Las Carnitas

We pass by it every day at Noon after Spanish class. They must be roasting the meat or something because the smell makes us drool and wish we could stop in for lunch, but unfortunately they are only open for dinner. Last night, after the power went out, we took a taxi through the pitch black streets of La Ceiba to get there. Ohhhhh it was good. Carnitas! Roasted steak served over a bed of fried plantains and fresh cabbage, with secret sauce and delectable roasting juices poured over the whole thing. Mhmm being a carnivore has never been so grand. Though Kimmy wasn't quite as obsessed over it as I was, she had to agree, it was good.


Though we are raving about this restaurant, we haven't been too impressed with some of the other food options in La Ceiba. The upside to this is that we have been making a variety of food and are getting to be much better chefs!


Here is a stir-fry we made with tofu and veggies




And here is home made pizza - dough and all!


I have also been perfecting a few different drink specialty's. Currently, Pina Coladas and Michelada are my most popular. Kimmy has been making lots of iced mango tea with fresh mangoes too!


Here is a Michelada - it's beer, hot sauce, worcestershire, pepper, lime, and a salt rim. Delicious and very refreshing.

A Night on the Town

Saturday night was our first official night out in La Ceiba. We have made some friends here, most of whom live in the same neighborhood as we do (El Sauce), and most of whom are fellow travelers. There is a house down the block which hosts many international volunteers, all who work for an organization called Guaruma. Our night began at the Guaruma house where we played our first international game of flip cup! We felt at home right away.

After many games of flip cup, we headed out to Zona Viva (the club/bar neighborhood). First, we stopped at a small bar for the sole purpose of getting initiated into La Ceiba with a shot of Guifiti, the traditional Garifuna alcohol. It is a rum infused with a whole slew of jungle plants, and it tastes horrible.

Following our initiation, we went to a dance club called Hi bou (pronounced EeeBoo) and danced the night away.

Escuela, Playa, y Belnearios

We are just completing our first week at Spanish school! It's 4 hours a day, 5 days a week - and we are forced to learn quickly. Considering the fact that we knew little to no Spanish a week ago and are now able to have conversations in Spanish is quite an accomplishment. Granted these conversations are usually only about present-tense happenings and aren't sophisticated by any stretch of the imagination. Still, we are pretty proud of ourselves!

Other than Spanish school, we have spent a few days checking out some of the different swimming spots in La Ceiba. There are 4 types of these swimming holes we've identified each with with there own personalities.


The beach (duh) - the nicest beach around these parts is in a Garifuna village called Sambo Creek. The beach is relatively clean, but they aren't groomed and glistening white postcard beaches. Vultures offer you company along-side dug-out canoe fishing boats and laundry.

Los Chorros - The local bus that goes to Sambo Creek also stops along the way at tons of swimming holes (Balnearios) in the many rivers that come down the mountains and pass under the highway. Some of them are cleaner than others, and Los Chorros is one of the more popular ones. Our swim ended with a snake encounter.

Rio Congrejal - Hitch a ride up the river that flows through La Ceiba and you're in a mountainous jungle. There are a few lodges along this river offering rooms and whitewater rafting. We have connections, so we spent the day at Pepe's house where we cliff jumped, swam with Ruby, and encountered another snake and some bats as a bonus.
If you look very carefully you will see a body suspended in mid-air above the water. That's where we cliff jumped too.


La Quinta Real - the nicest hotel in La Ceiba. We went there for lunch and were allowed to hang out all day and swim in the pool! Beers there though cost 32 lmps (equal to $1.70... VERY expensive in comparison to everywhere else)

We love our Dads!

We think we have the 2 best Dads in the world and hope they are having a great Father's Day.

Home Away From Home

Here is where we are living this summer!

Front Entrance

Living Room

Kitchen
Backyard
And Ruby!

Pathetic Pair

It all started yesterday, when "Montezuma Strikes Back" (the sequel to "Montezuma's Revenge" first premiering in Belize) returned to Kimmy's stomach. Our plans to drink Pina Coladas and relax in the sun was hampered by some clouds, and Kimmy's constant trips to the bathroom. Luckily she was able to drink some fresh squeezed Lime Daiquiris during a heated Rummy Tournament. But in the middle of the night her stomach pains increased and we debated going to the Emergency Room. I served her ginger infused chamomile and eventually things settled so that she could get some sleep.

This morning, I guess I decided that sympathy pains wouldn't be good enough this time, so I busted my head open. I had the trash bag in one hand, and was fumbling through the dozen keys we have to open up a side gate, when BAM (and I mean BAM!!!) I walked right into an air conditioner sticking out the side of the house. Things went black for a split second and I dropped the keys and garbage bag. Kimmy found me kneeling next to the laundry sink with quite a bit of blood pouring through my hair and fingers. We found some Hydrogen Peroxide and Kimmy cleaned me up, bloodying quite a few paper towels in the process.

Here's the air conditioner and the hair it took from me. I'll spare you the pictures of the actual wound, but you get the idea. And yes, I am up to date on my shots. Don't worry Moms and Dads, the cut isn't too deep. Head wounds just tend to bleed. And Kimmy has had a victory today. She kept down her morning toast.

Kimmy and I have thus spent a pathetic afternoon in the TV room. Me with one hand applying pressure to my leaking head wound, and the other rubbing Kimmy's bubbling tummy. Have pity on us.

As for Ruby, she is very confused about whats wrong with her new friends. She also has acquired a taste for Doggie Fungal Cream and important documents. Don't worry Karine and Tom, these are just growing pains.

El Sauce

After 15 dives, 13 boats, 9 hostels, 6 buses, 3 countries, and 1 tractor we have made it safe and sound to La Ceiba, Honduras. Before getting too settled in our new digs, we took a 3 day trip to Roatan, Honduras - one of the Bay Islands. Roatan is a fairly large rainforest island that has 1 main road and lots of beaches and great diving. Since we have been doing a lot of diving lately, and are planning to return to Roatan and Utila during our stay in La Ceiba (the islands are about an hour boat ride from the main land), we decided to forgo diving this trip and so some above water exploring. We rented a scooter and traversed the island from one end to the other in search of the perfect wedding spot. We found 2 spots that we loved, and next time we go back we are meeting with a wedding planner to help us paint a picture of what the day would actually look like.

So now, back to La Ceiba. We've spent the last 2 days getting to know our housesitting hosts, Ruby their dog, and getting acquainted with the area. La Ceiba is the third largest city in Honduras, with Dole being one of the main industries. They grow bananas and pineapples in the surrounding regions, and their headquarters are close to the city center. Dole is kind of an establishment here, our hosts Karine and Tom are in fact teachers at Dole's private school. You can learn more about them at their Blog. There are little neighborhoods surrounding La Ceiba's city center - we will be living in El Sauce (pronounced El Sow-Say). It is a nicer neighborhood, about 7 square blocks of pastel houses with gated front yards and guard dog sentinels. Some houses have Pulperias (pronounced poolperias) - a section of the building right up to the sidewalk from which they sell "corner store" type products. Within walking distance of the house is a street-long market with a dozen different vendors selling fruit, veggies, cheese, eggs, flour, and sugar for next to nothing. Also close to our house is a big mall with department stores, boutiques, a supermarket, and cinema. With all these conveniences AND Internet in the house, we don't feel half as isolated as we thought we would.

Last night we all had shish-kabobs and headed out to a "friendly" soccer match between Honduras's national team, and Haiti's national team. The streets were filled with vendors, and fans dressed in Blue and White regalia. The 20,000-25,000 person stadium was filled with a thriving mass even an hour before the game (when we got there). There was a tall riot fence with barbed wire around the field, guarded by riot police and Honduran army soldiers. Beers cost a dollar each, and there were even kids who would take your order from your seats. Honduras dominated the game, especially in the 2nd half when all there better players took the field. Final score was 3-1, with two of Honduras's goals being penalties kicks. People stood throughout the game, blew horns, and threw half empty beers into the air after goals. During the game we also discovered our new favorite snack. It consists of a bag of barley ripe mangoes, doused in spicy vinegar and a salt spice (raw salt and crushed, roasted, gourd seeds). Kinda sounds gross now that we write it down, but its a tasty balance of sweat, sour, and salt with a shot of fiber and vitamin C.

Here are some pictures from the game:

With one of the Honduran soldiers


Food Stand


Us with Karine and Tom


The crowd


Mango Delight


Right now we are cooking breakfast, drinking coffee and enjoying the heat of the day. We'll probably go to the fruit stands and grocery store, and then enjoy a quite evening at home. After 3 weeks of traveling, we have come to appreicate some things that we took for granted before - a clean kitchen with silverware, sleeping in a quiet place, air conditioning, our own cooking, and lime juice.

The Guat without a map

The rain god has spoken!

We stepped foot into "the Guat" (as we affectionately call Gutamala) and it rained the whole time. A long Guaty bus ride took us to Flores, a very un-Gutamalan city. Flores is an Island in the middle of a lake, so we felt that the real town was on the other side of the bridge, and this cobble stone island in the middle of a misty lake was a European escape. We got a 3rd floor hotel room with a private balcony that looked out over the street and onto the lake for only $10 a night. After dropping our bags off, Kimmy quickly lead us down the cobble stone streets and into every fabric store. We haggled and haggled and got a skirt for Kimmy (which she has been wearing every other day since), and a beautiful bed throw. Next on our list is a hammock(s) which I think we will find in La Ceiba. Flores was CHEAP! We had eggplant burgers and shared giant bottles of Gallo cervesas for next to nothing.

We got picked up at 3:30 am for a sunrise tour of Tikal. About 5 km from the park, a tree had fallen and blocked the road, which meant that 5 men were using their machetes to cut up the tree and get it out of the road. These Central American's are amazing with their machetes and the whole process probably only delayed us 5 minutes. Once we got to Tikal we rushed through the park and up the tallest Myan ruin in Mesoamerica. There we sat watching the mist clear, temple tops appear, Howler monkey growl, Tucans chirp, and Tapirs nuzzle through the jungle foliage. We had a pretty good tour guide who then led us around, and up and down temples. He spoke English that he had learned from all the different tourists and archaeologists that he had interacted with since he was a boy. As a result every few words he said were in a different accent (eg. American South, Canadian, Australian, Whales). It was kind of hilarious. Tikal was really impressive. Especially the Grand Court where two identical temples (one containing Lord Cacao, and the other his wife) stood facing each other.

The next day, we got on another bus to Rio Dulce. We don't have a tour book of Guatamala so we didn't really know where we were going or what we were going to do, or where we were going to sleep for that matter. Operating on rumors, and broken explanations in Spanish, we decided to check out the thermal waterfalls in Paraizo. We were jammed into a minivan and taken FROM Rio Dulce deep into "the Guat". The van had seats for 15 at the most, and at one time there were 22 people on board for the ride. We were in the back, claustrophobic and hot. After an hour of this we were dropped off on a dirt road next to a bar. We found out that the hotel was a 30 minute walk in one direction, and the thermal waterfalls were 10 minutes in the other. The scuba suitcases were too heavy for a thirty minute walk but luckily we hitched on ride with the hotel's food delivery truck and arrived at Paradise, Finca Paraizo. We were the only guests at a bungalow hotel on the banks of Rio Dulce. After dinner and a swim in the Rio, we retired to our bungalow with the coolest orbiting fan yet. The next day we hiked up the road, and were lead to the thermal pools by some kind bar patrons. The river was very cold, but a smaller river that cascaded over a small cliff was VERY hot. Only Chris was able to tolerate the hot pools above the waterfall, but we were both enjoyed swimming through the cold water, and being battered by the hot waterfall above.

We got a ride back to Rio Dulce from Finca Paraizo on the back of a pick up truck. This ride was much more pleasant, and put us in good spirits for a boat ride to Livingston. Livingston is a small Garifuna village on the other side of Rio Dulce. Garifuna's are old African slaves who were too troublesome/rebellious for their masters and were thus exported to villages throughout Belize (eg. Caye Caulker, Punta Gorda), and here in Livingston Guatamala, to live free and abandoned. A crazy, sputtering Garifuna, clutching a Conch forced his assistance upon us and led us first to a hotel too expensive for our budget, and then to the dingiest, buggiest hotel yet. We decided to stay anyway, rationalizing this thrifty decision with the fact that soon we will have a beautiful A/C house of our own in La Ceiba. Livingston kind of had an island village feel but was a little dingy on the edges. One night there was a deluge of rain that flooded the streets and shut off the electricity. Some other travelers showed us an amazing hole in the wall restaurant where we ate Breakfast and Dinner on the second day. It was the best food we've had yet, and the owner knew it and wasn't afraid to tell the world how every thing she touched turned to gold. That afternoon we took an 8km walk down the beach and across a rope bridge to the Seven Alters. It was a fat, crystal clear river that cascaded through lots (probably 7) little swimming holes (kind of like a mini Havasupi). The last pool up the river had a waterfall and was deep enough for cliff jumping. Our first plunge into the river was conducted in this way. It was very relaxing.

Back in Livingston we arranged for a boat/van combo ride all the way to La Ceiba. With city buses and city water taxi's the trip would take 10 hours. Ours only took 5 and it was so comfortable, and not much more expensive. We've made it to La Ceiba. But this post is too long to start all that. We've spent a night here, and today we're headed to Roatan. We will tell you more about it when we get back this weekend.