The Mud Hole Road Ride and More

 

It’s hard to believe we have been in Roatan for a whole month now.  We have tried to make every day a day to explore or discover something new.  So we created a list of things and places to see and do while on island.  One of the items on the list was to take a trip to to the Palmetto Bay Eco Resort and Complex.  This is one of the places  that had a house we were very interested in renting but we finally decided that it was probably a bit remote, to hard to get to restaurants, grocery stores, and shops without a car. Well that turned out to be an understatement! To get there you must leave the one and only paved road in Roatan and take an aptly named dirt road called “ The Mud Hole Road”.

There is a community named Mud Hole, but the road definitely fits the name as well. Blue Bay Plantation's Hydroponic farm is also along this road and that's where they grow the best lettuces I have ever tasted.  We plan to take a tour here....it's on the list.

We traveled this bumpy coastal road to Palmetto Bay Resort which  is a beautiful ecological destination but the bugs here are enormous! The resort is based on a Balinese style architecture and the area is lush and tropical with a wide flat beach.

It was raining softly when we left and we decided to forge head rather than retrace our rather muddy bumpy ride to this resort.  However this meant we would be climbing over the mountain ridge that runs down the center of Roatan to exit on the South shore near French Harbor. The four wheel drive has been broken for several weeks on the truck and we are waiting on a part from the states, so we would have to accomplish this with just regular two wheel drive. 

I thought we had entered the movie set for Jurassic Park.  The jungle palms and trees of various types were towering over the little narrow one lane dirt road.

 Lizards that looked like miniature dragons or velociraptors dinosaurs darted in front of the truck.  They stand up on their legs and their heads are adorned with a crest.  Amazing…I think the locals call them monkey lalas.  The road was steep, slippery and narrow and I was afraid we would have to back down the mountain.  We had to try one spot several times before we were able to make the climb.  The pictures just don’t show the perspective.

At one point we even herded goats with the truck.

We finally arrived at the top of the ridge and were rewarded with a beautiful view

After our drive we stopped for a late lunch on the beach and finally home to watch the nightly cruise ship boat parade passed the house. Another beautiful day on Roatan!!