Central America - Honduras

Buenes Dies Year 2

After leaving you in El Salvador we went over to Honduras which is east of EL Salvador. We took a mini bus that took us straight into the country. The 2 countries are so close so it only took 4 hours.

They also speak Spanish over here so Mrs Maynard and Tim's spanish lessons they had are coming in very handy. They are still carrying around a small phrase book with them so if they get stuck they can quickly look up a word.

We are still 6 hours behind you in England.

Honduras is similar to El Salvador with the streets, markets, and landscape. We are getting from town to town by local buses. They are a little different from the buses we get in England. Mrs Maynard said that at Trumps Green if you go on school trips you go in a bus like this. They are very old and very rickety over here but it is only a few pennies to get around which is good.

We had a very interesting day walking around some important ruins that play a big part in the Honduran history.

We saw some ruins that are VERY old. Back 1,100 years ago, there used to be a whole village that lived in this area. They had houses there, a central area where they used to gather for festivals, to play games or just to see and catch pup with each other.

In those days they didn't have paint or wallpaper like we did to decorate the stone walls so they carved patterns and symbols to make it look nicer and to tell stories.


For some reason and nobody knows why everyone that lived here up and left leaving all their houses behind. Because nobody was living there anyone the whole village became over grown with trees, bushes and plants.

One day 150 years later somebody discovered this hidden secret village and started uncovering all the tress and bushes. It was all a big mystery to them as nobody knew anything about these people or village.

Here I am with Mrs Maynard over looking the area that they played their games and had there parties in.
It's a big area to big covered up by bushes don't you think?

I think it's crazy to think that this whole village went unnoticed for so many years. Do you agree?




























These are some carvings that were made into the stone.

I am so excited to tell you about this next trip as it was one of Mrs Maynard and Tim's favorites adventures so far while being away.

We all wanted to do some horse riding and heard that there was a really nice man called Carlos who who takes you for a horse ride around his land. He shows you and explains all about the fruits that he grows. Perfect we thought. Plus we could stay over night in one of his houses on the land, even better.

Mrs Maynard has done it a few times before but this was Tim's first experience of being on the back of a horse. He was a little nervous to begin with but soon settled in.

The style of horse riding over here is called Western Riding. Which We think is different to the style of horse riding done in England by the way you hold the reins and also sit. Have any of you done horse riding before?

One thing that Mrs Maynard and Tim were a little unsure about is that the only hat you wear over here is a cowboy style hat rather than a sensible riding hat. Luckily we didn't fall off and our heads stayed safe....luckily.






On our first ride we went through fields and along gravel tracks, alongside coffee bushes. The track then took us between open fields which stretched either side into rolling hills. The views were AMAZING.

We were able to do some cantering which was great fun. It was so funny watching Tim bob up and down holding on for dear life as they hurtled down the track.

Carlos took us around his land giving us lots of weird and wonderful fruits that he had just picked and let us try it all. You can't get fruit fresher than just off the tree or bush.

That night we stayed in a very lovely big old house and some of the local people cooked us dinner.
We were all so tried after the days excitement that we were in bed very early that night.

When we woke the next morning our muscles in our legs and backs were all very sore from the previous days riding but we enjoyed it so much that we asked Carlos if we could go out again. He argreed that he would so we got ready jumped on our horses and we were off again.

This ride was a little different because it had rained really heavily during the night and the track we went along the day before turned into a huge mud pit. Some times the horses were up to their knees in puddles and mud slush. they really didn't seem to mind though. Rather them than me!

This is Carlos (on the Left in the Blue shirt) at the gates to Finca (which means House in Spanish)

´This is me with Carlos´s dog, called Chiquita

This track was more through forests and again over huge mountains. Really was quite 'off roading'. Mrs Maynard and I where a little worried that Luna (our horse´s name which means moon in Spanish) would slip and we'd go hurtling down the edge of the mountain. Luna knew what she was doing and we were fine thank goodness. With Tims broken collar bone neither Mrs Maynard or I didn't fancy a broken leg too. What a bunch we would make!

We had heard that over here in Honduras there are some small islands that were really good for scuba diving. Mrs Maynard and Tim enjoyed it when they did it back in Thailand so thought it would be fun to do again.

In our little hut that we had we had loads of geckos all running around on the walls and ceiling. Mrs Maynard said they were very friendly, don't bite and not to be scared if they can close to me. It was cool to see them running over the walls. Well I say cool, Tim wasn't too impressed when sitting on the verandah having some snacks one late afternoon when a cheeky one on the ceiling decided to do a poo. Where did it land. Yeap in his bowl of crisps. GROSS! Mrs Maynard and I laughed....alot!

The diving Mrs Maynard said was really good  they got to see 2 different turtles on both days. Have any of you seen the film "Finding Nemo"? Tim said the turtle character in that is EXACTLY how they are. Really slow moving, seemed to be all chilled and he said that if they had turned round to us and said in a surfer kind of way "Yo man, how's it hanging dude" he wouldn't have been at all surprised. It came soo close to us both days which was very exciting.

Mrs Maynard and Tim also went into some underwater caves which mrs Maynard said was a little scary as she isn't too brave in the dark. Once in and  her eyes had adjusted it was a pretty cool as there were holes in the ceiling meaning that you had rays of sunlight glisten down. She said she  was taking all this in when at the same time Tim and I saw the BIGGEST fish they have seen while diving. It was 2 meters away and his eye level was right at theirs.  Mrs Mayanrd said that she didn't know that screaming under water could be done. It can be trust apparently and loudly! It wasn't bothered by them at all. Just checked them both out then swam away.


Tim and mrs Maynard said they took a moment to recover then swam on out the cave ready and quite happy to see some smaller fish from further away.


Afterwards Mrs Maynard It was a great experience though seeing all the wonderful colours and sizes of so many different fish down there in the sea

The name of our dive boat

Central America - El Salvador

Hola All in Year 2

How are you all?

I hope you liked reading about my day in LA. Fun wasn't it.We are now in El Salvador which in a country in Central America. It is quite a small country and they don't get many tourists or foreign visitors here. We have just spent a wonderful 2 weeks exploring this lovely place. The time difference between here and England is that we are 6hrs behind you. The money is the same as America, dollars or this is the symbol $ it is like our £ sign.

After our mammoth journey here from NZ we stayed in a great hostel called El Robles. This was not only our home for 1 week but also our classroom as this is where we took our Spanish classes for 5 days from 8-12. 

Our classroom was a little different though as it wasn't in a building but under the trees in the garden. It was very pretty as we sat and learnt this new language in the shade with a small breeze blowing around us.

Our "Outside" Classroom

Here we are with our teacher Hannibal, they pronounce Annival. He was a really good teacher and very patient with Mrs Maynard who struggled a lot. Tim was a bit naughty and laughed a lot when she couldn't get the words right. That's not a nice thing to do is it when someones trying their best. What do you think?

After our daily lessons the rest of the day was spent relaxing in the sunshine, reading in a hammock, splashing around in the small pool or practicing our spanish with the local people that worked and lived in the hostel. 

I made a new friend called Gabi who was the owners niece and was staying at El Robles for her school holiday.  Gabi was 11 years old. She told me all about her school.

The school day over here starts at 7am but finishes at 12.30pm just in time for lunch. She explained that this was because it can get so hot in the middle of the day it is hard to concentrate so starting the day earlier means the air is cooler and they can do more work.

Here I am with Mrs Maynard and Gabi on one early evening as she helped Mrs Maynard do some homework. In return of Spanish lesson Mrs Maynard taught Gabi some BSL.

We were all very sad to leave this little place as we had a great weeks stay here.
 

Here we all our saying goodbye to the lovely family that own the place.

We had a small trip to the next town called Attco. Mrs Maynard was excited about going to this town as she had heard it was a very arty place. Check out the street and shop walls. They are really different and pretty aren't they.

Near this town was a coffee planation and processing factory. This is how and where coffee comes from in the different stages -

1 Hand picked from the bushes.









 

 

2 Depulped, which means taking off the red outer shell by putting it through a machine.

3 The sticky yellow bean is then washed and sits in a bath of water for 2days.

4 The beans are then washed again, separated by size and weight and are laid out to dry on large playground size patio in the sunshine. They are turned every few hours to make sure they dry evenly.

 

5 After the drying process the beans go into another big machines that rotates round like a big tumble dryer and takes the final thin shell off leaving the green coffee bean.

 

6 All the beans are then bagged up.

7 This green bean is then roasted in big ovens and at the end you get the coffe beans like we buy in England.

You can buy coffee in beans so you can crush them yourselves at home or when it is already done for you and all you need to do is add water.
 
Here I am with the final product and like what you see in the supermarkets.

 

Mrs Maynard and Tim then got to taste the coffee. I didn't want to as I prefer milk or orange juice than coffee. We all found this tour very interesting and learnt a lot. 

When we got back to town they had a big local food market or food fiesta in the town square. After all the walking around we decided to grab a snack and try some El Salvadorian tacos. They were really yummy.  In the small bag you see on the side is a chilli sauce. We don't like spice so decided not to pour any on.

On top of the taco was refined beans which is like a kidney bean in a paste form, lettuce, small bits of chicken and grated cheese a little bit like goats cheese. It was very yummy indeed.

The next town we stopped at was called Santa Ana and was a lot bigger, a little smelly and a real hustle and bustle feel to the place. We were only there so we could climb a big volcano called Volcan Santa Ana.When we climbed Volcan Santa Ana it also has a amazing views of another Volcano called Volcan Izalco. It's pretty cool isn't it. To walk up Volcan Santa Ana we had to go in a group and take a guide. When we nearly got the top it was very rocky and bleak. We all agreed that we can imagine this is what the moons looks like a little bit. What do you think?
 
When at the top looking down into the crater there was a bright aqua blue lake. 

Well, year 2 that is our adventures up to date for now. Next country is Honduras which is next to El Salvador on the map.
 

As they are next to each other this means that we can just jump on a bus and head over to Honduras rather than in a plane. Nice and easy.

Adios for now.
Lots of love to you all.
Xx

What a trip we have just had.....I last left you when i was in New Zealand. We then had a 45hour journey with 3 different flights to get to El Salvador.

This is how our journey went
1.  A 1.5 hour drive to the airport in Christchurch

2.  Our first flight was from the south Island up to the North of New Zealand.  Once we had arrived in in the north Island we had to wait 4hrs for our next flight in the airport.

3.  We flew from New Zealand over night to Los Angeles in America.  Has anyone been there before? This flight was a whopping 12.5hrs long. Mrs Maynard's and Tim's legs were very stiff after that but they managed to watch some good movies on the plane.

4.  We had to wait 14 hours during the day before we could catch our last flight. I'll tell you more about our exciting day in a minute.

5.  Our last flight was then from L.A (that's how they say Los Angeles for short) to El Salvador which is in Central America.

6.  Our last and final part was a taxi from the airport to the guesthouse where we were staying.
We were all VERY tired by this time as you can imagine so we all zonked out in bed for the afternoon.

I am so excited to tell you about our day in LA. As I said before we had a while to to wait till our next flight so we managed to speak very nicely to the lady in the reception of a big hotel near to the airport and managed to leave all our big bags there while we headed to the nearest town for the day by bus. Santa Monica is a busy town and very popular place for tourist and locals to come to shop and play on the beach.

We went for breakfast and had typical American breakfast of pancakes, French toast, really crispy bacon with maple syrup. It was lovely. Do you thick you would have enjoyed this? I bet you would have really enjoyed this breakfast.

After our big breaky went for a walk along the beach. Here i am with some really cool American police cars like the ones you see in the movies.

On the beach I met a life guard called Phil who said that he had some friends that needed some help for a few hours so off I went to the life guard station and helped David and Pamela patrolling the beach and making sure everyone was safe in the water. I'm glad to say that we didn't need to do any rescues while I was on duty.

I had such a fun day in LA and was a little sad when I had to brush the sand off my paws and return to the airport ready for our last flight. What an exhausting but brilliant day I had.....!