Journeying Onward: another trip to the east side

today we took a couple of girls who volunteer at the clinic to the east side. we had such a wonderful time.
i was happy when bob came along too because... well.. any day with him makes it better i think!

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our first stop was "the view" which always blows away visitors because it is just so shocking to see the ribbons of turquoise blue of the sea looming before you when we round a corner. i should actually be ready and take a photo of their faces because that would make such a great photo. it is sooo gorgeous!!!!!!

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then we made our way to jonesville to get a tour of the mangroves. i thought we'd go with clyde but he was nowhere around. this is how to get a boat at jonesville: basically drive to a parking lot, walk to the edge of the dock, wave your hands around, holler a bit and usually someone comes. well today, marvin showed up and took us out.

it is interesting because marvin was our boat driver before (when we saw the octopus) and the girls had paid for lunch and i assumed they would have left a tip for the tour through the mangroves. later in bed that day i thought, i hope they tipped our boat driver. so today, marvin remembered me so i asked him and he said, nope those girls didn't pay me nothin'! well.. i said.... i have often wondered about that so don't worry today we will pay for that trip and our current one. needless to say he was happy!

i need to tell you an interesting story that he told us. everyone talks about pirates and i am rather suspicious about it, but he claims it is true that many pirates came through roatan. in fact, the first money to come to the island was gold from the pirate ships. then he told this story. i can't verify if it is actually true but it is a good story so i will pass it along to you.

here is it:

a few years ago there were some men making a road in the coxen hole area,

as they were diggin' they came upon a long box.

it was the shape of a coffin.

they were worried that it was a dead body that they had dug up so they called the mayor.

guess what was inside??!

GOLD!

so what is the moral of the story? if you find something, no matter what it is: open it up yourself.. you never know if you will find the treasure for yourself!! :-)

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our next stop was punta gorda, the garifuna village. this is one of my favorite spots to go. i love the timelessness of it. there is a beautiful simplicity to life there: kids playing in the water, people walking down the middle of the road (not alot of cars out there) and fishermen catching dinner for their families.

did you notice the lady in the collage with curlers in her hair? well, it is common to see ladies out and about with curlers on friday or saturday because sunday's a coming!!! i love it!

we went for a nice long walk taking photos and talking to the locals. the lady in the photo (top right) remembered me from the garifuna festival and i had a good time visiting with her. i also bought some souvenirs to take back to our friends and family in canada. i know she appreciated the money that she made off us. she asked for my number in order to let me know if there is anything going on in punta gorda. it is good to know. apparently every sunday afternoon they have dancing and drumming so we might have to go out and enjoy that some sunday after church.