No entiendo nada!

Well it´s not completely true that I don´t understand anything.....However, I did sit through one hour of my spanish class with one of my teachers not understanding a damn thing she was saying to me. Probably what´s worse it that I was too tired to care or want any explanation. We were working on the use of some grammatical something or other. My one teacher speaks so quietly and almost doesn´t move her mouth which makes it difficult for me to understand her. I don´t want to ask her to repeat herself everytime she speaks, so it gets to the point where I just shake my head......

My other spanish classes are going well. This school is very interesting. You have four different teachers and change every hour. You have, grammar, conversation, vocabulary, and I forget what the other one is supposed to be.....we end up having a lot of conversation.

Tomorrow I will be going to Volcan Masaya....at least I think that´s the one I´m going to. It´s near the capital Managua.

I found ice cream today for 25 cents. Whoa! How the heck did I not discover this sooner. It was yummy and I´m tempted to stop back at the same ice cream place on my way home. The only thing keeping me from doing that is that I haven´t run since my travels started and am afraid of the repercussions of no exercise :)..........

I´ll let you know how the volcanoe hike goes. One of my teachers said he´d go with me!

|Hoy es viernes

Hola Todos! I just finished my spanish lessons a little bit ago. I´m learning and reviewing a lot, which will definitely be helpful for my next round of travels. I can hold a conversation quite well, but I probably sound a bit illiterate at times. I find when I´m immersed in Spanish that my English suffers as well, but that´s ok with me. I have times where I cannot think of what to say or what something is called in English or Spanish.

I met a Nico in parque central yesterday and we were talking about the different cultures. I was telling him that it´s becomes annoying when the men whistle, hiss, make comments, etc. while you are walking through the streets and how that doesn´t typically happen in the United States. I told him that "we" women in the U.S. don´t like that. I guess I should only have spoken for myself, but I think the majority don´t like it. He was very curious to know more, hahaha. It´s so amazing how the cultures are so different.

I walked down to the lake that borders Granada. It´s so pretty, but dirty to swim in, which is such a shame. I also went to one of the catholic cathedrals here and to another one San Francisco with my maestra today. It´s such a pretty city.

I was able to get my backpack repaired yesterday for 40 cordoboras???spelling, which equals about 2 U.S. dollars. I was quite happy about that, since I didn´t really want to buy a new one. It´s just like new.

I think I´m going to finish this before I start to sound completely illiterate in English.....I can blame it partially on the computer as well because I may have typed something and not gone back to recheck it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Granada, Nicaragua

I started my Spanish lessons yesterday afternoon. I know I shouldn´t complain, but I´m sooooo tired. The climate is kicking my butt. I haven´t gone for a run since I´ve arrived in Central America. My poor body. Oh well.

I´ve also managed to get another stomach bug or maybe it´s the one that I had before. Who knows. Love it, hehehe.

My family here is great. They have a sweet little 4 month old baby girl and a 4 year old. The baby girl is absolutely adorable. She peed on me yesterday, haha.

My Spanish is definitely rusty and the review is very good. I cannot wait until the day when I don´t have to think about it at all. There are times when it´s like that and other times that I don´t understand a thing that´s being said to me. Then there are those days that I don´t understand spanish or english or can´t think of the words to say in either language, eeek.. I guess it´s just my brain working things out.

I´m heading home for lunch now and will hopefully make it there before the rain hits. Granada is beautiful and I cannot wait to see more of it. I´ll keep you posted on how things are going. I have a little over a week left here.

Honduras to Nicaragua

I just got back to the mainland of Honduras yesterday and took a bus directly to San Pedro Sula. Im at yet another mall.....I know, I know....I should be exploring San Pedro Sula, but I´m so tired right now. My body has adjusted itself to wake up at about 5am everyday. I had been waking up that early to run all last year, but had been able to train my body to sleep a little later than that. Anyways.....

I spent 4 days diving in Utila. It´s such an amazing sport. Wow....God has created many amazing creatures under the sea. It´s so cool. It´s kinda a mind game to train yourself that you can and must breathe under the water. I did 6 dives and before each one, I was petrified. I did get more comfortable and thankfully passed my PADI, but am by no means super comfortable under the water. I like being with a dive master who leads the pack, just in case. It´s easy to get lost under the water. We did 2 dives per day. On 2 of the days that I went out diving we came across a boil with a whale shark. We were able to slide off of the boat and swim after the whale shark. It as really awesome.

Now, like I think I said earlier....I´m back in San Pedro Sula, where I flew into. I just bought my ticket to Nicaragua. This trip has kind of been a decide as I go kinda thing. I will be leaving for Nicaragua at 5 am and will arrive in Managua at 5 pm. Ewwwwww.....I´m hoping and thinking it will be worth it. I have to be to the bus station by about 415, so it will be a long day. I plan on studying spanish in Granada. I felt like I was able to use a lot of spanish while we were traveling the first week and then the second week on Roatan and Utila were just English.

Stacy and Emily left, so sad, so I am now on my own. After I go eat something unhealthy in the mall, I will probably head back to the hostel, relax and read. I´m trying to drag it out a bit, since I need to keep my book for the trip tomorrow.

I´ll keep you updated on my journey to Nicaragua........and no pictures yet. It´s just a pain to upload to a public computer.....Sorry, but soon, I promise!

Scuba Diving!

HI all! I was debating back and forth whether I should scuba dive here in Honduras. Everyone and I mean everyone has said how amazing it is, etc.....So, I decided to postpone my journey to Nicaragua and I started my open dive course today. It was fun. A little bit strange to be under water and it's amazing how you really have to talk yourself out of panicking under the water.

Today is my last day with my friends Stacy and Emily. They head back to San Pedro Sula and the to California on Saturday morning. It's sad that they have to go...These two weeks have flown by. I will be diving on a very small island for the next few days and don't think I will have any internet access. I'll keep you updated when I get back about all of the cool underwater creatures that I see.

Roatan to La Ceiba to Utila!!

Hi everyone! I´ve not been very good at updating this and probably won´t upload any photos until I´m back in the U.S.A just because it´s a bit of a pain to upload photos from a public computer.....Anyways....I´ve not had a lot of internet access so I haven´t been updating this as frequently.

We just took a ferry back to the mainland early this morning. We´ve spent the last few days in Roatan, Honduras. It´s absolutely gorgeous there. The water is crystal clear. We will be headin to one of the smaller bay islands today, Utila. The last few days have been nice and lazy, being on the beach swimming and relaxing. I´m at the mall right now in La ceiba because the ferry leaving for Utila doesn´t leave until later this afternoon. I still haven´t decided what I will be doing with my last two weeks here......Still leaning toward Nicaragua. I´ll keep you posted and will put more on here soon.

Back in Honduras!!

Hola Todos! I am back in Honduras after a nice long 6 hour bus ride, what good times ;)! We are waiting to catch a 2:30 bus to La Ceiba where we will hang out for a few days before heading to the Bay Islands. The Volcano hike was awesome. Pacaya is really cool. I definitely recommend doing it if you make it to Guatemala! I am however having stomach issues, yipeee, already. I bought tortillas on the street in Guatemala because they are soooooooooooooooooo good. I am now paying the price. I can't believe so early in the trip, but I guess this will help toughen up my stomach for the months to follow. Thankfully the bus that we are taking to La Ceiba is more like a Grey Hound bus and a little "luxurious" with a bathroom and treats. Ahhhh...the simple things in life.

We woke up at 3:40 this morning to catch the bus back to Copan and are so looking forward to relaxing near the beach in the upcoming days! I'll keep you posted and I promise to post pictures soon. I don't have the patience to wait right now. Have a great day!

Estoy en Guatemala!

Guatemala.......You might be wondering, ¨why are you in Guatemala?¨ Well, my friends and I decided to take a little....6 hour drive to Antigua, Guatemala....since we were so close :). We stayed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras our first night. Then we headed to the bus terminal and bought tickets to go to Copan, Honduras. We found a very cheap hostile to stay in that night, which was a great bargain......besides the 5am wake up call from the rooster, and every 2 minutes thereafter, someone spitting lugies (spelling) and LOUD vehicles going by....however it was cheap and the shower was WONDERFUL. There was actually water pressure and hot water, sweet stuff.

The Copan ruins were cool, not quite as impressive as Tikal in Guatemala. Today we are going to hike Volcan Pacaya. It should be very cool. I´ll take lots of photos and post them on here eventually.

Today we stopped at the school that I attended 3 year ago. I saw my grandparents as I was walking in.....and they remembered me...or at least my abuela did. Then I walked in and saw my teacher Miriam. She is such a great teacher. I learned so much spanish from her and it was awesome to see her and chat with her for awhile.

Ahhhh....I love traveling. We will be heading back to Copan, Honduras tomorrow morning at 4am, ewwww, and will then catch a bus to La Ceiba, Honduras. Planning on staying there for a few days before we head out to the Bay Islands of Honduras. Lots of fun so far. I´ll keep you posted.........

Ice cream makes me happy ;)!!

Soooo....today I walked out of my office to go grab my water out of my car before it started to boil and there was a table set up with about 8 different humungous tubs of ice cream in the hallway with lots of toppings etc. Apparently Baskin robbins does this every year....somehow I missed it last year. Anyways, I had a yummy hot fudge, pineapple sundae with whip cream, nuts, and a cherry....there goes my eating well for the day. But, I left there with a great big smile on my face. Yummmmmmmmm. Ice cream in the summer is just too yummy to pass up.

Thursday.....Friday......and then I'm off on Saturday for Honduras, craziness....still not done packing....getting there.

Morning Runs!!

I haven't done a morning run since the beginning of the summer...sad..but true.. So, I woke up this morning with the thought of wearing a bathing suit in a little over a week, on the beaches of Honduras (that was enough motivation to get myself out of bed and outside ;)). I ran a few miles and surprisingly came along soooo many friendly people this morning! I was shocked. Not that there aren't friendly people in this area, but I find that one can often walk by someone and the person will look in the other direction or purposely try to avoid saying a word to you....I don't get it...

One day, awhile back I went for a run and decided that i was going to say hello to everyone that I ran by (it's the friendly thing to do), I was so surprised by lack of response. You could look right at the person and they would act like you were a ghost and not respond. Well, this morning was completely different, which was kinda nice ;). Have a great Monday everyone!

Moving really really sucks!

I'm sooooo tired today! I've been moving all weekend....well I guess not all weekend, but it really feels that way. My brother and his future wife are moving out this way, so I made 2 trips out to Stafford, VA (where they will be living...and where they so graciously have allowed me to store my stuff). I don't have that much stuff, but enough to be a pain anyways. How does one person acquire so much in 30 years.....makes me nervous about the amount of crap I will accumulate in the next 30 years.

I zonked out at about 10 last night because I was so beat from moving. My sister and Cat helped me...thank goodness. Now I'm sitting here, trying to get some motivation to pack and sort a little more. I leave in 6 days. WOW.....time has flown by. I'm too tired to be excited right at the moment, but I'm getting there.