Roatan

I wrote this last week (in that same email about life in Honduras) when I was on vacation with my parents, but we didn't have internet access, so this is a little of what we did. We also went ziplining and SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!! I have always wanted to do this, so that was really great. We also took a boat through the mangrove trees that the pirates made so that they could hide out. And we went to this restaurant/bar/I don't really know what to call it, that is only accessible by boat. The owner lives there, but is from the US. He's really laid back and the whole atmosphere of the place was just really chill. I liked it. But here's what I wrote one day on the beach...

Right now, I am on Roatan, one of the Bay Islands (Caribbean), with my parents. It’s a popular tourist place, but we’re staying in this remote place in the middle of the jungle, but also on the beach.. hard to explain exactly. It’s pretty cool, but today it rained all day. It was nice to just relax inside the house, though. Like I’m sure you’re finding, the semester is wearing me out and right about now, the profs are piling on the work, so this week off is wonderful. I’m also speaking in English because I’m with my parents who don’t know Spanish. It’s weird. It took awhile for me to remember it. Even now after a few days, I’m not thinking/speaking solely in English. Also, my spelling and grammar have gone out the window—in both languages. I used to be so good at it in English and now I’m not good in either language. Alas.

We went to another part of the island today. It has better beaches and today is sunny! There is a reef just off shore, so we tried snorkeling. My dad likes it, but I was really claustrophobic. I started to panic so I focused on breathing deeply, but I couldn’t handle it, so I got out of the water. Maybe I’ll try again another day.

This place is beautiful. It’s so nice to get out of Tegus. It’s nice to have clean air. It’s nice that the constant noise isn’t cars and gunshots, but waves and island music. I’m sitting here, covered in salty sand, and I am in awe of the “true blue dream of sky” meeting the deep ocean blues and aqua turquoise sea. It’s breath taking. I see the people bobbing in the water—some snorkeling, some just laughing and enjoying the mix of the sun and the saltwater. There are the sunbathers and the kayakers. And I hear English and Spanish and French and German and it all blends together in this perfect orchestra of sound and it is beautiful. And so I sit; thankful, thought-full. And the thoughts just keep coming. They aren’t bad thoughts, they’re just… big thoughts. And I try to ignore them—as I usually do—but that is not to be. Today, in this place, with the sun shining down on me, they will come, and I won’t stop them.