Much to her chagrin (or maybe not, she is a dog) it was only an empty plastic bag.  

I was transfixed. 

This dog was going CRAZY on the beach. She was digging for a full twenty minutes. 

Hard at work behind the bar that I have completely reorganized to get ready for Carnival. Carnival is, purportedly, the third largest in the world, after Rio and New Orleans. 

I get to be a Fish!!!

I must begin with a slight caveat about why, exactly, it is that I ran to the islands this weekend, shirking work and all other obligations. There has been a haze, a funk of sorts, if you will, hanging over La Ceiba for about two weeks now. It has been miserable. Sort of a perpetual sunset, with stink and steam permeating your every thought and action. So when it began to rain and the haze lifted even slightly, I found myself staring out of the window during my Spanish lessons and thinking one word... "Utila."
So, after a painstakingly difficult weekend of diving, drinking, diving some more, and hanging on the beach, I have become certified as a fish. OK, technically the title is Advanced Open Water, but I like fish much better. Diving is fantastic. A friend of mine named Valerie, who is an instructor with the Bay Islands College of Diving, taught me in a one-on-one class. We played with Diver Propulsion Vehicles, which are basically underwater scooters, dove a wreck, aptly named the Halliburton, dove at night, and, literally, swam through hoops. It was a blast! So now I am certified to dive up to 30m, I have a snazzy t-shirt, and I am about to set out upon a whole new country (Guatemala) to terrorize as I see fit.
I am meeting Shannon on Thursday in Guatemala City, and from there, who knows where we will go. I know that I want to be in Antigua on Sunday, because there is great shopping, and if you know either Shannon or myself, you know the we likey the shopping. I will leave you with a couple of pictures of life on the islands. I love you all. Keep e-mailing me, it reminds me that there is life outside of this little country.