The weather started getting rough...

Denise drove us to the ferry this morning and we had a teary goodbye before boarding the boat for Roatan.  The first 20 minutes were fine but then, disaster struck!   First, Tilghman turned greenish gray and kept hoofing it to the bathroom.  Meanwhile, I, Sully, felt really hot. I was sweating profusely and thinking to myself it doesn't seem as hot as the last time. Why am I sweating so much? According to Laura, I was very pale. She kept asking me if I was okay. I was thinking I'm fine, I'm just watching the horizon! Why do you keep asking? People all around us started throwing up.  Laura went up to check on T. The ferry people had handed out these little barf baggies, but I didn't want one because I was watching the horizon!  Now, I really needed one and they were no where to be seen. I started having that nauseous feeling just a little. I thought I can handle this. Next thing I know I've just thrown up a little in my hand. There was a trash can nearby, but I didn't have time to move. I fire hosed my breakfast all over myself, the seat in front of me and on/in one of our bags!  It was EVERYWHERE.  Back to Laura narrating: After seeing all that carnage I started feeling sick. I went astern with Alden and concentrated on anything BUT all the puke that was everywhere.  God, it was awful.  The swells were huge and we were rolling in the middle.   Tilghman finally started getting himself together but Sully continued to hurl into his little pink baggy.  Alden and I were still deep breathing and hanging in there.  Finally the island came into view and I thought we might just make it.  Came into port and I continued to feel horrible but I kept it together.  Came into  the ferry building and our bud Nelson was there to pick us up.  Stopped in Coxen hole for a few groceries and some ginger ale and headed to our little tree house.  So glad to be back " home" and off of that damn ferry.  Laying low today.

Down for the count.

After some recovery time we went down to the dock for a little swim. We jumped off the top(about 13 feet above the water). Everything was fine, but then disaster struck(again)! Tilghman tried to dive off, but then pulled up mid-air becuase Alden had just resurfaced and was closer than he expected, and belly flopped so hard it knocked the breath out of him and left his whole chest red for two hours after. Alden had just resurfaced, and saw a blur that was parallel to the water and said "What are you doing?!", while Laura yelled for him to stop. Then, Alden was swimming back to the ladder and got stung badly on the neck by a jellyfish tentacle. 

We've decided not to do a whole lot else today. It's just not our day.

Moreno

This is Moreno, the family's little cocker spaniel. He's only a year old, and the kids have had the best time with him. I think he is going to miss us as much as we will miss him. 

Goodbye La Ceiba

Alden here-Yesterday we probably walked a mile or two around the city. We went to a little souvenir shop to get some little gifts to take back home. Then, after that, we stopped at a gas station, where they were playing the Brazil vs. Chile game. We left after the game paused (1-1). They were going to do a shoot-out because it was the knockout round. After that we went to the house to drop the gifts off, then headed back out for lunch and groceries. In the mall we caught the end of the shoot-out. Lots of the people there were cheering for Chile, but some, including us, were cheering for Brazil. They were tied for shoot-outs until the last Chile shooter missed and the ball bounced off the post. Then Neymar Jr shot, and scored! Brazil stays in the World Cup, Chile is out. After that, we ate lunch, where we caught the interview with Brazil's goalie, where he cried, being so grateful. After lunch in the mall, we went grocery shopping. We had to get food for Roatan becuase on the island it's so expensive. After that, we walked home, watched the Colombia-Uruguay game (2-0, I think). All day, Denise and her daughter had been cooking for this city event. (Denise had stayed up until midnight cutting chicken) We helped them load the things in Denise's dad's truck, and then mom, dad and Tilghman went back inside to watch the game. I hopped in the truck with Denise and her daughter, Melanie, to go help them. While we were there, one lady asked me very fast in Spanish to put the chicken bones in a bag for her little dog. When I looked up, I expected her to stop talking, because I don't look one bit Hondureña, but she kept talking, so Melanie, who speaks both Spanish and English, came to my rescue. Later she told me what the lady was saying, becuase all I caught was "perrito", (little dog). After that we came home, ate dinner, only to find that Denise had more energy, she was going to take us on a city tour in her dad's truck at 9 o'clock at night. We drove to the beach, got ice cream, then headed back to return the truck to her parents house. We visited them for "un ratito" (a little bit) Denise's dad is really nice, and so is her mom. Denise's dad offered to drop us off at the house, and when we got there Denise realized she had forgotten her keys in the truck, so we had to call Denise's dad and get him to drive over and drop off the keys. When we got inside we were all exhausted (except for Denise). Today we leave La Ceiba, but I am determined to return, I would love to come and study at the  University of La Ceiba, and Denise has offered to let me stay here, when I do come back. She has been such a great host this whole time, and we will miss her bunches. 

Friday we're exhausted

We were late to class because there was a parrot on the neighbor's roof.

He would answer if you called "Hola."

We finished our classes today. Alden seems to understand all the foundations of Spanish. Laura and I finished learning about the gazillion verb tenses in Spanish. During the break I felt like staring at the wall for a while. I was a little overwhelmed.

Ending on a high note we played Boca Loreal in Spanish, aka guess a verb, adjective, animal, plant and country that starts with a random letter from the alphabet. As usual Laura talked a big game, then came in last place.

Denise cooked all our favorites tonight. Empanadas and beet salad. She put refried beans in these really cool clay braziers and made nachos in them.

Alden has been Denise's helper in the kitchen. She has been willingly washing dishes and cooking. Go Denise!

We also has to say goodbye to all of the little kids at the daycare today.  We gave everyone tattoos, which they loved.  Tomorrow we're are planning to go into the city to check things out and do a little shopping.

The amazing Carter kids

Ok, so I just need to brag on my kids for a minute. Who would have thought Alden and Tilghman would happily study another language during summer? Believe it, or not they happily grab their little notebooks and head off to school. 

They have been great little helpers at the daycare place too. 

Alden has decided she wants to come do a semester abroad at the University of La Ceiba and live with Denise when she's in college.

In other news, Laura and I are learning new verb tenses, which come in handy trying to talk to people in Spanish and actually sound like a grown up. 

We played Scrabble in Spanish today. Laura talked big and came in last place.

Denise took us to the best grocery store in town so we could see what they had. She told us most people buy their food on the mainland and take it to the islands because it's so much cheaper. By the way, Jenna we finally found Fud and get this, they have a light version too.

God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our "Fud"!

Miercoles

Our days are very full here.  We wake up at about 6:30, take showers and get ready for school.  Denise, our host mom has breakfast ready at 7:00.  At 7:50 we leave the house to walk 2 blocks to school. Our teachers get right down to business as soon as we arrive.  We each have our own instructor which is great because we can all study at different levels.  After two hours we take a 15 minute break.  The second class lasts for 1 hour and 45 min and then we head home at 12:00 for lunch.  After lunch we take showers again and then work on our home work.  At 3:00 we walk a couple of blocks over to the daycare center where we read books, play on the play ground and get completely slimed by about 30 little kids with grubby little mango fingers.  But they are so cute and fun to play with.  At 5 we come home and take showers again.  Dinner is at 6.  At night we have been playing cards with our host mom and her son Oscar.  We taught them how to play golf ( a fun card game) last night and had a ball.  Denise is great to talk to and our Spanish is definitely improving.  We've been going to bed around 9:30 after our 4th shower of the day.  It is sooo hot here!  Throw a little World Cup in here and there and we call it a day.

Empanadas for dinner

The salad with this meal was so awesome Laura and I licked the bowl.

Selfie at school

First day of class

So, we all took placement tests yesterday. Needless to say we all need lots of instruction. Tilghman is getting a head start on upper school Spanish. Alden is reviewing verbs as am I. Laura is working on other verb tenses. The school is well organized and our teachers are really nice. Laura says her teacher is very direct, how perfect. My teacher is totally bilingual. He spent three years at UNC in Raleigh, NC. That's helpful for me because he understands both languages thoroughly. Alden's teacher is very talkative. She and Alden keep getting off track, which is way more fun and practical.

Tilghman showed his teacher a card trick and she was amazed. He has to explain the trick in Spanish for homework.

Otherwise, it is some kind of hot and humid here, like Virginia in August. I'm calling it our Honduran weight loss program. 

We volunteered at the daycare center again. Alden and I had a ball trying to read picture books in Spanish. Tilghman ran crowd control and Laura helped rescue the little ones from falling down. Afterwards, we drew all kinds animals for the kids to color. We're finishing up our homework and waiting for a yummy dinner of empanadas. Alden is taking an interest in cooking with Denise.

Tilghman at school during break. Doesn't he look happy?

En la casa Denise

So, Sully got his wish to have a good cook for a host mom.  Denise is wonderful.  She is very curious about where we live, what we eat, what we do for fun and everything in between.  Her Spanish is pretty easy to understand so we are getting lots of practice.  We had a tour of the city today with our professors including the coast, the market and Mazapan, the area that Dole has in the city. It's like it's own city. There was a little park showing all of Dole's good deeds in the city. Apparently, most of their operations are based in Southern Honduras and Costa Rica. We also learned that Hondurans get to eat the rejected bananas. All the small, best tasting bananas don't pass the test. They are really good. 

This afternoon we went to a daycare center for single moms. Laura had a whole lesson planned with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. It didn't go as planned, but we had fun and ended up on the playground playing soccer and swinging. We're going back each afternoon this week to help out. The kids are really cute.

Here are the kids at Swinford Park, the Dole Park.

I loved this advertisement. Who wants an Angry Whopper?

Rested well in La Ceiba

Alden here, we woke up at 6 (Honduras time), as opposed to 5, which is good, because school starts at 8. Denise, our host mom is very nice, talkative, easy to understand and speaks some English too. She has 3 children, who are 24, 22 and 20. The 20 year old speaks English fluently and still lives with her, because his school is in La Ceiba, while the others have gone to universities in San Pedro Sula. The 24 year old wants to become a cardiologist, the 22 year old wants to work in international relations, and she is fluent in French, English and Spanish. The 20 year old wants to work in finance and is finishing up school in La Ceiba. Last night Denise and her friend taught me how to make Baleadas, a traditional Honduras dish. This consists of homemade tortillas, which have easy ingredients but are very hard to pat into a tortilla shape. Then you put them in a little skillet, then put beans, meat, cheese and egg in it and fold it up and YUM!! The picture is of Denise in her kitchen.

We made it to La Ceiba

We woke up this morning in Sandy Bay, went snorkeling, came back played in the pool and still had plenty of time pack up and get to the ferry. We zipped on down to the main land to a city called La Ceiba. Along the way we saw flying fish and talked to a nice family with a really cute 4 year old boy. He showed off all his English for us including his ABC's and the names of lots of animals. 

We were met by Maria and her son Carlo at the dock who took us to our host, a really nice lady named Denise. She has a Cocker Spaniel that Buppy loves and she taught Bipsy and Laura to make tortillas for dinner. We are worn out from the ferry ride, so we'll update you tomorrow.

Snorkeling in sandy bay

Today when we went snorkeling we saw all kinds of fish. We saw lots of angel fish with blue spots. Alden spotted a eel in the sea grass, yikes! The starfish were very big almost as big as dads hand. After we snorkeled we played Marco, Polo in the pool we all tried to get dad he is very sneaky. Right now we are waiting at the house for our nice taxi driver Nelson to come pick us up. Vamos a sandy bay.

-Tilghman

 

Oh what a beautiful morning...

Our days have been so long here.  We are up with the sun at 5 and go to bed when it gets dark around 8, with a long rest in the middle of the day.  As a result it seems like everyday is twice as long.  This morning Tilghman said it feels like we have been here for two weeks. So glad that we get to come back here next week!  Spent the day yesterday doing the usual snorkeling, sunning, swimming etc.  Alden and Sully saw a squid and a big moray eel.  We have all been so amazed at the variety of fish and coral and plants, the diversity is amazing. Took a cab down to West End for dinner at the Cannibal Cafe and made it home just as the skies opened up.  Slept like rocks last night listening to the rain.  We catch the ferry today at 2 for La Ceiba and a week of Spanish school.

Our little green friend

This guy keeps hanging around. Sometimes he puffs up his bright red neck too.

Alden & T swinging

Alden walking on the water

T doing his Tarzan move

Rope swing on our dock

Swimming, snorkeling, sunning and napping...another day in paradise!

2:1 Ecuador, bummer

Well Honduras did not win their match but they did make their first World Cup goal in 29 years.  Carlos Costly, whose dad played in the WC for Honduras in 1982, made a beautiful goal early on but could not keep up with Ecuador.  After the game we decided to walk back to Sandy Bay, thinking it was right around the corner.  3+ miles later and getting dark we finally got home.  A slight miscalculation but made it back in time to cool off in the pool before bed.  Today I think that we are going to stay put, having all agreed Sandy Bay rocks!

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL

Sitting at a beach side bar drinking Mojitos and watching the Honduras vs. Ecuador World Cup match.  After a great morning snorkeling off of our beach we spent the rest of the day in West End, a serious twenty something, touristy, hang out, dive town.  Very glad we chose Sandy Bay.  West End was packed with people and loud music, whereas our little beach is just sun, sand and beautiful turquoise water.

Chillin

Bipsy chillin

First full day

Wow!  What an incredibly long day.  We were up at 5 on account of the two hour time change.  Yoga and breakfast and by 7:30 we were sun screened up and swimming out to the reef.  It was quite a swim but we finally made it and boy was it worth the swim!  The coral is beautiful, pink, purple, yellow, bright orange.  We saw brain coral, fan-like coral and these undulating little bumpy, branchy coral that was a beautiful shade of yellow.  And the fish!  Schools of every size and color you can imagine.  Just when I thought I had surely seen every one, a new one would swim by.  We saw this crazy, long yellow striped fish that hung out, vertically upside down.  Lots of sea stars and a sting ray were spotted along the sandy bottom and in the sea grass.  Alden saw a moray eel and Tilghman saw a puffer fish.  We spent the rest of the day napping, snacking, swimming, sunning, playing cribbage and just soaking it all in. We plan to go snorkeling this morning and then head down the road a bit to another little town.  Honduras plays Ecuador today so we hope to grab a beer and catch the game in town.  All is well and we are doing fine.  Feel very safe here as we are up in a tree house at the top of three flights of steps.  And there is a security guard that patrols around making sure that everything is ok.  No need to worry, we are having a great time!

Pics from the beach

Views of the beach

View of our place

Pics from the treehouse

View from our porch

Laura in the hammock

Some old man in the livingroom

Roatan

We made it down here no problem and it is BEAUTIFUL!

Our host Dan was at the airport to greet us.  We stopped by a little grocery store to get some breakfast and lunch items and then on to the cabana.  Sundancer Cabanas are small two story wooden houses nestled in the trees along the beach. We are on the second floor with a big screened in front porch.  Although we have AC we didn't need it.  The strong ocean breeze kept it nice and cool.   The place is full of trees and flowering shrubs and as a result there are beautiful birds and lizards everywhere.  It is mango season and Alden is in heaven. There is a huge mango tree right next to our house and she and the fruit bats are enjoying the bountiful supply of fruit, literally on our doorstep.  As soon as we arrived we threw on our suits and headed for the beach.  Sandy Bay beach is a secluded little stretch of beach that has palm and almond trees growing right down on the sand.  There is a long dock with an elevated observation deck. We all enjoyed jumping off of it into the water below.  We did a bit of snorkeling and saw a conch and two sea stars.  Did not make it out to the reef because it was pretty rough.  A lady that we met on the dock suggested that we should try in the morning as the sea is calm then.  And that is our plan for today.  Tilghman and I were up early and did some yoga at the end of the dock as the sun came up.  We have just finished breakfast and are slowly motivating to snorkel out to the reef.  It is so peaceful here, the wind in the palms, the calls of the birds and the chatter of angry hummingbirds. Mmmm a beautiful day in paradise.

View from our steps of all the mangos

Here we come Honduras!

SALT 4 is headed to Honduras!  On Wednesday, June 18 we will be flying to Roatan, an island off the north coast of Honduras.  On Roatan we will spend 4 nights on Sandy Bay beach in Sundance Cabanas.  There is a beautiful coral reef that surrounds the island that is swimming distance from shore.  After 4 bliss filled days of snorkeling and exploring the island we will take a ferry to the mainland.  We will spend a week at a Spanish Immersion School (Centro International de Idiomas) in La Ceiba, studying Spanish and living with a host family.  We will take classes in the morning and in the afternoon we will volunteer at a local orphanage.  Afterwards, we will return to Roatan for a few days of relaxation before flying home on July 2.  We are looking forward to our trip and hope that you enjoy the journey with us online. 

Roatan

La Ceiba