Hola Amigos,
Are you sitting comfortably for this week I would like you sat reading with a bacardi and coke and some Nachos.
Monday 23rd June
It was our main mission to find a diving school and somewhere decent to lay our heads so we wandered from place to place in the boiling heat and finally found somewhere lovely to stay, a hotel called Hotel Barrio Latino which was cheap, clean, secure and friendly and we could move in on Wednesday, have our own bathroom and someone to make towel animals for us everyday…yippeeeee. We also found a great diving school called Playa Scuba after talking to a lovely man called Pablo who convinced us with his puppy dog eyes that their place was the best and cheapest. I decided to start my Padi Open Water on the Thursday when i would be in lovely sleeping quarters. Feeling chuffed with ourselves we went back to the hostel to get ready for the beach. Naive invited her erratic crazy self along. The sand white, the sea greeny/blue, the setting just amazing. I went straight for a paddle and by crikey it was warm. Anyone that has been on holiday with me will know it takes me an age to get into the water but in the Caribbean sea i was straight in…it was so warm and calm I could have stayed in there for hours. We walked to the far end of the beach and basked for a few hours and had a little sleep. Thirsty we decided to go for a few litres of beer at a very nice bar on 5th Avenue and stayed there for a while. Naive told us about a lovely Italian restaurant that we had to try so we went back to the hostel to get changed and headed straight out for some lovely tucker. We both had Lasagne and a lovely bottle of wine. The location was great for people watching so we just watched and ate and drank as the sun set which was fab. We headed back to the rubbish hostel, Naive was on the balcony getting drunk with our next door neighbours. we joined for a quick drink then went to bed. She went out to party on her own.
Tuesday 24th June
Got up earlyish for a day on the beach after exploring a little. We stopped for some breakfast at a Natural Herbal place that did all these smoothies and lovely healthy stuff..although very hot and many flies. We found a nice spot on the beach so swam in the sea, basked and got covered in sand which is one of Lauras pet hates. As long as i dont have to reapply sun tan lotion im alright! We went back to the hostel and got showered and ready for a night out. We started in Bourton Street bar for a few beers. Laura went to the toilet and came out laughing… it transpires that she went to the toilet and didnt much care for it as it had no loo seat but she sat anyway. Left the bano looking at the toilet door only to discover that she had gone to the mens. She did say that she thought it was a little odd and had that normal boys toilets aroma. From there we went for some food at a place where you get serenaded by some marachis…which was great but very loud. We had sesame fahitas which were lovely and a bottle of wine then set off to the next place. As we stepped out of the restaurant Laura noticed a tall, dark figure with mad hair. She said its Russell Brand, loving him myself I didnt quite believe it until I clocked him. He was walking down 5th Avenue arm in arm with a blonde. We decided to follow him, when he walked we walked, when he stopped we stopped and hid behind a bin or something…all too obvious but hey ho. They turned back up the street again so we were hot on their tail. They went into Bar Tequilla, where we were going to go anyway so I got my camera out, sat down and ordered a bottle of wine. They sat behind me and I kept having to move a little to the right so Laura could keep an eye on them. People started asking for their photos to be taken with him so we jumped up, I took a photo of Russ and Laura which was a great photo, then she took one of me and him which was rubbish as i was in the middle of telling him that i had just eaten a whole onion and to not get too close coz i probably stink…he said i smelt lovely which was very nice of him. Laura then told him that we were travelling the world, he said now dont go smuggling anything to which i replied “only peanuts” and he laughed hehe. He left and left his water bottle, if we were more obsessed than we appeared then we would have stole the bottle and sold it on ebay! But we took the higher ground and remained seated and ordered another bottle of wine. We finally got home worse for wear and passed out feeling very content with ourselves.
Wednesday 25th June
Was awoken feeling very ill by Naive quoting snippets from a book she picked up about how to deal with depression…it was printed in 1977 so some of the snippets was very funny indeed and made for a good hangover cure. Then all of a sudden rain poured and poured and poured so i jumped out of bed and stood on the balcony where i got completely and utterly soaked but it was amazing. It was hot and very wet and came down very hard, the best! As soon as the rain started it stopped so we went out for some breakfast then back to the hostel to pack up and ship out to our lovely hotel. And it was lovely, it was so nice to be able to spread out a bit and unpack. I felt sick as a dog for most of the day so we had a siesta on the beach after a few hours showered and went out to our new local for some Spag Bol and Fahitas, we had so much food and it was all so yummy and reasonably priced. I had to be up early for diving the next day so we went for a little walk along 5th Avenue when the thunder and lightening began again so we walked down to the beach, which may have been a little dangerous to watch the thunderstorm in the nights sky. The beach have all these double beds dotted around some of them like four poster beds so we lay and watched. No rain just a display of light and sound….great.
Thursday 26th June
Got up early with butterflies in my tummy for the day of reckoning! Laura came with me thank god coz i was nervous beyond belief. I met my instructor, Eric, who was going to look after me apparently. We went through the rules etc then got kitted up, which was fairly embarrassing trying to squeeze bits and pieces into tiny, tight wetsuits but I kinda liked it as it felt like I was getting ready for battle or something. we walked to the pool as we had to do a few exercises there first before taking to the ocean. I managed the exercises ok apart from the one where you have to let a bit of water into your mask then blow it out…i just didnt understand the concept so kept swallowing water and going to the surface for air…like a nutter! Only to find a full on thunderstorm with immense downpour. Poor Laura got soaked. It was time to go for a quick wee then out on the boat for the ocean dive arghhhhhh. Laura got to dive with me for that one so it was nice. we had to do a back roll of the boat which I was a little nervous about but did it without hitting my head or any other part of my body. I started to panic a little bit but Eric helped loads and i used a tow line to descend slowly, making sure I kept equalising my ears which wasnt easy. We reached the bottom, Eric took my hand and off we went exploring. It was a 40 minute dive but I was glad when it was over as I didnt really look out for fish I just wanted to have completed it successfully that means without dying 🙂 Feeling relieved I started to study a little bit then got ready to go out for some nice nosh. You will notice this week that i became obsessed with Spag Bol and Laura with Fahitas so what did we eat this night…. if you said Spag Bol and Fahitas you guessed right. The food wasnt that great but we could people watch. I asked in perfect Spanish to use the bathroom, yes! I didnt notice a sink so i got a little worried, went outside of the bathroom where i found the sink turned on a tap and water started trickling out of some hermit shells that were attached to the wall….very impressive. Got back to our lovely hotel, read some more of my book and went to sleep, dreaming of diving with butterflies etall.
Friday 27th June
Got up early to go to the dive school and watch chapters 1, 2 and 3 of the dive video. 2.5 hours and 12 mosquito bites later it was over. We grabbed our stuff for a few hours on the beach then hungry we went for some Tacos from a VW camper van which was very cool. Preparing for the following days diving, went back to the hotel and had a swing in the hammock whilst reading the Open Water Diver book, which is the biggest book ever and you have to read it and study it and know it off by heart in 3 days!
Saturday 28th June
Got up early again, had some breakfast with butterflies and headed down to the dive school. Got kitted up for battle and went to the pool to go through the exercises again. Still choking on the mask exercise but hey ho. After a little wee we took to the ocean again. I was still a little panicky so Erik took my hand again – bless him. I started to enjoy diving a little more and looked out for fish although fish are a phobia of mine. There were huge schools of fish that just stare at you so i did flinch a little. The fish were beautiful and really colourful keeping them at a distance obviously. I made that dive successfully and feeling a little happier. We had our surface interval and some free biscuits and water and then headed out again. With Eric again and another buddy called Gill, a New Yorkan know it all! I had to do some other exercisey things like navigating away from the boat and back to it, which i have to say i was rubbish at and luckily i could see the boat so cheated. I managed to take my mask off and put it back on again so all in all it was great. Afterwards I was desperate for a wee, you are not supposed to wee in your wetsuit so I told Eric that i needed the toilet although he didnt know that I get stage fright and I cant wee in the sea on a good day let alone with a boat full of people waiting!. He helped me take my wetsuit off, I tried and tried but nothing! He even said for me to sit on his lap so I could pretend it was a toilet – which does sound pretty disgusting but it wasnt. I still couldnt go…and the pressure mounted so much that I had to get out of the water and just hope that i could make it to sure. It was so funny. As soon as I reached the dive school I could go! and boy did I go. Gill wanted to take me out but I politely turned him down in favour of a few beers (BOGOF) with Laura. We bumped into Paul and Anna who we had met a few days previously so I went to their hostel to have a few tequillas with them and beers and to discuss where they had been and where we should go. They highly recommended Semuc Champey which is in Guatemala where you go down the river on an inner tube until you reach your hostel then you can hop off! Sounds magical! Lovely couple. Slightly tipsy I walked back to my hotel to hopefully sleep off the consumption in preparation for my dive in the morning. It was my last day and judgement day! uh oh
Sunday 29th June
Had to get up early to finish off watching the videos, then got ready to dive with a different instructor, Hector (another one – not the same one as rock climbing). I wasnt feeling that great, slightly sick so not in the best position to be going diving. I tried to get out of it but just thought that i would pull through. Got in the ocean and it all went wrong, I panicked, I couldnt breath properly, I was worried about my mask falling off, and i had to complete the mask removal again so it was horrendous. Hector wrote on a slate to me under the water saying that i would fail if i didnt do it but i didnt care at that point so I wrote back! Had a rubbish dive and was really annoyed with myself. Put off the exam for the next day and decided to do the mask removal properly with extra guidance then too. Went out for Spag Bol and Fahitas then had an early night to really prepare myself. Im gonna do it I am I AM!!!
Lots of love kisses and hugs
Amanda (Like a Duck to Water) Oakley xxxx
Amanda's Big Trip 
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