UTILA

My days on Utila! Well I could write a lot about this amazing place, the nice people I met, all the things I learned, the parties almost every night and the sunny weather.
But I think I just give a slight overview. Haha and it would be better not to tell everything...

I came to Utila to do some diving with Nora (the German girl I met in Belize) and do my rescue diver certificate. But it happened to me what happens to so many people, I stayed for more than 2 months.
Haha, yeah but I really had such a great time and enjoyed every minute.
Was so nice to dive and party with Nora, but she had to go back soon. When she left I started the rescue course and in the end I decided to do my dive master there as well. I thought it might be useful while traveling to stop and work from time to time.
The dive center was Alton's and I got there through a friend that worked there and who I met a year before in Egypt diving of course.
My dive master training included not only learning skills, I had to work in the shop and do all the stuff that I would have to deal with if I worked there for real. That meant be there at 7 am in the morning to get all equipment ready for the divers, prepare the boat and start smiling! Same for the afternoon boat or whatever was scheduled for the day. So this is how I learned all about how a dive shop works for a dive master.
The rest of the time I spent in the hammocks on the dock reading, well studying my dive master manual. Or I was out partying with all my new friends I met at the shop as well tourists that came along. Most of the parties were at Tranquila bar and I have really good but also bad memories of this place. Hehe, Tequila Tuesdays were the worst! 10 Limpiras for a shot of Tequila what is only a few cents, so for about few Euro you get 10 shots and that is enough to do many stupid things after having them. Sometimes I wish my friends form home or my brother would be there to party with me. But luckily it never happened anything bad to me, like one friend who lost her 4 front teeth after an extensive party there. Somehow there were lots of loose teeth and they were always connected to me, uh! It wasn't me! But after most nights you just have a hard time getting up next day and survive the morning boat. ,-) But since I love diving I don't mind an early start.
Especially when we had dolphins around the boat playing with us, so that we could go in snorkeling with them. Those days were the best and of course every time we went to the north side of the island for some diving. So good diving there. That was as well the place for the lion fish tournament. Since the lion fish is an alien species in the Caribbean everybody goes hunting for them. At the tournament appr. 500 fish were killed and it was so delicious food what the local girls cooked out of it.
Another great event was Halloween when we all got dressed up and had good times partying at Alton's, Cross Creek and Tranquila. Another great party spot was the bar in the bush, but it was only open certain Fridays.
When I finally finished my dive master my last skill to fulfill was the snorkeltest, which is a funny drinking game. You get a mask on and snorkel in your mouth with a cutted bottle attached on top. This was filled with a mixture of alcohol and juices what you have to drink straight because it won't stop pressuring down. Good fun and got drunk early, big night out, haha.
After I was certified I started working for Alton's to get some more experience in being a diving tour guide. They even wanted to hire me for the main season but I only stayed for two more weeks and then followed my original plan of traveling.
I really enjoyed the job as a dive master and the place. Thanks to all the people who work there and to my new friends I found on the island. You made my time there so special and I am so happy that I was part of it. I learned a lot, had new experiences and so much fun in these two months. Met as well so many great people traveling. One thing is for sure, I will definitely come back to Utila to see what's going on someday!
But every great time comes to an end eventually, so I decided end of November to go on and start traveling again. Next stop Nicaragua!

I mean as I said I could write so much more about the island, new friends, great times, yummy dinner we cooked, loads of alcohol, diving experiences, parties, boys or funny things that happened around me but I think you got a good idea of how it was. :-)

Belize

Belize, that sounds like beach and sun! Yeah. That was the plan after seeing some more caves and ruins. But when I heard the prices of tours in Belize I changed my plans even not beeing in the country yet. ;-) So when I booked the bus ticket it was straight to Belize City not stopping at the caves or ruins as planned. Too expensive and I had all that in Guatemala already so I thought let's go and do some diving!

In Belize City I took the ferry to Caye Caulker and ended up in a very nice hotel for a change, that was almost luxury compared to what I was used to. I shared the room with girl from New Zealand (Gina) and met some other nice people from Guatemala City (Belen and Hugo) and the states (Agnieszka). Also Sibila and Cecilia were there. And it was great to hang out with all of them at the Lazy Lizzard sunset bar for happy hour every day. ;-)

We had big lobster and shrimp BBQ for only 7 Dollar per plate, amazing!

Of course I had to visit the blue hole for a dive. That was a full day trip, two hours ride to the outer Cayes, lunch on Halfmoon Caye and beautiful diving. A perfect day! It was rainy season so every price was somehow negotiable and so I got some great deals even in expensive Belize.
After a few days on Caye Caulker I travelled to Placencia in the south of Belize. I met a nice German girl there, Nora, and we spent some time together. Almost every day we went to Lisa's place for some homemade ice tea and chocolate cake! Super tasty! We went out diving on Silk Cayes and decided to go to Honduras Utila together. But before that she went back to Belmopan and I enjoyed some lazy days in a perfect little beach cabana.

All I did was hanging out with some local new friends (not many tourists around in low season), eating more chocolate cake, reading three or four books, lying in my hammock and celebrating independence day there. The party was over the weekend and they were dancing the whole time. Their dance is called Punta. I am a big dancer but this is something I don't want to learn! ;-) If you can imagine this style is like sex on the dancefloor, haven't seen anything like this before! Crazy!

Later in the week Nora came back to Placencia and we took the boat down to Porto Cortes in Honduras together. This is when my time on Utila started.

Back in Guatemala

I could still hear the Harleys roaring but Guatemala was calling. I went back again because I haven't seen Cemuc Champey and Tikal yet. It was again a long bus ride to get there and I had to change several chickenbuses. One bus (to Coban) broke down in the middle of nowhere and I was surrounded only by locals, so that was the first challenge to proof my Spanish. We all had to catch other buses that were going the same direction. Finally I arrived in Coban and after a long walk with all my heavy bags, for good an hour, to find a working ATM, I was lucky to catch the last bus down to Lanquin. Wow and that was a bumpy ride!

I stayed in the El Retiro hostel what turned out to be a big party place. Every night big yummy dinner buffet, cheap drinks and dancing. These places make you stay longer than planned... ;-)

I did a tour where you go inside a cave with only a candle light in your hand, did some river tubing and swam in the pools of Cemuc Champey. This is a great place in Guatemala and apart from all the cockroaches, bugs, ants and mosquitos (and even drunk people peeing in your room at night) I can highly recommend a visit.

I had a blast there and met Cecilia (Chile) and Sibyla (Bulgarien) who travelled with me to Flores as well.

Flores is a little village on an peninsula at Lago Peten Itza. From there you can reach Tikal easily, it has a relaxed atmosphere and good restaurants.

Finally I got to see Tikal these big Mayan ruins that are so famous. And it was beyond expectations. We (Sibila and me) went there early in the morning, got up at 4 am and entered the park at 6 am as soon as the gates were opened. Skipped the breakfast in the luxury hotel at the entrance, picked up a good advice from one of the guides and started our private tour. When we arrived at the main plaza, we were the first two individuals there, nobody else around. That was so cool!!! We hang out there for 2h, enjoyed the silence, played with the monkeys and had a nice little breakfast.

Then we continued exploring the park, we climbed the Templo 4 with the great views and made it back to the main plaza when the sun was burning. Even we had 6h in total, it was not enough time for us to see the whole place. But on the other hand it was good to leave the hot and sticky jungle and get some fresh air at the lake.

The next day we relaxed at Flores and took a short boat ride to San Andres on the other side of the lake to get some village impressions.

Then I booked a bus ticket to Belize. Time to leave this wonderful country again. Guatemala is one of the most beautiful places in the world!!!