Advertisement
Published: October 3rd 2007
Edit Blog Post
Amazing! Absolutely amazing!
As we pulled up to the tiny island, Chelsea looked over the side of the boat and said, "The travel book was right. The water is an impossible turqouise."
Five of us teachers from Mayatan had just arrived at Cayos Cochinos, a group of small (and TINY) islands about an hour's boat ride from the northern coast of Honduras. After our first two weeks of classes we were celebrating with a 4 day weekend!
Our trip to the Cayos was half of the adventure. 12 hours traveling in total. 3 buses (the first one getting a flat tire 20 minutes from San Pedro Sula), 1 back of a pick-up ride, and a flatboat ride to our mini-vacation island. It was interesting to be a "tourist backpacker" in a non-touristy place after living in Copán for so long. Five Americans marching around with bulging backpacks wasn't the norm for the boondock town from where we set sail.
We got to the island Saturday evening. There are several Garífuna families that live there, in huts (cabañas), and make a living housing and feeding visitors, fishing, and I'm not sure what all else.
Within 15 minutes
of arriving I was welcomed into a soccer game with the kids. They were eager to talk with us and to play, and had a great time with my name. "Hey August!" They'd say. Or, "What's your name again? June?" On our second night one of the girls braided my hair, and taught me a few words and phrases in the Garífuna language (it's actually called something else, but I don't remember). They all actually speak Spanish, but to each other sometimes it's a mix of the two languages.
Saturday night we "settled in", got a great egg, tortilla and bean dinner (DELICIOUS!...although we waiting half of forever for it!). And then went to bed early.
There's no electricity on the island, only a generator that kicks on for a couple hours each night to power the yard lights and the one TV. No running water either. There's two bathrooms. One for visitors, and one for everyone else. To flush, you take a bucket, walk a couple feet to the carribean, and scoop up some of the "impossibly blue water". Floors were nonexistant as well. Who needs them when you have white sand? No brooms, just rakes to
clean up the trash.
Sunday was the never ending day! We got up early (at least for being on vacation!) with the morning sun filtering through the boards of our hut. We were just feet from the waves washing up onto the shore, and hearing that was perhaps the most relaxing way to wake up!
We were soon on the beach, and in the water...and then made our way over to a neighboring island. There's actually a place that's shallow enough to walk the enire way between the islands. The other island is actually owned by an individual that rents out the island's vacation house. The care-taker, Alex, was a character and a half! He shimmied up a coco tree and served us fresh coconut. Also kept us entertained with his island English.
Every time we checked the time we could not believe how early it was! All morning..."It's only 8?" "Only 10:30?" It was FABULOUS! I spent most of my time in the shade, not wanting another burn episoid like back in Tela. I probably could have used a bit more sun, but at least I didn't fry.
When supper time finally came Sunday night
Sun Set
Notice the gorgeous water, the setting sun, the peacefull palm...and, of course, the JUNK. we had fried fish. Amazing! Then we ended the night laying on the beach, gazing up at the most stars I've ever seen in the sky at one time! We even got to glimpse a few shooting stars! "Thanks God!"
Our last night there I tried sleeping in the hammock (really mostly to see if I could make it as a jungle missionary) 😊 I think I could, even though after 30 minutes I crawled back into bed. Hammocks are comfortable, they just take some getting used to.
Monday morning we were headed back to the mainland. I was surprised at how eager I actually was to go. Staying on the island for a day or two may be paridise, but living there would feel like a prison! It's simply so tiny, that there's no where to go! The kids go to a school on the larger island, and entertain themselves playing soccer and hopscotch, and do chores like raking up the trash. The adults fish, wash clothes, watch TV for the couple hours it's on each night, and play lots of dominoes during the day. Some of us teachers commented on how crazy it would be to
be there day in and day out. Paradise for a moment (we couldn't stop gushing about the place when we arrived)...but not everything that seems wonderful really is. By the end we were all ready to head back.
Seeing cows along the shore, and bicycles and cars again felt strange, even after only being gone for less than two days. Couldn't imagine being out of "civilization" for months or years. Gave me even the tiniest taste of the adjustments that need to be made.
Our way back to Copán was fairly uneventful. We bought some INCREDIBLE homemade coconut and ginger bread from a lady on the bus, going to the bigger city to sell it on the street. Fresh out of the oven and delicious! In San Pedro it was a bit of a rush to make another bus going to Copán. We caught the last one for the night. Oh, and then we got stopped about 45 minutes from home at a police check. A couple of our group didn't have their passports and the officers were telling them they had to stay in La Entrada. THANKFULLY they were just playing mean, and we ended up staying
The INSIDE of our hut
3 beds, a hamock, candles for light, and sand for the floor. on the bus and leaving without real problems. Whew.
As soon as we got off the bus in Copán there were half a dozen people there asking if we needed a hotel, wanted to go horse back riding, etc. It felt especially strange to be seen as a backpacker/tourist in my own home. We kept saying, "Nope, sorry. We live here."
We finished our adventure with 3 pizzas at Pizza Copán! All of us were starving after the trip, not eating much more than crackers and a couple ice-cream bars. It was nice to be back "home". It always has a fresh, yet comfortable feel after being away.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.225s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.1398s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb