Waking up early to catch the bus to La Ceiba, Maritza asked if we wanted breakfast. “We can’t; there’s no time,” we told her. “I know,” she responded, “I made you breakfast to go.” Once we had boarded the bus and opened our food, we were surprised to have been given cold hamburgers (for breakfast). They were, however, quite tasty.
From the bus station in La Ceiba, we ran to the grocery store to get enough money for the ferry to the Caribbean island of Roatan, which costs $20. Looking then for a taxi to the dock, we actually—by coincidence—had the same driver as the one Tom had gotten the previous weekend when he went to the Bay Islands. Having tipped the driver and given him a granola cookie, Tom said, “It’s the same guy I had here last week. I gave him a cookie that time, too.”
While in line for the ferry, a group of tourists visiting the island began talking about where they were from. One girl said, “I’m from Illinois—Peoria, actually.” She is touring Latin America right now without knowing any Spanish, but speaks fluent Chinese and has been living in China for the past several years as an English teacher.
On the ferry, we came across Anjuli and Mindy, an EWH team working in the hospital at Trujillo. A few minutes into the ride, unfortunately, Mindy became quite seasick and remained so until we reached the shores of Roatan two hours later. Although we took the morning ferry, the afternoon ferry is apparently significantly worse, as every ticket is sold with a free dosage of Dramamine. We have been told, however, that the return trip will be much smoother.
At the dock in Roatan, we were assaulted by Taxi drivers asking where we wanted to go and how many people we had. Although we tried to negotiate a price, we could not get one lower than $20. “This is an island, and gas is expensive—more than $6 per gallon,” the driver said. When we arrived at the hostel where Leah and Ariel, an EWH team working at the hospital on the island, were staying, the taxi driver recommended another hotel closer to the beach (the girls’ hostel was a twenty minute walk from the water). At the Dolphin Executive Hotel, just across the street from the beach, we got rooms with air-conditioning and free drinking water for just $15 per person.
Our next step was to search for rental snorkels to swim in the ocean. In the first shop we passed, the price was just $5 for 24 hours of use for goggles, a snorkel, and flippers. I soon found that goggles do not work well with a mustache, so I had to press them against my face while swimming to slow the rate of leakage. Flippers, as always, work wonderfully.
Swimming over and around the coral reef near the shore, I was astounded by the variety of fish, seeing fish from every color of the rainbow as well as florescent fish and semi-transparent fish. Also amongst the corals were many kinds of crabs, urchins, sea anemones, and a swordfish. When a storm began brewing in the distance, the others left the water, but I stayed for a couple more hours of swimming (the storm missed the island by many miles). During this time, I met another snorkeler named Jimmy, who is originally from the Eastern province of La Moskitia. Even today, this region is only sparsely populated by groups of people with native, African, or European descent who wish to live a difficult frontiersman-like life in some of the world’s most dense tropical jungle. At this time, Jimmy is with his family on vacation from San Antonio, Texas, and enjoys the water since his first job was as a scuba instructor for eight years.
Around this time as I continued to survey the dense and diverse area of marine life, I began to wonder, “Where are the predators? Why haven’t I seen any?” At that moment and not far in front of me, I saw a creature my own size—a stingray. Immediately I thought of Steve Irwin as the creature passed without incident nearby to my left and went out to sea.
As the dusk advanced, the water became too dark for me to continue seeing anything underwater, so I left the beach for the day. Back at the hotel, however, the mirror revealed several places on my back that I had missed while applying sunscreen!
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