The last few weeks have been rather eventful since my last entry. I learnt to love Roatan. The latin american experience I was looking for (whatever that is anyway) I discovered would never be found. The history and culture of the island are more routed in Garifuna traditions than Latin American ones. In fact the locals I met and spoke with did not see themselves as Hondurans at all. The Garifunas are descendents of African slaves that were left on the islands in the 1600s. The people of Roatan were warm and friendly. I was constantly invited to have dinner at [View Full Entry]

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My journey so far has been fairly uneventful. The flight to Houston, was long, dull and cold- I do not like ac. The air hostesses reminded me of Stepford wives, mechanical in their actions, their painted faces in a permanent grin/grimace. My body and mind were confused by the 10.5 hours of sunshine during the flight- would it ever get dark again? I braced myself for the interrogation I was led to believe I would experience at American customs. I was instead greeted by a friendly and welcoming customs officer. Probably something to do with my gender, colour of skin and [View Full Entry]

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After all that work to get out of the country in a big hurry because of the possibility of violence or being stuck in Honduras, nothing much happened during the time that I would have been there. The rest of my tour went back to the mainland, went to Copan, crossed the border into Guatemala without a problem and finished the tour. Ah, timing is everything. Still glad that I left when I did. [View Full Entry]

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Current troubles and Central American passions during coups being well known for exploding, my tour group decided to skip going to Copan and get the heck out of Honduras. We were on Utila enjoying some diving and relaxing after sneaking out of the capital, Tegucigalpa, only about an hour before the roads were blockaded. Our tour leader thought he could get us back onto the mainland and to San Pedro Sula and out via a flight to Guatemala City. As the previous night he had stated going to the mainland was NOT a good idea, Corinne and I (a tour member [View Full Entry]

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Roatan is probably the most beautiful place I’ve been, it’s everything you’d expect a typical Caribbean island to be. A glorious last stop on my round the world trip (if you don’t count a Miami that is). I’m not much of a beachy holiday kinda girl but I can tell you that Roatan could easily change my mind. I was staying in West Bay, reportedly the most beautiful beach on the island and maybe the best in Honduras. And it certainly looked like it to me. A wide sweeping beach, powder soft white sand and almost always pretty quiet, shady palm [View Full Entry]

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Day 795 (03.06.09) to Day 799 (07.06.09) From a choice of two Caribbean islands, which should we go for? It doesn't sound like it should be a difficult decision really does it? And yet it's one we pondered over for some time before finally making a decision an hour or so before we caught the ferry. We had heard that some cheap diving could be had in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and before we made our way back to England and it's murkier, colder waters that we were sure not to want to dive into we wanted to squeeze in [View Full Entry]

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From the time I landed at the airport to the low quality expensive fishing and snorkeling tours, not to mention the double charging restauraunts I was not happy with this so called tropical resort. The only place I found true Honduras and excellent food and snorkeing was a little island called Helene off of Roatan. A really nice christian man named Frank took me in and rented me a cozy cabin for a great price and took me spear diving in a homemade canoe. Now this was paradise, this other guy named Darcy showed me around the place. He was like [View Full Entry]

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Just a few pictures of Roatan thus far - I will try to take more this week!! [View Full Entry]

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Collectively written by the majority of our team…. Well, today was the busiest, and for many of us the most satisfying of the clinic days. From the moment we arrived at the clinic, animals were ready and waiting for exams and surgeries. Today everyone learned new very valuable skills and techniques that they will carry with them throughout their careers- who knew I would be teaching an actual veterinarian how to skillfully and successfully attempt the limbo pole???  So to take off from the above blog…..she can really limbo. However, the main emphasis today [View Full Entry]

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It is tough to describe a day in Roatan. Today began with an early morning snorkel in the ocean. It is a great way to start the day. The team headed out to the clinic beginning at 8:15. We were greeted by patients waiting to been seen and surgeries to be done. Today was a very productive day. We have really come together as a team and are able to function very efficiently. Total animals seen today was 104. Mainly dogs and cats were treated but Dr. Dave saw one white tailed deer. Forty eight animals were sterilized and 1 surgical [View Full Entry]

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