Day 3 - Fishing & Becky's Birthday

Tuesday we all slept in a bit. The howler monkeys were up very late Monday night and must have taken a break this morning. By slept in I mean 7 (for us). I guess it's the daylight and all the animals but I can't, and don't want to, sleep in here. It feels like you are missing the day.

Our ride was to pick us up at 8:30 so we all agreed to meet for breakfast at 8. I did my usual routine of trying to check email but the router seemed to be down. It was pretty frustrating. I really wanted to know how H was doing and if our caseworker had written back. We shared one email about Wednesday. (She is going to email us the news as soon as she hears! Not as personal but at least we can keep the email. She offered to call but we felt guilty having them call us international).

Instead we sat down and ate breakfast as a group. Again it was pretty yummy. Scrabbled eggs with chees. Sausage links. French Toast. Fruit. Cereal. Orange Juice. Nice and filling. I'm glad we get fresh warm meals in the mornings rather than your typical continental cold breakfasts you get at Hampton Inn.

Tuesday was Becky's Birthday Celebration Day. To go along with the Survivor themed trip Josh and I gave her a "buff" aka a yellow bandana with Crosland "C's" all over it. We also gave her 6 tasks for the day. She could complete them whenever but it was her Birthday Assignment.

1. Tell 5 complete strangers it was her birthday. (She accomplished this by the time we got out of the van for the fishing trip)
2. Tell our boat captain about the pooping incident on our last fishing excursion in Costa Rica. (This was absolutely hysterical and I think Dan had to actually stop the boat for a second because he was laughing so hard.)
3. "Walk the Plank" after two beers. There is a 2 plank path back to the organic garden and the Jungle House. We joked that that would be mighty difficult with any alcohol in your system. (Note: Becky has NOT completed this task yet)
4. Take a ride on the rope swing. (She chickened out because it was getting dark when we returned and asked for an alternate task. I think we still owe her one.)
5. Get a total stranger to serenade her with Happy Birthday and playing the guitar. There is one in the lodge. (Again, she did not complete this. I'm not sure she is doing very well in this game.)
6. Kiss the first fish we catch. (Not only did she do this, but the first catch was hers.)

Hopefully, when we get back I can upload all the pictures.

8:30 came and no one was in the lodge to pick us up. They told us we could wait anywhere. In the lodge. At the entrance in the parking lot. Strange, but okay. A few minutes later we were told to go out front. A few bugbites later we were back in the lodge. Then we were told our ride was outside. Oh my. I was already exhausted. To get anywhere you have to walk through the jungle on these raised platforms.

The van picked us up and we were off to somewhere. Punta Gorda? We were off to Punta Gorda but this is the funniest trip. We kind of just get in vans and don't know where we are going. That is the really nice thing about staying here. Normally, I have to do so much planning. Here they have it so together.

Punta Gorda is actually a really cute town on the water. We dropped off at a little house on the water. The guys there asked us who we were going out with. Um, I don't know? The driver came to the rescue and we were walking to our fishing boat. Coolers were loaded and we were off.

Dan, our guide, is one of the coolest guides I've had on a trip. He spoke perfect English. Even though English is the official language here, I've found that most locals don't speak it perfectly. Probaby because some also speak Spanish or Creole. We found out that his wife is American/British and is an international Marine Biologist. They live here but she works all over the world. Very cool. Because of that Dan was very environmentally focused and I felt even more comfortable. He was also the Captain for Matt Lauer when The Today Show filmed down here a few years ago. Matt is very nice and down to earth for the record. Dan also helped film for a new BBC special and I think he said Discovery Channel (maybe a different one) special called 'Migration'. Watch for it. It seems like this guy does it all.

Let's just say it's a good thing we don't make our living fishing. We are awful. Becky caught a Jack that we threw back after a kiss. I think that is what it is. It makes Dan laugh so I don't think it is good to eat. She caught a beautiful Grouper. We found out they are protected here and he helps his wife track them for research. She also caught a Yellow-Tailed Snapper that was pretty but too little to eat. I caught a King Mackeral that got away by spitting the lure out at the last minute. Josh caught a King Mackeral shortly after. He was a pretty good size and we actually kept him for dinner. Randy's catching was interesting. Twice he caught the ground. Once Dan said it was obvious he had caught a fish and the fish dived under because the lure wouldn't go that low on its own. Another time he caught an enormous fish and it took our lure and lot of line. Dan again thought this was hysterical. The fourth time Randy caught a lizard fish. It was the weirdest thing ever. Darwinism at it's best was a good description.

After several hours of our horrible skills Dan asked if we wanted to eat our lunch (packed by the lodge) on a beach. Sure, that sounds good. So Dan takes us to this tiny island with a house on it. It was the ranger station where the rangers watch over the Port of Honduras (where we were). I guess Dan knows these guys because there were signs saying how you can't come on the island without an invitation. It's government land. This place was gorgeous. I felt like we were on Gilligan's Island or something. They had some picnic tables where we put out our spread. The cutest puppy ever. White sand beach. Crystal blue water. Palm trees. Definitely paradise.

By this time I really needed to go to the bathroom. I heard Dan aske the rangers if I could use their bathroom upstairs. Fifteen minutes later Dan came downstairs and invited me up. I went into the bathroom and noted how clean it was. Then I realized why. They had spent the last 15 minutes scrubbing and cleaning the bathroom for us. How cute is that? After we finished our lunch and taking pictures on the make-shift gym equipment around the island, the rangers invited us up to teach us about the Preserve. They had a cute little map and they talked about the rules and wildlife. Then they invited us up into the birdnest which took three ladder climbs. It was a 360 degree view that was awesome. I'm so glad Dan has the connections and took us there. I love the unplanned parts where we get to do the "off the beaten" path stuff.

We spent the afternoon with more bad luck fishing and then looking for manatees. Becky really wanted to see manatees for her birthday. No such look. We "saw" one in the main waters but only Dan saw the snout. Oh well, it was a great day on the water. We are amazed that we were all on the water for 7 hours and no one got seriously burned. We were lathering on 70 SPF the whole day.

We got back to the lodge around 5pm. Well, we asked our driver to take us somewhere to get wine. There are only 2 bottles at the lodge and they were very inflated prices. He took us to the Chinese grocery store (just like Raul had told us) where we grabbed a few bottles of white and Belikin Premiums (hadn't founnd them yet) for $1.50. Can't beat that. We dropped our wine off with the bartender and went to clean up before dinner.

We are a bit like vultures with food. The Happy Hour food is placed out at 6pm. We are usually waiting by 5:50. At 6:20 when no food had appeared Becky and I were scavaging at the bar for something to nibble on. Creamy salsa and chips soon appeared and we were human-like again.

Still no internet. I missed my Skype call home. Bummer. Hopefully they will call if anything is the matter.

Dinner was massive. We started with Green Squash soup. Delicious. The salad was a sour cream cucumber salad. Pretty good. Main course was stewed chicken with a honey mustard sauce, baked potato, vegetables and our mackeral! We had enough for all the guests to have a steak cut portion. I don't know what he did to our fish but it was wonderful. The seasoning was perfect. I could eat like a third of my main entree portions so Josh had to help. Everyone loved the fish and chicken. Dessert was my favorite! Upside down pineapple cake. The pineapple here is to die for.

We were going to have an after dinner round of Balderdash but one bottle of wine and we were all ready for bed. I think we were asleep by 9. Tomorrow is a big day so we need to be rested!