Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2005, and was the cover of our Christmas card that year. He was sitting in front of the pond at one of his favorite restaurants. Mattie naturally gravitated to the color red.... it fit his personality... bold and fiery.
Quote of the day: To be rich in admiration and free from envy, to rejoice greatly in the good of others, to love with such generosity of heart that your love is still a dear possession in absence or unkindness - these are the gifts which money cannot buy. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. It is noted for its pristine coral reefs, beautiful beaches, lush tropical foliage, and friendly people. In fact every single person we interacted with was delightful, very knowledgeable about their Island, and took pride in the fact that all the items being sold were MADE by hand ON THE ISLAND! They were NOT imported from other places, which is a rarity these days in the United States.
Christopher Columbus discovered the Islands in 1502 while on his fourth voyage and over the years Roatan has been controlled by the British and the Spanish, as well as pirates and traders. The first permanent population of Roatan originated from the Cayman Islands, arriving in the 1830s shortly after the end of slavery in British colonies. Today, the population is about 30,000. Roatan is a long, narrow island measuring 37 miles in length, located about 30 miles from the northern Honduran mainland. The island has a mountainous backbone and it has very lush scenery.
While at the Gardens, we spotted several cats! I snapped a
photo of this White Cat!!! I gave him the title…. “the White Christmas Puss.”
Along our Garden Walk, there were rows and rows of ginger!
Mahogany is a glorious wood and Roatan has plenty of these trees! We learned today that a Mahogany tree gets propagated from just one SEED that comes off of this pod. If you look closely, you will see that inside this pod are MANY, MANY seeds!
Notice that the orchids are growing on the side of a tree. They are air plants and do not need dirt to grow!
This beautiful palm is a traveler’s palm. It holds water and if desperate, one could seek refuge in this tree. The water is held where the fronds of the palm leaves meet! Almost like a pitcher of water!
Seaside Village is small in size but big in personality! The tropical atmosphere and charming streets of this village was alive with local vendors, colorful shops that were filled with unique gift items!!! I loved how everything in all of these shops was HANDMADE! Things were woven, sewn, or carved by hand. It was just too beautiful for words!!! In the States these items would be impossible to buy simply because they were made by hand!!!
While at the Village we also had the opportunity to see a special performance by the Garifuna Dancers, as they performed their dance called the Punta, a cultural tradition. The Garifuna Dancers are descendants of the Black Carib Indians. The Punta dance depicted how the women disguised the men as women. They did this to protect the men from being persecuted as slaves. Slave owners only claimed men, not women and children. Therefore, the dance illustrated that when the men acted and dressed as women they were able to escape slavery. In the photo you can see the male dancer all the way on the right, with the head dress on, the more flowery costume, and a mask over his face.
After our stop over at the Seaside Village, we then went to visit Stone Castle Cameo Factory. The art of carving on conch shells to produce beautiful cameos originated in ancient Greece. The Roman Empire acquired this talent in as early at 80 BC. Today there are only 300 cameo sculptors in the world, nearly all of whom live in Italy. However ten of these artisans live in Roatan.
There are only certain shells used to create cameos and they are SO FAR down on the ocean floor that a robotic submarine are used to retrieve them! This is a photo of just such a machine!
This is a photo of the wonderful shells from which cameos are made. There are only two types in the world. One type is found off the coast of Honduras and the other is found off the coast of Madagascar. However, these shells can only be dug for ONCE a year. They can’t be over dug for, if that is the right terminology. Therefore there has to be a strategy for digging for shells and hopefully when one digs thousands of shells are retrieved (otherwise clearly these folks wouldn’t have a business).
The cameos these artisans made on site in Roatan are exquisite! This is just one example, but there are cases and cases of them.
Our last stop on our tour today was to the Mayan Eden. The Eden contained a butterfly garden, which was enclosed and offered magical views of some of Honduras’ most vibrant varieties of butterflies.
I had the opportunity to hold a very large caterpillar in my hands. Though I did not realize this, I learned some of these caterpillars can stay in this state for MONTHS before transforming into a butterfly. I frankly have never seen such a LARGE caterpillar before in my life. Mattie would have just LOVED this sighting!!!
At the Mayan Eden, there were also rare animals and birds! Peter got an up close and personal greeting with a macaw! This bird seemed to have an understanding with Peter. He was uppity with everyone else but Peter!
The Capuchin Monkeys were freely moving about the property! I do not welcome monkeys climbing on me, but several of our tour mates did and they had their hats taken off, their water bottles bitten, and so forth by these creatures.
The last creature I will share with you tonight is the toucan. To me he was a glorious and tropical sight!
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