When you live in Roatan…

I’ve been living in Roatan for a while, almost 5 months, and even if I’ve been on the island before as a tourist, this was obviously a completely different experience. No more resort and buffet meals, but I had to find an apartment, work and take care of myself.

I was on my own.

As usual, I met some interesting people, and made new friends. I found a large community of expats, coming mostly from Northern America, and Italians too.

I believe that most of these people will agree with my 9 + 1 points below. It may look like a lot of criticism but just keep reading – Roatan is beautiful and nobody can deny that!

So you know you live in Roatan when…

1. If you don’t dive, you feel like an alien. In fact, everybody does.
   m
2. If you dive, you don’t feel that cool anymore. In fact, everybody does.
   

   …even me!

3. When they ask you “where do you work?” and you answer “in a dive shop”, you also add “of course” – in fact, everybody does, and you don’t feel that cool anymore.
   m
4. You fancy the idea of having geckos roaming around your apartment, because they eat mozzies and cockroaches right?
   m
5. Subsequently you find roaches’ legs and body parts everywhere (leftovers of the gecko’s snacks).
   

   Half cockroach on my bed… where is the other half?

6. You know what gecko poop looks (and smells) like… and boy they poop A LOT!
   

   Gecko poop.

7. You know what parrot fish poop looks like… and boy they poop A LOT! But I guess we have to thank them for this… they bite corals all day long and transform their food into sand! So basically the beaches are made of poop.
   m
8. The walls of your apartment are so thin that you can hear whatever is going on in the other room, and in a few days you know everything about your neighbor’s sexual preferences (true story…).
   m
9. You have two or more power shortages per week, and you curse RECO (the Roatan Electric Company) every single time. For the records, today there was a shortage of 15 hours (!!!), and I was recently banned from their FB page for commenting that light was not back yet. #freedomofspeech
   m
10. Every time you look at that sea, or even better you wear fins, mask and snorkel (if not a tank and regulator!) and jump in the water… you forget about any problem, and love life again. Because there is so much beauty in the ocean, it has the power to erase the problems that await above the surface.

Underwater beauty of Roatan – photo © Adolfo Maciocco

Have you been to Roatan? What would you add to the list? I am all ears waiting for your experiences and impressions.