April and May

My what can we say! We have been busy and it has been a long time!

Dani's work continues and our final three weeks seems to require more time for a big research project in conjunction with the UCA (University of Central America), the majority of time left Dani will spend in Esteli (3 hours drive up North from Masaya) carrying out questionaires in VERY remote communities. Just yesterday they crossed a shallow ford in a truck, by the time they needed cross back later it had rained and turned into a river, where their truck almost didn't make it back!

Although we have spent a lot of time away from Masaya here and there it is becoming more and more like home each time we return. Although we are both very much looking forward to coming home we are not wishing our time away and we will miss Masaya very much. It is a city which celebrates almost ANYTHING on any occasion in style day and night... here are some photos to show the local streets where we live dressed up for Semana Santa.

Since the last time I blogged, we have visited the Bay Islands where we met up with friends Alison and Alex , overlapping our time together for a week! Si came over to visit for almost three weeks where we went volcano bording and surfing in Leon, volcano climbing in Ometepe and scuba diving on the Corn Islands. We have just returned from Honduras where we joined Jenny (Matt's Mum) and Jennifer who came over for three weeks to see the incredible CH Trust (Children of Honduras Trust) projects.

We wish we could upload photos of it all, but the connection here seems slow at best so when we return photos will be put on facebook.

Here are some of the highlights from Roatan and Utila and our 13 day trip to the Bay Islands... We arrived in Roatan and spent the first few days relaxing, swimming, snorkelling in the corals just of shore and enjoying the beach!

Our hotel room is hiding somewhere in the bushes... Just a stones throw from the beach in West Bay Roatan

See what I mean.... view from our room!

We visited the Iguana Farm... There were over 3,000 iguanas there and they just love feeding time!!!

Nyom nyom nyom....

Mind the feet! They like to run over your feet when scrambling for their lunch.

This was the entrance to the hotel where we spoiled ourselves! (felt like we deserved a few days of relaxation... oh and lots of nice food!)

The entrance "gangway" to our room at night

CAKES!!!! At last proper cakes! Gotta love the all inclusive buffet

Each night the colours of the table cloths, back drops were changed! It was beautiful....

This is the gorgeous view outside our hotel ... Dani will hate me for this

We stayed in both West Bay and West End - both very different parts of Roatan... Water taxis were the quickest, cheapest and funnest ways of getting around. This is one of the bar and restaurants in West End where we ate over looking the water... We were very pleased for the nice breeze in the evening... The waitress however (after the breeze whipped Dani's menu over the side and into the water) ... was not!

After a few nights in Roatan we met Alex and Albo at the airport. For me it was great to be able to communicate easily in English (though my Spanish has improved it is often difficult understanding locals at the speed at which they talk, not to mention all of the colloquial words they so often use!). We had a catch up and a couple of chilled days at the beach, kayaking in the bay and drinks whilst the sun went down. We enjoyed the local cuisine, saw our first snake outside our apartment and then headed over to Utila on Captain Verns catamaran. 4 hours of sun with music playing and a cool box on board ... perfect!

Utila in the distance



Relaxing on deck with feet on the trampoline (I'm not sure if that's the offical name or not but it was bouncy!)



View of the lighthouse hotel as we came in to the bay in Utila... We would recommend this to ANYONE! It was a really nice hotel with an incredible view, including the odd sting ray swimming by. Hugs were frequently given by Thelma who, with her husband, runs the lighthouse.

 We tried to eat at the many different places on the main strip whilst in Utila . It was smaller, quiter and much less expensive than Roatan. We had around 5 nights relaxing, eating out, drinking the local beer (and one night tequilla), relaxing on the beach and learning to scuba diving (PADI taster)

Dani, Alex and Albo: Eating out at a very nice Thai restaurant



We all met up with the two guys we shared the boat over with in a bar called "tranquila" which is a play on the Spanish word for "calm or tranquil" and obviously tequila! We didnt feel too tranquil in the morning when a round of 4 beers, 4 rum and cokes and 4 tequillas was only 12 pounds!

 

They might look innocent.....

The four of us hired a boat and a "driver" (Captain Jake) to take us to a remote and deserted (ish) island for the day.  The few hours were spent relaxing, snorkelling and swimming. It was incredible and the most quiet, calmest beach I have been on.

Dani celebrating her victory: Captain Jake fishing on the way back let us help reel them in by hand.

First time SCUBA... PADI taster session (which afterward found out that acording to my doctor I should not do!)

Dani did an additional day, so now she only needs a extra dive or two and a final test to be qualified!

After our incredible few days together on Utila Dani and I left for one more night in Roatan before flying back to Nicaragua for the PhD stress to begin again!!

Sunset meal on the pier at the Thai restaurant

Other then the $40 taxes each to pay when you leave(!!!) it was truly brilliant! The nicest beaches we have ever seen, great company (Thanks Albo and Alex!), incredible weather and magnificent views.

Coming up next on the blog: "Simon Needle visits Nicaragua!" (cheesy news heading style), more on CH Trust in Honduras and an update on the thesis!