Utila - a picture couldn't do it justice

Just when we thought things couldn't get better, that we were the most spoiled people on the face of the earth, we arrived on the tiny island called Utila off the northern coast of Honduras. Oh yea, in the Caribbean!

But let's back track because we missed a lot of great stuff. After Antigua we took a long bus ride up through the mountains of Guatemala to Semuc Champey. Our hostel called El Portal made you feel like you were the only people living in the mountains, next to a raucous river in a hut on the side of a hill. Cheap, cheap, cheap! Just down the road is the national park called Semuc Champey. Here there are natural pools atop a naturally formed limestone bridge, under which rapids run amok, but on top are cool calm pools. You relax and tred, looking up to mountains towering above you. That little speck you see all the way up at the top is the Mirador (look out). We climbed that just minutes before. Jeez. Later that same day we walk over to Las Grutas Maria Ka'nba. This was a definite highlight for us! Just the two of us led by our guia Rojo, went through this cave with head lamps and candle sticks. Seriously! We had such an amazing time, feeling like explorers climbing rocks and swimming through the cave. We walked through a waterfall and jumped off a cliff into the river that runs through the entire pathway. Amazingness! Before it was dark we returned to Portal for dinner. We ate with people from Spain, London, Australia, Guatemala...everyday we meet new people from countless places all over the world. It's the best!


From here we took a bus to the border of Honduras and Guatemala (La Frontera). And when we say bus, we actually mean 6 buses in 9 hours. Collectivos to be more specific, packing in as many people as humanly (or not humanly) possible. Uncomfortable to say the least, we finally made it to the border. You just walk across it. Funny. But of course, we arrived here and finished our passport business, only to find out that the last bus into Copan Ruinas had left fifteen minutes before. Yikes! With our new friend Jody from British Columbia, we asked around and figured out the situation. You can either hitch a ride with a tractor trailer, a tour bus (but who new when that would be), or a local. We got lucky this time, guys! Just as we were talking to an agent a family of grandparents and their 8 year old grandson we taking a stretch from their long car ride. The agent directed us to talk with them and sure enough, these amazing people squeezed our enormous back packs into their trunk, crushing all their things and not caring. Not only did they take us into town, but they brought us to our hostel and fended off more border police as we got closer to town. And get this small world anecdote: The grandfather learned English in Ann Arbor, Michigan! If that wasn't a sign from the traveling gods and don't know what is!! This was truly the nicest family we met all trip so far. Laughing and joking the whole ride (it was only 15 minutes) we felt truly blessed to have been welcomed in by this family who really helped us in a time of (near) desperation. It could've been bad! But it wasn't so no sense in worrying about it now :)

Copan Ruinas was great. Those Mayans were on to something serious. Too bad Europeans had to come in a destroy all their books and give them diseases and ruin everything. Well, in addition to droughts and other natural causes, too. Anywho - the highlight of Copan Ruinas was easily our guided tour to La Finca de Cisne (Cisne meaning swan). Carlos, the son of a multi-generational, family run farm about an hour or so from Copan. This was incredible. We met him at Via Via Cafe in town, a central hub for socializing, eating, drinking, and tourism stuff. We ate breakfast and got in the car, learning about him and the farm, and asking questions about everything we could possibly think of. When we arrived we took a stroll to the stables and got on horseback!! We took a 2 hour + ride around the grounds of the farm, walking, trotting, & galloping! Nothing has felt so good in such a long time to be on a horse running up open hills, looking at mountains of Honduras, with Guatemalan mountains in the background. Need a snack? Just shimmy up a tree and knock down some coconuts. We got our strength and energy back by drinking some coconut water and eating an older coconut underneath the shade of palm trees next to tilapia pools. For lunch Carlos' mom cooked us up a feast, all food grown and prepared on the farm - verduras, homemade cheeses, shredded taro root pancakes, yuka, beef, and of course coffee that is grown, processed, and sold from the farm. Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did we mention how lucky and unbelievably spoiled we are? After a siesta in a hammock, Carlos showed us where the coffee is washed, sorted and dried, then put into bags to be picked up in the next couple of days. We drank coffee that had gone through the process just days before. You really appreciate that cup of joe when you see the people and machines that go into the whole process. After this we went to some hot springs, yada yada yada, we rubbed hot mud on our skin, blah blah blah, sat there for about an hour and washed off the day. All boring stuff and you can imagine.

It was really hard to say bye to Carlos. He opened up a whole new world to us, and getting to know him was such an amazing experience. He is like no other person we know. Friendly, passionate, genuine, kind - he taught us so much, joked so much, and made us feel more at home that we have since we left about a week ago (ah, only a week! Good lord!). But, what was waiting for us here on Utila was worth the other 6 hour bus rides and 2 hour boat ride. Remember what a tan looks like? I didn't, but it's fantastic! The sun recharges your batteries better than any powdered drink or nap could ever do.We are lucky enough that Libby from the Deep Blue Dive Shop opens rooms every now and then to couch surfers. We are staying in a cute room with aquatic life painted on the walls, just steps from the private dock where a hammock and swings await our arrival early in the morning and late at night. Please google this place that is hear - Treetanic. Talk about a wonderland made for Kat. Mosaics, sculptures, blown glass, all in a tree and courtyard, there for your enjoyment while relaxing from a long day in the sun. Seriously? Get out! But alas, it is real. It exists, and we made some great friends there. 5/6 guys from out west, fishing guides from Colorado and Wyoming. Have we been friends our whole lives? I think so, or at least it seems. After a few beers and lots of laughs we made sure we'd hang out the next day (and I'm laying groundwork for future trips out west when we return to the states!).

Now we just ate breakfast at an amazingly delicious and muy barata cafe, and our going to go snorkeling along the beach. God I hate this life! It will be hard to leave here, but judging by what we've done so far, there can only be more wonderful things ahead, so nonsensical it's hard to write down.

Much love from Honduras! Besos!
Soph & Kat