EJ and I took our sweet old time getting to breakfast this morning. We took the time to get ready to hit the town as soon as we were done only to find everyone else at the table in the cafe had finished eating and wasn’t ready to go. When we were finally all ready we then got to play the waiting game as we sat and waited for a cab to come get us. Our plan was to check out the other half of our part of the island - West End.
West End is by far the more touristy part of the West part of the island. We spent yesterday at West Bay on the beach. West End was also on the beach but the narrow two lane road held shops on both sides so you only knew the ocean was near when you peaked between the buildings and noticed the waves lapping along underneath them. The shops were the most tourist trap shops I had ever seen. We still went into all of them just to get a break from the heat. In one of the stores Mom tried to buy a t-shirt and they wanted US$35 for it!! The island prices everything in American dollars but when you remember the exchange is 24 limpira to a dollar you realize that the cost of things on the island is exhorbinant for the general cost of living in Honduras.
Personally I expected a lot more personality in the shops of West End. Given my experience in San Pedro Sula I expected to find all sorts of knick-knacks and handmade goods. Instead it was all made in China crap and the locally made goods were also crappily made. It was actually really disappointing. Even the cigar shops were terrible - the goods aren’t kept under optimal conditions. Beyond the tourist traps were a bunch of bars and clubs, all of which were closed. We happened to be here the one week the cruise ships weren’t around which means we’ve had the entire area almost to ourselves. The few other people here are barley noticeable. We did find a cafe and minimart and proceeded to buy them out of all the larger waters that they had. It turned out to be the one spot where the locals went so everything was super cheap. The food looked great and everyone was loving it. We walked a bit further down the road with our cold waters in our hands and my backpack now stuffed to the gills with water. There turned out to be nothing else there and James and Mariette were eager to start drinking so we sat at the bus stop for a few moments before turning back and going to one of the only open bars/restaurants.
I was pretty grumpy to begin with due to the heat and then we sat at a table where there was no breeze and an overly friendly yellow jacket. We sat there for a while while my family enjoyed their frozen alcoholic
beverages (I opted for water) until we ordered food and the people sitting facing out towards the water realized that they were sitting in front of the one open window for the kitchen. We ended up moving to another table, grabbing all our things and setting up shop away from the kitchen. I shared chicken wings with EJ which interestingly enough weren’t sauced. James got a grilled chicken sandwich which came out drenched in Russian dressing. I told him the story of finding that this was the traditional Honduran way of eating a sandwich when I was six and ordered a grilled cheese that was layered with the pink goop.
Having finished our lunch slash snack we realized we had to get home. Someone suggested taking one of the water taxis instead of waiting for a van to come get us and thankfully we were right next to the dock where they were all waiting. Water taxis are very common on the island since the roads are kind of a pain to use to get between resorts/attractions. They zip up and down the shallow coastline delivering people to each of their hotels. A lot of the resorts have their own pier, including the one we are staying in. We all crammed into the wooden boat and soon we were off. Thankfully the driver went slow so we didn’t capsize or get thrown off then we hit the wake of the other boats. The ride was lovely and I was really glad we did the boat instead of waiting around for a car. When the boat arrived at our resort, however, we found that there was already a boat tied up to the dock. The driver just kept puttering along and gently parked his boat on the sandy shallows of the beach next to the pier. One by one we managed to get out of the beached boat and eventually crawled out way back to our rooms.
Once settled I then decided that I was going to go to the beach to swim for a bit. I asked Mom what the family’s plans are and she said that was it for the day, everyone was just planning on sitting about. I went off without them to the nearest beach and was so glad I did. The warm water was just what I needed after being so sweaty. I put down my shirt and shoes then gently made my way into the ocean. The bar just a few feet away from the shore made for a great DJ. I floated along in the ocean singing along. I really didn’t want to leave but I didn’t want to worry my family either but more importantly I could feel my stomach rumbling and didn’t want to miss dinner with everyone. I grabbed my things and walked back to find my family also ready to start thinking about dinner. We sat on the small boardwalk and watched the sun set, which Mariette was eager to see from there. We sat and drank and told stories. Eventually I ordered nachos and then finally we sat to eat dinner. Unfortunately we were a bit late and someone else was sitting at our table! We made due with the tables that were left and ate another wonderful meal. By 8:30pm we were all beat and ready for bed. Even EJ and I only stayed up a bit longer before hitting the hay. I guess boating down the bay will do that to you.
Location:Roatan,Honduras
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