I arrived in La Ceiba to find out that this supposedly big party town was shut down for the weekend. My plans of drunken foolishness were foiled for the second time by a central american election. Can't these people learn from our democracy and keep the booze flowing while people vote
So, anyway, since there was no booze and there weren't enough people to go on the rafting trip I wanted to do, I headed straight for the island of Utilla in the morning.
Utilla is a very small Carribean island that basically has 2 things going on, diving and smoking weed. It is mostly english speaking, it was owned by the british for a long time, and has a definite Pirates of the Carribean feel. When we arrived the weather was hot and sunny. Everyone said that the last month had been unusally rainy so this was quite the break. It didn`t. After the first 24 hours the clouds came over the sun, not to be seen again until I left Utilla. But ah well, when you are under the water, the rain doesn´t matter so much and my hotel/dive shop had one of the greatest inventions known to man, hot showers.
Bye Bye, Sun
I started the dive class the first afternoon with some of the funniest, most informative videos ever made. Anyone of you who have done the PADI course, know what I`m talking about. The next day we started actually going in the water. Its a little scary at first doing a silly thing like breathing underwater, but once we got down to the bottom of the bay for the training dive, it seemed to go ok. It was damned cold though. The Carribean doesn`t seem so warm when you are sitting there on the bottom not moving much! The next day was much better, we actually dove on the reef. Over the next few days I did 6 dives, seeing giant crabs, big snappers, tiny little parrot fish, and what i still think was a baby shark. It was pretty damn cool. One of the best things was how much easier it is to see, when the water is clear that is, because water magnifies so much. I could see like real boy! I can´t wait to try it again. Maybe in Mexico over Christmas. I guess I could use another expensive thing to do on vacation
My class consted of 2 D.C. denixen (including a guy who lives in Mt. P!), a british guy and 2 british brothers who are travelling around the world together. 70+ countries in 12 months! Now I get along great with my brothers, but around the world together for a year, I`m not sure I could handle that. I hope Tim and Chris get along for the next 9 months and I hope that they take the time to appreciate all the wonders around them and get to know a few of the places they are visiting. I feel like I appreciated Nicaragua after a month there, but I know that I only scratched the surface.
Obviously, with all of these people learning how to dive, there are many people who are there to teach you and lead the dives. These people prove once again that guides, whether they be for the river or under the sea, are some of the most relaxed people on earth. People who live to do what they want for the right to earn enough money to keep them in beer and an apartment in a beautiful part of the world. Of course with this lifestyle comes certain punishments like when you become a dive master, your finaal initiation is the snorkel test. Basically, while wearing a mask that covers you nose you have to drink rum, coke, chili sauce and beer through a snorkel. Gross, difficult and fun to watch.
OK. Thats it for now. On to the ruins of Copan and meeting Bucky in Guatemala.
No comments:
Post a Comment