Utila is the Happiest Place in Honduras
This week I was in Utila. I needed to run some errands and hired one of the local “tuk tuks” or motorcycle taxis. These are three wheel motorcycles made in India. They are ideal for Utila, because they are narrow and fit well in the local pedestrian streets. So I flagged this taxi, negotiated the fare, and set off to run my errands. The taxi driver was a young man from Olanchito, in the Honduras mainland. We struck a conversation and he was soon telling me about his life in the Island of Utila. He started by saying “Utila is the happiest place in Honduras!”
Justin, the taxi driver was convinced that Utila is the happiest place in Honduras. And so as he went on to say giving me reasons why this is so, I had to agree with him. You can walk all over town at night and nothing will happen to you. Everybody has a smile as they walk down the streets on the island. You can walk barefoot up and down the streets and walk into any business. Believe it or not, there are no shoes required when you are in Utila! Justin has no plans of moving from Utila, although he does wear shoes.
Another fact is that you can meet people from around the World. It is so easy to make friends in Utila! I must admit that there is a “happy go lucky” attitude in the air in Utila. He insisted on the fact that everybody who lived on the island was happy. Travelers visiting the island feel so happy in the island of Utila that they don’t want to leave! I immediately remembered the video put together a few years ago by two young Aussies. They had a song that read: “…in Utila you can do as you please…” and I had to laugh, because this is true! Utila is a bilingual community. Most of the locals speak English as well as they do Spanish. This means that you will be happy regardless of the language you speak.
Indeed Utila is arguably the happiest place in Honduras. For that matter, it may be the happiest place in Central America. If you are traveling to Honduras, you should plan on visiting Utila. Getting to Utila is easy from both, La Ceiba and Roatan. The Utila Dream state of the art passenger ferry boat offers daily trips from both gateways. No excuse is good enough to skip Utila. Heck, who would want to miss a visit to the happiest place in Honduras: the Island of Utila?
