We just got back from spending the weekend on Utila, one of the other Bay Islands, with Brian and Kurosh. Utila is much more compact and caters more to backpackers than Roatan. The island itself is fairly large, but the only built up part is around a small (maybe 2 mile) cove. It's easy to get from one end of the cove to the other, and on your way you pass street vendors with jewelry, restaurants, bars, and tons of dive shops. The only downfall to this island is the boat ride that takes you to and from Utila. We left in the afternoon and the ride was 1.5 hours of some of the biggest ocean swells ever.The first night we joined a group of newly found friends on a beach for some Salva Vidas and Fourth of July fireworks. This island is populated by more expatriates than Hondurans, and we've heard that Hondurans love any excuse to launch fireworks anyway. This is the closest we've ever been to professional fireworks. They were much louder and brighter than we've ever experienced (We had to squint).
Besides scuba diving with turtles and flounders, eating Baliadas, frequenting many of the dock-side bars/restaurants, and getting searched by cops for no apparent reason, we also went kayaking through mangrove swamps to an isolated stretch of beach. The journey took us through a narrow, shallow channel, flanked by thick mangroves and palm forests. At some points there was a complete canopy of mangroves above our heads. This channel cut right through the middle of the island and dumped out into a reef-protected bay. We walked a mile down the beautiful thin strip of white beach, drank coconut water, swam in the bright blue water, and saw no other people.
Kurosh enjoying the fruits of his labor
Kimmy on a recovered skim board
Group photo at a photogenic palm
We might have been a little too adventurous on Utila, for when we got back we were all drained and useless for the rest of the day. Brian left La Ceiba to make a quick stop at the botanical gardens of Tela before catching a flight back to Los Estados Unidos. However we just heard from him that a taxi cab strike blocked the bridge to the gardens and forced him out of the car. A similar such strike occurred on a bridge in La Ceiba two weeks ago. We hear they are protesting high gas prices by refusing to give rides and using bridges (the main traffic arteries) to slow traffic trying to get through. Kurosh left for Pico Bonito where we will meet him tomorrow for some white water rafting.
But what about our night of insect collecting you ask? We'll save that for another post.
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