so much paradise

Apologies to those of you who have heard me say this before - several times, even. The Inferno is a much more interesting read than Paradiso. Bliss, light, joy. Repeat. Incredible to experience, but to write about and read about? Boring, after a bit. Why am I bringing up Dante? Because I'm in paradise, and I've run out of new ways to describe beauty, brilliance, light, gorgeousness, etc. Clouds, yay! Reef, yay! White sands and turquoise waters? Yay! Great food.....again.

Still, this is more a diary for me than anything else, so I report. Yesterday morning we took a water taxi to the other popular area of Roatan beaches, West Bay. I really didn't like it at all - it was slick and overly fancy, the people were too beach hip and European -- not that there's anything bad about Europeans -- but there were slim-hipped men in tiny speedos with absolutely no body hair, and brown, thin women in designer bikinis. That's fine, it's just not my crowd. So we saw it, and were newly thrilled with West End and Luna Beach Resort.

Yesterday afternoon we went out on the big boat, to the reef. We puny snorkelers are definitely not as 'cool' as the macho scuba divers. Marc noted that it was condescending the way they went out of their way not to be condescending to us. That made me laugh, it was so true. The boat goes out at daily 9, 11, and 2, to different dive spots along the reef, and snorkelers can tag along if they like. So we liked, at 2.

I do wish I could take underwater pictures so I could remember the actual breathtaking beauty of some of the fish. There were these small ones that were brilliant deep sapphire blue with tiny little spots of light blue - looked like the night sky with stars to me. And yellow ones, and orange ones, and red ones, and frilly ones, and SCHOOLS of them. I laughed at myself once, when I was in the midst of several schools of fish and everywhere I looked were other schools of fish because I thought 'the ocean is full of fish!' Silly me. But really, it was incredible to see. I love the schools of fish the most. When he was snorkeling the day before, Marc saw an 8' long moray eel; he first thought it was a huge log, and then he saw the hideous maw. I'm glad I didn't see that.

So anyway, beauty, joy, brilliance, light, more beauty. Repeat. Yesterday was the most fun day of our whole vacation. We're going out again at 2 today, our last full day here.

Sunsets, courtesy of yesterday:

the Luna Beach pier and dock

from the beach between Luna Beach and West End

And oh!! The stars, the night sky. Living in Manhattan, I forget about the stars since they're never visible. We stop on the beach on our way home after dinner and just stare, point out Orion's belt, watch the amazing Milky Way. If I'd brought my tripod, I'd take a photo but I didn't, too bad.

This morning we walked into West End for breakfast, back to Pura Vida where we had pizza a couple of nights ago. We both ordered the "tipical" breakfast: 2 eggs, cheese, refried beans, and fresh corn tortillas:

And this sign next to Pura Vida made me laugh - cheep rooms:

I accidentally had my camera set at manual shutter, so all the photos I took this morning were blown out since I didn't adjust the shutter speed. Too bad.

So today we'll lounge around until 2, go out for a long snorkel along the reef, then lie in the sun for awhile. Dinner somewhere, we haven't decided yet, but we do know that tomorrow morning we're going to have our last breakfast at Lobster Pot. I just love that place so much; we've eaten three dinners there and one breakfast, and I want it to be the last place we eat. It's run by a mother and three adult daughters, and they are lovely and laugh and serve absolutely delicious food. I'm going to miss that place, a lot.

I don't want to go home.

Mavis and Dixie

Marc was up very early so he took a walk out on the pier and shot these great pictures that show just how clear the water is. Take a look; he shot these images standing on the pier, shooting down into the water:



He came back to check on me and I was still sleeping hard, so he went out for a snorkel and swim, though the sun kept going behind the clouds. I woke up and watched him swimming along, circling here and there, and just felt so happy.

Our breakfast mission was to walk into West End to find this much raved about place called Mavis and Dixies. All the reviews we have read were unanimous and nearly over the top, raving about the food and claiming the reviewers only want to eat there, they could eat 3 meals a day there, etc. The one to beat, as far as we're concerned, is the sweet little Lobster Pot, but they're closed on Sundays anyway so we ventured into West End to find Mavis and Dixies.

walking into town

The sky was looking heavy and dark, which I noticed but didn't really notice....I was carrying my camera. My really nice and not inexpensive camera, which does not have a case. But we were walking along, letting the water lap over our feet, talking. My shoes are rubbing the skin off between my big and 2nd toe, so I was kind of limping along, but never mind. Mavis and Dixies lured us forward.

Maybe we got the Sunday crew. Maybe the guy who served us was having a rotten day. Maybe they just didn't like the looks of us, that happens. But I was not at all impressed. The guy who served us was sullen and didn't bring what we needed. The menu wasn't all that great, nothing that really made me salivate. I got coconut bread toast and coffee, and Marc ordered banana pancakes and coffee. We sat on the back deck overlooking this little bay, eating our OK breakfast and watching the sky darken:

Several more bites and the rain started falling:

We grabbed our food and went inside the restaurant to wait out the storm.

It didn't last too long, and we were able to get a plastic bag to carry the camera in.

For those of you prone to schadenfreude, this is the 2nd day in a row (of our 2 days here, so far) with cloudy skies and rain. There is still time to go out snorkeling, time to lie in the sun, etc., it's just not sunny skies all the time. As far as I'm concerned, that's good because it lets me off the hook from feeling guilty when I want to just lie in the hammock and read or nap. I couldn't be snorkeling anyway, might as well snooze.

West End and West Wing

Last night we walked into the village of West End, maybe 3/4 of a mile down the beach. The sand is incredibly soft and rock/shell free. Right inside the surf there are sharp little coral bits, inevitable near a living coral reef, but you can walk barefoot in the sand - and everyone does - without having to watch where you're going. This is really the most beautiful beach. So we went into West End for dinner, looking for a highly-recommended place called Pura Vida. Like so many other things here, it's associated with a dive center in some way. We had an extra walk, since we got to the village and remembered that we had left the money in our room, so we had to walk back. No bother. The night air was sweet, the sand was soft, and the walk felt so good.

By the time we got to the restaurant, we were pretty hungry. These fantastic-looking pizzas kept coming out of the kitchen, so we decided to order a pepperoni pizza with onions. Marc had a view of the kitchen, somewhat unfortunately, because he saw the woman who was making our pizza. She had a huge belly and a too-small t-shirt that didn't come near to covering it, and a huge rear end with a red skirt just managing to cover it. Her belly flopped on the table as she rolled out the dough. Glad I didn't see that. And the pizza peel just leaned against the wall like a broom, with the edge on the floor. Glad I didn't see that. But the pizza was delicious. One thing we are enjoying about this place is that for the most part, the other tourists are like us, kind of: older, happy, quiet. No rowdy frat boys and girls getting loud and drunk. There are families with small kids and families with teenagers.

Back to the hotel along the pitch-dark beach, navigating by star light (and the flashlight in my hand). Unless you like to sit in the bar and drink, which we don't, there is nothing really to do after dark unless you entertain yourself. Marc had brought movies and tv episodes to watch on the laptop, so we cuddled in and watched half an episode of West Wing before falling asleep.

Oh, and P.S. What's up with the reputation this place has for mosquitos and sand fleas?! We've experienced much worse mosquitos in Chicago and Texas! I haven't yet met a sand flea, either.

tropical cloudburst

We woke up this morning and since there are no clocks in the room, I looked at my Blackberry to check the time: 9:30. Dang, slept a bit longer than I'd planned or hoped. Then Marc reminded me that we're actually two hours behind (we're in Central time zone, but no daylight savings) and that made me so happy! Slept in, but suddenly gained two hours. We walked down the beach to go out for breakfast. Look at the view. Wow. It kind of hypnotized me.

We went back to the Lobster Pot. Here's the view from our table on the deck. It looks like a movie set, the sand is so clean and artfully strewn with leaves.

It's a dumb name for the place, but the food is just so so delicious. It's like your mom cooks for you, but she's an amazing 5-star chef. I know I keep saying the word amazing, but it is really that good.

YEAH. That's the renowned french toast we kept reading about on all the TripAdvisor reviews and forums. It's really as good as I'd hoped. The homemade coconut bread the cook uses is delicious; we had some with dinner last night and it was soft and chewy and homemade wonderful. But what makes the french toast magnificent - and i'm not such a huge french toast fan - is that it's absolutely crisp and crunchy. It crunches when you cut it with your fork, but the inside is pillowy. That's a dumb food writer phrase, and a cliche, but I can't help it. That's what it is. Even though I'm still so full I can't stand it, 3 hours after breakfast, just writing about it makes me want some more. We shared a plate of "tropical fruit" which consisted of a sliced banana, several fat round red grapes, 3 slices of papaya, and 3 slices of cantaloupe. Not really too tropical, but it was good. And the OJ, just squeezed. Breakfast is my favorite meal, and this was great.

I think this blog will really be about the food, because there's the beach/ocean and there are restaurants. I may run out of adjectives to describe the beauty of the island and beaches, and there are only so many water and sunrise/sunset photos I can take. We'll see. Our 2-week fall vacations are generally spent dashing from here to there: Lake Titicaca to Machu Picchu; Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City; Delhi to Varanasi. But our spring trips are just a week, usually near water, and they tend to be low key.

Anyway, we meandered back down the beach to our hotel, stopping to (try to) buy some fruit to keep in our room. The guy only took lempira, the local currency, which is actually quite rare, here. The menus only show prices in US dollars, and everyone accepts US money without hesitation. They usually give change in lempira, so we'll try again tomorrow.

We walked out on the pier at our hotel to take a look at the crystal clear water; really, it's like an aquarium or something, even Marc has never seen water this clear. It's like Xel-Ha, cenote clear.

The sky was filling with dark clouds, but it looked like we'd have time for a quick snorkel trip.

We dashed back to our room and gathered our gear and headed out, slipping into the water at the end of the pier. There are scorpionfish around, and barracuda, but a great plenty of amazing coral and colorful plants, and plenty of beautiful fish to see. We just stayed near our hotel because the sky was looking dark, but it was so much fun we can't wait to go out again. The boat takes divers and snorkelers out to the reef a few times each day, and we're going to do that soon.

Rain drops started to fall so we went back to our room just as it really started a drenching rain. Marc lay in the hammock and I sat in a chair on the porch, watching and listening to the cloudburst. Hot showers felt so good. Muscles used for snorkeling that don't often get used in Manhattan, felt so good. Relaxing, so so good. Stress of work, melting away.

Right now Marc is taking a scouting walk into and through the nearby town while I upload this post. There is no internet connection in the room, so I have to go to the central restaurant/pool/lobby area to get wifi. There's a 2nd floor space that looks out over the water, and I sit there to write these posts and upload the photos. It reminds me of our trip to Vietnam, when we sat in a huge salon looking out at the Gulf of Tonkin, near Hanoi, posting photos and blog entries and feeling like it's a very weird world.

So far so great. I'd recommend this place without reservation. It's all so good, and we are having a wonderful time together. But then we're really good at this vacation business. We both seem to have a special talent for it. :)

cars, planes, planes, planes, cabs. and feet.

We just didn't go to sleep Thursday night, at all. We had to leave for the airport around 12:45am, so why bother? We got to JFK and our flight seemed to be carrying the Wheelchair Brigade. They had to take the wheelchair-bound people in three groups, there were so many of them. Old women, mostly, old black women mostly, some with fantastic hats. We finally got to board and the plane left mostly on time, I think, 3:45am or so. It's all a blur.

So the airline, Taca, had been adamant with Marc all along, as he tried to rearrange our flights when we figured out that we'd have all those hours sitting around airports. No, that was their response, no matter what he asked. But when we got to San Pedro Sula this morning, he took off and found that the ticket agents were much more flexible. He got us on a little flight to La Ceiba without too much waiting around.

When I say "little flight," this is what I mean:


The La Cieba airport is really pretty nice, and the view is amazing. Mainland Honduras is gorgeous from the air: lush green forests, beautiful forested mountains with clouds hugging the tops, farmed land and rivers, and oceans on both sides. Here's what you see from the airport gate area:

And here's the view from my window as we took the 30-minute flight to Roatan:


The taxi driver who took us to Luna Beach had quite a speech, about the political economy of Honduras. The government takes all the money and gives the people none. The rich people keep their money and don't put it out in the economy. People are so poor, they don't share with each other. Old people beg and die in the streets, they don't have retirement homes like in Florida. After each sentence, he'd say "That's a wha happen."

We got to our room and crashed, oh so tired. I kept hearing all this squawking through my exhaustion, squawk squawk squawk. When we woke up we walked around the hotel grounds and I found the source of the squawking. There are huge cages filled with birds, parrots and macaws mostly. I stood in front of a cage watching the parrots perch and stare at each other, and all of a sudden I heard a strange voice say HOLA. And then whistle the cat call whistle. I looked around, weird, and then figured out that it was one of the birds.

But there was this very insistent and loud squawk that was coming from another cage, and I couldn't see the bird. Finally I glanced over and saw this head peeking down:


Maybe it was trying to tell me why the caged bird sings, I don't know. There are huge and brilliant red macaws I'll photograph tomorrow. It is a tropical island, with bougainvillea everywhere, and hibiscus and coconut palms. So pretty.

Here's our room, it's like a tree house:


And this is our porch, with chairs and a huge hammock:

We walked about 3/4 of a mile up the beach to West End and saw so many restaurants we'll try while we're here. It's really a wonderful place, we are enjoying it. The people have all been very friendly and kind to us.

Here we are:

For dinner, we walked a short way up the beach to the Lobster Pot. We'd planned to have breakfast there tomorrow because they have coconut bread french toast that is apparently amazing. We're kind of tired, so we just decided to have dinner there tonight.

The tables were outdoors under the palm trees (in the sand) and some were on a deck. We opted for the deck, thinking there might be fewer mosquitos. We'd read that the service was s-l-o-w, island time, but actually, it was just right. And the food was absolutely wonderful. We shared an appetizer of conch fritters, then I had coconut fried shrimp and a salad, and Marc had grouper and garlic mashed potatoes. It was as delicious and perfectly prepared as you would find in any fancy restaurant. The sweet waitress asked us if we would like a piece of house lemon pie; we said no, we're too full, but she pressed a little and said that they just give the guests a piece. So we decided to share, and it was ice cold lemon pie, like key lime but lemon. My eyes kind of rolled back in my head a little.

Tomorrow: snorkeling and eating and lounging and walking and napping. Sounds like a vacation to me.