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Bay Islands
Entry 14 of 25 | show all | print this entry |
So, now I'm in Roatan, Honduras. Roatan is one of the Bay Islands, and is probably as close to the standard definition of "paradise" as you could get -- a tropical caribbean island, gorgeous blue waters and coral reefs, white sand. The little beach we're on faces west for amazing sunsets every night.
We arrived about a week ago and Zach, Dorian and I immediately started the advanced open water scuba diving certification and Chad started the open water course (for beginners). We found a great dive shop and the class was fantastic ... the reefs are just minutes off shore, the water warm and clear, the coral beautiful.
The last few entries are kind of brief because I'm trying to take advantage of the internet at this moment when it is actually working (the power, phones and internet all seem to be connected and work sporadically, at best) and because I have a serious cold and am pretty drowsy.
Since I have a head cold, I can't dive. Zach and Chad left for home yesterday and Dorian is still here for another few days (and, diving right now) and I can't get more than 5 feet away from a box of kleenex. I don't feel like I'm going to miss out on diving, because I have plenty of time to get better and dive (I'll be here until the 24th of June, with almost a week to kill by myself), but there is literally nothing -- and I mean nothing -- to do on this island except dive, and drink, of course. But, the later doesn't sound appealling at the moment, either.
But, even being sick, this is a pretty nice place to be for a few weeks.... But, all those great island things have a downside too:
-- There is tropical fruit literally growing everywhere. This means cheap mangos, fresh fruit salads, tasty fruits and veggies for sale from the back of pickup trucks. But, it also means rotten fruit all over the place, particularly near our hotel which is surrounded by fruit trees. I don't mind the smell, but the guys have dubbed it "rotting death." Also, the too-frequent sound of firecrackers in Guatemala has been replaced by falling fruit onto tin roofs. Quite startling to hear a coconut hit a tin roof in the middle of an otherwise pleasant meal.
-- We're on a remote caribbean island attached to a central american country. This means Roatan is way way cheaper than Bahamas or other more developed islands (but way way more expensive than Guatemala) but, also means unreliable power, water, phones and internet. Not having power is not that bad, once you get used to the heat, except that you can't make coffee without power and that has put a damper on many a morning here so far. Also, the internet is via satellite, which means slow connections when its cloudy! Also, the ATMs and banks are on the other side of the island which I'm sure is due to the influence of taxi drivers -- you have to pay for about a $5-10 cab ride to get to the ATM or bank. Then, of course, hope they work when you get there.
-- We are surrounded by reefs with some of the best diving in the world and diving is cheap (about $20-25 a dive -- more like $60-70 in the US).... but, there is NOTHING else to do here except dive.
-- Tons of fresh seafood here .... but, food is really expensive and not that good. We've figured out that you can pay about $10 for a crappy dinner or about $14 for a really really good dinner (at the one good restaurant we've found). That means going out to dinner every once in a while and trying to cook the rest of the time, in a very limited kitchen (two forks, but a ton of spoons, which I can't really figure out) and with very limited supplies from the small little grocery stores around. I'll be eating lots of eggs, beans, yogurt and granola.
Oh, and, if you've heard about that little tropical storm that was dumping rain on Honduras, we've been right in the middle of it for the last few days. Incredible amounts of rain falling from the sky in the afternoon and all night. Washing the streets away and creating rivers in the beaches and stirring up the otherwise completely calm seas. Today, the rain has stopped, and there's a great breeze, but the water is really choppy with white caps out on the reef.
I'll try to get more photos online soon, but that is a slow slow process. I'm in Roatan for another couple weeks, then going to Nicaragua on the 24th of June (with Will, another friend from SF, who arrives here on the 19th). We'll make our way into Costa Rica. Then, I'm going back to Guatemala for a week in July then to Mexico to meet my sister on July 16.
Hope everyone is doing well! Send me some updates!
Jen
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