Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Comin' Back

It is a little weird to be back in Central America so soon. We are straddling the line between "backpacker" and "vacationer", with our relatively short timeframe, we splurge on some things while opting for others on the cheap. The goal being to keep it less stressful and enjoy our trip. With that all in mind, we haven't had any crazy adventures to share but I will write some words about it anyways.

The first days in Roatán are hard to remember. We arrived just after noon on a Saturday, surrounded by hundreds of middle aged Americans in the airport. They flock here for the cheap scuba diving during what is the wettest month on the Caribbean side of Honduras. We stayed in the same hostal in West End as last year (Casa del Sol) but the feeling wasn't the same. Now home to more long term tenants, it was crowded and dark and noisy. The next door neighbors watched The Voice and listened to Trump speeches. Below us, we heard a guitar and singing until 1 AM, and smelled all varieties of smoke. The bed was uncomfortable, our clothes didn't dry, plus we had a few cockroaches running around. On election night, we somberly watched CNN on the Kindle. But enough of the bad stuff, we actually had a good relaxing time.

With no real schedule, we slept in every morning and made a casual brunch in the room. We would wander into town for groceries and snorkeling in Half Moon Bay. It rained every once in a while but there was mostly sun and plans never got ruined. The only thing we didn't do was rent a scooter, because I have a fear of wet hilly curvy roads. The people are still really friendly and the street food (particularly the Baleadas) is still very good.




On the nicest day we had, Julia and I made the 30 minute walk down the beach to touristy West Bay. The lady who runs our hostal warned us of the occasional muggings that take place along the path, advising us to try running into the water to get away. We opted for carrying weapons; Julia armed with a big rock, I brandished a sturdy stick. No thieves were seen that day, we like to think they were scared off.

It was cruise ship day, so the beach was packed but still amazingly beautiful. The sand is white and the water is clear. It was the first reminder that we are on a vacation, and we soaked it in. After some swimming and mediocre snorkeling, we chose the safer boat ride back to West End and treated ourselves to some good seafood at a decent restaurant.


That is about all that is worth sharing from our time in Roatán. We paid for a week upfront at our hostal to get a discount, so this most recent Saturday was our departure day. The initial plan was to head to the mainland and slowly make our way to Gran Pacifica, but we changed our minds. On our daily strolls through town, we kept noticing the signs for a ferry from Roatán to the other Honduran island of Útila, a route they just opened up 12 months ago. This other island, known to be more of a backpacker scuba destination intrigued us, so we went.

We arrived mid afternoon, and being somewhat lazy, chose the first place listed in our LP guidebook (Rubi's). Turned out to be a good decision because we got a cockroach-free room on the water, with sunset views for $25.  There is one main road through town that follows the waters edge, with a few side streets winding the neighborhoods. The homes are almost all built on stilts, with a mix of English architecture and basic stone. Útila is fairly flat with garbage filled swampland on the outskirts of town. The locals build wooden walkways or coral rock land bridges to access their raised casas. The laid back people speak either a Caribbeanized form of English or Spanish. There is a pretty little beach on the west end of town that we spent our first afternoon playing in, despite the abundance of biting sand fleas. We enjoyed the place immensely.



With just one full day there, we paid a dive shop a few dollars to let us tag along and snorkel. The reef was amazing. We have rarely had the chance to venture into deeper waters and gaze off into the abyss where the reef wall drops down some hundred feet. I will be honest, it frightens me a little, but I love it. Which means we now might be talking ourselves into a return trip to learn how to scuba.




That afternoon we wandered the small streets, enjoyed cocktails by the sea, and purchased tickets for Monday's long travel plans. With 2 extra nights spent on the islands, we now wanted to push on through to Nicaragua. The initial idea was to take the ferry, a taxi, and 2 local buses to a town halfway, stay the night, then a bus, a taxi, and about 4 buses later, we would arrive at our destination. Although this actually sounded kinda fun, we saw a sign for shuttle service to León (Nicaragua) for $55 and this sparked our interest. Julia did some searching online and found a company offering a November special of $40. Amazed to find a direct shuttle for cheaper than all the local buses combined, we were sold.

So here we are now, on hour number 12 in a van, almost to our destination despite some initial worries. We got up at 5:20 AM to catch the ferry to the port of La Ceiba, where we were taxied to our shuttle. Being the low season, they initially said we were the only 2 passengers and offered us a free night stay at their hostal and tour of the city if we would wait until tomorrow. We wanted to get on the road and luckily a traveler from Israel was going the same way, so we felt better about making them take us. The ride is bumpy but a great scenic view of the lush hills of Honduras from north to south. Unless the construction delays continue, we should be checked into a room by 10 PM, and asleep shortly after that.

The next step is yet to be determined. We are temptingly close to family at Gran Pacifica, but still want to see some sights in northern Nicaragua, though they could be tackled during a short side trip sometime after Thanksgiving. Decisions decisions... all we know is that it is nice to be back in a country that we consider a second home.



Friday, November 4, 2016

Family Tradition

Somehow, it's already early November. The leaves have turned, the days are becoming shorter, and as much as it pains me to say, stores have Christmas displays up. And this year, early November also means that Micah and I are filling our backpacks with dri-fit clothes, sunscreen, and snorkel gear as we prepare to embark on another, although much shorter than our previous, journey. Before we get there though, I'll relive the last month with a few words and a few pictures.

In an attempt to always keep it fresh and re-awaken my blogging ability, I'm going to update you in a slightly different fashion. Since we returned to the Portland area in late August, our families have been our focus. They are the reason we settled here for the past two+ months, they are the reason that we're able to live the carefree (and mooching) lifestyle that we choose to live, and they are the reason that we plan to someday plant roots in Portland. They will be how I tell you about our events over the last month.

The Smetanas
My parents live just over an hour north of Portland; they moved to the PNW 6 months after I did, back in 2009. As you are all aware, my sister (Angela), her husband (Osman), and their almost 4 year old (Kaiden) flew from Nicaragua at the end of August with the intent of Angela delivering her second child here in the states. All went smooth and Dominic Albert arrived on September 27th.
 Osman, Kaiden and Dominic
Meeting his baby brother

This family of four is staying up at my parent's house, living in their basement (it runs in the family), and so for the past two months, Micah and I drive back and forth between two and three times per week. The days at my parent's house are lively, since Kaiden talks/sings/hums/laughs non-stop, and full of great meals, as I'm blessed with two parents who enjoy spoiling their children with good cooking.

The entire Smetana family had a few reasons to get together in the past month. In mid-October my brother (Mikie) proposed to his girlfriend; Dominic was baptized; and we celebrated Mikie and Osman's birthdays, both in October. For Osman's birthday present, Micah and I took him to the Portland Timbers versus Costa Rica Soccer Match; he may have been the biggest fan there only by default of his hate towards Costa Rica.
3 Smetana kids, 3 significant others, 3 offspring and grandparents
When I root I root for the Timbers!

On two occasions, Micah and I braved the elements and babysat the Nicaraguan kiddos. We borrowed Kaiden for an overnight trip which included the museum, pizza and a slumber party at Micah's dad's house, and the muddy pumpkin patch. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was featuring space and astronauts as their main exhibit, which pleased Kaiden... but was only his second favorite to the train he rode inside the Vancouver mall. We also took on the 4 week old Dominic so his parents and other uncle and aunt could enjoy a dinner on the town. Despite the fact that my sister conveniently forgot to pack his binky, we all survived the night.
 Tractor ride around the pumpkin patch
Admiring his Tio

On Halloween, we stayed up North at my parent's house to observe Kaiden's first Halloween experience. Dressed as a dinosaur with a clown wig, he struggled a bit with the concept of when to say "trick or treat" and when to say "thank you", but the night was a success with a heavy bag of candy by the end of it. And it only took 6 adult assistants to accomplish this.
Family Halloween Selfie

The Hoelters
Micah and I cashed in on our 2015 Christmas present to his 4 nephews and 1 niece by taking them to an indoor water park for the day. I'm not sure we thought this plan through very well. We had 2 kids in life jackets and 1 other that we definitely had to keep an eye on for his swimming skills, and the 2 oldest were pretty independent. I feared for all their lives for the first hour, as Micah and I played zone defense, coaxing the kids to stay relatively near each other so they were all in sight. After the first hour, we eased into our game a bit more and had a blast. We unintentionally used the buddy system and in pairs, would run up the multiple flights of stairs to whiz down the large and winding slides. In the late afternoon, there were no lines and so the only thing that stopped us (Micah and I) were how tired our legs got from running stairs.
 snack break at the water park
 preparing their train in the wave pool
Jackson and Sarah getting ready for the slide

Micah's dad, Mark, turned 70 at the end of September. This was a great excuse to get together with Micah's three brothers and their wives along with Mark for dinner at a popular Brazilian restaurant in town. The brothers capped the celebration off with taking Mark to Top Golf, a driving range + bar for the modern age. Tarah (for lack of longer explanation to those who don't know, Tarah is Micah's youngest brother's wife and also happens to be my best friend since I was 15) and I were volunteered to babysit two of the nephews while the boys golfed. Babysitting consisted of Tarah and I sitting on a bench at a park while the two boys dug around in mud looking for worms and then viciously murdering the worm, often after coo-ing over how cute the worm was. We were nothing short of entertained.

The majority of our time in Portland, we live in Tarah and Lucas' basement. If it weren't for these two, our belongings would be in some far away, musty storage shed and we'd be sleeping in our car. We try to show our gratitude for their kindness with home cooked meals and afternoons of fetch with their dog, but we really just enjoy getting to spend our limited time with them. The past few birthday and holidays, Tarah and I have opted out of present giving and enjoy a girls only weekend. This year, we spent a night in Long Beach, WA, with a romantic walk on the beach, long conversations, and a meal at the rooftop restaurant.


Along with so much family time, a good majority of the past month was spent earning a paycheck to pay for our next vacation. I'm still doing fill-in work for the company I previously worked for in Portland and am enjoying the non-permanence that comes with it. Despite the fact that our calendar is  light with work and commitments, we manage to feel busy driving between homes and soaking up as much family and friend time as possible. We have been able to check multiple things off our "wedding to-do list", and are currently enjoying all that planning a wedding entails.
At a friend's wedding on the Portland Spirit (boat on the Willamette River)

With that being said and all we feel we have accomplished in the month, we are ready to hit the road. In 5 hours, we will board a plane and then board another plane that will eventually drop us off in Roatan, Honduras. If you had asked us last year, I don't believe either of us would have said we'd be returning to our favorite snorkeling spot this soon, but yet, here we are. I'd like to say that the budget travelers in us couldn't sit still, the baleadas were calling us, and we miss the chicken busses terribly- although there is a bit of truth to this, it is not the reason we're putting our packs back on. It's just that the plane ticket to the island of Roatan cost as much as the ticket to Managua did so how could we pass that up!? Per usual, we have nothing booked or planned, but we know that we will spend multiple afternoons in the Caribbean Sea, wash our clothes in the hostel sink, and eventually ride across Honduras to reacquaint ourselves with my sister and her family who are now waiting for us back at Gran Pacifica.

Buen viejo!