Lost in Translation

After Javier welcomed us into his cab he said, “My English not very good.” 

He wasn’t kidding.

He started out by asking where we were from.  “South Carolina,” I said.  “Are you from Roatan?”

“Yes,” Javier said.  “This is Raotan.”

He then told us that the Roatan is part of the Honduras.  He also noted that it is the largest of the Bay Islands and is 77 kilometers long.   

I asked Javier how wide the island was and he said, “The average temperature is 87 degrees.  The rainy season is from October to February.”

When I asked if the island ever got hit by hurricanes Javier told me that there is an airport and that Delta and United both fly in and out of Roatan.  He added that it’s a short 30 minute flight to Tegucigalpa, the capital of the Honduras.  When Dave asked how much the flight cost, Javier told him it took 6 hours by boat. 

When we drove by a building that looked like a school I asked, “Is that a school?”  Javier said “Yes, a lot of people zip line in Roatan and it is very safe.”

Thankfully Javier understood the word “monkey” and got us to the nature center where we were able to “interact” with monkeys.  (i.e. monkeys jumped on my shoulder and scared the living @$%# out of me.)

After we got back in the car Javier ask how we liked the monkeys.  I said, “Yes.  I was in The Addams Family and did a kick line with a bunch of dead ancestors.

Javier smiled and said, “That’s good!”