(no subject)
I am back from Honduras! With a rockin' tan (and by rockin' tan I really mean tan, not sunburn)
It was super fun. The first week we spent in the jungle, the second week on the island.
Day One: Woke up at like, 4 in the morning and got on a plane. Once in San Pedro Sula, was bussed to "The Copantl" and my last night with with a pillow :(
Day Two: Packed up our stuff and met by the pool, to have all our bags loaded into a big truck and then ourselves loaded into a similarily large truck and driven through the city and up a mountain to base camp. Got settled in and did a practice habitat survey site with a group of cute Brit boys
Day Three: Went out with the main botanist and did a habitat survey.... that took 6 hours. But we got it done, and later I got to watch "meet the fockers"
Day Four: Packed up all our stuff and headed out to Guanales, a two-hour hike that's a steady uphill halfway, then a steep steep rugged downhill the rest. Ow my joints. We got there at lunch time and just enjoyed ourselves (as much as we could, being ridiculously exhausted). Aly (being the crazy bugger he is) headed out with Heidi to start another habitat survey. At night I went out with Qwyn and Heidi to meet the bat people (Sergio, Angie and Fernie), where they caught and analyzed two bats while we were there for a total of six that night. So cool!
Day Five: Finished the habitat survey that Aly and Heidi started yesterday, but only us because Qwyn wasn't well and Ursula and Tarah were tired from getting up (really) early to try and see some monkeys. We sat by the waterfall for about two hours and amused ourselves by watching Fernie try to climb a tree, then a guide and Sergio ACTUALLY climb the tree. That and a Green racer snake that Steve brought back and twisted its tail off in an effort to get free.
Day Six: We headed out and did our last habitat survey on a very difficult site, and it started to rain, and Tarah and Ursula weren't with us again, but Fernie joined us for the end and thankfully that meant that we left at 3 o'clock no matter how much we'd gotten done (damn tree height measuring). When we got back to camp we played CHARADES and it was SO much fun.
Day Seven: We hiked back to base camp in small groups, although Ursula, Joe the doctor and Angie didn't have a guide and ended up getting lost for 45 minutes in the dreaded transect 2 ("the pit of despair", the rock wall) and sat around in the sun, reading People Magazine's "Amazing stories of survival" and stuff, about shark bites and being lost at sea, Lance Armstrong, all that good stuff. Saw "Ocean's Eleven" at night.
Day Eight: We packed up all our stuff into a truck again and headed down the mountain, through a swealtering traffic jam and a who-knows-how-long busride to Cayos Cochinos, to meet TONY from the PEACE CORPS (picture a black male Anne Kerr) and be welcomed by the locals with singing and dancing that took up about an hour and 15 minutes, then some pays about AIDS in Spanish by the kids. Then we stayed a single night in a local's house... a little sketchy. (Lizards on the wall, all that)
Day Nine: Woke up at 5am in order to get on the boat by 5:30am (which actually means 6am), and got on the little motor boat that fits 12 people for a 45 minute ride to the island while the sun was setting (so pretty). Getting to the island, we had PANCAKES! Best breakfast yet. But no maple syrup :( Alysha introduced everything and got us our tents and we got to hang out in the splendor of the island for the rest of the day, swimming and all that.
Day Ten: Started our dive training, which at this point was just watching videos and doing knowledge reviews and quizzes. I'd read the two chapters we went over already, but that's all good.
Day Eleven: Did our first two confined water dives and I've got to tell you I was terrified of scuba diving. Taking off my mask especially. I bolted to the surface a few times but my dive instructor was really nice and helped out.
Day Twelve: The last three chapters of the dive book were done and I wrote the exam but then I just went to sleep in my tent because I really wasn't feeling well. I slept the rest of the day.
Day Thirteen: I was still a little sick, with a slight fever and a headache so I missed the next two confined water dives. Qwyn didn't dive either, ebcause she wasn't feeling well of what I don't know, but we just sat and read the whole day.
Day Fourteen: Because our group had been so small (Qwyn and I were 2/3 of it) and because our dive instructor was so nice we were able to fit in two confined water dives and an open water dive this day. I was still a little nervous and there were points when i just wanted to be like "something's wrong, go up!" even though nothing was wrong, but we did see an Eagle Ray and some African Pa(mumble)s.
Day Fifteen: I think I did these a little wrong because this should be the last day, but there are still three more... Well whatever I'll just write what I remember. Today we had our second open water dive, and technically to be a PADI open water diver you need four, but we settled for two and being PADI scuba divers. This one was so much better and I was totally comfortable. We saw lots of cool fish too, and watched Old School at night.
Day "Sixteen": This was the last day for a lot of people on the island, so there was a fancy barbeque for lunch and lots of "last dives!" and stuff. Qwyn and I didn't want to dive but we snorkeled around the pier and saw lots of really neat fish. I got stung by something but it's fine now. At dinner they played Sean Paul and all the staff were dressing up as "Christmas in August" stuff (Shobit was a present, Lucy was Reindeer #3 etc) and there were tons of parties and getting drunk late into the night (though we all packed and went to sleep so we'd be ready for the 4:45am wake-up call)
Day "Seventeen": We headed back to the mainland in a similar boat and took a ridiculously long bus ride back to San Pedro Sula and the airport, where I got off with a headache and a fever. We had to go through customs and all that flying business (and Aly had a temporary passport so he had a bit of sketchiness there, because it was just a piece of paper with his picture on it), and a ridiculous transfer in miami, where we landed 15 minutes AFTER our other plane was supposed to start boarding (luckily it was delayed as well), and finally got back to Toronto (where I subsequently threw up... but it was good to be home)
So that was my trip! To anyone who was way to lazy to read that or anything, I'll try to post some pictures sometime, once they get developed and all that. Right now I'm sitting in my prettiest, un-foresty-est dress and am about ready to jaunt along Roncesvalles and take in some good Toronto flavour again. Good to be home! Love love love!
PS anyone going to see Joel dance, I'm leaving on Saturday in the morning so I'm going on Friday with my mom and grandma. Yeah I don't know if you'd exactly want to hang out with me and them but if you're going tell me because I miss people!
It was super fun. The first week we spent in the jungle, the second week on the island.
Day One: Woke up at like, 4 in the morning and got on a plane. Once in San Pedro Sula, was bussed to "The Copantl" and my last night with with a pillow :(
Day Two: Packed up our stuff and met by the pool, to have all our bags loaded into a big truck and then ourselves loaded into a similarily large truck and driven through the city and up a mountain to base camp. Got settled in and did a practice habitat survey site with a group of cute Brit boys
Day Three: Went out with the main botanist and did a habitat survey.... that took 6 hours. But we got it done, and later I got to watch "meet the fockers"
Day Four: Packed up all our stuff and headed out to Guanales, a two-hour hike that's a steady uphill halfway, then a steep steep rugged downhill the rest. Ow my joints. We got there at lunch time and just enjoyed ourselves (as much as we could, being ridiculously exhausted). Aly (being the crazy bugger he is) headed out with Heidi to start another habitat survey. At night I went out with Qwyn and Heidi to meet the bat people (Sergio, Angie and Fernie), where they caught and analyzed two bats while we were there for a total of six that night. So cool!
Day Five: Finished the habitat survey that Aly and Heidi started yesterday, but only us because Qwyn wasn't well and Ursula and Tarah were tired from getting up (really) early to try and see some monkeys. We sat by the waterfall for about two hours and amused ourselves by watching Fernie try to climb a tree, then a guide and Sergio ACTUALLY climb the tree. That and a Green racer snake that Steve brought back and twisted its tail off in an effort to get free.
Day Six: We headed out and did our last habitat survey on a very difficult site, and it started to rain, and Tarah and Ursula weren't with us again, but Fernie joined us for the end and thankfully that meant that we left at 3 o'clock no matter how much we'd gotten done (damn tree height measuring). When we got back to camp we played CHARADES and it was SO much fun.
Day Seven: We hiked back to base camp in small groups, although Ursula, Joe the doctor and Angie didn't have a guide and ended up getting lost for 45 minutes in the dreaded transect 2 ("the pit of despair", the rock wall) and sat around in the sun, reading People Magazine's "Amazing stories of survival" and stuff, about shark bites and being lost at sea, Lance Armstrong, all that good stuff. Saw "Ocean's Eleven" at night.
Day Eight: We packed up all our stuff into a truck again and headed down the mountain, through a swealtering traffic jam and a who-knows-how-long busride to Cayos Cochinos, to meet TONY from the PEACE CORPS (picture a black male Anne Kerr) and be welcomed by the locals with singing and dancing that took up about an hour and 15 minutes, then some pays about AIDS in Spanish by the kids. Then we stayed a single night in a local's house... a little sketchy. (Lizards on the wall, all that)
Day Nine: Woke up at 5am in order to get on the boat by 5:30am (which actually means 6am), and got on the little motor boat that fits 12 people for a 45 minute ride to the island while the sun was setting (so pretty). Getting to the island, we had PANCAKES! Best breakfast yet. But no maple syrup :( Alysha introduced everything and got us our tents and we got to hang out in the splendor of the island for the rest of the day, swimming and all that.
Day Ten: Started our dive training, which at this point was just watching videos and doing knowledge reviews and quizzes. I'd read the two chapters we went over already, but that's all good.
Day Eleven: Did our first two confined water dives and I've got to tell you I was terrified of scuba diving. Taking off my mask especially. I bolted to the surface a few times but my dive instructor was really nice and helped out.
Day Twelve: The last three chapters of the dive book were done and I wrote the exam but then I just went to sleep in my tent because I really wasn't feeling well. I slept the rest of the day.
Day Thirteen: I was still a little sick, with a slight fever and a headache so I missed the next two confined water dives. Qwyn didn't dive either, ebcause she wasn't feeling well of what I don't know, but we just sat and read the whole day.
Day Fourteen: Because our group had been so small (Qwyn and I were 2/3 of it) and because our dive instructor was so nice we were able to fit in two confined water dives and an open water dive this day. I was still a little nervous and there were points when i just wanted to be like "something's wrong, go up!" even though nothing was wrong, but we did see an Eagle Ray and some African Pa(mumble)s.
Day Fifteen: I think I did these a little wrong because this should be the last day, but there are still three more... Well whatever I'll just write what I remember. Today we had our second open water dive, and technically to be a PADI open water diver you need four, but we settled for two and being PADI scuba divers. This one was so much better and I was totally comfortable. We saw lots of cool fish too, and watched Old School at night.
Day "Sixteen": This was the last day for a lot of people on the island, so there was a fancy barbeque for lunch and lots of "last dives!" and stuff. Qwyn and I didn't want to dive but we snorkeled around the pier and saw lots of really neat fish. I got stung by something but it's fine now. At dinner they played Sean Paul and all the staff were dressing up as "Christmas in August" stuff (Shobit was a present, Lucy was Reindeer #3 etc) and there were tons of parties and getting drunk late into the night (though we all packed and went to sleep so we'd be ready for the 4:45am wake-up call)
Day "Seventeen": We headed back to the mainland in a similar boat and took a ridiculously long bus ride back to San Pedro Sula and the airport, where I got off with a headache and a fever. We had to go through customs and all that flying business (and Aly had a temporary passport so he had a bit of sketchiness there, because it was just a piece of paper with his picture on it), and a ridiculous transfer in miami, where we landed 15 minutes AFTER our other plane was supposed to start boarding (luckily it was delayed as well), and finally got back to Toronto (where I subsequently threw up... but it was good to be home)
So that was my trip! To anyone who was way to lazy to read that or anything, I'll try to post some pictures sometime, once they get developed and all that. Right now I'm sitting in my prettiest, un-foresty-est dress and am about ready to jaunt along Roncesvalles and take in some good Toronto flavour again. Good to be home! Love love love!
PS anyone going to see Joel dance, I'm leaving on Saturday in the morning so I'm going on Friday with my mom and grandma. Yeah I don't know if you'd exactly want to hang out with me and them but if you're going tell me because I miss people!