Today, we welcomed our second official guest to the hostel, Pete from the U.K.  Pete's come to Roatan to do diving courses, both his rescue course as well as his divemaster.  He'll be at the hostel for a week or so while he gets his bearings, and is soon to be joined by another divemaster trainee, who arrives on Thursday.
Also booked in a few people for semana Santa dates, which of course will get crazy here on Roatan as it always does.  And by then, the pool will be ready!  Can't wait!  They're putting in the tiling now, and will be pouring the first part of the patio tomorrow.  

It's Michele's final night, so we celebrated with a bottle of champagne that I'd been saving for my first successful stay :)  Michele provided the entertainment- she brought out her dulcimer to the porch and played.  What is a dulcimer, you ask?  i'd never heard of it either.  It looks a little like a guitar, but smaller, and you play it with it lying across your lap.  It's apparently mainly used for folk music, and originated in the Appalachians.  I'm fairly sure that the Roatan Backpackers' Hostel is the first spot in Roatan, and probably most of Honduras, to have had the pleasure of a dulcimer performance.  

Michele from Nashville has the honour of being Roatan Backpackers' Hostel's first guest :)  She arrived on Friday after spending some time volunteering on the mainland of Honduras.  We celebrated her arrival to Roatan with a drink at Sundowner's in West End, watching the sunset.
Have a few more guests arriving in the next week, and Semana santa is just around the corner, so I expect things to be in full swing then!

I've always loved to travel, and sometimes get itchy feet now that my life requires that I stay in one place a bit more.  The solution?  Bringing travelers to me!  Roatan is a beautiful island, but unfortunately there aren't many inexpensive options for places to stay, so many backpackers traveling through Central America opt to go to Utila instead.  With the Roatan Backpackers' Hostel, there'll now be a cheap option in Roatan.  And as our place is close to many volunteer opportunities, I hope to encourage travelers to give a bit of their time to some great non-profits that are here on the island.
I work a full time job at a resort, so all my spare hours in the last few weeks have been devoted to painting, painting, and more painting, mixed in with a few runs to the hardware store.  At last, we're ready to get started!  There'll still be much more to do in the next few months (including adding on the loft bedroom and living area upstairs), but we'll go one step at a time.  Right now,  the next is getting the pool finished.  We're really looking forward to  that!