a taste of paradise

Hi guys

Welcome back... you are all going to love this blog.... I think it is one of my most favourite months of my whole journey.....

I left Guatemala and headed for the country of Honduras where I met up with my German travel buddy... Jan...
We stayed on an Island called Utilla which is one of three Bay Islands in the Carrabean....We are staying in accomodation attached to the Captain Morgans Dive Centre... and have attached a photo of Hotel Kayla...
Not much to do on the Island except Dive, dive and dive... and relax in the hammock.

The Island is tiny, with only a selected eating places and a few corner shops... and of course no hot water... which is ok because it really hot out here....I decided to go for a run the other day with my ipod and when I got thru the first song I got to the end of the Island.... so I gave up and went back to meditation...

I have just completed my Advanced dive certificate which was really fun... I have dived with some am amazing people and had some incredible dives... my deep dive went to 100 ft and last night we completed on a night dive.... I hope to do a wreck dive on the weekend...

Just to complete my diving experience we had an amazing swim with spinner dolphins in the wild and then the ultimate experience of a life time........ ....

YES you guessed it.... we swam with whale sharks in the wild....

now these beautiful creatures are the largest fish in the world (not to include whales which are a mammal)... they are actually a shark and dont realy have teeth becaue they feed off plankton. ......Which was lucky because when we came head on with one about 1.5 metres away under water it opened it mouth and I think I saw its tonsils.
I felt like Joanah and the whale...I thought it was going to eat me...
They can grow up to 12 metres and 21 tonnes. We swam with 3 different ones and I think the largest was about 10 metres... I have posted you a photo as to put the image in perspective.

Just to top off the ultimate paradise experience we rented Sandy Cay Island for the night.... now where can you rent a whole island (and house) for a night in paradise for just $125 US.....
It was pure heaven..... (I have attached photos.....to give you just a taste..)
It was so tropical with many things to keep us busy... snorkeling off our own beach, fresh kingfish for dinner, bananna pancakes for dessert and sunbaking for a complete tan.

Well thats the news for the week... I hope that this email inspires you all to live your dreams and please keep the emails coming in...


kat
ps i think i am growing gills

easter in xela

Hi friends and family
I hope you all had an amazing easter... and the little fluffy bunny was kind to you all with lots of chocolate....

I spent Semana Santa (easter) in a little town called Xela.... (pronounced shayla).
I moved in with my homestay family of 8 (and one bathroom) which was fun....
Myra (mother) and the rest of the family couldnt speak a word of English and I couldn't speak a word of Spanish which was rather interesting.... especially when we were cooking together....
It bought back some memorable moments of when I moved into the English Family when I was 15...

Then 8am in the morning... off to intensive spanish speaking lessons... which were very intense.... in fact 5 hours of complete garble....
I felt like I was back at school again.....now I know why I disliked school so much.
I dont think it was a good idea coming from a mediatation retreat and a weeks silence into a family of 8 and spanish lessons. Anyway I can now manage to buy myself veges at the local market, greet people as they walk by and ask for the time in spanish.....

Now the salsa lessons that I took were fun.... as you all know me ... I really love dancing.... and yes... I managed to find a great pair of stilettos at the markets....

My homestay family and I spent the night before good friday visiting all the local churches viewing the Easter displays.... which was really exciting....
some of the displays were carpets of coloured sand...(photo attached) which were pretty spectacular.
Over the next 3 days we had a religious Mardi Gra..... of themed easter floats....in procession in the streets with thousands of people.....I must say it was pretty amazing.

I managed to get some pampering in true Guaetmala style... visiting the hot springs after school.... they were natural springs and soothing after a hard day... so we all jumped in like vegetables in a pot at a cannibals suprise dinner...

A group of us managed to take an interesting afternoon volcano hiking for 4 hours..in Antigua..... which was great exercise....
When we got to one of the craters... the guys managed to pull out sausages and marshmellows and the a cook off was on.......
yes the volcano was live.... and at sunset when we were near the bottom it gave us an amazing display of fire...and erupted......

After the hiking (which I dont think was on the flash packing agenda sheet)I booked in for a real pamering session in true Myan style... For a mere $54 I spent a whole day (yes from 9am to 4pm) being pampered at the Spa and Suna.... this included 1 1/2 hours massage, 1 hour facial, hair treatment and blow dry, myan sauna and manicure, relaxing tea.....what a bargin....

Yep the flash packer is back....

Well I am off to Hondourus onto the Bay Islands to go diving with the Whale Sharks..

I will keep you all posted of the next adventure.....

Kat on the ultimate journey

meditation on the lake

Hi guys......
Since we last spoke I have been to an amazing yoga and meditation retreat in Guatemala. I have been staying in a little Myan village in San Macos which is on Lago de Atitlan.. (lake atitlan.).. the lake is surrounded by 3 exciting live volcanoes...and several little villages....
The cabana you can see on the lake is my favourite meditation place... and when you can see the view and am sure you can understand why...

There is a photo of me in a Guatemalian hot tub... which was decieving... it was extremely hot and had a cold one next to it.... and of course it overlooked the beautiful lake....

The yoga retreat was refreshing... with 4 weeks of yoga, meditation and metaphysics.....the sunrises were something worth getting up early for.The meditation temple was a pyramid and was rather interesting when we were hit by earthquake tremors.....

The man you can see with the cigarette in his mouth is known as Sam Simon... He is known as the smokin god...He is a god made out of wood and is popular in the highlands. He is usually draped in silk scarves and smokes a fat cigar.. or cigarettes...now how does that work when he is made out of wood..... go figure... but when i bought him a cigarette.... yes he was smoking it.....He is the god of vices...
so if you want a hit on your next door neighbour... you can go to ask him.... make sure you bring rum and cigars..... of course you can ask for good things too.. like money...

Well i finished the retreat off with a weeks silence (yes you can get up off the floor now)... because I did it... and a week of fasting ... which was great....
just what i needed.. a months meditation in a vortex living with the locals and living off the land....life is so simple here.....
A huge thank you to such a great room buddy Christina.....you are an amazing woman and it was a pleasure sharing my experience with you..

until next time

chow chow
katrina