Island life

Ahh, another week gone by in vacation land…since that is where I think I am. Really, just week after week of vacation time (especially no longer being in Xela, or taking Spanish classes or anything like that…). It has (or actually, at the time of writing this) been tough to find a computer/internet situation that was acceptable for spending more than the obligatory 12 minutes to check e-mail, look one quick thing up, then log off due to issues of time, money and energy (for dealing with computer stuff), that’s life down here I guess. This entry is actually being written on a computer at the hostel we are at now just outside of Trujillo that is supposed to have internet service but doesn’t and the owners are away right now and the caretaker seems a bit clueless…hopefully I’ll be able to upload this entry to the internet tomorrow in La Ceiba before we head to Roatan, but I’m getting ahead of myself, last week first.

After dropping off my mother at the airport Sunday morning, Robin and I headed to the bus station for a 3 hour bus ride to the town of La Ceiba where all boats to the bay island leave from. The plan was to spend an hour or two in La Ceiba tracking down information about trips to La Moskitia because all the tour companies that organize trips have their offices there and we felt talking to a real person is what needed to happen. However, it being Sunday all said offices were closed…plus, it was the morning after the last night of the week long "carnival" that La Ceiba is famous for, meaning the town was in bit of ramshackle shape having just come up for the first breath of air after a week of revelry. So, after being in town for maybe 15 minutes, we caught a cab out to the boat dock to await the boat to Utila. We arrived at about 11 in the morning to this dock maybe 2 miles out of town that looked completely empty…turns out there are two boats that travel to Utila each day, the first leaves at 10 or 10:30 am, the second at 4 pm…so, we spent the next five hours at the dock playing cards (gin rummy best out of 23 anyone?) and waiting. We felt really lucky that there was at least one little convenience store at the ticket office of the (fancy-shmanzy) boat to Roatan so that we at least had a little food to snack on (doritos and an ice cream bar, not the healthiest lunch, but hey, it’s calories!). We actually enjoyed ourselves quite a bit and it was fun to watch the day go on as the dock went from this deserted covered porch to a happening place full of people and taxis as the time for boat launch/arrival neared.
Utila is an island off the coast of Honduras that has a reputation for the best (and cheapest) place for one to get their scuba-diving certification, meaning it is packed with foreigners (young backpackers mostly) crazy about diving, or if not crazy about, there to learn how to do it. Neither Robin nor I had any great desire to dive because, as Robin said, "just because it’s the cheapest place still doesn’t mean it is free…" we still had a great time there though. The island is something like 7 miles long by 1.5 miles wide or something and the bulk of the population all lives in Utila town along the western coast. There are private houses spread out on either side of the town, but mainly 80% of the island is "uninhabitated." All the bay island are English speaking and the local residents are mainly descendents of populations brought over from Africa years ago, it was different to be in a place for the week where English was the main language, although the island English spoken between locals is more like pigeon English and near impossible to understand (when overheard, normal English is used on the tourists). Spanish is also spoken, since it is the national language of the country, but there also seemed to be an island form of Spanish and sometimes it was confusing trying to know what language was needed!
Without diving, we still managed to fill up our time first in trying not to melt because it was incredibly hot (and we were staying in a dorm room on the second floor of a building with western facing windows that even when the air-conditioner (on illegally) and the two fans were on all day, the room still clocked in at 81 degrees…). One day we took a bike ride out towards the highest point on the island called pumpkin hill, riding our bikes down the "runway" of the airport on the island. We visited the Iguana station where we learned that there is an iguana native only to Utila which is on the endangered species list (and one of the main purposes of this place is protecting that population). We walked up to the second highest point on the island (a water tower on top of a small hill) to get an amazing view of the backside of the island and to watch the sunset on my birthday. (Yes, I’m 23 now, when did that happen?!) Another day we took a day trip out to a little uninhabited island called Water Cay with two girls from our hostel where we snorkelled and swam and enjoyed the expanse of ocean around us. There was also this incredible restaurant/bar called the Jade Seahorse/Treetantic Bar that was built around this amazing "garden" of sculptures and decorations created with everything from marbles to glass bottles to sea shells. It was absolutely incredible and, as I’m finding while trying to write this, quite difficult to accurately describe with written words…

After 4 days of relaxing, sun, sweltering heat and fun times Robin and I decided to leave the island on Friday and head up to Trujillo (the old capital of Honduras years and years ago). We almost missed the 6:20 am ferry off the island, which cracked both of us up quite a bit (we didn’t hear the alarm), but made it still. Our experience of Trujillo has been, to say the least, odd—beginning with getting off at the bus station on Friday. We arrived about 1 hour earlier than we were planning on, wandered around town (had a really hard time orientating ourselves, the ocean seemed on the wrong side of us, the map seemed backwards…) but found a nice little hotel near the center of town to stay. The guide book gives the impression that this place is sort of the up and coming tourist spot (written 4 years ago of course) and gives the impression that while definitely a slow moving, sleepy town, there are other travellers around and things to do. We’ve decided that maybe the author misinterpreted this growth and that actually, Trujillo was hot in the 80s and has gone downhill since. There seem to be no other tourists and everything is empty.

This morning we took a bus to a little hostel/hotel about 3 miles out of town called Casa Kiwi that was reputedly a popular hang out (because, as Robin has also so duly noted her week or two with me, half of travelling is the people you meet—other travellers mainly) upon getting here, we found it also empty, with the exception of a couple late 30-somethings guys who spent 15 minutes telling us how there was nothing to do around this area or Trujillo and that we should head back the other direction along the coast. So, that’s what we’ve decided to do. We were able to have our laundry done here (very much so needed) and think we’ll pack up tomorrow and go back to La Ceiba and head out to Roatan because, while it is near Utila, it sounds like a much different place and well, who can complain about pristine beaches and sun (Roatan is more famous for beaches, Utila for diving…). The joys of travelling I guess! I’m not sure if I came out sounding negative about the decision to come to Trujillo because I hope not, we’ve had a good day or two out here and like the town a lot actually, it just doesn’t strike us as somewhere to spend the next few days…hope we’re right! (oh, in case you didn’t figure out, we bagged the Moskitia trip, we even tried calling the offices from Utila but could never get through or the numbers off of the websites where incorrect…we figured the effort wasn’t worth it.) So, this entry is a bit of a book, but then again, that’s sort of the point! I’m having such a great time with Robin here and am starting to get used to not travelling alone (and learning how being alone or with someone affects the way you travel). I’ll be really sad to see her go and lose her company! How lucky though that she could be here as long as she has been able to…well, I think it is time for me to head outside, I’m dripping with sweat here in the little room without a fan where the computer is and hopefully I’ll be able to upload the entry tomorrow from La Ceiba!