Utila is a bizarre place. Years of being a stop off for pirates and smugglers has left the island with a culture quite unlike the Honduran mainlanders. The ethic mix of the island is diverse. There are the white utilans decended from Pirates who have strong Caribbean (rice and peas) accents. Then there are the black and hispanic utilans with the same strong accents. Then there are the most recent arrivals, honduran mainlanders who get accused of everything from stealing schools' computers to eating all the fish and all the iguanas.
It's the iguanas I am here to protect. Despite not knowing anything about the reptiles before I left I have become quite knowledgeable about the 'Swamper' Utila's endemic species of Iguana. For instance did you know iguanas have two penises? Or that, like a shark, once they bite in to something (a nice squishy finger) their jaws won't release until they want them to!
Current estimates have it that there are 10,000 swampers on the island but the people I'm working with would put it closer to 3,000 which is why this last week has been a haze of iguana feeding, catching and cage building with the odd sunbathe on the beach and the occasional beach party.
Life on a Caribbean island is good.
Apologies that are no photos, they will follow shortly
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