Uncertainty

So, I just completed my rescue diver course today. I am now able to provide aid to panicked and responsive divers both above and below the water. It's strange because I feel so much more comfortable diving now that I know what to do if something goes wrong. The training was so fun too! We had instructors and dive masters having all sorts of diving accidents all over the shop and during dives. The best was when two instructors and a dive master jumped off the boat as we pulled into the bay. Three of us had to jump in and save the panicked divers (although mine tried to swim away from me!) while the boat turned around.

I've been meeting tons of new friends as well. Sophie and Meg from Australia, Robin from the UK, and Steve from Canada comprise the core group of folks I've become acquainted with, most of whom I've been diving with these past few days. There's also a whole slew of folks from the shop: Derrick from Holland, Martin from Norway, Jon from Wales....It's harder to meet locals because there is confusing sense of "local" here. The island was settled by white European immigrants as well as some Caribes and mainland spanish-speaking folks. So the local language is some sort of Caribbean/English/Spanish mix that is often times too thick for me to understand. There is a "locals" community that I am hoping to find. Supposedly there is only one entrance/exit, and there is nothing to see there (according to folks around the main strip). I still want to go, though, and see for myself.

I'm myself around here. I don't feel pressured or worried or stressed (except that I want to stay to do my dive master training--another three weeks--and I am worried that my doing so will somehow violate the conditions of this grant). I've never travelled this way. I've always tried to keep moving and see everything in as short amount of time as possible--everything scheduled and on a strict time constraint. But I haven't felt compelled to do that at all, and I feel so relaxed and happy right now.

Best of all, I feel challenged. I never thought that I would begin to understand how the ocean works and how massively wonderful and beautiful it is. I also never imagined myself staying here for more than a few days. I only intended to do my open water training, but have now completed my advanced and rescue diving. I haven't even been gone that long, and I already am doing things I never thought I was capable of or interested in.

Pending a response from my advisors for the Bonderman, I may be staying a bit longer around this area to do my dive master training. Otherwise, I guess I'll just move on (reluctantly!).

Besos!

Island Fever!

The weather has been spectacular lately. It still is rainy occasionally, but for the most part it has been hot hot hot and sunny. I've had only one day where I didn't dive since I've been on Utila and I spent it relaxing all day in a hammock reading and then kayaking through the mangroves with a friend from another dive center. There were herons, iguanas and crabs everywhere.

Basically, the island is starting to get under my skin. Jeff, the crazy Texan guy, was telling me about a kayak trip from the lower lagoon up a canal that bisects the island to the north side where you have the entire beach to yourself. I also have some more bike adventures to take care of before I leave...if I leave.

It's strange that this is only my first stop, and it was so easy to start growing roots here. I'm thinking that I need to just pick a day and say that I leave that day no matter what. That was already supposed to have happened after I finished by basic open water course, but now I am already well on my way in the advanced course and having difficulties trying to convince myself to leave. Its just refreshing to be relaxed and meet good people and DIVE! I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do, because I don't want to leave yet (or maybe ever), but I've only just started my travels. I've seriously thought about just giving back all the money and just staying here.

My new course is fun and teaching me a lot about diving. You learn a bunch of new skills, like wreck diving or deep diving (about 40 meters/120 feet down!). Today we'll be practicing underwater navigation and floating upsidedown (really we are just learning new skills to remain perfectly buoyant and not hit things).

The best dive so far was the night dive last night, though. We went around 6pm, so it was already completely dark. You have to just step out into the black water and try to stay close to the boat while everyone gets in the water (which is difficult to do with waves breaking over your head!). And then you drop down. We all had flashlights, so it's not actually that dark, and I saw some incredible creatures: a small blue octopus, a spotted lobster, shrimp. One guy even saw a barracuda. At the end you sit on the sand in the middle of the reef and cover your flashlight so it is dark. When you wave your hands little glowing specks appear everywhere like stars. I think the night dive has been my favorite so far.

It's hot in this internet cafe and too nice outside to be indoors.

Besos!

SCUBA Jen

When I first moved into my room at Alton's Dive shop, my only roommate was a giant bright green grasshopper. She was a good roommate. Don't know her name because I don't speak grasshopper. Anways, she was replaced by a human roommate yesterday--Michelle from somewhere--who is great too. Not so lonely in my room now.

Not so lonely on the island now in general. The first day was pretty lonely. All the other students were already friends and never around, so I was left chatting with a bunch of the master divers in training. This actually ended up being a great thing since John from Wales and Derrick from Holland are both good fun and happy to hang out and just chit chat. There's also a snack shack on the dock ran by this crazy guy from Texas who is good to hang with as well. He just talks about making food all the time, which I don't mind seeing as most everything I've eaten includes beans (not strawberry rhubarb pie, which Jeffrey, the Texan described how to make in detail the other day). I haven't really felt lonely since that first day, and am actually thinking it will be hard to move on again since there are such characters around!

Yesterday was my first real dive. I had some trouble the first day of diving where we just practiced breathing in shallow water. I started to panic a bit and we ended up taking a 15 min break before getting back in. When we did it was clearer (the first time underwater I couldn't even see my instructor 2 feet in front of me!) and pretty amazing. The first real dive was incredible. We went down to 12m and explored the beautiful coral reef that just seems to go on forever. There is too much life down there to even begin to try describe. Just imagine bright purple lacey sponges, or long white and brown spotted fish that scrunch up when they feel threatened. Best of all, it was so noisy! You could actually hear all the creatures snip-snappy crackety-cracking. It was great!

When we came back to surface, though, not so great. It was cold, and rainy AND windy--which means WAVY! As soon as I reached the surface I started feeling queasy (probably doesn't help that I had swallowed some sea water!). On the boat for our 30 min rest it was even worse. My instructor started explaining our next dive, and I started puking overboard. For the rest of our break I was throwing up. Finally, my instructor had me get back into the water and gear up before puking a little more and then going down for our second dive. The second dive was just as great as the first, and we even saw a sea turtle right before we came up!

I'm almost a certified open water diver now, and I'm hoping it will stay clear today for my dives this afternoon. I think I'll rent a bike this morning and explore the island before heading out, though. Besos!

La lluvia La lluvia

It is not the sunny season in Honduras. In fact, it has rained a good portion of every day that I've been here.

I ended up staying an extra day in San Pedro Sula after meeting a Dutch guy headed toward Utila, the cheaper of the Bay Islands at the Hostel Tamarindo. San Pedro Sula pretty much sucks as far as being a gringa goes. The only *safe* things for us to do was go to the mega shopping mall (where we saw Evan Almighty in english), see the parque central (only during the daytime so as to avoid the sketchy folk), see the archaeological museum (mostly just the ceramic history of the Sula Valley) and go the artesan market Guamalito. It was strange because no one really noticed us or heckled us anywhere we went. Taxis were the same all over the city and we never really had to deal with folks trying to swindle us. Overall, it was rather boring in the city and expensive--I ended up spending about $35 USD in just that one day.

Anyways, I am now in Utila and just chose a dive school to get my open water certification. I spent all day, which was okay because it was beautiful and sunny, going to different dive shops with a British guy I met on the ferry over, and they all sound the same: a bunch of gringos hanging out and living like hippies (Its funny because this area reminds me a little of San Pedro, Guatemala near Lake Atitlan. Give it a few more years and pump some more Euros and US Dollars into the economy and I'm sure it will have the thriving euro-hippie drug community.) The ferry comes in from La Ceiba on the North Coast of Honduras twice a day, and with each boatload is generally a good chunk of tourists (although this is the *low* season as far as tourism goes). My ferry ride across was pretty gnarly, though. It looked like a boat that would just be chugging along, but our Captain drove it more like a speedboat across the Caribbean. Kinda like a roller coaster with all the choppy swells. Kinda made me want to throw up too.

Now, it is raining. Again. Actually more like pouring. I was reading a local paper that said about a week ago Utila had record rainfall--about 12 inches in 5 hours. Yikes! I thought I was leaving the wet weather in Seattle! Its not so bad though, and the few hours of sunshine this morning were a good reminder of why this is close to paradise. I'm looking forward to taking dive classes from this old British guy at my dive school who's been diving for about 20 years and teaching about 7 (don't worry DAD--I did my homework!). I'm sure I'll have loads more to tell you all then!

Besos!


P.S. the knot in my stomach has now been replaced by a slow rumble...hurray for traveling!

And so it begins...

I´ve officially only been gone for less than a day, but already it feels like forever! I didn´t anticipate having so much anxiety and heartache over leaving. Before I left, I browsed former and current Bonderman fellows´ blogs to see what they had to say about leaving, but most of the blogs were just filled with curious travel tales and pictures of folks smiling and having a good time.

But as one former Bonderman put it "I wished they had stopped me at immigration." I know that soon I will be glad that I was allowed to leave the country. It´s just scary!

Let me tell you though, it is not sunny here! My flight was diverted from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula because of bad weather, and San Pedro just seems muggy and grey. I plan to leave IMMEDIATELY and head toward the North Coast. Mostly because there doesn´t really seem to be all that much to do in San Pedro, becuase my Spanish is child-like at best (and needed in San Pedro) and because I am la unica in the hostel I am at right now...

Anyways, I´m sure I will have stories to tell soon, and most likely will find any chance I have to access internet to keep my travel tales updates (as a distraction until the knot in my stomach goes away!). Ciao all!