Roatan

On December 28th we embarked on another day of horrible traveling. Although my mom successfully plans many trips sometimes she forgets small details or mixes up dates or time zones. Well, she thought it would be a good idea to wait to make our plane reservations to Roatan until we were in Honduras. Before Christmas we tried calling and getting on-line to make reservations with no luck. So when we got to Hacienda San Lucas Favia saved the day and was able to find a last minute reservation for us. We also bought bus tickets the day before we left to make sure the bus wouldn’t fill up. So we wake up early Friday morning and go to the bus stop but the bus is not there, it left 10 minutes early (buses do that in Honduras, if they are full they will leave early, even if you already bought a ticket). Luckily we got on another bus that left 10 minutes later and arrived without problem in the San Pedro Sula airport. Our flight was supposedly booked on Atlantic Airlines for 2 pm. We went to their office and they not only didn’t have our names they informed us there was no 2 pm flight, only a 4 pm flight. So we went to all the other airlines to see if they had anything available with no luck. The airline didn’t seem very reliable, but we didn’t have much other choice so we resigned ourselves to booking the 4 pm flight (with a stop in La Ceiba and arrival in Roatan at 5:30 pm) and waited in the airport for 4 hours (very boring since there are only a few fast food places and 2 incredibly overpriced tourist shops). At about 2:30 we looked at the flight monitors and it said our flight was going to leave at 4:30 pm, so we asked somebody and he assured us the flight would board at 3:30 and leave at 4. So we went through security and waited upstairs where they have a Duty Free Store with free samples of Pear Absolute Vodka. (By the way, did any of you know that Duty Free International is actually the name of a store? I always thought it was a privilege and never realized it was actually a brand until my father informed me.) In most airports each flight has a flight number and a gate and employees of that airline working at the gate. Our flight had none of these; no flight number, no gate number and not a single Atlantic employee in sight. At 4 pm there was still no sign of any of these key parts to a successful flight. By this point I was furious. I went back out through security and down to the Atlantic office so see what was going on. They informed me the flight schedule changed and they had just found out about it and we wouldn’t leave until 5 pm. Then I lost it and started yelling at them (I was quite proud of myself that I could do this in Spanish). Then the guy that assured me the flight would leave on time at 4 came out and I really let it rip on him. Then he proceeded to tell me that the flight still would leave at 4. I showed him my watch and told him this was impossible because it was already past 4 so there was really no way the flight would leave at 4. So he says, okay, we are going to leave right now, lets go. So I go back through security and we board at 4:12 (only 12 minutes late he tells me as he takes my ticket). Then we walk out to the plane and board a 15 seater with the luggage crammed in the back of the plane secured with netting (I was pretty nervous).

Luckily we made it to La Ceiba with no crashes. Then we got delayed again in La Ceiba and had to wait until 5:45 pm to board (we were supposed to arrive at 5:30). Finally we got to Roatan around 6:30! What should have taken 3 hours by bus and 30 minutes by plane took us over 12 hours.

Mary had arrived earlier and was waiting to great us at the Coconut Tree Hotel in the Rock House Honeymoon Suite. It is called the Rock House because it is covered in rocks and it is called the Honeymoon Suite because there is a huge round bed and lots of mirrors (on the headboard, the ceiling and an entire wall).
Needless to say it wasn’t the classiest hotel we have ever stayed in, but it served our needs. There was a full kitchen so we ate gourmet oatmeal breakfasts and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch at home most days. Also, it was right on the beach, so we could just walk out and go swimming. We spent our days walking up and down the beach, lying on the beach, swimming and snorkeling. Within swimming distance of the beach is an amazing reef.

My dad, my mom and I all rented snorkels and fins and headed out with my dad in the lead. I unfortunately am a big wimp and was scared of cutting myself on the coral because it was so shallow, so I only went out one time. Luckily none of us got too sunburned thanks to the wise wisdom of Mary who refused to go out in the sun from 11-2.
Mary & I un a water taxi that goes back and forth between West End and West Bay and costs $2 per person opposed to the $10 it costs to take a regular taxi.

Of course we saw lots of people we knew; other Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as people we had met traveling along the way. My dad met a guy named Carlos in the airport in San Pedro Sula who was originally from Guatemala but had moved to Elkhart, Indiana, the town my mother grew up in. Turns out Bill Nye, my grandfather, had been his lawyer, and of course he spoke very highly of him. Later on we saw Carlos again on the beach right in front of our wonderful Rock House. We also met a Canadian couple in Copan who were visiting their daughter, a CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) volunteer, living in Tegucigalpa. Then we ran into them again on the beach in Roatan…small world. The beach was incredible, white sand and crystal clear water. The weather was absolutely perfect, hot during the day (but not too hot) and cool at night. We didn’t even have to use the air conditioning. And although we are still in the rainy season we didn’t have any rain (oh, expect for about 5 minutes on New Year’s Eve).

Yet every pristine paradise has to have its drawbacks. On Roatan (and most Honduran beaches) the drawback is called sand flies. Except for my mom, who I don’t think complained once, we were all covered in bites by the first night. My dad used this as an opportunity to teach us about a new field of economic study. Apparently if you make a concrete decision before you are put in the situation you will stick to your decision, but if you wait until you are in the situation you will not stick with your decision. In this case, if we chose not to scratch our bites before they started to itch, then when they were at their itchiest we would be able to withstand agony and abstain from scratching. Although my dad was convinced Mary and I didn’t buy it. Not surprisingly, he was the only one who didn’t scratch his bites (mine just stopped itching a few days ago). He also used some preventive measures to avoid getting more bites: insect repellant cream as a base followed by Off and knee high socks and tennis shoes (he says it worked). Unfortunately Mary and I lack sufficient self control to not itch our bites and are too vain to wear knee socks on the beach so we just had to suffer.

The small world that it is, we kept running into the Canadian couple visiting their daughter so we ended up spending time with them on New Years Eve and ate some amazing pasta and tons of fresh fruit (this was after we had finished our own dinner and dessert).
Then Mary and I went out with their daughter Sophia and her boyfriend Erin in West End to a bar with a live band singing covers. Of course we also ran into Megan, another Peace Corps volunteer there with her family. We danced until the kicked us out and then went to another club in Flowers Bay playing reggaeton music and danced until about 4 in the morning. New Years day we slept in until 11 am, which is really late, considering there were no curtains on the windows so the entire room was flooded with sunlight by 6:30 am every day. We managed to get to lunch with Sophia and her mom and sister around 2 and then had diner with my parents at 5, then packed and went to bed.

We woke up early Wednesday morning to catch our flight off the island (although we didn’t really have to get up that early because the flight left late as usual). Like all the other travel experiences we had during my parents’ trip this one was also incredibly frustrating, but luckily we made it back to the San Pedro Sula airport. In the airport I bought a steamer from Espresso Americano and as my dad and I were putting on the lid the cup collapsed and the drink exploded all over us, and in my face and chest. I screamed at first probably because of the shock of it. Luckily it didn’t burn me. Then I threw my cake on the counter and wanted to say I hate this country (but I refrained), and then I just started sobbing. Then I asked if they could make me a new one and they said I would have to pay again. I told them the cup was garbage and it wasn’t my fault. Then I asked again for a new one and they made it for me. I think I was just feeling frustrated and overwhelmed from the hassles of traveling but most of all I was sad about my parents’ imminent departure. After I calmed down and changed my clothes I left the airport and took the bus back to Santa Barbara and my parents flew home to Cleveland.
Mary had an ever worse time than we did getting off the island. In fact, she couldn’t get off for two days. We left early on Wednesday and Mary stayed for the morning to take the 2 pm ferry off the island to La Ceiba. Apparently the weather turned bad and the waves were too big, so they had to turn around and go back to Roatan. Weather was so bad that they didn’t have another ferry off the island for two more days, so Mary had to stay two more nights and leave on Friday. Honduras is always an adventure…

Now I am back in Santa Barbara and back to work. Although it is good to be back in Santa Barbara again, to be in my own house, see Katie again, and sleep in my own bed, I miss my parents incredibly. It was so nice to have spent 18 days with them and share my life with them. I am also glad they were able to relax a little.