Big Finale Friday

The morning began with breakfast and an 8:30 am snorkel.  This snorkel was a true test of all we have learned this week.  We took the boat out to Fish Den, were given a list of sea creatures to find and off we went to find as many as we could in 20 minutes.  We carefully looked for sponges, types of coral, four different invertebrates and six fish.  Harley and Josh came back tied at ten.  Josh won the tie breaker with the coolest find - 10 squid swimming in formation.  After our last snorkel, we returned to Anthony's Key for a quick lunch before heading into town.

Underwater Scavenger Hunt

After lunch, we loaded on to the bus and traveled the short distance to the town of West End.  The group started our town tour with gelato on the beach.  After that, we spread out and started shopping.  Harley bought a hacky sack that says Roatan on it.  Josh bought a hammock (we've been hearing about how he wanted one all week).  Sarah bought a turtle t-shirt and Ashlee found a turtle bag.

After hunting down all of our souvenirs, we were treated to a tour of Mr. and Mrs. Galindo's gardens. Don Julio Galindo is the owner of the resort.  He told us "don't expect too much", but the 2 hour tour was amazing nonetheless!  The Galindo's walked us around their 16 acre gardens, with over 100 different species of palm tree.  Don Julio made quite an impression on the boys.  He took them aside,asked about their futures and walked them over to a coconut tree.  The "men" returned with twelve coconuts in tow.  Mr. Galindo proceeded to open the coconuts with his machete, offering each of us fresh coconut water to drink.

Cashew Fruit

Mr Galindo Cutting the coconuts.

Mrs. Galindo after receiving our donations for the bilingual school.

Mrs. Galindo was pleased to show her amazing hybrid hibiscus garden.  Many of the flowers were as big as a dinner plate!  She also couldn't wait to show us all of the fruit trees growing in their garden.  We tasted locust, cashew fruit, and other interesting fruits.  We were also treated to the pungent smells of lemongrass, clove, cinnamon, cliantro, ylang ylang, sage, and plumeria.  Mrs. Galindo also explained that soursop and noni fruit are used as a natural chemotherapy medicines.  

Another interesting plant growing in their garden is the miracle fruit bush.  Mr. Galindo gave each of us a lime wedge to taste.  It was very sour!  Then, Mrs. Galindo gave each of us the miracle fruit.  It did not taste that good!  But then, we re-tasted the lime and low and behold, the miracle fruit made it taste sweet.   I guess we know how it got its name.  We were extremely grateful for the time the Galindos spent with us.  They went over and above the duties of resort hosts.  We really thank them for taking time out of their day to share their lovely gardens with us, it was one of the most special parts of our trip.

We returned to the resort for dinner. Following our last journaling session with Mrs. Dole, we set up a ping pong tournament.