Scaredy-Cat in Paradise

We've been in the Bay Islands of Honduras for almost a week now. It's incredibly beautiful with clear, blue and green water. It's culturally fascinating, too, because it's was discovered by British pirates, so all of the natives are white, English speakers. Well, it's sort of English. It sounds like a mixture of Australian English, Hawaiian pigeon, and creole. Very fascinating. I actually have an easier time understanding Spanish. Not knowing this when we first arrived, Chris and I started speaking Spanish. Boy was that a mistake. The islands have only been part of Honduras for about 40 years, so it's only been since then that the "mainlanders" have come over to live and work (native islanders call them the "spanish"). The natives aren't fans of them because they brought the first automobiles and motorbikes. And trust me, the islands are not big enough for them. It's a major pain to navigate down the narrow streets amongst the cars and motorbikes. It's a very fascinating place.

We found the one scuba-diving school that is based out of a nearby caye, called Jewel Caye, a remote fishing town with a population of about 200 (which is much nicer than the touristy Bay Islands, named Utila and Roatan). They don't have cars or even motorbikes there. Hooray for no noise polution! Chris and I both started the open water scuba certification course. Disclaimer to those not related to me: I can swim, but I'm not terribly comfortable in the water, at least not like Chris the fish. When we started the course I had never even been snorkeling. So I was pretty terrified. We did our reading, watched some DVDs, and then it was time to get in the water with our gear. We started out in a very shallow area so as we could ease into it. I was pretty scared, and after we'd been under for a minute we had to practice some skills such as taking off the masks underwater and so forth. I panicked. Completely. And then our completely overzealous instructor assured me that I was ready to go down 9 feet and then proceeded to basically pressure me into it. I was as white as a sheet and froze. Still feeling panicky and a little humiliated, I had to opt out. That night I decided to quit the program and respect my limitations and just try to get comfortable with snorkel. It's possible that I might have continued with a different instructor who was willing to go at a slower pace, but I didn't want to rush it. So I have been having a blast snorkeling, socializing with the other students, and relaxing! My vacation away from my vacation. So far I've seen amazing things: a myriad of fish, including a barracuda, a jellyfish, and beautiful coral.

As for Christopher, he completed his certification yesterday! He's taken to it so naturally that we're going to stay four more days so he can also take the advanced certification course. His spotings include a loggerhead turtle and a spotted sting ray!

Many of you know that I'm a little wound-up and therefore have trouble letting myself fully relax. Well, the island life has finally ensured a relaxed Auna. Hooray! The only gripe about the caye is that all they eat is fried food. Our choices are fried fish, fried chicked, fried hamburgers, and nachos made with fried plantains. And what does it all come with? French fries, of course! Sometimes a salad drenched with Thousand Island dressing is we're lucky. But as with everything else I've previously bitched about on this blog, I really shouldn't be bitching because we're in PARADISE!

Love to all!