Gratitude

Happy Mother's Day! As we post this last blog, Namanda (Nick & Amanda) would like to take the opportunity to thank the mothers (and fathers) out there for giving space for your son and daughters to further spread their wings over Central American's vibrant currents. How to encapsulate three months of intense living and inspiring transformations... although there is not so much a need for this, since the 'light bulbs' from our trip have registered at bodily levels, and will thrive in us and lead us onwards.
For one, I think we'd all agree how we've learned of the freedom that comes from opening up to the magic of the moment. For one, I (Amanda) am reminded of that as I scribe this blog from Arizona. Prior to May 5, I had no plans to make it home for Mother's Day, but found the world conspire to move me in this direction as our CAM family attempted to travel to our respective homes from Roatan, Honduras.
On May 5, we arrived to the Roatan aiport and Namanda began the check-in process. To our amazement, we learned that five of the eight of us had our plane tickets mysteriously 'canceled'. While a bit strange, we expected this to eventually sort itself out, but ultimately Nick, Tim and Julia had to board the plane without the other five after we said our abrupt goodbyes. The rest of us hunkered down to 6.5 hours of airport time while we phoned our travel agent nearly every half hour in hopes of new flight confirmations. As the airport shut its lights off around 7pm, we swiftly negotiated vouchers for food and lodging, and set off in a taxi for West End beach. Safely checked into our hotel, we found out from headquarters that indeed we'd have the same flight schedule the next day. We drifted off to sleep with that relief and assurance.
The morning greeted us with another unexpected surprise: rumors of strikes on the island which might prevent us from traveling to the airport from West End. We heard several different stories, but ultimately took the advice of a taxi driver wielding a cell phone and radio. He anticipated that the strikers would close down several more routes as the day progressed, and that it would be best for us to leave for the airport immediately.
As this driver (who we learned is the president of taxi drivers on this side of the island) carted us to the airport, we learned more about the situation at hand. The strikers were Honduran construction workers frustrated with the reality that many Guatemalans have been arriving to the island and taking up jobs that would otherwise be theirs. As a result, many Hondurans were struggling with 'making ends meet'.
We arrived to the airport to find all but one of our plane tickets confirmed and easily ticketed. While we waited for TACA to locate Amanda's ticket, several reporters entered the airport to investigate the situation of plane departures in light of the striking laborers. Apparently, there had recently been an altercation between the police and the strikers, reporting several injured, and the rioters were now moving towards the airport. Amanda was briefly interviewed live by these reporters, before being called by TACA personel who asked all of us to move through security to our first flight which was taking off an hour and fifteen minutes before schedule. Unclear, but a bit relieved to have lift-off from the island, we boarded our first of four planes en route to San Francisco.
For the next twelve hours, Anjali, Hannah, Rachel, Jessica and Amanda rode the wave of travel home (Amanda having decided to suprise mom for mom's day rather than travel El Salvador), through La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula to San Salvador, and finally to the open arms of Julia awaiting us in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Nick was struggling with worry as he attempted launch into solo travel in Panama, and Tim was off to his Boston home.
The interesting twists of these final moments of our journey appropriately reflect the curiosities we encountered on our travels through the region. It's these unpredictables of life that encourage us to develop a comfortability with the 'chaos'. The attitudes with which we deal with these such situations that arise are ultimately those which sculpt our experiences of life...
We hope you continue to find the magic, the silver lining, the message of hope and possibility in every instance of our ever-changing lives. Remembering that it is our relationships with one another that sustain, and in the most frustrating and seemingly 'lost' of times, we can call on one another and again set aflight with the wings expanded in Central America. Que viva, pura vida.

Diving into our final week

We have found another paradise in Roatan, Honduras. Getting here was another trip in itself. Our taxi was late for our 4 am pickup at our hostel in San Jose, and at the airport we apparently "had reservations, but no tickets" and waited at the check-in desk for 1 1/2 hours. The rest of the day went complication free, despite the fact that we stopped at 4 more airports. Our hotel, Posada Las Orquideas, is a dream come true. We have three beautiful rooms with ocean views. Not to mention the simple convenience of water and electricity, both of which we were without the week before. Quick facts: We are on the West End, which is very touristy. The locals speak English, as well as a Creol dialect? because the British used to have control over the island. Ok, those were very quick facts.
We came to get certified in SCUBA, and Roatan is said to be the second best place to do just that (second to the great barrier reef of course). The dive shop is next door to our hotel, and is run by the sweetest, chillest, local people. Our classes consisted of watching 5 hilarious instructional videos (one of which was an infomercial for PADI "stuff"). Tony, our instructor, let us essentially teach ourselves the details. He didn't spend time in the classroom, but out in the water, he was great. The curriculum has closed-water dives, and open-water dives built into it. But this dive shop forgoes the close-water dives and takes students out in the ocean on the first day. Most of the group absolutely loved diving from day one. (The reef is such a beautiful world after all.) A couple of us were not as enthusiastic at first. When Hannah and I would begin panicking about a particular skill practice, Tony would say matter-of-factly, "why are you worried? This is the easiest sport in the world. All you have to do is breathe." Which is the truth, essentially. Not all of us are able to always see it that way, however, when we are many feet under the OCEAN. We all became certified on Saturday! With the exception of Jessica and Julia, who didn't take the course...(Jessica could not participate because of complications with a past head injury). Amanda was already certified on her last Carpe Diem trip in Australia, and chose to take 5 (we love our overachieving leader) courses. We all joined her in her final dive, the night dive. Tony told us before we set out that it is, "the safest dive", because we don't go deep, and stay in a small area. (And technically, if the night dive is the safest, and scuba is the easiest sport, we could have spent the evening in bed and been at the same risk level. Ha! According to this dude Tony.) We took down flashlights and were able to see lobsters, and other parts of the reef that only feed at night. Turning off the lights, we played in the phosphorescence. I personally had a terrifying experience when I floated to the surface due to a lack in weights, couldn't swim down, or find the boat. We had been warned that jellyfish swim at the surface at night. Tony pulled me down eventually (thanks to my amazing buddy Hannah) before I had a heart attack. All in all it was a great dive. Everyone was in a great mood afterward.
Although Jessica and Julia didn't take SCUBA courses, they were able to snuba, (which is the bizarre combination of snorkeling and scuba. One takes an air hose under the water, but without safety equipment used for scuba. Sounds more risky than scuba.), play with baby monkeys, and visit a local museum. Jessica and Rachel also swam with dolphins!
To get the vibe of this past week, we encourage you to listen to the following playlist (these songs were on repeat at the dive shop all day long):
1. Whatever you like--TI, and this song is also the theme song to the entire trip
2. Mad--Ne-yo
3. Right now--Akon
4. Miss Independent--Ne-yo
As it is our last week together, we planned a few final bonding evenings. We played a great game of "funniest Guatemala moments" charades, had a delicious potluck (each of the 3 rooms brought 1 or 2 special dishes, and it was quite a success), attempted to watch the Costa Rica vs. USA soccer game on tv, but ended up chatting on the beach, and tonight we have reservations at an ocean side restaurant. Our final night together! Yes, the time has finally come to say goodbye. We are in our last phases of organization before the trip home (although if you were to walk into one of our rooms the word "organization" would not come to mind). The students part ways with the fabulous leaders in San Salvador tomorrow evening, and go our separate ways the next morning. We all will miss Central America. What an experience this has been! I am failing to find words to express how valuable this journey has been. Thank You Carpe Diem! Goodbye dear blog readers, thanks for following. (For all you prospective CAM students, do it! Just do it. Wow.) With love, Anjali