I’m coming up close on 2 years full-time on Roatan, and in that relatively short amount of time I have found myself noticing things that were shocking at first, but I no longer bat an eye at now. It’s funny how your entire perspective can change when you’re immersed in a place that is very different from home.
Leaving out ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
Politeness is implied in Island English, and at first I was taken aback at being ordered around so rudely by the islanders. Then when I asked, they all told me in Island English you don’t say anything unnecessary (the speaker relies on the listener figuring everything out, rather than feeding it to them), and politeness is implied when you’re talking to your family and friends. I started listening to how they interacted with each other and realized they were right. I rarely say please & thank you any more unless I’m talking to tourists, or islanders I don’t know. (This may end up being a bad habit to break when I get back to Canada.)
Managing 8+ hour blackouts.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: the power company on this island is a joke, and you cannot rely on them to provide power for you in any sort of consistent manner. There have been weeks when it goes out every single day, and once in awhile I’ve had 24hr+ blackouts. It’s not fun. But I don’t freak out about it now, and have tweaked my daily habits to always be prepared for a blackout. I always keep all electronics 100% charged, I had a battery backup for my iPhone shipped down, I make sure I have lots of candles and matches and propane for cooking and there’s always a bucket of water on my deck for toilet flushing or sponge baths (the water to my house is on a pump so no electricity also means no water for me).
‘That dog needs to be shot’.
Before anyone goes all PETA on my ass, hear me out. I’m obviously not advocating for shooting dogs. I’ve never actually seen or heard of anyone shooting one for real, but they sure talk about it a lot. When I first came here I couldn’t believe how cavalier people were about the huge stray dog population, and just talked about how they need to be shot. It was horrible. There’s no Humane Society here to take care of these hundreds and hundreds of sick and starving dogs, and honestly, they need to be put out of their misery and not make any more dogs. Yes, what they really need is neutering, medication, food and a home, but this is life here – they’re not going to get it. There are a few lucky ones that will be taken in by gringos and the rest will continue to have miserable lives until they starve to death or get hit by a car. It’s not nice, but it’s the reality of this place and I don’t wince anymore when people talk about needing to shoot a dog.
Walking around drinking booze.
Okay, this is a fun one. It felt really strange the first time I cracked a beer on the beach, or walked out of a bar with my drink in a to-go cup. Last summer when I was in Canada I tried to walk out of a bar with my beer and I swear the bouncer tried to tackle me. I honestly just forgot that you couldn’t walk around with alcohol! I have to admit, even in a country like this one where the law enforcement is corrupt and everyone is just going around doing whatever they want, I haven’t seen a single problem that you could pin on people drinking on the beach or walking in the street with a beer. So grow up, Canada!
Questionable hygiene.
Let me tell you something: I was sure I was going to get some horrible disease and die here due to the (much) lower sanitation standards than I was used to in Canada. I was a hand sanitizer carrying germaphobe when I arrived here. Now, when I’m eating with my hands sometimes I can’t remember when the last time I washed them was! I have eaten out of kitchens I would have turned around and walked right out of in Canada. And you know what? I’ve only been sick ONCE the entire time I’ve been here, and it passed in 8 hours. In Canada, I was sick every other week. I’m pretty sure I’ve built my immune system up to superhero-level status here. I could probably even drink the tap water, but I’m not going to push my luck.
Running out of phone credit is a perfectly acceptable excuse.
So we don’t have phone contracts like in North America where you pay $50 a month for 3 years and you get an iPhone 5 or whatever. You buy a phone, and then you add minutes to it like pay-as-you-go. It’s super. fucking. annoying. I HATE IT. I am constantly running out of ‘saldo’ (credit) and have to go into town to try to find a store that has some to buy more. We used to be able to buy it online but it’s been ‘under maintenance’ for six months. I used to get frustrated with people who would run out of saldo and then not buy more so my call wouldn’t be returned for a few days….but now I do the exact same thing. It’s also a pretty handy excuse for when you don’t want to talk to someone – “Oh, I missed your call but I couldn’t call you back cause I had no saldo, sorry!”
There are terrible bugs in the house.
I thought this was going to subside after I moved out of the jungle, but I was laying on the couch last night and got stung in the neck by a goddamn scorpion. Then I threw it off and it scurried into my bedroom so I had to stop everything I was doing and go on a scorpion hunt for an hour until the LED light made my iPhone die (no, I didn’t find it). This might sound like a funny island life story to you, but it’s just part of my daily life now and isn’t strange to think that a) I got stung in the neck by a scorpion, b) I took an hour out of my work to look for it afterward, or c) I gave up and just went to bed with a scorpion running around somewhere in there.
‘Now’ is a relative term.
I am a planner and I like knowing when things are happening. I don’t like being late and I don’t like waiting around for people. This is a HUGE problem here for me. When people say they are coming now, or leaving now, or going now, I have learned that ‘now’ can mean anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours to not at all, and so I understand and use it accordingly.
People just doing generally weird shit.
Here’s a picture of me with a giant snake that some security guards found and tied to a tree. I put this on my Instagram and everyone was like WHYYYYYYYY and I was like I don’t know why, this is Roatan and things aren’t weird to me any more.
…ok…I didn't know they eat plastic and silicone!
That sounds awful 🙁 I hate cockroaches. I had never seen one until I moved here! We have to be really careful in the dive shop because they will eat the plastic and silicone parts of your dive gear. They are jerks!
I should have maybe added that we don't have the big black scorpions here with the big front claws you are probably picturing. They are brown and a lot smaller. But STILL!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one – must be a real thing!!
wow interesting life u have over there 🙂
I once lived in a house that was super infested with cockroaches and they were literally EVERYWHERE! There was no way to kill them all, they just keep coming! I somehow managed to pretend they weren't there and slept through every night for 3 months!
There are not enough SCORPION?!?!?! outbursts on here to satisfy me. I was stung by one when I was about 7 or 8 while taking a bath and I remember my mom rushing me to the hospital. Ever since then I have had major phobias of the damn things. And no I can't believe you went to bed without finding it. Ha! I would have gone psycho and sleep-deprived before I let it go. I would have been to 'noid to sleep. But you're still kicking so it's all good.
And YOWZA! on the snake.
I was also a hand-sanitizer addicted germaphobe before I moved to China, where the hygiene is pretty appalling. But I realized pretty quickly that unless I quarantined myself in my house, there was nothing I could do to avoid the germs. So I stopped worrying about it. And in my two years in China, I didn't get sick a single time. I've been sick multiple times in the nine months we've been back in the States, once even requiring antibiotics. Makes you think.
I think I am going to start telling everyone I live in Avatar. That is gold!
High fives on the pulled pork. I would eat pulled pork off pretty much anything, it's delicious. But yay for countries giving us crazy awesome immune systems!
Power goes out any old time it feels like it. When one section of line is tripped, usually the entire island or the entire half of the island goes down – there are no isolators on the lines. It's VERY VERY VERY annoying!! Most higher end rental houses, and most of the hotels all have their own generators. Poor people like me do not 🙂
I tried looking into the BOSS Revolution thing but couldn't figure out how to sign up since all I have is an 11 digit Honduran number…everything for signing up is done with a 10 digit number. Might have to get my family in Canada to look into it for me. Thanks for the heads up!
Hahah thanks so much for your awesome comments. Even in Europe people get to walk around with booze, I don't know what's wrong with North America 🙂 And yep, having everyone else doing weird shit is a great excuse for getting down with your weird self!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the dogs in my reply earlier, too.
Same deal in Bali. Stray dogs and cats everywhere. The only places that care for them are shelters like BAWA (www.bawabali.com). Sometimes people have "pets" or "guard dogs" but they live in the street too – you see the dogs curled up outside peoples' locked gates at night waiting for dawn when their humans will come out again. At the place we stayed there were stray cats everywhere (they hid in the foliage around the pool and ran out to grab food people left behind). They were all young – none looked older than a few years. It was awfully unnerving knowing that it was only a matter of time until they died from malnutrition or from being hit by a car.
Didn't mean to go on so much but…..waaaaaah, animals. 🙁
"I was laying on the couch last night and got stung in the neck by a goddamn scorpion."
Considering I had a similiar time of it when I lived in Thailand, I should be tough enough to read that sentence, but when I did all I could think was, "OK, so she basically lives in Avatar". 😀
Also, the snake – yeah it's all good man, some dude was just walking his pet snake to the shops. He tied it up outside while he went in to buy the paper and a packet of smokes. 🙂 (Well that's the only explanation I can come up with).
Brilliant.
I remember even in 2.5 months in India how things dramatically changed from the beginning of my time there to the end. I can only imagine what would happen in 2 years! The animals- so so sad. But reality.
Also, while I was in New York, I ate pulled pork off a picnic table. Never would have done that before I got my own super hero immune system thanks to India.
So interesting. We'll be traveling there in a couple months and I think the house we are renting will have a generator. Does the power go out any certain times (day/night) or just whenever?
Would BOSS Revolution work for you for credits? I just started using it to call family on the mainland in Catacamas and to refill them with credit too. Love it.
A few things: 1. Holy effing funny! 2. The booze thing: sooo for sure true. We drive home from the colmado (Husband driving) and I have a small solo cup of beer in hand. And then I go home and am like "whadda ya mean I can't walk around with this bottle of rum?" 3. The scorpion thing: SERIOUSLY?! I. Would. Die. PERIOD. 4. Hygiene Thing: me too. thought I was going to die of the dengue for sure when I arrived. Now the chickaboomboom something or other is going around and I'm like "we'll be fine…" And finally the generally weird shit thing: Yes. People here do weird shit. So I don't feel so weird do weird shit too.
Thanks Erika! It *is* interesting looking at it from the outside, that's for sure 🙂
So fascinating!!!
It totally makes you like invincible after living here!
Hahah they make me laugh too..I always tell people, you gotta laugh or you'll cry. Yeah I feel terrible for the dogs 🙁 They have such sad lives. World Vets comes a couple times a year and tries to fix as many as they can, and a lot of islanders bring their pets which is great. However because 4-5 days of aftercare is required the strays usually never get taken. It's a really sad situation!
Questionable hygiene. So true.
I came down with some jungle flu when I was living there and was the sickest I had ever been in my life. After 5 days I was finally strong enough to make it to a taxi and the clinic where I got kickass antibiotics and was better in a day. That was 2 years ago and I haven't been sick since. Questionable hygiene for the win.
Why is North America such a jerk about drinking outside??
Thanks – added you back on Instagram! xo
Your life seems so crazy! 🙂 I know how you feel about the alcohol though! People drink freely on the streets, buses and trains everywhere in Germany…even at crazy times like 9am! They even sell beer at Mcdonalds and movie theatres!
Haha and cool snake photo! I gave you a fellow request 🙂 I'm "michelleineurope"