Tuesday November 18Th we landed in Roatan Honduras. This had been the first time Randy or I had stepped foot in another country. I was really excited and very nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect. Roatan I a small Island off the main land of Honduras. When we got of the ship it was sprinkling a bit. There were singer and dancers there to greet us.
Then we caught a bus that took us to Gumbalimba Park. On the way that stopped to let us get a picture of the jungle.
Our tour guide Ryan was very funny and informative on the Island. School there is closed for holiday (summer vacation to us) between November and February. Since that is there winter months and it rains tons there, and all of the children walk to school. This day we meet John and Laura Rutherford. We hung out and talked a little in the park and then at the beach we sat at the same table for lunch.
There are so many beautiful plants in the park here are a few of my favorites. The tree in the last picture is called a hugging tree.(Kapok Tree)
One plant that you might recognize is the rhododendron. We grow it here. But as it climbs up the tree the leaves get bigger and bigger it was cool to see a plant that I knew a little bit about.
Another plant that that we had never seen before was a west to east palm tree. The palm tree grows west to east and if you get lost and come across one you know what direction the tree is growing, also in the bottom on the palms it gathers water so you could break a branch and get water. This is a palm tree I would like to have in my yard if it could grow here.
One thing that we thought was odd was to see cactus in a very tropical area, but here they were.
Then they took us to a cave that the famous pirate John Coxen's hid his treasure.
Then they took us across the bridge that a few of the ladies in are group were afraid to cross, but they did. It was fun I was hoping we went back that way but we didn't.
We then head to visit the parrots. We each got to hold them. Before they let us they made everyone wearing a hat take them off. The birds can take the button off in a few seconds.
The animals that day really liked my hair because one of the birds was trying to eat the bobbie pins in my hair.
Next it was off to see the monkeys. This was by far one of the coolest things I have done in my life. When do you get the chance to play with monkeys. There are a lot of these pictures so you get the slide show.
Roatan has the weirdest animal. They call it Agouti (island rabbit) but it looks like a hug RAT. We saw this rabbit while seeing the monkeys.
A couple of funny stories about the monkey's. There is this monkey they call meano because he is mean and will bit people. Before we got to the Monkey's he had escaped off his leash. On our way out they had found him so we all gathered around to look at him. He all of a sudden jumped onto this lady and we all thought he would bit her. He just wrapped his whole body around her neck and wouldn't let go. One thing they told us before we saw the Monkey's was not to have a food out or sun glass because they would take them. Monkey see monkey's do. They asked everyone if they had pop or anything else to bribe him with but nothing worked. I think he just needed some love. So they walked the lady up to were they chained him up and he finally got him off of her.
While they where trying to get the monkey off this lady another monkey jumped on my shoulder. He must have really like my hair because he started gromming me. Ryan the tour guide said he liked the gel and hairspray in my hair. So he would put his hands through my hair and than wipe his hands all over his body. It was very funny and strange to be groomed by this monkey, but he just kept doing it. He had me and everyone else watching him laughing. I will never ever forget this.
After we were done in Gumbalimba Park we got on the bus and went to Tabyana Beach. While we were heading there Ryan had told us that it rained so much the day before that one of there dams had broke and all the water and debris had washed down towards the beach. The parking lot that they dropped us off at had been flooded with water almost up to our bottoms. The beach was very beautiful but it also had a lot of trash and seaweed. We didn't want to trek through the seaweed to get in the water plus it was windy and kind of cold and didn't want to be wet and cold the rest of the day. But I did walk in the water along the beach and the water felt warm. That would be the closes I would get to being in the ocean our whole trip. I do wish now that I would have gotten in.
One thing we did do on the beach was have a couples massage right there on the beach. I have alway wanted to to this because it seame to be so romantic, not so much romantic but it was really neat. I would like to do this again someday.
After we bought a few souvenirs we got back on the bus to head back to the ship. I'm glad we did, as soon as we got on the bus it started to pour. When we got back to the dock we were greated with music, it was beautiful.
This is what Roatan looks like from the pier.
Since there wasn't anything to do before dinner and we already had our swimsuits on we sat in the hottub. I sat there visiting for about 3 hours and Randy had, had enough after one hour and went back to the room to take a shower and read. We went to eat at Indigo. I dind't like my food but the dessert was good.
Then we went to the show Sealegs, which was okay. I think it would have been better if they had more then the one girl and guy sing all the songs. After awhile I got tired of listening to them.Then we went to bed early since we were up early and had to get up early the next morning.
