Island Paradise Day 34

Today we walked Natalie and her friend to the Neptunes ferry so they could go back to Roatan, and we decided to stay there for a few hours and snorkel and have lunch. The snorkeling was not as good as here at Jack Neal beach, but the tuna sliders were amazing!

While we were there we watched a young Honduran woman taking pictures of herself. While that is not uncommon these days and we have gotten used to seeing Millennials snap pics of themselves, this woman was a little obsessed. For the better part of 30 minutes she stood in one location smiling at her camera, trying on various poses. It was bizarre. All around her was this beautiful scenery, gorgeous water, and she saw none of it - except through the lens of an iPhone. Kinda weird.

After we got home we decided to take a nap on the dock in the hammocks. We feel a little behind on our sleep given our bad night when the power was out, so a nap was definitely in order. The air conditioning issue has been difficult for us. Steph and I both have very different heat tolerance. So finding a compromise has been hard. He will be laying on the bed spread eagle with his face pushed up against the fan, and I will be curled up in fetal position in my pajamas with a blanket on. Needless to say, I hate air-conditioning - and he loves it. We had agreed before we came here however, that running the air all night was not an option - as it is so expensive here, and we were already over budget on our rent. So Steph has been sucking it up, and living without air - though at times we do turn it on before bed to cool down the room.

The resident dog that belongs to Mario the grounds keeper is named Tigra. Tigra has adopted us, and stays at our door all night, is there in the morning waiting for us, walks us to the ferry, and sleeps on the dock when we are in the hammocks. She lives a pretty miserable life - and has a bad case of mange. She is covered in huge sore patches, and is constantly itching. We are debating whether or not we should go to the vet tomorrow and ask for some medicine for her. Apparently it involves a needle a day for five days, and we are not certain we will be able to manage that with her. Clearly she will not get the help she needs from her owners - who she runs from whenever they come to get her. She loves us, of course, because we feed her. Tomorrow we are heading to La Ceiba for my dental work so we could visit a vet there.

It is tough because there are so many mangy dogs here - so many that need care, but you cannot save them all. Besides, we do not want to offend Mario and his family, so we are not sure if treating the dog would be considered a good thing or not.

The developing world is full of tough choices and difficult conversations. Tonight we were talking with neighbours about over fishing the reef. It is in critical condition, and the fishing needs to be stopped. On the other hand, how do you tell a poor Honduran that they cannot feed their children? I have no answers. For me, the best I can do is wear reef safe sunscreen, and share the news with others of the necessity to protect these valuable resources.