The weekend in Roatan

Landed on perfect sunny Saturday in Roatan and were greeted by Tom and Linnea at the airport. The Kia truck was waiting for us, and off we went to the West End.  I was wondering whether the lack of the “stamps” on my passport would pose an issue, but it turns out that US residents do not need a visa and I now have confirmation of that (getting a note on my passport from the SFO consulate was a good back up to have!).  Part one of Team Eclectic (Harish, Chitra, John, Tharika ad myself) had landed in Roatan!

After checking in to our cabins (a nice change from the last time), we took a stroll around the West End of Roatan – started at Sundowners with a Port Royal, and moved to Coconut Tree for lunch followed by a walk to the end of the strip - barefoot bar.  Guess this is where we got bit by the mosquitoes and sand flies at dusk!

The rest of the team (Mark, Tanya, Arlene and Tracy) arrived at around 5 pm, and we headed back to Sea Grape to meet them for dinner.  A quiet dinner at Half Moon Bay resort with the entire group, and off we went….back to the West End strip.  Sundowners it was!  Harish had some Blue Lagoons, Monkey Lalas were flowing as well and of course, the Salva Vidas.  A good start to the trip.

Sunday was going to be our first full day in Roatan and we were going to take full advantage of it.  We planned to hit the West Bay beach as well as visit our build site and the Pavon family home (which we built in March).

Water taxi ride to West Bay

What was meant to start as a quick breakfast at Linga Longa ended up being a one hour plus breakfast – this was issssssssssssland time!  Our delayed departure meant that we had to re-jigger the plans a bit, and we ended up moving the site visit to the afternoon. Beach it was in the morning…a water taxi ride out to West Bay, and off we went snorkeling. 

Almost all of us rented snorkeling gear, and were ready to jump in to the warm blue waters.  Harish and Chitra were bold enough to rent snorkeling gear and try their hand at it as well.  Chitra even went out quite far out into the waters.  Nice work! We found a nice channel to take us out to the deeper side of the reef – it was a lot of fun.  Tracy found a nice spot on the beach and we took full advantage of the sun and shade, and topped it off with some ice cold Barenas.  By 1 pm it was time for us to head back to the West End, but we were hungry as well – maybe a quick lunch stop?  The taxi took us back to Lighthouse for some tacos.  The bar tender promised us some Veggie tacos and assured us that it would be quick….but here again…island time it was.  The meal was great, but we were running very late.  Dashed back to the resort and cleaned up in time for the afternoon visits.

Visit to the build site on Sunday

We started out with a stop at Flowers Bay to see Tanya’s team Torres build, and went on to see the Duran family build site.  We drove past the airport, Mahagony Bay and after a 20-25 min. ride, ended up at Los Fuertes.  Quite a different neighborhood compared to the Colonia (Pavon family), and the build site was READY for Team Eclectic!  A rain shelter was also built in the back, and all the materials were expected to arrive first thing in the morning.  We didn’t get a chance to meet Emilio or Carla, but we did drive by their store, Pulperia Genesis – a very small store near a busy intersection.

Next stop, a visit to the Pavons in the colonia.  We were looking forward to returning back to see the home we had built in March, and we were greeted by Fidel and Fidelito at the bottom of the dreaded hill!  A 5 min. trek up the hill and we were warmly welcomed by Juana Maria and her daughters – Kayla, Carla.  They had made some modifications to the area below their house – made it into a room, and added some tin roofing to the deck, etc.  The house was extremely clean, and it was clear that they had been waiting up for us for quite some time.  We enjoyed the visit to their home, but it was clear that they were still in a state of financial hardship.  Mark has been very kind to the family and has agreed to take care of the education expenses for the oldest daughter, which will hopefully provide them some flexibility.  It became clear that the house was a huge help for them – they don’t have to pay rent or worry about not having a shelter.  However, that is just a good first step.

It was getting dark (gets dark by 5 pm), so we decided to say our goodbyes and make our way down the hill.  Tracy had an interesting encounter with a guy carrying a machete, which provided some excitement for the walk down.  Soon it was dinner time and Tom drove us all out to Bananarama in the West Bay.  Having had a late lunch, Harish, John, Chitra, Tharika and myself decided to get just an order of nachos and some drinks.  The live music was quite awful, but nevertheless entertaining.  The highlight of the evening turned out to be the hermit crab race!  The resort does this as a way to raise funds for an HIV prevention program in the island (baby formula for infants whose moms have HIV/AIDS).  You pay $5 for a crab, which has a number on it, and they drop these crabs in the center of a circle and watch which crab crosses the finish line (a larger outer circle).  Mark and Arlene bought a couple of entries, but guess their crabs decided to pass on the race J

After dinner we made our way back to the West End, and ventured out to try some tacos at the taco stand. Only two options – tacos and quesadillas, and you could pick either beef or pork, or I suppose plain cheese as well.  John and Tharika tried the meat versions, and Harish and I chose the cheese and salsa tacos.  The jalapeno salsa/puree added a big kick to the tacos. The first day at the build site was going to start with breakfast at 7 am, so we figured we had to end the night early and get some much needed sleep before the build.  

Monday (day one of the build)

As like in March, we were able to get an early breakfast (7 am) at Coco Lobo – coffee, juice, fruits, cereal, yogurt and a hot dish, which varied daily.  For the next 5 days…this was the routine, breakfast at 7 and leave for the site by 7:45 am.