26 Mar--Making Friends

Mon, 26 Mar ... over the weekend i had a few roommates come and go ... one couple for a night .. and another guy from Mexico for a few nights .... but some have stayed .... Christina is from Switzerland and is getting her Open Water Certification .... Justine is from France ... who by the way, lived in Kalamazoo for 5 yrs, and taught French at WMU !!!!!!!!!!! ....and Enric from Spain arrived .... such is life in a 6 bedroom dorm :) ...i didn't think i would like living with so many people, but it's actually quite fun .... i've been here a week already... and the plan is to return to Utila next Sat. the following week is "Holy Week" ... "Semanta Santa" here in Central America. i didn't realize that "Easter Week" was such a big deal here in Honduras. i've been told that it's like a week-long Mardi Gras on the islands ... with lots of locals from the mainland ... and lots of "Spring Breakers". ..... this has kind of 'stressed' me out .... i don't want to be around lots of drunk people, noise, chaos .... I AM GETTING OLD !!!!!!! :( i'd been warned to make sure i have reservations for that week because everything will be booked. ....so i decided a few weeks ago, before i left Utila, that i'd rather spend that week in Utila, and booked my room at Hotel Utila again. ....but now that i've been here awhile, and have made friends here .... i'm thinking it might be nicer and quieter to stay here, up in the forest, away from the all the chaos on the streets in Utila ... what to do ????? ....decisions ...... in the morning i worked on the netting for the Recycle Bins then it was 1:30pm .... i had my snorkel gear with me, so i just went back out to the submarine in Half Moon Bay again, to see if i could see any more new things and i did ... this is an Arrow Crab ... probably named for the shape of it's body although out of focus, .... notice the pretty blue pinchers, on an otherwise brown body .... and this Corkscrew Anemone seems to be appropriately named .... these are SharpNose Puffer Fish ... they are really tiny ... only about 1 inch long .... and i am still fascinated by this Rough File Clam this community of life is on one of the dock posts ... i don't know what all is here ... but it was interesting ... and colorful ... and this lobster was the most colorful lobster i've ever seen ... they are usually a reddish color .. but this one was blue purple another first for me .... this is a Oscellate Swimming Crab .... then 4 unskilled snorkelers came under the dock .... and stirred up all the sand with their fins .... that was the end to the visibility under there, .. so i called it quits for the day ...... i passed the red seafood truck on my way home and bought some shrimp ... i was going to suggest we do a dorm-room dinner. my roommates were sitting down by the office when i arrived. i presented my idea and we agreed to do dinner tomorrow night .... but now, they were on their way to Happy Hour and asked me to join them ... i got cleaned up and we had a nice visit at Foster's over the water, on hammocks .. then to the Cannibal Cafe for great Mexican food ..... this is Enric, Christina, and Justine ...Enric calls us 'his girls' :) fun day .... fun night