no idea that this climbing adventure was even a thing. But as the guest trickled in and out of the hostel we heard the stories of the "most difficult thing I've done in my life, but it was totally worth it" trip up Acatenango. Antigua has three volcanos surrounding it's city center, Acatenango, Fugoe, and Agua, the latter being active. The idea of the climb is to hike up Acatenango and look down onto Fugoe as it errupts. Fun yeah?!?!

For starters we got on our bus and I was the only girl. There also happened to be a few ex army guys on the trip that were itching to do the climb quickly. If you know me I'm not really the athletic type, so I was pretty nervous of bringing the team climb time down by a few hours.... but my personal coach said he'd stick at the back with me. What a guy! Anyway we arrived at the base greeted by chilly winds and locals awaiting to sell hats, gloves, and alcohol! All bundled up we started the trek, straight up. Literally straight up, there was no break in this seemingly never ending loose dirt hill. 10 minutes into the 5-6 hour hike I was ready to throw in the towel, but my trusty coach wouldn't let me! I'd like to say that the climb got easier but it really didn't. When we got to the easiest most flat spot, the weather turned and we got proper soaked in a chilly rain storm. Imagine scrambling up a dirt path with a waterfall a muddy water rushing underneath you. That was us! Don't get me wrong the hike up was beautiful, but the rain storm was rather discouraging. But hey we had a warm cozy tent and fire to look forward to at base camp right? WRONG!!!!

The team reached base camp in a record breaking four hour time! The fastest time our guide had ever done. Woooooo go Lily! I didnt even cry! Thanks coach Lewis! But once again we were greeted with the threatening sound of thunder. We all hurried to set up our tents. But Lewis and I quickly learned that we were missing a key ingredient, the third supporting pole to our tent. After our guide said, sorry there's nothing I can do to help you, we had a laugh at our situation and made the best of our slowly collapsing home. Overall our guide was pretty worthless. He never managed to make a fire for the group and in the morning left a majority of the team behind!!!! But on a better note we watched a few good eruptions that night and we didn't freeze to death.

3:30 in the morning our guide starts to whistle at the team to wake up and shout words in Spanish. Giving us about a 10 minute window to wake up and follow him into the darkness of the last 500 meter steep steep steep climb to the top. So yeah he left more than half of the group asleep in their tents.  It was dark, cold, and windy. But Fugoe put on a great show as we climbed to the summit. We were lucky to see about five eruptions on the way up, and we caught a beautiful sunrise 100 meters from the top. But in those last 100 meters our guide turned around and said we could do the rest if we wanted, but he was going back to camp!!!!!!! I struggled HARD to reach the top. I've never felt wind so strong and my feet slipped in the loose rock. But after some strong words of encouragement from my coach we made it!!!!!!!! We were on top of the world and above the clouds. We could even see the lake we had visited the week before. After we took in the views and hung out with another tour guide's dog that completed the climb, we "skied" to the base camp. That loose rock I despised on the way up, I loved on the way down. 

Our untrusty guide did welcome us back with hot chocolate, which was exactly what I needed! The hike down was extra beautiful because we could actually see how high we were. Since there was only blue skies and no rain clouds!!!! With sore bodies we made it to the bottom, headed back in town and treated ourselves to boozy drinks and Guatemalan Thai food.

This hike was definitely the most difficult thing I've ever done, but it was totally worth it.

Lago de Atitlan

Back "home" in Antigua. I've written about this feeling before on past adventures, but it's such a wonderful feeling when your new surroundings turn into a place that you feel totally comfortable with, and become somewhat "your's". Lewis and I both didn't want to say goodbye to the beautiful Lake Atitlan, but pulling into the city gave us both a feeling of home. But you probably want to here more about the lake!

Well for staters the journey there was an adventure of its own. The estimated 2.5 hour journey turned into 6. It seemed like everyone in Antigua was trying to get out of the city at the same time! Once we managed to escape the traffic our mini bus climbed the steep surrounding hills, then curved us back down, only to go up another slop! The drive felt a bit like a roller coaster ride, but the views were breath taking!!!! I really enjoyed watching all of the big, but little towns zoom by. It seemed  like every inch of land is being used by Guatemalans, they even make us of the steep hills for farming. We climbed one last hill to see the lake waaaaaaaaay below us. It was a gloomy day, as the afternoon rains had just ended, but the clouds and fog added extra charm to the picturesque lake, surrounded by three volcanos and hills. Once we reached the bottom we jumped onto a speed boat to cross the turquoise lake to our paradise village San Marcos La Laguna.

San Marcos is a refuge for yogis and the more low key vacationer. It only took us about five minutes to walk the entirety of the town. A few hostels surrounded by lush gardens, plenty of yoga studios/health spas, and about four restaurants all boasting their vegetarian menus. Lewis and I had hit the jackpot of serenity we were looking for!  We ended up staying at a lovely hotel made up of small bungalows run by a rather spacey man from Sweden. I loved looking at all of the plants and drove Lewis crazy stopping to examine each one! That night we enjoyed some yummy wine and veggie curries, and the sound of no sounds!

Our full day on the lake was an exploring day. After a fresh breakfast on the waterfront we caught a water taxi to the next town over to start an hour hike along the hills to the next town over. Overall it was just nice to be outside and take in different views of the lake. When we reached the town of San Pedro we were greeted with a totally different atmosphere from our sleepy village across the water. There were people, cars, and shops everywhere. The afternoon rain was on its way so we settled in with some nachos and beers to watch the rain. Later on it was more wine and more enjoying the silence watching the full moon.

In the morning it was time to leave, but first we had to wait for an extra hour for our bus to arrive! We should have anticipated this, but still enjoyed watching the little town start its day. Back on the bus we had to climb up the hills again, but this time with an even better view. The road seemed even more like a roller coaster and the driver had to honk his horn every time we approached a curve so we wouldn't hit an on coming car! ( Heather if you're reading this, it reminded me of our Blue Mountains trip in Irvan!) At the top we were literally in the clouds. I'm not really sure how to explain this feeling. But I was higher than other areas and could see the pockets of clouds nestled into the other high hills.

We had planned on skipping this trip, but I think it's safe to say that we are both very glad that we did go!

Antics in Antigua

We had a big weekend in the Jungle!!!


Friday: "Olymic" Beer Pong Tournament


As designated party promoters here at the hostel, Friday night was our first big night to show off our party skills. With the opening ceremonies of the olymics showing we thought what better excuse to have a beer pong tournament! Do to lack of correct HDMI cord we were unable to stream the opening ceremony, but the crowd didn't care. Our first event was a success, beer pong from all nationalities was played from 4-9, then we went out to discotheque for a dance to celebrate the champions. I wasn't really sure what to expect of the bar scene here, but it didn't disappoint. Lucky Rabbit is probably one of the biggest bars I've ever been in. The gang made good use of the dance floor and stayed till it shut down. Then we headed to a bit of a speak easy bar. During the day you wouldn't guess that Chaplin's was any kind of business, because it is just a door on an empty street. But when we got there, there was already about 100 people in the streets waiting to get in. Once the doors opened, we were pushed into a tiny room that would comfortably fit 40 people but around 200 people crammed onto the dance floor! Due to lack of elbow room I wanted to get out, but word has it the bar was shut down shortly after. This was our first big night out in weeks and Saturday had just begun!!!


Saturday: BBQ & "Pool" Party


Recovered from the night before, we headed out to the local markets with volunteer Richard from Colombia. This afternoon was extra special because Lewis and I were thrown into non stop Spanish. We got to listen to Richard haggle in Spanish and he taught us words along the way. With enough food to feed 30 people we headed back to the hostel to cook on the rooftop with views off all the surrounding volcanoes. Richard continued to speak only Spanish to us and he taught us how to make pico de gallo and chimmy churro sauces. Yum! The BBQ was a huge hit, I'm already looking forward to next weekends! But the night had yet to begin. We still had to make our way out to the pool party...


Every Saturday for the last year there has been a rave party hosted in an abandoned swimming pool outside of the city. In the deep in a DJ had his table set up, while the shallows had a bar and a lounge for sore feet from too much dancing. From 12-5 we danced our booties off. I was ready for a sit down  so we climbed out of the pool for a dance break and was greeted with a wonderful surprise. The volcanoe had erupted!!!! We watched the sunrise and the ash drift, while the thump thump of the party continued on. With the sun out it was time to head back in to town and what better way of doing this was to hitchhiking, accompanied by Palu our Polish/Irish hitchhiker/hostel barman we easily returned home, but not to crawl back into bed.

Technically Sunday

Back at the hostel it was time to continue the party! The group had a few beers, swapped a few stories, and watched the volcano erupt three more times!!!! By 10 I was ready for a sleep, but since we live in an attic it was too hot to lay down. With our second wind Lewis and I decided to climb a local hill, with amazing views of Antigua. Very pleasant way to end a big weekend. :)