backpacking with the girls

For twelve days, my friends Amanda and Elisa and I traveled though out the north coast of Honduras and a town in Guatamala. An abbreviated itinerary is as follows: We spent two nights playing at the beach in Tela, then managed to jalon our way to La Ceiba where we took the boat to Utila Island. We stayed there for three days, beaching and living like the laid-back island hippies there. One afternoon we went out on a boat and Elisa, who is SCUBA certified, got to dive and Amanda and I snorkeled and sunbathed on the top of the boat while eating pineapple slices that the captain cut for us. After Utila we attempted to catch a bus from San Pedro Sula straight to Guatamala but we missed the bus by just a few minutes. Instead of wasting a night in that dump of a city, we just took a chicken bus to the beautiful and refreshing town of Copan Ruinas. There, we had a few drinks with Kyla and visited the famous Mayan Ruins (my third time there) which the girls loved. After three days in Copan, we finally managed to get on a bus to Guatemala. It was my first time to cross into Guatemala and about 6 hours later, we were in the magical city of Antigua. I say magical because it is nothing like the rest of Central America. It’s a pristine touristic city that is surrounded by three volcanoes and is full of backpackers from all over the world. We hiked, biked and ate and drank a lot in that town and I definitely plan on going back someday. It was exhausting, amazing, and thrilling. And I forgot how much I miss my amazing friends from college and back home.

I asked Amanda and Elisa to consider writing a guest blog post about their adventures here. But they both decided it was too much like homework (lame) so I wrote up a few questions for them to answer instead.

Amanda’s answers:

1. What was your favorite experience? Snorkeling in the Utila Bay and the Mayan Ruins in Copan.
2. What was the worst experience? Stomach illness/food poisoning for the entire second half of the trip
3. What was the best meal, or favorite food you tried? Baleadas at Tia Carmens, a small comedor that is run out of a family’s kitchen down the street from our hostel in Tela.
4. Favorite drink? Tie and they both come from Copan. A cocktail called “The Hulk” from Hotel Via Via which is mint ice tea made with sparkling water. Also the Jamaican Ice Tea from Twisted Tanya’s, which was grapefruit, passionfruit and rum.
5. I was really surprised at: That Elisa got a million bug bites and I didn’t get any… how is that possible?
6. I can’t believe Sarah (and other PCVs) have to put up with: Unreliable transportation, like, having to take a bus or taxi everywhere you go. It’s so hard not having your own car. Also the car honking – it’s so annoying. All the drivers honk for any reason at all. Also the men here can be pretty annoying. They would shout at us and stare and sometimes say things as we walked by.
7. My favorite souvenir is: All the pictures (there is over 1,000 between the three of us). Also the Guatemalan scarves I bought in the market for friends and family back home.
8. Never before in my life have I: had explosive diarrhea.
9. The thing I will miss most is: Sarah
10. Most beautiful thing I saw was: Finca El Eden – a small orchard and restaurant right outside the city of La Cieba. We showed up on our way to Utila for lunch on Monday only to find out they are closed on Mondays. But the owner and his wife were so friendly they still invited us in for beers. The wife made a giant plate of fruit from their orchard for us to snack on then took us on a walk through their mango grove so we could have some mangos to take with us. Then they gave us a lift in their truck to the dock in La Ceiba. It was a beautiful place and we met a beautiful family. Also just the landscape in Honduras is really beautiful. Driving from the San Pedro airport to Tela, I was in awe. All the palm trees and the mountains and green stuff. The tropical jungle is amazing.
11. Worst thing/ugliest thing I saw was : A little puppy get run over by a van after our hike in Antigua. The puppy died a few minutes later and it was really sad. Also, it made me sad how people here treat their dogs like furniture. It made me cry. Also all the garbage on the side of the road in the big cities was pretty gross.
12. Favorite quote from the trip? “All this currency changing is hard. Maybe you got confused because of the bright colors?”. -Elisa. “Do you think there’s a gun in that guitar case?” -Elisa. “I’m not allowed to talk about my bug bites.” –Elisa
13. I felt uncomfortable when: Men would shout at us and say things as we walked by. They are annoying in that way. The people are really nice over all though. We met a lot of really nice and hospitable people and very helpful too.
14. Strangest person we met on the trip was: Kirk the shuttle driver.
15. I was scared when: When I thought Elisa and I were gonna miss our plane to Honduras. We were literally sprinting to the gate in Houston.
16. The weather was: Awesome. Loved it. Especially in the North Coast of Honduras where it was hot and sunny.

Elisa’s answers

1. What was your favorite experience? Riding horses and hiking up the Pacaya Volcano in Antigua Guatamala.
2. What was the worst experience? All the bug bites/mysterious rash
3. What was your favorite meal? The pizza we got from a bar/restaurant in Antigua. Mangos on top of pizza with cheese and tomato slices and basil. Not exactly traditional Guatemalan food but still really tasty after a long bike ride.
4. Favorite bar? My favorite bar was Treetanic in Utila, because it was essentially a treehouse with lots of bridges, paths and hidden rooms and was decorated from floor to ceiling in crushed seashells and marbles. It’s one of those things you just gotta see to believe.
5. Best drink? Definitely the hibiscus rum tea from Chamans in Antigua, mostly because we got it for free thanks to the owner who invited us up to the deck to chill and take in the amazing view of the ruins of a centuries-old church that is connected to the bar.
6. I was really surprised at: how many awesome places Sarah has been in Honduras/Central America and how many taxis and American school buses there are for transportation here.
7. I can’t believe Sarah (and other PCVs) has to put up with: the extreme heat. Also the amount of things that are out of their control here. Like, work and transportation and how she can’t go out by herself at night because it’s too dangerous.
8. Favorite souvenir? Colored leather belt from the marketplace in Antigua and all the memories
9. Never before in my life have I: Picked mangos. Ate baleadas in a stranger’s kitchen. Laid in a hammock for an entire afternoon.
10. I will miss most: swinging in hammocks all the time. And using Amanda’s awesome hair products. Oh, and Sarah.
11. Most beautiful thing I saw was: Evening sunset while walking along the beach on Utila Island. The colors of the sky were absolutely amazing. Also the eagle rays (a type of stingray) I saw while scuba diving and the coral reefs and colorful fish. Beautiful.
12. Worst thing/ugliest thing I saw was: The puppy getting hit by the car.
13. Favorite quote from the trip: “Oh s*%! I gotta GO” – Amanda and Sarah, during the height of their stomach issues.
14. I felt uncomfortable when: a sketchy guy was following us all over the ruins in Copan. We finally told him to go away and stop following us and when we went to exit the park he was there waiting for us and followed us out! So we took a mototaxi and got out of there.
15. Strangest person we met on the trip was: Kirk the weird shuttle driver. Honorable mention goes to the dude who ran the private beach in Utila. He had a parrot named Chicho that sat on our arms and followed us around until we gave it our Doritos.
16. I was scared when: fireworks that sound like gunshots. Scared me the crap out of me several times. Especially after all the horror stories Sarah told us about guns and violence and stuff.
17. The weather was: Sticky and hot in Honduras. But cool and dry and practically perfect in Guatemala.

I had an amazing time and I know that I am really lucky to have friends take the time and spend the money to come visit me. Here are a few more of our favorite pictures.

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I think the message here is clear: if you come to Central America to visit me, you will not regret it. (I do not however, take responsibility for any illnesses one might incur while here).