{"id":1612,"date":"2018-01-15T21:58:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T01:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/normpyle.com\/2018\/01\/15\/a-little-bit-of-maana\/"},"modified":"2019-08-31T17:40:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T21:40:49","slug":"a-little-bit-of-maana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kneedeepinit.com\/a-little-bit-of-maana\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Bit of Ma\u00f1ana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
We’ve finally been able to look around the island of Roat\u00e1n a bit, on our own version of island time. We try not to rush around for anything these days so if we don’t see it all this time, we’ll catch it in the next round. As we’ve mentioned, we’re staying in West End which is a quiet but busy beach town. I know that’s an oxymoron, but that’s how I view it. When we go into town (a 10 minute walk), it is generally quite peaceful except for a few taxis, tourist vans, and delivery trucks. We discussed this before also, the vehicles aren’t the pitchy loud small engines of the Utila tuk-tuks, they are normal cars, trucks, and vans. They do spew exhaust as they idle, especially the delivery trucks.<\/p>\n
But it’s beautiful and it’s quiet most of the day, we really like it, it feels comfortable. We have our favorite grocery stores, vegetable stands, Wifi hotspots, and waterfront hangouts. Some of the vendors and shop people have gotten to know us, although the little 10-year-old girls that sell bracelets haven’t. Every single day for the last month they ask if we want to buy a bracelet. They’re cute, but I’m not buying a bracelet, sorry! Oh, and I don’t know how many times I’ve told the cigar vendor \u201cNo gracias, no fumo\u201d (I don’t smoke)! It’s kind of funny, like the movie Groundhog Day. How many times am I going to have this exact conversation? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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We took a laid-back private van tour of Roat\u00e1n last week with a guy named Frankie who grew up here. He probably thought I was with the secret police or something, as much as I was quizzing him on life in Roat\u00e1n. He had a lot of stories as he drove us around the island, many passed on from his father, about how Roat\u00e1n has changed over the years. He said the early tourist development of the Bay Islands of Honduras started on Guanaja (one rock east of here), and that it was expected to be the real tourist destination in this area. We looked at Guanaja a little but it seemed like a bit of a strange place. 90% of the (admittedly small) population is on one small caye (1500 feet x 800 feet) instead of on the main island which is over 10 miles long and mostly untouched. Only in recent times have they started to develop the main island of Guanaja (which is truly beautiful we’re told).<\/p>\n
On the other hand, and for better or for worse, Roat\u00e1n and Utila have embraced change and completely morphed from fishing economies to tourist economies. Roat\u00e1n in particular has gone all in with two cruise ship ports and an airport that serves large jetliners, although admittedly it is blessed with deep water and enough land for the airport. I have to say that we have been pleasantly surprised that the tourist industry (and this is high season) hasn’t in any way \u201cruined\u201d the island of Roat\u00e1n for us.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t
One question that came up with Frankie was the difference between Honduran mainlanders and Islanders (as they like to be called). He described it almost as if they are two different countries entirely, it was fascinating. Mainlanders speak mostly Spanish and are very much Central Americans, culturally probably closer to Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, and Salvadorans than Honduran Islanders. Islanders grow up bilingual and have their own unique Caribbean culture (and language that I will never understand), borrowing from the mainland yes, but also from the Cayman Islands, Belize, even Jamaica. And their own history brings along cultural aspects that are distinct from anywhere else. It’s truly Caribbean meets Central America. I also detected a bit of local pride, they are more proud to be Islanders than to be Hondurans.<\/p>\n\t
One of Frankie’s favorite topics were the roads in Roat\u00e1n. Granted, he drives for a living so that isn’t a surprise, but he used the roads as examples of effective vs. ineffective government entities. The roads were in much better shape as we drove east and passed some jurisdictional east\/west boundary. He was hopeful that the newly elected officials in the west part of the island would solve the pothole problems, many of which are caused by this year’s particularly torrential rainy season. It’s a really interesting process, negotiating the two-lane roads here. It’s perfectly normal for a vehicle, any vehicle, to be in your lane heading directly at you until they get around the huge pothole, and then casually go back into their own lane. Vehicles adjust their speed to allow the other car to get back in their lane in time for the their own lane to keep rolling along. But sometimes, it just becomes a one-lane-at-a-time stop and go situation, the holes are wide and deep. There’s no hurry for most people, you just wait your turn and then move along. Island time.<\/p>\n
There’s another interesting aspect to this whole pothole problem. Since the governments aren’t solving it, private individuals will simply go get a pickup load of dirt and start filling holes. These are the business owners around who know how important the roads are to their business and to their fellow citizens. Then there are the little \u201centrepreneurs\u201d who stand out in the road next to a pothole with a shovel and a tip jar, looking for support from drivers. They aren’t doing a thing but leaning on a shovel, but I guess it pays off or they wouldn’t do it. We saw one kid at the same pothole on both passes down the road, 3 hours later. He wasn’t making a lot of progress filling holes, but I suppose his tip jar was making it worth the \u201ceffort\u201d.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t
Early on in our island tour we made a stop that was the real highlight of the day. It was at a monkey and sloth \u201changout\u201d. It was a small, beautiful place with lots of greenery, and monkeys, iguanas, macaws, toucans, parrots, sloths, even some small key deer. The monkeys used us as perches to sit on while they chowed on sunflower seeds provided by our guide. They were pretty gentle, and their little hands so strong but soft! We enjoyed the other animals too, but it was the sloths that won the day with their happy little faces and they way they hug you! And of course the way they lie on their backs and pull food down into their mouths, too tired to actually stand up to eat, so cute! The tour only took a half hour or so \u2013 we could’ve stayed there all day hugging sloths!<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t
As we’ve cruised around this island we’ve found once again the need to choose beauty over ugliness. I think of it like framing a photo. It’s what you do in the basics of photography \u2013 framing in the most basic sense is to remove distractions and only put in the scene what you want in the scene. Distractions are removed, like clutter, something that doesn’t fit, or simply something ugly. My photographer friends will attest that framing goes way beyond this, but that’s the start of it. In life, you can do the same thing, and we do it here quite a bit. We were on a beach last week with a beautiful blue water view, crisp white sailboats, a big orange sun, and soft puffy clouds. But when we turned around we saw seaweed littered with plastic bags, boat parts, and a random flip-flop. So which view did we capture on the camera?<\/p>\n