Island Paradise Day 5

Day five of island paradise saw us standing on the dock at 7:45 flagging down our “taxi” – a panga driven by an old Islander named Cooper.

The boat was already full of people from the Cay heading into town for work. We squeezed in and off we went bumping over the swells, sending espuma high into the air. I had to hang on tight, as the ride was bumpy. There were, of course, no life vests, rails to hang onto, or other such civilized things, and while bouncing along – not too far from shore, I tried to imagine how strong of a swimmer I would need to be to get into shore if the boat capsized.

These guys, however, have driven these boats all their lives. They know the currents, they know the reefs, and they know how to navigate the waves at this time of year, so I really was not too concerned, and was happy for not having to walk! On the boat we sat across from two young blonde women. We assumed they were tourists, on the south shore for diving, but when the boat stopped, and the girls got off and spoke to Cooper, we were stunned to hear an unintelligible Creole come out of their mouths.

Many of the islanders are descended from the original Caribs who had inhabited the islands here since 1200 AD. When the British conquered St. Vincent they separated the more Black looking Caribs from the more American looking Caribs, and exiled them. These Free Blacks, called the Garifuna, came to Roatan. They are very black, and continue to live in small groups throughout the islands and mainland Honduras and Belize, and they have a distinct culture and they are incredibly proud of having never been enslaved.

Meanwhile, the more white looking Caribs, over hundreds of years, intermingled with the British, and now after three hundred years, what you have are very Caucasian looking islanders with curly blonde hair and other distinct Carib features, that speak Creole - the original slave language. So on the islands here you have white islanders, black islanders , Garifuna islanders,, expat islanders, and Honduran mainlanders. We have been told that in Utila you should speak English first so as not to offend the "true islanders" and only if they don't understand do you then you speak Spanish. This is because the "islanders (both black and white - ever proud of having never been slaves) do not want to be confused with the Spanish speaking "mainlanders," who are on the islands to do "service" work.

We spent the day looking at more houses, only this time on the other side of the lagoon – on the east end of the island, so all these properties had road access to town.

There certainly are a lot more houses on the water than when I was here 11 years ago. What is amazing is how many of them are sitting empty. Some houses were built 11 years ago on spec, and still sit unsold. Most others are occupied only for a few months a year. Prices on the town side of the island range from small island houses in town from $65,000 up to large, beautiful homes on the ocean for just over $300,000. These pics are of the inside and outside of a house built years ago (on spec) that never sold. It sits empty most of the time...maybe they would consider a long term tenant???

If you are curious - check out this MLS link and see some of the properties.

After house hunting, we had lunch at the home of our realtor, and then headed to the butcher shop to get some pork chops. We bought frozen chops as it would be a long trek home. Fortunately it was late in the afternoon, so the hot sun had already dipped behind the forest of trees. I was anxious to get back before dark. The idea of walking in the dark here is just too creepy: too many bugs and snakes and crabs.

When we got home from house shopping, we both had numerous welts on our bodies from various bugs and were too tired to cook. We find our appetites are somewhat suppressed in this heat and humidity. So after a bowl of cereal and half a pineapple, I checked my mail, only to discover Stephane’s credit card had been hacked, and someone was currently having a delightful time online buying clothes and shoes in Spain!