Advanced Diver!!

So a few days on Utila turned into two weeks!! Vita and I liked diving so much that we took a second advanced couse, which means that were are now certified to dive up to 100ft under water! I have 12 dives under my belt uncluding 3 or 4 deep dives (past 70ft). We made good friends with our dive instuctor and got into lots of trouble! Imagine the two of us under water doing flip, summer-saults, up-side-down mischeif etc... We love to observe the under water coral, fish etc. but our real love is the weightless experience and try to take advantage of that as much as we can. Thus with all of our dive masters we were refered to as ¨circus divers¨... I consider that a complement!!!

Carlee Ann surprised us a few days before were were going to meet up on the main land and we got to take her out on the boat and snorket with her. We went looking for whale sharks but didn´t see any that day, we did get to play with a beautiful dolphin family though. On our first day of Advanced diving Vita and I did get the oppurtunity to see a whale shark though! We were chaseing boils, where fish freak out above a whale shark and just flip around at the surface of the water. It is how we identify where the whale sharks are. We jumped in a few times on top of the boils but didn´t see anything, finally i jumped in a looked straight down with my snorkel mask. RIGHT BELOW ME was a huge whale shark!! I don´t know how deep it was but later my friends told me that he dove down and looked straight into his eye!! I freaked out, a little, and started swimming away becasue all I could think about was if this guy comes up even a little I´ll be riding him!! It was really amazing. Not to mention later that day while diving I got to swim with a turtle!!!

Ok so, to catch up to now- we are now on the main land near Lago Yojoa. Tomorrow we are taking a bunch of busses to cross the border into Nicaragua. From there we are going to seach around for another language school, maybe starting Monday. Then play around in Nicaragua till Anna comes in late May where we will have two weeks to travel to Costa Rica!! Sorry still no pictures but I´ll try to borrow my friends camera and put some of hers later!

Honduras

Since Mexico and my two full days of sitting on my ass driving or boating out of the country I have passed through Belize and am now in Honduras. I was in Belize from last Sunday until Friday, when we took a boat into Honduras. Belize was a really funky place. The difference from Mexico hits you as soon as you cross the border. There is a lot of diversity in Belize, traditional Mayans, Garifuna peoples descended from slaves, pirate descendants, Spanish and British Colonizer's descendants and of course all the the people in between. Technically they speak English in Belize as it used to be British Honduras but really the people grow up speaking Creole which comes from English but is like listening to a completely different language. Examples of creole:
"Beta noh lita"- don't litter
"pik ney"- children
"lef"- leave
"wanna go so o so?" -want to go this way, or that way

Its like English in a blender! It was almost uncomfortable for me to hear a language that I knew but in a way I didn't know, like my brain couldn't process why it couldn't understand!! The culture can be described in one phrase, "everything is everything," which from what I understand means something like everything is just how it is, so.... I saw a lot of negative effects from that cultural mindset. There is so much poverty. Also there is an interesting part of their romantic culture. It seemed like they just trade lovers, one couple has a few kids and the whole time they cheat on each other and then they break up and then they repeat that cycle again and again- endlessly. I don't really say that as an outsider, these are words taken out of locals mouths. We were there with Jalima's family and really got sucked into the life there and experienced it as family would rather then as tourists. I was really kind of bothered with that mindset. It is so different than the experience I had in India where the mentality was "everything is possible," or "sab cuch malega." Rather than embracing the limits they embrace the potential of life. I guess here is where we realize the lessons in discovering the differences in cultures...

On a last note, like I said, I am in Honduras now. On a island called Utila. The reef is supposed to be some of the best in the world here and there is a big diving culture. On a whim Vita and I decided to get certified. We start today and will be done in four days. In the end we will have like 3 or 4 open water dives under our belts!! Anna should meet up with us in like six weeks, and I think Carlee Ann will meet up with us as well. All is wonderful and still very "sab cuch malega" with me!!

San Miguel Allende

Well first of all I lost my camera so I won't be putting pictures up until I can use my friends camera. Sorry for those of you who are only into the picture brows. Second I have had chronic strep throat for about a week, just so you can all feel bad for me. Third, stop feeling bad for me because this past week has been great. My dad and I met up in Mexico city, spent the night in a bus station, to a 5 hour bus here and have been having a blast the whole time. I am really learning what it is like to discover your parent has a human being before they were your parent. We have met all his old friends, teachers, etc. and I can see why living here was such a momentus experience for him. I have been touched by those same people though I have only known them for a week. Tomorrow We are both taking a bus to the airport where I will fly to cancun (2 hours) then bus to a border town(6 hours) catch another bus to belize city (a few more hours) then take a chicken bus to Independence then a water taxi to the small town my friends are in...... i think that is like two days of traveling. Oh well such is the nature of this experience. After my camera was stolen I decided it happend for a reason and am going to do without a camera, but promise to borrow friends to post pictures when I can. Here is something that I started working on, in progress but an idea of my work:

"Upon leaving Mexico April 2, 2010"

I take Frida as my mother

-braid her into my hair

the Spainards as a bastard father

the arch nosed Aztecas as abuelo

the full skirted dark eyed Myans as abuela

bougie, high heel clacking

mujeres de La Ciudad de Mexico, as tias

sombrero wearing hombres,

with hard callused hands, as tios.

I take in these ancestors

till the breath ferments in my blood

I take them in, with their children

their sun bleached ruins

their murials woven of heros and villans

their savory taco stands

-the certain way the greese falls into the web of my fingers

-the relief as watermelon agua fresca chills me from the belly button up

and I wrap them up into a page

I present them to you

here, in the shape of a flower

may you wear in above your ear

so that the colors of these souls

are fragrent for all.

Breathe deeply