Island Life

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So heres a brief insight to the hilarities of living on a tropical island:

Bugs are everywhere of course, and I have no problem with tarantulas out in the wild... i do however have a problem with baby tarantulas hanging out on my sink stand... i know im such a girl. Got a lot of bull for that one, but i very much wanted it out of my bathroom and so enlisted the guys to get rid of it for me.

I do however have a huge problem with the mosquitos and sand flies that have been feasting on my legs... im pretty sure ive scratched down to the last layer of skin, and it still itches. But this has led to an amusing adventure in finding the best anti-itch cream. You would think on an island infested with mosquitos and sand flies, there would be an abundance of anti itch creams available for the suffering populace. Yet on Roatan, if you ask for anti-itch cream at the pharamacy (and mime itching your arm) you will be offered a variety of creams ranging from hemorrhoid cream to vagisil. Oh you have an itch on the arm... here try some athletes foot cream! Not quite what im looking for but thanks. Of course I've only just learned now that there's a theory that bug repellent actually attracts the sand flies... the only prevention for them is baby oil or vaseline, basically you need to create an oil barrier between them and your skin.

Of course to buy the anti-itch cream, you will need lempiras, so a trip to the atm is neccessary. And on Roatan, it is a trip. On my second day here, I went with one of the instructors to the shark dive, and then we ran some errands while the divers where hanging with the sharks. So we stopped by the airport so I could use the atm. Well that was when I found out that atm's dont always like my HSBC atm card, which was unfortunately the card I had that day. So the next day, everyone needed to go to the bank. Of course that day was Sunday. On Roatan is not uncommon for atms to run out of money, in fact it is more likely unheard of for all the atms on the island to all have cash on the same day. Sundays are the worst days. So we stopped by one bank and the security guard just stopped us as we piled out of the van, saying the atm didnt work. Ok no problem, we drove on down the HSBC atm, but that one was out of money. So then we drove on down to the airport, where there are two atms. And luckily for us one of those atms did work, and we were all rich again. Of course, I had to use my PNC card, because it didnt like my HSBC card.

Last night we were in West End, and stopped by the Coconut convenience store, where holy cow theres a HSBC atm!! So I said heck im taking a bunch of money out, since the whole point of the account was free atm withdrawals at HSBC atms... ya know the world's local bank. So i put in the card put in the pin go through the whole shebang. And wouldn't you know, "we're sorry we do not recognize the bank this card is associated with." well but, you say HSBC on you ATM and my card says HSBC on it, and so huh? tried it a second time with the same result. Apparently HSBC on Roatan is not the world's local bank.

But now that I had some limps, it was time for groceries! I now understand what life must have been like in Communist Russia. Everyday you can go to the store, and it will be a completely different selection. The shelves are always half-bare, and you just dont get your produce from the store. You know the nice enclosed store with air conditioning... no you are much safer getting your veggies from the road side stand in a little town that makes Nogales look like a clean thriving metropolis. And the kids bagging your groceries are about 10.

Unfortunately it has been raining a lot lately, non stop today. So once we come home from work, its hard to go back out. We live about a ten minute fifteen minute walk from the main road, on a dirt road when dry, a muddy pond today. Of course once you make it up the mud road to the main road you still need to flag a taxi. So we've been homebodies today, playing cards, and relaxing after last nights festivities.

Of course with the storms we've been having lately, theres been quite a current. Yesterdays dive, I just watched the fish get thrown from side to side, and thought gee... thats what i look like right now! The waves are amazingly huge, enough to boogie board, if we didnt have the rock barrier. The waves are also big enough to sink a boat... as it did yesterday to another dive shops boat. They had just reached the mooring, and were actually changing their mind and going to head back in when three 6 footer waves capsized the boat. Lots of equipment was lost, and there were guests on board! Of course, that isnt anyones fault, unlike the manager of the shark dive who turned off peoples air because they were in his space. This happened a few days ago, and he's now in jail on attempted murder charges!

Tomorrows blog will be in celebration of my rescue diver status! I finished that a few days ago! I will save you if you buy me a beer!

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Comments

[Chandra]

I can commiserate with you on a lot of this. No tarantulas but the ants are getting ridiculous. We also have the fun 'no-money atms' and different items at the stores. You pretty much learn to stock up if you actually find something you desperately want because you might not see it again for a month. Then when it is a holiday and people are cooking eggs and butter can't be found anywhere. The joys of island life.