डेलिकिऔस एन्दंगेरेड Seafood

I lay daydreaming on my stomach as the two large and powerful Garifuna women started to work me over with strong, confident hands. They bantered in a sweet, melodic language that was certainly English, but that I had to actively listen to to understand. They really weren't talking to me anyway, so I slipped into my thoughts, into the warm, clear blue water where I had spent the morning snorkeling. I saw more colors on fish and coral than there are crayons in a delux Crayola box. I was in heaven, swimming for hours through the reef, pointing and smiling. "I saw a turtle!", I exclaimed, probably interupting Sonia and Nell. "Yes." cooed Nell, "They are delicious. mmmm." "Yes, I love turtle meat. It is the best." Agreed Sonia. "Well, it looked pretty too... I mean, alive and swimming."

I used to have a tie. It was green and was decorated with pictures of various threatened marine animals. I think I bought in in my early twenties when somebody either got married or died. I wore it for the next few years anytime someone I knew got married or died. I liked to call it my 'endangered seafood' tie whenever someone complimented or commented on it. Incidently, sardonic cracks like that actually play better at funerals than they do at weddings. I remember there was an endangered turtle on the tie, but I don't know if it was the same kind that I saw in Roatan. The one I watched was big and magestic. It swam slowly and looked at me, but not with particular curiosity or suspicion. I swam around it for a while and could have stayed longer, but I just had to go back to the side to tell Jenn what I had seen. Plus I was getting hungry... maybe for seafood, but not so much for turtle.
Conchs are also popular to eat on Roatan. They are big snails. Fritters are one common way to eat them. We tried them as deep fried conch balls. The grease was obviously old and they tasted like rancid hushpuppies. Maybe they are typically better, but I was not impressed with my one tasting. Despite not having been thrilled by the flavor, we bought a big conch shell from a girl who was selling them on the beach. It was funny when we were going through the security check in the airport departing Honduras. The guards found the shell in Jenn's carry on bag. The guard looked at her disapprovingly, shaking his head and telling her that she could not steal the treasures of his land for cheap souvenirs to be placed amid other excesses on the shelf of an overpriviliged, ungrateful American two year old child. I looked down and tried to distance myself as much as possible from Jenn. Actually, he just said no and put the shell under the counter, but he may have been thinking those other things.

Sonia and Nell worked on my back and arms for about half an hour. Nell claims to have relocated my shoulder. It does feel better, but I am not certain that it was ever really dislocated. I asked them how they liked turtle cooked. For some reason, I can't remember exactly what they told me. I was thinking about all of the fish I had seen. Sure they were all beautiful, blues and greens; reds, yellows... so many shades. But how many were as delicious as they were pretty?