"Be prepared to modify your plan. It'll be good for you!"

I didn't have too many last "must haves" before leaving the United States - you know, enjoying all of the things in excess that you think you won't be able to live without once you leave.  I must admit, I was really excited to keep showering with my Neutrogena Rainbath until I boarded the plane and I was happily gaining some extra padding eating my dad's home-cooked meals, but really, there wasn't much I thought I wouldn't be able to do without.  However, whether I am leaving Bloomington for 3 months or 3 years, I always have to have one last meal at The Grand Cafe (authentic Chinese food in Bloomington over the past 90+ years).  My parents ordered takeout since the Bulls were playing.  Is it sad or nostalgic that I still order the chicken-fingers-of-chinese-food, Grand War Mein Soup (specially ordering it so that basically nothing is in it except broth, ramen noodles, and sliced beef)?  I'm going to go with traditional and nostalgic (and still delicious)!!  Anyhow, the Chinese takeout experience was completed with that crunchy iconic little treat.  I opened my fortune cookie and exposed the flimsy white note, "Be prepared to modify your plan.  It'll be good for you!"  So there it was, the mantra I would embark with as I travel around the world. (It's taped in my journal lest I forget)

And so far, I'm trying!  And I think I am having some success!

We are currently living in Utila, Honduras for the next 2 months and I'm as happy as a clam!  Our adventure here wasn't too stressful and was without any hiccups along the way.  The worst part was sitting in the world's lamest international terminal - O'hare Chicago.  Jesus.  Look alive, O'hare!  I was so excited to have a celebratory beer upon our arrival only to be sorrily disappointed.  Flights were uneventful.  We had a long layover in Mexico City but that was about as good as a layover at Chuck 'E' Cheese - shops were open, every 50 feet 80" televisions showed the Olympics!!!, all of the employees we interacted with exuded happiness for their job and appreciation that you happened to be spending time in their airport (TSA could learn a thing or 50).  After that, a short flight to SPS (San Pedro Sula), a somewhat disappointing negotiation with 4 taxi drivers, another short wait at the city main bus terminal, a 3.5 hour bus to La Ceiba, and one last cab to our hotel, El Estadio.  It was nearly 24 hours after leaving Brandt's parents house that we arrived at our hotel.  Finally, beers were in order!  After 2 Imperials, we slept like babies.

The next morning we took a ferry to the island, Utila, and here we are, settled in and enjoying a different sort of life.  Paradise awaits you here, I'm telling you.  Do you have 3 weeks PTO you don't know what to do with?  You can just come here and you will be happy.  I am really really happy.   And I am warm.  Warm and happy really works for me!

We are living (rent-free) and diving at Deep Blue Divers.  Utila is a small quiet island, has no stop lights (and maybe not even stop signs), can be explored on foot in a matter of 12 hours, and is a diver's haven.  There are 10 dive shops in a 1 mile stretch, all offering something different.  We are the bologna between Alton's, in incredibly terrifying (because I'm in my 30s now) frat house of a dive shop, and UDC (Utila Dive Center), less fratastic but equally not our style - this shop apparently certifies more PADI divers per year than any other shop in the world (so factory-style I mean to say).  The delicious bologna as I mentioned is Deep Blue, a small quiet shop where people go to bed before the sun comes up and basically, we have private instruction!

Our (private) room has a great big purple octopus on the wall and I saw that as a very good sign.  Brandt and I spent a couple of days just settling in, and then completed our PADI Rescue Diver course this past week.  It was challenging, but it was fun!   Plus we have done loads of really nice diving - schools of fishes, eels, spotted eagle rays, lobsters, crabs, coral galore.  No whale sharks yet, but we have plenty of time!  Brandt will continue on to complete his Divemaster course (the first professional level of diving), and I will just "fun dive" and do the other things I do everyday - yoga, swimming, exploring, reading, etc.

I'll leave you with some random thoughts and observations that might give you a better picture of what life is like for us now:

- There are far less/no rules in Honduras 

- At the store there are bottles of pills at the counter and you just buy the number of pills you need at a time out of the bottle (i.e. 4 motrin instead of 1000) and it costs like $0.05

- In San Francisco I was living indoors.  All the time inside cars and buildings and my house.  Now we live outdoors.  Everything but sleeping is outdoors.  Common spaces and restaurants are all at least open air.  I love this the most about being here

- We don't snack between meals unless it's to share a banana

- I'm not a daily coffee drinker any more - 2-3x a week as a treat usually in the afternoon

- We make breakfast at home (toast/fruit), but usually eat lunch and dinner out.  It's much more delicious than cooking, and actually about the same cost or less (provided we tried to make the meal we ate dining out)

- Baleadas are the most common tipico food here (they are delicious)- large homemade tortilla with a layer of beans, stuffed with cabbage, onions, peppers, avocado, and meat (of your choosing)

- We play cards and learned two new games so far - Cribbage and Piquet.  248 more to learn.  Through playing cards, Brandt and I have learned we are both poor losers.  We need to work on this

- I haven't watched TV and I don't miss it yet

- The temperature is between 68 and 85 all day every day

- Some showers (sometimes called "the electrocution shower") has exposed electrical wiring and then a sliding bar on the shower head with 3 settings: winter, summer, and 0.  Winter means you will get hot water (hopefully), summer means cold water, and 0 means however the water comes is what you get.  Don't worry, we haven't been shocked yet and the water pressure is better than my parents' house so I can't complain

- I wake up at 5:45am without an alarm and it feels really good

- If you get hungry on the bus ride, don't worry.  Every 30 minutes people will come on and sell you food - cooked corn, fresh fruit, drinks, and really anything else you might want.  We bought a gigantic bag of watermelon for $0.50.  

- You can't flush toilet paper here.  You just wipe your bum and put the TP in the waste basket. 

- I drink between 1/2 and 1 gallon of water every day

Lastly, and importantly, I will update those interested on our budget situation!  As we were deciding to take this adventure, many people told us they would never be able to afford something like this.  Our point of view has been that if traveling is something you want to do, and you prioritize it above other things, then of course you can afford it.  It was close to impossible to figure out what a daily budget would be, but we decided on $50/day between the two of us which would be $18,250 for 1 year of travel (for 2 people!).  Many of y'all have cars and stuff that cost that much!  We also decided though, that somethings would not be included in that budget - flights and diving and safari mainly.  For us, we figured those would be difficult to factor into daily spending, and we would have enough budget to cover those separately.   

So are you ready for it?!?!

I'm happy to report that our 12 day budget has averaged to………………………..$32/day (for the 2 of us).

Now my point of view is, EXCUSES!, most all first-world folks can do this!  You just have to want it.  But seriously, no more gripes about the cost.  NONE!  We aren't hearing it!

Today I am going out with my fancy camera, so I will try and add more pictures this week! (sorry, few pics within this post due to painfully slow/unreliable internet connections).

Please excuse any typos.  Sent from my dream world.