ROATAN!

      Roatan is an island off the coast of Honduras in the Atlantic Ocean. I had never been to the Caribbean so this was another first for me. It was a nice trip, getting a chance to try lots of new things and several days without school. It was relaxing because we could walk the streets alone...in a swimsuit...after dark, without being afraid of getting robbed or mugged. Several teachers headed out to the Bay Islands for the Independence Holiday.
      I woke up late Saturday morning when the taxis arrived at the door and I hadn't packed the night before, off to a good start! So I threw all essentials into a suitcase, hoping desperately that I hadn't forgotten anything important. Passport, check. Swimsuit, check. Twelve teachers were flying out on the same flight, and five of us were staying together in a hostel. So we arrive at the airport and waited around for the check-in desk to open at 6am. About 6:30a, we finally get in line only to be informed that our plane was still in Guatemala. Instead of our flight leaving at 7a...we rolled down the tarmac about 8:30am... We arrived in Roatan less than an hour later, much cheered that we would soon be at the beach!
     I had been in charge of arranging accommodations for the five of us new teachers who were going. We rented a two-bedroom cabin from the hostel Chillies. It was very cute, clean, and in a quiet part of West End. The staff was very friendly and helped us with any issues we had. After getting everything settled, we quick changed into swimsuits, headed across the street, and into the ocean. Later that day, we rented some snorkel gear and took a water taxi over to West Bay. If West End is the backpacker destination, then West Bay is dominated by fancy resorts for people with money. West Bay has the nicer, white sand beaches so we went there to lay on the beach and swim. Just laying on the beach soaking in some sunshine was wonderful. The snorkeling was ok, but not spectacular. Since this was my first time to the Caribbean, I was so amazed by the color of the ocean here! When it was getting dark, we headed back to get cleaned up and dressed. This weekend was a fishing tournament, so the street was packed with vendors and many tourists.

      Sunday, I woke up early and walked around the now deserted street of West End. Unfortunately, it started raining but Kelsey and I decided to swim again anyways. The rain lasted while we had a breakfast of coffee and baleadas. When it finally stopped raining in the afternoon, several of us rented kayaks and paddled the 4.5 kilometers to West Bay. I don't think kayaking is really my thing, but I made it anyways. We snorkeled again, but the rain had made the water really murky and dirty. It stayed cloudy all day, so mostly I napped in the kayak while the others snorkeled. Again at dark, we got dressed up. This time we headed out to celebrate the 15th of September, the Honduras Independence Holiday. This night fireworks were going off while the streets were packed with local islanders, seafood vendors, and live music. I retired early after dinner and crashed in bed.
      On Monday, we all slept in because it was still pouring down rain. I was determined to rent a scooter and see the other side of the island. After it finally stopped raining, Keiko and I attempted to rent two scooters, but ended up with one instead. Keiko didn't get approved to drive hers, so it seemed a much smarter idea to put her on the back of my scooter (though I had never driven one before) and away we went! The good news is that we made it all 30ish miles to the other end of the island to our destination of Punta Gorda! I wanted to visit this village because it is the oldest settlement on the island, created when British sailors abandoned rebel Black Caribb slaves on the island in the 1797. It was very quite because there were no outside visitors due to the holiday, so we left our scooter in a nice lady's yard and started walking. The people were so friendly! It was great to walk around and then sit down to enjoy some delicious Garifuna food of fish and conch in coconut milk with plantain bread. We tried to make it back before dark but failed. However when I finally pulled into Chillies on the scooter with Keiko and I still in one piece, I was feeling pretty good about life. On out last night here, the streets were abandoned because everyone had already left from the holiday vacation.
      Tuesday, Keiko and I had a breakfast of banana, chocolate, peanut butter, almond milk smoothies with banana pancakes. We took off on the scooter again to visit the Carambola Botanical Gardens then met up with a lady I met at the airport who runs a Montassori School. Today the sky was agiain overcast and I thouht the bugs were going to eat me alive. I went through an entire can of Off! during our 4 day stay. Then we all sat by the ocean for a couple hours until our plane was set to leave. Our plane only left 40 minutes late on the way back to Tegus.
      Overall, the trip was really nice even though it rained three out of the four days. It was relaxing to be away from the city for a while. It was strange to return from "vacation" back to Tegus instead of "home." I was ready to get back to work, but not ready to return to the streets of Tegucigalpa.