Half Moon Bay is in West End, which is the area most visited by tourists visiting the island of Roatán. There is one sand road leading through town. Cute restaurants, cafés, diving shops, and gift shops line his road.
The one street running north-south through West End
Last night I ate dinner at Creole Rotisserie Chicken, which was recommended by Lonely Planet as well as Christina and Simon, the Swedish couple I met in La Ceiba. I got a side of coconut beans and rice and some extra frijoles rojos for good measure.
Creole Rotisserie Chicken with coconut beans and rice + extra red beans (love my legumes!)
There are several open air bars/clubs along the road. Due to the recent inclement weather, it seemed that most places were empty or with just a handful of people. That didn't stop the clubs from blasting loud music. From my room, I could hear at least two different places pumping bass! I opted for a quiet night in since I wanted to study and get to bed at a decent hour since I was going to go on my Discovery Dive at 8AM today.
In the wee hours of the night, I dreamt that I was on a dock and I saw all these fins in the water. I was terrified because I didn't know if they were sharks or dolphins. Someone kept reassuring me they were dolphins and that I needn't fret. Suddenly a bunch of whatever was swimming around me swam under the small dock I was on and tipped it over so that I feel in the water. I was frantic and scared, trying to keep from drowning. The fins I saw looked like this (which are indeed dolphin fins):
Why did I bring this up? I think my subconscious was telling me in not so subtle ways that I am actually still quite afraid of being under water. I never got the hang of snorkeling, and I never really fancied swimming or water polo. I'll come back to this later.
So I woke up around 7 and headed to breakfast at the cute restaurant here at Splash Inn. I ordered a desayuno típico that consisted corn tortillas, eggs, frijoles, queso, plantains, and bacon. Delish!
Splash Inn Restaurant
Mi desayuno tipico
After breakfast, I learned that my class was at noon and not 8AM. So I checked out the quaint beach a little north of Splash Inn. There were a handful of people already lying out. I lay my towel down on one of the beach chairs and began a three hour review session, reading my "Spanish for Health Care Professionals" book (thanks, Elle, for letting me borrow this!). It felt good to brush up on some key phrases that I hope will come in handy during my clinics.
Little beach by Sundowner's Cafe
As noon approached, an increasing number of clouds gathered in the sky. I got a baleada for lunch and then headed back to Splash Inn Dive Shop. I began the PADI Open Water Diving Course and learned soon after that the course would have to be cancelled due to more inclement weather. I admit that I was secretly relieved. So I now I return to the dream; I was excited on one level to try the diving, but I think there was still a part of me that perhaps wasn't fully ready to embrace the experience!
Splash Inn Dive Center
I ended up taking a rejuvenating nap and then doing one set of Qbank questions for my Step 2 prep. It felt great to review some Infectious Disease. I also watched this Jack Kornfield video titled Bodhisattva. I really admire Jack and enjoy his teachings. In this particular video, he talks about how the rhythm of life consists of ups and downs but also periods of "inwardness" and "outwardness." Times when we seek quiet, stillness, meditation, and other times when we are "out in the marketplace" and interacting with the people and rest of the world around us. The "in" times help us be present during our "out" times, and our "out" times can be reflected on during our "in" times (said much more eloquently by Jack!). This spoke to how I have been feeling the last two days, and specifically the contrast between in and out. In Copan, I feel that I was quite busy, especially in the last few days, saying goodbye and doing some last minute sightseeing. According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), I am in extroverted introvert or an introverted extrovert AKA right on the line between I and E. Therefore, I feel extroverted about half the time and introverted for the remaining time. I bring all this up really just to say that I'm grateful in a way that the weather has been crummy these past few days because it's allowed me to recharge and have some nice quiet moments. :) It's also been nice reflecting on my time in Copan, meditating, and integrating. Again, Copan was such a special experience. I really hope I can go back one day. I feel quite an affection for the place and the people, the Copanecos!
Jack also shares a beautiful poem by Mary Oliver:
For years and years I struggled
just to live my life. And then
the butterfly
rose, weightless, in the wind.
“Don’t love your life
too much,” it said,
and vanished into the world.
I love Jack and love Mary Oliver! Two amazing spirits. I digress--I apologize.
For dinner, I left my little sanctuary of my dorm room :) and ventured back out into the world. I bought dinner at Tong's Thai Restaurant. I met Tong, a lovely gentleman from Thailand who opened up this cute eatery two years ago.
Tong
After dinner, I needed to visit the ATM and am thankful that I had to because right next door there was a live punta performance! Punta "is a Garifuna music and dance style performed at celebrations and festive occasions. Contemporary punta, including Belizean punta rock, arose in the last thirty years of the twentieth century in Belize, Honduras and Guatemala."
Here is a video from the performance:
Cool! Loved the loud drumming. And gotta love those fast hip movements! :)
Back in my room, eating my pad thai. Arroy mak mak :)
I'm now back in my room and will soon hit the sack as I have a 7AM ferry to catch in the morning. I'll take the ferry to La Ceiba and then take the bus to San Pedro Sula, where I will meet up with Dr. Schott et. al! I'm really looking forward to seeing all of them! It's been over a year, and I'm excited to embark on this next phase of the journey with them! Here's our schedule for the next few days:
Addendum: just stepped out to get more water and saw cool fire poi dance (like this)! This woman was dancing to the catchy song DJ Got Us Fallin In Love Again by Usher! Quite a sight! Wish I had had my camera. ;)
I give thanks for this wonderful day! Goodnight. :)
Mosquito bite count: 22. About to stop counting.
Sand fly bite count: 5
And just for kicks, here is what I saw on TV. Made me smile. Jet Li, you didn't tell me you spoke Spanish so well! Kung Fu master and linguist? I'm impressed! (turn up volume for this one, it's hard to hear)
No comments:
Post a Comment