Cascada El Bejuco.....aka grande waterfall!

View of cascada from balcony of our room~

Close up view of cascada 100 ft from it!!

Saturday: 3-7-09

Up by 7am..worried about sophie. She didn't jump up when she heard her daddy and just layed beside me when I awoke. Thought something was wrong. I think she was just at peace in the bed beside me tho and was fine once I got up and c took her out.

We still had not heard from Richard from the Villas Pico Bonito so we decided to just go with the original plan. Adonai picked us up at marina at 9am and we went to the mercada. So. Much. Fun. Saturday is a big day at the market and it was really fun walking thru the sidewalks. We saw sacks of rice, beans, we strolled thru grocery stores. We saw the fish sellers swatting the flies from their wares. We saw the meat shop...butchers cutting meat and pork and lots of organ meats!! Whole sides of beef hanging in their cubicles. Fruit. Veggies. Tortillas. People.....old, young, babies nursing.

Stopped at a cool "eat in" restaurant. Burritas. Baleado con carne=beans, cheese and meat wrapped in a tortilla, taco style. Mine was a tortilla with frijoles, carne, avacado, egg and cheese with an onion salsa. Man, oh man. YUMMY! Sat at blue picnic tables in their open air shop with many locals. Superb lunch and c could read the whole menu!!
Next, to the tamale stand where c bought some type of custard bread. We saw her yesterday, late in the day, swatting flies off her bucket. But this morning, there was a new batch and not so many flies!! So he got some ......!!

Met Andonai's daughters in the park and then back to the marina to get our stuff and pick up sophiejane. I was apprehensive because we had no reservation and since the place has only been finished for two weeks, I was sure they wouldn't let us take sj in. But c just went to talk to Lile and told him that we could never get in touch with Richard, the owner who was in Dallas, and he gave us the perfect room for two nights WITH a discount! We never said anything about sj and just drove straight into our villa. So nice. This place is gorgeous......bar, restaurant, pool right on the river with a perfect view right across from our balcony of the cascada. Lounged on the porch for a while and then went to pool. Inifinity pool. C visited with Lile at the bar and went down to the river. We then walked 12 minutes to the tourista information center to find out about a tour to the waterfall. We will go at 9am and have a 'gig'(guide) with us. I have volunteered to walk across the swinging bridge!! and then it will be a 2 hr hike to the falls and 1 hr back down. Hope I make it!!
Saw Kent and Heather at the Jungle rafting place and then came back to hang out at bar. Sweet spring break couple from Florida here, a guide from Omega Tours and an older couple. We then walked down to the river again and came back to hang out on the porch and watch the river..........c set up the camera to get a long exposure night shot of the cascada and then we will go to dinner............

Will add more tomorrow after the hike!!

It is now Sunday night. Sitting on the porch of our villa listening to the water thru the rocks in the river, watching the cascada fall in all its glory and looking at birds thru the binoculars….toucans, it looks like! Will look them up when I get back to internet but they were really neat.
Last night we had dinner on the porch of the bar in the palapa. Mauhi-mauhi and ribeye! Bruschetta that was killer. Up and off to the ~swinging bridge…more on this later~ by 9am where we began our hike. Mammma Mia…….oh wait, wrong country….however you say Holy Sh-t! in Spanish. Man, oh man. Literally a two hour hike waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up a mountain thru rocks, around trees, into the jungle. Can ya feel me here when I say my thighs are like mush tonight? And me, being totally out of shape, had to stop mucho times just to breathe. But when we got there? Breathtaking! Absolutely breathtaking. I’ve never seen such a huge cascada nor been so close to one. Adventure of a lifetime!
It took an hour and 15 minutes to get back down but at least most of the way was downhill…..and I stopped in some of the smaller lagoons to do a little cool down in the waters. I was never so happy to see the end of that trail tho only to then have to cross the “swinging bridge” again. Now just as much as I love tamales is exactly how much I HATE bridges. Just driving over them makes me creep out and I never thought I’d ever walk over one that swings this way and that and is held up by cables. Just as I knew before……..I could never be a candidate for the Amazing Race. Nu-uh…no way jose. (Which was also the name of our ‘gig’…guide –14 yrs old and never lost his breath once….hmph, youth!)
Once back on solid ground, we then had a 12 min walk back to the Villas and all I could focus on was that pool. If I could just make it back to the pool, I’d live. Believe me, I truly did not think I would make the last 10 min…..but I did and made a beeline for the water. Shucking shorts and shoes as I walked and slid right down into the water. Cannot remember the last time my body said, “Thank ya Mama”!!
Now, ya’ll should know also that the cap’n walked the whole hike in his flip flops carrying a backpike with mostly all of my crap on his back. Yet, he was so gentle with me the whole way, always asking if I needed to stop and rest. A winner, that one is!! And my hero!!
Pool time, a burger that was so rare that in usual time, I wouldn’t have been able to eat it…..but I did. Sorry, Rachel! And I was good to go. We just chilled the rest of the day away and are planning to have dinner on the porch again. We’ve met a few people and really enjoyed the time here.
Up and back to the boat at 8am…………headed to Utilla!

ADIOS TILL NEXT TIME!!

It is now Monday afternoon and we are anchored at Utilla. Internet access is not very good so I will have to post pics later.....but boy, do I ever have some pictures to share with you!!

And kids...as in our family peoples....we are not on daylight savings time so we are now one hour behind ya'll. FYI.

Pool that saved my life after hike!

Beautiful room overlooking the river.

Cap'n in the river below the villa!

Villas Pico Bonito!!

OMG! Seriously, that's all I can say right now. We've been looking for a place to stay for a couple nights in the rainforest. FOUND IT!!
We went on a research trip today, into the Pico Bonito National Forest...where I might add is the most gorgeous and biggest waterfall I've ever seen. Our hike to it will be tomorrow. 2 hrs to the falls and one hour back. And hopefully, we'll then sit by the infinity pool overlooking Rio Cangrejal. No lie! It is the most beautiful, tropical paradise ever. Seems like I keep saying that over and over, don't I??! Can't help it. Each day brings more beauty to these ol' eyes...
So.........I will post pics when I take more but until then I'm sending you the link to the villas.
http://www.villaspicobonito.com/index.html
Yesterday, we visited the Lodge at Pico Bonito and it was fabulous as well, but alas, no perro allowed.....so my talk to the sophiejane perro last night was that if this gets to be a habit she will stay at 'rio bonito' while mom goes to 'pico bonito'!!

And in town today? Pastelitos, rice and beans and fried plantains for lunch. And for those of you who don't know...this woman is a tamale lover.....in every sense of the word. And our driver took me to a tamale stand in the marketplace that would put U.S. tamales to shame. Shame, I tell ya. We had one to share and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. SO good that we went back on our way back to the boat and bought some more for dinner. You'll see when you see my pics of the most fab tamales in the whole wide world!!

Oh..........and if you have a chance go look up Cascada el Bejuco. It's the waterfall that we'll be seeing tomorrow!!

This one's for you....chad & charlie!!

This will be your beverage of choice!!

Cayos Cochinos

The Hog Islands! 13 of 'em. All mostly uninhabited except for fishermen and a few places for divers to stay. We anchored last night at Cochino Grande (hush, dirty girls and you know who you are!) It was a really nice sail to there and took us about 4 hrs. Dinghyed into shore to check it out and found the Plantation Beach Resort....we were going to have dinner there but they have to have at least 4 hrs notice for anyone eating....island time, remember? So, we hiked a few trails, looked around and made it back to the boat before dark. In fact, just in time to see my first sunset in the islands this yr! Very cool night breezes and we cooked some pretty fresh mahui-mahui that my son was kind enough to catch, clean and freeze for me........so with pasta and fish, we had a yummy meal. Thanks matt&josh!!

Watched the stars for a bit and I am not lying when I say I was snoozin' by 9:30! Most of you know I'm a night owl but by the end of a sailing day.........it's nice to feel your bed rocking to gentle waves and sounds of wide open spaces!

Thursday morning, we had coffee and fruit and began the sail to La Ceiba...or as we've been told, if you're local you just say ceiba.......so of course, we're all local and sh-- so we are getting ready to come into the marina at Ceiba!!! It's taken us about 4 hrs to get here and oh what a lovely sail. This one was what the songs are written about........smooth waters, cool soothing breezes, ray catching on the front of the boat with my sophiejane.........and a sky that is so blue it makes you gasp with joy!

A fave from the road trip...

...that I forgot to tell you about. We went to see Melvin Bodden's art studio. Also his house. Also his chicken coop. Also his own private sewer system right outside his back door in a hole in the ground! Anthony had told us of a wood carver, who wondered when he was younger and working, what exactly he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to create something beautiful that came from his mind and from the land. So, he began to carve what he saw in his mind out of tree chunks. And paint. He took us into his home/studio to show us his work. Unbelievable!! It was an awesome experience. Wanted to show you a pic of Melvin and a piece of his work.....
Having trouble loading pics here in the boonies..........will try again later!

THIS was an adventure with a capital "A"!!

Road Trip!!

Whew.......worn out, I tell ya! Have been waiting for weather for us to move, so we let Anthony, cap'n's new best friend and taxi driver, drive us all over the island today. First, tho, we had to have the veterinarian make a house call, make that a boat call, to check out sophie and to file the proper papers for having her here and for getting her back to the states. Another cutie pie, I may add! The vet, of course!
Then we're off! First stop was Fantasy Island. A resort area that if we anchor close to their marina, we can use their beach! And what a wowzer it is. Beautiful. Then on to Parrot Tree to check out their facilities. This was all business, in the name of research, dontcha know?
Next, into Punta Gorda....a quaint lil village that is all locals, where we had lunch. mmmmmmm...lobster. I'll post a pic of the remains--was too hungry to remember to take the pic before I dug into the yumminess of that grilled lobster dripping in garlic butter. So much for the 'eating light'! HEY......when in rome......
Also watched fishermen come into shore with their catch of the day.
Next, we go to West End. Here we found some beach chairs and I began that awesome chore of catching some rays. I know, I know....but somebody's gotta do it! Oh, and the Rolling Stones will be there tomorrow~~according to the Fish & Chips guy, he's got video of never before seen Stones music that he is going to show on the side of his rolling food cart. Goes by the name of Chippy! (insert eye roll here cuz he was definitely on something and it wasn't fish or chips!!)
Back to the taxi where we headed to Coxen Hole to find a mercado...that's market to you uninformed Americans! Like me who had no idea where we were headed.
I wanted some fresh fruit for the boat and the cap'n needed milk for his breakfast. Man, talk about a trip! Cannot even put into words what this town and market, Roatan's capital city, was like. Think I'll just take pics next time we go and let the images tell the story.
By now, it's after 5 and we are tired so we drive back to the boat and enjoy a wonderful meal of
Roatan Coconut Curry shrimp and rice.
You know you've had a good time when you look at the clock at 8 pm and wonder if it's ok to go to bed now!! And yes...yes it is!!

And tomorrow's weather is looking good so it looks like we'll be sailing away................

Lunch!!

First Mate reporting for Duty, Cap'n....!

Heheh. Well, let's just say there's been a shift change! SophieJane and her mom have made their entrance into the world of Roatan! Anyone out there ever spent any time in the clink? ...or as we like to call it......The Official Customs Cubicle!! Kinda scary at first but then, ya know...when the officer looks like a spanish hunk from a porn mag......it's not so bad!! Or Erick Estrada in the old days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you can imagine the conversation being had between my river rat accent and his NO englaish speaking bod......after those really nice bloody marys and 3 or 4 glasses of wine in FIRST CLASS!! heh...love me up some first class service!

Flights were good. And we arrived in Roatan about 1:30. After spending a bit of time with new best friend....and it being Sunday with no veterinarians to come to our aid, I managed to talk my way out of there with the promise of seeing the vet "manana"! I will, I will......sometime.
Not even gonna tell A.J. about all the paperwork!!

Arrived at Blew Bayou and the views are spectacular. Spent the whole afternoon under a palapa at the end of a pier watching the colors of the water.......that just doesn't suck, ya know?
Nor does the crew of the 100ft yacht right beside us......but that will have to be another post!
Had a lovely dinner on the porch of the Barefoot Cay marina and a evening of quiet bliss........well, kinda quiet!! HehHeh!!
















Nope, doesn't suck!!