Wednesday morning was an early one as I was off to catch the 8am Greyhound bus to Whistler. About $50 later, I was off. It's about a 2.5 hour ride from Vancouver to Whistler, but I'd heard the Sea to Sky Highway had gorgeous views so I was actually looking forward to the ride. Unfortunately my tired body had other plans for me, as I fell asleep on the way... oops! I woke up in Squamish and stayed awake the rest of the way but the view was nothing special in this portion. I was a little worried and disappointed because it was raining all morning and wouldn't let up once I got to Whistler. I grabbed a map from the information booth and walked straight to Starbucks for a warm coffee. It was COLD! I ... read more

My original thought was that I'd spend the day at the aquarium AND the park, but that was not the case, as I spent almost the entire day at the Aquarium! Since Dana works there, she was able to get me signed into the guest book and it was free for me to enter. Dana met me at the front lobby and walked me through to her "wet lab", which is where she spends most of her time. The wet lab is open to private groups and occasionally the general public but it was closed off to only Dana and I that morning! Dana showed me all the different animals they had in the lab. My favourite was when she showed me the anemones and told me to touch them. Having watched "Finding Nemo", I knew ... read more

This day started out with me meeting Meg at Starbucks and then us taking the skytrain to her place to drop off my stuff, as I'd be staying with her for a few days. We then made it back to Downtown, where we looked around the harbour/Canada Place and then caught the Trolley Tour around Stanley Park. We were able to do the tour free with a pass that Dana gave us, otherwise I don't know if the trolley would have been really worth it. It was nice to learn a bit of info (that even Meg having lived here for a few years didn't know) but it's also SUPER easy to walk everywhere in the city. We got off the trolley and enjoyed fish and chips at a place in the park. The park was ... read more

So when I asked my friend Dana when she'd be home this summer, she told me that she'd only be home over the Labour Day weekend (by which time I'd already be back in Honduras), and then asked when I was planning on coming to Vancouver. This began the beginning of my decision to be a tourist in my own country this summer! Mom was able to find me a pretty good seat sale with WestJet and so my 2 week plans began. I messaged a bunch of friends who live in Vancouver and arranged to meet up with several people. So on the 9th it began: Mom, Dad, and I were off to Toronto for the night, as they were flying out to Newfoundland the same day I was flying to Vancouver (I planned it ... read more

Comayagua, Honduras and Antigua, Guatemala are the two best known places in Central America to see the "alfombras" or "carpets" each Semana Santa (Holy Week), on Good Friday. Although there are a few other places doing them as well, none are as well known as these two cities. I have now seen the sawdust carpets 3 times, and am still impressed at the fine detail and work that goes into them. Most are made using dyed sawdust, but several also incorporate materials such as wood shavings, eggshells, dried beans, pine leaves, fabrics, and much more. The carpets are sponsored by local families, businesses, and schools, and are spread out among the streets in the center of the city, near the cathedral and central park. People usually take to the streets around 12-1am on Thursday night, and ... read more

What a fun few days we've had! After the rafting, we've also done horeseback riding and mountain biking! HORSEBACK Yesterday we signed up for the horseback ride. I was sure to take an allergy pill before we got on the horses, as I seem to be VERY allergic to them and will swell up without a pill. Silvia (the German owner) was one of the guides, as well as Allan (Ireland) and Lindsay (Canada) plus a Honduran man that I didn't get the name of who was breaking in one of their new baby horses on his first trail, ride. Walt got a pretty golden horse called "Nugget" and I got a brown one with white feet called "Pata Blana" (foot white). It was a few hours up the road from the hotel through several small ... read more

So today we started the day with a rafting trip! We got some breakfast and got ready to go. There were the 4 Kiwis, plus us, and a nice American girl named Michelle. Because the river is low right now during dry season, the trip was a little different than usual. Not only did we get to raft but there were some rock jumps and swimming too. Our guides were Ryan (American), Sam (Australian?) and Jairo (Honduran) who were all phenominal. The river was SO refreshing. It was not at all cold, and in this hot heat it was kinda nice to have the wet portions too. We started with a small rock jump (about 2 meters) and some swimming. It was then off to literally rock climb the side of a HUGE steep rock (with ... read more

Well, it wasn't planned that my parents chose a cruise that went to Honduras. They simply chose a cruise that had the right dates, price, ship, etc. and it happened to be going into Roatan, Honduras. The chances of meeting up with me weren't confirmed, but lucky enough, I was able to get time off from school. The school gives each teacher 2 personal paid days and I asked for these 2 days to be my 2 days. I was granted permission (despite trainers from California flying down during that same time to provide training - GOD BLESS MY PRINCIPAL!) to have the days off and go meet my parents. The original plan was to drive with Walt to La Ceiba and then take the ferry over to the island, but when Walter got his new ... read more