Trip to Punta Sal

On Sat., Christina and I went on our second outing as tourists. We signed up with a tour company, Garifuna Tours, to take us. It was about $30.00 per person. We arrived at the boat dock on time at 7:45 am. We paid and waited for the others to arrive. Wow! When the other trip goers arrived we were overwhelmed. It was group of 23 friends from Turkey that are traveling through Central America together. I went on a trip with 9 people and that was overwhelming. Can you image 23? They had to take two boats to fit us all.
Punta Sal is at the tip of a peninsula in the Blanca Jeannette Kawas National Park. Like the park, the school we teach at (BJK) was named after her. She was an environmental activist that was murdered trying to save the land from being developed. The boat ride was about 45 minutes and along the way we saw a few small island inhabited by birds. Then we went on a short hike through the jungle, all 25 of us. Along the hike, some howler monkeys got excited and howled for most of the hike. The sound is creepy, a little like listening to a singer from a death metal band. Roar! Everyone lathered themselves with insect repellent and but I chose not to apply any since I have yet to be stung or bitten. During the hike, I witnessed actual mosquitoes land on me numerous times and I was kinda hoping for a few bites (you know..battle scars) but when we ended the hike, I was somehow still bite free. Poor Christina has been covered with bites and itching up a storm for 3 weeks now. Check out those roots: After the hike, we rode a little further on the boats to a very nice inlet. Look at that amazing water:
Two families live here to help take care of the park . There is a mud hut they live in. The window in the back had real glass in it. They also had flushing toilets with toilet paper down a walkway behind the huts.
The families also cook lunch for the tourists. They made us rice and beans and fried plantains (like bananas). Oh, and for those who don't mind eating animals, they fried up some fresh fish, too. By the way, they use machetes here for everything: Men cut the lawns and chop down trees with them, children cut up fruit and vegetables with them.
We had about 3 hours to swim, snorkel, and just lie around. The water was nice and clear. I saw large and small colorful fish, coral, sea fans, sea urchins, and a few tiny jelly fish (I swam away from them). Christina, unfortunately, felt a little seasick so she just sat on the beach for awhile trying to recover her equilibrium. She noted that just sitting on the beach and looking at the view was worth the trip though. At about 2:00pm, we had to get back on the boats for the ride back to Tela. Some other random things we saw this weekend:

• While going to town for dinner, we stumbled upon a group of high schoolers practicing their band routine for the upcoming Independence Day parade. Their instruments consisted of drums, cymbals, and xylophones. They sounded really cool and had great routines to go along with it. I am getting really excited for the parade. Our school also gets to march in it and we have to teach the students how to march.
• For dinner, I had pupusas, which I love. They are fried, cheese-filled, dough patties which you stuff with pickled cabbage and pickled onions. It is truly heavenly. It is a traditionally from El Salvador but whatever. Oh, and I adore the cartoon kiddie plates that are used in numerous restaurants here. Hi Spongebob!

• We each did our first real load of laundry. It is hard work hand washing your clothes. I am never really sure if I get all the soap out.

• After a hard day of work, we went get a refreshment down the street and unexpectedly found the owners watching Mr.Bean. A T.V. show that can be enjoyed in any language. It was a great cross-cultural, bonding moment.