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*From Friday: We found out shortly after boarding our flight that Katie and Matt, who were supposed to arrive in Roatan at 1:30, missed their flight. They had gotten all the way to the airport where Katie discovered that she had forgotten her passport. They were able to rebook for the next day but that was some unneeded stress on the brink of a relaxing vacation.
2/11/22 / Day 1: Flight 703 from MPLS. After no snow for a week, it started about the time the Harmons hit Brooklyn Center on Thursday afternoon. They made it okay, just a little bit of rush hour traffic. A great dinner of sheet pan chicken thighs and veggies.
A little overnight freezing rain and snow but got out on time and through ticketing and security in record time. We had noticed that there still seemed to be some open seats on our flight which surprised us and so Sun Country actually changed to a smaller plane for our flight. There was now no longer a row 24, where we were originally assigned, just 23 rows. Me and the Harmons ended up in row 18 and Susan and Nicci in the last row, row 23. It was a long, boring flight and for awhile, being a no-frills airline, I was worried that we would not get water, and more importantly, coffee! But about two hours into our flight they came through. Good thing we had brought snacks.
Landed a little late and then got in line for immigration processing. Since Susan and Nicci were the last people off the plane, we were at the end of the line. Turned out to be not such a bad thing when I couldn’t find my passport! I tore my bag apart and nothing. I decided that I’d better go back and look on the plane. I went to the door which was now locked and looked out to see a young man holding my passport and waving at the terminal. Saved!
Problems with the car rental. The car that we had wanted apparently had an air conditioning breakdown and was being worked on. They had no other car for us, which seemed strange until one of their workers made a call to a guy who showed us with a kind of beater Honda. The car was dinged up all around the edges and clearly had had some hard use. Our alternatives seemed bleak, so reluctantly we accepted. Made the long tedious drive to our place via West End. Turns out the headlights don’t work very well either and on the northern road it is pitch black and the potholes enormous. Plus people walk on the road and motorcycles dart in and out of traffic. I say all of this by way of letting you know that we lived to tell about it. Navigated our way to Ananda and were greeted by Guy. We’ve got a really nice place with a large common living space and two separate bedrooms with baths. Both bedrooms have small decks off the back surrounded by jungle and with a distant view of the ocean. We stowed our stuff and made a beeline for food. We hadn’t had a proper meal in over 14 hours.
Next stop was West End to get Nicci checked in and to find food. Like everything else on the island, it was a long, slow process involving phone calls and several excursions to somewhere by the young lady at the desk. Eventually Nicci got into her room and starving and dazed we stumbled down the main street in search of sustenance. After looking at a couple of places, we decided on Pirate Booty, a large, open restaurant and bar right on the water. We had eaten there on a previous trip and were not disappointed. Got the catch of the day which was Snapper along with house made fries and a green salad. Washed it down with a large, tasty margarita and a few Salva Vidas.
After dinner we strolled down the main street for a couple of blocks and then decided we’d better head back to the house while we still were awake. Slept (occasionally) all night underneath a clanking, rattling air conditioner.