I have now been in Honduras 4.5 hours. Easy-peasy travel to Roatan from Kansas City. My flight from Houston was 3 times the size of that from KC. Roatan is a major tourist destination, especially for divers. I made sure to pack my mask and snorkel. Dee picked me up at the airport along with a nurse and her family who will also be staying for 5 weeks. We also brought along a guy who missed the boat to the mainland. The lady who sat next to me on the flight knew I was staying at a hostel so referred this stranger to me. Already I’m an area expert!
With the full truck, naturally, I jumped at the chance to ride in the bed with the luggage. Our first stop was to an American-esque super market. I picked up some essentials like granola, carrots, Nilla Wafers, and canned beans. I had peanut butter and crackers stashed away in my luggage.
We drove by Clinica Esperanza and then Dee dropped me off (and our +1) at the Backpacker’s Hostel, which is right around the corner from the clinic. Mel is the landlady of the hostel and is very laid back and welcoming (seems to be the general nature of the island). I am in a little single room, just wider than my arm span and twice the length. I am in love with the fan that is mounted near the head of my bed.
First stop was to walk down to Miss Peggy, the founder and director of Clinica Esperanza. She has a wonderful little house right on the beach (I’m a 3 min walk from there) and is equally as kind and welcoming. Peggy is a nurse from Ohio and as Dee reported, after years of trips to Honduras, she “retired” to Roatan, but quickly had people coming to see her for this and that, and pretty soon she was running a clinic on the ground floor of her house. Hence the beginnings of Clinica Esperanza which now sees somewhere around 20,000 patients a year.
I chatted with Peggy for a while before walking back to the hostel where I met the other residents (for now), and snaked on the random schmorgishborg I gathered at the grocery store. There’s a couple from Holland (though he’s from Ireland and she’s German) who have been here for 2 weeks and will be here throughout my stay. There’s another guy from Germany, the guy who came with me from the airport (he works at a Catholic orphanage on the mainland) and another American just arrived.
There’s a neat little pool and lots of hammocks around the hostel. I’m fighting off a cold right now, so I’m looking forward to exploring my surroundings more when I don’t feel so lousy. Right now bed sounds good.
Tomorrow, I’ll be meeting at Miss Peggy’s at 9:30 to go with some other clinic people to church and beach time on the south side of the island (West End I believe?). It’s the touristy side and has a most glorious beach (I saw it from the airplane and it does look magical).
So this will be my blog while here. I don’t know how entertaining or informative it will be, but for those who are interested in my going-ons, I’ll try to keep it more-or-less updated.