Western Caribbean Cruise…. Part 4… Roatan, Honduras DRAFT

Welcome back to my blog post about our road trip and cruise from December 2019. I, Miss Kayla sure hope mom can finish up this trip because guess what??? Mom just booked us a cruise for in two weeks so she needs to complete this trip first – and of course so many other things I have done.. So a little refresher… You have read about pre cruise activities and such, cruise days one, two and three I believe so here is day four…

The next morning came fast and I was a bit fussy from being tired from yesterday
and not 100%. This time change doesn’t help as well. I can’t imagine what its
going to be like on our cruise this spring, but first, we will have more fun on this
one. 🙂 We got up super early as we had a 9am (ship time) tour scheduled in

Roatan, Honduras and we had some strolling to do to get to our meeting place. So
again, mom gave Guest Services our plans and all (same guy from yesterday). He
told mom he will put in on our account and that yesterday he saw we were back
on at such and such time and had plenty of time to spare. So it was nice to hear
someone was keeping an eye on us. We can’t afford to have the ship leave
without us! I can’t be without all my medical stuff that is in the cabin. Mom does
carry 24 hours worth of my food and medications, but I still can’t miss my
treatments that are not portable especially with my respiratory flare up. Speaking
of, I am feeling much better and today is my last dose.
I loved having mom do my hair in a braid and she takes a photo of it so I can see
it. We both had our Sloth shirts on. It was warm out but very humid and no rain.
So on the daily compass (FUN TIMES) that you get daily on the ship has all the
activities, etc and the weather forecast for the day for the port you are in. It said
pure sun such and such and such. Great, we don’t need to bring all my rain gear
and such so we left it in the cabin. And mom read the forecast on her phone on
the app (no wifi, no data on these trips). We disconnect and only use the phone
for photos and ship app. Mom didn’t think she would use the ship app but its super
handy actually so. 🙂 Anyway, it was cloudy with some sun when we arrived into
port. We arrived in port and got off the ship. Oh it was a beautiful island – the water
was torquise, the land was lush and green. We walked through the shops and
restaurants area of port to get to the mainwalkway that leads out of the port to
where you meet your tours. It was a beautiful area. We walked/strolled up a steep
hill and then down the otherside which was steep. A security guy took over for
mom going down the hill. I guess that is their policy for those in wheelchairs. At
the bottom of the hill mom took back over and we strolled / walked up next hill to
the canopy where we were meeting our tour guide. Well, thank goodness for that
canopy because on our way there it started raining/drizzling and it rained hard for
a little bit after we got under the canopy. Good timing. Mom didn’t have any rain
gear for me or her, but she was more worried with me. I was on the chilly side
because the humidity doesn’t affect me like it does mom and you. And then she
realized she forgot my sweatshirt – oh great! I wasn’t all that cold, thank
goodness, just on the cool side to where I wanted a little something. It rained off
and on our entire time on the island – and sometimes it was pouring hard.
So we got checked in for our tour and the guy realized that our accessile van was
given out to someone else by mistake (mis communication) so the person in
charge there called the owner and the owner had our van returned to us with our
driver/guide and the people that took it were able to use a regular vehicle as they
didn’t need the accessible one. Mom got nervous a bit but it all worked out. Mom
reserved this tour and vehicle 11 months ago and touched base with the owner
one month out and then one week out all was good. Don’t get me wrong, this is an
awesome company and so nice and accomodating. The company – Victor Bodden
Tours. They offer many tours but we did a customized tour – see monkeys and
sloth, hold sloth and culture tour. Mom really wanted me to hold a Sloth. She didnt
care about her but just wanted me to be able to.
Our van and guide arrived, I got all strapped in, mom got in and off we went. This
company is the only one on the island with wheelchair accessible van(s). They

have a large one and small one. They just got the small one from a local who
purchased it from the states for their own use but then they donated it to Victor.
We had the chance to meet Victor in person and talk to him. He plans to get
another accessible van from the states.
We first stopped at the Monkey/Sloth/Animal Rescue place. Its beautiful aera and
grounds. The animals are well taken care of and all but mom just doesn’t like
seeing them in “cage” like enclosures even though they have large spaces to run
around. Its clean and they all looked healthy. In the far back area is where the
Sloths are. They are back there, away from all the other animals for peace and
quiet. All the Sloths are very gentle creatures and not afraid of people. They were
on a branch eatin away when we arrived out in the open for the most part. They
were under a high wood canopy with three sides, other side is wide open and
people can come and go with a guide. They were not crowded even though they
said they were at their max capacity with people so it was nice to see its a low
number and not crowded at all. Mom was surprised to hear that they were at their
max for people.
The Sloths were adorable, especially the two babies. If you want to hold them you
have to get there by 11am, otherwise its just a selfie as they go to sleep them.
They said sometimes they go to sleep before 11am so then you miss out as its up
to the Sloths when they want to go to sleep for the rest of the day and they don’t
disturb them. We got there with most of them awake eating but there were only
two they allow people to hold. Mom held Andy and then I tried. Mom tried so hard
to have me to but I just didn’t like how Andy felt so I moved too much it made Andy
nervous so employee said no. After a few minutes we tried again to have the Sloth
just sit on my legs (only touching my legs) but that didn’t work so we all agreed no
more. I did get to sit upclose to the Sloths branch area and watch them eat. And I
did watch!!! That was really cool!
Then we went to the Monkeys and was able to go inside the one area where they
let one or two come in with us to do as they wish. They checked me out and went
on my shoulders and then jumped down on my legs which I didn’t mind at all. I
was trying to figure out what was going on. Then they checked out my wheelchair
like they had never seen one before. Mom was standing next to a shared fence
where there were monkeys on the otherside and this one that has a thing for
peoples hair kept pulling on moms poni tail which startled mom twice as she
wasn’t expecting that from behind or at all. 🙂 Silly Monkeys.
The one Monkey that was checking me out jumped onto mom and then back to
my wheelchair tire to check my chair out some more. Mom isn’t fond of touching
wild animals, non pet animals but she made the exception for me to experience
this since its available and at a good place.
We saw iguanas and parrots there too along with a few other animals that were
rescued. We went inside the “pet (in US – wild here in Roatan)” like parrots to see
if they wanted to come down to my level to say hello but two didn’t want to. One
was already semi down when we entered and I was able to help mom feed him
which he/she liked but didn’t come any lower which was okay. They were pretty
and I liked how they sounded.

After that we decided our tour there was finished and it was time to do some
shopping and move on to our next stop. I got a shirt and magnet at the little gift
shop here. I was so glad it didn’t rain while we were there. Not sure what the
forecast was forecasting for our day there but it was so off. Still quite warm and
humid though.
Back in the van we drove on through the hills and curves of the hills/little
mountains that were covered in lush and greenery. We drove through the higher
class areas and lower class areas. We entered this little beach village with narrow
street barely fit two lanes, shops, restaurants, beach and it was raining like cats
and dogs. Mom jumped out for a quick photo of the beach/water and then decided
we needed to find me an umbrella in case its raining when we get back to port,
mom didn’t want me strolling in the rain getting all wet especially since I wanted to
spend some time going through the stores and such in port after our tour. So we
found a store with an umbrella. Mom went in and got it plus she found a long
sleeve sweathirt like top for me to wear even though it was too big but she didn’t
care nor did I. I was so happy she got it for me and I was more comfortable with it.
She also got me the only socks she could find that were like foot mittens. Lol. I
only had sandals on. Mom just didn’t think I would be cold with the temps and
such but my body was running on the cold side and she didn’t think to pack extra
in case I did this. I wasn’t like this yesterday or day before so it had just changed.
Ugh, but I was better and after a while I took the socks off as I didn’t need them.
They looked silly on me anyway. 🙂 We stopped at two stops for some nice views
and the Roatan sign. We drove through differnent villages/towns where the culture
were vasly different in each one. The diversity was extreme. Some really sad
areas. We learned a lot about the island and different town/cultures. Arriving back
at port we saw where they are building a second dock /port area.
This was another amazing, great tour. Mom got our drivers contact info in case we
return in the future which we do so we can hopefully get him as our driver again
through same company. He grew up there on the island so he was full of
information as well. He didn’t share too many stories, but that was okay. Mom
never asks them to so its all volunteer. So it rained most of the time we were
driving which prevented us from getting out to stroll around and see what we see
especially in the different towns like mom was wanting to. These photos mom took
were from inside the car as we were driving. We really want to return so we can
do more outside the car. We covered a good portion of the island – just didn’t go to
the east side as most of the “sites” are in the north, west, south areas. Its such a
gorgeous island mom wishes she would have taken more photos when we
stopped at the scenic view.
I, Miss Kayla really enjoyed this tour as well and the port. We returned to the port
at the time we wanted so we could shop /stroll around as there was a lot to see.
Smoking was a big issue in both ports so far and so mom tried hard to keep me
away from the fumes. I was doing better but still not back to my full healthy self.
Mom bought some coffee for herself – something she never buys outside of just
basic store coffee (nothing special) but this was coffee made here in Honduras
with a reputation of it being good and popular by other cruisers so mom bought a
small bag to try. I bought a lightweight sweatshirt tshirt like longsleeve top that

was same style as the big one mom bought me in the beach town so I got this one
that fit me and that I would wear a lot so mom let me get it. I liked it and yes, I
have worn it A LOT since my cruise. Mom wishes she would of found this at the
other ports for me. I wear light long sleeves 80% of the year so.
I was getting really tired and we were practically done with the shopping/strolling
in port so we went back to the ship. I laid on the bed for a while to watch some of
my programs, play and do my treatments. I got a bath (so nice). Just before we
left port (the ship) I loved laying in my lounge chair on the balcony with my blanket
on me looking out through the glass. The ship left about a half hour late and we
saw the port police monitoring the situation (a guy was late and the cruise ship
personal went on board and got his bags and put them in the local port truck bed
as they were planning to leave him. Maybe ten minutes after they got his bags –
maybe they got word or whatever but the guy came walking down the dock and
onto the ship so he wasn’t left behind. I felt bad as no one knows why but the
captain (who was watching with a frustrated expression on his face up in the
wheelhouse as we saw from our balcony), cruise employees and port personal no
one else but people on the ship were yelling at him, calling him names, telling him
what to do, etc that mom and I felt bad for the man. We don’t know the story and
thank goodness he made it. Anyway, I was enjoying my time on our balcony and
we finally pulled off dock and was on our way to Cozumel. Mom let me stay there
a little while longer but I did have to get up to get ready for dinner eventually.
We went to our “table” for dinner and staff was pleased to see us there. We
enjoyed our dinner and I had a few bites.
After dinner we strolled around the ship some and then went to the Hasbro Game
which guess what???? I was chosen to participate in the game (the finale part).
Since mom was assisting me in playing the game she couldn’t get a picture so my
word and our name tags will have to do. 🙂
After the Hasbro Game we stayed for the Bingo game. We had a lot of fun. Then
we called it a night.