Adventure Everywhere Part 1

Here's a quick rundown of what I did this summer, and a highly abbreviated, but awesome, set of pictures to describe it. First I drove up to Colorado to watch the UT Men's Ultimate Frisbee program play in the college national championships. Watching the team get tenth and knowing I could have been out there playing if I was still in school was tough, but it was great supporting all the friends from my time there.

Next my family took a highly relaxing and much needed vacation to South Padre Island. Many great days of drunken revelry (oops wrong trip), I mean bocce ball and Apples to Apples were had. We go there every year but it's always fun and this time was particularly nice.

Next I jetted down to Honduras and El Salvador for two weeks with my good friend Collin and his buddy Koby. Excellent conversations were had about life. We're all at interesting transitional points in our lives and our intersection was definitely one of fate. Here's a description of how we planned the trip:

*Phone rings 3 weeks before the trip, Kyle answers*
Collin: "Hey Kyle, I've called some other people but they're all busy with life and I know you're waiting to ship of to South Africa, wanna go to Central America for a couple weeks?"
Kyle: "Sure, what's the cost?"
Collin: "Under $2,000"
Kyle: "I'm in"
*Koby joins 5 days before we leave after hearing about it during pick up basketball*

While in Honduras, we saw wondrous Mayan ruins at Copan Ruinas,

ate some delicious local food,

released a pregnant boa constrictor into the wild,

ate termites, swam with a whale shark in Utila, and generally had an amazing time. I would like to focus on the whale shark. It was the most awe inspiring thing I've ever seen. At 20 feet long, it was merely an adolescent, but still impressive. There are distinct scenes of it rocketing up alongside our boat while I peered over the edge, it rolling to show me its stomach, and me swimming in its wake that I will never forget. I swam the hardest I could with fins on and wasn't equal to the challenge of keeping up with five effortless tail flicks of this sea monster. In my last post I mentioned no regrets, but I really wish I'd had an underwater camera to share the brilliance.

Carrying on, it was a sad day when Koby had to leave us in Honduras, but Collin and I continued on to El Salvador. We stayed in a beautifully painted town called Juayua and toured a protected forest. Here we are after repelling down a waterfall, no safety waivers required!

My favorite meal of the trip was on this hike. We ate some incredibly tasty food on the cheap the whole time, but our guide packed in a fresh feast that hit the spot perfectly after our long hike. Fresh avocado, papaya, tomatoes, boiled eggs, pineapple...everything had a level of flavor I've never tasted before. I was too busy eating to remember a photograph haha. From there we continued on to Barra de Santiago and spent time surfing on the beach in the buff, reading good books, throwing the frisbee, and enjoying life.

Oof this post is getting long, I've had too much fun this summer! I'll carry on in part 2 with tales from Grand Teton National Park, New Orleans, Washington DC, and scuba certification. I depart Austin for Chicago in t-minus 8 hours. Absolutely amazing. Here's the packing, box of t-shirts will be dropped before heading to South Africa