Amapala Vacation

Taking off on a great adventure with some wonderful friends. 

Somehow we managed to never take a group shot but all together there were 9 of us: Amber, Darwin, Alli, Tess, Mackenzie, Kelly, Paul, Cammy, and Nate.  Kelly and Nate are VCOM med students on rotation at the Baxter clinic and Paul and Cammy are their spouses.  Paul left on Monday so we snuck in a quick beach vacation before he had to leave.  We all had a wonderful time and plan to return as soon as possible.

The first evening we all ran to the hotel dropped off our stuff and headed to the beach as quick as possible.  It was already around 5 and we wanted to pack in as much water time as we could.  So we race down to the beach and into the water.  My initial reaction is oh, this salt water stings a little bit, not enough to be a problem, but enough to be noticable.  Then Mackenzie begins HOWLING in pain, she´s more than mildly overdramatic.  For some reason there were THOUSANDS of tiny jelly fish swimming through the water.  The tiny, tiny ones couldn´t sting us but the bigger ones (at their largest the size of a quarter) packed a pretty good punch.  Mackenzie and I think Alli made a hasty retreat from the water.  The rest of us just decided to deal with the pain, we weren´t wasting any water time.  Well then the little kids that were all over the beach decided to catch the jellyfish.  At one point Cammy and I looked over and there were kids all around Nate handing him these tiny jellyfish.  Cammy and Nate then moved up onto the beach and the kids filled up the plastic pop bottle in the middle of the picture with jelly fish.  It was so fun to watch. 

They raced up and down the beach bringing jelly fish for over an hour and laughed hysterically the entire time.  As much fun as that was, we weren´t disappointed when the jellyfish did not return the next day.

This was my favorite picture of the weekend.  So gorgeous.  This is what God´s creation looks like.  No sign of the pain and destruction created by Satan.

A few more of God´s beautiful creations

The kids loved playing with us

I love their reflection in the water on the beach.  I think this may have still been during the great jelly fish catch.

On Saturday morning I woke up early and decided to go down to the beach for some peaceful reading before the world woke up.  Well that plan worked for about 2 minutes.  Then I was spotted.

By Alessandra

and Magin

Alessandra and Magin came and quietly sat down beside me at first.  Once they decided I probably wasn´t going to bite they started asking me 100 questions, mostly about where the rest of my friends were, how long we were staying, and why I lived in Tegucigalpa.  I had a great time sitting and talking with them.  Magin is mentally handicapped but an absolute sweetheart.  She loved to hold our hands, give us hugs, and say funny things to make us laugh.  After a little while four more kids came up and they decided to bury my hilariously white legs in the sand.  Good times were had by all and my legs appreciated not being exposed too long to the sun. 

Making my kiddos climb a tree on Seashell island for a cute picture. 

On the last day we went on a boat tour around the island.  It was neat to see the whole island and we even got to walk down into a cave.  They took us to an uninhabited island that was COVERED in sea shells.  I was amazed at how many sea shells there were.  When we headed out they told us we were going to Seashell island, The island of the dead (where there was a small cemetery), and the island of the birds.  When we were on seashell island there was a little land bridge over to a small piece of land where we could see a cross.  Nate said "I wonder if that´s the island of the dead".  My response was, "We´ll see I guess".  So we finish up at seashell island and hop on our boat and are moving quickly away from where we were.  I said to Nate "I guess that wasn´t the island of the dead."  And we continue on.  We begin talking with the boat driver about possibilities of seeing caves and going fishing and possibly skipping the island of the dead.  The boat captain looks confused and says, "we already went to the island of the dead."  Turns out seashell island, island of the dead, and bird island, are ALL the same island.  We cracked up.  It was definitely a classic honduran moment. 

Since before we even arrived in Amapala, Paul had been talking about wanting to go fishing, so I told him we would see what we could do.  We talked with a guy at the hotel about setting it up but he was very vague about it so we didn´t hold out much hope.  Then we talked to a fisherman on the beach about it and he said come back tomorrow at 9 and I´ll decide.  Silly hondurans.  So the boys came back at 9 and all the fishing boats are gone fishing and we laugh about how the Hondurans gave them a blow off.  So we play on the beach and have a fine morning and decide to eat lunch on the beach.  We walk down to the little stick shade that is set up and where several of our kids live and sit down for lunch.  Evidently this family just lives in hammocks on the beach during tourist season and makes lunch right there in a tiny room for whoever wants it.  We had eaten dinner at the hotel the night before and it was good, but very pricey.  So here we are sitting in the sand looking out at the beautiful ocean and waiting on our shrimp, and the fisherman from the night before comes up and says Hey do you want to go fishing right now.  So Paul takes off with the fisherman, looking very much like a tourist gringo in a small boat. 

And returns with fish!!! He was so proud.  He ended up getting to eat one of his fish for dinner that night for only $5. And the fish was HUGE!!.  I don´t think Paul stopped smiling for the rest of the weekend.

Darwin enjoying his whole fish.  He was in heaven all weekend.

Our final dinner at our new favorite restaurant.  This tiny little shack on the beach had AMAZING food for incredibly cheap.  Whole fish for $5 a plate and 8 huge shrimp for $8 a plate.  And they were such a fun family to get to know. 

So now we´re home and sunburned but we had a great time. 

Side Note: For anyone coming to visit, Amapala is only about 2 and half hours away if you´re interested in going for the weekend or even just a day trip let me know.