Island Tour

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Today we went with Peggy and Dan to the opening of a government health center in Pandytown, near Punta Gorda (on the other side of the island). It took awhile to drive there on the winding roads, but we got to see a lot of Roatan, which was nice. First we stopped at a restaruant called "The View" for lunch. It sits on a hillside and has great views of the water and the reef. Then, we went to Paya beach to go swimming. The beach is very nice and very secluded (down a dirt road, way off the highway). There is also a small (14 cabins) resort located there.

Driving into Pandytown was an interesting experience. A lot of the western part of Roatan is developed with nice resorts and hotels, and while there is clearly a lot of poverty in Coxen Hole, it didn't really compare to the conditions we saw in Pandytown. The town is built around a bay, with many of the houses on stilts in the water. A dirt road runs along the houses, and on the other side of the road is a steep incline where there are mudslides when there is a heavy rain. In fact, a mudslide caused the collapse of a wall of the new clinic a few months ago, delaying its opening. The clinic was very nice (quite a contrast to the neighborhood it's in) and well-planned. We met the mayor of eastern Roatan and governor of the Bay Islands at the opening!

On the way home, we stopped at Eldon's in French Harbor. Eldon's is the "gringo" grocery store, the largest on the island. We stocked up on easy-to-cook meals for back in West End. Finally, we stopped at the airport to pick up a new volunteer for Peggy's clinic. Tam is a family medicine resident from Stanford who graduated from Penn State Med the year after Amy did!

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