This is the longest we have been away from our island home, and we certainly did miss it. Apparently we also missed one of the longest, rainiest rainy seasons in many years. We've only been back one week and it has rained several days, including right now, but no gully washers anyway.
While the island was enduring much rain, mudslides, flooding and general sogginess, we experienced our first winter in several years, and wouldn't you know it, it was the coldest winter Missouri has had in awhile. Really made us appreciate coming back to tropical warmth.
Our good friends, the Campbell's, picked us up at the airport in our car. We were pleased to find Eldon's grocery store pretty well stocked. During the heavy rains, the ferry was not able to make the trip from the mainland, often for days, and the stores ran out of food. We got what we needed for a few days and headed up to our house. Our excellent cleaning crew (Suyapa, Karla, Maria, Jessie) had been in the day before and cleaned from top to bottom. The jungle had been recently trimmed, the concrete steps scrubbed free of mold, and the deck had also been scrubbed. Ready to move in!
We found a note from our friend and neighbor (who looks after our property while we are away). He said that the guest toilet had been running all night and had emptied our 250 gallon storage tank at the top of the hill. Don't use it until you fix it!! Thankful that he discovered it that morning! The ballcock will have to be replaced.
We did notice that while the refrigerator had been plugged in, it had not been turned on, so I left the few cold items from the store inside the insulated shopping bag. We unpacked a few things and went down to Blue Bahia Beach Grill for an early dinner. When we returned, I checked the fridge and it was not cooling at all. Don took the on/off switch/thermostat apart and fiddled with the wiring and found a loose connection. He fixed that and it started cooling but took another 36 hours before it was really cold enough.
We drove to West Bay the next morning for church. All the roads are indeed in terrible shape and it is necessary to drive slowly in order to avoid the worst of them. Some of the potholes had been filled in with mud and tamped down by some industrious guys hoping to get a few tips. We were very happy to see that the federal government of Honduras has finally taken pity on us and has sent road paving machinery and work crews to the island!! They are beginning at Infinity Bay in West Bay, paving one side of the road for a short section and allowing proper drying time which means a one-lane road for driving and paying close attention to avoiding the rebar sticking out of the new pavement. They seem to be doing a good job.
Church was wonderful. So good to always be warmly welcomed back. Afterwards we enjoyed yummy coconut shrimp dinners at Beacher's and the company of the Campbell's and Susan's sister and brother-in-law, as well as Peggy Stranges, Dee Haisten and the infamous Juan Meijia! Such fun!! Some of them went snorkeling after lunch, but the water was a bit rough so Susan and I opted to swim....that is, until I realized that the water temp was only about 78ยบ. I stopped at waist deep.
Sleeping has been the best! The nights are in the low 70s, often with just a little breeze. Love having the windows open while sleeping. Several nights, the rain began in the wee hours and the windows had to be mostly closed.
During the night, I awoke to an odd beeping noise. I finally tracked it down to the microwave which was displaying this message "the keypad has shorted." Well, that can't be good. I unplugged it. Don didn't think he could fix that. His old "hit it with a hammer" method of fixing some things wouldn't work on this due to the over-the-stove and fitting snuggly between cabinets location. Later, I plugged it in again, reset the clock and it was fine for a few hours, then began beeping again. I unplugged it. The next time I replugged, it worked fine all day. The keypad functions all worked and no beeping. I still unplug it at night, just in case. I like appliances that self-heal
The next appliance to go was our fan (portable, on a stand). Apparently no hope there.
I washed clothes mid-week. The next day, I threw another load in and walked away, then turned back around because something didn't sound right. It was leaking water out the bottom as fast as it was trying to fill. Don pulled it out of the laundry closet and discovered the drain pipe had split. Another trip to Ace Hardware which is about 14 miles away over very, very bad roads. Yippee!!
We also had to make two trips to the bank, which is also 14 miles away over very, very bad roads. We may need to find a different bank! We had to reactivate our lempira account. Accounts which haven't been used in 3 or more months are inactivated. Our dollar account was still active as Don had recently transferred money down to fulfill our residency requirement. We also had to get a letter from the bank stating that we had met that requirement for the year; as retirees, we are required to deposit $18,000.00 every year. They've decided that is the necessary amount for gringos to live on for a year.
We went next to reactivate our phones. Same deal. My poor old, old Blackberry finally gave up the ghost and I had to buy a new phone. My US phone doesn't hold dual SIM cards, and I can't do without it due to having the Kardia device on that phone (portable EKG device and app, which I need). So, while Don was reactivating his phone at the Claro store, I picked out a new smartphone at the Tigo store and had them set it up. We also borrowed a Tigo stick modem and router from the Campbell's to use while we are here instead of reactivating our Maxx (cable/internet) service. We're only here for a few weeks this trip.
On our second trip of the week to Ace Hardware, I found a great table and chairs patio set to replace our old one. They delivered it that night...at 7 pm.
We ended the week on a high note. We went to the migration office to renew our residency. Now, you never know what to expect there. The office on the island has only been in place a little over a year. Before that, we had to go to the mainland of Honduras to renew and hope that we could get it accomplished in one trip, which usually wasn't the case. This local office is so handy! Last year it was still rather unorganized with stacks of files piled up here and there and everything still filled out by hand. This year, the office has expanded, everything is neatly filed and organized AND computerized!! Yes!! We had printed and filled in the renewal forms ahead of time and had them stamped at the bank when we paid our renewal fee. We presented them with our passports, old residency cards, constancia from the bank, and filled in one more form each and then were electronically fingerprinted and photographed and a few minutes later, handed our brand new residency cards!! Woo hoo!!!! In and out in less than 30 minutes!
We discovered a great new restaurant on our way home, Ellen's Place, located in Pirate's Den. They were having a soft opening, sort of word-of-mouth, while they prepare for their official opening in a few weeks. We had delicious meals, generous servings and very reasonable prices.
It really was a very good week. We ended it with another trip to the beach.
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