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Well, I have been following SOPA pretty loosely over the past month or so and have the following general observations:

My understanding is that basically the film/music industry (or big copyright/Intellectual Property owner) has lobbied to put forward a bill that will allow some part/branch of the govt to remove piracy/copyright-infringing websites from the global DNS directory without a warrant/due process/etc (some make it sound like the gov’t would have the authority to do this at will). The bill is known as SOPA (and then Protect IP or something like that for the other branch of congress).

I am not sure the progress this bill has made in both chambers of congress, but it has constantly been in the news for about a month, and there have been multiple bills/attemps/votes on it, which to me suggests that the push to get it through is pretty serious (whether there’s a strong lobby, or the good hearted congressmen/women just want to do what is best for the American citizen).

Most tech folks have come out and said that SOPA is downright absurd, some citing security issues (which i haven’t read a whole lot about), others saying that people will just create their own DNS directories or other alternatives for name resolution (the US gov’t wont be pulling the actual sites down, just removing/making it illegal to serve the DNS records; you could still go to http://66.43.123.76 or w/e the IP address of azad’s 0day l33t war3z site is). Other people say this is the start of a slippery slope to Internet censorship, and puts the control of the Global Internet at the will (and politics) of a single government.

On a bit of a side note, the idea of the US controlling the global DNS is pretty wild in that they could potentially remove the DNS record for a non-american website, citing that the website infringes on American Copyright/IP laws. I don’t understand why the US gov’t should have this power over the Internet, which has grown beyond the boarders of the United States. I would expect other foreign gov’ts are not to be a big fan of this ability either (foreign gov’t have been trying for a while to get more control of ICANN, which i believe is still technically controlled by the American gov’t, but is drifting international, which I think is a good thing).

Anyways, SOPA is certainly getting a lot of press, and sounds like a pretty big deal. Id like to follow your lead – I think it is a good idea to let our representatives know what we are thinking.

Hopefully this gives you some sort of context on the situation – anyone have anything to add (or subtract for that matter)?

Taylor

It was a wonderful trip. We saw many great places and met even greater people. The trip was not too expensive. We were still able to get around despite not being able to speak Spanish too well. Transportation (buses) between places and even across borders was not too difficult (I hope to make a post in the future about it).

I would definitely recommend it!

Taylor

PS. Here is a our trip route, with blue markers for every place that had a blog entry written for it. Enjoy!!

View Central America Trip – Summer 2010 in a larger map

Bungee Jumping

The first was the bungee jumping. Our hosts said they take everyone to do this. It was off a retired bridge northwest of San Jose. The drop was 80 meters, the tallest in Costa Rica. Our hosts had many stories to tell us about it, and only one piece of advise: don’t look down when you are on the ledge about to jump.

Once we arrived at the bridge, my nerves set in. We got to watch a few people jump before us to help calm us. Luckily, we were able to slip in right before a large team of gymnists. The coach asked if we wanted music during our jump. Confused, we said sure and he started to blare some ACDC.

Megan was the first to jump. She fearlessly walked up to the ledge and jumped. She screamed all the way down (cause she wanted to). It was a solid jump.

My turn. After putting on the harness, the instructor told me to step right up to the edge, with my feet hanging halfway off. It was impossible to not look down! The instructor counted down from 5 and I lept off. The last thought that went through my head was: this is not natural.. I should not be doing this. I was at the bottom before I knew it. I was lifted back up by the cord and fell once again. After about a minute I had stopped and was being pulled back up to the platform.

It was a very crazy feeling jumping from the ledge. It was over before I knew it. Megan kept saying afterwards that her body was filled with adrenaline and that she wanted to run 5 miles; I think she enjoyed it. The jump was a bit expensive, but we walked away with a t shirt, DVD, and pictures of the jump. I will be sure to post those on the internet when I get home.

The Church of Los Angeles in Cartago

I am a lover of beautiful churches and even more so when there are great stories behind them. The church in Cartago was beautiful inside and out, and had a great backstory and an annual tradition that many Ticos participate in.

As we drove to Cartago, our hosts told us of the story behind the church. A long time ago, and a Costa Rican native Indian girl found a black little doll of the virgin mary. She brought it home only to discover the next day the doll reappeard on the same rock she found it on the day before. This same thing happened when men of the cloth discovered and took the doll. Because it was clear the doll did not want to leave the spot, they decided to build a church at that spot. They also declared it a miracle of the virgin.

The church they built was very pretty. You can see the outside in one of the pictures. The inside was very decorated with beautiful alters and looked like the walls and ceiling were plated with wood. The church also was built upon the original rock where there virgin doll was found, and you could go around back of the church and see the rock. There were also cases full of little emblems that people had donated in exchange for what they perceived as personal miracles that had happened to them (ex. Someone would donate a tiny foot if they beleived the virgin had healed their horrible foot problem). There was also an underwater stream running under the foundation of the church. The water was routed through 3 pipes of water, and we were able to rinse and drink some (it was treated as holy water).

Our hosts also told us of the annual tradition practiced by many Ticos. Every August, over a million Costa Ricans (that’s about a quarter of the poulation!) will journey to this very church. Many of them walk the journey from nearby San Jose. It sounded quite remarkable, everyone one the pilgrimage in high spirits, friendly, and welcoming.

I got one picture of the outside of the church, but was not able to get any of the inside because there was a service going on. The inside was just as beautiful and worth looking up on the internet if you enjoy churches.

Cafe Britt Tour

Our hosts took us on a 2 hour coffee your one afternoon. The company, Britt, is sold all over Costa Rica, but is generally regarded as an export only brand (I was told today that better and cheaper brands exists inside of Costa Rica). As far as I could tell thought, Britt is of gourmet quality and is strictly hard bean (means something in the industry?). I was sure to pick up a few pounds of this coffee while I could get it for relatively cheap.

The tour was wonderful. It was what you might expect, we went to a coffee field, saw the grown and developed trees. We went to a sort of incubation chamber where the seeds were germinated and the best selected for transplantation (is that a word?) in the coffee fields. We learned about the lifecycle of a coffe tree, about 3 years to grow to full size and then will yield coffee for the next 10 to 15 years.

My favorite part of the tour though were the tour guides. They put on a performance. They made many jokes in both Spanish and English. At one point that acted as barristas and have is tips on how to test and prepare coffee. They played a history of coffee type movie and even acted out some of the scenes in a very goofy way. They were very silly and entertaining. I am convinced the tour would be fun even if you cared nothing about coffee.

I enjoyed it a lot and was very happy we decided to make a stop. It was nice to tour something other that a church or beer brewery

These were the 3 big things that we did in or around San Jose, other than the trip the the Arenal Volcano and a trip to Yaco, a beach on the Pacific coast. The next entry will be able the beach trip to Yaco!

Taylor

When we arrived at La Fortuna, we were greeted by several tour operators hoping to win business (it has been pretty common this trip for there to be crowds of vendors, tour operators, money exchangers, and hotel employees bombarding you once you step off the bus). We started talking to one tour guide hoping to get directions to the nearest hostel. We ended up booking a tour that afternoon and lodging at a nearby hotel. Through Megan’s stiff negotiating, we were able to get a $20 us discount off the tour and a great deal on the lodging (the tour guide actually asked us not to say anything about our discount because others on the tour had paid more).

After dropping our things, we set out on the tour. We made stops at various hotels to pick up more people. Once we made it to the volcano’s park, we noticed that the volcano was extremely cloudy, and we could not see the top much less the crater. The guide explained that it would take a certain amount of luck for the clouds to fully clear and for us to have get a good view.

After a few minutes waiting at the observation deck, about 2 km from the base of the volcano, luck swept in and the clouds swept out. We had a clear view of volcano. We were fortunate enough to see everything: small eruptions emitting clouds of gases, volcanic rocks being projected down the mountain, and lava streaks flowing down the mountain (both while it was light out and then after dark; after dark, the lava actually looked like the lava in the movies, it was really great). We were very lucky to see everything; the guide said we were ‘blessed by God’.

We also lucked out on the guide as well. His name was Manfred and he had grown up in the area and in nature. He was an expert at spoting wildlife and also explained a lot to us about the relationships shared by species of plants and/or animals in the jungle surrounding Arenal. He showed us elephant leaf plants, golden orb spyders, a red eyed tree frog (which was absolutely georgeous), different trees from all over the world, orchids including vanilla, and a flower that was put in pillow cases to help people fall asleep. We captured a few photos and added captions of what they are.

The tour included the view of the volcano during the day and night, a brief trek through the jungle to a waterfall (which we got to swim in!), covering our faces in volcanic mud (the stuff used in spas where women have the mud on their face and cucumbers on their eyes), and a trip to some hot springs that were naturally warmed because of the volcano (it was a cool little spot on the side of the road; a local hang out with high school aged kids fooling around). The tour was definitely worth it, especially because we got to see so much with the volcano, but also all the wild life as well.

After the tour, we headed home, enjoyed a nice meal, and went to bed for the night. The next morning we checked out and went down to the tour center. We decided to tip our guide because he was so great. We toured with Red Lava Tours and our guide Manfred was absolutely amazing; we could not have hoped for anything better.

We returned back to our hosts that afternoon in San Jose. It was a wonderful trek and we were glad we made it. (I think I saw a statistic in a guide book that said over half of all tourists that come to Costa Rica visit the Arenal Volcano)

Will write about our next adventure soon.

Taylor

The next morning we awoke to a table already set for a nice breakfast (our hosts were unbelievable, they spoiled us). After breakfast, they had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and take us downtown. The taxi driver spoke slow spanish and light English, between the two he was able to point out some points of interest on the way.

We started our day (and really our stay in Costa Rica) by getting oriented. We stopped by an ATM (cajero automatico), and then got a city map and intercity bus schedule from the tourist info center in the Plaza de la Cultura. I really took to San Jose for a few reasons, but one of the main ones was how organized its tourist operations were; the free city map we got was very robust with all landmarks, streets, and other points of interest well marked; San Jose was also the first city we visited where we found all the bus routes compiled together in a single book. I was starting to like Costa Rica already.

We dropped into a cafe for a quick caffeine boost and to plan our route. Basically we were to walk through the central streets and hit all the parks and churches.

We started with the central park, which wasn’t too impressive. There was a large present from the Nicaraguans in the middle, which apparently the Ticos (how Costa Ricans refer to themselves) aren’t too crazy about. The Cathedral opposite central park was however very impressive. It was very large, open to the public, and the stained glass windows had the most vibrant colors I have ever seen. There were also religious scenes carved into wood to create a 3d effect. They were very well done and interesting to look at from the different angles.

We continued our walk around town. Took a stroll on central avenue which turned out to be like an ourdoor mall. We stopped for some chocolate covered pineapple at Plaza de las Artes and enjoyed the artwork. While walking up Calle 7 we stopped into an English bookstore and spent a few minutes shopping around. Megan ended up finding a used copy of On The Road for me, which was a great find; it is a big hit in traveling circles it seems. We continued on to more parks, coming to Parque Morazan. One the square, we remenered out roots and stopped into a souvenir shop. The owner was very nice and gave us recommendations for where to eat lunch and watch the futbol match (Germany vs Spain). We ducked into a crowded restaurant and had some traditional Tico food including gollo pinto (rice and beans). Megan got a huge fruit salad for desert (see picture) while I opted for another dosage of caffeine.

After a long and enjoyable lunch, we continued on through Parque Espana, which was very dense with green and reminded me of a jungle. We set out for the final park on our journey, Parque National. It was large, with lots of space to relax, fountains, and tall and old trees. We relaxed here for a bit, then ducked into a nearby building for shelter from the oncoming rain.

Our host called us after a few minutes and turned out to be very close. He picked us up from the building (which turned out to be the natural library) ending our tour of downtown San Jose.

It was a day filled with lots of walking, coffee (hopefully Costa Rican), parques, churches, Costa Rican food, futbol, and some rain. Very fulfilling and a pleasant experience.

Will write soon about our bungee jumping experience!

Taylor

We set out from the bus station to find a hostel that had been recommended to us. We looked it up in the guide book and arrived at its listed address, only to find writing on the wall with the real directions to the oasis (that was actually its name). When we arrived, we quickly realized it was worth the goose chase around town. The hostel was well located, had free internet, free dvd rentals and a TV to watch them on, free coffee, a kitchen, close ties to a nearby laundry mat, and a pool. We were able to get a cheap private room with good showers and such. The hostel was filled with other travelers. We talked to one guy who only came to Granada to reset his visa eligibility from Costa Rica. He said he came to the same hostel everytime and just hung around the hostel for 3 days just talking to people and exchanging stories. Hostel Oasis was the best hostel that we stayed in on our trip.

There were plenty of day trips and side treks around Granada, but we didn’t get our act together in time to take advantage of one of these (what we did instead was just fine). We walked around the city and admired the architecture on the buildings. Grandana is known for being one of the best preserved colonial cities in Nicaragua and I dare say Central America. There were many old churches and buildings. It was cool, you would round a corner and there would be a large historic building right smack in the middle of other moden buildings. It reminded me a lot of Rome in this respect. The city was very colorful and had many parks are squares to compliment its churches. It had an established and traditional open air market. One of our favorite things was that every town home in Granada had an open air courtyard. We thought it would be great to look at Granada from a birds eye view, from something like google maps, so that you could see all the courtyards.

Granada was a very visually pleasing, modestly sized, and very welcoming city. I am very glad that we decided to make a stop.

After spending 2 nights and a fulfilling day in Granada, we had to head out to Costa Rica. We left early the second morning on the Ticabus and traveled all day to our final country.

Will write soon with our experiences in Costa Rica!

Taylor

Ps I have attached a few pictures of Granada and the hostel. They were a bit rushed, I hope they do it justice.

Upon arriving at La Biosphera, we noticed the georgeous view it had. It was 4 km out of town and up in the large mountains surrounding Jinotega. The main lodge had a beautiful view of the valley. At night, there were frequent lightening displays similar to heat lightening you see in the US. These flashes were georgeous and would light up portions of the valley and sky. La Biosphera was enough outside of town and in the mountains to be quite and remote, but was within a walkable distance to town, or you could hop on one of the buses that passed every 30 minutes or so.

Suzanne, the owner and manager of La Biosphera was not in when we arrived, so the greeter gave us a tour around the property. There was the main lodge, which had a dorm style room, kitchen, and matrimonial suite. We continued away from the road and further into the property (which consequently was up the mountain). We passed through a prairie where horses grazed, the cross roads, where wood was stored and a large tank for water was (there was also a hammock hung in a tree hear which have a tremendous view of the mountains and valley), then further into the woods. At this point we were walking along hiking style trails, and came to a stream. We continued up the stream to find ‘Loft at Falling Water’, which is where we slept (there is a picture of what looks like a cabin; it is two stories, which the 2nd being similar to a lofted or raised bed you see in college dorm rooms). After the loft, we continued on until we reached a waterfall running down the entrance of a small bay cave. It was a nice peak to the uphill hike (there is a photo of Megan and me alongside the waterfall and bay cave). There were also a few animals at La Biosphera which we met on the way, including a young and very excitable dog, and a healthy looking horse (who would sometimes freely roam the property like an over sized dog).

A few hours later, Suzanne arrived and we met her back at the lodge for tea. She explained to us (me rather, I am pretty sure Megan already knew) what La Biosphera was. My understanding is that La Biosphera is a place where sustainable development and building is encouraged, with the goal of eventually becoming self sustaining all while recycling and reusing materials already present on the farm. One cool aspect was that a lot of development was done by friends, backpackers, and other travelers. We even did a bit of contributing ourselves.

We slept out in the woods, or cloud rainforest (there is a picture of the clouds covering the woods, which gives it the name cloud rainforest). The Loft at Falling water, or Rumble in the Jungle as Suzanne called it, was a solidly built structure with a cool looking fire pit outfront (a contribution of past visitors; we never could get a fire going because the wood out there was too damp). The loft was such an exciting place to sleep because it was similar to camping right next to the stream in that you were out in the open air (under only a roof and 2 walls) and you could hear the water running all night, which was very relaxing. We even got to use our fleece sleeping bags for the first time (we were afraid we were never going to be able to use them because it was so darn hot everywhere else; thanks again dad

I took one afternoon and wandered into town. It was a half hour’s walk, but I was accompanied to my left by the beautiful scenary experienced while descending into the valley. I went and got lost in town (something I do, maybe unintentionally, to guide my walking around town). I relaxed in the central park and toured the cathedral. Both modest but very well kept. I was able to catch a bus for cheap back up the hill to avoid walking.

It became time for us to put in some work, and contribute something that hopefully will last for years. Suzanne had the idea of redoing the stairs at the entrance to the lodge (the old ones had fallen apart and been trampled by the horse). She laid out a plan to create a large and conspicuous stairway so that future visitors could not be confused with how to enter the lodge. We spent about a day creating the foundation for these stairs. First we decided on the right number of stairs and how we wanted them laid out. We then modified the salvagable parts of the existing stairs to fit our plans. Then we dug trenches to support the wood to create the step. In order to ensure the longevity of the stairs, we put rocks in the trenches and placed the wood ontop to prevent the vertical movement of the wood/stair. We then drove steaks made out of coffee tree to prevent the horizontal movement of the wood. We then dumped concrete over the wood, rocks, and steaks to add some more support. There are a few pictures after one day’s work. We were not able to fill in the stairs completely in order to let the concrete underneath dry. In the process, I got my first experience working with concrete and also a machete, used to groom, smooth, and shape the coffee tree into easily drivable steaks. It was a long and tiresome day, but we could see our progress, and were in the mood to celebrate once we finished.

It took us a little while to get cleaned up. Suzanne ran into town to pick up food, a friend, and ‘copious amounts of beer’. I was able to get a steady fire going using some dry wood we set aside. We used this fire to cook hamburgers. We made a few orderves and a salad to compliment the burgers. We toasted several times, told stories, enjoyed our hamburgers and beer all in honor of July 4th (3 of us were American) and in celebration of our day’s work. I was able to converse in Spanish with Suzanne’s friend. It took some effort on both sides, but it was the first time that I had a solid conversation in Spanish since coming down. The night was a perfect cap to the hard day’s work.

The next morning we awoke, had some coffee, said our goodbyes and headed down to the road to town to catch the bus. We made it in the nick of time to catch the bus the Matagalpa, Managua, and ultimately, Granada. We had a wonderful time at La Biosphera and hopefully will stay in touch with Suzanne (she also has a website project idea that really interests me).

We are now in Granada, a colonial town in Nicaragua. We will spend 2 nights here before departing to the final country on our trip, Costa Rica. Until then,

Taylor

We did some more couch surfing here. Our host lived in a large house with his family, including uncles, aunts, cuzzins, etc. The family owned an entire compound that included a few homes, but also a gym and salon. Because of this, people were constantly around and coming and going. I felt rude and out of place at times because my Spanish was so lacking and it was hard to be cordial and polite.

Our host and his family were so good to us. They were kind enough to house is for 3 nights, and also prepare several meals and snacks for us, including some blackberry smoothies, chicken beans and rice, and some tacos which we ate with our hands. The family also owned farm land on one of the mountains near by. One of the things grown on the farm was coffee. We were fortunate enough to drink several cups of the family’s home grown and processed coffee. It was quite a treat.

On the last day we were there, our host took us to his former place of work, a plush hotel on the outskirts of town. We roamed around the grounds and golf course. The hotel had peacocks and a pet parrot that we got to see, as well as go for a dip in the pool. We also crossed a raggidy bridge, Indian Jones style, over a river.

I could not get over the town center itself. It had a classic main square with a large cathedral, pretty standard. But the square was filled with trees and boardered with little shops and cafes. When the breeze came through, it was a very relaxing sight to see the trees willow in the wind, with the large and beautiful mountains as a backdrop. I also enjoyed the architecture and the look of the streets. A lot of the streets around the center were cobblestone. We also took a stroll through the cathedral in town, which was very ornate and had 4 wooden alters plated with gold. We also climbed the belfry tower and enjoyed the beautiful views and watched as an 800 year old clock rang bells at every quarter of an hour. We also saw bats in the belfry (referring to The Dispatch song by the same name).

Another of my favorite parts of Comayagua was Princessita. It was a popular restaurant that sold baleadas, a traditional Hondurian food. The best thing about Princessitas was that the baleadas were so large, and still coated less then $2 US. We visited this restaurant twice out of 3 days, and both times we met up a few friends of our host who happened to be stationed at the US military base in Comayagua. We had a great time downing the delicious and filling baleadas and conversing with fellow Americans.

We left Comayagua wishing that we could have spent more time. The city was so historic and pretty and surrounded by large mountains. Our couch surfing host was very great and showed us a wonderful time.

We are now boarding the Ticabus to Managua, Nicaragua and eventually to Jinotega to go to La Biosphera. Will write soon!

Taylor

We stayed around the southern part of the island, in an U-shaped area that made a bay. Because of the U shape, you could sit anywhere on the bay and have a beautiful view of the rest of the bay, filled with docks and restaurant/bars that stuck out over the water.

Navigating the area was easy, there was really only 1 main road which all of the grocery stores, dive shops, and businesses were on. This main road was one of my favorite parts of the island; it was just wide enough for 1 car to get through, which usually wasn’t a problem because very rarely did you are any cars driving on it. It was mostly filled with walkers, bikers, mopeds, dirtbikes, and 4 wheelers. At times it was nerve racking sharing the road with all manor of different vehicles, but I did enjoy the absence of cars.

One of the best things about our stay on Utila was the people. One the ferry ride to Honduras from Belize, we met 2 other backpackers who were also going to Utila to dive. We ended up staying in the room right next to them, diving with them, sharing meals with them, and overall spending most of our time with them. We made a great foursome, made up of us 2, as well as an Australian and a Californian. I have posted a picture of the 4 of us on our last night. We did so much together, and got to know each other pretty well. We really hope to stay in touch in the future.

We stayed at a lodge called ‘the Backpackers’. It was a simple place with rooms in a line and a covered deck out front. It had all the necessary amenities including a kitchen complete with 1 cooking skillet and a single fork, a bathroom, showers, and a fan (thank god) for the rooms. We spent a lot of time at the backpacker reading, preparing meals, and watching movies with our bunk mates. One interesting touch was outfront of the lodge was an area about 12 by 25 just filled with crabs. They dug holes about a foot apart from each other and would live off flowers that had fallen from the trees. It was a nice was to dispose of our compost. I believe I got a picture of the backpackers as well as one of these crabs (there were tons of them by the lodge and all over town).

The dive shop we chose was recommended to us by another traveler that we met on the ferry to Honduras. It was called Gunther’s Ecomarine. It was a great place because it was a PADI certified dive shop, which many of the places on the island were, but it also had a great atmosphere. It was a very laid back place; the open water course was in no way rushed, and we were able to take our time and dive when it was best for us. Ecomarine also had a real communal feel to it. You could tell that it had been around a long time. There were always curent and ex dive instructors hangin around. There were also tons of kids constantly running around, jumping off of the boat, hammocks, and whatever else into the water. The was a bar around the back side of the shop, so right when you finished diving for the day, you could grab a beer and relax. It was pretty common for people to grill out on the dock as well. The shop also had free wireless internet and public computers set up. There was also a TV that alway seemed to have futbol on. We could not have been happier with the dive shop.

As far as the diving certification, we joked that we were going for the record of greatest number of days taken to earn the open water certification. I think we finished in 5 or 6 days, when the average is 3 or 4. It was no problem, we were enjoying ourselves. The dive shop had pretty nice equipment and we usually didn’t have any trouble finding the right sizes. We did most of the skills training right off of the dock and in sand bars in between coral reef. It was cool to do the skills in the water rather than a pool so you had something to look at while the it was the other group member’s turn to demonstrate the skills. We did 4 dives where we went down to the reef. It is pretty amazing how much life there is under water. Megan had really good eyes for creatures, and knew just how to act in the underwater environment to provoke the desired responses of the underwater animals. It really was a treat diving with her. Of the fish I can remember, we saw a lobster, barracuda, parrot head fish, tons of differnt colored coral with crazy designs, large schools of fish, moray eels, and sand divers. We went down as deep as 18 meters or 60 feet. It was a pretty cool feeling, at times it was like you were suspended in mid air looking down the side of a cliff (which in this case was a wall of reef). Diving definitely was worth the time and money and is something that I really hope to do again in the future.

Right across the main road from the dive shop (and between the shop and our lodge) was a bar called Skid Row. The owners seemed to be ex pats, or atleast from America. Everyone there spoke English, and it was a common hang out spot for the people affiliated with our dive shop (probably because of proximity). The food wasn’t great, but the beer was cheap and the hot and iced coffee was tremendous (it was from Honduras). Plus, the bar had 2 TVs that always had the world cup futbol games on. There also was a giant whiteboard out front of Skid Row that had the standings of each of the 8 groups (at the begining of the cup) and the schedule for the next few days. This board was so helpful in catching us up and familairizing is with way that the world cup worked. It was at Skid Row that we watched many matches, including the USA’s triumphant stoppage time victory over Algeria. There were a few days where our diving instructor scheduled our dives around the world cups games. He would always ask the night before which games we wanted to watch the next day so that he could schedule around them. Most days, we took our lunch break from 12 to 2, which was right during the 1230 game. The world cup was a big deal to everyone at Skid Row and the dive shop, which made it really easy to get into it and stay caught up. I posted a picture of skid row and you can make out the whiteboard outfront.

There was another establishment in town that we frequented. It was called ‘Munchies’. It was a casual sit down type restaurant that served breakfast lunch and dinner. They also had a salad bar on Saturdays and Wednesdays; we hit the salads both nights, in dire need of nutrition. Munchies also had a desert called the flaming brownie. It literally was a brownie Sunday in a bowl, served ontop of another plate that was lit on fire to melt the icecream. We ordered 2 of them during our 2nd salad bar visit; the waitress dropped the plates on our table and then fled the scene like she had just left 2 ticking time bombs on our table. The whole room watched and cheered as we attempted to blow the flames on our brownies out.

On our trip, we have become used to the 5 liter jugs of water that people get fresh water delivered in (they are the jugs used in office watercoolers). Megan and I finally were able to get one of these jugs. We found a store that had it delivered and asked them to add one more to their order. The next day we had a jug waiting for us. They were ridiculously cheap; only $6 US as a deposit for the jug, and about $2.50 US to have it filled. We went through 2 of the jugs during our stay. We were able to kill the 2nd one in under a day (I must’ve had a leak or something..).

We were able to hop on the internet for free at the dive shop, but this was sometimes crowded and the internet pretty slow. We spent a lot of time in Annie’s Internet Cafe, close to the dock where the ferry from La Ceiba dropped us off. The owner was very nice, and allowed us to print and scan documents (we both had applications to fill out and submit, constant reminders that beyond paradise, the real world still existed). The internet at Annie’s was usually pretty fast, unless someone was skyping. I was able to remote desktop to my PC in Northern Virginia and send emails from it without any issues. I also talked to the dive shop owner about internet on the island (I remember saying, ‘I’m an IT guy, I’m interested in this type of thing’). I asked the owner if the island reached the internet via satellite; he said that mostly people on the island got their connection through 2 companies, both of which used magnetic/radio dishes pointed across the water channel to correspnding dishes on the Honduras mainland. I thought it was pretty wild that the internet traffic of the entire island all eventually filtered down to one of these 2 magnetic/radio connections. Pretty crazy if you think about it. If I were ever to live island of Utila, I would need them to lay some fibre across the channel first

It was pretty nice (for us atleast, being from the US and not speaking any other languages) that there seemed to be a strong American or English speaking influence on the island (possibly related to the tourism). A lot of shop owners spoke English as a result, and carried many American products not available in other areas such as a wide variety of chocolate candy bars and American style peanut butter (anyone who has gone abroad knows the peanut butter just isn’t the same outside the US). There also was a large US community on the island, made up of retirees, ex pats, dive instructors and more. I also found out that foreigners are able to buy land in Honduras and on Utila. One guy we spoke to had a quarter acre lot right on the main street which he had picked up for only $20k US. It sounded like purchasing land was a way to evade customs and getting deported (totally not sure about this one).

Utila and Honduras in general has some great coffee. I don’t have much of a taste for the stuff yet, but from what I can tell (and what I am told) it is near as good as it gets. There is also good beer in Honduras in my opinion. Imperial is a great budget beer that I would equate with Yeungling. There also was a permeir beer called Port Royal that I thought was worth the 25 cent US bump in price. Honduras is the first country I have been to on the trip that has had beer I liked at a price I liked (granted i’ve only been to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras so far).

Finally, our 8 days were up and it was time to leave Utila. The journey started at 6 am catching the Utila Princess (aka floating coffin) back to the mainland, and then catching a series of buses south to Comayagua where we will spend a couple nights on our way out of Honduras.

I began writing this entry on the bus ride through the mountains of Honduras. We also pased by a huge lake, that was lined with more mountains. The road we took was similar to 33 west of Harrisonburg once it starts getting in George Washington National Forest. The road was curvy and felt like it was on a cliff line. It gave some spectacular views. Honduras is an absolutely georgeous country from what I have seen. I can’t wait to come back.

I am finishing this entry in Comayagua. We made it in around 4 PM this afternoon. It has been a long day, but Comayagua looks to be very promising. I will write about it soon. Check back!

Taylor

We had to take a total of 4 buses, 3 water taxis, and 2 over night stays to make the trip. We also had to make a stop and Big Creek, Belize for immigration purposes (it took 2 hours!). Our itinerary was, starting from 12 noon on Thursday, June 17th and ending at noon on Saturday, June 19th: bus from San Ignacio to Belmopan, Bus from Belmopan to Independence, water taxi from Independence to Placencia, overnight stay in Placencia, water taxi the next morning from Placencia in Belize to Pureto Cortes in Honduras, bus from Pureto Cortes to San Pedro Sula, bus from SPS to La Ceiba, overnight stay in La Ceiba, and finally a water taxi from La Ceiba to Utila.

The bus rides were fine. We took a few of the traditional school buses in Belize, and then were able to experience AC again on buses in Honduras. The bus trips through southern Belize we’re a treat; the region was filled with large mountains and hills with extremely steep inclines. My favorite part was that the mountains were covered with trees and vegitation even on the really steep parts. This made for a very beautiful horizon. The water taxi from Placencia to Honduras was about 4 hours in duration and cost $55 US (D-express was the name of the ferry). It took about 4 hours and was for the most part a smooth ride.

We had a night’s layover in Placencia, Belize. It was a really small beach town. It had a very relaxing feel to it and I said to Megan many times that I would love to take a week long vacation there. There was a road with shops and grocery stores on it, but there was also another, which I would label as the ‘main drag’, which was no wider than a sidewalk, lined with restaurants and hotels while running adjacent to the beach. We stayed at Omar’s. It was a nice cheap no frills place with a very nice and helpful owner. It was a perfect place for backpackers to get off their feet for a few nights. I included a picture of Omar’s, as well as a picture of the sidewalk/main drag. After the 1 night in Placencia, we boarded the water taxi across the golf to Honduras.

The water taxi was filled with backpackers and travelers in our shoes. After some conversation, we realized that many of us were going to the same place. One girl had been to Utila before and have is great recommendations (including which dive shop to go to). She eventually had to break off and meet friends, but 4 of us ended up staying together for the whole trip and then even lodging and diving together once we reached Utila.

We also spent a night in La Ceiba, Honduras. It was from La Ceiba that we caught our final water taxi to the bay island of Utila. We stayed in the Bananna Republic hostel. It wasn’t much as far as hostels go, and the next door neighbors had a very loud dog that began barking at sun rise. I think the whole hostel was awake and moving by 7 am. It seemed like most of the people there were simply passing through on their way to somewhere else.

We caught the water taxi the next morning and made our way to Utila. It was a beautiful ride because you could see the beautiful mountains of Honduras that came right up to the coast. Honduras so far looked very mountainous and pretty. I included a picture of some of the mountains, but it hardly does them justice.

Well, at this point, we had arrived at Utila for relaxation and a PADI scuba diving certification. Will write again soon about the wonderful and relaxing island of Utila.

Taylor