I’m not going to lie, I had a bit of anxiety leading up to this trip. It has been several years since I did an international trip without friends or family by my side, but I pushed outside my comfort zone, and I’m glad I went. I spent the last week in Roatan, Honduras volunteering with an organization called World Vets. They provide veterinary medical care and community outreach in many developing nations around the world. The specific trip I went on is unique in that it is their only wildlife-focused experience. It is meant as a training opportunity for pre-vet and vet tech students, with only a few licensed veterinarians and technicians on the trip. The majority of their other programs are spay/neuter clinics and equine/livestock welfare.

The wildlife program is relatively new compared to the other programs, so there are still some wrinkles that may need to be ironed out, but overall, I really enjoyed my first World Vets trip. In the remainder of this post, I’m going to tell you all about the wonderful time I had in Roatan, but first, take a look at a few of the neat animals we worked with!

Now onto the vacation portion of this trip. We stayed in the West End, which is a more touristy area of Roatan, at a hotel called The Sea Breeze Inn. It was walking distance to many restaurants and bars and right across the street from the beach. It certainly wasn’t fancy, but it was clean and comfortable. The room had a mini kitchen stocked with dishes and utensils. I purchased some snacks and cereal at a grocery store on the way from the airport, and the hotel provided a 5 gallon jug of drinking water for only $3. I stayed in a suite that slept three – two single beds in the main room, and a double bed in the second room. There were a couple of cats and a sweet dog named Olaf who all live on the property with the hotel’s owner.

Food

Across from the hotel was a delicious gelato shop that I went to a few times during my stay. They had a couple of new flavors each time.

I also ate at a restaurant close by called Ginger’s. I had a delicious piña colada there. It was right on the water, and had a fun island atmosphere. And a bonus is that you can pay with PayPal.

I suppose I should mention that many places on Roatan are cash only, and the only ATM in the West End was out of money the whole time I was there. I recommend bringing ~$25-50/day in cash depending on your spending habits.

Another evening, a group of us got dinner at Beach House, a small restaurant attached to a hotel of the same name. I wanted to try the tuna burger there, but they said they were not serving tuna that night. I ended up getting a regular cheeseburger. This restaurant accepted credit card with no extra card fee.

On one of my last nights on the island, my roommate and I were craving cake, so we walked down the street to Por Que No?, a restaurant and bakery. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the veggie burger I got for dinner, but the deserts were amazing! I went back the following night for another. There are many options, but I really liked the ones made with cake and a banana covered in chocolate. They accept credit card here, but there is a 15% extra card fee.

Island Fun

On our first full day on the island, the whole group went out snorkeling. The hotel owner acted as our guide, and provided kayaks and snorkel gear. We kayaked out over the reef, before getting into the water. The water was so warm and clear. Below we saw a ray, a sea turtle, many beautiful fish, and coral. I used my new ProShot case to take my phone underwater and got some awesome pics. I’ll plan to write a review of the case soon.

After our first two clinic days, we had a day off to relax and enjoy the island. One of the girls on the trip arranged for a group of us to go horseback riding to the beach with El Rancho Barrio Dorcas. I am not a regular rider, but I have been on horses before as a child and on trail rides. These horses required a little more skill than your average nose-to-tail trail ride, but they were pretty cooperative, and a guide was with us the whole time. Riding on the beach was truly a highlight of this trip. I had so much fun on our hour and a half ride.

Other than snorkeling and horseback riding, I spent the rest of my limited free time at the beach.