(Dedicated to Rachele...more words.)
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| West Bay Beach (Roatan). |
We honeymooned on Roatan Island (but not before being delayed twice by a blizzard in Saskatoon). We spent a blissful week vegging, horseback riding, snorkelling (saw a nurse shark and stingray), laying on the beach, encountering dolphins (and being kissed by one), spotting shipwrecks, riding a scooter, frolicking with iguanas, and getting sunburnt. All around lovely.
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| Our apartment on the second floor (Copan). |
We settled into our new place. After much cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping away spiders and webs, acquiring storage, and decorating the walls, we finally were able to call it home. Although our floor isn't tiled, and the hot water comes and goes (mostly goes), and our roof is tin sheeting which creates a deafening noise when it pours, and the power goes out on occassion, and we've had our share of cockroaches, spiders carrying baby sacks, flying June bugs, pooping geckos, millipedes that make their way into the bed, die, and dry up into a curl, and never-ending ant brigades, and other creepy crawlies...we've grown to like it.
We've traveled around a bit. Went to Santa Rosa, Honduras where we ate delicious pizza, drank atol (traditional hot corn drink), and won second place in a karaoke contest. Went to Costa Rica where we zip-lined through a cloud forest, spotted a
Resplendent Quetzal, cooed over baby sloths, tried to avoid mango-throwing howler monkeys, learned about nocturnal jungle life on a night walk, and experienced an erupting volcano. Went to Lake Yojoa, Honduras' largest lake, where we trekked behind a giant water fall, jumped off a 25 foot cliff, and ate the best chocolate cake and real blueberry cheesecake ever. We went to Antigua, Guatemala where we strolled through church ruins, watched a Miss Antigua pageant parade, and hiked on recently hardened lava of an active volcano. Went to Utila, Honduras where we got scuba certified and to La Ceiba, Honduras where we held a giant stag beetle and tarantula with our bare hands. Went to Punta Gorda, Belize where we saw Mayan ruins, tubed down a river, watched fire dancing at a crocodile fundraiser, and learned how chocolate is made by hand.
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| Anthony's Key Resort (Roatan). |
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| Iguana Farm (Roatan) |
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| "Everything I do, I do for you..." (Honduras). |
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| Sloth Sanctuary (Costa Rica). |
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| Pulhapanzak Waterfalls (Honduras). |
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| Volcan Pacaya. Last erupted May 27, 2010 (Guatemala). |
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| Butterfly Museum (La Ceiba). Overcoming the arachnophobia, just for a moment. |
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| Mayan grave in Nim Li Punit (Belize). Matt as a Mayan zombie. |
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| Killing a chicken in Llanatios (Honduras). |
We made new friends. We had old friends visit. We cheered on Honduras during the World Cup. We had a super soccer tournament with UPH staff, youth leaders, interns, a mission team from Canada, and local supporters, complete with thunder showers and flying bats. We took a roller-coaster of a ride in the back of a pick-up truck (in the rain) to natural hot springs, where we soaked in naturally hot waters (also in the rain). We rode horses to a rural village, made pottery, and watched a chicken get its head twisted off by a mission team teenager from Camden, NJ for homemade soup.
And that's the last five months summed up. Time really has flown. We have a couple more months to go. And then it's off to our next adventure, yet to be determined.
