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Hello Roatan!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 03:12 PM
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Hello Roatan!
Immediately getting off the boat we were joined by several children. School is not in session right now due to the civil uprising, so there are plenty of kids running through the streets. Of course we knew why they were walking next to us, but they were so different than other experiences I’ve had of this kind. The kids didn’t immediately grab my pockets or ask for money. Instead, they just casually walked along side of us as though we were all simply hanging out. (Of course we plied them with quarters as we went along).
We made an impromptu decision that since we hadn’t participated in a volun-tourism excursion yet, this would be TLP’s own little personal voluntour excursion. We’d been working on the boat for most of the morning and new we’d only have a couple of hours in Roatan so we immediately bee lined for the food. And, of course asked our 6 new tour guides if they wanted to join us.
We went to the restaurant they picked out and were disappointed to see that it appeared to all be American food – or what we thought was American food. We started off ordering hamburgers and salads, etc. Then while we were waiting for our food, these amazing plates of rice and beans and lobster tails and tacos and fried fish started coming out of the kitchen . . . we quickly found the real menu and changed our orders. The kids, naturally, stuck with the burgers and fries and the fries disappeared quickly!
As expected the food was amazing and so was the local beer. We finished the meal off buy ordering our new minions a ridiculous amount of ice cream. I mean, we’re only here for 2 hours – right? So by the time the sugar buzz kicks in – they’ll all be going back to their parents! (This is why I can never have kids – I’d be a ridiculous parent. I make a much better “favorite uncle”).
After the ice cream, and rowdy game of tag played around the restaurant ensued while we waited to pay our bill. In this process, one of the kids broke their flip flop and one of the adults in our group, Amaris, offered to get him some new ones. But, we all know you can’t get just one kid in the group something new. All of a sudden more flip flops started breaking and we assured the six kids that breaking their current modes of transportation was not a requirement for the new kicks. Thankfully, with this reassurance, the flip flop massacre of 2009 ended. The kids took us to their local department store “Carrion” and we got them all crocs – 3 pairs of pink for the girls (by their choice) and 3 pair of blue for the boys (again their choice). I was amused that each group chose the color typically assigned for their gender. Anyways, purchasing the shoes, I was approached in the parking lot by an older lady asking if we could by her grandkids some shoes. We declined and decided it was probably time to go, as we were off the beaten path and figured we were either going to end up buying shoes for every child on the island or become a target for a criminal who mistook the $30 we spent on 6 pairs of children’s shoes for actual wealth.
So, the kids walked us back to our port. And allowed us to take one more picture before we parted ways.
And then, we said goodbye to beautiful Roatan. But, we hope to return soon! Stay tuned, I'll be posting photo updates of our time away over the next few days.
How do?! I'm so bummed that I =just= uncovered the LesbianPodcast. I'm a local SF gal that was on the Sweet Cruise. Great Roatan story - we loved Roatan as well. I've enjoyed catching up with past episodes, and am bummed we didn't get the chance to meet on-board. Perhaps next time - we're off to Cozumel in Sept, are you?