I was both excited and nervous about vacationing in Honduras. Excited for the warmth, the coffee, the ancient temples and carvings, and the snorkeling. Nervous for the non-zero potential to be mugged, kidnapped, or worse. One day in, and I have to say, this is nothing at all like what I expected. It’s up there with Svalbard and Botswana for being a complete surprise…in a good way.
We left home yesterday at an unspeakably early hour. After 2 flights, we landed in San Pedro Sula and met up with Ali. The airport is small (so small – only 5 gates total for one of the largest airports in the country), yet clean and contemporary. Everybody we encountered was helpful, polite, and spoke some English. We loitered for several hours, then caught a small plane over to Roatán.
Our accommodations are older, but clean and directly on the water. Kid found the hammock on the balcony, as well as one of the resident kittens, so she’s happy!
Surprising lesson #1: waterfront ≠ water access. The land between our hotel and the water appears to be all volcanic rock (although is probably coral since the island sits atop the 2nd largest coral reef ecosystem in the world). It’s jagged and absolutely not something one could traverse without a lot of time and a lot of injuries. I know not to expect beaches the way I’m used to them, but I did expect at least semi-flat land.
Today’s weather forecast wasn’t great, so we decided to go on a rather tourist-oriented tour including a wildlife sanctuary, a chocolate museum/factory/store, and a rum distillery/store.
Surprising lesson #2: Roatán locals speak English natively and learn Spanish in grade school. The English is a bit of a pidgin or creole, with bits of Spanish and local tongues mixed through.
Maya Eden is a wildlife sanctuary with many native critters on display. We explored the butterfly garden and then, before we could move on, we met Ho-Ho the white-faced capuchin who loves taking grapes from your hand!
We spent an hour meeting other animals native to the country, from butterflies to macaws to monkeys. It is so special to be able to feed a spider monkey a peanut from your hand or to give a kinkajou a grape.
It started raining just as we left the animal park, so we were grateful that the remaining activities were indoors. After hitting the chocolate and rum factories and getting some coffee, we went back to the hotel to relax.
Surprising lesson #3: Roatán almost exclusively uses USD (of which we do not have a ton with us since I didn’t read that in any of my pre-travel research materials!) while the mainland generally will only accept local currency – limperas.
Roatán reminds me a fair amount of Tahiti. Houses are either expensive and fancy, or they are very simple cinder-block builds with outhouses. Our guide was saying that many Americans and Canadians buy property here, and while some of that is good for the economy, there’s a tipping point.
Similarly, Roatán gets a lot of cruise ships. A LOT. On many days, 4 massive ships will arrive at the same time, releasing enough people to nearly double the population of the island in an instant. Those people spend money and that’s great, but they also all need transportation around the island and need to eat, straining the limited infrastructure of the local communities. A good reminder to be mindful of your impact when traveling, to use local tours and guides, and to tip overly-generously always.
We spent the afternoon playing games, reading, and relaxing. Anna-Sophia and Ali are completely obsessed with the cats so that provided them with nearly-infinite entertainment.
We walked around town for a bit once the rain subsided. Town is mostly bars/restaurants, and many have a strong tourist vibe that wasn’t of interest. We had dinner at a little local place called Loretta’s Island Cooking and it was wonderful! My blackened fish was seasoned perfectly and crispy on the outside without being dry. Anna-Sophia and Ali had shrimp. 3 meals here, 100% shrimp for Anna-Sophia.
Even with the rain, it was a perfectly lovely day. Not being at work certainly helps!
Vacation Days 