The View From La Puerta Trasera

First Day of School

2012-02-13T16:42:00.000-06:00

Julisa

Today was the first day of the new school year. Susan, Larry and I walked up to the Mazapan School in the colonia where the kids get free English (ESL) classes in the afternoons. This is their designated "bus stop". We have hired a man to be the dedicated driver for the 15 sponsored children who attend the Luisa Trundle Escuela (school). He has a very nice van, just the right size to hold them all. He will pick them up at 6:30 a.m. sharp and deliver them back there at 12:30 p.m. He will not wait for stragglers. If you snooze, you lose! (He's not being mean - these are our instructions to prevent the kids from being late to school.)

Julisa was the first to arrive. She was so excited; she ran to us when she saw that we had come down to send them off and gave me a huge hug. She was just grinning from ear to ear. (Thank you everyone who helped make this possible for her!!!!)

Leidy, Karla, me, Julisa

Leidy and Karla also had hugs for us. That Karla is the best hugger around! She is really strong and squeezes you tight!

It was so much fun watching the kids arrive at their bus stop. They were all (almost!) very happy and excited about the new year. For some of them, this is their first time to go to a private, bilingual school, and they are thrilled at the opportunity they've been given.

Here are all of the sponsored kids from our church. There are four more who are being sponsored by some other people and who arrived a bit later. That's their driver behind them. I lined them all up to show off their new shoes which were donated by my wonderful ladies' Bible class back in St. Louis. The kids were very proud of their new duds and looked so cute.

All loaded up and ready to roll.

When I got back home, our gardener, Oscar, arrived for work and told me that his son, little Oscar, was so excited that he had gotten up at 4 a.m.!! Can you imagine any kid in the U.S. doing that? Me neither!

After school, when Tommy dropped the kids off at their "bus stop", Julisa and Leidy didn't go home; they ran to Susan and Larry's house to tell them all about their day. Susan called to say that they had homework and would need some help, so I went to join them. Susan uses one of the classrooms at church to tutor. The kids can come there three afternoons a week. Don and I will be helping tutor at least one day a week. Leidy and Julisa had checked out library books (fairy tales!) in English and we helped them with their reading.

I'll write more about the tutoring and post some more photos next time.

Bragging Rights

2012-01-31T18:43:00.000-06:00

I just have to share my morning with you. It was pouring down rain this morning when it was time to go to the Spanish womens' Bible study at our church. I've begun going to this because I love these women and it is good to fellowship with them. Also, since Luz and Rick returned to the island, she acts as interpreter for Tia, so I'm able to understand the lesson. I briefly considered not going due to the heavy rain but then God reminded me that the Spanish women from the colonia would all be there regardless of the rain...and they have to walk down those steep hills all the way to church. Ok, that was enough to compel me to grab my umbrella and go hop in my car for the short drive to church.

There were probably 40 women there! Clearly the rain doesn't stop them. Julisa smiled a big smile when she saw me come in and patted the chair next to her, so I went and sat between her and her step-mom. After a little while I became aware that her step-mom, Maria was very wet and very cold. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt, which was completely soaked, and a skirt. She had no jacket, no sweater and, obviously, no umbrella. She and Julisa have one of the longest walks to get to church, too. I realized just how cold she was when the young mother sitting next to her got up to go walk around with her fussy baby and Maria grabbed the baby's receiving blanket and draped it over her! I reached over to rub her back and she was soaking wet! No wonder she was so cold. She's also very, very thin. I had brought a number of empty gallon water jugs to church to leave for any of the women who might want them. I carried them in a kitchen sized garbage bag. When I realized how cold Maria was, I went out and got that trash bag, tore a hole in the bottom and put it over her like a rain coat. She quickly warmed up and had a big smile of gratitude. Sometimes, it's the little things.

The other very cool thing that happened was this: at the conclusion of the lesson, Tia always directs each table of women to pray for one another's needs. I'm sitting at a table of all Spanish speakers. Julisa speaks very little English and I speak very little Spanish...certainly not enough to understand requests and pray for them. We all sat there awhile. I understood that this was a table of women without a leader; no one felt comfortable stepping up...except Julisa!! After a little bit, with only a slight suggestion from me that someone needed to pray, she began asking each woman what their prayer need was and then she prayed for everyone!! Her personal prayer was thanking God for Mr. Don and I for our support of her so she can attend school! I was so proud of her!! I gave her such a big hug and told her so. All this from a recently baptized 14 year old girl. Pretty neat, huh?

Back to School Shopping

2012-01-31T09:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we got Julisa registered for school. Leidy came along and gave Julisa a tour of the school while we were doing the paperwork. Julisa had a big smile on her face. Pretty sure she liked what she saw. We called her into the office to supply some contact information about her family and while she was sitting there, Don began shooting rubberbands at her. Sigh. I guess that's good preparation for returning to school though.

We headed to the market next to pick up the uniform skirts from the tailor and to purchase the rest of their uniforms. In the photo above, they are looking over the selection of the required black school shoes.

We let them walk up and down the market street looking at the goods on display before they made their backpack selection. Julisa chose a Hannah Montana book bag and Leidy selected Cinderella. They were very pleased with their finds. They also both asked for and received Cinderella water bottles.

The girls look on as the sales clerk calculates the cost. Doesn't Leidy have beautiful hair? We bought most of their uniform needs at this one shop: white shirts, undershirts, socks and shoes. We also bought tennis shoes for their "physical" class. They will still need green pants to wear on Friday for the "physical" class. We'll buy them through the school.

Sizing up Leidy as Julisa grins in the background.

The market place is always fascinating and colorful. The girls really enjoyed the experience (they don't normally get to come here) and loved being able to pick out their own things...and new things at that!!

They wanted to buy their other school supplies, but we told them that we would wait until their teachers gave them the list for their grade level which should happen on the first day of school.

Then it was lunch time. We took them to a local favorite eating place beside our bank on the main street. We had baleadas and pastellitas and sodas for 4 for a total of $7.20. Not bad! For dessert, we bought a bag of sliced green mangoes from a street vendor. Leidy asked the vendor to add salt and a red vinegar to the bag and proceeded to enjoy. Julisa made an awful face when she tried them and wanted no more. I prefer my mangoes to be ripe, but many of the island people like them when they are still green.

We dropped the girls off in the colonia and they scampered off up the hill carrying their bags, happy and full.

Kids on the Beach

2012-01-27T16:02:00.000-06:00

Today we took 7 of the 9 sponsored school kids to the beach in West Bay. Most had never been to that beach. I was afraid they might be disappointed that they couldn't swim in the infinity pool, but once they saw the beach and the beautiful turquoise water, they were hooked.

I honestly don't know who had more fun today...us or the kids. It was such a joy watching them playing, helping them learn to swim and float on their backs, learning to use a snorkel. When we brought out the air mattresses, they couldn't blow them up fast enough. They loved floating around on them and they loved tormenting one another, although they were really very good about sharing.

Rick demonstrating how to use a snorkel. They all had to try on his big mask and were thrilled to see the fish and breathe through the snorkel. Hasey got so excited that she tried catching the little fish in the shallower water with her hands. The fish got excited too.

I love this photo of them paddling around on their brightly colored air mattresses in the crystal clear water. They loved it too.

Here they are after lots of swimming, waiting on lunch. Carlos, Hilda, Julisa, Karla, Leidy, Hasey, Greicy.

They were starving! They quickly demolished two very large pizzas. Hilda decided that her pizza needed some catsup and applied it liberally. She apparently liked it because she ate several pieces that way. They also devoured most of Don's french fries! They were very quiet during lunch, focused on eating. I passed around a bag of mango candies for dessert...gotta have dessert with kids.

No one argued or fussed when it was time to go home. They were all very tired, and so were we.

A Visit to The Tailor

2012-01-26T14:47:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I met Leidy and Julisa at church. Julisa looked so cute...all dressed up in her best outfit and wearing her high heels. We were going to town and she wanted to look good, but I couldn't believe that she had walked down the steep paths from her house to church wearing heels. She was so excited now that she knows she will be going to Louisa Trundle School with the other kids from church. The girls talked all the way in to Coxen Hole.

Our first stop was at the photography studio to have Julisa's picture taken for her school ID. Her eyes were as big as saucers as she watched the guy do the digital processing and then the photos shot out of the machine. Leidy was busy watch the Smurfs on a t.v. over in the corner.

Our next stop was the tailor shop in the market to get their uniform skirts made. While the girls were writing down their names in the order book, Karla came in with her dad. Karla is being sponsored by Rachel and Lance. She gave me a really big hug and then left. She and her brother had just been measured for their uniforms.

Here's tiny waisted Julisa being measured for her skirt. It was a whole new experience for her. It was so nice to have Leidy along to explain everything to her. Julisa doesn't speak much English...yet! Leidy has learned so much English this past year that we are just blown away! It is so much easier for us to communicate with her and now for her to interpret for Julisa. I hope Julisa can pick it up as easily as the other kids have.

Leidy's turn to be measured. Although she has grown taller this past year, she is still just a tiny little thing.

All finished! The skirts cost about $15. apiece and will be ready Saturday, the tailor said. We'll go pick them up one day next week and finish shopping for the rest of their uniforms and backpacks. We're just waiting on a bit more support to come in.

On the drive back, I asked the girls if they were hungry (really a silly question...they are usually hungry!) and they both said yes! We stopped at a local eatery in Sandy Bay where they could get island type food and I let them order what they wanted. They both chose something called a tajades or tajadas. It was a BIG bowl layered with plantains, shredded cabbage, grated Honduran cheese, liberal application of hot sauce and a really big piece of meat, possibly beef, like a thin steak. The girls dove into it and then struggled with the meat. I sent them to the counter to get knives and then watched them awkwardly pulling at the meat with the knives. It was clear that they had never used a knife to cut meat. I offered my assistance and Leidy allowed me to cut hers. Julisa watched me and learned.

While we waited for the food to be prepared, we watched t.v. (neither girl has electricity, let alone a t.v.). I was glad that the very violent movie ended and the channel was switched to a children's program. They were very engrossed in watching while they ate and sipped their banana sodas. Julisa ate every bite of her meal. Leidy couldn't finish hers, so we wrapped it up to take home. They wanted to take the rest of their drinks, too. The cook didn't have any cups but gave them plastic bags to pour their drinks into. It is common for Hondurans to buy drinks in plastic bags, so they didn't think anything about it. This grand feast cost a total of $8.00 USD. It was probably the biggest meal they had had in a long time.

I dropped them off at the entrance to the colonia, happy and full. It was a fun day.

School Prep

2012-01-25T13:43:00.000-06:00

Winter break is almost over. The new school year begins in about 3 weeks and preparations are underway. Monday we went to Louisa Trundle school with our other sponsor friends and registered 8 of the 9 children that we will be sending there this year. We were so impressed with the technological progress the administration has made since last year. We registered all 8 kids in about 30 minutes this year, compared to the incredibly long morning we spent registering 5 kids last year. They are computerizing more and more of their records, and were we glad to hear that! Part of last year's lengthy (and irritating) registration was from us having to fill out monthly payment books for each child, even though we paid for the full year's tuition up front. The kids had to present their paid receipt book every quarter when they took exams. This year there were no books!! They have all the information now on the computer so the kids no longer have to worry about producing the receipts at exam time.

The one child whom we still need to register is Julisa. After talking with her after church on Sunday, we made the decision to send her with the other kids. She is bright, curious, eager to learn and very much wants a chance to attend a bilingual private school. We are sharing sponsorship of her with our daughter and son-in-law which will cover registration and tuition for the year. We still need to provide for transportation at $32. per month for 10 months, and also books, uniforms and school supplies for another $190. or so plus some money set aside for those pesky incidentals. We have a couple of friends who have made donations (thank you!), but we would be very grateful for a little more help. You honestly could not find a better way to spend any extra money you might have. A bilingual education gives these Spanish speaking children a real chance to have a better life and to earn a decent living. The private school provides a real education; the public schools are ill equipped and staffed with either poorly trained teachers or apathetic teachers. The children learn very little there even when the teachers show up - they often don't. The Honduran public school system is truly abysmal.

We are stepping out in faith here with Julisa, confident that God will provide the remaining support through some of you. Please prayerfully consider making a difference in the life of a young person.
If you would like to make a tax deductible charitable contribution, let me know and I will send you the paypal information.

Visitors From The Past

2012-01-21T16:57:00.000-06:00

We were thrilled to have Lana and Drew come to the island yesterday aboard a Carnival ship. Although we have been friends for many years, we had not seen them in 10 or 11 years. We obviously had a lot of catching up to do!

When they first saw us, they both said "we could have picked you out anywhere! You both have not changed a bit!" That is exactly what we thought about them, too.

We asked what sights they wanted to see and they both said "your house!" So we brought them here and sat out on the deck visiting and catching up. They loved our view and house and probably would have been content to sit all day, but we did want them to see a bit of the island before their ship left.

We drove them down to West End which is just a huge mess with all the construction going on. We had to park outside the entrance to the End and gingerly pick our way through the mud, potholes filled with water from yesterday's rain and from the massive trenches dug all along the road. We got as far as the Cannibal Cafe where we were considering eating lunch before deciding to give up. We could go no farther and couldn't even get into the Cannibal without jumping a trench. I don't know how the businesses are surviving.

We drove on to West Bay, walked on the beach at high noon. They both said they think Roatan is the prettiest island they have visited in their two back-to-back cruises of the Caribbean! We agree.

West Bay is always crowded with people from the cruise ships, so we left there and took them out by the lighthouse to Smugglers. No crowds there! I don't think the cruise ships have discovered them yet and personally, I hope they don't. It's a beautiful spot to relax, have lunch and visit.

All too soon, it was time to return them to their ship. They had an early departure time so their ship could make it back to Florida by Sunday morning. I think we convinced them to come back and spend more time here. Hope so.

Visiting in the Colonia

2012-01-15T07:26:00.000-06:00

I had been wanting to go up in the colonia to visit for quite some time now, but I had to wait for a foot injury to heal before I tackled climbing up the steep paths to reach many of the homes. When Susan asked if I wanted to go with her the other day, I decided I was ready to test the foot.

As we began our climb, we ran into Leidy and some of her family coming out of a pulperia (store). We were all excited to see her. Leidy and Concepción had gone to the mainland before Christmas, planning to stay 15 days. They were delayed in their return because Concepción did not have enough money to pay for the ferry. So we were thrilled to see that they had made it back safely. We had to climb up the steep entry to Concepción's house to welcome her home. In the photo above: Leidy, her half-sister, half-brother, Concepción and Tia. People in the colonia are always so happy to have visitors. They didn't want us to leave, but we had other places to go.

Here's Tia and Susan climbing up one of the steep, rutted roads. Not many vehicles make it up this far.

Finally, we made it up to Julisa's house. The narrow path up here was treacherous enough, then we encountered the narrow switchback path leading up to the house. The photo doesn't really do justice to the difficulty of the climb. If you look closely, you'll see their little house peeking out from behind he banana trees on the upper left and in the upper center, Julisa and her family await us.

Part of the reason for our visit was to take a photo of the family's new water tank, seen above with Susan, Ariel, David, Charlene, Julisa and Iris. There are 11 family members living in a tiny house who until Friday had NO water. Can you imagine living in a house with no water? You may remember that water is only available every 8th day and families must fill their water tanks and any available containers with enough water to last them. The wall beside Iris is littered with empty water jugs that they had been filling somewhere and carrying up to the house. Behind Susan is the white water line that was connected the day before to the new placed water tank. Some Canadian friends of Susan's had sent money to purchase the water tank. The tank was not yet filled; they were expecting the water to be turned on later in the day.

Their tiny house is of an unusual construction for the colonia - sort of an adobe block and wire type of wall with plastic bags tucked in to help fill gaps. Their little plot of ground was quite narrow around the house with perhaps only 6-8 feet to most sides. In the photo above, they are taking up the entire width of the front "yard". There is jungle all around them; no other houses are close by, so they have a quieter and cooler location. We did not go inside the house but wondered where they all sleep. The house didn't appear tall enough to have a loft area.

Julisa was so excited when she saw me climbing up behind Susan and Tia. She was practically jumping up and down. She gave me such a big hug and just held on for the longest time. She's such a sweet girl. We have not yet told her that we would like to sponsor her for school. Imagine how excited she will be with that news! We will tell her as soon as we figure out where we will send her (and hopefully, the two other 7th graders who still need sponsors).

I had brought along two jars of peanut butter and left them with Julisa. With 11 mouths to feed, I'm sure they can use it.

Soon it was time to make our way down. I am not all that sure-footed, but Tia is and assisted me in the descent. And she was just wearing flip flops! She grew up backpacking in the California mountains and is as sure-footed as a mountain goat. I was so thankful for her help!

I was remembering a couple of Sundays ago when Julisa and Iris arrived at church wearing high heels! I asked if they had walked down the hill wearing them and Julisa said yes but I'm not sure she understood my question. I can't imagine that they could have worn them until they neared the bottom.

These two bikes are parked at the bottom of a very narrow, rocky path that crosses a little creek and leads up to Julisa's house. Chuck was able to drive his truck up this far and then he and Juan carried that water tank the rest of the way.
Along the way, we passed another house that was built precariously along side the creek on the steep side. It looked like one more hard rain would wash it right down the creek. The family must have thought so also for we noticed the husband and another man were clearing a spot a little higher up and farther back from the creek for another house.

Susan pointed out another steep, rocky path leading up to Norma's house, and commented on Norma climbing that path in the dark, without a flashlight or any other light source, when she comes to church on Wednesday nights. These people are hardy!

At the bottom of the hill, we found Marvin, the water man, and Susan was able to pay him to fill up the water tank. He promised to fill the tank that afternoon. I know one happy family!

School Board Meeting

2012-01-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

Our first school "board" meeting was held this week. In attendance, besides us, were two other couples who either fully or partially sponsor school children on the island and/ or represent off-island sponsors. Jointly, we are responsible for the education of 8 children who are doing well and desire to continue. Three more kids are being considered if we can raise enough support to cover them. These 3 have all finished 6th grade and may be able to attend the beach school in the evenings for grades 7-8. While this is not a great school, it is better than nothing and is free. They would just need registration fees, uniforms, shoes, school supplies.

This is Julisa, one of the three kids being considered. I wrote about her a couple of months ago, how she's befriended us at church, is learning English at the Mazapan school in the colonia and likes to practice what she's learned. We had been making inquiries about her, wanting to know more about her family situation and her schooling. She claims to have the necessary paperwork to register for school (birth certificate, school records). Don and I had already decided that we would sponsor her if everything checked out and if she was interested. She seems bright, curious and is very personable. She's 14, a dangerous age for girls here. If they're not engaged in school and intent on making a better life for themselves, they're vulnerable to becoming a mother way too soon.

One of the things we discussed at our school board meeting was whether to continue sending the 8 kids to Louisa Trundle School. Rick and Luz told us about a new private, Christian school associated with Pastor Tim's church in Coxen Hole. It sounds very promising, but would be more expensive, by another 50%. That's a big jump x 8. Rick was concerned about sending the kids the first year - there are sure to be problems in the first year of operation. After a lot of discussion, we finally agreed to keep the kids at Louisa Trundle for another year.

We also talked about transportation issues. We have hired our neighbor, Shaun and/or his brother, Shane, to drive the kids. Both men have big vans and transport many kids to a number of different schools. And therein lies the problem. Our kids are either dropped off way too early or are late, and they are frequently late in being picked up. We need to talk to them and try to resolve this. We're paying them $32 per child per month.

We're all excited that Rachel and Lance have agreed to sponsor Carla, another 5th grader and Leidy's classmate! If any of you readers are interested in helping out in any way - with tuition or transportation or just purchasing uniforms, shoes or school supplies, let me know. We are constantly being approached by other families at church who have unschooled children and no money to send them, and we still have the other two 7th graders who need to be sponsored. We can make a difference in these young lives!

The Bread Is Back!

2012-01-11T14:27:00.000-06:00

Today's shopping adventure was more productive than last week's. After searching in 3 stores today, we found bread! I was beginning to fear that the Bimbo bread man had disappeared again. The stores were also well stocked with produce and dairy (although not everything I needed). Poor Don has been wanting hot dogs (I don't know why...he just likes them every now and then) but the only ones he could find that were beef hot dogs were $7.00 a package. We just refused to buy them at that price. He's leery of chicken or turkey hot dogs which were more reasonably priced (at about $4-5.)

After spending a weekend, actually 3 days, with either no internet service or an extremely slow connection, we decided it was time to recharge our stick modems that we keep as backups for such times. Normally our satellite connection is very dependable, but they were certainly experiencing some problems over the weekend. At least we were able to have a nice Skype visit with little Simon before losing it. I don't know if running the Skype video constitutes "streaming video" or not, but part of our problem was that we had exceeded our download limit of 200mb per day and when Don was able to get onto the HughesNet website to check the status, he got that message: excessive streaming video usage. Sheesh! We never watch any t.v. or even much YouTube on the computers and are careful about how much we download, so we were very surprised at this development. They "punish" you by slowing down your connection speed to painful levels...just not worth it.

We also had to revisit the Claro phone store. Don has been trying to reload his Claro stick modem without luck. Today he wanted me to go in and have the English speaking employee show me exactly how to do it. It turns out that they had neglected to tell Don one critical step in the process: you must first remove the SIM card from the modem, insert it into the phone and load the minutes onto that SIM card before proceeding. He was loading the minutes onto his phone's SIM card, then switching them and sending the text message to reload the modem. So now he has more minutes on his phone than he is likely to use during our remaining time on the island, and they will expire in April. But, we are back in business and fully connected. Yippee!!

After Christmas Shopping

2012-01-07T06:40:00.000-06:00

The shelves have been rather bare at the grocery stores this week. The reason seems to be a combination of bad weather and the New Year holiday; the ships have not been coming in. Our shelves at home were getting pretty bare, too, after the holidays, so we trudged off to the stores. We bought just a handful of the items on our list. We ran into one of the restaurant owners who was also lamenting the bare shelves. Everything he needed was nowhere to be found. I really sympathized with him. Hard to run a restaurant that way. We can always make do. There was literally no bread on the shelves, virtually no produce, little dairy. We stopped by the new Pollo Rey chicken outlet store. They had no chicken breasts.
Both big supermarkets said they were expecting a ship to come in the next day, or possibly the next.

The next day found us in French Harbor running some errands. We stopped at the big grocery store there to find the same mostly bare shelves - bare of the items I needed anyway. No bread anywhere. They did have tomatoes, onions and green peppers. Next stop was the Bulk Gourmet. We don't buy much there because everything is imported and the prices reflect that, but we do sometimes buy Black Angus burgers. They were out of them and many other things. They are expecting a big shipment on the 15th of the month. The Pollo Rey store in Los Fuertes did have some smaller packages of chicken breasts.

At least rice and beans are plentiful. And we have some chicken now. We certainly won't starve, but I hope that ship comes soon.

Tropical Christmas

2011-12-28T06:44:00.000-06:00

This is what Christmas in the Caribbean looks like. Not a snowflake in sight. Beautiful sunny morning, about 77 degrees. I took a breakfast casserole over to Bob and Debi's to share with them and Bob's cousin from Canada. Don, unfortunately, was not feeling well and stayed home on the futon.

We exchanged gifts and I received these lovely sandals. This photo really doesn't do justice to the sparkly beads. I also had a stocking full of little treats to open! I was very surprised to find a small gift from Rachel under the tree - beautiful necklace made by Pedro that she purchased from the Made in Roatan shop. Just what my outfit needed!

Thanks, Debi, for taking these photos.

Bob's cousin took this shot of Debi and I in front of her Christmas tree.

Off to church to watch some of our kids sing Christmas carols in Spanish. They did a great job.
After church, some of the ladies served birthday cake for Jesus, made by Tia and Leah. Everyone enjoyed having cake and coffee.

After the cake, we began passing out the Christmas baskets that Tia, Lynne and I had put together. They were gratefully received. Tia took this photo of Stephanie, Chuck and I handing out the baskets. Inside each one was the makings of a traditional Honduran Christmas lunch - sandwiches! Plus bags of Christmas cookies, fresh fruit and veggies and some staples like beans.

Later that evening, we went back to Bob and Debi's to share a Christmas dinner with them, James, Zenola, and Carlos, his mom, Anna, his sister Kendi and her friend. It made for a nice full table. Don was feeling a little better and joined us. I had baked a turkey and Debi and I each made the other dishes. I took a plate of Christmas cookies which were a big hit. They don't usually get those. Neither Don nor Carlos ate very much though. Both not feeling that well. Don got to open his Christmas gifts and stocking.

Kendi, Jeanette, Anna, Debi and friend.
It was fun to share Christmas with these sweet people. Anna and the girls don't speak English, but we had no trouble sharing Christmas memories and laughs. Between Carlos, Zenola and Debi, we had plenty of translators. After dinner, Debi lit the advent candle. It was lovely.

Spreading Christmas Joy

2011-12-27T11:10:00.000-06:00

Day three of the island food drive. I was well enough to join the group for a day of spreading great joy. In this photo, we are jammed into our packing station which is now filled with mattress and boxes of pillows donated by the cruise ships which will be distributed after Christmas.

This was, without a doubt, the most meaningful thing I have ever done. Don and I have participated in food drives and community outreaches in East St. Louis many times, but never was it more amazing than this.
The people we visited around the island were some of the poorest of the poor. They truly have nothing. So many without work (and no welfare system here), so many children who had no toys, so many families without food. There was such excitement when our caravan pulled into a community. Word spread quickly and children came running when they caught a glimpse of Santa driving his pickup truck.
Nidia had Santa's list, a book containing names of families in desperate need. In each community she had worked with a contact person in organizing this event and in working out a schedule. There were approximately 1000 bags of food distributed and in every community there were disappointed people whose names were not on the list. We felt so bad that we didn't have more to give.

This was our first stop, in an area tucked up behind West End's beach road. This boy was very pleased with his new ball. We were so thankful that at the very last minute of loading the vehicles, Abraham received a phone call informing him that a couple of boxes of balls were enroute. This was a real blessing. We had just been discussing how we had precious few toys for the boys. We also had 1000 goody bags containing candy, chips and cookies for the children.

A very happy mama and child. Her smile says it all!

The little ones were thrilled to get a stuffed animal to hug and love on and which could obviously double as a hat.

Next stop: Flowers Bay to visit with a group of senior ladies at the Universal Church of God. I love how colorful they are, each dressed in her best for the occasion.

Some of the ladies posing with Santa who is wearing his Caribbean santa pants and sandals. He was a big hit wherever he went.

Our third stop was a section of Coxen Hole that I didn't know existed, tucked way back behind other buildings. We had to walk in and carry everything with us crossing little streams and following a muddy path way back. We left our armed security guard behind to watch the loaded vehicles.

Our fourth stop was our favorite, tucked way up high in the hills. These children were literally jumping up and down and squealing with delight when they saw us approaching. As the news spread, the children came running, clapping their hands with joy. They were just precious. Each and every child thanked us, often throwing their arms around us and squeezing tight. We had tears in our eyes. I thought about how grateful they were to receive one small toy and a little bag of candy and could not help but contrast that with Christmas in the United States where many children receive a pile of presents.

Stop number five was in the Swamp section of Coxen Hole. We were approached by people not on the list, begging for some bread or a toothbrush. Thankfully, we had a lot of bread generously donated by an island bakery. I was the tooth fairy at every stop, handing out up to three toothbrushes per family. I ran out of toothbrushes before we finished here. Some of the candy bags contained a child's toothbrush, but not all. I never before thought about toothbrushes being a luxury item, but when you have nothing, they are.

Our sixth and last stop of the day took us up Brazil Hill which overlooks the airport. There was no contact person to call and alert in this community so Nidia walked up the road announcing our arrival. The houses were more spread out. We were struck by the realization that there were no toys, bikes, balls or playthings of any kind anywhere. These little girls in pink caught my eye. They were standing outside the community center where some children were practicing for a Christmas program.

We also noticed that a number of the children had distended bellies, probably full of worms, a common ailment here. By this last stop, we were down to the bottom of the toy box and really had very little to give them. We had two balls left for the boys to all share and basketballs at that; not a hoop to be seen. The stuffed animals were gone and we had only two dolls left to hand out. The others got the odd and ends: a pair of child's gardening gloves, bangle bracelets, a pair of shoes, a small puzzle. The candy bags had likewise run out, so these children only received 3 or 4 small pieces of candy. We were also out of toothbrushes. We were really, really wishing that we had more to give them, but they seemed happy with what they got.

There's not enough room here to show all the photos, so here's a link to Picasa Web Albums where you'll find more pictures.https://picasaweb.google.com/jetgartner/FoodDrive2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLCn7v_p68XqRA&feat=directlink

Observations on Christmas

2011-12-23T06:47:00.001-06:00

This is the least stressful Christmas I can recall. Being here on Roatan is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. We have no family coming; we celebrated an early Christmas with them in August. No gifts to buy, wrap, worry over. No crazy preparations to accommodate and feed a houseful of (beloved) houseguests for a week. None of the usual American hustle and bustle that can actually detract from the meaning of Christmas.

What are we doing then to celebrate here on the island? Helping with two food drives by donating money and time. We’ve helped pack food bags and baskets. Don has spent a long day (8-5) delivering food bags, candy and toys to the east side of the island with a group of wonderful volunteers (I was sick with a stomach ailment). We’ll both help deliver food today from Coxen Hole to Flowers Bay. I’ve baked 33 dozen cookies to add to the food baskets that will be passed out to needy families in our church on Christmas day.

Don and some of the kids
photo credit: Debi Cowan

I learned while packing the church baskets, that a Honduran tradition is to have sandwiches for Christmas dinner! A treat for them. So their baskets included bread, sandwich meat, mayonnaise and lettuce.

We bought small gifts for Leidi and gave Concepcion money to help with their expenses of traveling to the mainland for the holidays. They were both so touched.

We’ll be having Christmas dinner with Bob and Debi, making our favorite foods to share with an island family. This family doesn’t usually celebrate with a special Christmas meal; they can’t afford the luxury.

I must admit, it does seem very strange to not be with family this week. As Rachel said, she has never known a Christmas without us. And then there is little Simon. Six months old. We’re missing his first Christmas and that makes me sad. I wish we could be there with him, but circumstances just don’t allow that this year. I do miss all of our family and friends, but it does no good to dwell on it. Instead, I wish everyone a joyous, stress-free Christmas!

It's In The Bag

2011-12-20T14:13:00.000-06:00

Making room for more 100 lb. food bags

Santa's elves are busy working on the island this week. There are several food drives underway. Don and I are participating in two of them. Yesterday, we helped bag food for one of the largest food drives.

Don drove Nidia, the main organizer of this event, to the market in Coxen Hole to pick up more huge sacks of rice, beans, flour, salt, boxes of tomato paste, lard, toilet paper, feminine products, candles, soap, coffee, spaghetti and more. Generous donations from many people provided the means to buy enough food to fill about 700 bags yesterday.

Four of the afternoon baggers: Don, Abraham, Nidia and Clarise.

Jeanette and Renee adding to the ever-growing pile of food bags. Renee took several days off from her job in Houston to come participate in the food drive.

Don went back this morning to help finish the bagging. Tomorrow the distribution begins about mid-island, gradually working towards the west end on Thursday and Friday. Nidia has mapped out a number of colonias that we will visit. In addition to the food, a very generous donation allowed for about 1000 little bags of candy and toys for the children. Should be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to bringing Christmas cheer to many families!

What Is Your Address?

2011-12-18T07:06:00.000-06:00

This is too good to not share.
My cousin just sent an email asking for our address. This was my reply:

Do you mean mailing address? Technically it's Sandy Bay, Roatan, Isla
de Bahia, Honduras. No street addresses here. No mail delivery either.
Mail apparently goes to the mainland, sits around until they feel like
sending it over here (which could be weeks) and once on the island, it
sits in the post office until the addressee, in a moment of divine
insight thinks "I might have mail" and goes to check. He will then
have to root through a pile of unsorted mail and pick out his.
This may require multiple trips;
the post office does not keep regular hours either. No one can figure out
their "schedule"....doesn't seem to be one. If you own a business, you
can get a P.O. box, but they are limited and if they are out when you
apply, you will be given a plastic bag to hang on a nail in the post
office! I am not making this up!! Oh yeah, and if the roof leaks,
which it probably will, your bag may fill with water. This actually
happened to a friend of mine!!
So, if you're wanting to send us a Christmas card, electronic would be
the best bet. In the meantime, here's a great conversation piece for
your Christmas gathering!! Your welcome.
Merry Christmas!!

Going Up and Down

2011-12-15T06:54:00.000-06:00

This has been a week of much rain...at least 7 inches so far. We did finally get a break in the clouds and rain on Tuesday, which was beautiful, and a mixture of rain and sun yesterday. It's all very lovely to watch from under our covered deck, although several days of high winds and hard blowing rain kept us indoors. I even had to put on some fuzzy socks and light sweatshirt. The winds brought very cool temperatures.

The humidity has been very high, as you might imagine, so nothing gets dry. Towels are a real challenge. They won't dry all the way inside or outside hanging on the clothesline. My pal Debi has had laundry hanging under her house for days, waiting for it to dry. I've been forced to use the clothes dryer more frequently this season, which I hate to do. We just got our new electric bill: we used less and got charged more than last month. Why? Because the rates jumped to 50 cents per kwh! Ten times what we paid in St. Louis!! Why are the rates so high? Partly because they have to import diesel fuel to run the generators and are dependent on fluctuating oil prices. (We paid $4.60/gal. for gas yesterday.)

Many people out of work on the island are also without power now. Our gardener had had his electric cut off when he couldn't pay the bill (which they do if you don't pay your bill within 6 days!) and was so grateful to get work and get the power restored. Reco charges nearly $25.00 to turn the meter back on; that's a lot of money for these families. He'll have at least another week of work for us when it quits raining. The minimum wage here is $15.00 per day! Debi and I talked to one of the supervisors at the grocery store the other day. She is forced to work 12-13 hour days for the same pay. She brings home only $6000. lempiras a month...$270.00! She said she had no choice but to accept the hours; her husband has been out of work for months. No overtime or holiday pay here.

Other things things that are ridiculously priced: Christmas lights and ornaments. I have my one string of LED lights hanging out on the deck. Hard to believe I'm looking at $25.00 worth of lights. I wanted to get some ornaments to hang from the beams of the deck, but I'm too cheap to pay $12-$15. for a box of 4-8 ornaments! I so wish I had brought Christmas stuff with me.

I'm baking cookies to put in the food baskets that our church is making for 25 of the poorest families in our congregation. The prices of some cookie ingredients are also high: around $5. for a bag of chocolate chips, at least $6. for a small (6 oz.) bag of pecans...if you can even find them. I bought a package of walnuts for about $8. but at least I got 4 cups of walnuts. Peanut butter is also high. I did find a store brand (U.S.) for $2.50 this week; Jif and Skippy are closer to $4.00. So, I'm keeping to simple recipes. I can't find any Craisins or Rice Krispies for two of my favorites. I paid $3.00 for a small container of colored sugar for my sugar cookies when I couldn't find any food coloring other than yellow and it was just as expensive.

I did shell out nearly $30.00 for a 16 lb. turkey this week for our Christmas dinner with Bob and Debi and an island family. We won't be having pecan pie or fruit cake this year. And no cranberry relish. No cranberries to be found anywhere other than cranberry jelly - sometimes. Still, our Christmas dinner will be wonderful and fun to share with an island family who wouldn't otherwise have any special Christmas dinner.

More Shopping Adventures

2011-12-09T09:11:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, at the end of a crazy day, this is our reward.

We had a crazy day of running errands in French Harbor. Got as far as the airport when Don realized he didn’t have the bank book. Back-tracked. Banking was then pretty quick. The Claro store was not. Don bought a cell phone there (his first ever!) and tried to get his internet modem recharged. They were having some problem with their system and were unable to recharge it, so we left it and went on with our errands. Ace Hardware STILL does not have any kitchen faucets in stock. It has been at least a month since we ordered one. So glad we bought that cheap one for $30.00 which is working great. Bought one long strand of LED Christmas lights for the deck. $25.00! Which is why I only bought one.

Grocery shopped in Eldon’s. Check the prices of turkeys for Christmas dinner. Still $25.00 for a 12 lb. bird! Couldn’t find everything, of course. No cinnamon and no brown sugar! It was 12:30 and Don was getting cranky and went outside to sit and wait while I finished. I suggested lunch and we went to Herby’s. I tried the tortilla soup (good!) and the Greek salad, which wasn’t a true Greek salad but was still good. Don had the chicken fingers and fries – one of his favorites.

Back to Claro. Still could not activate the modem, but the phone was working. Asked to have the phone put in English and was told they couldn’t do that, only the message about his account balance could be put in English. Baloney! I have a Claro phone and my display is in English. Don’t think those 2 girls were all that competent. They said we would have to come back another day. So typical on Roatan. Forgot to ask Don’s phone number! I was able to call my phone with his phone and get the number.

Stopped at Plaza Mar. They also did not have any brown sugar or cinnamon. Asked Don to stop at the other Eldon’s, wait in the car and let me run in. George, our favorite taxi driver was there waiting on his fare. He talked to Don while I shopped. Success! Brown sugar and cinnamon, but no feta cheese or orange juice. Can’t believe how hard it is to buy simple things here. George told us that he lost his Mahogany Bay (cruise ship pier) permit in an unprovoked attack by another driver at Mahogany Bay. They both got kicked out and their permits taken. George was so upset. High season is finally here and now he will miss much business. He’s doing local fares and wanting to start a little tour business. I promised to speak to Bob and Debi about him, see if they could funnel some business his way. He's such a nice man.

Back home, exhausted! Put the groceries away and sat for just a few minutes before it was time to take our new gardener Oscar and his 12 year old son, Oscarito, back up to church. (Love them!!) We’ve been picking them up at 7:30 and dropping them back off there at 4:00. They still have a long walk up into the colonia.

Don said the next time I need to go shopping, please go alone!

Ladies' Luncheon, Island Style

2011-12-08T13:17:00.000-06:00

If you know me, you know that I love ladies' luncheons. I attended one this week at the far western end of the island. Getting there proved to be a bit challenging. I was glad that the rain stopped just before I left the house. It resumed while in route and then stopped again once I reached West Bay. I drove through the parking lot of Infinity Bay and was about to head up the hill to Lighthouse Point when I encountered this sight. Yes, an actual flagger! That's a novelty here. I kept waiting for that big truck hauling that even bigger earth moving machine. I soon realized that he was stuck in the mud. You can see the guys digging him out. Other women began to pile up behind me, all waiting to get up the hill. Finally, he was free and began to move down the hill. He was wider than his lane. By a lot. I had to back up. Which meant the other women had to back up. They managed to pull off to the side enough, but I had to back up more. And more. A little more, until I was finally back in Infinity's Bay parking lot. That became our ice breaker at the luncheon.

We had about 20 women attended this monthly luncheon. It's been fun getting to know more people.
This luncheon was at Smugglers at the new Meridian development. It's in a fantastically beautiful spot with good swimming and snorkeling right off the beach. Unfortunately, the weather was not that cooperative. I do think this would be a wonderful place to take "our" girls to play.

This picture has been labeled the Roatan Betty Whites. Not sure I'm crazy about that title (although Betty White is one amazing woman). Last month's featured photo was of all the West Bay blondes who are a bit younger than the group above; we had to even it out. We all had a great time.

Monday Funday

2011-12-06T15:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated the 6th grade graduation of Hilda and Greicy. Don and I had decided to "gift" them with lunch and swimming when we couldn't think of another gift to take to their fiesta. I'm pretty sure they liked our gift best. They are part of the group of sponsored children that we and others support. We invited Larry and Susan to join us. Susan tutors the girls and they are very comfortable around her. I called Kent at Blue Bahia, told him what we wanted to do and asked if we could bring the girls to swim in his pool. He readily agreed. We had a great lunch and the girls put half of their lunches in boxes to take home (Kent gives large portions). Then they were ready to swim.

Susan and I had picked up a couple of swimsuits from one of the second hand shops and she had a couple of others that had been donated by volunteers at the clinic. The girls took turns trying on the suits until they each found one that fit. They had such a good time in the water. We remembered that Hilda could swim and loved it, but were surprised to see Greicy take off swimming across the pool!
Hilda and Greicy are step-sisters and best friends. And very sweet girls.

After awhile, they wanted to go out on the beach and sit in the sun and surf. I had to show them the outdoor shower where they could rinse off the sand before getting back in the pool. They liked that.

Miss Susan also got in the pool with them and managed to avoid most of the water fights. She did get a pretty good shower when a little four-year old girl dove into the pool right beside her and swam the length of the pool. We were all most impressed! The girls had a good time playing with the little girl and getting swimming tips from her. So funny.

When it was time to go, they wrapped the towels around them and with teeth chattering, climbed in the backseat of the car. Pretty soon they had their food boxes opened and were snacking on their leftovers. They had certainly burned a lot of calories in the pool and needed to refuel. We dropped them off at the road up to the colonia for their long climb up the hill to their house. Our car won't go up those terrible roads.

It was such a fun day. We'll have to print out some pictures to give them as a rememberance of a special time.

Love Letters

2011-12-03T17:08:00.000-06:00

Penny and Jeremy

Last night we got a bit of culture. Not the typical Honduran culture. The theatre kind of culture. We attended a dinner theatre performance of "Love Letters" starring our friend Jeremy Dyke (who is the pastor of the rChurch in West Bay) and Penny Leigh (owner of Penelope's Island Emporium in West Bay and founder of Roatan Renegade Rescue). "Love Letters" is a two person play chronicling the lives of two long-time friends and the letters they exchanged. They simply read the letters they had received from one another from about third grade until middle-age when Melissa (Penny's character) dies but, boy! did they ever put feeling and expression into their readings. It was a bittersweet story very well acted by them both.

The dinner was fabulous as well. Kent Burnes of Blue Bahia hosted the event. He and his staff provided outstanding service and excellent food, as usual. Beef chursasco and garlic shrimp. Yum.

Penny told us that she and Jeremy will do another two person play after the holidays - a comedy. We can't wait to see it!!

Thanksgiving on Roatan

2011-11-26T06:33:00.002-06:00

Photo credit: Debi Cowen

This is our first Thanksgiving on the island, but not the first without family. Our family is so far-flung across the U.S. that it is difficult to get together for many holidays. There are so many Americans and Canadians living on Roatan that we now have many people to celebrate with. (Canadians have their own Thanksgiving, but also love to share in ours.)

Our friends, Jeremy and Melissa, who pastor the rChurch in West Bay organized the 3rd annual community Thanksgiving Potluck attended by at least 150 people!! This year the dinner was held at the Beach Club at San Simeon, next to the Mayan Princess in West Bay. Beautiful place, open and airy, and plenty of room for everyone.

I volunteered to cook one of the 7 turkeys served and also made mashed potatoes and, of course, gravy. (By the way, the 12.3 pound Butterball turkey cost $25.00!! How does that compare to the U.S.?) It was a fairly warm day, too, 86 ˚ in the kitchen, but the gable fans pulled in a good breeze all day.

The dinner started at 5:30. We were a bit late as the turkey wasn't quite done when I began to carve it. The tables were loaded with food, and the people were already lined up in a long line when we arrived. Our friend, Courtney, who takes several young island teenagers under her protective wing, brought 5 or 6 of them to the dinner and boy, did they feast!!

Amazingly, the bar was already out of wine when we arrived leaving many people disappointed. (There had been two cruise ships in that day, but I wouldn't think that they would have drunk much wine.) One of the employees ran out to the grocery store and grabbed several boxes of Almanden wine which they then served.

Photo by Don

It was a lovely evening. Met several "new" people and chatted with many acquaintances. The children had a grand time running around, chasing one another. They could run outside onto the beach and right back inside. The above photo shows the beach with the inside of the club lit up in the rear. Those strange looking beds on the beach, some with curtains, are for the guests to lounge upon. One of the beds with the curtains also sways, as the kids quickly discovered and took full advantage of.

We had two Thanksgiving dinners this year, the one above on Wednesday night, and a restaurant meal on Thursday. We really enjoyed the brined, smoked and roasted turkey with all the usual trimmings at Kent's Blue Bahia. And I finally got a piece of pumpkin pie. Delicious!!
Thursday was a challenging day is some ways. The power went out twice for 60-90 minutes at a time. Fortunately, most people cook with gas here. I was thankful that I wasn't cooking though as none of my electric appliances would have worked.

We'll be finishing up the leftovers today with turkey noodle soup made from the carcass. Hope your Thanksgiving was also wonderful.

Shopping, Island Style

2011-11-24T07:30:00.001-06:00

The other day I enlisted the assistance of Susan and Tia to help me find some warmer clothing for some of the women up in the colonia who come to our church. We had noticed that the ladies are frequently cold on chilly, rainy days, and they don't have sweaters or jackets. My goal was to find some. This proved to be challenging! We drove around Coxen Hole checking out the little second-hand shops.

Tia knew of a nice, larger thrift shop down by the old ferry terminal. Not a single sweater to be found, but Susan and I did spot a few girls' swim suits, so we bought one for Leidi and one for Greicy. Don and I are planning to take the girls swimming again soon. On a warm day.

We checked out the shops along Back Street. No luck.

Tia suggested we try the little shops along Thicket, the road into Coxen Hole. We parked in a small lot across from the Roatan Hospital. The first shop was run by an old man who said "we don't need no sweaters here, lady. It don't get cold here!" Apparently not for him.

The little shops are everywhere, tucked into the strangest places. Often it is rather dark in these shops, but once they realized how serious we were, they would turn on the lights! We finally lucked out. We found 8 sweaters/jackets at one larger shop. They actually had more, but we rejected the wool and cashmere sweaters. They don't need that warm! And everything must be easy to wash. We also found 2 more in another little shop. That pretty much exhausted the sweater inventory in Coxen Hole. I was hoping to find more, but at least 10 women will now be a bit warmer during the next storm.

I may have to try crocheting some shawls!

Friends and Fiesta!

2011-11-23T15:42:00.000-06:00

Infinity Bay. This is where we typically spend our Sunday afternoons. We meet up with friends, sometimes eat lunch here, generally go for a snorkel, a swim or a walk on the white sand beach, and we visit. Don took this photo with his new camera of our usual Sunday group: Susan and Larry, Bob and Debi and Dee. We see lots of other friends coming and going while there, may watch the younger folks in a volleyball game or the wee ones digging in the sand. It's a very relaxing, enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Greicy, Hilda, Victor, Oscar

These four kids just graduated from the 6th grade. That's a big deal in Honduras where so many children never make it that far, or if they do, that's the end of their education. These are all sponsored kids who also attend our church. The school had a graduation ceremony for them on Saturday and unfortunately, Don and I somehow failed to fix the date and time in our brains and missed it. Susan, one of the sponsors, told us not to feel bad about it. It was supposed to start at 2 p.m., but true to Honduran ways, actually began at 4 p.m. and was a very short little ceremony. The boys had to have new long pants and long-sleeved shirts and the girls wore graduation gowns.

On Monday afternoon, our church sponsored a fiesta to celebrate the graduates. Everyone came dressed in their finest, the girls had curled their hair, and they all wore big smiles. Lots of little gifts arrived, even from the poorest families. A meal was served by the mothers of the graduates, adults first, then children, including the graduates! Our pastor's wife was afraid that the food would run out before everyone had been fed, but that didn't happen. There was even some Arroz con Pollo (rice with chicken) and slaw left over. The graduates were each allowed to invite 25 people, family and friends. We saw quite a few new faces and met another darling girl named Julette (Jew-layta). I'll tell you more about her another time.

Here's our girl, Leidi, looking mighty cute, and her grandmother, Concepción. Leidi proudly told us that she had passed 4th grade and would be moving up to 5th grade in February when classes resume after the winter break. Concepción looks so pleased, doesn't she?! Leidi is holding her report card, and she had pretty good grades, even in math. She's continuing to take ESL (English as a Second Language) lessons up in the colonia which are free. Concepción often cleans the school and earns credits which she can use to "purchase" donated clothing. That's a terrific program and much needed.

I'll have more to say later.

Photo credits to Don.

Sew Sew

2011-11-21T07:09:00.001-06:00

Our Bible study was cancelled the other night. God had other plans. One of the women in our study is a missionary who teaches English to the Spanish-speakers and also hosts a women's sewing group. The women in this group are island women, neighbor's of Deborah's who desperately need a way to make money. Deborah's church in the U.S. provided 3 brand new Janome sewing machines and gave the women basic sewing lessons. The women are using donated fabric to make small items to sell in the gift shops near the cruise ship pier, including the Made In Roatan shop. They make headbands and bows, eyeglass cases, small purses, etc. These sewing machines also allow them to do some fancy finishes. Unfortunately, two of the machines were not working properly. Deborah knew that I sewed and asked if I could come over and take a look at the machines, so off I went.

I worked on the one machine for about an hour, cleaning it, testing it and all the while chatting with Doris as she sewed on the one working machine. The tension was messed up (hate that! So hard to correct.) and the bobbin thread was wadding up and then the upper thread would break. And somehow, the thread was getting wrapped around a lever arm behind the thread guides. I didn't see how that was even possible.

The next day, I went back and took Don with me. We worked on both machines all morning. The second machine also had thread wrapped tightly around the lever arm. Don didn't see how that was possible either. We finally had to admit defeat. Both machines had serious, yet different, tension problems and these Janome machines weren't as simple to figure out as my Singer. I told Deborah that we needed to find someone on the island who was skilled in sewing machine repairs.

A couple of nights later, Don and I attended an art show given by a budding new artist, a self-taught island woman, who is a friend of Deborah's, and who is incredibly talented. Deborah came up to me and joyfully reported that she had found a tailor who was good at repairing sewing machines. We hope he can get these straightened out soon. Deborah wants me to come back and teach the women about basic machine maintenance. I'm also thinking about other simple things that I could teach them to sew. Should be fun.

This is one of Britteny's paintings and perhaps my favorite. She uses fabric for the dresses, giving it a unique, multi-dimensional effect. Deborah has this one hanging in her living room and I just fell in love with it. It reminds me of a small painting that we bought in Belize years ago. I have asked Britteny to paint another for us and she has agreed. Bob and Debi have asked her to do some small paintings to sell in their Made In Roatan shop. I think Britteny will do well.

Bob and Debi have been blessed by one of their cruise ship customers who saw the good work they are doing here to help struggling families and created an online store for them so they can now sell internationally! It is already a success. There are bios on the various artists and photos of them as well as photos of the items available for purchase. Here's a link to the shop: www.made-in-roatan.com

Time To Be Social

2011-11-14T06:17:00.000-06:00

This past week was a busy week...for me. Some weeks not much is happening except lots of rain so we tend to stay put. Don is happy to do so; he's writing two books. I enjoy the time to do some genealogy and have been writing up our family history so it will make sense to our children and grandchild(ren??). But, I often miss my social activities back home, so this week was a real treat for me.

Once a month, some of the gringas (ex-pat women) get together for lunch. They began doing this just after we left in the spring, so I had not had an opportunity to join them. A friend from church wanted to go, so I agreed to meet her there. I "knew" some of these women from the various Roatan forums but had never actually met them. There were about two dozen ladies there, many of them own or manage businesses around the island and one is a former Olympic swimmer. Two of the women came from the very far eastern end of the island and it took them well over an hour to drive in. The calle principal, or main road, is a two lane blacktop to about mid-island, then it is unpaved to the eastern end of the island. Remember, this is rainy season, which makes the drive all the more challenging. Next month we are meeting at the most western part of the island. These ladies have said, jokingly, that they may have to camp out on the beach! It was fun to meet so many new people, and we had a great lunch at Blue Bahia. Kent is usually closed on Tuesdays but opened the restaurant just for our private party. He even served monkey-la-las...on the house!

Later in the week, I was invited to play bunco with a group of women. My friend, Debi, has been playing bunco with this group for several months, and they needed an extra person to fill in for someone.
What a hoot! I used to play with a group back home but had forgotten how much fun it can be. There were 16 other women there. We met at a very high-priced condo in West End that was furnished but unoccupied. Our hostess, a real estate agent, arranged for us to use the place. We all had to carefully pick our way around the potholes and mud of the beach road, walk along the beach a short way and then take a cobbled walkway down to the end of this ironshore lined spit of land. Not possible to drive right up to the place. I was thankful that I had brought a flashlight. Don't want to step on a tarantula!

I knew 4 or 5 of the women already, either from a current bible study or a former one, but the rest were new to me. One face looked familiar and was...Daphne, the owner of Besos where Don and I had lunch the other day and where the above photo was taken. I met a number of young teachers from the alternative school, a massage therapist (good to know!), a gardener/landscaper (also good to know), a French Canadian singer (who sounds a lot like Celine Dion), and reconnected with a couple of women whom I had not seen in awhile. I really enjoyed the evening. Bunco is less about playing the game and more about the socializing...and eating! Typically, you are assigned something to bring: an appetizer, beverage, something sweet or salty for each table. We had so much food, it was ridiculous! Each person put 100 lemipiras (about $5.) into the pot and the two winners (most buncos, most wins) split the pot at the end of the evening. We didn't play late. The younger, single women wanted to go dancing! Debi and I went home.

This will be a busy week around the island. There are 5 cruise ships due in; 5 chances for our island friends to make some money. Here's the first ship of the week, sailing past our house on a beautiful pastel morning.

Continuing the Walk

2011-11-11T14:16:00.001-06:00

Here are some of Don's photos.

He spotted this long-time resident standing in front of Cannibal's (Mexican restaurant), holding court with some young tourists. Not sure if they were from the cruise ship or were here for a week of diving. At any rate, they were getting quite the education on life on the island.

Don't you love the nipple rings?

This photo shows the intricate wiring coming into West End. The phone and electric companies like to leave some extra wire rolled up, which is what the circle is on the pole. It really is no wonder that our power goes out so frequently.

A Walk in West End

2011-11-11T14:03:00.000-06:00

Don wanted to go for a walk in West End this morning and take some photos. These are some of my photos, I'll post his next. The dock above was damaged when Hurricane Rina passed by to the east of us.

Lots of road and sanitation work going on in West End. Things are constantly torn up. The municipal is putting in a sanitation system, water treatment plant and improving the road. All much needed. They dug up the beach road and little side roads to put in the sewer pipes, then filled it all in. Now they're digging all up again to lay water lines above the sewer lines. They've got a system! Most people don't want to see the beach road paved except some of the local residents, but unfortunately, it is going to be paved. The road just won't have the same feel to it.

Now, who would want to give up large potholes like this? Charming, huh? Seriously, the road is charming when it has been graded and it hasn't rained for awhile.

This is farther down the beach road where it is a muddy mess. The bulldozer is at the far end.

Vehicle traffic can't get past the area where the trenches are being dug (by hand). The tourist buses and taxis are dropping their passengers near the entrance to West End to pick their way through the potholes. Few tourists are venturing down very far, which I'm sure is hurting some of the businesses. High season has begun. It will be interesting to see what happens next week when 5 cruise ships will be in, or the following week when 7 ships are expected.

A New Lake in the Neighborhood

2011-11-04T11:13:00.000-06:00

This newly created "lake" is directly across the road from our church. The recent heavy rains have filled this yard with water.

Much more rain, and this water will spill over the road and into the missionary inn connected to our church and the pastor's apartment. He's already had mud flow in there once.

That house is completely surrounded by water and mostly likely flooded inside as well. The "lake" site is for sale, in case you're interested.

The wall where that person is sitting is beside a creek that flows down from the colonia. It looks like a road, but isn't. It is mostly full of mud which also washed down, so the water had to find another outlet....and a lake was formed.

We saw all this as we drove up to French Harbor yesterday to see if the kitchen faucets had come in to Ace Hardware. No, and not only that, the few they had a week ago were gone. We had been assured by an employee 10 days ago that a boat would be in soon carrying all these out of stock faucets. We've learned that they will tell you anything, promise you that it will be in mañana, over and over again. We spoke to the manager yesterday who said a boat would not be in for another week and upon checking, that it would not be bringing the faucet we wanted, but he could special order it for us. He took our e-mail address and phone number to let us know when it does come in. Meanwhile, we're spontaneously blessed with hot water in the kitchen every now and then. We just never know when. Keeps life interesting anyway.

Feeling Soggy

2011-11-01T11:33:00.001-06:00

We've been back on the island 3 weeks and 3 days. So far, we've had 19.6 inches of rain. Rainy season is definitely here.

It's difficult to do laundry. My laundry closet is on this deck which was completely soaked. And those are my clothes lines running across the deck. I've been forced to use the dryer more often, and with electric rates being 7 times as high here compared to St. Louis, you can understand why I'm reluctant.

The view is still pretty, even during a rain. We have had some downpours where there was NO view beyond our deck railing.

Another frequent problem is power outages. We had the power go out five times yesterday and stay out for an hour or more each time. Sometimes it would just barely have come back on when it would go out again. Really hard on those appliances like refrigerators.

We learned that some of our church members who live up in the colonia have had problems. Pastor Chuck is most anxious for Larry and Susan to return from Canada so we can have a work crew to go make some repairs. Concepción's roof is leaking because the metal panels were not overlapped properly and were screwed down too tightly, allowing rain to run under them and into the house. Suyapa's new house that is being constructed of concrete blocks is being built too close to edge of a hill and is being badly eroded. A retaining wall needs to be built soon. I think Don, Chuck and Larry will be busy whenever they get a break in the weather.

I also learned that many of the women who come to church are complaining of the cold. They don't have sweaters or shawls to wrap around themselves. I don't know if they even have a light blanket to throw on their bed on cool nights. This is an easy problem for me to tackle. There are lots of second-hand shops in Coxen Hole where these items can be purchased.

We love our sunsets here, and they seem extra special when the sun appears briefly at the end of rainy day.

Tales of Shopping

2011-10-30T15:09:00.000-06:00

Shopping here is always an adventure, whether it's for food or household items. This week's adventure included both.

Meat. Never too sure about this one. The beef choices are limited, especially US beef (which is expensive), so we have been sampling the Honduran beef. It isn't as flavorful but is very lean, being from grass-fed cows and is reasonably priced. I found some stew meat, which looked good - nice color, and bought a package. We put the groceries in the car and started driving. I smelled something odd and wondered what that was. On the way home from French Harbor, we stopped at Coxen Hole. When we got back in the car there was a strong, unpleasant smell...like something dead. Now I was really wondering. As soon as we got home, I found the source - the stew meat. It looked good but smelled really, really bad. Now why didn't I notice that while still in the store. Not driving all the way back to return it, so I stuck it in the freezer until I decided what to do with it.

I've had better luck, usually, with hamburger. I can find Honduran ground beef for about $2.50/pound. I have gotten used to the taste and don't notice a difference when it's used in chili or spaghetti. This week I purchased 3 pounds of very nice looking (and smelling!) ground beef. (Sometimes the stores have none, so when you find it, you buy several.) Once home, we decided to have burgers for lunch, so I opened a package and tried pulling the meat out to make patties. Very strange stuff. Didn't want to release from the package, not sticky like glue, but more like clay or paté. It didn't want to form patties and stuck to the waxed paper. Extremely lean meat; absolutely no grease cooked out. One patty crumbled as I tried to flip it. The odd texture was apparent upon taking a bite, too. It tasted ok, but really didn't have much flavor and just had an odd feel in the mouth. I really wondered what we were eating. Thankfully, we felt just fine after eating it.

I considered taking the bad, frozen stew meat and the odd hamburger back to the store, but after reading an account of a boy who was shot by a guard while trying to exchange a stale loaf of bread, I decided to forget it. (That incident happened somewhere on the mainland, not on the island, so rest easy, Mother!)

Our other shopping tale concerns trying to buy a replacement kitchen faucet assembly. I had complained that I wasn't getting hot water and the water flow had really slowed down from the kitchen faucet. We have one of those small on-demand hot water heaters under our kitchen sink. Don said the water flow was insufficient to activate the water heater, so no hot water. He checked the water pressure coming into the house and it was really good, but something was limiting the flow from the faucet. He took the faucet apart, trying to increase the water flow, but without luck. Now it didn't want to shut off completely. He said we would just have to replace it.

Off to look for replacements. First stop, Serrano's Hardware in Coxen Hole. (This is the store that reminds us of Hood's - you never know what they will have. While in there, I found those foam squares that interlock to make exercise mats...perfect for my exercise ball and easier on the back than our tile floors!) They didn't have the right type faucets. The stores here don't carry big assortments like Lowe's or Home Depot; you have limited number to choose from. I have one of those sinks with four holes: one soap dispenser, one sprayer, two for water but operated by a single handle. Don wants me to replace it with one that has separate hot and cold water taps. We drove up to French Harbor to Ace Hardware. They were out of the reasonably priced ones that would work but expected a shipment within a week. We made another stop at another hardware store and they didn't have any that I liked that would work. None with sprayers. But, they were also expecting a shipment in soon. So, we'll be going back to French Harbor this week. In the meantime, we have to turn off the water just so, or it drips.

After Rina

2011-10-29T09:47:00.008-06:00

We were very fortunate to have had little damage from Rina's winds and heavy rain. We lost a lot of leaves and small branches from the Coral trees. We worked on cleaning those up and Don had to shovel some mud back up where it came from. We both noted, again, how bad the earth smells here after a rain. Wonder if that's because Roatan is a volcanic formation? Don also had to clean out some trenches at the base of our retaining wall. Yes, we could have hired someone to do that work, but after sitting around for a few days, Don was glad to have some physical labor to do.

The day after Rina passed by, we had beautiful blue skies and plenty of sunshine. We kept the breeze for another day before it died down to a dead calm. Yesterday was hot, humid and still until late in the day. Thankfully, the winds returned, cooling us off again and bringing a little rain.

We do have beautiful sunsets here, especially after a storm.

Weathering The Storm

2011-10-25T14:40:00.000-06:00

We're very thankful that Hurricane Rina has passed to the north and east of us. Roatan sits at 16.〫N and Rina is already at 17.4〫N. We are, however, getting plenty of wind here on the north side of the island, and we've already had about .7 inches of rain today, plus whatever blew in horizontally and missed the rain gauge. The little hummingbirds are having a tough time hanging on. It feels chilly at 71〫so Don has on his long pants and I'm wearing socks, but it's refreshing.

Too Much Pride?

2011-10-21T13:46:00.000-06:00

This is my pride and joy: Pride of Barbados.

We were surprised at how much the Pride had grown during our 6 month absence. Right before we left in the spring, Don had cut the bush way back. We've been reluctant to trim it again because it is a haven for butterflies and hummingbirds. It does block our view, but only of the opposite hillside. With rainy season upon us, I suppose we'll have to start trimming before the Pride overruns us.

It's another cool (72 degrees), windy, rainy day. I'm watching the rain blow past the windows at 45 degree angles and then horizontally. Don is wearing a long-sleeved shirt (with shorts and barefeet) and we've just finished cups of hot tea. I'm thankful that we don't have to go anywhere today, but tonight is our pizza and card playing night with the Cowans, so we'll be out.

It's not often that it is easier to do something here than in the U.S., but we were able to renew the car registration yesterday in just a couple of minutes. Amazing. We purposely drove to the bank near French Harbor because it is usually less busy and some of the tellers speak English. It's an easy process here: no inspections, no proof of paid personal property tax( they don't even have such a tax), no proof of anything needed and no DMV. I simply handed the bank teller my registration card from 2010 and said I wanted to renew and handed her 1500 lempiras (about $70.) She printed out a new card for 2011, stamped it paid, had me write my cell phone number on her copy, and we were done!

Which reminds me of the fun I had in St. Louis, trying to renew my car registration before we left the country. It's not due until February, but I'm not going to be there then. I read on the DMV website that you can renew up to 6 months early, so I got my car inspected, found my paid personal property tax receipt and went to the DMV. And was turned down. Reason? I didn't have my 2011 paid tax receipt. "How can I have a 2011 receipt? Those bills don't come out until November, and I will already be gone." She shrugged, suggested that I go to the county government office and get a waiver or pay early. So I did. Nope, not possible to pay early; they don't know what the tax rate will be (really? it's only a month away). Waiver? Nope, not eligible. And my inspection certificate is only good for 60 days, despite what the paperwork says (120 days).

This leaves me with only two options: wait until I return next year and pay the fine, or have someone else take care of it for me. We'll try the second option, if I'm really lucky the personal property tax bill will come out early enough for it to get forwarded to California, paid, mailed, stamped paid and returned, and then put in the hands of our friend, Carl, before the car inspection expires at the end of November. Carl won't be able to get the car re-inspected because it is in Alabama. Carl suggested that it might be easier to just sell the car in Alabama. Puedes ser (could be).

So, sometimes life is easier down here.

Brown Bight

2011-10-20T06:10:00.000-06:00

What a storm! Roatan has been hit with some kind of tropical storm. Yesterday morning, we woke to hard driving rain (which we knew had begun around midnight). At times the visibility from our deck was 0. At other times the rain was coming in horizontally. Our rain gauge measured 5.25 inches yesterday but probably missed all the horizontal rain. Everything on our big covered deck was drenched. The power was out all over the island. Ours was restored after about 4 hours, others were not so lucky. No one went to school and many did not go to work. Three cruise ships came to the island and at least a couple of them were able to dock in Coxen Hole. Bob and Debi reported a good day at the Made in Roatan shop as tourists could do little else but shop.
The above photo is of Gibson Bight as seen from our deck. It is brown due to all the run-off.

We had never seen the brown run-off extend so far out, even past the reef. You can see how the tree in the bottom right is still being blown by gale-force winds. These photos were taken after the rain stopped yesterday. The winds never stopped, and we had an additional half inch of rain last night. Looks like this storm will stick around all week.

We were sitting high and dry. Many people on the island were not so lucky. So many have lost their homes in the mud slides and fierce deluge of water flowing down the steep hills of the colonias. Many roads are closed due to mud slides, making it difficult to reach some of these families. Some homes along the beach have up to 3 feet of water in them. Embankments have given way, washing mud and debris inside buildings, including our church. The Toddler Ministry rooms are covered in mud as is the apartment next door. With the power out, they had no way to pump water and couldn't clean up.

Reports have trickled in from friends around the island. A children's center and some schools have been designated as evacuation centers for those families who have lost their homes. Those who were lucky enough to only have 3 feet of water in their homes have still lost what little they possessed.

The storm has not yet passed. There will be many more stories and much work to be done once it is over with many opportunities to help. Please be praying for these families.

Catching Our Breath

2011-10-17T06:02:00.000-06:00

We are glad to be back, unpacked, plugged in and finally settled. It has been one crazy summer for us, and we needed the rest.
The highlight of our summer was the birth of our first grandchild, Simon Nathaniel Blickhan Gartner. He is just the most beautiful baby...and I'm not kidding!!

Photo taken by Simon's aunt, Christina Blickhan.

Besides Simon's birth and a few trips north to visit him, we spent much of the summer packing, pitching or parceling out the contents of our St. Louis house. We're so seldom there; it seemed like a burden to try to maintain it in between our jaunts around the country. And we were blessed with a beautiful solution: our daughter's best friend and her family have moved in to care for the house. They hope to be able to buy it in the future. They have promised to host an annual family reunion for the two families - ours and theirs.

We finished our summer by spending a few weeks in California with our daughter and my sister, then another visit with sweet little Simon, back to St. Louis to wrap up a few things and say goodbye, and then drove to Alabama for a week with my parents before flying back to the island. Exhausting!

So where will we go next year when we return to the States? Perhaps to your house. We really have no plans other than spending a fair amount of time in Wisconsin with Simon, perhaps renting a little place, otherwise, we'll be nomads wandering around the country. That will be another exciting adventure!

The Great Internet SNAFU of 2011

2011-10-15T06:49:00.000-06:00

The Great Internet SNAFU of 2011
This is too good (bad) not to write about it. (Don is contributing this, with some comments by me.)

Saturday, 08 October

We arrive on Roatan and proceed to our house. I set up the HughesNet modem and turn on the power. The modem has four lights lit. I need five. The transmit and receive lights are lit, but the system light is not lit. I’ve never seen this configuration.
I power up the computer and bring up a browser. Immediately a window pops up. It says our HughesNet service has been suspended.
WHAT? We’ve been paying for it all year. Payment is withdrawn monthly automatically from our checking account. Who suspended it? Why?
There is a 1-866 number for questions. The problem is that we have no phone. The Blackberry is the world phone. We have a separate phone for calls inside Honduras. It can also be used to call outside the country. That phone needs to be activated if not used for three months. We have been out of the country for six months. We are out of luck today. We have a cleaning crew at the house. By the time they finish, it will be too late to go to French Harbor to have the phone activated.

Sunday, 09 October

No action. Everything is closed.

Monday, 10 October

We go to French Harbor and get the Honduras phone activated. The HughesNet office is right up the street, so we go there next. The office is empty. No sign of HughesNet, no sign on the door telling where they moved. This is common here.
We call the 1-866 number. No connecto. We try again. Same result. We think okay, they moved somewhere around here, and French Harbor isn’t that big. We’ll find them. We drove around French Harbor for an hour. We asked people where they moved. No one knew anything.
We stopped by a real estate office who also used HughesNet, or so we were told. They looked up Carolina Castro's phone number. Carolina ran the now missing HughesNet office. I called her and asked where she was (meaning, where is the office located now). She replied, in her broken English, "Coxen Hole, near Serrano's." Okay, now we knew why we couldn’t find the office in French Harbor. We also knew where Serrano’s (a big hardware and lumber store) was located.
We had other business we had to take care of. Late in the afternoon we drug ourselves back home.

Tuesday, 11 October

We set out for The Hole.
We drove up and down the street that Serrano’s was on. No sign of the HughesNet office. We stopped at Serrano's and Jeanette went in to ask Deborah if she knew anything. No, she did not but suggested asking next door. Two men were outside the building next door. Jeanette asked them and the younger man said the office wasn't on this block, mumbled a bit and then apologized for being drunk (at 10 a.m., common here, but this should have tipped us off). The second fellow said he thought the office was about a mile to a mile and a half down the street.)
We got in the car and drove down the street, parked, walked up and down, talked to people. No one knew. We stopped and had a cold drink and a cheeseburger at Nardo’s, always a good idea when in The Hole.
Okay, enough of this nonsense. We went back to the house, got our computers, and set off for French Harbor. We knew that both Tigo and Claro (cellular providers) had their main offices there. They also sold the cellular modems that were a little bigger than a flash drive and that would let you connect to the internet using a cellular connection.
In the meantime Jeanette had talked to one of our friends who also uses HughesNet. Our friend said Carolina Castro didn’t even work for them anymore. And maybe HughesNet didn’t even have an office anymore. She said someone by the name of Sammy was now the rep. She would try to get his phone number so we could call him.
In French Harbor Jeanette went into the Tigo store, got one of the modems (~$30) and bought one month of service for 500 Lempiras ($26.46). No contract required. She installed the software sitting there in the office. It took her about five minutes. She was instantly connected to the internet.
We walked over to the Claro office. They had almost the same deal ($30 modem, $26.46 for a month of access). Their deal was a little better than Tigo’s, because they gave you 7GB of download per month compared to Tigo’s 5GB.
They plugged a modem into my computer and began installing the software. I don’t know what was going on, because We sat there and sat there, and most of an hour passed. Finally one of the fellows who was supposedly installing the software came over to me and asked if I had my power supply (charger) with me. I said no. He said the computer’s battery was almost discharged, and they couldn’t finish the installation. I asked if I could finish it when I got home. He said he thought I could. We left.
We got home, I charged the computer, then entered the installation routine. I don’t know what they were doing in the store, because I did the installation start to finish in ten minutes. The window said the software installed correctly.
It didn’t work. It would not connect to the internet. I uninstalled the software and re-installed it. Same result. No connecto. I had some rum and Coke.
Jeanette came along a little later and said there was good news. Sammy had called. I asked how he even knew our number. No idea. Sammy said he would look into what had happened – why our HughesNet service had been suspended and what needed to be done. Okay, fine. At that point nothing was going to cheer me up. Talk’s cheap. More rum and Coke.

Wednesday, 12 October

Okay, back to French Harbor for the third straight day. I went into the Claro store and told them what had happened. I showed them that it wouldn’t connect. One of them knew what the problem was right away. Claro is a big company, providing service to both Central and South America. There are two different Claro operations: Claro and Claro Honduras. The only option showing on my connection screen was Claro. One of the fellows changed a few parameters, so that my connection screen now showed Claro Honduras.
Success! Finally connected.
When we got back to the house I fired up the HughesNet modem. All five lights lit. I started my computer and pulled up a browser. Sure enough, HughesNet was now working as well.
All is well with the world once again.

Back on the Island

2011-10-14T15:53:00.001-06:00

We're back! Actually, we've been back since Oct. 8th, but faced the usual challenges of restoring internet service and activating our phones...more on that later. On our first night back, we were blessed with this lovely sunset and gorgeous view. So peaceful.

I captured this full moon shot on our second morning back (mucho early). It was so hot and sticky that we slept in our one air-conditioned room, the guest bedroom, for only the second time since 2008. When I awoke the next morning and wandered out to the deck, I was in awe of the beautiful full moon reflecting off the ocean. Unfortunately, my little digital camera doesn't do justice to the real thing. At times like these, I wish I had my son's camera. And knew how to use it.

Where are those pictures anyway?

2011-04-06T14:02:00.000-06:00

Despite repeated efforts to get my photos to publish along with my blog, I have failed. After doing some investigation, I've learned that it is not my fault; that problem lies with Google who owns and operates Picasa (the photo archive that I use) and Blogger, which publishes my blogs. Many other people are having the same problem. It must be a big one, because Google says they are aware and have been working on it for several days. It's actually several problems causing a break in the links between photos and blogs. So, no more effort on my part until I learn that the problem has been fixed. Hopefully, that will be soon.

Stay tuned!

Are The Fishing Biting Today?

2011-04-05T06:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was started out hot, humid and hazy. The haze had been hanging around most of the week and someone told us it was coming from the mainland where they were burning off the sugar cane fields. Is is now April, one of the hottest months here and there has been very little breeze during the daytime. We were all sweating our way through worship yesterday, happily anticipating an afternoon at the beach.

The breeze at West Bay was wonderful! Lots of people on the beach, escaping the heat.

The colors were so vivid! Such a nice change after a week of smoky haze. The sea was a bit rough with such strong wind here, but the snorkel was fantastic nonetheless.

This was taken at Infinity Bay, our usual after church hangout. We like to claim table under the palm trees for a bit of shade while we have lunch. We met up with old friends and got acquainted with new ones. Had a fabulous lobster quesadilla with fresh salsa, then a nice long snorkel out to the reef.

New friend, Linda, wanted to swim down to the end of the beach (by the big rocks in the second photo) to see all the fish that congregate there. Plenty of fish and all swirling around us. The cruise ship guides feed the fish to attract them for the cruisers. We had no fish food and apparently that disappointed them. Pretty soon, Linda popped up out of the water complaining that a large fish had just bitten her knuckle! While I was standing there examining her finger, with my hands in the water, a fish bit me and drew blood! Shark? Nope. Barracuda? Don said to claim that it was, actually, I don't know who bit me. Linda thought it was about the size of a parrotfish, silvery with some blue stripes.

Here is my chomped finger after being rinsed in seawater. Larry tried to cheer us up by speculating about what diseases fish might carry! I did not believe him for a minute.

Pandy Town

2011-03-27T06:09:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Pandy Town, a fishing village sharing the Oakridge Bight with the town of Oakridge. It's about halfway up the island. This purple building in the above photo is the local gas station. No pumps here. Just pull up in your boat and they'll bring out a jug of gasoline, diesel or kersosene, whatever you need.

Debi and I attended a women's conference at the Church of God in Pandy Town this week. We had no real directions but knew Pandy Town was near Oakridge and Debi had a vague idea of how to get there. We've both been to Oakridge and knew our way there. Debi did remember the turnoff, but then we were clueless. After driving around, looking for English speaking people to ask for directions, getting mis-directed by Spanish speakers (including the police), Debi found a man who was able to literally point us in the right direction. We had missed it by one turn. We were late, but not really. Islanders rarely start anything on time. They have a very casual approach to time. So the main speaker had just barely begun when we arrived.

One of the reasons we wanted to attend this conference was to support the speaker, Darla. She's a former islander who has lived in Canada for 30+ years. Now that she's retired, she has dedicated herself to serving the women of Roatan by bringing Bible study materials (she provided us with Beth Moore's Believing God study, including the videos) and women's conferences. She was thrilled to see us come in and sit down. Islanders love to interact and interject during sermons and teachings, so there was a constant buzz of affirmations. Loved it!

Afterwards, everyone was invited to stay for lunch and they just insisted that Debi and I stay, so with just a bit of arm twisiting, we agreed. Fabulous rice and beans made with coconut milk and mutton peppers! Stewed chicken and cole slaw. Standard island food and, oh, so tasty!

After lunch, we drove along slowly, taking photos, drinking in the culture. This bight is very deep, allowing large fishing boats to come in for repairs. There were a couple of smaller fishing boats being built nearby. The main industry on this island used to be fishing with the largest fishing fleet in the Caribbean, now that has shifted to tourism.

The approach into Pandy Town. This is where we had to back track and ask for directions. We discovered that the part of the town along the bight is mostly English-speaking islanders, and that the Spanish speakers (from the mainland) live just up the hills surrounding the bight. We also found a cute little secondhand clothing shop here and spent some time browsing. Shops like that abound on the island and get their goods from large shipments of clothing from the US and other places. This shop had huge plastic wrapped bundles of clothing stacked against one wall, waiting to be opened.

Looking back across the end of the bight at Pandy Town. Love the colorful buildings.
So glad we went.

A Sunday Treat

2011-03-26T07:21:00.029-06:00

Our usual routine on Sundays is to go to church, lunch and then meet up with friends at Infinity Bay for some beach time and good visiting (and snorkeling, of course). Last Sunday we were invited to the home of our friends, Lynne and Snider, who have a beautiful place at Blue Harbor. Lynne and Snider are pinch-hitting for our pastor who is on furlough with his family. Part of their duties are to continue mentoring and teaching some of the young Spanish-speaking men in the church. They chose to invite them, their significant others and us for lunch at their home. What a beautiful spot for lunch!!

There are only two homes built in this development, giving it a nice park-like setting.

Part of the invitation included taking a dip in their infinity lap pool. It was a little on the cool side, so I was enjoying sitting on the side of the pool, talking to Snider. Spectacular view.

This part of the island doesn't have the white sand beaches and does have a LOT of sand fleas. Snider is constantly searching for ways to combat them. His latest method, a fogger, seems to be working pretty well. We got very few bites.
A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Water Weary

2011-03-22T16:04:00.000-06:00

Oh, the fun with water never ends, and I'm not talking about snorkeling either. Don is getting pretty fed-up with this continuous string of water-related incidents.

All our problems stem from the water tank leak that Dennis had about 10+ days ago. Don had fixed our shower, fixed the sink, fixed the toilet and then cleaned out our reserve tank. The new internal toilet parts have not wanted to work properly, mainly refusing to shut off, but we were putting up with it until he felt like putting on his plumber pants again.

Last night, while cleaning up the dinner dishes, we had no hot water. Our kitchen hot water comes from an extra small heating unit mounted under the kitchen sink. It occurred to us that perhaps some of the sand that had clogged up everything else might have found its way to the water heater. So, this morning, Don reported for plumber duty, and sure enough, nothing went right. That's why he hates plumbing so much.

He worked on the water heater first and emptied out a dish of sandy water. He flushed and flushed the water lines and in the process, got the inside of the cabinet quite wet; it is now being fanned back to dryness and the contents of the cabinet are strewn all over the kitchen. Next he went to work on the toilet and actually just replaced the new flushing assembly with the old one. It didn't want to work. So, one wouldn't work at all and one wouldn't quit working. And somehow, during all of that, he lost the washer from the water line to the toilet, so had to borrow the cold water line from the kitchen sink in order to make the toilet work. He also re-installed the new flushing assembly. The toilet works, but now I have no cold water in the kitchen! He'll have to buy a new washer tomorrow after we get our car back (yes, it's in the shop again!)

I strongly encouraged him to go up and talk to Dennis about our continuing water problems and try to find both a cause and a solution. Dennis wasn't home this afternoon, so that conversation will have to wait.
I don't think Don can take many more of these plumbing issues.

And you thought life was carefree on the island, didn't you!

The Revenge of The Cat

2011-03-21T13:34:00.000-06:00

I didn't see it happen, so I can't prove it, but it could well be that the pepper-sprayed cat has taken his revenge on Don.

Here's what happened. This morning, while sitting in the porch swing doing my Bible lessons, I began to notice an unpleasant smell. Now, I am unusually sensitive to odors, so I didn't get too concerned right away. But then the scent seemed to grow stronger and was somewhat familiar. Suddenly, the awful memory of cat urine popped into my mind. Oh no! I hopped off the swing and began looking around for the source of the smell. And then I saw it. A suspicious puddle in Don's flip flop! I cautiously picked up the shoe and sniffed. Yup. Cat pee.

I did not see a cat slip onto our deck while I was sitting out there, so I have no way of knowing if it was the cat who was sprayed spraying back. Does seem somewhat fitting though, doesn't it?

So I grabbed the box of baking soda and liberally sprinkled the shoe and the small spot on the deck right beside the door. After a while, I blasted both with the hose. I sniffed the shoe again and decided another dose of baking soda might be in order. And here's where the cat's revenge extended to include me: I opened the door, took one step inside, immediately slid on the wet tile floor (which I didn't realize was wet), and then pitched forward, landing HARD on my hands, right knee and foot. OUCH! I may be black and blue for a few days.

Not sure the baking soda really helped Don's shoes. They may get tossed in the trash, along with the cat if he shows up here again!

Mr. Don, When Can We Swim?

2011-03-19T14:32:00.000-06:00

Hilda, Gracie, Leydi (and the fingers of Hasey)
Leydi has been asking that question every time she sees Don; she wants to go swimming! Rick and Luz Maria took the girls swimming for the first time while they were here early this month. Leydi was initially very fearful of the water, but Rick said she began to get more comfortable with it by the end of that afternoon. And then she was desperate to go again!

We told Leydi that we would also take Hilda, Gracie and Hasey. They were all so excited. We just had to find a suitable pool. Don and I checked with the manager of the pool at the former Oasis Bar and Grill and he gave his approval. Business has been very slow there and he was excited at the prospect of having customers. The day we stopped in for lunch, we were the only customers.

Little Hasey.

We agreed to pick the girls up at Son Rise church at 2:00 and they were ready and waiting for us. We loaded them up in the car and went by to pick up David Cowan. The minute we started driving towards the Oasis, Hasey began crying. I asked the other girls to find out what was troubling her, but she wouldn't say. A short drive later, we pulled into the Oasis and everyone got out. Hasey, who was still crying, immediately took off toward the road. I hollared "Stop, Hasey! No! No!" as I ran after her. She did not want to come back with me and wouldn't answer me either. I called the other girls over and they began asking her what was wrong. Finally, her big sister Gracie pulled her into her arms and just held her. She talked to her softly for a couple of minutes and all of a sudden, the tears stopped and she was fine. I was perplexed, but glad that she recovered. Gracie just shrugged when I asked what that was all about.

Once we got into the pool, Hasey was all smiles. Ear to ear.

Of the four girls, only Hilda can swim, so we had to keep a very close eye on the other three. The pool is quite large with a swim-up bar complete with underwater stools. We were the only customers again, and the girls loved splashing over to those stools and then back to the wide steps entering the pool. Leydi was the most timid, and actually, if the water had been a little warmer, she might have been a bit braver, but she spent a great deal of time shivering, teeth chattering. We've had a number of cloudy, rainy days, so the water was a little on the cool side. It was a warm, but not hot, day with alternating clouds and sun. I told her she could keep warm by moving, kept encouraging her and finally got her to hold onto the side of the pool and kick her legs. None of the girls are afraid of putting their heads under water. They would let go of the side and glide towards me, as long as I wasn't too far away.

The one who amazed me was little Hasey. I asked her if she wanted to learn to float and she nodded. At first she was holding onto me for dear life but after awhile, she was just laying across my arms. I'll bet she'll float on her own the next time we go!

And Hilda! A fish!! She was jumping from the sides, doing cannonballs, swimming under water, on her back, ever which way and did NOT want to go home.

The girls worked up quite an appetite. Don had told them he would buy them something to eat AFTER they swam. Leydi was starving from the time we arrived and was having a difficult time waiting. Hilda swam so much that she probably burned up a couple thousand calories and was also starving. So, we finally had to pause and order. They all wanted hamburgers and fries! And 'cokes'. Actually, they all wanted more than one hamburger! Rafael discovered that the kitchen only had 3 hamburger buns (the bread man had not shown up). Finally, two of the girls changed their orders to chicken fingers and fries. Then they could hardly wait for the food to come out. I began to think that these girls had not had any lunch before they came. The two who had ordered the burgers ate some and then wrapped the remainder to take home (they were huge burgers). They ate every french fry, though. And some chips and salsa. And two 'cokes' each. A very good day.

More Water Woes

2011-03-14T11:21:00.000-06:00

We've had more fun with water today. After finally flushing out all the pipes and cleaning the bathrooms, we thought we were home free. This morning, while using our bathroom sink, I noticed a leak around the faucet assembly. Then I heard a small drip, drip, drip under the sink. Don was called into action. He soon concluded that that particular leak could not be fixed; the whole assembly would have to be replaced. Fortunately, we are going to French Harbor tomorrow and can stop by the new Ace Hardware store for a replacement.

We live on a steep hillside. That's our house in the photo above. Along side both sides of the road, there are gutters to drain rainwater. We've had a lot of rain over the past four days which washed a lot of leaves into the gutters. The coral trees lining our side of the road are dropping leaves (aided somewhat by the leaf-cutter ants). The heavy rains have pushed all those leaves down the gutter and deposited them beside our top step, plugging up the small culvert under that step. The plug kept growing larger with every rain (we kept forgetting to go unplug it when it wasn't raining). This morning, while Don was working on the faucet, I decided to pick up all those leaves, not realizing that there would be ants under the leaves just waiting for someone to bite. Yikes! One foot covered in ant bites. At least they weren't fire ants.

This is an old photo of Rachel and Don standing on the road beside our house (and Merlin's workers walking up the hill).

Another shot from in front of our house, looking down the road.
Those gutters work much better when not full of leaves.

Dennis stopped by with our electric bill this morning. We were discussing the water situation, how dirty the water was at first, how our reserve tank had collected a lot of that dirt. He said he had switched us over to his other huge tank which is now full of clean well water and safe to drink. He said that he has spent so much money on pump repairs, tank repairs, pipe repairs, that he is going to have to charge us more for water. At least we have clean water again. I'm now catching up on laundry and hoping that our water woes are firmly behind us.

Water Woes

2011-03-12T12:12:00.000-06:00

This has been a week of water challenges. The crack in the large (750 gal.) tank above Dennis' house had to be repaired. To do this, Dennis had to quit pumping water from the well up to the tank and let it dry out for a couple of days. We had our 250 gal. reserve tank full and Dennis had his reserve tanks full also. Don had filled all available pitchers, tea kettles, empty juice and coke bottles with drinking water before the pump was shut down. We were ready. Monday we still had good water as Dennis allowed the leaking tank to empty out. Tuesday we had to switch to our reserve tank. Don monitored our usage and after one day, we had run through 1/3 of the tank. We decreased our water usage and still had some water on Friday when Dennis was ready to begin pumping again. He cautioned us not to drink this water until it had flushed out all the pipes and the tank. Don switched the valves to allow the well water to flow to our house and opened up the faucets and showers to let the dirty water wash out.

Holy cow! We were not prepared for the mess that followed.

This is what our shower looked like after both shower heads blasted away. It might have looked worse if the valves hadn't clogged with sediment thus shutting off the water flow. The toilet clogged and stopped working after two flushes. The sink followed suit.

The inside of the toilet.

We were in a real predicament because our reserve tank was now empty. One bathroom was out of commission and we were a bit afraid to test out the other shower. Thankfully, the other toilet kept working! The water coming out of the kitchen faucet was not as dirty as it had been but was also not clean, with little black specks floating in it.

We also had several downpours yesterday making any investigation difficult. The rain continued through the night and this morning, but Don was able to go down under the house (which is built up on poles), open up the valves in the water lines and drain them. Then he came back up to take apart the faucets, and showerheads. He went back down under the house, closed the valves to allow water to flow and blasted water through the pipes before coming up to clean and replace the parts. While he was putting everything back together he decided to go ahead and replace the cantankerous toilet innards while he was cleaning; the new assembly worked exactly one time before failing. That did not make him happy.
He replaced the little rubber diaphragm; still didn't work. Then he did some other little adjustment, and it began working. One showerhead clogged back up, but the other one is (so far) working ok.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will continue to work while the remainder of the dirt gets washed through the pipes.

And after 2 inches of rain in the last day and a half, we seem to have a lull and even a bit of weak sunlight. Maybe the rain is over.

Don't Try This At Home Either

2011-03-10T06:29:00.000-06:00

We recently had a unique experience involving cats. It seems that a number of neighborhood cats, some possibly wild, have taken a liking to our deck, either on it or under it. They liked to get together and howl, fight, shriek and generally just make a lot of noise. In the middle of the night. Sometimes multiple times during the night. With just enough time in between for you to fall back asleep.

Don had a plan. We have some pepper spray that we keep beside our bed for protection against intruders. Don figured that these intruders might not be human nor dangerous, but they were intruders, annoying as all get-out, and perhaps could be discouraged by a friendly blast of pepper spray. So, anytime he heard the cats on our deck, he would get up and try to sneak out onto the deck; somehow they always heard him and ran off.

One night, he succeeded. He was able to slip out onto the deck and blast the yellow tomcat who was lounging on my lounge chair and making a terrible racket. The cat took off like a rocket, ran right into the gate and then hopped onto the retaining wall. Don gave him another little blast as a parting gift. Problem solved. We went back to bed and back to sleep.

Early the next morning, before it was fully light, Don was on the deck lifting weights and as usual, got onto one of the loungers which doubles as his weight bench. Pretty soon, he became aware that the backs of his legs were burning. A lot. That was the lounger that the cat had been using. Apparently the chair was covered with pepper spray fallout. He warned me not to sit there.

Not long after that, I went in to take a shower, turned on the water, splashed water on my face and instantly my right eye was on fire! What!? There was nothing sprayed in the bathroom. Don had not been in the shower before me. What had I touched that had been pepper sprayed?

That wasn't the end of it either. All throughout the day and into the next day, we would touch something and then rub our faces or touch our lips and have instant heat. Don sat in the other lounge chair with his arms on the arm rests and soon his arms were burning. That pepper spray is powerful stuff. He also sprayed the gate at the entrance to our deck when he gave the cat the last blast, so everytime we grabbed the gate, we got a bit of the spray on us.

Don spent considerable time scrubbing on the deck trying to remove all traces of the spray, but even after that we would feel traces of it on our skin from time to time. He finally conceded that pepper spraying the cat had not worked as planned and should be avoided in the future, except for actual human intruders.

As annoying as the cat had been, I felt really sorry for him. I'm sure he had a miserable day.

The Automotive Experience on Roatan

2011-03-06T09:33:00.000-06:00

The Automotive Experience on Roatan

Guest Commentary

Don Gartner

A while back I wrote about auto repair on Roatan. A couple of recent events prompt this brief update.

After having had bad experiences with two mechanics, Jeanette and I have finally found one who does good work for a decent price. He was trained as a mechanic on the mainland. An added bonus is that he speaks excellent English. He has done three or four repair jobs for us. His name is Fredy. (Yes, a single d.)

One day after Fredy had completed a minor repair, we went to his shop to pay and pick up our car. I climbed into it, turned the key, and nothing happened. Fredy came over and checked the battery. Dead.

I said, “Well, I’m guessing you’ve got some jumper cables.”

Fredy smiled and said no. Then he walked over to the shop and came back carrying another battery. He said, “Don’t try this at home.” One of his workers got into the car, ready to turn the key. Fredy checked the polarities of the car battery and the one he had brought out. Then he simply turned the new battery upside down and set it on our car’s battery, terminals to terminals. His worker turned the key, our car started, and Fredy removed the new battery.

These Hondurans can be pretty clever.

They also know how to take advantage of opportunities.

Recently a new friend was looking for a car or truck. A couple weeks went by, and he said he had finally found one. It turned out we knew this vehicle. Another friend of ours had it last year before he left the island.

Now this is an interesting vehicle. It is an Xterra. Looks okay, but it needs a lot of work and is probably unsafe to drive above about twenty miles an hour. But that is not the interesting part. Like many vehicles on the island, it has no paperwork. That is, no title.

That’s really not much of a problem, usually. Vehicles have to be registered every year. It’s the equivalent of renewing your license in the United States. You take your current registration card to the local office, pay your money, and get a new card, which is supposed to be carried in the car at all times.

The Xterra had last year’s registration card. Normally, no problem. Except that somewhere along the line its license plates had disappeared. No doubt someone needed plates and stole them. (The police generally don’t care if the plates match the number on the registration card, only if you have plates. Any plates.)

Somehow, our new friend found out about an enterprising individual on the mainland who could get him plates. Well, not exactly “get.” He would make the plates. To be clear, he was not connected with the police or government in any way. His business was hand-making license plates.

We first saw the Xterra from a distance of maybe fifty feet and remarked that the plates really did look official. It was a high-quality job. When you get up close – a few feet away – you can see that they’re hand painted. Hey, no one cares. Our friend was all set.

Counterfeit license plates. Who would have thought?

If there’s an opportunity to make a buck, these Hondurans will find it.

A Day of Adventures

2011-03-05T07:20:00.001-06:00

This was certainly a day packed with adventures. And yes, that may be a submarine in the photo above!
We started out the day with a 2 hour power outage. Then Dennis dropped by to tell us that there was a bad leak in the main water tank up the hill (where the well water is pumped into), it would have to be drained, dried and repaired which meant that we would have no water for several days. Fortunately, we have our own reserve tank and can go several days using it for everything except drinking water. Don went right in to the kitchen and began filling pitchers, empty juice and Coke bottles with drinking water. I mentioned that we could buy a jug of drinking water. Later, Dennis called to report that he would not shut off the water until Monday when he got the parts he needed, so catch up on laundry, etc. in the meantime.
Rick and Luz called to tell us about an open house at the girls' school this morning from 8-12, so we got ready to go. As we were walking up to our car, we noticed this strange looking ship out in the sea. If we hadn't already locked the house and gates, we would have pulled out our telescope for a closer look, but it sure does looks like a submarine (click to enlarge). Could not tell whose submarine.

The principal met us at the gate to the school (kept locked) and explained that it wasn't really an open house, per se, but a "welcome back to school" party for the kids, and parents and sponsors were welcome to visit. She said that Susan, Rick and Luz had already been there. It was pretty chaotic and loud. Loud speakers in the courtyard booming out music, kids running around, lots of balloons, people walking around with plates of food, much laughter and talking.

We made our way to Leydi's classroom without getting hit by a soccer ball and only one child ran into me. Whew! Leydi's teacher, who introduced himself as 'Carlos', greeted us. He was happy to meet Leydi's sponsors and gave us a brief report. He said she is a very good student and very serious about her work. I said I was amazed at how quickly she was picking up English; he said, yes, he has been working hard with her and she is just soaking it up. I asked if she was having problems in any areas, and he said no, but he was being attentive to the possibility. He saw my camera and very quietly said "class, photos" and they immediately formed this little group!! Honduran children love to have their photo taken, well, except for Leydi who clearly thinks I take too many photos. That's Leydi on the right in the back row.

She did smile for this shot with Don. She had called 'Mr. Don' over and told him in English that she had white shoes for her P.E. class. She had a plate of food wrapped up to take home, perhaps to share with Concepcion. The kids were all eating or just finishing up when we got there, and what a feast they had! For a child like Leydi, this was a great treat. They even had cake. As we were leaving, we met one of the office women carrying a plate of food and asked what kind of cake she had, and instead of telling me, she handed the plate to us! Not sure what it was, but it was good; heavy and dense, like a pound cake, very moist, very different flavor - yucca, perhaps.

We found Gracie and this classmate alone in their classroom. I asked her if she was having fun and she shrugged and put a hand to her ear. I said "yes, it's very loud, isn't it?" The fifth graders in the next room where incredibly loud. Don't know where the rest of her classmates were.

It was a far cry from anything you'd see in an American school, but the kids were having fun and generally speaking were not out of control. And so eager to have their photos taken! Lots of happy faces and full tummys.

As we made our way back to our car, Leydi came running up to the gate, crying "Mr. Don. Mr. Don. When can we swim at your house?" Yes, all in English. Rick and Luz had taken all the girls swimming Wednesday after school at the resort where they are staying. That was really a treat! Leydi was initially fearful, but pretty soon was splashing and having fun. Apparently she really liked, because she wants to go again. Don said he didn't know for sure, we had to find a place to take them. She was relentless in trying to pin him down!!

We went to the market to get fruit and the pharmacy to get drugs. This time I got generic Protonix, 70 tablets for about $7.00 US. Unbelievable. In the US I pay anywhere from $117. to $135. for 30 tablets!! And we got a 15% discount off the total because we are residents!! Woo hoo!

The adventures were far from over. After lunch, I picked up Debi and we set off for French Harbor to get haircuts. We're both tired of Nadia's cuts and ready to try someone new. Brenda was recommended by a friend, so we went to her shop. Lights off, door locked. Lunch break, maybe? Debi called one of the phone numbers on the window and the person she spoke with didn't know where Brenda was nor had a number for her, but said the shop was closed permanently. I had to stop at Ace Hardware and get a small can of stain for Don, so Debi went over to the saleswomen and asked if they knew Brenda. No, but they recommended Lucy in French Harbor, said she was very good...and cheap, about 100 lempiras ($5.00) for a cut. We were off in a flash! The directions: yellow house in French Harbor, sign says "Lucy". We found it, right on the water. She was busy with other people, but her helpers welcomed us, gave us hair styling books to look at and asked if we also wanted manicures.

When it was my turn, I was shampooed by her assistant, and prepped with clips and cape. Lucy asked in Spanish what I wanted and I said "mismo, pero corte about this much en todo," and prayed that she understood. She did! Fabulous cut, nicely shaped. (I know, a minor miracle!) They did charge me 300 lempiras (still only about $16.) Debi wanted something different and although it was cut a bit shorter than she expected, it was so cute! She was delighted. Lucy was going to charge her 140 lempiras because Debi mentioned that she is a resident, but the assistant whispered in Spanish that she had charged the other woman (me) 300 lempiras, so that's what Debi was charged also. Next time, we'll mentioned the residency first for the discounted price.

More Photos from Tanya's Casa

2011-03-03T14:43:00.000-06:00

Tanya's younger brother, Eguardo, wanted to help. He was given the job of mixing cement to help Guido who was pouring a concrete floor under the house. Guido was doing this job for $160. US! He had some materials left over from finishing Concepcion's job. Don't know how much Eguardo enjoyed this hard work of mixing gravel, cement and water into concrete, but he evidently did a good job. And he's only 11 years old.

Eguardo really got into it, didn't he? His lower body and bare feet are covered with cement dust.

They had just had their water day and every available container had been filled with water to last the family for the next 8 days. Note the large rectangular container on the left near the wall. That's part of an old refrigerator recycled to become a bathtub of sorts. Don watched Edguardo wash off the cement dust. He filled a bucket with water from the refrigerator, poured it over his body, soaped up, and then filled another bucket with water and dumped it over his head to rinse. He just stood next to the fridge, not in it, keeping the water clean for the next person.

Can you imagine how many mosquitoes would be attracted to all these containers of standing water?

The kids don't have electricity yet, so an extension cord was run from the construction site to a neighbor's house down the hill. Don will wire the house for electricity later.

Building Tanya's Casa

2011-03-02T14:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the work on the house for Tanya and her siblings continued. The siding had arrived and was carried up the steep hillside by some of the younger men. The siding was pretty wet, adding to the weight; the guys sure got a workout. In this top photo you can see the house that the kids are currently living in. The lumber laying on the floor is for the roof. The team last week got the floor down and the walls and roof framed with some strapping, but not enough. Work had stopped until the siding came in.

You can see some of the cross pieces being added to the roof. The cross members are not big enough to support the weight of the tin roof across a 20 foot span, though, they all agreed. Something will have to be done about that before putting up the tin.
Chuck was able to drive his truck all the way up the road to the house (quite a feat!) after making some repairs to the washed out road. He was able to bring his air compressor, ladders and other tools up in the truck plus the guys got a ride up. Then they carried everything up the steep path to the house.

Here they are putting up the first panels of siding. That's Larry kneeling on top, Jordan on the ladder, Rick holding the ladder, and Snider powering up the nail gun.

You can see how steep the construction site is in this photo. That's Kevin at the bottom of the ladder, Clifford on the ladder with the nail gun, Chuck at the bottom passing something up to Snider who is leaning through the wall framing. They finished installing the siding. Now they must wait until the roofing materials come in before doing more.

These photos were all taken by Don (good job, honey!). I'll post more later.

Dinner With Friends

2011-03-01T14:55:00.000-06:00

Our friends from San Antonio are here and are anxious to see everyone. Their first night here, we spread the word that we were having dinner at Blue Bahia. You've heard me talk about all of these people, so let me introduce you. In the top photo we have The Campbells from Canada: Colleen, Larry and Susan (our partners in matriculation); The Vicks: Snider and Lynne (who took Spanish lessons with us); and The Moores: Luz Maria and Rick (our San Antonio pals). Colleen is just here for a couple of weeks, visiting her parents, and it has been delightful getting to know her.

As you can see, a beach-side restaurant is a lovely setting for dinner. They actually let me get in this photo!

We got more opportunity to practice our Spanish today. Don and Rick, Larry and Snider and Colleen's boyfriend went up into the colonia with Pastor Chuck to work on the kids' house. I'll post more photos in the next blog. The women all went to Son Rise for the Spanish women's Bible class taught by Tia and translated by Brandi. This was my first time to actually stay for the class and I really enjoyed it! Tia was teaching the women about the Great Commission and how important it is to share their faith with their neighbors. Colleen was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ and presented the 4 spiritual laws. The women repeated the 4 laws in Spanish and then split into pairs to practice on one another. Tia encouraged the women to join her Saturday as she goes up into the colonia to witness. It will be interesting to see who does. The women sang hymns in Spanish and prayer needs were addressed. Afterwards, the women visited over coffee. I was able, in my feeble Spanish, to learn more about some of them and even shared that I'm going to be a grandmother in June. I was surprised at how much I'm able to understand...much more than I'm able to speak!

We've Got Company

2011-02-25T15:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, our friends, Rick and Luz Maria, arrived for a 10 day visit. They'll be staying with us part of this visit. We're delighted to return the hospitality they showed us last September when we visited them in San Antonio. We've been having a great time catching up and practicing our Spanish with Luz, who is a native speaker. They also got to chat with Enrique, who's been here all week, taming our jungle after our 14 inches of rain last week. He attends our church and was pleased to see Rick and Luz again. They usually come and spend about 3 months here on the island, do a lot of work with our church, so they know each other. Rick and Luz are also sponsoring one of the girls from the colonia, just as we are. They were anxious to hear all the details of how the girls are doing with their new school. (Leydi is picking up English quickly and loves to talk to Don after church on Sunday.)

Shortly after they arrived, I had to go to my weekly island ladies' Bible study. Luz was happy to come along, and we left the guys happily sitting on the deck. Luz was glad she came; it was a wonderful Bible study (Beth Moore's Believing God) and she got to meet some new people. I was so encouraged by the participation of the ladies in this study. It's pretty intense, and I wasn't sure how they would receive it, but they're loving it!

Today we all drove up to church to visit our pastor, Chuck and his wife, Tia. Our friend, Larry was there doing some repairs on the building and his wife, Susan soon arrived to teach Chuck and Tia's kids. And then another friend, Lynn, arrived. We had quite the reunion going. We all made plans to meet for dinner tonight at Blue Bahia. While there, Don was able to correctly diagnose a problem another pastor was having with his well pump up in the colonia. Yay, Don! Problem solved, water flowing.

We had a few errands to run in Coxen Hole, including buying some fresh fish from the Flying Fisherman. Rick will make his yummy blackened grouper for us tomorrow night. We bought some fresh fruit in the market, so we have the makings for a fruit salsa to serve with the fish. Rick was getting hungry, so we grabbed some fish tacos at Cannibal's (not Don, he's strictly a beef man), and came home for a little siesta. It's about time for a snorkel, too.

Inside the House

2011-02-23T10:47:00.000-06:00

Let's take a little tour of the home of Tanya and her siblings. It looks larger on the outside than it really is. This kitchen/bedroom combo is really the only room downstairs. That white tank is a water purification tank that was given to them, so at least they can have safe water to drink.

This is another view of the kitchen/bedroom. They do have a stove, but it doesn't work. They have no refrigerator, although they do have electricity to light the one light bulb. The ladder on the left goes up to the loft. Note the dirt floor.

The loft, used for sleeping and storage. There are a couple more mattresses up here. Three small mattresses, nine people. Don't know how they handle that. Did not see evidence of hammocks. Notice all the "windows" letting in light... and anything else that decides to come in. Part of that wall on the right appears to be plastic...tarps, maybe?

This is their outdoor kitchen, laundry, dishwashing station. They get water pumped into that barrel and any other containers they have available every 8 days. The water must last 8 days for 9 people. Susan told me that she had bought 3 additional jugs of drinking water for the kids because the workers are drinking it up rather quickly.

I just learned from Susan that the kids' mother IS on the island. Whether she left the island and came back, we do not know. Susan was up in the colonia taking some photos recently when she encountered the little guy, Roberto, on the path with a woman whom he introduced as his mother. Susan was stunned. She took the photo of them together and then showed it to the kids' neighbor who attends our church. She said, in Spanish, that the woman didn't live with the kids. Susan later showed the photo to the older girls. They identified her as their mother but said that she does not live with them.

This new development bestows added wisdom on the decision made by Pastor Chuck and Larry to not try to repair the current house, but to build a new house on the land. The new house will be in the kids' names ONLY, so if the parents return and try to take the house, they cannot. There is enough available land right there to do this. They had also thought that perhaps the kids could rent out the old house for some additional income.

Susan also told me that Tanya and the younger boys are going to the school on the beach, how regularly she doesn't know. Someone provided them with uniforms and backpacks. It's not a good school, but it is better than nothing.

Construction on the new house has begun.

More to come on this topic....

Tanya and Sibs

2011-02-22T13:37:00.000-06:00

I mentioned Tanya a few weeks ago and promised that I would tell her story. It is the story of 6 children who were abandoned by their parents.

Let me introduce you to an amazing family. On the left, Tanya, 13; Sandra, 18, and her little boy, Steven; Flor, 21, and her son, Anthony.

About 3 years ago, both the father and the mother ran off, not together, but with different partners, and moved to the mainland of Honduras. They left behind 6 children and a ratty, falling-down house. You'll meet the three boys in the following photos. The youngest boy was only 3 years old when the parents left them. How on earth have they survived? Mostly through the kindness of the community and the grace of God. Their only income comes through the oldest boy, Enrique, and Sandra's husband. When they are able to find work, menial labor, they make about $10/day. Work has been more scarce in the last couple of years, due to the down turn in the economy which affects tourism and building here, so they don't have regular paychecks by any means.

The house they live in is in sad shape. Part of the roof is missing, covered only by a tarp. The large gaps in the walls let in light and breezes, but also rain and unwelcomed pests. In my next blog, I'll post more photos of the house and tell about the efforts to build them a decent home.

This is Roberto who is now 6 years old.

Meet Enrique, 15 years old. No chance for him to go to school; he has to help support this family.

And last, but not least, this is Eguardo, age 11.
The younger children deserve a chance to go to school, but it won't be easy. They would need their birth certificates and records of any previous schooling, something the parents may have had. They also need money to buy the uniforms, shoes and school supplies, even to attend public school, and unless they attend the beach school, transportation fees. The school in the colonia was apparently condemned and closed. They have so many strikes against them that it is just heartbreaking.
Remember them in your prayers.

Coral Trees in Bloom

2011-02-21T13:59:00.000-06:00

We have these magnificent trees growing on our property here on Roatan. Until recently, I never knew their name: Coral Tree. When we bought this land several years ago, we had very small trees growing along the road beside our house - they were more like shrubs, and that's what I thought they were. They continued to grow, quickly, and are now 20+ feet tall. Kinda tall for a shrub and yet they don't grow up from just one trunk, which sounds more like a shrub. We now have these trees surrounding our half-acre, just like the banana trees do.

I love these gorgeous flowers. The Coral Trees start blooming in late January or early February and continue until sometime in March. I like that they don't all bloom at once, nor does one tree show all its blooms at once. They drag it out, so we get to enjoy the blooms much longer. I love the leaves, too.

The blooms last quite awhile, except when discovered by the leaf-cutter ants. They have really eaten their way through the trees along the road and most of the flowers fell off before they were completely opened. Thankfully, we have more than they can eat!

Up In The Colonia

2011-02-14T09:01:00.000-06:00

We're having quite the rain storm here on the island. This is day two of some torrential rainfall. I've been concerned about our friends who live up in the colonia on very steep hillsides (yes, even steeper than ours) ever since hearing about some homes that were washed down the hill during heavy rains. Don tells me that in most places there is bedrock 12-18 inches down, so California style mud-slides are unlikely. But, plenty of things can be washed down the hill and many of these houses are not well constructed.

To give you an idea of how steep, click on each of these photos to enlarge them and take a good look. In the first photo, our pastor's wife, Tia, and son, Carlton, are following two children up the hill to their home. This section of road doesn't look too bad, but it gets worse.

Click to enlarge.

Now it's just a dirt path going higher. Tia is that tiny red speck way up the path. The house on the left is wrapped in blue tarps.

The house on the right is Tanya's. You'll hear much more about her family.

This is Carlton, sitting on the very steep path up to Tanya's house. Imagine a heavy rain washing down that path, turning it into a waterfall.

This is the front of Tanya's house. Notice the left side of the roof...that's a tarp. Not much protection in heavy wind and rain. The walls are a hodge-podge construction of boards, plastic, and tin, with plenty of gaps to allow air, light and, oh yeah, rain to enter. From this angle, the house may look large, but it is not. I'll post pictures of the interior tomorrow and tell you the story of Tanya.

Test Drive and Repairs

2011-02-14T05:53:00.000-06:00

Saturday we dropped our car off at Fredi's shop to have the new front tire put on and get an oil change. Bob, Debi and their son, David, followed us there and then gave us a ride over to the Kia dealer. The saleswoman, Annabelle, wasn't there yet and wasn't expected for about an hour, so we left a phone number for her to call when she arrived and we took off for the market.
I needed to pick up Leydi's skirt from the tailor shop, Debi needed to buy school supplies for a few more kids, Bob and Don needed to go to the bank, so we went our separate ways. I bought a very small gift for Leydi - an eraser/brush/pencil sharpener for about 30 cents and tucked it into my purse. That's when I noticed that I still had the Reco bill that Don had gone to the bank to pay. Seconds later, I saw Don walking toward me, coming to get the bill.
As Debi, David and I made our way down Market Street, we saw some lovely plants at one vendor's stall and stopped to buy some. I also picked up a large canteloupe. We love the market! Leydi's skirt was ready and the guys were waiting for us at the bank.
Still no phone call and we were hot and thirsty, so we stopped for some cold drinks. David was hungry and was working his way through a big plate of food when Annabelle called to say that she was now ready.

We were hoping to all be able to go for the test drive, but Annabelle went with us, leaving room only for Bob, Don and I. We were favorably impressed with how the car drives. I like that it makes tight turns, making U-turns easier. Our Rav4 has a large turn radius. The inside is comfortable and roomy. There were a few things that seemed a bit on the cheap side in this model, and we learned that there is only the one model available here on the island. So we'll look around a bit more.

Back to pick up our car. Fredi is showing Don some things under the Rav4 that need attention soon. Don had asked him to try to find the source of a noise he keeps hearing. Nothing serious, thankfully.

Debi called an island friend who is bilingual and who has bought cars on the mainland. She told us that Kia's don't resell well on the island. Most people just don't like them. She is willing to take us over to the mainland to car shop, so we may take her up on the offer. Definitely need to think this over. It's good that we started looking now. We don't want to buy the car until October, so we have time.

The School Report

2011-02-13T17:34:00.000-06:00

We talked to Leydi today before church. Don had practiced his Spanish so he could ask her how school was going, did she like it, was it hard, etc. She replied, with a big smile, "good, yes, yes!" It has been a bit rough for the girls because they are pretty well immersed in English all morning and had their first English spelling test on Friday. She told Don that she needed an English dictionary and he told her he would get her one. Don't know how well (or poorly) they did on their first test, but our friend Susan gave the girls a little pep talk about not getting discouraged if they don't do well at first. She's also going to tutor them on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Susan has been concerned about areas where they are lacking, like math. The beach school did not do a good job with math; they know very little.

We were encouraged that all four of the girls seem very happy with this school. Some of the girls were "ecstatic" according to Susan, but Leydi is always more reserved. She did have a very large smile though. Susan was able to get the little first grade boy switched from the first school to this one, so now all five kids can go together. The father of some of the girls was able to recruit a taxi driver to pick the girls and one boy up at their homes high up in the colonia each morning and drive them home for the same price that we would have paid a bus, 50 lempiras/day (about $2.50 US). Susan and Larry have been trying to negotiate with the taxi driver to become their permanent driver. His wife was interested because they would love to send their son to that school and this would provide the money plus extra.

I learned (with the help of a translator, our friend Brandi) a bit more about why Leydi is living with her grandmother. She has had Leydi since she was 1 day old. She was born to Concepcion's daughter who apparently did not want her. So Concepcion took her home and has raised her. She said Leydi calls her "mamma" and that she is mamma, grandma and grandpa all rolled into one. She is doing a fine job. Leydi's birth mom lives nearby and has another child who is 2 years younger than Leydi. I have such admiration for Concepcion. She has a very hard life but has done a fine job with Leydi and is a dear Christian sister.

An encouraging week. Hoping and praying that more follow.

After The Rain

2011-02-09T16:26:00.000-06:00

There's nothing like a nice rain to freshen everything up and provide some welcomed coolness. The sea is always so beautiful the next day. I had mixed feelings about the rain yesterday though. I was doing laundry and hanging clothes to dry under the covered deck when a worker lit a fire up the hill to burn trash (mostly leaves and cuttings), and of course, the smoke blew right down the hill and into our windows. I was sure I would have smoky smelling laundry, but before it got too bad, a nice little rain blew in, putting an end to the fire. And then it rained all afternoon. I was glad the deck was covered, but I did have to throw some things into the clothes dryer to speed the drying time. Don had just finished varnishing the window frames in the master quarters and couldn't close the windows all the way, but I don't think it damaged the varnish.

Today was errand day. We're in the market for a new car, so first we visited the Kia dealer (the only new car dealership on the island) and talked with the saleswoman about getting a Kia Soul. They only had 3 cars on the showroom floor (a tiny showroom) and only one car was new. Our car will have to be ordered from the mainland of Honduras and will take 2-3 days to arrive. They will take care of all the paperwork, getting license plates, registering, right there! Very convenient. We'll go back for a test drive Saturday morning.

Next stop, the tailor shop to pick up Leydi's skirt. Promised for today but not ready yet. We'll try again Saturday.

While in the market, we picked up a yummy pineapple and fresh veggies: 6 tomatoes, 2 avocados, a small red onion, a cucumber and the pineapple cost less than $5.00 US.

On to see our favorite mechanic, Freddie, about replacing the front tires (they won't make it until October when we get the new car). Those will run about $300. for the pair.

A stop at the international pharmacy to see if they had any generic Protonix. They did. $75. for 4 week supply (that's cheaper than in the US when you don't have prescription drug coverage but not as cheap as I got it on the mainland - $35. in La Ceiba).

Last stop of the day, the electrical supply shop where Don priced wiring for a house up in the colonia.

Home to rest a bit, have an earlier dinner and then off to Bob and Debi's for home group. And it looks like rain again.

Matriculation - Part II

2011-02-07T16:03:00.001-06:00

We were up and at 'em early today in our second attempt to get the four girls registered for school. You may remember that the principal told us to arrive early, by at least 6:30 a.m. when people start lining up. The doors would open at 7 a.m. We left home around 5:30 and drove up into the colonia to wait for Leydi and Concepcion. By 5:50 they still had not shown, so we drove down to the church in case they had somehow caught a ride. Nope, not there. Larry and Susan were also up in the colonia waiting for their crew and finally called to report sighting of Leydi and Concepcion. We loaded up and were on our way.

We were the first and second vehicles to arrive, but not the first people. I got in one line, the one for people who have already paid the registration fee, and Don and Susan got in the still-need-to-pay line. And we waited. The teachers arrived around 6:45 and milled around talking to people. The principal didn't arrive until after 7 a.m. and then milled around talking for awhile. When they finally opened the doors and began setting up, we were the second person in line. We quickly found out that grades 3, 4 and 6 were full! No more students being accepted. I found the principal (who was still milling around) and asked for a refund. She directed me to her office where other were also waiting. And waiting. And waiting. It is sometimes very hard for this city girl to adjust to the Honduran ways. Waiting is par for the course here. Finally, I could take it no longer and told Don that I was ready to mark off that fee (only $10.) as a donation and get going.

It was now 8 a.m. and none of us had had breakfast. The school has a small store attached to it where the children can buy food and water. We ordered baleadas (thick tortillas spread with refried beans and a sprinkle of shredded cheese) and water. The water came in those little plastic bags that you rip one corner open and suck out the water.

Larry and Susan had already left and called to say that they were at another school and already in the process of filling out the paperwork to register the girls! We quickly drove over there and joined them. This school is a private school, so we'll have to pay tuition. And they have different uniforms than the ones we bought last week and require another uniform for PE class. And we have to buy the textbooks.
And the registration fee was over $100! While waiting on Larry to return from dropping off 3 of the girls, we walked around, looked in the classrooms and talked to one of the teachers. It is a bilingual school with heavy emphasis on English. Only two classes are taught in Spanish. The classes are small, the classrooms large and light filled and the teachers seem in very good control. Leydi's 4th grade teacher will be a man. There appeared to be only 12-15 students in his class. The registration was taking place in the large main office and seemed more orderly and efficient. We were pleased so far and Leydi seemed delighted.

The school requires two small photographs for a student I.D. card, so while we were waiting on the guys to return from the bank (also never a quick trip), we girls drove into the market of Coxen Hole, parking on Back Street in front of the photography "studio". We got Leydi's photo taken in a flash, printed out and paid for ($5.). We walked down on Market Street to the shop the school recommended for uniforms. We soon learned that they MAKE uniforms; they do not have any ready-made ones. Hmm. Guess we misunderstood (not everyone in the office spoke good English). As we were stuck in a long line of taxis on Back Street, Larry called to see if we could meet. We suggested that we just meet back at the school. Turns out that Larry was on his way to drop Don at our bank and had spent all that time just getting his money.

Back at school, waiting on the guys and money, Susan noticed the credit card logos on the office door. What!? They accept credit cards?? Susan grabbed her card and ran right in there. Meanwhile, Larry returned without Don, so I had to go pick him up (Larry was getting anxious about returning to the colonia to oversee preparations for a house build). When we returned, Susan was still in there, still waiting to see if her credit card purchase would go through. It did, but only after Larry gave them a different card and only after a looooong wait for approval. By this time, I have filled out my payment book, writing Leydi's full name on every page, even though we are paying the full year's tuition up front. Writer's cramp. Then Don handed over a big wad of lempiras to pay for everything.

Now we learned that actually, we can buy all of the uniform right there at the school, except they don't have Leydi's size and will have to order it but it will be there by Friday. And they don't sell the skirts. That's why we were directed to the fabric shop! The skirts are made to order! We gathered up her new stack of books (felt like about 10 pounds), the receipts and headed back to the fabric shop.
In the top photo, Leydi is standing in front of the fabric shop.
.

This man is a tailor.
He works in the back of the fabric shop. We simply told the girl at the counter what school Leydi was attending and she ushered us to the back where this man quickly took measurements and told us he would have it ready by Wednesday. There are men in rooms just across the hall who are sewing furiously. Lots of private school uniforms being made this week.

Don is being silly, teasing Leydi about how short he is.
We were finally finished around 11 a.m. and absolutely famished! Don suggested that we go grab some lunch before dropping them off. Leydi ate every bit of her BIG plate of food - fried chicken, rice & beans, potato salad and fried plantains!! I don't know where she put it.

We dropped them off in the colonia around 12:30 and gave Leydi money for cab fare in the morning. She was dismayed to learn that she is in the morning session, 7 a.m. - noon. Larry and Susan are still working on transportation for all the girls and hopefully will have something arranged in a day or two.

Don just added up today's receipts, about $828. We'll still need to provide about $60/month for transportation, but otherwise, Leydi is all set (we hope!).

Now we need to find another small girl in need of a uniform so we can unload the one we bought last week. The need here is huge, so I'm sure that won't take long.

Susan and I felt like God was really directing us today when the first school was ruled out. Even with all the running around and waiting, we got everything done at the second school in about 2 1/2 hours. Pretty impressive for Roatan. Susan will have to bring the other girls back to get photographs and skirts, but they can wear regular clothes all this week.

Below is a view of the center courtyard of her school. Her classroom is just to the left of the large palm.

Matriculation

2011-02-02T13:32:00.000-06:00

Whew! What a morning. We met at church at 9 this morning and once again loaded Concepcion, Leidy (Lady), Gracie, and her little brother into our car. The rest of the crew climbed into Larry's truck. The top middle photo in the collage shows Susan, Enriquito and Hilda sitting in the back of the truck waving. The top left photo show everyone crowded into the office to register. I showed them Leidy's papers and the principal wrote out a receipt for L200 ($10. US) and took my money. She then pointed me out the door and to the right. I really had no idea where to go, but Concepcion figured out which room and which person to see to register for the 4th grade. We waited in line awhile only to learn that today was registration for returning students. New students and transfer students had to come back and register next Monday. We went back to the office where we found Susan already in line. She had a bilingual woman in line ahead of her and had explained our situation. That woman interceded for us with the principal, but to no avail. We'll have to come back. "Come early," she said. Registration begins at 7 a.m. and they'll be lined up at 6:30! It's is first-come, first-served until they are full. Just because I've already paid for Leidy is no guarantee that she'll get in, and just because Susan was unable to pay for the others is no guarantee that they won't get in. Yikes! Don wants to be there at 6 or shortly after to ensure that the kids do get in to this school. Susan was worried about that because we will have missed registration for other schools by then. We'll be praying hard that they all get in. Please pray for us.

The middle photo is Don talking to our cab driver friend, George, who was registering his children. It was good to see George again and to learn that he only has one more year of his own schooling.

I did learn something else interesting while looking at Leidy's birth certificate. First, that her name is spelled Leidy and pronounced Lady (Leidy Leony Hernandez). Second that she has the same birthday as our daughter, February 28th. Third, that she will be 11 in a few weeks. I just can't believe that she's that old because she is so tiny.

To be continued....

Outfitting Lady

2011-02-01T16:08:00.001-06:00

This is Lady. She's 10 years old and lives up in one of the colonias near our church. You may remember a previous blog where I wrote about Don helping build a house up in the colonia for Concepcion, Lady's grandmother. They are among the poorest of the poor. Concepcion's only income is from collecting and recycling aluminum cans. She also participates in the Spanish ladies' Bible class at church and does some work there in exchange for bags of rice and beans.

You may also recall that Don is just crazy about this little girl. I think she reminds him of our daughter in some ways. Don decided last year that he wanted to sponsor Lady's education. She's been attending the beach school which is among the worst schools on the island. Don thinks she's smart enough to be challenged at a better school, so we are sending her to a public bilingual school between Coxen Hole and Flowers Bay, near the cruise ship dock.

Even though the school is public, it is not free to attend. All students are required to wear uniforms and black shoes. They must pay a registration fee and buy all their own supplies except textbooks. In addition to this, there will be the cost of transportation. The poor have a difficult time coming up with the money, especially if they have several children, so often they just don't go to school or don't go many years. It is typical of many to have only completed 3rd grade. If their parents have steady work, they might finish 6th grade.

We have two other gringo couples at our church who are also sponsoring children so there will be four little girls going to the same school. We still have to arrange their transportation before next week. This may seem like an odd time to be starting school, but the new school year on the island starts in February. They get some time off during the summer, not sure how much, and all of December and January off.

Today starts matriculation (registration) but every school has different dates. We weren't sure which days her new school would accept registration, and we were unable to find out so we decided to chance that it was today. It wasn't. But I think Lady and Concepcion very much enjoyed their ride in our air-conditioned car and getting to see more of the island. They were pretty impressed with the Norwegian cruise ship in port. We had a little caravan with Larry and Susan taking the other students and their father. There was someone at the school and we were able to learn that registration is all day tomorrow, so we'll be coming back.

Lady and Concepcion outside the clothes shop.

We decided to take Lady shopping for her uniform, shoes and supplies. Susan suggested that we buy everything from one of the little shops up in the colonia and wrote a list of what she would need. So, armed with the list, we drove as far up into the colonia as we dared (the roads are unbelievably steep and deeply rutted and our tires are not great). Fortunately, there were several shops at that point and they had what we needed. In the top photo, Lady is trying on the navy pleated skirt. They also wear a white blouse with little tucks over an undershirt, white knee socks and black shoes. She is very small for her age and tried everything on to ensure a good fit. She's was thrilled to be able to pick out any black shoe that she wanted. She also choose the Hannah Montana book bag (can't escape her even on Roatan!). Then we went to another store to buy her notebooks and other supplies. She wanted a few little things that weren't on the list, like glue and red glitter! We said ok. Not much to ask and it certainly made her happy. She said "thank you, Mr. Don" in good English!

After all that shopping, Don treated them to a refresca, a cold drink. We agreed to meet at church tomorrow morning to try the registration again. Stay tuned!

The New Normal

2011-01-29T14:55:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about how life here on Roatan has become so normal for us, and perhaps that's why I haven't been blogging as much as in the past. So, this morning as I was cleaning, I took note of some of our new normals. Mold or mildew. Living in the tropics, no surprise. The dark boards in the above photo are from mildew. That's because the plastic gutters above drip at every junction when it rains or after a heavy dew. We hate the plastic gutters, but that's all that is available here. You cannot get them to not drip. Believe me, Don has tried. We get mildew on the west side of the house, which seems odd, given that that side also gets full afternoon sun. We are very thankful that we have not had mold growing in our closets or on our clothing like many of our friends here.

I really like these white concrete steps, but they are a dickens to keep clean. Enrique had done a wonderful job of scrubbing all the mildew off them the day before we returned, but you can see that it is returning. We've still been getting a fair amount of rain which exacerbates the growth. Our green and yellow trees are beginning to form a canopy over the stairs so we're getting more leaves and leaf particles (thank you, leaf cutter ants!) dropping on the stairs everyday. They must be swept daily or the wet leaves leave dark stains on the concrete.

Gecko poop. A constant battle. Not only on the floors but occasionally dripping down the walls. Yeah, I know. Pretty gross. We have vaulted ceilings with exposed beams and the little geckos consider that their personal playground. Eliminate them, you say? Not sure that would be possible. They are everywhere on the island, as common as dust. They do a good job of eating insects, too. So, we have a love/hate relationship. The daily floor sweeping often includes a little wipe down of the walls.

I must admit, I was a bit surprised to see how quickly clean windows become dirty up here on our hill. The salt from the ocean apparently travels with the breeze and deposits itself on my clean windows. And we have a lot of large windows. The screens are also a challenge to keep clean but do a good job of stopping dust, pollen, etc. I no sooner get them blasted off with the hose, than someone lights a fire to burn their trash and the wind carries little bits to the screens. Sigh.

And I haven't even mentioned our outdoor living area, the covered deck. We get a lot of traffic through here and some travelers leave their calling card. Geckos, small lizards, hummingbirds, bats (at night), the occasional cat, leaves and flower petals and general all-purpose dirt.

So what do we do all day? Clean. Oh, not all day. We are retired, after all.

I know, I know. It's a rough life here. But this sure beats shoveling snow!!

The Visit With The Walkers, photos included!

2011-01-27T17:17:00.001-06:00

We were so thrilled to have our dear friends, Scott and Glenna Walker, visit us today. They came in on the Carnival Dream, spent the morning on the beach in Mahogany Bay and then devoted the rest of the day to us. We picked them up at the lovely Carnival Cruise Center. Very pretty, but as Scott said, "it's like Disney World. Not real." They wanted to see how we lived and what our life was like here.

We drove them up to our house to see where we live and check out our fabulous view. It was going to be a pretty warm day, and our deck gets afternoon sun and consequently gets pretty warm late in the day, so we visited our house first thing. They really liked our view and sitting out on our deck. Then we drove in to West End for a late lunch. Don wanted to take them to one of our favorite places, Half Moon Bay Cafe. After Scott asked the blessing over our meal, our waiter, Alex, commented that in the two years that he has worked there, that he has only seen people pray before their meal a handful of times. Those other times were probably us!

There's always a very nice breeze off the ocean and a pretty view. Here we all are, waiting on our lunch. We had such a great time catching up, telling them about our life here, hearing about their recent move to Ft. Lauderdale, trading news of other church friends and sharing the news that we are finally going to be grandparents. They, in turn, said that they are expecting their sixth grandchild!

After lunch, we drove them down the West End beach road. It's one of those places that you either love or hate. They loved it! Much more character than at the cruise ship dock. They have been to West Bay on previous cruises, so we didn't go there. We took them into Coxen Hole via the Flowers Bay road which is a pretty drive and talked non-stop the whole time.

had told them about the Made in Roatan shop that our friends, Bob and Debi, built to allow local artists have a place to sell their work. It is a non-profit shop, so you know where the money goes. Glenna bought a pretty necklace made by young Pedro who always loves to pose for a photo with the customers. Debi told me that Koki, the artist who sells some of his paintings in the shop, had a couple of larger paintings for sale next door. I went to see them and wound up buying a large painting of Cayos Cachinos for $30!

We popped into the pharmacy where they were amazed at how much cheaper drugs are here, and then we drove them through the market to see where the locals shop. They were very interested in where we shop, what we eat here, how it differs from the U.S.

And all too soon our time together was over. We delivered them back to the cruise ship and made them promise to come back. Such a blessing to spend the day with them.

The Swearingen's Visit

2011-01-27T16:41:00.000-06:00

For the second day in a row, we've been blessed with visitors from our church back home coming in on cruise ships. Today we met our friends, Ron and Judy Swearingen, who are in our Life group back in St. Louis. We saw their ship go past our house this morning on its way in to Coxen Hole. We gave them directions to the Made in Roatan shop and met them there. We introduced them to our island friends, Bob and Debi, who built and run the shop. Such fun to have new friends meet old friends!

We drove up to the market, parked and walked around, showing them where the locals shop. Along the way I managed to buy some Honduran red beans, a nice pineapple and a red onion. We also took them into Warren's, an older grocery store on the main street, just to have a look around.

Next stop, our house, after showing them the sites along the way. They loved our view and all our beautiful flowers. We sat and visited awhile and let them use our phone to call their daughter in New York who has been ill. They've been very concerned about her and it's so hard to not be able to call from the ship.

We took them to lunch at Cannibal's, a great little Mexican place in West End. They also loved the atmosphere of West End. Then we drove to West Bay, walked on the beach, looked at some of the fancier resorts and then drove up through Lighthouse Estates. Judy is a realtor so she enjoyed looking at the variety of properties and houses. It was a beautiful day, not as hot as our day with the Walkers yesterday, so it was nice to be out doing some walking. We also had more time with Ron and Judy. Finally, we wore them out and they were ready to go back to the ship for a little snooze before dinner. We drove them back through Flowers Bay and dropped them off at their ship. They'll have to come back so they can see more of the island. Thanks for coming to visit, Ron and Judy!!

Getting Residency

2011-01-18T16:31:00.000-06:00

The big day finally arrived yesterday. We now have residency in Honduras! A little less than 2 years has passed since we first met with our attorney, Cristiana Carbajol, to begin the process. She gave us a list of documents that we needed to get which would be attached to the application. We went back to the States to begin gathering these items. We needed 1. a copy of our birth certificates, 2. a copy of our marriage certificate, 3. a police report showing a clean record, 4. a letter from our bank, and 5. proof that Don's pension was adequate. This quickly got a bit interesting. First, we couldn't find my birth certificate and concluded that the passport office must have kept it, so I had to apply for another. Second, we couldn't find our marriage certificate. Then we wondered if we had ever received a copy after it was recorded. No matter, we had to apply for a certified copy, once we remembered in which county we had originally applied for the license. Then Don had to take all the notarized documents in to the Secretary of State's office to get the apostile (official certification). We eventually got all the documents together and mailed them to Cristiana in Roatan in late fall 2009, and she quickly filed them. Of course, there was a hitch. The proof of pension wasn't satisfactory. The government wanted an official letter, etc. etc. Don finally produced something acceptable and then we settled down to wait. Cristiana thought it would come through before we left the island last year, but it didn't, not until the fall. Did we need to make a special trip down to finish up? No, we could wait until January and just pay a fine (they love fines here), so that's what we did.
We were planning to go last week, but the official we needed to see was out of the office. Just as well. A 3 day north'er blew in late last week with high winds and lots of rain. The ferry often doesn't run in that type of weather.
So, yesterday was the day. We had to be at the ferry by 6:30 a.m. We met up with Cristiana, her husband and baby, and another couple getting their residency. The ferry ride to La Ceiba takes about 1-1/2 hours. We were at the immigration office before 9 a.m. and were surprised to find about 10 people ahead of us. Processing each person took about 15 minutes, so we waited a long time for our turn.
Unfortunately, Don and I had not eaten breakfast and neither had Cristiana. She called our van driver (whom she had hired for the day and who was driving Cristiana's hubby and baby around to do errands) and asked him to pick up some baleadas and water and he did!

This is Bill and Susie at the counter with Cristiana on the right.
We soon found out why it took so long.
Cristiana passed our documents, approval, passports and photos to the agent who began filling out more papers by hand, filling out other forms on the computer, gluing our little photos to other papers. He took another photo of us with a webcam, then we all had to be fingerprinted. He sprinkled Ajax cleanser in our palm and sent us to the bathroom to wash up.
It was now noon, but we weren't finished yet.
Next, we had to taken one of the new forms, go to the bank and pay the fee and fine, about $360. US for both of us and get a receipt. We also had to stop at a copy center and make copies of our passport pages. These all had to be returned to the agent, but Cristiana gave them to our (trusted) driver to take to the agent after he first dropped us off at the mall to have lunch and shop. She sent the driver through the Wendy's drive-thru with instructions to get lunch for himself and take some to the agent.

Hondurans are pretty thrilled with their nice malls and food courts, more than we were. There were lots of food choices in the food court from traditional Honduran food to Burger King, Popeye's, and Wendy's. My meal was cooked to order Honduran. Don had Wendy's. After lunch, we had a couple of hours to shop before heading back to catch the last ferry.

Here's our group, waiting outside the mall for our driver. Our driver got about $40. US for his day's work (very good wages here), plus tips.
We were back home about 12 hours after leaving. A long, but productive day.

More on 3 Baptisms

2011-01-09T18:20:00.000-06:00

The newly baptized Ken gives shy Lady a hug. Ken is apparently also quite fond of Lady, as is Don.

This lovely young lady is Tonya. We learned today that her parents had moved back to the mainland, leaving her and her siblings all alone. We are pow-wowing on how we can help these kids.

Concepcion, Lady's grandmother (she's only 39 years old!).

Tia and Chuck. Tia joined Cindy is singing a hymn of praise following the last baptism. Beautiful voices. Beautiful day.

Three Baptisms

2011-01-09T18:09:00.000-06:00

We had three baptisms today after church. Everyone walked down to the beach and filed out onto the dock.

Ken (on the left) was the first to be baptized. His girlfriend, Cindy, sang for him (and us!). Ken is from Ottawa and was one of the team leaders last year when Concepcion's house was built up in the colonia. He's here to prepare for another team coming in.

Pastor Chuck, Ken, and Larry as Ken makes his confession.

Lined and waiting for the next dunkee.

Our Jungle

2011-01-09T17:53:00.000-06:00

A collage of our jungle paradise. Can't believe how much everything has grown during rainy season! The gardener is coming tomorrow!

The Return

2011-01-08T06:56:00.000-06:00

We're back! After a six month absence, we are back on the island, enjoying the warmth of the sun, the sound of the surf on the beach and relaxing outside on our deck, in January, in the midst of a tropical garden. Ahhhh!

It is always hectic preparing to leave right on the heels of the holidays and having had a houseful of family for the previous week. We decided to delay our departure for a few days to allow more time to put away Christmas, cleanup, pack and take care of all those last minute chores. We even spent the night near the airport which was lovely and allowed us to relax a bit and get a little longer to sleep in the morning. We simply got up, got dressed, grabbed a cup of coffee and the 4 a.m. shuttle and were whisked to the airport. Flying out on a Thursday morning was a huge improvement over last year's Saturday, January 2nd departure where the chaos nearly caused us to miss our flight. This year, the airport was pretty quiet. We checked our bags and sailed through security (only Don got scanned), arriving at our gate with plenty of time for Don to enjoy some Dunkin Donuts and catch up on CNN.

Uneventful flight to Houston. Great breakfast at Ruby's Diner outside the international terminal (the BEST breakfast burrito!). Delightful seatmate on the flight to Roatan who was returning to Honduras for a high school reunion. I was still incredibly tired from the hustle and bustle (and lack of sleep) of the previous couple of weeks and had hoped to nap on the plane, but that just didn't happen.

Our return was fraught with the usual host of glitches that we have come to expect. Despite recharging our Honduran cell phone before leaving the States and adding a new phone card, we could not complete a call. I tried to call our friends, Bob and Debi, to say we landed early. Fortunately, Bob was waiting for us with our car. We dropped him off at his shop, gave Debi a big hug and took off. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we realized that we still had Bob's keys so we ran back by his shop and dropped those off (since we couldn't CALL him).

Our house looked absolutely terrific. Debi had hired Stephanie and Kendy to clean the house and, boy!, did they ever!! And Enrique scrubbed the mold off our white concrete stairs and scrubbed the heck out of our deck. It was spotless, inside and out!! Love those people! And Debi for arranging it all. Such a blessing.

We soon realized that our internet service had NOT been restored and we could not call HughesNet since our phone wasn't working! We couldn't call family to let them know that we had arrived safely, and we couldn't call Bob and Debi to say we were just too tired to come over and celebrate Epiphany with them and were instead going to bed.

Our U.S. cell phone can only be used on the wi-fi setting in Honduras since we are not willing to pay $5.00/per minute to use the cell tower transmission mode. Without internet, we didn't have wi-fi service either. Our only recourse was to drive up to French Harbor, get the cell phone re-activated, get the internet re-instated, do some serious grocery shopping at Eldon's and refill our propane tank. That didn't start out too well. The Claro store wasn't open yet, the HughesNet office wasn't open yet, and when we came out of the grocery store ladened with cold and frozen foods, our car wouldn't start! Thankfully, that moment of panic was short lived. Don has able to wiggle the battery cables and eventually it started. we decided we'd better keep the car running during our remaining stops and then hurry home in case this car was set to be squirrely all day.

The internet office was open and Carolina determined that there was a problem with our credit card. Yes, because the office in Tegucigulpa was trying to use the wrong card. I gave her the correct information and she said service would be restored right away. Off to the Claro store. After a long absence, the sim card must be replaced or minutes added to reactivate the phone. I had added minutes but it still wasn't working. The girl checked something on her computer, tried the phone, and Viola! It worked. I bought an additional phone card while there. Don took the gas tank next door to have it refilled and we went home.

Still no internet. Don thought maybe the signal was being blocked by our fish tail palm that is now taller than the roof, so he began trimming. This was no easy feat and I wish I had grabbed my camera. He leaned the ladder up over the deck railing, braced against the wall of the house and was leaning way out, armed with a machete, whacking at branches. That wasn't good enough, so he screwed the machete handle to a four foot board and leaned out farther, trying to reach the tallest branches. Good Night!! I ran over and stood on the last rung of the ladder as he leaned out farther and farther, praying the whole time that my weight would keep the ladder from tipping over the railing. (see, those cookies paid off!!) The board soon broke, leaving the machete embedded in a branch way out there. I grabbed our heavy rake and he used that to retrieve the machete and hold the branches closer so he could finish trimming. Whew! We both survived that adventure!

Called Rachel to check-in and learned that my mother was quite upset that she had not heard from us. Called my parents. My mother was out; talked to my dad and reassured them that we were fine. Made a couple of other local calls and then, ran out of minutes!! What!? Good grief. Thankful that I had bought the additional phone card.

No signal, so he scrubbed the dish. Nope. Nothing. Called Carolina. She said it would be restored soon and would call me. The system came back on just as we were preparing to go meet Bob and Debi for dinner. Don quickly tested it. Yes, it was working! Yippee.

The car worked, the phone worked and now internet. But wait! There's more. Later, I discovered that I couldn't connect my new laptop; I needed the security key for our wireless network. Well, that opened a big can of worms. Don could not find the notebook where he had all that information recorded. He could not access his router to pull up the information; the connection kept timing out. He was getting more and more frustrated and angry. It had been a long day. But, I was able to use my U.S. cellphone to call Rachel and Lance and beg for help. Lance was able to hack in, take control of our computer and fix the problem. Love that man!!

We were too tired to do any more and simply went to bed, thankful to be able to communicate again.

Fun With Water and Friends

2010-06-08T15:56:00.002-06:00

Last night we had dinner with our pastor's wife, Tia (standing next to Don) and Bob and Debi. Tia's husband is in the States attending a pastors' conference, so we had invited Tia out for dinner. Just as we were about to leave to go pick up Tia, our pals Bob and Debi arrived. I was puzzled for just a second and then realized that they had mixed up their days and arrived one day early for our dinner. Ha Ha! No matter. We just invited them to come along with us, and they did. It was great fun.

I spoke too soon about hoping our water problems were over yesterday. I was standing in the shower, suffering through incredibly low water pressure, hair full of shampoo, legs still lathered up from shaving when the water just stopped. Noooooooo! What dreadful timing! But then I noticed the big bucket of water that we had filled earlier in the day, just in case. Whew! It was too heavy to pick up and pour over my head, but I was able to bend over it, scoop up water and pour it over my head and splash it on the rest of my body. Not great, but I got most of the soap washed off.

Don went up to investigate the new connections, but everything seemed ok. Suddenly the water returned, so he was able to get a shower.

He decided to go ahead and fill up our new water tank so we would not run out again. He turned the valves and let it fill while we were out to dinner and the tank was full when we returned.

This morning he again inspected everything, walked under the house testing all the valves and connections. He finally decided the problem was the regulator, which was metal and rusting anyway, so he removed it. Dennis had installed it thinking that our water pressure was too high.

And viola! Good pressure again.

The washing machine filled in the normal amount of time instead of the 43 minutes it took with the last load - that's 43 to fill for the wash, 43 to fill for the rinse PLUS the actual wash, rinse, spin.

I'm very thankful since I have a lot of washing to do in preparing to close up the house.

All was good.

Then Dennis came down.

Seems that when Don closed the valve to allow our tank to fill, once it had filled, it backed up the water in the lines and filled Dennis' tank to overflowing. The float doesn't detect and stop backwards filling apparently. Oops! Lesson learned.

Hummers at the feeder

2010-06-08T15:20:00.000-06:00

The hummingbirds have really taken to the feeder Kristin gave me for my birthday.

They've even gotten used to the frequent presence of an anole hanging on the feeder (upper right photo)

and, to some degree, have learned to tolerate one another and share the feeder.

They're going to be very confused when the feeder comes down and

goes into storage until January.

Until then, we'll all enjoy.

The Countdown

2010-06-07T16:56:00.000-06:00

I really can't believe that this is our last week on the island for this year. The time went by so fast. We're going back a couple of weeks early for a very special wedding, our son's childhood best friend is getting married. We can't miss that event!

We're trying to make the most of our last week here. The car seems to be running ok (knock on wood) and I'm apparently over my stomach virus that spoiled my weekend. I'm just happy to be feeling "normal" again. We've been setting up dinner dates with friends, some for dinners out and some for meals at home to use up the food in the freezer.

Don now has our water storage tank set and the water lines connected. He just needs to tidy up the area and he's done. We promptly ran out of water once he had the lines reconnected. Seems Dennis had neglected to refill the other tanks up the hill and didn't realize that we were that low on water. He pumps water up from the well everyday and usually keeps the storage tanks full, but because the other houses serviced by those tanks are currently vacant, he hasn't been as careful in checking water levels. He switched us over to the other tank, and we were soon back in business. Our tank has valves that can be closed off allowing the tank to fill with water or both left open to simply let water flow through it. It should prevent us from running out of water.

Carlos is here working on our yard, trying to get it cleaned up a bit more before we leave. He'll work an extra day or two for us this week. We'll have to make arrangements for someone to come clean and trim our jungle every few weeks while we're back in the States.

There are some last minute gifts to be picked up. Rachel has asked me to pick up some rainforest rumcakes (for her) and a Honduran cigar (a gift for someone else). I'll get to that tomorrow.

A Sunset Anniversary

2010-06-04T15:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was our 38th anniversary. It was another really hot, humid day without a breeze. We deliberately chose an air-conditioned restaurant for our romantic dinner.
We got to West Bay in time to watch the sunset and then
we had dinner at The Vintage Pearl.
We weren't disappointed with either.
The Vintage Pearl is a pre fixe restaurant, a set price for a three course dinner. They offer a choice of only four entrees with sides, soup or salad and dessert. They also have quite a nice selection of wines. It's not cheap, but the food was excellent, the presentation beautiful and the service was wonderful. And it was air-conditioned! Our waiter, Adam, has traveled all over Central America and southeast Asia and was so interesting to talk with. We want to go to Bali now after hearing his adventures.
It was a delightful evening.
And our car started everytime!

The Demise of the Umbrella

2010-06-03T13:54:00.000-06:00

We discovered these eggs this morning while moving some things around.

This will give you an idea of how small they are. That's my Blackberry phone laying next to the eggs! I'll bet you're wondering what kind of eggs they could be. I'm guessing they're gecko eggs. We have lots of geckos both inside out outside our house. We have a new crop of tiny little geckos about one inch in length. Are you wondering where we found the eggs?

Inside this shaggy looking umbrella!

You've probably seen this umbrella in many of my photos of our deck. I loved it because it looked like a thatched roof - so tropical. After a couple of years of intense sunlight, the thatching was rotten. The stuff would come off with every bump or breeze and blow all around. It also sticks to damp skin extremely well.

We haven't been using the umbrella for awhile and just had it stored in a corner of our quarters. Don had to pull it out today so he could climb up and put away some things that we are storing for our friend, Kris.

As long as we had it out, we decided it was time to dethatch it and see if it was even salvagible, so I got out a seam ripper from my sewing kit and starting pulling out stitches, then I was able to rip loose a section at a time.

We filled two kitchen trash bags with the thatching. Our very damp skin was covered in the stuff, too. We didn't find anymore eggs inside the umbrella, thankfully. We're testing the naked umbrella. It doesn't look as good, that's for sure. I probably wouldn't have tried to save it if we could easily obtain another umbrella, but I've never seen any for sale on the island.

More of the Same

2010-06-02T14:40:00.000-06:00

Yep, you guessed it. More car trouble.

Don's tightening up the battery cables and our friend Rick is sitting in the driver's seat periodically trying to start the car. We're parked at the new mall in French Harbor and had just finished eating lunch at Caribbean Pizza (very good, by the way). We came out, got in the car and...nothing.

We had spent the morning running errands without problem. We picked up Rick and Luz and also John from the catamaran moored near them and drove to Coxen Hole where the guys did some banking and I bought beans, tomatoes and another phone card. No problems with the car.

We drove up to French Harbor, dropped John off by Hybur Marine to buy boat parts, and ran up to the HughesNet office and a few doors down and renewed our car insurance. We wanted Luz along to translate because the woman at the HughesNet office understands English fairly well but can't speak it too well. Our contract is nearly up and we wanted to explore our options.

Next stop, Eldon's for a few groceries. Rick is throwing a big birthday bash for Luz this weekend and needed several things. We noticed the shelves are not as well stocked as usual (although they did have a fresh supply of Bimbo bread!) and wondered if the tropical storm was the cause. John had told us that there are a lot of large trees, logs, out in the ocean that are interfering with shipping operations. Then we went over to the mall for lunch. The car had been behaving itself during all these little hops, but when we came out after lunch, it wouldn't start. I was so glad Don was along and that he had brought his tool bag. It wasn't an easy fix either. He suspects that the battery cables just need to be replaced. Finally, he got it started and we headed home, dropping off Rick and Luz along the way. I'm not going out alone in that car again!

A Moment of Panic

2010-06-02T06:28:00.000-06:00

This is such a restful view - it's hard to imagine that anything could cause a moment of panic, but I had one yesterday. I went over to help Debi with some computer issues and drove our newly repaired Rav4 to her house. The a/c was really cranking out the cold air, so much so that my glasses fogged up when I got out of the car at Debi's house. It's been so hot and humid with lately and no breezes.

After a successful resolution of her computer woes, we decided to hop in my car and go visit the vegetable truck in West End. We locked up the house, hopped in the car, turned the key and....nothing. Nada. Zip. What now!?!

We got out, raised the hood and looked under there. Looked at the new battery. "Why won't you start?", I asked. Carlos (who works for us part-time and Debi part-time) came over and looked under the hood with us. We indicated that the battery was "muy malo. No trabaja." Carlos jiggled the battery cables and I'm thinking "he's 18 years old, he's never driven a car, his family can't afford a car; wonder if he has any idea what he's doing." I tried to start it again. Nothing.

We looked to see if I had an battery cables. No. We looked to see if Debi did. No. We called Marco over and asked if he had any cables. No.

Bob wasn't home to assist us.

With that we closed the hood and went in the house.

I took a deep breath, exhaled and called Don. I asked if he was sitting down. No. I suggested that he might want to. I explained the problem and what we had tried. He took it fairly well, I thought. I suggested that he call Fredy and see if he could come out and look at it. He finally agreed.

Debi and I sat out on the deck and played a came of cribbage to pass the time while we waited.

Bob came home, so I called Don and offered to come pick him up. Turns out that his phone quit working right after he last talked to me; he hadn't been able to call Fredy or me. He did want us to come get him so he could try a couple of things before calling Fredy.

So we did and he did and the solution was so simple. The battery cable was loose!

Who knew?

(Perhaps Carlos did know something after all, but with the language barrier wasn't able to convey it.)

Why was it loose? Who knows.

The moment of panic had passed.

Going With The Flow

2010-05-31T15:59:00.000-06:00

That's what you have to do to survive living on this island - go with the flow. Life is lived at a slower pace. People are used to waiting. Things seldom start on time. The power WILL go out. Your repairs will take much longer than anticipated and the job may not be done right. You get used to it or you go crazy. It takes a bit of adjustment every time we return to the island after our 6 month absence, but it does make life here more enjoyable.

Our weekend began with our car being returned, the battery being dead and me having another day without a car (day 6). I also had no wifi signal on my blackberry phone that I use to call the family back in the States. Couldn't go anywhere and couldn't make my usual weekend phone calls. Not to worry. It sort of forced me to finish up the painting and get the kitchen done. The cloud cover kept the temperature down, making it a pretty nice day to paint.

Our much welcomed rain of the night before also produced a bumper crop of insects that found their way inside and dive bombed us as we attempted to go to sleep Friday night. We turned the lights back on, got out the flyswatters and got to work. Finally, we had eliminated most of them and were able to get some sleep. So, Saturday, after I finished the painting, I had piles of insects to sweep up and a floor to mop.

A cooler day meant I could use the oven without passing out. I was inspired to make taco pizza with my homemade crust, a job that takes about an hour of mixing, kneading, rising and baking. It was worth it.

Sunday morning the power went off, as it so often does on a Sunday morning, usually for some routine maintenance. Generally it is only off for a couple of hours. Don had just turned on the coffeemaker with our remote bedside switch when the power went off so only about 4 cups had dripped through. We learned later that this scheduled outage was expected to last about 6 hours and come back on around 11 a.m. We were thankful that our church has backup generators so the fans were running during worship. It was a hot, muggy, still day. Many people were also without water because the pumps couldn't run. It would not have done much good to have showered before church anyway; we were soon covered with sweat.

Lunchtime came and still no power. We usually go out to eat after church anyway and certainly wanted to this time. It's best to not open the refrigerator during a lengthy outage. We thought about who would have backup generators, be able to serve food and possibly be cool. The Hungry Monkey came to mind. They're located in West Bay, about 6 miles from our house. We were planning to go to the beach in West Bay anyway, as we usually do on a Sunday afternoon, so we got our swimsuits on, pulled on our coverup or shorts and shirt and set off. As we topped the long hill by the canopy tour, we were greeted with a spectacular view of the mountains on the mainland 40 miles away. We had never witnessed such a clear view of them before. It was truly breathtaking. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me.
I could have kicked myself!! Actually, my camera probably would not have been able to do it justice anyway - the distance is just too great.

The Hungry Monkey was open and cool, and we were happy to find some friends already there. After lunch, we made our way down to Infinity Bay to wait on the gang from church. Everyone was glad to spend the afternoon there, sitting in the shade, visiting, snorkeling, walking on the beach. There wasn't much of a breeze there either and still no power, but we made the best of it. Around 3:30, we heard a cheer erupt - the power had finally come back on, after 10 hours.

You learn to take these things in stride. I don't mean this to sound like a big complaint; these are just minor inconveniences which don't outweigh the joys of being here. All in all, we're pretty content.

More Adventures With The Rav4

2010-05-31T14:21:00.000-06:00

About a week ago, our recently repaired radiator sprung a leak - in the same spot that had been soldered. Last Monday it went back in to the shop, this time to Fredy, the young man who had welded the leak in our air-conditioner and not to Rauel who had soldered the radiator. Fredy said he would remove the radiator and take it up to Las Fuertes, another little community up island, to a guy who specializes in radiator repairs. All the taxi drivers use him and our friend George, who is a taxi driver, had highly recommended him.

Don showed Fredy some other problems, like the recently replaced fan that quit working. Fredy noticed that Rauel had replaced the fan with one that was too small. He said he would take care of that, fix the hood latch and call us when ready.

Friday he called. Don went to pick up the car and it wouldn't start! Someone had apparently left an interior light on and run down the battery. Fredy had one of his workers bring out another battery. Then, with a big grin on his face, he said "don't try this at home", turned the battery upside down, and placed it atop the car battery so the plus terminals made contact as did the minus terminals. He motioned for his guy to start up our car!! It worked, but wow! dangerous method.

Don paid the extremely reasonable bill ($215.00) and drove it home. Fredy also washed our car and even used those paper covers to keep the inside of the car clean, just like they do in the States. Never seen that here, though.

A little later that day, I wanted to use the car and it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even pretend like it wanted to. Great. Don called Fredy and he said he would come out and look at it (does your mechanic make house calls?) to make sure that it was only the battery. He did and it was just the battery. He swapped it out with an old, but still usable battery. After lunch Don drove in to the shop, picked up Fredy; they went to the auto parts store and got a new battery which Fredy then installed. Cost of the new battery: $132.00.

So, now we have our car back and it's working great. No more leaks, the air-conditioner is working very well. Hopefully no more problems this year. We're only on the island two more weeks.

Another Goodbye

2010-05-29T06:23:00.000-06:00

Our friend, Kristin, is leaving the island today.

This photo was taken last week when we celebrated her birthday at Eagle Ray.

Kris is, of course, standing in the center. Clockwise from the left: Lynne, Luz, Kris, Debi, Tia.

I love how the cook (in the orange shorts) is in the background and that's our waitress sitting at the counter behind Kris, having her lunch!

It's always sad to say goodbye. We've had some good times.

Yesterday Kris packed up her little cottage. Lynne and her hubby, Don and our friend Olman helped move Kristin's things to Lynne's bodega and to our house for storage until she returns.

Afterwards Kris treated all of us to pizza at the place down the hill from us.

Don and Olman rode, standing up, in the back of Bob's pickup. You can do that here.

We were all thankful for Bob's pickup. We did get our car back yesterday but, of course, there was a glitch. The car wouldn't start. Someone at the shop had left an interior light on and it drained the battery. The mechanic brought out another battery, carefully connected it DIRECTLY to our battery and held it upside down above it. At his signal, another guy then started our car. Freddie grinned and said "don't try this at home!" No joke. Dangerous. But, it is Roatan.

Anyway, the car started and Don drove it home without problem and parked it beside our house.

When we next tried to start it, nothing! Dead as a doornail. Don brought out his battery charger. Wouldn't take the charge. Obviously we need a new battery.

A Sunset Collage

2010-05-26T15:14:00.000-06:00

Here's a collage of some shots taken of the magnificent sunset last night.

Thanks to mi amiga, Debi, for showing me how to make these collages!

West Bay Sunset

2010-05-26T14:49:00.000-06:00

Last night when our friends called to ask if we wanted to go to West Bay to watch the sunset, grab some dinner and listen to a favorite local musician, we jumped at the chance. We'd been without our car for only 2 days, but we were happy to get out and go.

We were so happy we did. The sunset last night was just unbelievable. Here are just a few of the photos that I took.

The sky stayed colorful for a long time after I took this last shot. Ribbons of yellow, pink, and orange streaked the sky.

But, our food had arrived and it was time to eat. It was a spectacular backdrop to our meal.

We felt very blessed.

Driving into the Sunset

2010-05-22T14:38:00.000-06:00

No, we didn't literally drive off into the sunset - that would be crazy! We had dinner guests last night and had this lovely sunset as a backdrop for dinner on the deck. Later, Don drove one of our guests home and when he returned, he parked the car up on the flat spot on our hill. As he exited the car, he heard a familiar hissing sound. Sure enough, our radiator had sprung another leak. Actually, it's the same leak; the weld or solder obviously didn't hold. So, it's back to the shop for yet another repair job. It's fortunate that most of these repairs have been cheap ones. But we are getting tired of them, so we've been thinking more frequently about replacing this car. We're not here much longer this year, so we're just trying to hold it together for a few more weeks. We really don't want a repeat of the end of last year's stay when the car was in the shop multiple times, one time for 13 days, and the last time our car disappeared when the mechanic was fired and took our car home with him (fortunately our friends found and retrieved the car, but it still wasn't fixed). At least that problem seems to be solved; the air-conditioner is working great!!

Banana Eating Lizard

2010-05-22T14:17:00.000-06:00

Underneath this plastic bag is a stalk of bananas hanging on the deck to ripen. We've had to resort to covering the stalk to keep the anole lizards, grackles and bats off them.

This cute bluehead anole really wanted a banana. We had left one banana exposed because the lizards had already been trying to nibble on it.

I had to sneak up on him on the other side to get this picture of his head peaking around the stalk. Notice how he's managed to peel back a bit of the banana skin!

He's actually licking his lips! That bit of red is his tongue. He was really enjoying his banana.

If you're thinking that these sure are small bananas, you're right! These are apple bananas and they only grow to around 4 inches long. They really do taste a little like an apple, too. Nice and sweet. So good. Just ask Mr. Anole.

Fire-breathing Dragon at Sunset

2010-05-22T14:06:00.000-06:00

We were out on the deck watching the sunset a couple of nights ago and were stuck by how much these clouds resembled a dragon.

As the sunset progressed, the resemblance grew.

It looks like the dragon has swallowed the sun.

Even his eyes are glowing with fire.

Very unusual sunset.

Goodbye For Now

2010-05-15T16:54:00.000-06:00

The last sunset of Rachel and Lance's visit. After a crazy day of running around in the heat, we opted to stay in and have an easy dinner on the deck - nachos! The clouds had been gathering and a little rain began falling as we took our first bites. We quickly moved our chairs back under the covered portion of the deck and enjoyed the rain and the nachos.

Last breakfast on the deck.

Dad and daughter.

Rachel gets in one more photo of the hummingbirds (and little lizards) on my new feeder.

Despite the sunburn the kids both suffered early in the week, they had a terrific time and got in 7 dives. We went along on one of the more shallow dives and snorkeled out along the reef. It was pretty cool to see the divers below us. The dive shop only charged us $5. each to snorkel. What a deal!! We'll be doing this again.

Rachel and Lance already can't wait to come back.

The Last Day

2010-05-15T16:41:00.000-06:00

Rachel and I took an early morning walk on the beach with pal Debi.

As we passed a small pulperia (store) on the road to the beach, these little puppies came running out to greet us.

We took the kids to Gumbalimba Park and while they were playing with the monkeys, we wandered down to the beach and found a nice spot to sit and wait.

Cruise ship day so the shops near the pier were open. We stopped by Bob and Debi's shop for some souvenirs. Rachel wanted another hammock chair and by the time we got into Coxen Hole, Debi had already scouted out the other shops for the best prices. She got a really good deal for Rachel.

The Anniversary

2010-05-15T16:28:00.000-06:00

After a great breakfast at Rudy's, we met Bob and Debi at West Bay for a morning snorkel.

Rachel's testing the water. No cruise ship people yet...the beach was just waiting. We swam way out past that furthest pale stripe (sand bottom) looking for turtles and rays. Saw one hawkbill turtle, no rays today. Lots of very large, colorful fish including parrotfish of all kinds, huge grouper, sea stars, angelfish. The water looks relatively calm, but there was a strong wind and current which made swimming back a real workout.

Happy 5th anniversary!!

We took them to the Argentinian Grill for dinner. Dennis and Merlin joined us there.

We look pretty happy even though we were picking up the check.

More on The Visit

2010-05-15T16:14:00.000-06:00

Rachel and Lance had not been to the island in 18 months and were anxious to visit all their old favorite spots. This is sunset in West End.

Dinner at Tong's (fabulous Thai food!!)

Rachel's sunburn after a day out in the boat and in the water! Ouch!!

They celebrated their 5th anniversary while here. We started the day with breakfast at Rudy's.

A Visit with Rachel & Lance

2010-05-15T16:06:00.000-06:00

We were so blessed to have Rachel and Lance come for a visit. Here are some highlights from our great week: a boat trip to Barbaretta and Pigeon Cays with friends Luz, Rebecca and Rick (taking the picture).

Rachel and Lance preparing the underwater camera for action.

Pigeon Cay - beautiful snorkeling.

Sunday afternoon at Infinity Bay.

Beach Walk - Gulf Shores

2010-04-30T06:52:00.000-06:00

Last night I took a walk on the beach here in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with my cousins. Everyone is carefully watching news reports about the oil spill, dreading its spread along the beaches, hoping that it won't reach here. The winds are not in our favor though. We can only pray that it will be contained before it ruins the coastline and the wildlife living there. The damage would be immense to nature, tourism and the livelihood of many people living along the coast.

Shore birds enjoying the waves.

Sorina and Diana on the beach in Gulf Shores

Sunset

The View From La Puerta Trasera

First Day of School

Bragging Rights

Back to School Shopping

Kids on the Beach

A Visit to The Tailor

School Prep

Visitors From The Past

Visiting in the Colonia

School Board Meeting

The Bread Is Back!

After Christmas Shopping

Tropical Christmas

Spreading Christmas Joy

Observations on Christmas

It's In The Bag

More Questions and Answers

What Is Your Address?

Going Up and Down

More Shopping Adventures

Ladies' Luncheon, Island Style

Monday Funday

Love Letters

Thanksgiving on Roatan

Shopping, Island Style

Friends and Fiesta!

Sew Sew

Time To Be Social

Continuing the Walk

A Walk in West End

A New Lake in the Neighborhood

Feeling Soggy

Tales of Shopping

After Rina

Weathering The Storm

Too Much Pride?

Brown Bight

Catching Our Breath

The Great Internet SNAFU of 2011

Saturday, 08 October

Sunday, 09 October

Monday, 10 October

Tuesday, 11 October

Wednesday, 12 October

Back on the Island

Where are those pictures anyway?

Are The Fishing Biting Today?

Pandy Town

A Sunday Treat

Water Weary

The Revenge of The Cat

Mr. Don, When Can We Swim?

More Water Woes

Water Woes

Don't Try This At Home Either

The Automotive Experience on Roatan

A Day of Adventures

More Photos from Tanya's Casa

Building Tanya's Casa

Dinner With Friends

We've Got Company

Inside the House

Tanya and Sibs

Coral Trees in Bloom

Up In The Colonia

Test Drive and Repairs

The School Report

After The Rain

Matriculation - Part II

Matriculation

Outfitting Lady

The New Normal

The Visit With The Walkers, photos included!

The Swearingen's Visit

Getting Residency

More on 3 Baptisms

Three Baptisms

Our Jungle

The Return

Fun With Water and Friends