4 Mar, Fri.

Fri, 4 Mar. arrived at RMP at 9am to guide a group of students from mainland Honduras on the snorkel trip. the project took on an entire new dimension when one of the Dive Shops offered to do an 'official guided snorkel trip' because they were filming a marketing piece. we had a group of 7 guys snorkel first. it was a complete disaster in my opinion! they could swim, but none of them had ever snorkeled before. they were given their snorkel gear and the 'guide' took off in the water like a race horse. those poor guys were trying to swim, with their heads above water, splashing and thrashing around in the water trying to keep up with the 'guide'. i saw several of them step on the coral and almost had a heart attack! they couldn't have seen anything, any fish in the area were long gone. i finally yelled at the guy in the 'safety' kayak to tell the 'guide' to slow down! OMG! it was horrible! one guy was lagging behind the entire time, i noticed his mask didn't fit, and i saw that he had a cramp in his leg. i helped him and told him to just take it easy, that there was no rush. we finally finished and went back to the Dive Shop to pick up the group of girls. i mentioned to the 'guide' that he needed to slow down. his comment was ... 'hey, they need to keep up!' Alex, the volunteer from RMP that i met with my first day, arrived and said he was going to be the 'guide' for the girls. thank God! i explained the prior events to him and suggested that we have some extra masks in the kayak in case some didn't fit, and spend some time in the shallows and let the girls get used to breathing through the snorkel and floating before we took off. we actually spent a lot of time getting them used to snorkeling, making sure their masks fit and then took off at a leisurely pace! ...MUCH better results! i noticed again that one of the teachers, older, was tiring and lagging behind .... i told her to just relax and take her time, that i wasn't going to leave her alone. she said, 'thank you'. if you aren't used to snorkeling, it can be really tiring, i'm sure they all would sleep well that night and would have sore leg muscles the next day. now i KNOW i could be a better Snorkel Guide than that first guy ! ...a little common sense and compassion goes a long way! i had my camera with me an told the girls i would take their photos underwater. they wanted to know how much i would charge ............ i told them nothing, of course! they were all excited. here's the group of girls. and guys. on the slower calmer snorkel with the girls, we saw several lobsters. only got a photo of one. and this eel ... first eel i've seen since i've been here. and of course, those Blue Tangs. i talked briefly with Grazzia before the snorkel trip and i have Sat off ... no activities ! i'd heard you could buy a USB modem for your computer and have 24/7 internet access for about 500L (US$25) for the month. i decided i would do this, it would be nice to have access in my room. but, i had to take a taxi to Coxen Hole, and then get another taxi to the 'mall' at French Harbour to buy the modem. it sounded like a lot of 'work' ... but what else do i have to do this afternoon ? so i checked with Grazzia on appropriate taxi fares, and she put me in a taxi and i was on my way. i ALWAYS wear my seat belt at home, but for some silly reason rarely wear it in a taxi ... which is totally stupid. all was going fine, until we came to a traffic backup. ...an accident on the road ahead. the taxi driver got out and then opened my door and motioned for me to get out. other people were getting out and walking and i guessed he wanted me to do the same; ... but he wanted his money first. i tried, unsuccessfullly, to decrease the price, ... then started walking up the hill towards the accident, having no idea where i was going. here's what i saw. ok, now i will ALWAYS wear my seat belt in a taxi ..... i continued walking on the road, ....still not knowing where i was going. not too far ahead i arrived at some sort of civililzation .... i saw a taxi and asked him to take me to the 'mall' at French Harbour. we agreed on a price and i was off again ... whatever, whereever that was! WoW ... to my surprise, the first thing i saw was Wendy's !!!!!!!!! ... followed by Applebee's !!!!!! ...and a real Strip Mall! he took me to the Tigo store ... reminded me of Verizon's stores! i waited in line and inquired ... well, i was misinformed ... the price was 780L (US$42), and it only included one WEEK of service. that was out of my price range and i walked to the 'supermarket' .... a real one ... with aisles of selections ! i bought bread, tuna, microwave popcorn, TP, mayo, and a Snickers bar. then headed for the ice cream store :) i thought my taxi driver was going to return for me, but ... i waited, then decided to get another taxi. Mario took me all the way back to West End. i was home again. no internet modem ... but i got to see Coxen Hole and French Harbour. one of these 2 ports where the cruise ships dock. Fri night in Roatan. i found another restaurant with reasonable prices with WiFi :) i had a nice shrimp dish with lemon and caper sauce ... and probably outstayed my welcome, again :( walked around awhile again and headed home. i fixed myself a rum and coke(s) and worked on the computer. i could hear live music from Ronnie's Barefoot Bar next door ... most of it was Reggae ... but then they started playing the Blues! i couldn't stand it ... around midnight, i changed out of my PJs and walked over to the bar to listen. ....just about the time they switched back to reggae :( i requested a Blues tune and they complied... but it was their last song of the night. i met Bobby in the band, .... he's from Chicago! ....he said they play there every Fri night and he would play more Blues for me if i showed up next week..... agreed!