20th of july

saturday was not over once we got to utila. in la ceiba we were told that a person named diana would pick us up. naturally she was not there so we started walking towards the school. this same person however spotted us somewhere close by the school building and told us that the island hosts a carnival this week and all the places are reserved, so no hotel with a fan, private room and a tv as we were promissed (and for which we paid 140 bucks). instead she told us how she managed to organize us a room to be shared and that this room would be available until friday only instead of sunday and what not until the moment my nausea and irritation took over and we three politely wondered how come our reservations that were paid btw already in april were cancelled. the room the lady from the school offered was horrible, with a bathroom that looked like it had not been renovated since the mighty days of the first settlers on the island. a carribean size cucaracha could have shown up any second there.

so, after some sour faces and pressure from our side diana in some inexplicable way (and suspicious behaviour) showed up with 3 keys for separate rooms with fans, tvs and private bathrooms in that exact hotel that was stated in our reservation. miracle?no. more like someone trying to rip us off and accomodate us in a shack that is worth 10 times less than what we paid. so, once at the hotel it cleared what the deal was. every room had 3 beds in it, obviously meant for some 4-5 people per room instead of one and the owner looked like she wanted us dead right on that spot. marianne said she was going to make those voodoo dolls that same night. a concept of customer service is non-existent at this hotel, moreover open hostility is a more accurate definition. local population that speaks this absolutely incomprehensive english here on utila is very unfriendly towards tourists and tourism is what utila lives off. paradoxic.

the beaches and the water however are great here. blue sky, white coral sand and the sea with its 29 degrees celcius. no wonder after this exhausting trip on saturday all we did on sunday was lay about and enjoy the surroundings. we did organize our scuba diving timetable as well, which means a lot of theory and a lot of fun hopefully this week. the scuba shop looked amazing and the scuba diving instructors are just oozing this positive attitude and energy. utila is a scuba diving island so leaving it without doing open water scuba diving is almost a crime. so far so good!