Ocean, Bats and Sunsets

After monopoly the sun was still out, and Blake could not wait to show me a little more of the island.  So we got on the scooter for some exploring.  

My view from the back of the scooter ride... I could not say it better myself. 

So he took me to see the ocean.

And then Blake took me to the "bat house".  Really it is just a 5 story, unfinished, abandoned house at the top of a little hill.  Oh and it is now the home of thousands of bats. Now I was not really up for this little adventure.  Walking up 5 flights of narrow stairs, in a creepy house, with the anticipation of bats flying at me from all angles. No thanks! But Blake really wanted me to go...     

   so I went.

Not only did Blake want me to go, he also wanted me to take pictures. But because I did not want to stand up straight the bats where not in the picture.  Like I really cared... I just wanted to get out of there. What was his solution?  He wanted me to throw rocks up at them so they would fly down and be in the picture. After a lot of convincing this is what came of it. 

This is true love.

 

After finishing our little photo shoot we climbed to the roof of the house. 

And the view made everything worth it.  I even was glad Blake took me to the "bat house".  This has to be the best view on the island.

You can see the whole town from here. (there is only one town on Utila)

The last thing Blake wanted to show me was an Utila sunset.  He always said they were the best, and I think you would agree. 

Some of these sunset where taken on his mission, hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Welcome to Utila

April 30th - May 1st

We did not stay in San Pedro for long... only about 7 hrs. At 9:15am we were off to La Ceiba to catch a boat to the island of Utila.

Now when people think of the Bay Islands of Honduras they mostly think of Roatan.  Probably because Roatan is much bigger, and some days up to 3 or 4 cruise ships dock there. People who visit Utila are mostly backpackers and scuba divers. So not only did Blake serve on Utila for 6 months but this little island is right where we wanted to be.

You can see the difference in tourism just by the boat size.

We took the Utila Princess, yes the little boat to the left. The larger boat to the right will soon be on it's way to Roatan. So we said good-bye to the mountainous port of La Ceiba for the beauty of Utila.

Welcome to Utila

On the island people don't really drive cars. We saw maybe 2 work trucks while we were there.  Most everyone has a dirt bike, scooter, four wheeler, motorcycle, a normal bike, or you can pretty much walk anywhere you need to go. As you can see the roads would be to small to have cars driving up and down, which makes this place even more enchanting.

While on the island we stayed with the wonderful family of Alex Ebanks. Alex and his family were so welcoming and made us feel like part of the family.  While Blake was serving on the island Alex was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, but he was happy to inform us that last August he was baptized.  They also had a new addition to their family 4 months ago.  

Elder Beach, Alex, Sanik, Alexia, Elder Russ

The first two days on Utila Sanik let us use her scooter to visit members and old friends.  Now I am sorry to say while in Honduras we were really bad in taking pictures with the families we visited. We just spent the time we had with them talking and eating. But of course we did take pictures of all the random things we saw.


This was the first (out of the many) crab we saw this trip,

and this little guy tried to stay the night in our room, but Blake kindly let him back outside. 

The next day was Sunday, we drove the scooter to church. 

The members used to meet in this old house.  Now they have a newer and nicer little place located on top of the bank.

After church the island was having a big fish fry or derby.  And out of all things Lion fish was on the menu.

They had lion fish cooked in too many ways to count.

Now the reason for the 400+ lion fish that were killed, was they are not native to the Utila reef. They came to the island a few years ago and where eating all the native fish. So we got a free lunch.

After the fish fry we went back to Alex's house.  There we played monopoly with Sanik, her sister Annie, and Annie's husband Calvin. 

Now, on the Bay Islands most everyone speaks English and Spanish. There is a very long history but we do know they were an English colony for a number of years, and have a history of pirating. And if you have ever heard these islanders talk, you would know they sound just like they came out of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun and different calling the play money lempiras rather then dollars as well as getting to hear all the different words and sayings they use.  Here is just a few we can remember. 

what among you doin... what are you guys doing

where among you goin... where are you guys going

dont be gettin waxed bra... don't get mad man

and all the rrRR's (they were subtle but still there)

Where it all began

The links on this post will take you to our day by day story telling of our trip to Honduras. 

Well Spring Semester ended on April 27, Blake and I had 10 days before Summer Semester started May 9th.  So we took a 9 day trip to where Blake served his LDS mission, Honduras.

  Because we only had 9 days, every minute was planned to be packed with adventurer.  We even made a little itinerary.


Honduras trip April 29-May 9

Day1 Fri. April 29- Fly into San Pedro Sula. Stay the night at Karla's

Day 2 Sat. April 30- Travel to la Cieba and then to Utila. Stay the night at Alex Ebanks's house.

Day 3 Sun. May 1- Go to Church and visit members, friends all day, and go to the bat house. Alex Ebanks's house

Day 4 Mon. May 2- Scuba dive/swim with whale sharks. Alex Ebanks's house.

Day 5 Tue. May 3- Kayak and explore the island. Iguana hunting with Juancito and webb. Alex Ebanks's house.

Day 6 Wed. May 4- Travel back to San Pedro possible go to Pulapanzak. Sleep at pulapanzak

Day 7 Thur. May 5- Travel to Copan. Visit bird Park. Sleep at Iguana Azul-  Day 8 Fri. May 6- Visit Copan ruins, Butterfly museum, and Hot springs.- Sleep at Iguana Azul

Day 9 Sat. May 7-Travel to San Pedro. Visit Chaloma and Puerto Cortez where guys steal gas. La primavera. Visit Central. Sleep at Karla

Day 10 Sun. May 8- Go to church at El Barrio San Antonio. Leave back to Florida.  

 I used to think that to begin an adventurer, first you have to get there... Right? I mean who likes running through airports with suitcases, or sitting in the car for what seems like hrs just to get to Disney World. Well on this trip we were out to prove that getting to the main event can be just as fun.  

So this story starts on April 28th... 

 We started out the day with family and breakfast

After eating we were off to a day of travel. Our flight to Honduras did not leave until midnight in Ft. Lauderdale, but having no money to leave our car at the airport for 9 days we had to get creative. 

So we took a bus to Lake Land.

Another love bug massacre 

From Lake Land we hopped on a train to Ft. Lauderdale.

Trains are now my favorite way to travel.  I highly recommend them.  

After getting off the train we had to find a way to get to the airport.  It was only going to be about a 4 mile walk.  But being a little smarter then walking 4 miles in an unfamiliar city, we walked to the nearest hotel instead.  We ate dinner then grabbed the free air port shuttle offered by the lovely hotel.  

Even after getting to the airport and through security we had a few hrs to burn... so I got to see a little re-run of the royal wedding.  Our plan was only delayed 1 hr... but finally after a 2 hr and flight we got to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  Blake's loving convert Karla was there to pick us up at 2:15am (not the safest time to arrive, but it was the cheapest flight).  There was not time waisted in taking us out to the city, they even took us out to eat.  Now it was 3am and we are going out for our first meal...

Baleadas and Tropical Soda

(more on those later)

This picture is just to give you an idea of where we ate.  We did not take many picture at this point in our trip, for our own safety.  If you have ever been to Central or South America you should know not to go out that late at night.  But we trusted our friends and it was an adventurer...

 So, even though Honduras is closer to Florida then Utah, we still made some memories getting there.  

 And this is just where the story begins...