The Last Supper...

Well, it's arrived.  The dreaded final day.  Save for the last minute odds & ends, we're pretty much packed up and ready to go for when taxi Hank arrives tomorrow morning at 7:30.  We had a late lunch in town this afternoon, checking off the last place on the list:  Big Momma's.   Based on reviews, we both ordered the chicken fingers & fries.  With a large bottle of water, and a diet coke the total bill was 240 lempira ($12 US).  Have I mentioned that it's really cheap to eat here?  We've had two huge meals (and have leftovers) today and the total cost was less than $25.  

We had a seat out on the porch of the restaurant, and fed milkbones to a sweet, skinny little doggie until the food arrived.  While slightly overcooked (that seems to be a curse for proteins here, really) the chicken fingers were delicious.  White meat and in a very flavorful coating.  And honey mustard sauce! Andrew declared the fries the "best on the island".  A compliment from the fry connoisseur, to be certain.  

After lunch, we returned our rental bikes.  Despite having to re-install the chain on Andrew's bike on most days, they served us well and we enjoyed being able to "run in to town" whenever we wanted.  Turns out, that wasn't very often but it was nice to have the option.  

We decided to hoof it home, and meandered through town taking everything in one last time.  As I said in an earlier post, we really came to Utila to snorkel with the whale sharks.  That is what Utila is known for, and why (in conjunction with the great barrier reef/diving) people come to this tiny island.  Turns out, those darn fish either didn't get our email or, more likely, got the dates mixed up.  They were sighted the day before we arrived, and then again yesterday.  Next scheduled trip out to view them is tomorrow afternoon.  When we're in Houston.  We're a little sad that we didn't get to see them, but we had a really lovely time and were really perfectly content to be near-total vegetables on this trip.   We got to spend two weeks together (and we're both still alive!), read a ton (I'm just about to finish 8th book), and completely relaxed.  I can't tell you what a rarity that is for us.   We've enjoyed this little beach shack, and we're likely to return - soon.  You should join us!

This sign is posted outside the WSORC to let everyone know when whale sharks were last sighted, and when the next trip out to view them is.

Post script - we stopped over to say goodbye to Vinnie & LJ, and to hand over all of remaining dog treats & food so they can hand it out in our absence.  They were very, very sweet to us while we were here, and we enjoyed them.  Of note, LJ's eye is "doing fantastic", though she did see the dentist yesterday (again, on the mainland) and "there's some issues".  Fortunately, however, she thinks that it can wait until they return to the States in a month.  Here's hoping!

Street food for breakfast

Sadly, today is our last full day in Utila.  This has been a really relaxing trip.  We didn't get to see the whale sharks but, that's ok, we'll just have to come back!

There are still street foods left to check off the list, and breakfast is as good a time as any to do that.  I walked in to town to bring home a feast!

First stop was a return trip to Thompson's Bakery for some of those cinnamon rolls Andrew loved so much.  I didn't realize that they cost 12 lempiras each (which is about 60 cents US), or I would have bought more than I did!  From Thompson's, there was a stand about 100 yards up the road that was selling pastelitos, which are little pastry pockets filled with meat & potatoes.  Kind of like a big samosa, for those of you familiar with that.   Cost for 2 pastelitos = 48 lempira ($1.20)

Last stop, was a baleada stand next to the bank.  For 40 lempira ($2), I walked away with two freshly made tortillas filled with beef, beans, cheese, pickled onions and hot sauce.  Yum!

Balead stand

 I found a tuk tuk to get back home ($2 for just me), bringing the sum total of our entire breakfast for two (and then some, as there are still a pastelito & two cinnamon rolls left) to $7.60.  Beat that, IHOP!

From top to bottom - cinnamon roll, baleada & pastelito

Day & night excursions

Today's mission - to poke about in the shops in town.  Since there are three, it shouldn't take terribly long so we hang around the house all morning reading and drinking coffee.  Just before noon, we ride in to town and have a burger at Munchies.  For the record, they're burgers are very, very good.  Much better than the ones at Seven Seas.

After lunch, we head over to "The Tea Cup", which is tea shop upstairs and a local arts & craft gallery on the main floor.  We spent about $100 US on some local metal work (we love the metal work they do here in Honduras), and a piece of reclaimed wood with a map of Utila on it.  It was about 240 degrees in the gallery, so we decided to troop upstairs for some of their iced tea.  Fortuitously, they not only had the most delicious jasmine & lime iced tea, they also had dessert!  We must do our part to support the local economy, right?

Fresh macaroon for me; M&M cookie-pie for Andrew.  Good thing we didn't find this place earlier in our stay!

Completely refreshed and sugared, we made our way to stores #2 and #3.  Along the way, we handed out some of the dog treats we bought.  As in most places we visit in Central America, there are lots of dogs running around here.  Some have collars, some don't.  Some have homes, some don't.  Collars and homes are not necessarily synonymous.  Here in Utila, the dogs don't seem to know much about Milkbones.  While not the number one choice at our house, I've never had one of my dogs turn one down so I know they must be edible.  The dogs here seem somewhat confused by them.  They will all take them from us, quite readily.  They then, without exception, set them down and look from the cookie to us with a furrowed brow.  Food?  Something else?  One dog actually tried to make it in to a game, throwing it around and trying to get me to chase him with it.  Our guess is that most of the dogs here are not fed dog food or dog treats, but eat scraps (or garbage if they're homeless).  Our dogs certainly like table scraps better than milkbones, so I guess the reaction here makes sense.  

Handing out MilkBones to the local furries.

By the time we made it home, we were both ready for a swim.  It's very humid today, despite the wind.  Andrew snorkeled for about 45 minutes.  I tried, but it was so wavy I was nauseous within 10 minutes.  No worries, I just hung out on the deck with the iguana. 

Our dinner at home (tacos) left us with some extra meat so we tried to feed the eels that LJ assures us are living in the jetty between our rental and theirs.  If there are there, a big flashlight and a cup of ground beef could not entice them out.  Undaunted, we turned our super-powered flashlight along the base of our large deck and were delighted with the results.  Wish we would have found this nighttime adventure sooner! 

Crab along the dock wall

Crab + Snail

Snails - I was entranced by their colors

Pink?

Seriously, have you ever seen pink snails before? 

...and one more crab.

After we waded around in the nighttime sea, we sat up on the porch for an hour or so scouting for bats.  Not much action at our house, unfortunately - but a dozen or so were swarming around at Vinnie & LJ's.  What gives?  Could it be that Vinnie & LJ have a better sugar-to-water ratio than we do?  Maybe it's the fact that their feeder has been around longer?  I doubt it could even be the fact that Vinnie & LJ are not standing next to their feeder with a super-powered flashlight...but maybe.  

Last full day on the island tomorrow...see you then. 

Exploring the island

Today we had decided to take our bikes and do a little exploring around the island.  As you know, it's not terribly huge (about 4 x 1 miles), so seemed doable.  First, however, we needed to carb-load at Thompson's Bakery.  Let me tell you, their cinnamon buns are worth getting out of bed for!  The Johnny Cakes are good too, but would have been even better with a little jam.  When I open my restaurant here, I'll definitely serve them with jam.  Total for a cinnamon bun, two Jonny Cakes, coffee & juice was about $5.  

A cinnamon bun & two Johnny cakes from Thompson's Bakery

 Appropriately fueled, we were on our way.  We first headed towards the airport on the nice paved road.  It took us about 20 minutes to ride out to the runway, and we were happy the terminal was open so we could buy some water.  It's hot!  And hilly.   We then turned back towards town to get over to the north side of Utila.  There are a lot of big, fancy houses out that way and, from the pics below, you can see why.  What a view! 

Big waves on the north side of the island

We continued down the now-dirt road for another mile, or so, trying our best not to run over iguanas and other lizards.  It's rained here a bit over the past two weeks, and we were forced to turn around when the road turned to a pond.  

End of the road if you're on a bike

Lagoon side of the island

View from the bridge over the Caribbean Sea.  Once you hit the bottom of the bridge (on the right side of this pic), you're in "town".   The big white structure is a fancy hotel/B&B called The Lighthouse. 

After a couple of hours of riding, we were very sweaty & tired so we turned for home.  Island rental bikes are not known for comfortable seats, or fully-functioning gears, so the ride can be rough you have to pedal HARD to get up all those hills!  We settled in for a well-deserved afternoon of nothingness.  The most we accomplished was one last load of laundry, and even that was pushing it.

Dinner tonight was at RJ's BBQ.  It's only open three nights a week, and is one of the favorites on the island.  It opens at 5:30 and, by 6:10, there were no more seats.  Luckily, we arrived right at opening!  The owner (Robert, see photo below) grills fish, steak and other meats.  He uses only sustainably caught seafood (not fished from the reefs), and he brings it in fresh every day.  They serve every entree with the same sides.  Tonight it was baked beans, potatoes, rice, salad & garlic bread.  Robert likes carbs, I guess!  Andrew is a fan.  

The (somewhat tipsy) chef

We ordered our food and the proteins were shouted out back to Robert.  He pulled the meat out of a camping cooler and, with a drink in one hand, he manned the grill.  He would step away from the grill frequently to smoke and refill his cocktail.  Just off to the right of the picture above there was a large table full of his friends, also having cocktails & smoking.  Seems like Robert makes his living by having a barbecue in his living room that he throws some food on every night, while his friends hang out.  This guy is a genius!  The sides all come out of a kitchen (inside the main structure) full of local women.  These same women also do take the orders, clean the tables, and refill Robert's (and the other patron's) drinks.  

Menu

 I ordered Mahi Mahi and Andrew ordered a steak.  It was all really, really good.  And huge.  And cheap.  The two plates, plus three rumonades & a bottle of water was $30 including tax & tip.  I'd definitely recommend RJ's if you're ever in Utila on a Wednesday, Friday or Saturday!  

Andrew's steak

My fish

Working on The List

Another gorgeous, lazy day on Utila!  We were both up about 7 am today.  Wow!  Andrew says he may be caught up on his sleep.  We'll see!  We had breakfast at home.  The coffee we make in this little beach house is really spectacular, I have to say.  Could be the French Press.  Could be the good dark-roast coffee I brought from home.  Could be the view and the fact that we have nothing else to do but enjoy it.   Could be the fact that they don't have half-and-half here, so we're forced to use heavy cream (hey, it's a sacrifice).  Though I'm sure I'll be sad to go back to plain old half-and-half, I know my waistline will thank me for it.  We spent the entire morning reading on the front porch.  With coffee.  It was heaven.  It's still windy as hell here but it keeps the bugs down and makes the temperatures bearable.  

About noon, we jumped on bikes and pedaled in to town.  We've only got a few days left to hit up the rest of the places on the list!  I didn't post this yesterday, but we stumbled on to a place called Che Pancho for a late lunch.  They had hot dogs!  I LOVE hot dogs.  I know it's not politically correct to say that out loud (because they contain heinous ingredients), but I do.  So help me, I do.  Not only did I get a hot dog, but they brought me out bowls containing house-made sauerkraut, relish & a tomato, pepper, onion mixture.  I loaded up my bun and was soon in hot dog heaven!  Oh, and did I mention that the hotdog + fries cost 75 lemps?  That's 3.75 US, people!  My only regret is that I didn't order two.  

With yesterday's hot dog still in mind, we went in search of what is supposed to be the best burger on the island - at Seven Seas.  Seven Seas is like most of the other restaurants on the island - small & rustic.  Lots of locals arrived for lunch.  In fact, we seemed to be the only people there who didn't walk directly in to the kitchen with our own plate, and reappear with it heaped and wrapped in foil.  I can only imagine those plates contained what was advertised as "Lunch" on the menu.  Cost = 100 lemps ($5).  Tempting as it was, we were there for the burger so that's what we ordered.  Cost of the two bacon cheeseburgers with fries & two pop was 290 lemps (including tax and tip), or about $14.50.   The burgers were good, but not nearly so good as what we had at Munchies, I have to say.  Oh well, now we know.  And so do you.  No picture.  Just imagine pretty much any burger and fries you've seen at Applebees or the like.  

After lunch, we went for a swim to cool off.  Despite the wind, it's warm in the sun - especially when you're pedaling a bike for a couple of miles.  Andrew snorkeled for about an hour, and I played around in the waves.  It's too rough for me to snorkel today!  

We had a beautiful dinner at home on the deck -  pasta & screwdrivers made from the last of our fresh OJ.  A great end to a very, very good day.    

Laundry

My hope was that we’d be able to make it to Thompson’s Bakery for breakfast this morning.  Sadly, that didn’t happen because one of us (not me - I was up at 5 am) didn’t get up until almost 9:30.  What the heck?  I checked in on him a couple of times just to make sure he was breathing.

Oh well, with four hours to kill I got a lot done this morning.  I watched the sun rise, drank two French presses of coffee, shared a banana with a couple of iguanas, read, and did some laundry.

Sunrise @ 5:45 am.  Beautiful!

When we booked this VRBO, we were very excited to know that there was a washing machine on site.  We like to pack for a week and wash clothes along the way.  Unfortunately, Mike was quick to tell us upon arrival that it doesn’t work.  As you know, I’m skeptical that anything Mike says is true, but I can live without a washer.  I just channel my inner Laura Ingalls Wilder and live like a pioneer.  Well, except for the part where I used the Tide Pods I brought from home, rather than having made my own soap from ash and lye. 

Speaking of soap, I’m going to take a moment get up on my Tide Pod box and demand that, if any of you are still traveling with cotton clothes, you please stop it right now.  Seriously – Eddie Bauer makes a whole line of clothing branded Travex ^® (both men & women’s) and it will change your life.  Not only is it some of the most comfortable stuff you’ll wear, it dries fast.  That’s good for lots of reasons in hot, humid environments.   I own at least one of almost everything, and every color of many pieces.  Despite his joy in poking fun at what he calls my “Eddie Bauer habit”, even Andrew has made his way over to the Travex ^® side of the fence. 

Ok, I’m stepping off the box and back to the laundry…

You may remember that I mentioned our new friends at the Utila Bike Rental and Laundry Service.  I’ll confess that there are several laundry services in town.  I suspect that, for the bargain price of about $5/load, you could have your clothes washed, dried and returned to you in a nicely folded pile.  I’ll then follow that confession with another…I have laundry issues.  Ok, yes – I have a lot of issues.  Laundry, however, is pretty high up on the list of the top 5. There are very strict rules that must be followed for optimal laundry success.  Sorting, stain treatment, water temperature, type of detergent, fabric softener and other additives, and dryer versus line drying are all critical factors.  One wrong move and…  Ok, fine.  I don’t actually knows what would happen because I always follow the laundry rules.  I’m sure it’s bad, however.  Giving my laundry to a complete stranger with an unknown familiarity and/or regard for the rules is out of the question.  I don’t even let Andrew wash my clothes – especially since I discovered early on that he sorts loads according to which hemisphere of the body it went on, rather than by color and/or fabric.  Who does that?

So, while there is no working washer, and using a service is out of the question, there is a perfectly good sink with a built in drain board and I have a large supply of Tide Pods!  It doesn’t take long to soak, wash, rinse and hang everything.  I even did a second load with the sheets (once Andrew vacated them).  Is there anything more beautiful than carefully laundered clothes drying on a clothesline?  I think not! 

The washer...

...and the dryer. 

Second dryer in the sun.  They aren't our sheets so I'm less worried about fading.  :)

The List

Any of you who follow us regularly on our travels know that I always have "The List".  For those who might be new, The List is the places that we must eat at before we can depart a location.   For the most part, I'm not really in to fine dining.  Sure, I love foie gras as much as the next person but there is little satisfaction in finding good food at a place like that.  Instead, my mission is to find the best food in the shadiest possible location(s).  As I've often said, I'll try anything once.  With a hearty thanks to good genetics & my cast iron stomach, I've managed to eat out of boxes, trucks, and health-violation riddled dives unscathed.  Due to a lack of wifi and an abundance of laziness, I'm a little late starting The List on this trip.  We'll have to hurry to get it all in! 

1. Camila's Bakery - reputed for it's New York-style bagels.  We stopped there today for a drink & a slice of banana bread.  I was less than impressed with the bread, but will give the bagels a go before we leave.  More to come.  
2. Thompson's Bakery - patrons rave about the Johnnie cakes (a breakfast staple on Belize & Roatan) and the cinnamon buns.  I love both, so we're definitely in!
3. Seven Seas - Andrew's pick.  Supposed to have the best bacon cheeseburgers and fries on the island.  We've had pretty darn good burgers already at both Skid Row & Munchies, so we'll have a good basis for comparison.  
4. Big Mama's - reviews say don't miss the chicken poppers and mashed potatoes.  I love me some fried chicken!  
5. RJ's BBQ - supposed to be the best grilled fish on the island.  Known for only serving fish caught in a sustainable manner (not on the reef, in other words).  We're supporters of the reef and I love the coconut & curry sauces that tend to accompany the fish in Central America.  It's only open on Wednesday, Friday & Sunday, however, so we'll have to get there soon!
6. Babalu's - known for it's rum punch, but review say the fish is also good.  It's one of the oldest restaurants on the island.  
7. Street food - my favorite category, hands down!  Seriously, I'm a sucker for someone selling food out of a pot, box, bin or bike basket.  I don't even care what it is - I'm in!  On Utils, I'm on the hunt for baleadas, pastelitos, and donas (donuts).  I'm already regretting that we didn't buy any donas from the woman selling them on the beach earlier this week.  I hope I see her again!  

The continuing quest for wifi

I'm sorry to report that we've still not had any success with reloading the broadband card.  Apparently, there is one dude in town who can do this and he's as hard to find as a Yeti.  On the positive side, we were finally able to get some bikes.   We initially tried Rental Roney's, but the 10 year old in charge didn't seem to have any bikes without at least one flat tire, and no ready access to a bicycle pump.  When we asked him about inflating the tires, he tried to convince us that it wasn't necessary - flat tires wouldn't impact the performance.  We held firm on our (apparently outrageous) need for two working tires and moved on.  Next, we tried Utila Bike Rental & Laundry Service.  Seems like a logical pairing, no?   For $5 less than the kid was charging, we got two bikes WITH inflated tires.  Score!   Six days rental for the two bikes was $50 US.  The added bonus of conducting the transaction with a grown up who seemed genuinely interested in our business - priceless!

Four fully-inflated tires, two baskets & a lock.  We're set!

With no internet at home,we decided to stop in at Camila's Bakery for a cold drink and some free wifi.  $5 US bought us two iced teas and a slice of banana bread (not to mention the use of the internet).   Now that we have wheels,  trips to town are limitless so we headed back to the house for some lunch and a swim.   I also  spent some time in the hammock enjoying the view.  This $18 hummingbird feeder was money well spent, indeed!

Fun!

In the late afternoon, we pedaled back in to town.   We thought we'd try and see if we could use the laptop to load the broadband stick ourselves.   After about 90 minutes, and with a big thanks to Google Translate, we successfully loaded about $25 US on to the card.   We won't know if that translates in to anything resembling gigabytes until our current package expires (in about 400 MB).   Think good thoughts for us, please.  

Update - we have wifi!  And the ability to load as much money as we can possibly surf on to our account.  Life is good!

Ready, set...doh!

Well - we’ve been here for a week now and accomplished shockingly little.  While we’ve made it in to town every day, we’ve managed to complete only the most menial of errands.  It’s really time to buckle down get serious about this holiday thing.  There are things to do, places to see and, more importantly, food to eat!  Our mission for today, Saturday, was to secure a weekly bike rental so that we would have more flexibility to come and go throughout the day, and explore some of the places on the island that are a little too far to get to on foot.   Also on the “to do” list is to reload the broadband stick (Yes, we’ve used 5.5 gigs in 5 days.  I told you we were needy when it comes to wifi.), and pick up a few necessities (cream for coffee, bug spray, and chicken to cook & feed to the eels). 

After breakfast out on the deck, we set off in to town with our list in hand.  As an aside, we have just discovered the iPhone “list” feature and have quickly become obsessed.  We now have lists for everything!  Have you tried it?  You should. 

Ok, back to the mission…our hope when we head out from the house is to find a tuk tuk along the way.  To be perfectly frank, however, that’s only happened once.  This is probably because we’re on the quiet end of the island (less tourists, more residents), which we will trade for easy access to public transportation anytime. It’s only about a mile in to town, and takes us less than 20 minutes to walk there at a “whew, it’s hot” pace.  Today we had to go all the way to the far end of main street to Rental Roney’s Bike Rental - about 2 miles from our house.  It was a warm day today but a nice wind made the walk bearable.   There’s a family all dressed up walking in front of us.  Their finery would come to make more sense to us very soon. 

Along the way, we planned to drop off the broadband stick to be reloaded.  There’s apparently only one place in town that does this type of transaction – Riveria’s Mini Market.  When I loaded it last time, it seemed to take about an hour so we thought we’d drop it off and pick it up on our way back through town.  We arrived to find it closed.  Our limited Spanish allowed us to discern that they are closed on Saturdays, open Sundays.  Strange for Central American (and it’s abundance of Catholicism), we think, but we push on.   Next to Rental Roney’s – which we also find padlocked.  What?  On a Saturday?  What gives?  Somewhat dejected that our to do list is looking likely to remain intact, we start to wander back towards home.  Along the way, we pass a very large church that we had not noticed before.  We noticed it now because there is singing coming from inside.  The sign on the outside reads “Seventh Day Adventist Church”.  Doh!  No wonder everything is closed today.  Why did we not realize that a large part of the population of Utila (and most of the business owners, it seems) are Seventh Day Adventists.  Sigh. 

We spent the afternoon at the house.  I had a swim and then spent a few hours reading on the porch swing.  Andrew had a big, long siesta – his favorite holiday activity.  We walked back in to town for dinner so that we could have access to some much needed wifi.  Wish us luck for our repeat excursion tomorrow! 

Post script:  for those of you following along, here’s some updates on activities & people previously mentioned. 

• The OJ fairy arrived yesterday and, in exchange for the 150 lempiras ($7.50) we left under a conch shell on the porch, rewarded us with a gallon of the most amazingly delicious fresh squeezed juice!   It was so yummy after our hike back from town today. 
• Vinnie & LJ continue to be super nice and very helpful, and we’re grateful to have them here.  Of note, however, is LJ’s apparent propensity to hypochondria.  Since Thursday, she’s had a stomach virus she reportedly contracted from buying a used snorkel mask; she also told me yesterday that she is certain her retina is detaching because she is seeing “flashes” of light (apparently a symptom?).  When we first met them, I made the mistake of mentioning that I worked in a clinic so she had lots of questions for me about her eyeball.  I told her that if she had HIV or syphilis, I was her girl.  Otherwise, she’d best use Web MD like the rest of us!  You’ll be relieved to know (I am) that she has an appointment with a detached retina specialist on the mainland on Monday.  She warned me, however, that they might have to fly home to the US before then if her retina fully detaches.  So far, they’re still here.  Stay tuned! 
• We’ve used 21.3 kwh of electricity, with 112 remaining.  We may have to run the A/C just for fun!  No one has been injured or killed in any showerhead mishaps, though we still can’t get a temperature that is bearable. 
• The sand flea bite itching is under control!  I upped my prednisone dosage, and am taking the antihistamine twice a day.  Andrew says that he seems to remember that I have a few bad days at the beginning every trip, and then things settle down as my body gets used to them.  Either way, I am glad to have had a full night’s sleep last night! 
• We’ve stopped using Mike for any type of consultation related to Utila, save for how the basics in the house run.  He shows up every morning to fill the water tank, and then heads out again.  The total time elapsed is less than 10 minutes.  It seems like a pretty good gig for him.