It was our last day on Roatan. Tomorrow, we would fly home. We had been having a ball - exploring the island, meeting new people, scuba diving and snorkeling and generally just relaxing, laughing and enjoying life on island time. We were all soundly in love with this island and knew that we were making the right choice to invest here. But - we still had not found our land. Nothing was quite yet fitting our needs and we were beginning to feel disappointment.
The island is divided into two "ends" - the East End and the West End. The West End, as its name implies, is the west side of the island and is home to a stunning segment of white sand beach and an adorable little village packed with shops, restaurants and small hotels. We enjoyed coming into West End each day to eat dinner, stroll the white sand beach and cool off in the beautiful, stunning clear waters. The East End is beautiful, too but most of the tourist activities and small hotels and restaurants are located in West End.
As we sat on our rental house deck and sipped coffee, preparing our agenda for our last day on the island, Steve showed up with some interesting news. He had just discovered that a plot of vacant land on a protected bay known as Gibson Bight on the west end of the island was for sale and he wanted us to have a look. We gamely piled into the Squia and drove towards the west end, following Steve's lead. When we stopped, got out of the Squia and took a look around the land we knew instantly - this was what we were hoping for! It was a beautiful piece of land that was right on Gibson Bight and covered with fruit trees, avocado trees, plush vegetation and access to the ocean. It even had an old well in one corner. We were stunned and pleased - we had passed the entrance to this property every day on our way to/from the West End and had no idea this would be our final destination!
We fell in love and told Steve - this is it! Let's buy this land before we leave the island tomorrow. And so we did. We were off to Steve's office to settle the paper work and begin the adventure of buying land in a foreign country - a country and culture that we were quickly embracing and excited to join. We had done our homework and knew that purchasing land in Honduras required forming a corporation but we had not considered the name of our future corporation until we sat in Steve's air conditioned office and began the paperwork process. When Steve asked for the name we all looked at each with a blank expression - what should it be? Our last names seemed so boring and ordinary and we wanted something that represented our time in Roatan. Suddenly someone said "What about Squia? We can name our corporation after the van!" At first we all laughed but then we knew - this was the name we would choose! It was certainly unique and definitely reflective of our island adventures and we would always remember the reason for the name. The Squia Corporation it is!
And so we ended our week with a newly formed corporation and a wonderful piece of land that we were excited to some day expand on. As we headed back to the airport the next day and unpacked our mountain of luggage, we felt the tug of sadness at leaving but this was coupled with the excitement of knowing we were definitely coming back - again and again and again and again!!! All in all - a wonderful week.
