Cancun

Cancun 5-7-2011

Went to Cancun, got a sick pad that my mom rented for us, and took a taxi to get my brother, Jason!  The first time in 3 whole years! I got choked up and was so pumped to see him.  After waiting for three hours, I got some police to let me use their comp to check Facebook.  Low and behold. Jason didn't get on the plane because his passport (that he had been warned about). Oh my god, talk about sadness.

 Three days later he came!! We had a blast and it was fun.

 I then flew w/ him to San Antonio, spent two weeks there with my dad, and then finally flew home to HHI for the first time in three years.  Cried, kissed the ground, hugged my mom.

 My first real meal was Palmetto Pig. I had been dreaming about it for 3  years!

 

Cancun was a great mix of beautiful beaches and raging clubs

 

 

Isla Mujeres

ISLA MUJERES 5-3-2011

Dave, Jake, and I took the bus to Cancun, but then jetted it straight to Isla Mujeres. This is where the pirates used to store their women while they were out doing their thing.  Got there, went to the best hostel of the whole trip, met a super cool Brit named Will, bought wrestling masks, wore them for the next 3 days, and then rented a golf cart for two of those days.

On one night some guy swerved at us w/ his golf cart so I told him that wasn't cool.  The next 10 min involved him drunkenly try hit me, and then he invited us to his bar for free drinks!

Tulum

TULUM 4-30-2015

Belize came to an end too quickly, but there was still a lot of fun left to be had.  Dave and I took the morning ferry from Caye Caulker to Mexico.  We convinced the captain to sit up top. What??!! It was soooo sick - we were the only ones up there just enjoying the view.

Got to Mexico and immediately jumped  on a bus to Tulum.  There we went to a Canadian friend's recommendation of "Lobo's" Gret recommendation Nick! Very cool chill area around a pool, just minutes from the ruins of Tulum.

The next day we met a Dane, Jake, and together went to the beach/ruins of Tulum which was easily the prettiest beach I saw on the entire adventure.

The following day we went snorkeling in the caves nearby!  There we met a couple taking wedding pics haha.  That night we watched the announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by the U.S.A.!!!!

Belize - Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker - 4/27/1985

We arrived in style to Caye Caulker on my birthday.  I didn't know where Dave was, and all of his stuff was missing from the hostel when I got up, and we had already bought bus tickets, so I had no choice, but to go to Caye Caulker in hopes of finding him.  My debit card got frozen during our last night in Tikal (due to a rise in identity theft) so I had $0 and no Macaw to help me out.  I just went for it and hoped for the best.  Met a couple of very cool girls on the bus ride over and the one believed my story and offered to loan me the cash necessary to survive until I got my card situation sorted out.  We all ended up sharing a room at a hostel right on the main strip, and eventually Dave showed up w/ quite a story hahaha.

I didn't know what to expect of Belize, but Dave was pretty set on getting there from day one.  Caye Caulker was by far the most tropically beautiful of all the places we visited.  I saw more abundance of sea life in 1 day of snorkeling there than I did the entire 7+ days in Utila.

Our guide was awesome!  I finally saw a sea turtle and swam after it completely oblivious to the rest of the world around me.  Unfortunately, he brought me back to reality so I wasn't able to escape with my turtle friend.

Tikal

TIKAL - 4/26/2011

The Dutch were the next ones to leave the group, but Dave and I successfully convinced the Brits to come with us on one last adventure. TIKAL. Wow! The mecca of Mayan ruins.  Words nor pics do this site and its awe-inspiring beauty any justice.  You have to go to understand it.

 

Semuc Champay

Semuc Champay - 4/23/2011

Semuc Champay (Honduras) might honestly be the coolest place we visited this entire trip.  I don't even know how we heard about it, but it's definitely OFF the beaten path.  We lost Mick, the Aussie, unfortunately - he had to get back his own schedule.  We took another private bus (again the benefit of traveling with multiple people) to the town right before Semuc, and then we were loaded like cattle into the back of a large truck and headed down the muddy valley towards the hostels.  It was pouring and very treacherous driving, but we had beers and laughs, so it was good fun.

The hostel was this beautiful grouping of log cabins DEEP in the woods.  It was ridiculous to find a place this nice, with as good of food, for only around $10/night.  Staying in these hostels creates such an amazing environment to meet like minded individuals.  Truly the best times of my life.  The main allure of Semuc is the pools that progressively dip in elevation in sequence.  There are numerous areas to jump from one pool down to the next. Very Fun.

Next on the list was a real underwater cave where the only light source was a candle they gave each person.  Our group wandered off (surprise surprise) and got lost.  We met back up w/ our guides w/ only a nub of a couple candles left.  I don't like thinking about what would have happened if our candles had gone out.

After this we took turns jumping off a bridge. Very Scary.

Lastly, this we returned to the pools and followed a local kid to a cool tunnel under one of the pools. Also, very scary haha.

Copan

Copan - Good Friday

Our crew of adventurers arrived in the beautiful, sleepy town of Copan on Good Friday, which was quite the treat as we got to see an entire Easter Procession that led down the main street that had been beautifully decorated in murals using glitter and stones.

We then headed to the ruins of Copan, which was an ancient Mayan Capital from the 5th - 9th centuries A.D.  The most spectacular site there is the hieroglyphic staircase that holds the longest Mayan inscriptions in the world.

 

Our amazing Friday ended w/ a trip to Macaw mountain where watched (and participated) in getting rescued Macaws of all colors placed all over you.  They are such a beautiful and intelligent bird! Macaaaawww!

Utila

UTILA- SCUBA DIVE CENTRAL

 On April 12th, we boarded our ferry towards Utila to spend a week earning our Open Water Diving certifications.  We weren't sure where our hostel was, or if they were still expecting us, but low and behold there was a guy waiting for us when we got off!  Our accommodations were amazing and the package included our dive classes.

Once we got settled w/ went and met up w/ Leonardo, Aka Tim, from our Costa Rican exploits.  I tried to convince him to stay a few weeks longer and travel w/ us, but he had already made plans to go home the next day.  Don't worry, we still hang out to this day, and we still make turtle hands.

 The dive classes themselves were top class.  Our group consisted of an Aussie, 2 brits, an Irish girl, and a Dutch couple.  Phenomenal times ensued and we all decided to add on the Advanced diving course at the end of our week.  We almost got stuck there for another week as Semana Santa was quickly approaching and ALL travel would be cut off.  I quickly called around the mainland and found a private taxi to take us to the ruins of Copan for a relatively small price.  This crew stuck together in total about two weeks, and we made some memories that would last a lifetime.

San Juan Del Sur

SAN JUAN DEL SUR - April 9th, 2011

Somehow our group of 5 got up and left our beautiful hostel, "Little Morgan's" and took a taxi down to the dock.  Unfortunately, the ferry was leaving right when we pulled up, so we had to wait until 11am for the next one.  This gave us time to eat at The Corner House which I remember being a real treat on this volcano island.

Word to the wise; traveling in a group affords the luxury of taking taxis long distances instead of taking the unreliable public transportation.  This is exactly what we did once we got to the mainland.  We each paid a couple of dollars more than we would have if we took the sardine tin they call buses in Nicaragua, AND we got there in about a quarter of the time it would have otherwise taken.

Upon arriving at San Juan Del Sur, I immediately set out to find us somewhere awesome to stay.  A few backpackers pointed me up the hill to a place called, "Rayito de Luna."  The pic above is what we got for only $15/night per person.  No one else was staying at this 4 bedroom lodge, so we occupied two rooms, and got to play asshole all day at this amazing pool bar.

We went out that night and I met a really cool girl named Lisa who was looking for a roommate in Athens, GA which was the school I was applying to for my MBA. What a small world?!  She hung out for awhile and I almost lived with her, but then I chose to go to school at the University of South Carolina instead.  The 2nd best decision I ever made.

We could only stay one night (even though we had 3 entire months to do this trip, we really had to keep to a semi strict schedule to make sure we could see everything we wanted), and so headed for the bus the next afternoon.  While waiting for the bus I decided to get some fried chicken from a legit looking fast food place (think Church's chicken).  I got one chicken leg, which would end up being the last thing I ate for the next 30 hours.  I threw up the chicken w/in 10 min of consuming it and then crammed into a bus for a two hour journey to Managua (and I really mean CRAMMED).  

Tica Bus left at 4am for Tegucigalpa and then we got on a bus for La Ceiba, stayed the night there and then FINALLY took a ferry to Utila where we would later become Advanced Open Water Divers.