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Subject: Rescue Ranger Mendez! At your service!:)
Date: Mon, 21 April 2003 16:38:58 +0000
Hello there folks,
How did Easter treat you? Hope that very well and that chocolate was an important part of it!! Yesterday, I hit the 11th month mark and I can't believe how full the weeks still manage to be! Honduras was a very strange place to say the least. While Copan and its ruins was a tranquil experience, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa (the capital) were tense and very uninviting.
But the most important time for me in Honduras was the week I spent on Utila (one of the bay Islands in the north coast of the country). I paired up with Yvonne whom I met in Copan and we soon made it to Utila where the only thing to do there is to dive or talk about diving. In 5 days I passed my advanced course (which now allows me to go at 30m maximum depth) and also did another more intense course which certifies
me as rescue diver.
So now, if I anyone decides to panic, stress, get a cramp or have other problems in water or even nearly drown I can calm them down, make sure they float and tow them back to the boat or the shore. If you're unconscious, I can tow you back while helping you with da breathing, but if you've got any pressure related illnesses, its' too late, sorry but I canna do nuffin' for yah!!
Just hope that them bubble haven't got to you brain! Not very useful in London, Bruxelles or Paris, I know but I like the idea of now being an 'emergency responder' hehehe! :) Seriously, it was exhausting but well worth it and I can't wait to go diving again!!
Within the last week, I unfortunately had to say goodbye to Yvonne and again to Lili (with whom I met again on the island) and made it to Tegucigalpa solo again! Anyone would have thought that getting up at 6am, would have given me plenty of time to make the 200 odd kms to the Nicaraguan border and then the 150kms to Leon. Er well, no so fast! I got to the station at 7am and queued for 2 hours only to find out that there were no tickets sold anymore.
At 9:00 I managed to jump on a chicken bus full of unusually jolly Hondurians, which supposedly was going to Choluteca, halfway to the border.
At 9:45 a tube related to the brakes fails right in the middle of a mountain range. Everything goes to a halt. 10:45 the problem seems to be fixed.... 100metres further down the road, the brakes fail us again and so does my humour.
At 11:15 an empty bus sent by angels appears in the other direction and takes us all back on our way. We set off again. 10 police stops and 3 hours later we finally arrive at Choluteca. From there I take a van so packed with people that I reckon I might have been added to a few family wills!
By 3pm I was at last reaching the border. There, a 'horde of tri-cyclists' elevated me and my rucksack until I agreed to be biked to the customs and immigration. Going through borders in Central American is hilarious. They make up the prices as you go along. You pay 10 USD to someone and then get a receipt for 5 USD from another guy and so on!
The landscape on the Nicaraguan side changed dramatically. The only bus to Leon was being repaired and the rest of the locals were either on foot, horses or bikes. The bus was due to leave at 16:00 but left at 16:30 with mama Maria presiding the front seat and feeding everyone on the bus with rice/chicken/beans and tortillas the whole way.
We arrived in Leon at 19:30. You do the maths, 12 hours for 350kms!! I arrived exhausted but pretty amused. The people of Nicaragua seem to have it a lot harder than their neighbouring countries but they seem to keep on smiling! Leon is a great little place, with a lot of charm and welcoming locals. Managua (the capital) is like most capitals, overcrowded, dirty and more dangerous. In fact I got my purse stolen while changing buses. Considering it's taken 11 months for something like that to happen, I haven't been doing too bad! I was glad to leave though.
I am now in Granada, another colonial town, with yet another volcano overlooking it. Again the place is very pretty and the atmosphere very pleasant. Although the Nicaraguense men seem to be pretty hot blooded! So far I have been asked in marriage twice, had my bum pinched on many occasion and the rest is too rude to go into!!!
Would they by any chance have Italian descendants instead of Spanish!!!!!!! :))) Anyway, even with that and my purse going walk about I really like Nicaragua, there is some very interesting, lively helpful people here and the landscape is a treat! Hoping that you are all well.
Sorry the emails are few and far between at the mo! Will catch up soon!
Love
Little Mendez xxx
PS: Replay at my hotmail address. I had to send this from this old address cos hotmail has apparently put a limit on how many emails I can send per 24 hours!!! grrrrrr!!! :(
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