Tag: roatan travel

Roatan Food: Top Local Island Fruit

Traveling allows us to experience different cultures, lifestyles, environments and especially foods. When it comes to tropical vacations, there’s always an expectation of fresh, ripe fruit. Whether it be a garnish for an alcoholic drink, the drink itself, a fancy dessert or as a centerpiece in a meal, fresh island fruit is virtually always a welcome treat for holidaymakers. Roatan is no exception. Fruit plays a major role in everyday life on this Honduran island. If you’re planning on visiting it’s good to have an idea of what you can expect. For this reason, we’ve put together this post on Roatan food: top local island fruit.

Avocados

There’s rarely a shortage of this hipster staple on the island of Roatan. Avocados are at their freshest in July and August, but you shouldn’t have a problem finding guacamole or smashed avocado toast at any time of year. Avocados also play an important role in the traditional Honduran dish, the breakfast baleada. Baleadas are Honduras’ answer to the taco. In the breakfast baleada you’ll find eggs or beans along with avocados, queso (white cheese,) and crema fresca (fresh cream) in a warmed tortilla. They might also include plantain, tomatoes, onions, peppers or a hot sauce. It’s a simple, yet filling and nutritious morning meal.

Plantains

For those unfamiliar with plantains, the appearance might fool you into thinking they’re a banana. However, plantains have thicker skins and the inner flesh is much starchier than a banana. This means plantains typically need to be cooked before being consumed. Plantains are an ideal substitute for potatoes or rice – especially when green.

Mangos

Although mangos are quite well-known throughout the world, they’re cheap and plentiful in Roatan – one of the top local island fruits. Mangos are in season from June to August. They have plenty of health benefits as they’re high in antioxidants, help with digestion and supposedly promote hair growth, heart function and eye health. Because of the large seed and tough skin, it can be difficult to extract the sweet, edible flesh, but following the local method of dicing the flesh while still attached to the skin after the seed is carved away will make eating mangos easier.

Coconuts

It wouldn’t be a tropical island without coconuts, would it? Young coconuts that are still green are often cracked open for their refreshing coconut water which is just as full of electrolytes as many of the fashionable sports drinks – but with far less sugar. Ripe coconuts can be harvested for their meat which can be eaten as is or processed to create coconut milk.

Rambutan

Rambutan are somewhat less known in northern climates, but this funny-looking fruit has a very sweet and tasty inside. The fruit’s name comes from the Indonesian word for hair which you’ll appreciate as appropriate when you see the shaggy red “hairs” growing off the skin. Tear off this layer and you’ll find yourself with a golf ball-sized grape-like fruit that is sweet and moreish. Although often mistaken for lychee fruit, rambutan is arguably even tastier!

Rustic Roatan Boutique Hotel

For many, a tropical island getaway conjures up ideas of an all-inclusive resort with endless buffet tables, carefully delineated beaches and Vegas-inspired entertainment nights. And while there’s something to be said about a vacation where all your needs – and beyond – are catered to, there’s definitely a forfeiture of authenticity.

Being surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of other tourists, each one fighting for a beach chair, the last few french fries or a demi-glass of no-name beer hardly gives you a sense of experiencing a foreign culture – nevermind a relaxing reprieve where you might meet interesting people from around the world AND the country you’re visiting.

This is where boutique hotels are at their best. When traveling to a place like Roatan, experiencing island culture is more than half the adventure. And rustic meets Roatan boutique hotels, such as Camp Bay Lodge, are the best way to do that.

What Is It About Roatan Boutique Hotels?

When compared to the average all-inclusive resort, the boutique hotel defines itself by its unique personality. It’s the difference between a chain restaurant and an exclusive steakhouse; a strip mall versus an arts and crafts village; a private jet rather than a Boeing 747. Roatan boutique hotels provide a slice of island life that is virtually impossible to replicate inside an international chain hotel. If you truly want to feel like you’ve experienced a foreign culture, your desire will be much more reliably realized in a boutique hotel.

The Benefits Of The Roatan Boutique Hotel Experience

Boutique hotels are, by definition, more specialized types of accommodations. There will not be hundreds of rooms, thousands of other guests and the bustle and commotion that go along with them. You’ll encounter a quieter environment, increasingly mindful service and a far more personalized experience. If you want to remember your vacation as a one-of-a-kind stay rather than just another non-descript hotel room near the beach, choosing a boutique hotel will increase your chances multitudinously. Very often too, your reward of such unique accommodations will come attached with a budget-friendly price tag. At the very least, the value-for-money afforded by a boutique hotel is very difficult for the bigger hotels to match.

The Ability To Relax

Ultimately, your vacation time should allow you to relax. And that’s not easy when your surroundings are formalized, standardized, and ultimately, institutionalized. Staying in a rustic Roatan boutique hotel allows for an informality and casualness that represents what a true tropical vacation should be all about.

You probably don’t want to spend your holidays in a room that looks just like your office back home. Nor should you have to deal with the aggravation that comes with the rat race of trying to ensure you get your fair share of the proverbial pie. Knowing that there are enough beach chairs available, no matter what time you decide to get out of bed can be the difference between mind-blowing exasperation and healthy relaxation. Save yourself the indignities of holiday rage and book yourself into a boutique hotel in Roatan.

Travel Roatan: Off the Beaten Path

There are several reasons why people continually visit popular tourist sites. Not only do prominent destinations receive more attention and publicity than those that are off the grid, but they’re also often much easier to reach. Things like direct flights, accessible public transport links and other tourist-oriented services are generally associated with well known travel sites. But there are big rewards of off the beaten path travel. To give you an idea of what you might be missing by sticking to the obvious tourist trail, we’ve put together this list of six reasons to travel Roatan on the lesser known road.

Learn How The Locals Live

One of the top reasons that people travel is to learn about local culture. However, that can be difficult when all you’re surrounded with are tourists from other countries. When you travel off the beaten path you’re much more likely to be immersed in local life – whether you like it or not. If you really want to understand how the locals live, avoid the tourist hotspots.

Cheaper

While popular tourist destinations may advertise rock bottom prices, a little more investigation often reveals a long list of impossible to meet conditions and disclaimers. When you’re traveling in non-tourist areas, you’ll be paying local prices – which often means a serious discount. If you’re trying to stretch your travel dollar, avoid popular tourist destinations.

Benefit the Local Community

Most of the businesses in and around popular tourist sites are owned by multinational companies. Often, the only locals who financially benefit are those who hold low paying jobs within these corporations. If you really want your money to benefit the local community, traveling off the beaten path and patronizing small businesses is a much better way of doing it.

Privacy

Another big reason why people go on holidays is to just get away from it all. Contrarily, visiting popular tourist sites will only bring you into the center of the storm. One of the main rewards of off the beaten path travel is easily attained privacy. If you’re in serious need of some downtime, avoid the tourist traps.

Less Stress

Similarly, an off the beaten path vacation will reward you with far less stress. You’ll encounter few, if any, lineups, you won’t be constantly hassled by people trying to swindle you out of your money and you won’t need to maintain a hyper-strict schedule to ensure you get to see and do what activities you want. If you’re looking for your vacation to reduce your stress levels, consider taking the road less traveled.

Increased Self Confidence

Traveling off the beaten path means you’ll have to rely on your own skills more often than not. It probably won’t be a vacation where you get on a tour bus and let someone else take care of every detail. But what the added responsibility will give you is an increased sense of self confidence. When you know that you’ve been able to navigate a foreign environment without a tour guide or concierge, you might realize that you’re more capable than you thought.