Tues. Jan 27/09
We are finally in Costa Rica and have Internet about ten meters away. I’ve been really tired though. The 1st day we were here we just relaxed and got settled in (got groceries etc.) The 2nd day we went to the market that comes to town every Saturday. There was fresh veggies and fruit. (I didn’t care about the veggies or fruit). We got a whole bunch of fruits and veggies L. We found some caramel popcorn there and bought a big bag of it. We also got a weird slushy type thing called a co pos. It was sweetened condensed milk, shaved ice and cherry syrup (really weird). I found it too rich. Then we went to the beach for a couple of hours and body surfed, awesome. On the 3rd day we went to Manuel Antonio National Park where we saw…
Heliconia flowers, howler monkey (I named it miki), blue morphe butterfly, wren (bird), small yellow flower (smelled like lemon), lesser white line bat, red-legged land crabs, whip tail lizard (different color on either side because of the sun), jobo tree (hobo), 2 toed sloth (mother: Sammy baby: Pablo), 3 toed sloth (eddy), whiteface monkeys (named one Sonnie), black iguanas, Jesus Christ lizard (can run on water), yellow crown heron and a poisonous apple tree that’s sap or leaves would burn your skin if touched.
On Monday I was sick for the whole day and stayed around the house. Today after meeting the cutest dog in the world, Pablo (that was his real name I didn’t name him) we went to the beach to body surf again. My mom and I went shopping along the beach, we bought a deck of cards and a turtle carved necklace made from coconut shell.
The questions that were asked from my last blog - I answered your questions as a blog comment. Thanks for asking. i have a really bad internet connection so i can not do a blog very often!

p.s. that is a pictur eof where i am staying.

My School Project on Roatan

32 Questions about Roatan
By Katie Gray


1. What is the name of the country and where is it located?

33 miles off the coast of Honduras is a small island called Roatan.
Rotan is located, in central America just below Mexico.

2. How much rainfall occurs annually, is there a rainy season?

The rain season is from the middle of October to the middle of February. During the year an average of 80 inches of rain falls.

3. Are there distinct seasons? During your stay what season was it?

There are 3 different seasons. The seasons are…
Dry season is from May to November. Rainy season is from the middle of October to the middle of February. June to November is hurricane season. We were there during the rainy season.

4. What was the average temperature while you were there? What is it on an annual basis?

During our visit the temperature was around 80°-85°f or 26°-30°C.
The average annual temperature was about the same.

5. Ethnic Groups - does the community look homogenous or does it have lots of diversity?

In Rotan there is a lot of diversity. All different kinds of people live there.

6. Do most people live in small and rural towns or in big cities?

There are no big cities so they live in small and rural towns.

7. What is the average income?

The average income is about $1000 a year. 60% of the people live below the poverty line.

8. Is the Island known for a specific type of art or craft?

In the shops I see a lot of pottery and jewellery. They do Very detailed Work.

9. What kind of food are they known for?

There “top” dish is iguana. I haven’t tried it and I think it sounds gross. Almost on every menu there is lobster.


10. What are the primary industries?

The main industries are Tourism, Mining, and manufacturing.

11. How many people live in the region and country?

70, 000 people live in Roatan, Honduras.

12. What does a typical house of a local person look like?

The houses are usually on stilts. (To stay away from the sand flies and floods.) I would not want to live in the houses they look to me like they are always going to fall down.

13. Wealth Distribution - Do you see examples of very rich and very poor people, or does it look like most people have the same standard of living?

It seems like all native islanders have no money but all the people that come to live here have more money and live in big places

14. What kind of music do you hear playing

At the bars I hear mostly the same music we would hear at home. We sometimes hear Spanish music.

15. What kind of sports do the kids play?

We have only seen the kids play one sport, soccer. We have also seen the kids helping in shops and playing in the ocean.

16. Television - did they have satellite with lots of choice or not?

They had satellite where we were staying. They didn’t have a lot of choice. All the shows were in English and ones we would have back home.

17. How does the food compare to Canada?

It’s hard to find the food you are looking for in a grocery store but the restaurants have food from home.

18. What kind of Meat do you see in the grocery stores

There is 2 meters of meat counter filled with cold cuts. There is also frozen fish out of the cooler.

19. What new food did you try that you never had before

I tried chicken, french-fries, calamari, and Thai rice noodles

20. Does Dad like the wine in the country or does he drink something else?

It was very hard to find wine he liked. If he did not have wine he had rum and coke or beer.

21. What is the currency name? Do they also use $U.S.?

They use Money called lempira. They sometimes use $U.S.

22. What is the conversion to $U.S.

1 Lempira = 5 cents (U.S.)
1 $US = 19 Lempira

23. How much does it cost to buy fish and chips?

150 lempira or 7.50 U.S.

24. What are Honduras’s primary Industries?

The primary industries are Mining, Manufacturing and Tourism

25. Americanization - do you see examples of things from home?

The television we watched was satellite and it had all the same shows as we watch at home. We also had many similar foods.

26. Are there any unique animals, birds and or marine life that you saw?

While snorkelling we saw a Spotted Golden Sting ray and some Squid. We also saw a lot of tropical fish and some very colourful coral. Some of the coral looks like a big brain. While scuba diving I saw Puffer fish (not puffed up), a clam, a lobster and a crab. At Gumbalimba park we also so some iguanas and monkeys.

27. Describe the most interesting thing you saw or did.

It had to be our visit to Gumbalimba Park where we went zip-lining and saw some monkeys and some colourful but noisy macaws. I also really enjoyed snorkelling and scuba diving :)

28. What is the main language spoken?

The main language spoken is Spanish, but English and Garifuna are also used.

29. List a few key phrases and their meaning of words that you learned.

Hola- hello
Adios- good bye
Gracias – thank you
De nada – you’re welcome

30. What is the thing you will remember most about this part of the trip?

I think I will always remember when the evil monkey stole my headband breaking it and then trying to eat it!!!

31. What was the favourite activity you did on this part of the trip?

It was when we visited the monkeys and went Zip-lining.

32. Would you want to come back here again?

Definitely, I want to revisit the monkeys.

snorkel spot

today we had lunch at sun downers bar.

I had the chicken fingers witch i love so much.

then we went down a snorkeled at the usual spot.

we saw nothing new but we did see a ell again.

this one was a little bit bigger though.

then we went home for a rather lazy afternoon.

here is a picture of a sunset in rotan!!!!

daddys birthday

today was my dad's birthday!
we made cake in home ec. class .
me and my dad went snorkeling.
tom was going to come but then got scared of the grass
on the bottom of the ocean. so he stayed at shore. when we were
snorkeling, me and my dad saw a sting ray. We went back to the scuba shop
and looked up what kind it was. it was a spotted eagle ray.
we had a great time!

Wed Jan 14 /09
The last few days have been rainy so we could not go and visit the monkey. The cruise ships have also been coming in so it is getting a bit busy around here. Yesterday we went geo-caching. I wasn’t much of a search. We asked the bar tender and they gave it to us.
If you look below you will see pictures of our trip from Detroit to Rotan, Honduras:

from Ditriot to Rotan

this is a picture of me ziplineing. in the same place where the monkey ate my headband. there were 18 lines. the longest one was about 600 meteres! todayi went snorkeling! i swam with no flippers very far from shore where me and my dad saw:

squid

clams

ells

enemeny

it was a great experence although my mom didn't aprove us going out that far!

haha monkey sitting on m head :)

mr. monkey

the monkey eating my headband!!!!!

:(

Mon Jan 12/09
Do you like iguanas? I know I don’t! They creep me out.
Yesterday we went to an iguana farm down in French Harbour still in Rotan. At the farm there were over 3000 free roaming iguanas! The iguanas ranged in size from 1 to 4 feet long! My mom did not want to get close to any of them. The lady that was there let us feed them cabbage. When I was feeding one, my mean dad snuck up behind me and tickled my leg. Thinking he was an iguana I jumped in terror!

At the farm we also saw:
Monkeys in captivity (there cages were not very big)
Turtles (in a small swimming pool)
Barracudas and tarpon (caged in close to shore in the ocean)
And a badger (also in a small cage)
Although I had a great time I felt bad for the other animals in captivity.
P.S, I did not enjoy the long car ride there!

Fri Jan 9/09
We visited the Gumbalimba Park. Where you can zip line or as they call it canopy tour!We went on 18 lines. After that a tour guide took us on a tour of the Park. We then went and saw the Parrots. Unfortunately none of them wanted to come out. So we went and saw the monkeys. They were not in cages and the climbed all over us. A monkey lifted up my hat and stole my headband (sorry Katelynn). When I told it to give it back it snapped it in half L and started to eat it! On our way back we stopped to see the parrots again. It came out of the cage and sat on my shoulder. After the parrot ripped off the button on my hat the tour guide said it like to eat buttons!!!!

Thurs. Jan 8/09
Today I have another scuba lesson! I creeps me looking over the black water thinking what swims beneath me. But I am very comfortable under the water! Today for phys Ed class today my day made us do a 30 min speed walk across the beach in the heat! And when my dad says speed walk he means it. French class here is just a computer program, which can give you a headache. Writing class is fun you can correct your siblings work. Next class is Home Ec. Where you learn to make lunch, do Landry and do other thing you could do in a household. School rocks here!

All is well; my Dad quit scuba diving for he does not manage well with all the water
That he swallows but I am still going to get my certification. For me the scuba lesson went great! We still have no Internet! And it bugs me to always have to go down to the café to get Internet! The ride down the big hill is bumpy and the speed bump at the bottom hurts to go over when you are sitting in the back end of the truck! At least when we ride in the truck I don’t feel like an idiot like I did when we rode in the Cheech Chong! I still miss everyone and yes I have to put that in every entry! The sun sets on this island are beautiful! I am so glad my family and I are here in Rotan Honduras and I haven’t mentioned this in a previous entry the green geckos are always waiting for us when we go out on our balcony (its actually quite creepy)!

i had another school day today. we ran up and down a big hill 5 times in the heat and humidity for gym! then we had home ec. and learned to do the landry and make tomato soup. With real bug noodles. grocery stores are not like ours! tetra pack milk only :P gross and i have to visit an internet cafe to get internet ( NO MSN )! at least they have my fav cerel coca puffs :D

i miss every one
i have broke and lost many things. i broke my camera and my snorkel fin and lost my i pod and snorkel. i went scuba diving today to get my certification. other wise every thing is normal . our vacation house is great i enjoy the friendly reen gecos and humming bird. we have no internet so we mustgo to an internet cafe! i love it hear in rotan Honduras. And i can not wait to do some more scuba diving. 3 hour school is great !

Detroit our first stop

today we drove out to Detroit. Although it was a long drive i kept busy.
we ate dinner and went straight back to our room so we could wake up
early to fly to Honduras. cant wait! I miss you all !