Better and better

To make up for my lack of updates this one will be very long with lots of pictures!! :)

Our journey to Roatan was definitely the most difficult/exhausting part of the trip... But it has also been the most amazing part of the adventure. Roatan is simply amazing. Such a relax vibe on the island and everyone is so friendly. Majority of the people I have talked to say moving here has been their best decision. Its a place that will hook you instantly if you've been here.

Let me start with our journey here though.. Ambergris Cayes to Roatan-
Left Saturday on a 2 hour ferry to Belize city.. Took a 6 hour bus ride to Punta Gorda. Slept at Graces hotel for the night. Took an hour boat ride to Puerto Barries, Guatemala. Took a 4 hour bus ride to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Took a cab to the airport... Missed a flight to Roatan by 5 minutes!! Took a taxi to meet up with a bus that was headed to Le Ceiba.. The bus ended up being full -- so our taxi driver drove us 2.5 hours to Le Ceiba. Spent the night in hotel for the night. Took a taxi in the morning to the airport. Got a flight for $25 US  from Le Ceiba -- Roatan. The winds were so strong that our 13 minute flight over was delayed 6 hours. We finally arrived Monday evening to our next couch surfers house -- Carlos.

Quite the journey to get here right? We were originally going to stay here till Wednesday but have enjoyed our stay so much we extended it to Sunday evening. We are taking a few flights to our next places to make up for time and its not much more expensive to fly we've realized. We both wish we had another month on this adventure.. Two months is definitely not enough time.

Okay so let me tell about Roatan... The weather has been cooler the last few days that we have been here and everyone on the island is ready for the sun to come back. The cold  here isn't even bad though. I love it. I was still able to wear shorts.

So its very true that the best things happen when you least expect them to. The guy whose house we are staying at Carlos has turned out to be a great surprise of the trip. I grew quite fond of him and I never thought I'd say this but I would highly consider moving here.. The lifestyle is amazing and I am at the time in my life where that would work for me. There are some cool jobs here too. (Maybe I am just talking nonsense because of my lifestyle of traveling this last month.. who knows) However, I will definitely be going back to visit as soon as I get the chance.

I got to make my own! It was a lot harder to do the tortilla than I expected

Baleada ( a very common Honduras dish)

Carlos took us around to the West end and West bay. West bay is where all the resorts are and the nicest beaches in Roatan. We did not do too much while we were here but enjoyed the lifestyle of the island. We did go out a few nights and enjoyed some Monkey la la's. (the main drink of the island) They definitely sneak up on you because they taste so good you don't realize the high alcohol content of them!

West Bay

One of the funniest ladies I have met! :) 

A guy built this submarine himself  takes people down in it. Its one of the only ones in the world that does this. (We would of done it but its very expensive like $800 per person for a trip!)

Roatan

In my 23 years of life I have never seen my dad drunk until Roatan! And after not feeling too hot from the alcohol I think it will be my last time seeing my dad intoxicated. Alcohol is just not meant for him I guess you can say. I know I said I was going to not drink but I guess that was a bold statement because its hard to not enjoy the nightlife of the places we are going.

We played in a poker tournament one of our nights in Roatan. It was fun because I was playing at a table with men who thought I had no idea what I was doing.. They learned I knew more than I led onto when I won a decent size pot.  (I can thank Sunday night dinners at Aunt Sue's for my knowledge on poker! :)) I made it to the top 10 but I won't lie playing gets a little boring after awhile and I was more than happy to get out. My dad made it to the top four though. 

I have to admit my Dad is a very impressive person to me. The way he preserves through everything truly amazes me. He is currently putting up a strong fight and not allowing Parkinson's to win the battle on his body. He makes it his goal to do at least 100 push ups a day and practices yelling to keep his voice strong. (Also when we were in Belize he schooled Taylor and I bike riding. -- Honestly got a full 10 mins in front of us.. it was impressive)

Always pushing the limits and going to the edge

A motto I've adopted for this trip has been -- Nothing ever goes as planned but everything works out perfectly. We have missed a plane by a few minutes, been rejected from full buses countless times, have a constantly changing agenda, etc -- but I couldn't imagine having a better adventure if we tried!

While we were in Roatan we made sure to eat at The Lily Pond House which is one of my Dad's workers cousin bed and breakfast. It was honestly the BEST food I have eaten this trip. Absolutely delicious! My dad ended up going there tres times and myself twice. Before we started our adventure we had watched a youtube video a guy had posted after eating there.. I am going to share it because I think the guy does an accurate explanation of how good the food/place was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q52bPhRO92I

Homemade bread that was so yummy!

Lobster, garlic mashed potatoes, vegetables

Sea-bass, lobster, shrimp, garlic mashed potatoes, salad

Delicious!

Best dish I have eaten this trip. SO GOOD! <3 

After Roatan we flew to San Pedro Sula and stayed with our next couch surfer for the night -- Ashley. We got in at night and went to a nice pizza parlor and chatted. We had to leave at 5:30am the next morning for another day of traveling to our next destination. We had a flight to Tegucigalpa and then took a bus to San Marcos. We then hoped on a shuttle to the border of Honduras/Nicaragua -- walked over the boarder and caught another bus to Managua. It was a 12 hour day of traveling that ended in a hostel for the night.

On the bus

Good thing about the bus rides is its always a beautiful view! 

The next morning we woke up at 6 (my dad woke me up at 6 I should say) and we caught a shuttle to Granada. One thing about transportation in Central America is there is no limits on how many people they can fit. Our shuttle had 12 seats but 22 people on it! We were stuffed in the shuttle and even had people standing for the 1.5 hour ride. Another thing to note about the shuttles is they're constantly stopping along the way and picking up more people/dropping people off.

Once we arrived in Granada we came to Hostel Oasis which is a backpackers paradise! There is a pool, hammocks, free coffee/tea, free sweetbread and so many friendly travelers! It is great! We ran into two girls that we met in San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala which was fun.

The hostel owns another hostel on a lagoon and it has free day trips to the lagoon. We went and enjoyed a relaxing day at the lagoon with sunshine and good company! There was a group of about 12 of us all traveling with different agendas and it was fun to compare the places we have been and are going. Everyone is so kind and helpful. Some of them were from Europe and when I told them about having 8 countries left to meet my goal of 25 by 25 -- they gave me a few options of accomplishing it easily through Europe. I still have not decided where I will be doing my last 8 countries -- either Europe or South America.. decisions, decisions!  I will probably go with whichever one is cheaper to do. And the cool thing is my friend Kelsey adopted my goal of 25 by 25 and has 8 left to go as well so we will be doing it together!! :)

There are 7 of us not captured in this photo... Total of 20 people in the shuttle 

Granada is a beautiful city! 

I met two brothers from Ohio that I have been hanging out with now. They too will be will be in Panama city on Christmas day and we are now going to try and meet up again then. We went out in Granda last night and explored the nightlife. There was a huge parade going on that I watched during dinner. My dad told me later he joined it and was marching in the back. There were hundreds of people in it! The streets were packed!

One of the floats from the parade

Jackson and Will (brothers from Ohio at our hostel)

My Dad got a haircut for 2 dollars 

Today we are going to go on a bike ride and exploring Granada! I will try and update again sooner! I can't believe we only have three weeks left! This trip is going by way too fast! I wish it would slow down!

Tomorrow we are heading to San Juan Del Sur which is a surfing town in Nicaragua close to the boarder of Costa Rica. We are staying there for 3 nights and then heading to Costa Rica!