Day Four - Punta Blanca- Edited: West End

 

MOVING DAY 

Last look at our cottage in Brick Bay on this rainy Saturday morning.

We loved our time here, though we didn't love doing battle with no-see-ums. Our hosts were wonderful. The cottage is cute and has everything we needed. 

Our next stop is Punta Blanca on the Northshore, at Casa Iguana Verde. 

Their Airbnb ad:

Casa Iguana Verde is a charming and romantic casita in the private community of Punta Blanca on the east end of Roatan, Honduras, where the jungle meets the sea. Guests will enjoy peace and tranquility in this cozy retreat, far away from the tourist crowds.

This 1 bedroom splendidly furnished guest house has a fully furnished kitchen including a full-sized refrigerator and stove/oven with beautiful views and gentle sea breeze. Be lulled into a restful island sleep on the plush queen-size bed, while listening to the lapping waters of the nearby marina. The en suite bathroom has a single vanity sink and walk-in stone tile shower. 

Here's how it went:

Bad Day. Very Bad Day.

But wait, what really makes a day go bad? I’ll tell you some stories of today’s incidents that made the day feel bad. But we got an education that no amount of online reading could ever provide. Discoveries were made and valued friendships were strengthened. When you get into trouble, you need your tribe!

The day started off innocently enough. We woke early to overcast skies and weather reports full of rain. Thunderstorms, they called for. Though we never saw lightning or heard thunder, there was rain. So much rain.

We took our time in the morning, gradually getting things at the Bamboo Cottage in Brick Bay packed for our trip northeast to Punta Blanca. Before we left Mike made us a nice breakfast of bacon, tomato, and onion on toasted coconut bread slathered with Hellman’s mayonnaise. I washed the dishes while he loaded the car. I wish I’d noted what time we pulled out.

Punta Gorda

After an hour’s drive and some wrong turns, we found our Casita Iguana Verde. Pulling in we encountered treacherous rain and mud-filled potholes, but navigating those were nothing compared to the efforts to make it up the very steep driveway. Now Mike is the best driver I know and he has no fear, but he could not get up the driveway. Since Drive didn’t work, he tried it in Reverse. Many times. Eventually, he got it three-quarters of the way and called it quits. As we walked up the rest of the driveway to get to the casita, we wondered how we’d navigate all that luggage up to the casita.

But all of that is worthless information because when we got inside, we thought we had the wrong place! It looked like someone was living there. It felt so wrong that Mike walked up the next driveway to check and see if we’d made a mistake. But no, we had the right house. The bathroom was full of all their stuff, like they were just away for a few days. There was not one square inch for us to put any of our belongings. There were no towels insight, although I did snoop around in some drawers and found two, sitting beneath some underwear. There was no room in the closets for our clothes. The refrigerator was full of their food and the kitchen loaded up with all of their pantry items.

Opening the back door was just . . . .  scary.

There was supposed to be a 5-gallon bottle of water (even though they said their running was safe, we made a pact to only drink bottled water on this trip). This is what we found under the sink, uncapped. Would you drink it?

This whole scene was nothing like their AirBnB description and photos. There was supposed to be a view of the Sea, but a mansion was being constructed that obliterated the view. And the construction noise was more than we wanted to put up with for the next three days.

The owners are from New Hampshire and had told us they were in the States this week. We tried to call them. That is when we discovered there was no WiFi. Stuck again.

That was enough. We decided to leave and find someplace to get a bite to eat and use their WiFi to find another place to crash for the next couple of days.

Concerned about where to stay, but still being touristy!

The only place we knew of is called BJ’s Backyard, which is a restaurant/bar sitting right on the water. We found it. Met BJ herself, who was born and raised in Roatan. The cook served me a pulled pork sandwich and Mike had beef tostadas. He had a Coca Cola and I had a Club Soda.

We soon struck up a conversation with two ex-pats. One guy was sympathetic to our situation and made a call to his friend, Leo, who has a place he rents out.  Leo says, “sure, bring them over.” Boat access only. BJ would let us park the rental SUV there for $2 a day.

Then we were warned about some guy who also rents space from Leo. “Stay away from him! He’s violent and has been banned from all the bars here.” Good to know.

What were our choices? It was getting late in the afternoon and the rains were not going to stop. There was mud everywhere. We had no place to sleep and we were getting worn down at a fast pace.

So we took a breath. Walked outside away from the people to talk. That’s the right thing to do in these situations.

Since the thought of getting in a small boat with a guy half-tanked on rum & cokes, on rough seas, in the windy, cold rain, and landing somewhere we could not escape (remember, boat access only), was all too dangerous feeling, we decided to get back in the car and leave.

The roads were like small mudslides. Where were we to go? The rain was unrelenting and darkness was closing in.

As we drove the sky became darker and the clouds obliterated the light. It felt like nighttime in the middle of the afternoon. The rain started and did not let up. We were traveling in an area we had not yet explored so it all felt a little surreal.

Mike called Shorwen, our rental car guy! He was happy to help and quickly found us a place not too far away called Lands End. That “not too far away” turned into an hour’s drive. When we pulled up to the gate, we could see it was chained and locked. The place looked dead, but then most places are vacant right now because of the pandemic. During our drive, we had received “welcome calls” from Natalia at Lands End. It was easy enough for Mike to return a call to Natalia to find out how to get in the locked gate.

Soaking wet, tired, and a little discouraged, we had arrived at a very old hotel. Natalia cheered us right up and found us a room with an “ocean view.” And she fed us dinner I’ll always remember. It must have been 7:00 but she and the cook didn’t care. They fed us like royalty. I had (3) grilled lobster tails and a fresh salad. Mike had fish tacos. We finished with a piece of freshly baked cheesecake. Topped all that off with a cup of the best coffee I’ve ever had!

Now it is time for a shower. There is hot water and enough pressure- I already checked! There is a king-sized bed. There is even A/C but I don’t think we will use it. The breeze from the Sea is incredible. The sound of crashing waves will, I’m sure, put us right to sleep.

So, was it really a Bad Day? We are still alive. We are together. We are safe. We are full and comfortable. We are learning our way around a third world country. And we are happy. 

I think it was just A Day.

End of Day Four.