The combination of not listening carefully to the information given about a holiday destination and having certain expectations based on the idealised messages of advertising industry are a recipe for disappointment once at the place you were looking forward to visiting.
I can't exactly define what it was that made me want to leave Utila earlier than planned (but we didn't because of the advance bookings). And I don't know what it was that I actually expected. The island certainly looks beautiful on the photos and even experiencing some of it first hand: lush green flora, the sea, beautiful colibris, colourful butterflies, geckos and iguanas. Lots of diving schools along the main street offering the certification at apparently more accessible prices than in the rest of the Caribbean.
But...maybe it was the smell of rot and the canals along the street. Or the heavily motorised locals driving fast on their quad bikes, scooters and golf carts on the road without the pavement. Or almost 3 days of relentless rain, that kept us for one whole day stranded at the hotel and (to make a more positive spin on it), made Semir my hero for carrying me around 50meters through streams of ankle deep muddy water running through one of the streets. And lastly, the beaches on Utila are more like teasers. The beach is there but is absolutely useless for swimming. It's more appropriate for snorkelling but even that didn't seem like an attractive option. I can't blame anyone but myself for the unrealistic expectations, because I wasn't listening carefully what Semir read about the island. I edited the information in my head, looked at the photos and ended up with a series of snap references that I hoped would mark our stay here, such as: diving, white sandy beaches, kayaking, hiking on the Pumpkin Hill. I was indecisive about doing the diving, then the weather got rainy anyway, we didn't get a chance to hike because the approaching roads were extremely muddy; and because of the lush greenery, it was very humid and kind of smelly and the Mosquitos and sand flies were feasting on our skin day and night.
The locals didn't seem as friendly and approachable as the people on Caye Caulker (belize) and it wasn't so easy to get to know the tourists as they were mostly in closely knit divers groups.
On the other hand, we enjoyed cycling around and meeting iguanas, eating local dishes such as Baleadas and Tajaditas, drinking rum and coke - I don't usually drink either, but it was irresistibly intuitive and pleasurable choice in this setting. Add the island's history of pirates' presence for about 3 centuries and nothing seems more apt than a rum drink!
We also found our hotel to be pleasant and in a beautiful and quiet setting. But the picture rapidly changed during the night when a large number of geckos come out of the tinniest gaps and then decorated the veranda's walls and ceilings; and of course, there were always a few in our room. Spending the first day here we were on a high, loving the weather, the view, the hammocs and the pool. Our heaven turned into hell when we came back after our dinner only to find at least 50 geckos above our heads, trying to run away to safety as we walked past. Not to mention their droppings, I even saw one doing a poo! They are really sweet tough and we soon got used to them, but they still disrupted our comfort a bit. Waking up in the middle of the night to their calls (pecking-like sounds) only to see one above our bed...I could have done without it. Apparently there were no geckos on the island until 10 years ago, until one arrived. Now they're everywhere.
The locals are an eclectic mix of English speaking descendants mainly from Cayman Islands and the Spanish speaking from the mainland. So there was an interesting mix of the two languages heard on the streets, as well as the very exotic sounding local dialect, which is a kind of English that I could not understand. It was fun hearing the girl at a cafe speaking in Spanish to one of her colleagues, then in (I think creole) English to a local customer as then turning to serve us, speaking "normal" English! There are some divisions and differences here as well. From our superficial observation, it appears that the English speaking inhabitants of the island are of a healthier economic status, but we didn't have a chance to find out more about the history of this place and the workings of the current community.
So, that was Utila. In the hindsight, since we didn't engage with any diving courses, we could have skipped Honduras altogether and avoid two 15-hrs journeys across the country. On to Nicaragua now.
The whole experience at Utila (and the lack of the beach holiday on previous seaside destinations) has steered the journey,for now, towards a quest for a "perfect" beach, so we changed the plan and decided to skip the rural Ometepe Island at the lake Nicaragua and instead stay in Leon for two days (and recover from the long and shuttle journey) and then fly to the Corn Islands.
This time, better informed and with fewer expectations :)