ATV Adventures (Night 1)

Pardon the lack of posts over the last few days. I have had some very interesting stories to tell but Hurricane Ernesto had other ideas. We only had winds in the range of a tropical storm hit Utila and even then we mostly just had lots of rain. However, internet has been out at our apartment since Monday so updates have not been occurring regularly. 

Now, on to our featured story. 

The ATV Adventures of the Utila Researchers, 

Chapter 1: The 2 AM Backpack Strap Adventure. 

Early Monday morning, the wind died. The biting bugs promptly arrived in swarms. Finally, at 2 AM, we settled ourselves and our gear onto our not-so-trusty ATV. Lindsey turned the key and we were startled to hear a strange clicking sound rather than the nice revving of an engine. We tried tricks which have worked before, such as pushing the ATV for a short distance or banging on various portions with a rock, but it would not start. We decided the only solution was to walk or tow the thing out. 

Monday nights, fortunately, are one of the nights that Chel is working so we had a second ATV with us. Unfortunately, although Robyn and I normally keep paracord survival bracelets with us, neither of ours had made it into the backpack on this fateful night. We eventually settled on the plan of using a set of straps used to convert Lindsey's North Face duffle bag into a backpack. we tied them together to form a longer strap and looped it around the metal bars on both ATVs. We then began, very slowly, the three mile drive on the dirt road. 

Impressively, the backpack straps held and Chel's smaller ATV didn't give out. When we pushed the ATV into town that afternoon, the rental shop owner said it was merely a dead battery, charged it again, and we returned, optimistic, to BICA. Little did we know... 

(This is currently a three part story. All has happened since I last posted, but for your ease of reading, I'm breaking up each night's events into a separate post.)