Random Thoughts

 I’m not exactly sure what to write about today.  I have a day off and I’m doing laundry and hanging out in my apartment this morning.  I start tomorrow on my Search and Recovery course and I have 1 more night dive tomorrow night to complete my Night Diver Specialty.  Other than a 3 minute 100-meter Tired Diver Tow and my dive site map, I’m done with my DM Certification course.  My body is the only thing that is telling me that I have been here for 2 months.  Every thing aches or is stiff.  I have too many cuts and bruises to count, and we won’t even talk about the bug bites.  The time seems to have gone really quickly.  There have been times when I thought it would never end, but those moments were fleeting.

I have some more observations about taxis;  Horns as a form of communication.  In the states a car horn has two purposes, a short beep is a greeting, a long honk is not.  Here in Roatan the horn is used to convey many different things.  Each one of these is preceded by the suggested number of toots.  For example, 1 beep means Hi, or 1 beep means Move over, Or...etc.  
Here is my list:

1 beep

Hi.

Move over.

Move over, you are driving to slow.

Move over, you are parked half way into the lane.

Move over or I’ll bump the back of your freaken’ scooter with my 1 ton cab.

Oh yea? Well, right back at ya’.

2 beeps

Hi.

Do you need a cab?

Are you sure you don’t need a cab?

No really, I’m a cab, and I’m available for you right now.

See?  I’m passing you while you are walking and obviously not needing a cab. But, I’m right here, so what do you think?  Wanna’ ride????

3 beeps

Hi.

I’m passing you.

I’m passing you on the left.

Hey, let me back in, there’s a dump truck coming.

I’m passing you on the right.

Oh yea? Well, right back at ya’.

My next observation is that there seems to be some kind of contest among all drivers, not just taxis; Who can get the closest to the person walking on the side of the road without smacking your mirror into their elbow (or their head, for trucks).  This goes for passing a scooter too.  If they could just nick the handlebar and send the scooter careening off the side of the road, I think they get extra points.

Last observation is that rain soaked roads are not a deciding factor in how fast one should drive.  And for two-wheeled drivers, it seems to just spur them on.  I think there is some theory that if you drive faster, you get there less wet.

Oh and I have a thought about the rain here and how people deal with it.  Rain seems to act as an acid to the folks here. They try not to get any on them.  I don’t understand this coming from the cold pacific-northwest.  It’s 80 to 90 degrees here.  The rain temperature is in the 70s.  In 5 minutes the rain will stop and you will instantly dry. Plus, it’s fresh, clean water.  Just makes me go “Hmmm”.

Wait, I have a couple of thoughts about two wheeled drivers.  Did someone outlaw eye protection on the island?  Not even sunglasses? Really?  And I think there is some kind of helmet law.  It has to say that you must have a helmet somewhere on your person or attached to your motor vehicle.  And wearing your full-face helmet on your head like a Yarmulke is cool.  Having your helmet hanging from your elbow will protect you from those car mirrors I wrote about earlier.  Oh, and there also must be some circus training here too.  They all have trained in how to get a whole family on one scooter.  And the really good ones can pile on groceries and pets too.

 Here's Saturday''s sunset.  We have been diving the other side of the island all week and we are back on this side tomorrow.  Whew!  Here are some shots from this week:

 And then yesterday's stormset: