Guanaja Flashbacks

Several times recently, when we have exchanged stories with new friends, they have mentioned the fact that our life here in Lempira seems tame compared with our 5 years on the island of Guanaja.

So, for fun, I thought I'd start a new category of posts: Guanaja Flashbacks. On a very strict schedule - determined by when I feel like it - I may (or may not) post some stories from our time on Guanaja.

For no particular reason, I was thinking today about the awesome beauty of the island. I love living here in the mountains of Lempira, but I have to admit that I believe Guanaja is the most stunningly beautiful place I will ever live. You'd think being surrounded by such indescribable scenery would bring out the poetic in a person. You might imagine that exotic and romantic names would be given to these intensely beautiful locales. But, you wouldn't actually find that to be true on Guanaja.

A map of Guanaja reads like . . . well, like a map. Most place names are the simplest and most obvious descriptive titles. For instance, there are several bights on the island (a bight is similar to a bay). There is the bight with a lot of mangroves . . . Mangrove Bight. There is the bight with some flat grassy land nearby . . . Savannah Bight. There is the bight on the northeast end of the island . . . Northeast Bight. There is also a bay with a sandy bottom . . . Sandy Bay.

We lived in Savannah Bight. Sometimes we would walk to the east end of the island, where you can visit the tiny village of East End. On the far end of the island, much too far to walk, you can also visit West End.

My personal favorite place name, though, is the name of the piece of flat land located between Savannah Bight and Mangrove Bight, which is used for ranching. Guanaja is a very small, very tall island, with little flat land, so this is a very unusual and valuable property. It is appropriately named . . . Big Flat.

Near Big Flat there is a large hill, with many marble-like rock protrusions. This hill has an ancient and spooky history. Island lore claimed it was a haunted place, and more recently archaeologists have declared that it was a site where Mayans conducted human sacrifices. Given this evocative history, you might expect more in the name than . . . Marble Hill.

Along the reef which surrounds most of the island, there are truly tiny islands, called cays. These are generally just an acre of so of land, owned by one individual. These jewel-like islands are dreamy tropical locations, gorgeous and isolated; white sand, turquoise blue sea, coral, and palm trees. Unbelievable. If any place on the island would inspire poetry, these cays would be the place. With few exceptions these are abruptly named for their owners. Mandy's Cay. Graham's Cay. Jones Cay. Etc. Several of the exceptions are Northeast Cay and Southwest Cay. Sigh.

This naming tendency is even historic. When Christopher Columbus visited Guanaja in 1502, he noted the abundance of tall pine trees growing on the mountains, and he name the island: Island of the Pines.