Berta’s Travel Shenanigans

After chatting with some peeps on the ferry to Utila, Alan (a Belgian guy I recognized from the hostel in San Pedro Sula) and I followed the advice that I received from my Tela drinking companions – we put our heads down and walked straight through the swarms of dive shop reps trying to recruit from most of the 20 or so shops on the island; we were signing up at Ecomarine/Gunter’s dive shop.  Didn’t take too long to get there as Utila is the smaller of the three Bay Islands of Honduras.  There are two main roads on which very few actual cars drive – scooters and golf carts are the principal mode of transport…and feet of course. 

As opposed to Roatan and Guanja, people go to Utila for mainly one thing:  cheap diving.  Read the rest of this entry »

Have arrived home13 days ago …ok, well, the last 7 days have been spent over in Halifax – presented my undergrad research (via poster presentation) @ the Canadian Psychological Association convention; which proved to be an effective means to switch my focus back to that area of my life.  This even despite trying to figure out how to answer the question that has been plaguing me (via other people) since January – “So Bobbie, what do you do back home?  Are you a (grad) student?  Do you work?”  blah, blah, blah…I settled for some version of “I’m dabbling” to “I’m transitioning” to “Nothing”.  haha.  Anyhow, the purpose of this blog is simply to update any of those who have not given up on checking my site – I do have a few more posts to come, covering my time in Utila, Honduras as well as Guatemala.  And there’s a few goodies that occurred over my last 2 weeks of travel … so, don’t give up, check back is what I’m trying to say! 

It never ceases to amaze me how different Caribbean coasts are from the rest of whichever country they may be in – Tela is no exception.  Right on the coast of the Caribbean sea, Tela is about halfway between the Gautemala border and the the ´famous´ Bay Islands…where cheap, cheap, cheap scuba diving is in abundance.  Now, it took quite an effort to get here – I dare say it may have been emotional at times.  Starting from Tegucigalpa, I landed at the bus terminal after doing some necessary running around (including shopping!  yayyyy…new shirts can be quite a thing eh?).  Despite having checked earlier, the bus I wanted leaving Tegucigalpa @ 11 was now cancelled and the next one @ 12:30…which became 1pm…which didn´t leave till close to 1:30.  To pass the time I read, wrote/swore in my journal, etc. and thats when it dawned on me that no one in Central America seems to need to occupy the “waiting period”… at least not like I was.  People just sit there.  Sometimes talking, mostly just staring straight ahead, no worries.  Tried it, can´t do it…need to be busy!  Haha. 

Right, because of the delayed bus I, of course, missed the connecting bus to Tela – Read the rest of this entry »

First and foremost – CONGRATS! to Joline and Derek on their engagement. Haha, managed to get a call in from the Nicaraguan border to hear the news.  This also brings me to a very important travel tip that I subsequently acquired via situational learning:  do not do any kind of currency exchange with non-official peeps when you are distracted….!  In fact (and I KNOW this will sound very obvious to yall but I did know what I was doing … just didn´t quite pull through in the intelligence part when the time came) if you are travelling across the border only change $20 if you know you can´t get to a bank at the border.  Then change the bulk of money @ the bank M&F, 9-5, and bring id.  If this isn´t going to work for you, get a quote from more than 1 person, walk away and do the calculations yourself.  And don´t be like me and simply ´know´ these tips…actually follow through on them when the time counts.  Got a wee-bit ripped off getting into Nicaragua…oops!  Read the rest of this entry »

(Continued from: Dawson sister reuinion: surviving La Cangreja & hitting the Pacific) Then to Monteverde…unfortunately for Joline, I still had at this point more than a month of travelling – soooo, I outright refused to agree on taking the nice, air-conditioned shuttle bus for the 4-5 hour journey.  Hmmm, $5 for the local bus or $50 for the shuttle….hmmm, what to choose, what to choose?!  So despite getting some dagger shooting glances on each of the two buses, we made it quite happily from M.Antonio –> Quepos –> Puntarenas –> Monteverde.  Joline even managed to order herself some jello instead of ice cream in my absence…very funny to come across that sight.  Read the rest of this entry »

So am I currently in limbo, trying to get from La Cruz, Costa Rica to Nicaragua…can´t seem to get more info r.e. transportation strikes…well, ´technically´ I am just trying to get my butt down to the beach.  Ahh, the joys of local buses.   My low level of Spanish still leaves me rather confused over some things, including why I couldn´t get a beer from a fridge full of them at a hotel bar\restaurant by the bus stop…hmmm.  No dramas though…am staying at a lovely inn that has a beautiful view of the Bahia Salinas (a bay) so will be hanging out there probably until tomorrow. 

Joline departed back to Spud-island 3 days ago…her ten days here went by sooo quickly, but we had a fantastic time!  First and foremost, I insisted we go to La Cangreja, Read the rest of this entry »

We started off our adventures in Bocas Town by taking full advantage of the small bar/restaurant next door, and then heading out for dinner. Though having full intentions of heading straight to bed with my 1.5 L of water, I instead accompanied my partner in crime, Sian, when she told me she (therefore ‘us’) were going to Acqua, a bar on another island.

See, the thing about Bocas is that everyday there are fantastic happy hours (beer less than one US dollar – Panama is a dollarized economy as trusty ´Accountant Ed-the-Money´ informed us) and every night seems to be Ladies Night Read the rest of this entry »

And our slightly dysfunctional Raleigh-staff ‘family’ is back on the booze (after 10, thats right, 10 weeks of sobriety!)…and regretting every minute of the accompanying hangover – something that was not missed in any way, shape, or form.  Having waited patiently for two staff members to return from dropping the rest of the venturers off in San Jose, the beers were cracked open @ 7pm.  A nice meal and heavy alcohol consumption at Turritico Read the rest of this entry »

    … move mouse over the pic for the title…
Read the rest of this entry »