Horses, Volcanoes, and Cigars

Guatemala. Beautiful Guatemala.
We have already been so stoked over our time here. Kelly and I continually look at each other and the only word we can think of to describe our current situation at any present moment is ´perfect.´

Jess and Kelly (the girl) joined us for their thanksgiving break from teaching and we spent thanksgiving, giving much thanks to be in the beautiful city of Antigua. The city is like a taste of Europe blended with charming Central American culture surrounded by active volcanoes. Cobble stone streets are filled with smiling Guatemalans and a great deal of backpackers and travelers. For Thanksgiving dinner we found a tiny restaurant with a tremendous character and enjoyed tender steak instead of turkey.

The next day the four of us headed to a near by active volcano. When the girls were away, Kelly (boy) and I rented horses for us and the girls. When they told us we couldn´t gallop and run with the horses, we said ´Ok, No thanks then.´ They quickly made an exception and we took off racing up the volcano on our trusty stallions! Smoke continually billows out of the top of the volcano and because of a large explosion a few months ago we cannot go to the tip top. Close to the peak steam pours out of many parts of rock. We entered a cave with too much steam and heat too stay long.

Jess and girl Kelly headed back to Roatan on Sat missing the arrival of our friend John who we also met in Roatan. Visa restrictions made him alter his trip and he decided to head our way. We are staying at a sweet hostal close to the city center, so told John to meet us here whenever he gets in and he found us like a champ, a county away, with no phones. Through our broken Spanish we made friends with many more people in the hostel. Two girls from Argentina made us a sick dinner last night the 5 of us enjoyed from our roof terrace.

Today we Sabbathed and relaxed on the roof most of the day, playing chess and smoking cigars with two other traveling guys.


(Ps. Stolen pictures from the web to give an idea. Will try to get our own on later)

Into the Center of the Earth

Yesterday we grabbed some old rope and set off on the long walk down the beach with our island friend Brad. Brad had discovered some caves on the island and we were now on a mission of further exploration. Many sun burnt heads were turning as climbed up the coral wall with our rope and disappeared into the trees. When we came to the entrance of the cave, I thought he was joking. There was no rock entrance to crawl into, just a muddy hole going straight down to the abyss that looked as if some quicksand spot had given way.
After securing the rope to a nearby tree we began the slippery descent into the cave the locals refer to as "hell". Bats flew out of the narrow, twisting passage as we lowered ourselves down and tried to grip the muddy wall with our feet. When we finally touched out feet to a flat stand-able area, besides the hundreds of bats that circled our heads, we were greeted by a tarantula next to our feet.

The only way to other parts of the cave is through the water. So using a mask and a dive light, we would dive through the top layer of muddy water to reveal crystal clear water just 10 feet below. Diving deeper we found passage to other huge sections of the cave. It was always slightly scary turning from your diving to come back up. You need air, but the clouded, dirty water above you doesn't let you see if you had dove under any rock or ledges.

Walking covered in mud and insect bites back up the beautiful beaches, past plenty of indulgent sun bathers, we certainly did not blend in.


Today we did our last dive. A drift dive, where the boat drops you off in the water and you move along with the current. We went deeper than we had ever gone before and dove next to the wall of the reef. We saw a new vibrancy of the reef we had not yet seen. The island is surrounded by the reef and is varies a bit in depth, but then like a shelve, the reef drops off (hence the "wall" term) to deeper parts of the vast blue beneath us.

We are heading to Guatemala for Thanksgiving. The teachers we lived with also have a short break, so two of them are joining us for a bit. The four of us board a boat back to the mainland tomorrow.

paparazzi

Finally some pictures! We have been so greatly enjoying our time here. Kelly and I are now official scuba divers. We finished our Open Water Dive Certification a few days ago. When we got here, we weren't even sure if we were going to dive at all, and now after spending so many days exploring the reefs deep below the waters surface, we can't imagine ever passing it up.
The reef is vast and gorgeous. Completely wait less, we flew through this utterly foreign world to us and perpetually found ourselves speechless and blown away by the continual new wonders. We dove with eels, turtles, and more fish that I ever imagined.



Lion Fish! While diving one day a few guys with us speared an epic amount of Lion Fish. These are extremely poisonous fish, and my friend got stung and his hand swelled. Very painful. These are our instructors and people from our dive shop. We filleted the fish and made lion fish sushi!

These are some of the teachers we have grown so close to. Great people. We are heading away from the island in a few days and heading with all of them to Guatemala for Thanksgiving.

This is a conch I pulled up while free diving. The size of my head! I sauteed it up and Kelly and I enjoyed FRESH grub.

Now on to new places and new things...

I'm late on a promise

This is a photo I took of a local Mexican Surfer in San Miguel. Hopefully, he will look at it. I told him that I would put this up a month a go

Beautiful Day

Still on Roatan. Overall we've had more cloudy/rainy days than sunny. But today was not one of them. We went to church this morning with our dear friends, and I sat in and played jembe for them. After church, we went out to the beach and hung all day. Our days have been pretty lazy. We do some snorkeling, a lot of sleeping, and a fair amount of trying to make tortillas; it has been great and really relaxing, just what we need.

No te preocupes
Kelly

Reefs, Diving, and Jobs??

Roatan is a beautiful island of sweet Hondurans how speak in an island english and numerous Ex-Patriots. There are tons of Americans, and Europeans living and diving here. I heard this was voted one of the best places by National Geographic to lose your identity. So we meet many ex-americans with interesting stories.


For a long time Kelly has always considered working and living on an island for a period of time. Through Harrison (the guy we are staying with) we found out a guy named Mark who owns an outdoor tours type company has been looking for some Christian guys to help mentor and work with his many local employees. The job would be taking cruise ship guest snorkeling, kayaking, and on snuba trips. http://newgumbalimba.homestead.com/SNUBA.html We would also get Open Water Dive Certified and get to dive all the time. So for the last week we have been tossing around the idea of staying here and doing this. We shall see....


Clint, one of the other owners of the park took us out diving yesterday. With the sun high over head, we ove through crystal clear turquoise waters over and around the most stunning reefs. Fish of all shapes and color swam around us as we woul cross to a new section of the reef and have our minds blown again. Truly one of the most beautiful and amazing things we have ever done.

(We hope to get up our own pics soon! We have been slacking! These are just to give you an idea where we are!)

Roatan

Boarding the plane to Honduras we realized we knew practically nothing about our destination. We had looked online through Central America for good price tickets and found some here. So we rolled the dice and bought tickets. This summer I had met a friend of my sisters who teaches on Roatan Island and he had invited us out. A few days before we flew out we emailed him and told him we would see him in soon. 

Upon arrival into the county Tues night, we called a contact from couchsurfing.com. It started to get late and he wasn't answering his phone so we prepared to sleep in the airport. But he came through and called back on a cell we had borrowed. We caught a ride to his house and enjoyed a safe, free place to stay. 

After a few taxis, a bus ride, and an hour and a half boat ride, we set foot upon the island home to second largest reef in the world. Harrison and his band of fellow teachers gave us great welcoming and made us feel right at home. The island is about 1-2 miles wide and less than 30 miles long and surrounded by crystal clear waters with reef everywhere. Today the winds blew ferociously so we didn't have any visibility but enjoyed a warm swim and lots of exploring.

We all went out for Kelly's birthday tonight and we shared many laughs with our new friends. Our plans consist of...well...stay here till we get bored or the wind carries us away..

Ok, let's go.

Sitting on the plane in Miami, just thought we'd throw up one last post before we leave the states. We fly to San Salvador first, then connect to San Pedro, Honduras tonight. Keep us in your prayers, we'll update when we can..

Feeling Trapped Amongst Epic Beauty

It was Tuesday afternoon and getting way to late of a start, we packed out Eric's small Mazda with mountain gear and headed North. We arrived at the town at the foot of the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states around dusk and found a store where we could rent crampons (spikes for the ice and snow you attach to your boots). We began our ascent to climb Mt. Whitney around 8:30pm. Not your typical start time. As we gained elevation, the temperature plummeted. Sandy, warm beaches just days before were quickly forgotten as we began to loose feeling in our finger tips in the 20 degree air. The cold was biting. We set up camp after mid-night as we struggled to make use of our fingers. Like sardines, we crammed into the tent and decided we would start the summit climb in a few hours. We didn't really get any sleep and tried to rest unsuccessfully till around 3am.

With improper rest, we loaded our packs and set up the long, laborious, freezing climb. The hours before dawn were peaceful. Peaceful the way ice is, beautiful but harsh. The climbing got more intense around dawn as we hit "99 Switchbacks". With crampons on our boots, and hiking poles in our hands, we went up the perilous switchbacks. The view was of untold beauty. From here on up, the the world looked as if it was a snow globe, perfect and magical. As the view got better and better, the lack of sleep and tough climb in snow and ice, weighed us down more and more. The going was slow. Our packs felt as if they were gaining weight and as if our feet were dragging chains.

We reached the ridge line at around 13,000+ft and had only several more miles and less than 2,000+ft to climb. In deep snow, every step along the steep slopes was a step that had to be placed carefully. For hours more we took every step with great patience so not to end our days short. The summit seemed to continually linger off too far in the distance. Around 3pm we collapsed our cold, spent bodies upon the highest point in the contiguous United States. We felt victorious...momentarily. With all energy sapped from our bodies, we knew we had a terribly long way back. We had already been hiking 11 hours and we didn't know how it would be possible. But there was no choice. We couldn't stay there.

Back along the same cliffs, buried in white, begging to take our lives, we felt emotions hard to put into words. It seemed impossible to make it. Eric even considered leaving all his camera gear and pack on the mountain. Possessions are so inconsequential when life is being played with. The "99 Switchbacks" was difficult to navigate as the sun sunk behind the mighty mountains. With still miles to go, the world around us grew black. Over slippery ice, we struggled to follow the trail back. Ice doesn't leave great foot prints to follow. At some point, we began to question if we were on the right trail. It's late and dark, we are more exhausted than ever, its freezing, and we feel utterly trapped. After 3 hours of tracking crampon spike prints in ice and looking over multiple tracks, we realized the trail was right upon us. Fighting hallucinations from lack of sleep, we pressed on down the trail and tried to keep from collapsing.

We stumbled into our camp around 1am. We had been hiking 21 hours on no sleep the day before. I have never been so glad to see my tent. We slept in the next day as much as we could. With weak legs we finished the last few miles around mid day. Driving back to the town we found a diner and indulged in the world's largest and most unhealthy burgers.