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Published: February 13th 2009
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Day 102
Had a very early start ready for our 3 flights to Roatan. Tom was obviously looking forward to seeing his old buddies although slightly apprehensive that they might not remember him! When we finally arived on Roatan we jumped on a busy bus that would take us to Punta Gorda which is the village where Tom lived. Amazingly one of his old students was on the bus and remembered him so I think that was a bit of a relief!
When we reached our destination at 5pm after over 12 hours travelling we were pretty tired so were keen to find a bed. Mary Lou who did all Toms cooking when he was there hooked us up in one of her friends guest rooms which was actually really nice. Big room, flushing toilet and a powerful ceiling fan. Luxury! Although, it was more money then what we had been paying elsewhere- but fine for a night.
After we had freshened up a bit we went down to Mary Lous for some dinner. On the menu was Balleadas which was Tom's favourite honduran cuisine so I was excited to sample them- they were deeeeeeelicious.
We spent the rest of the
evening just pottering round and catching up with people. Tom was wooing all the old ladies with rude words in their native 'Gariffuna' language...i just giggled along clueless!
Day 103-105
In the morning we packed up our bags as one of the families in the village had offered us a bed in their little house (we weren't sure where the bed was at this point as there seemed to be about 12 of them living in 2 rooms!) The house was also nicknamed 'Fatville' by Tom (for valid reasons!) so that didn't help the space matters either...
Before we went down to Fatville we popped up to visit the new teacher to see the house where Tom lived. Tom was a bit gutted as the house now had a fridge/freezer, water tanks, a toaster and a flushing toilet...luxuries he had to live without! There was only one teacher (James) left in the house as his partner had left back in October. I couldn't believe that he was living in this little village with all the honduran people by himself! He was happy to see us and have some English chats!
We then made our way to Fatville and were
shown to our little room which was ok; double bed and seemingly clean sheets. They were really happy to have us there and insisted on cooking us lots of meals throughout our stay even though they obviously didn't have much money.
We didn't do much for the next few days, just carried on catching up with people. We spent a couple of evenings drinking and laughing at James who seemed to enjoy crossing the boundaries with his young students! Tom had a go at doing the 'Punta' which is the traditional griffuna dance- I hadn't had enough to drink to embarass myself in front of lots of strangers!
Day 106
Today we were going to West End at the other side of the island. West End is where the backpackers usually go when visiting Roatan so it was quite different to Punta Gorda. The beach was amazing and there was a pier that jetted out in to the sea which we sunbathed on and then took turns to jump off.. There was a really great bar in West End where Tom used to go to watch the sunset so we went there at about 5 to make the most
of the happy hour! Frozen Margaritas mmm...Feeling a little bit tipsy we went to wash off the sand and then dressed up for the Argentinian Grill (another of Toms favourite places!) The food was AMAZING! expecially after we had been rice and beans for the last few days. Plus, they served this really nice bread when you sat down which we obviously destroyed. Tom got a steak and I got prawns. mmmm......
Day 107
We took the boat from West End to West Bay which is supposedly the most pituresque beach on the island. It was lovely but unfortunately a Costa Cruise ship had rocked up nearby so there were loaaaads of tourists and it was really busy. We still enjoyed it though and had saved some of our dinner from the night before so had a lovely picnic!
Tom claimed that he had never been on a glass bottom boat so we decided to be proper tourists and booked tickets but unfortunately when we turned up there was some sort of problem so he still hasn't been on one.!..We also visited one of Toms friends from the village who worked in a scooter hire shop and he gave us free t shirts which we were well happy with!
After a relaxing day at the beach we hit the road again and travelled to one of the resorts on the island where some of the people from Punta Gorda were putting on a Garifuna show for the tourists. It was really good fun, they got everybody up dancing and doing a limbo competition!
James had offered us the spare bed at his house which was nice as it meant we didn't have to squeeze in to Fatville or eat any more of their food!
Day 108
Took the bus to Oakridge and went to a little restaurant that Tom used to go for some lunch...It was nice and peaceful and the food was really good. It was owned by an American couple who were obviously delighted to have some English visitors that they could chat away too!
Back in Punta Gorda it was 'Carnavilito' week and so there were lots of celebrations going on....there was a seriously odd May Queen presentation where young girls were prancing around in bikinis it was VERY weird!
Day 109
We took the bus to the Fantasy resort where it was pretty easy just to waltz in and use the nice facilities- shame that the weather wasn't very good but a nice day all the same.
A few weeks before we were heading to Roatan one of the other old teachers had emailed Tom to say that he was going back to Roatan as well and it was at exactly the same time! Massive coincidence! So he (Tom as well, but known to the Punta Gorda folk as 'Pompillio' never worked out whether this was after a footballer or if it means 'boy of the sea!') turned up in the evening with his girlfriend (Mischa) and we pottered around with them. One of the families we visited insisted that they braided our hair. They started by doing a little bit in Tom/Pompillios hair and then they just all swarmed around me and before I knew it I had a fully braided head. It was SO painful and the results were NOT good! I had to pretend I liked it though didn't I, and felt obliged to keep it in for the rest of my stay!!! It wasn't my best hair do.
Day 110
We were leaving the next day so spent the day saying bye to people...The carnival was still going on so there was various bits of entertainment in the evening. We had dinner with Mary Lou again and Tom/Pompillio and Mischa came back in the evening.
Day 111
Got up nice and early as we were spending the day in West End again and wanted to make the most of it. We arranged to go out on one of the diving boats and do some snorkelling which was amazing. As soon as we jumped off the boat there was a little turtle swimming around!
We were back in the bar early for our frozen Margaritas again before returning to the Argentinian Grill for exactly the same meals!!
Day 112
As the snorkelling was so good we wanted more and so jumped on another dive boat...It was good but we didn't see any turtles so we were a little bit disappointed! Managed to get away without paying though so we were well happy with that!
After showers we made our way to the airport ready to leave Honduras and begin our Californian adventure!
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