Honduras

Since the guidebooks had little to say about Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras) and San Pedro Sula (the AIDs capital of Central America); we bee-lined to the idyllic islands of Roatan and Utilla.  Flying into Roatan was affordable and saved us time which we were running low on.  We landed in Roatan only to be engulfed in smoke.  Apparently the winds can cause the smoke from the burring cane fields on the mainland to sit over the islands.  We weren’t sure we could handle it but thankfully the smoked cleared within days.

Knowing that Roatan was more laid back than Utilla, we decided to take care of our advanced diving course while in Roatan so we could just enjoy ourselves in Utila.  The dives in Roatan were absolutely gorgeous.  There is a huge problem with lionfish in the Caribbean because they are not native to the area and have no predators so dive masters are allowed to hunt them.  We convinced our guide and all headed out on a lionfish hunting expedition.  It was a successful mission with us getting two then he filleted them right on the dock (he did actually stab himself so we got to see the treatment which is just hot water as it breaks up the proteins), squeezed a little lime and a few drops of hot sauce then straight into our mouths.  It was delicious!!

Aside from the diving, the best story happened on our first night.  We decided to start our evening at a cigar bar with a beautiful view of the sunset which offered a combo mojito/cigar deal that interested both of us.  I met Towe there after finishing a few emails and found him chatting up a couple on the deck.  I was introduced to Brion James and his girlfriend as Brion and Towe were reminiscing about Hollywood.  Apparently Brion spent some time there but the story kept getting better.  A side to the story, and one only mentioned because there were a plethora of characters that made the night a weird and hilarious one, was the young girl that walked up to Towe right in the middle of the group conversation and practically tried to kiss him while telling him how beautiful he was.  I thought they had met before but Towe motioned that he had no idea who this chick was either.  She was going on and on about how her mother was from Honduras but her father was a Colombian drug lord.  At one point Towe managed to pass her off on me while Brion showed him a hotel that was recently closed and for sale next door.  With tears in her eyes she told me about how her husband, another drug lord in Colombia, is locked up for many years because he was caught transporting hundreds of kilos out of the country.  She kept offering us drugs and wanting to buy us drinks which immediately made me start questioning her motives.  We finally had an out when Brion mentioned he was going home to smoke a j and asked if we wanted to come along.  It was ridiculous prying the girl from us as she just wanted ‘our company’ but once we were away, Towe informed me that the bartender (who had become a friend of ours) said that she was always kicking that girl out of the bar for doing drugs in the bathroom.  Needless to say she was a working girl and we were both happy to be rid of her.

We jumped in the back of Brion’s pickup and met another couple characters; Brian and Sam.  Sam is a builder who has lived on the island for years and actually knows Brion from his beginnings in the music industry in their home state of Oregon (or was it Washington?).  Brian met Sam when they were kids and beat each other up.  Brian seems to be stuck with the intelligence of that same child who was beat up and dresses like he is heading to camp.  He had a camel back with the chest strap latched on the entire night along with a round hiking type hat, both of which he wore at the bar that night.  Everyone was really nice and friendly especially Brion who seemed to be excited to have an audience of new listeners.  The walls of his house are covered with gold, platinum and other records and tapes.  Yes, tapes.  This guy’s first break was a one-hit wonder group that P. Diddy produced which went gold….tape.  HA!  His story of ‘breaking through’ is a great example of always trying your best because you never know who is watching (or listening in this instance).  He was recording one of his original compositions in a studio in LA when P. Diddy himself called the sound board guy (apparently world class famous) and heard his song in the background.  Diddy bought it on the spot and that started his recording career.  Mind you, before going into writing and producing music, Brion had already toured the world several times over playing bass for various bands one of which is The Rolling Stones.  Brion is now ‘retired’.  He keeps himself busy tending bees, teaching music at a local school and playing with a band a few times a week.  We stayed to see him but that never happened.  We actually never saw him again after that night which was a bummer as he was a real firecracker.

We did decide to meet up with Sam and Brian for local food on the other side of the island that night.   Sam enticed us by mentioning the delicacies of Iguana, turtle soup and other local fare.  We were told to meet them at a bar on the other side of the island in an hour.  We showed up to The Breeze Bar and immediately felt like we were in the wrong place.  That was until we heard the only other gringo talking on his cell to someone we inferred to be Sam about meeting some people there.  This guy was another character.  He had a young hot local girl crawling all over his body and he kept being overtly blatant with his affection.  The only other person at the bar besides that couple and the staff was a giant of man who was off his rocker high on coke.  At one point he just sat down at our table outside, busted out a baggie and literally stuck his nose in it till it was gone, both in his nose and on his face.  He then tried to tell us something about his children he didn’t know, wife he never loved and property he could sell us for much less than market value.  It wasn’t until later in the night that we found out the guy ‘batted for both teams’ and was probably trying to make a pass at us the whole time.  Unfortunately the local cuisine was not open so we decided nervously to eat at the bar.   The crazy part was how amazing the food was.  We didn’t realize but they had the grandmother locked up in the kitchen making amazing dishes.  We started with conch soup then had amazing wings and shrimp. 

After several days on Roatan we headed over to Utilla for more diving and a little night life.  This island is ground zero for diving backpackers with ultra-cheap accommodation, usually at the dive shops packaged with diving and bar access.  We were recommended Alton’s and found it very welcoming.  Over the course of a week on the island we did 10 dives each and saw some amazing sea life.  Our first dive was probably our coolest in that we got to swim with a beautiful turtle, saw an amazing eagle ray and then got to swim with a pod of close to 100 spinner dolphins during our surface interval (break between dives). 

The nightlife on Utilla is an amazing thing too.  There are only a handful of bars and the crowd usually moves in packs.  We would spend the day at our bar at the dive center then head over to Skid row (billed as the best ‘dive’ in Utilla) for some drinks then to Tranquilla and/or Treetanic.  Treetanic is apparently rated in the top 5 list of bars throughout the world with just cause.  The owner has meticulously built this space over 15 years and it resembles a Gaudi vision of Alice in Wonderland.  Very cool.  We made excellent friends with the staff at Alton’s and had dinner on two nights at different people’s houses.  It was nice to enjoy a home cooked meal in a home which is something I realize I have been missing lately.

Copan has been a perfect and relaxing way to ease out of travelling and gear up for coming home.  We spent 4 days here and have enjoyed the cool weather and friendly city.  One day we spent lounging in the hammocks at our B&B then explored a local brewery we had heard about.  A very cool Bavarian was brewing in the kitchen when we arrived and pouring delicious ales and heffs.    We have the whole B&B to ourselves which is nice too as we can just lounge around outside, reading and enjoying the peace and quiet.  The ruins were another great day trip just outside of town.  We walked there, explored and did the nature hike which was all very gorgeous.  One recommendation would be to skip the tunnel experience as it is amazingly expensive for nothing.  Just trust me on that one.  On our last day we went up to the Macaw Mountain bird sanctuary and had a wonderful walk through a spectacularly laid out aviary space laced with coffee plants.  It has been so nice to slow down here and just enjoy the moment before I plunge myself back into life off the road.

Central America!

Due to lack of internet pretty much over the last month, I have not been able to upload pictures or update the blog.  This is a whirlwind chapter where I try to capture the highlights and destinations we have seen.  ALL AMAZING!! 

The San Blas adventure started with a 2 hour boat ride to the first of the southern-most San Blas islands.  We were the last to get on and had to sit in the front seats.  Since Towe is a little taller and a little thinner he was bouncing very hard, hitting his head on the metal bar over our heads then slamming his ass on the front plastic seat.  I was able to wedge myself in and couldn’t help but laugh as Towe whooped the whole way.  He wanted them to pull over and drop us off but we made it to the island.  He was not happy.  We got off the boat and were the only tourists on the island.  There was one restaurant and we went to check lunch.  They only served one dish of octopus with patacones and Towe opted out but I ate.  Then Towe decided he wanted out what he called, ‘the situation’ so he went to the phone and found an airport on another island near ours which we could fly out of in the morning to Panama City.  He also did not like that specific island so we decided to head to a different island with more people and closer to the áirport´ ...This island wound up sucking more than the first.  Our accommodation was horrible...two hammocks in a smoky hut shared with some locals whereas we had our own hut on the water with a beautiful ocean view at the first spot.  ‘No worries, let’s just get through this,’ we thought.  Then for dinner we went to the only restaurant on that island and they served us nasty fish, rice and beans.  I ate...Towe did not.  We barely slept then got up excited to be off the islands.  We went to the island with the airport which is actually a small island with a landing strip and a hut.  We show up at 830 since the plane is arriving at 9.  All of us, including the locals who are flying with us, have our shit laying out in the sun baking while we are all getting eaten alive by these little bugs.  So after a few hours of the plane not showing up, everyone left and we decided to just wait it out....sucky.  The plane finally arrived at 4Pm...Towe was beside himself with hunger and anger but we boarded and got on our way.  We landed in Panama City only to realize that the locals had brought fish or something that had baked in the sun all day and spilled on our bags...oh god that was gross...really gross.  Towe was about to flip out...seriously bad news.  Finally getting out of the airport he made the taxi take us straight to McDonalds where he ordered a 10 piece nugget, large fry and soda...downing all within 3 minutes in the cab (mind you, he  had not eaten in over 24 hours). We got our own room after two hotels and I washed my bag totally in the tub while Towe dabbed his with a rag and shampoo...today his bag still smells and is stinking up our room.  We are back to being happy though and were able to score a free flight to Bocas del Toro tomorrow for our pain and suffering and may even get our flights refunded...so that is cool.

Panama City

We only spent two days in the capital and it was during Semana Santa so not much was happening.  We went to the Miraflores locks and watched the boats go through the canal then explored the downtown a little.   The interesting thing about Panama is that they do not have their own currency, they use American dollars.  It was weird to be using our currency again in a different country.  So I had a little luck at the casino (doubled up again!) and we spent one evening at a cool hostel (Luna’s Castle) where we made some friends and went out to watch a cover band.  Good times but we were ready to keep moving.

Bocas Del Toro, Panama

This place is amazing.  I would highly recommend it to anyone, any age that travels through the area.  It is totally ‘gringofied’ in that everyone speaks English, most are ex-pats, and it is clean.  Towe was still feeling a little ill from the McDonalds a few days earlier but we managed to find a sweet spot with our own balcony.  This is definitely a party town.  Every night a different bar has a different special going and different happy hours.  We spent more than one day lounging at Casa Verde on their decks, hammocks and inner-tubes just plain relaxing.  We made friends with a couple American teachers that are working in Trinidad and wound up kicking it with them a lot of the time.  There are several islands in the Bocas area and we explored many of them.  One day we rented a boat and driver to take us around.  It was really fun.  We had a very crazy experience on our way out to Starfish beach.  I am going to copy the story from my friend as he wrote it much better than I could.  It was hilarious.

‘Yesterday a group of five of us rented a boat and took a tour around the small island we were staying on in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.  We brought beer, masks and snorkles, and some MJ and were planning on it being a chill, good time.  on our way around the south side of the island, we see this "hotel" up ahead.  it's a pretty well known hotel here because of just how extravagant it is.  it's a series of interconnected huts on stilts, sitting out on the water.  each hut is a room, with the largest hut being the penthouse suite.  as we're driving by, we look over and see 4 people at the largest hut wildly waving at us over.  we say hey - why not?  and head over.  we can see that it's two men and two women, and neither woman is wearing a top.  as we get closer, we see that it's a heavier bald middle eastern man, some younger guy with a horrible uni-brow, a woman with the most obvious boob-job i've ever seen (not to mention bleached hair and super inflated lips) and another middle aged, moderately attractive woman who doesn't appear to have had any work done.  once we're within earshot, the middle eastern guy starts shouting "do you have any drugs?  we're out of drugs!  we need more drugs!" 

turns out the middle eastern guy is an iraqi named Ali who  has been living in russia for the last 25 years.  the younger guy is also russian but lives in costa rica.  the natural woman is Ali's wife, and the surgical mistake is the younger guy's plaything that he picked up at a club the night before.  we proceed to spend the next hour or so sitting on their dock, trying to act normal, in the presence of - in my best guess - international arms dealers.  they were amazingly friendly - almost too muchso.  the whole scene reminded me of that scene in inglorious bastards in the basement bar when you know sh!t is about to go down, you just don't want to be there when it does.  the capper came when Ali and the other guy call a water taxi to take them to town and get more drugs (apparently Ali had smuggled a large amount of c0ke and MJ into the country but they had already used it all up).  As they are getting in their boat, we start getting in ours and he calls to us "no, you all stay.  we will be back soon with lots of drugs.  but if any of you touches my wife, i will cut your d!ck off with a blunt object."  i believed every word.  as soon as they were around the point, we jumped in our boat and went as fast as we could in the other direction.’—

That ‘other direction’ took us to Starfish beach which is one of the nicest beaches we have seen thus far.  It was amazingly peaceful, beautiful, tranquil and untouched.

We also had a strange interaction with a Malaysia man.  He was on our flight to the island and we helped him translate to the flight attendant a few times then made some small chat.  Later that week we ran into him at a club and all started dancing together.  He was really nice and funny.  Whenever we wanted to visit Malaysia; he would have us picked up.  Apparently the guy is in parliament! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_Gobalakrishnan)

We decided to skip (kind of) Costa Rica on this trip since Towe has been there before and I know it to be pretty touristy.  From Bocas we flew San Jose (capital of CR) for one night with plans to head on to Managua.  We didn’t do much in San Jose aside from walking the pedestrian street and me playing a little blackjack (yes, I doubled up AGAIN!!).

Managua, Nicaragua

The book said this capital city was a bit dangerous and they are right.  It is a dirty city with not much to offer tourists.  We spent one night at a hostel, went out to a pretty lame club and made our minds to bounce as soon as possible.  There was a cool dude from Nova Scotia that had driven down with his buddy for a surf trip.  His friend had to leave but he continued alone with a bag of boards.  We all decided to go to San Juan del Sur together as there is supposed to be good nightlife and good surf.  Most of our information about Nicaragua came from a friend we made in Taganga, Colombia.  She told us which beaches to visit and which sites to see.  She also told us to check out her land she had just purchased on the coast which grabbed Towe’s interest.  Anyway, she told us to start at San Juan del Sur so we did.

San Juan del Sur is another party town.  We had a blast.  There is great food, great nightlife and tons of backpackers.  We chilled at a hostel run by some guys from the East bay during the day as they had a pool with a great view of the bay and city.  We spent many of the nights watching live bands and/or dancing till the wee-hours of the morning.

From there we went to Maderas beach for the surf.  Most people go for a day-trip from San Juan but we decided to stay out there at the only hostel on the beach.  It was amazing.  The surf was fun (although a bit crowded), the weather was amazing, and the sunset was in the top 10 for sure.

After a few days of surfing Maderas we headed to another break just an hour North called Popoyo.  Popoyo is a street that borders the beach with several hostels and not much.  There is a village that you can get to at low tide by crossing the lagoon (15 minutes) or by taking a car/bus (a lot longer) around.  It happened to be ‘The Day of The Cross’ (some Christian religious holiday I gather) and the whole town was heading to the Rodeo.  A few of us headed out to see the festivities.  It was a blast.  Pretty much anyone that wanted could get on a bull and go ride it.  There were many drunken men in the bull ring trying to antagonize the bulls and not get gouged.  We made friends with some locals and shared beer with them, shaded from the afternoon sun, watching the spectacle.  At one point a ‘professional’ came out on the bull using no hands which was pretty cool.  Now, these bulls aren’t like you are imagining with the kicking and jumping and bucking and all.  In fact, more than once the bull would just walk out into the ring and start munching some hay or chillin in the shade.  The guy on top would be trying to get the bull to do something and everyone would laugh.  Also, more than once, the bull escaped the ring and went tearing into the jungle with a crew of horseman trailing.  That was very entertaining.

After the rodeo most of the town headed to the cock fights.  Now I have never been before so we all decided to check it out.  It was cruel, cool, and a bit weird.  I wound up chatting with a local who was brothers with the ‘ring man’ for many of the cocks that were fighting.  I had no idea that could be a skill but this guy was amazing at cooling the cocks, cleaning them and making sure they caught their breath during the breaks between rounds.  It was classic small town and everyone was very friendly.

The break at Popoyo was great although the wind was a bit too much during parts of the day.  After a few days of surfing there we headed to Ometepe.

Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

Isla de Ometepe is made up of two volcanoes in the large lake in Nicaragua.  After an annoying ride on the ‘chicken bus’ and a boring boat ride we made it to the island and sorted our accommodation.  Little Morgan’s Hostel is right on the water with beautiful views of both volcanoes.  We scheduled a guide for the hike up the smaller one called Maderas which takes you up into the cloud forest and then into the volcano where there is a lagoon.  It was a long, muddy, exhausting and amazingly fun hike.  The cloud forest is beautiful and the volcanoes are breathtaking.  The hike was exhausting and we felt very accomplished after finishing.  In fact, we were so sweaty, dirty and nasty after the hike that we jumped into the lake fully clothed (shoes and all) to clean everything.  There was much more to do on the island but we did not have enough time to take it all in.

Granada, Nicaragua 

After Ometepe we headed to Granada.  We weren’t sure how long we were going to spend there as Towe was now in contact with our friend’s realtor and working on getting us over to the Pacific side again to see some land.  We wound up only having one night and half a day to explore the city as Towe organized for us to be picked up and taken to a surf lodge owned by the same guy who had the other property.  Granada is amazing with the most beautiful colonial architecture I have ever seen.  We ran into some friends there who were staying at a very posh hotel which we checked out and were amazed at the beauty.  It also happened to be fight night that night with Pacciou fighting in the main event.  The entire main street was filled with people at various bars watching the fight.  All the bars set up chairs and TVs in the streets, some huge, some small but all with crowds of people watching.  I wish we had a few more days in Granada as it seems to have a lot to offer.

Los Cardones Surf Lodge, Nicaragua

We were picked up from there and taken to Los Cardones Surf Lodge.  Usually if you go to this place, they will pick you up at the Managua airport and drive you the hour out there.  That is the way to do it as there is nothing in Managua.  Coming from Granada took us a bit longer but it was well worth it.  The lodge is an all-inclusive type deal.  The owner took us around on his quad and showed us the properties for sale.  He is working on a housing development and also had some lots down the beach a bit that really interested Towe.  There is good surf right in front of the hotel but the point break just down the beach was recently featured on the cover of surfer magazine and is insane.  A little further down from that is a great beach break.  Since it is a very small hotel and since we are friendly dudes, it was easy to get in with the staff and we all wound up surfing together.  We had two sunrise sessions that were incredible with only us out in the water catching as many waves as we could paddle into.  I really feel that this place will be gaining in popularity very shortly.  In fact it seems that Nicaragua is on the same track as Costa Rica in terms of the potential for increased tourism.  Towe is heading back there after I leave to seriously consider the property.  I think he will buy it (and I really hope he does!).

Corn Islands, Nicaragua

Our next destination was the Corn Islands on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua.  On that day I was able to surf the sunrise on the Pacific side then see the sunset on the Caribbean side.  It was an easy flight from Managua.  The Corn Islands are another place we probably would not have gone to had our friend in Taganga not mentioned it.  THIS IS A MUST AS WELL.  Everyone speaks Creole-Patwa on the island which is like ‘ya mahn, everyting gonna be aight, seen?!’  Sooooo cool.  We went for the diving and wound up falling in love with the spot.  It was funny because, due to the fact that I listen to dancehall music a lot (music basically in that language); I was able to understand and speak with them much better than Towe.  This was a nice change as Towe is much better at Spanish than I.  We rented a hut on the beach for 15 bucks a night and did 10 dives over the course of a week.  We actually changed our flight in order to do a dive that is ranked in the top 5 of all dive sites in the Caribbean.  The dive shop we chose was super amazing and now Towe and I are both convinced we will be back to do our dive masters here.  A main reason for that is that you get free dives for life if you do your dive master so if Towe buys the land on the Pacific side I can picture perfect two week vacations from the states with one surfing the Pacific and one diving the Caribbean.  We saw reef sharks, hammerheads, nurse sharks, eagle rays, sting rays, all kinds of crazy fish and amazingly beautiful coral.  Being that you can get a round trip ticket from LA to Managua for under 300 and the round trip flight from the Corn Islands is only 150, this is very feasible vacation spot.  We spent most of the sunsets at our favorite bar drinking fresh fruit juice and rum with all our new friends. 

One afternoon we went deep sea fishing.  This was my first time and I was super excited.  I caught a 15lb Kingfish that fed about 8 and we had a great time trolling around the island.  We were very sad to leave but we both knew that we will come back.