Roatan Honduras – Mermaid on a Raft

Don’t ask me where I’ve been, I don’t know.

11/10/2019 It’s been awhile, actually longer than awhile. So long that some people have contacted me to see if I’m OK. I am, just doing the daily living taking care of the dogs stuff. In fact, that’s pretty much all I do anymore. Since Max was attacked by his brothers and our female dog in February, I have had a hard time leaving the dogs alone. Granted, we separate Max, he stays upstairs, Highway is downstairs, Barrio and Gringo are each in a crate on the back porch and Lola is loose on the back porch. She hates the pool so we don’t have to worry about her getting in there and she can’t get out front and even if she could, our yard is Fort Knox. They can NOT get out. The reason they are fenced in is because at the end of our driveway, a fast romp for the dogs, is an insanely busy road filled with people who have no right to be behind the wheel of a car. Many of the taxi drivers try to hit the strays and if someone hits a dog, 95% of the time they won’t even stop. That is why my dogs live the secluded life they do. I freaking hate it, I hate that I can’t walk them because the road is so busy and there are so many stray dogs everywhere. My dogs are sheltered, may not be a good thing, but they are not around other dogs. They are not socialized. I recently went to get my hair cut and was taking Max with me to get groomed. I had him in a harness as we crossed the busy road to the hairdressers. There was another dog sitting outside the bakery with it’s owner and I assumed that’s where it would stay. Once we got across the road the dog came running towards Max. Max freaked, got out of his harness and ran across the busy road. I totally freaked out. Once I got over to my car Max came to me. I was a wreck. I tightened his harness and yelled to the guy to please restrain his dog. I got Max into Nadia’s and she locked the door so nobody could open it and have him run out. He was panicked, I think he thought that dog was going to attack him. It was an awful experience. Him being attacked has changed me, I’m not sure I’ll ever get over that.

As many of you know my Father died Sept. 6, 2019. He was 98. I foolishly thought he would live forever. I never envisioned a world that he was not in. It’s here now. It’s my reality and I’m not ready. He lived the last few years of his life tormented by Dementia. I swear it is the most awful thing ever to watch your parent turn into a child again. My sister and her husband were so amazing to Dad, I can never thank them enough for what they gave to him, and gave to my Mother before she passed in 2018. It takes very special people to care for loved ones suffering from dementia, it’s a hateful disease. I miss my Father daily, he was my rock. I have not had him mentally for about 4 years but at least I could hear his voice. I am my Father’s daughter, there is no doubt about that.

As I said before, I mostly stay home with my dogs. I’m not a party person, hate themed parties like Halloween, etc. I just feel that I’ve been there and done that and it’s not my thing any longer. I go to the beach when we get company but my preferred snorkeling is at Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout in French Cay. I think the snorkeling is much better there, the coral isn’t dead from all the tourists walking on it and I always see a ray of some sort. Plus I get to hang with Steph and Daniel or Dustin, always a good time. I took Chance snorkeling while he was here. I was having camera trouble (my stupidity, thought the camera was broken when it was actually bad batteries). Chance and Steph and Daniel ventured off to the west but I stayed in the area I was because I was finding all kinds of cool stuff, until my camera battery died.

This is a spaghetti worm, it’s actually alive and feeding.

As I was checking out the puffer that was hiding, all of a sudden this Lionfish was right in front of me. I moved away very quickly as their spikes are venemous and can pack a punch. They are the only fish here that you can legally spear and there is no limit. (You must have your Lionfish license and be certified by the Marine Park). Lionfish eat all the small fish on the reef, thereby decimating our reefs. They are not native to the Caribbean and many places are doing their best to eradicate them from the sea.

It’s impossible to not have a dog by you at our house. Chance is loving on Max and Highway the idiot.

Our back porch. The dogs hang here a lot. There are steps down to the pool and steps up to the roof. There is usually a lot of activity on the porch. Gringo on the left and Barrio in the crate, AND, Highways butt.

I took the Live Again Ministry group snorkeling at Daniel’s also. They all had shirts made with Minions on them and they say Nidia’s Minions. We posed for this picture just for Nidia, the Boss Minion.

A group of local artists got together and painted 2 concrete walls in Brisas de Valle, a small community near Coxen Hole. Julie and I went there to see it and to visit with Nidia. It’s gorgeous and I hope it has the intended effect that they hoped for.

The artists hope was that by beautifying the area maybe people would stop throwing trash around. Many of the paintings are about getting rid of plastics.

Trash in the ocean is a huge problem. Turtles mistake the plastic bags for jellyfish.

Sadly, you can’t go far on the island without seeing trash. Above and under water.

Sad that so many turtles die from humans polluting the sea.

We had the 5th annual East End luncheon for the people on the east end of Roatan. Nidia and Pastor Ronny from Live Again Ministry started this in 2014 and it was so successful that we just can’t stop doing it. The islanders look forward to this event because they get to see friends and family that they rarely see. This was the second year it was held at Fantasy Island Resort.

This is the group from St. Helene. They traveled the furthest to get to the luncheon. Since there are no roads connecting Helene with Roatan, they must come by boat.

We had over 350 people attend the event this year. We had nurses checking blood pressure and also doing diabetes testing.

The oldest from each community got a huge basket of food. The rest of the baskets were raffled off.

These were gift bags filled with toiletries.

Nidia, the head of Because We Care holding the microphone for one of the men from the ministry group.

This is the pool at the resort. Fantasy Island was one of the first resorts on Roatan. It was beautiful in those early days I’m sure, but now many of the rental units have fallen into a state of disrepair. It would take a lot of $$ to bring it back to it’s glory days.

This is Auntie Clara, she is 103. She always sings at the luncheons. I was lucky enough to get to go to her 100th birthday party.

I have been asking Bill to build a pergola on the roof for 4 years. The views up there are tremendous but you can’t be up there during the day for more than a few minutes because you will fry. Finally, we have a pergola.

The dogs love it on the roof, they can survey their domain.

Bill also made a giant swing and I had cushions and pillows made for it. It’s a fabulous spot to relax with the dogs and watch the sun set.

You can see in the next photo that we repainted the walls all gray to match the newly re-fiberglassed floor.

The view, the water was crazy flat. My friend told me that sailors use the stripes on the water to tell them info about the wind. Not sure if that is true or not.

These 3, the brothers, are in the pool ALL the time. Especially Max, the dark one in the middle. It’s not unusual for him to go in a dozen times in one day.

Lola and Emmy. They stare at each other for a long time, have no clue why.

I was closing windows one night to go to bed and the dog toys were laying on their ottoman like this. Are they messing with me?

We have had a lot of lizards around the house lately. The big ones drive the dogs crazy. This guy walked across the hill below the pool and all five dogs were going into cardiac arrest. By the time I got my good camera he was about 50′ away. Grateful for a good zoom.

This is a male green iguana. I can tell it’s a male because of the large jaw muscles, the females don’t have the jaw muscles that the males do.

This is a male anole. We see so many of these daily that I no longer notice them, except when I see a good size dead one laying on a dog bed. Gross.

Another baby iguana, looks like it’s eating a bug.

I decided to get off the island for a bit, I was getting stir crazy. I booked 2 separate trips. One from Roatan to San Pedro Sula (mainland Honduras) then to Houston and on to Phoenix. I spent the night in a hotel in Phoenix and caught an early flight out of Phoenix to Chicago and then on to Wilkes Barre, PA. 6 airports in 2 days. It’s no wonder I arrived sick. My destination was Williamsport PA, where Bill and I were both born. Some of my high school friends who live in the area have a get together once a month. My friend Stan from New Hampshire came down and we crashed the party. It was great fun except I was sick.

Stan and I have been best friends for over 55 years. In that time frame we have always stayed in touch.

The class party was Sunday and Monday I was at the doc’s. I had bronchitis. Great. After a few days on meds I felt good enough to go meet some friends. My brother (where I was staying) and his daughter Devon and I went out for dinner on Saturday evening. On Wednesday I met some friends for lunch. I saw Mary when I was in town for my last class reunion but I have not seen Sue Stroble in 35+ years. When I was a wild and crazy, no longer in college person, who was too much for my parents to handle I moved out. Both Mary and Sue’s parents welcomed me with open arms. I spent my time between their 2 homes.

Mary, Sue in the back and me. Long time friends.

Before I met Mary and Sue for lunch, I had tea with Bill’s sister Kathy at an old home from the great lumber baron days in Williamsport. There are many of these grand mansions that have been restored and are used as homes or restaurants. This one used to be a dentist’s office. It was donated to the Historical Museum who sold it to the people who own the Backhouse Coffee and Cafe’. It has been lovingly restored and is absolutely gorgeous.

Even the woodwork detail on the door was gorgeous. I could have spent a few hours in there looking at all of the cool restored parts of the home.

I had breakfast with another friend on Friday morning. I had not seen Francie since before we left PA in 1995. On my way to get her I saw the Stoned Dog. This dog was painted back in the late 60’s and someone is still keeping it nicely painted. This brings back MANY memories.

My brother’s back yard. He lives in a valley with a mountain in front and behind of his house, I couldn’t make calls on my cell phone and had a hard time opening photos or attachments unless I stood by the bird feeder.

I forgot how beautiful Pennsylvania was.

The trees were all changing, something I’m not used to at all.

Devon and my brother PJ. Oh, and Lily too. She adores Devon and doesn’t let many people get close to her.

I went out to eat with Bill’s sister Kathy, her husband Mike and daughter Missy. We went to a place called Boom City. Food was excellent and they had a beer selection Bill would have loved.

My last night there I met some friends at the 505. It’s a restaurant/bar that I worked at before Bill and I were married. It was great to see Cicily and Mary, Ruth and Tim and Darri, Dave and Chuckie. It’s been a long time.

I was up early the next morning and drove back to Wilkes Barre for my flight to Phoenix by way of Dulles. Going a round a bout way to get there. I arrived in Phoenix on time and my friend Kelly was right outside the door where I got my luggage. We went to a fabulous wine bar, I grabbed a salad and then we split a humongous dessert. After that we went back to Kelly’s home. She lives in Chandler, AZ. Let me say, her home looks like it’s from Architectural Digest. I could move in and change nothing. Stunning house. And she has 2 dogs and was watching a third for her friend so I got plenty of dog loving.

These are Kelly’s two, Daisy is the little one and Payson is the big black boy. The other one was named Sadie, she was a sweetheart too.

No, this is not a photo from a magazine, it’s Kelly’s backyard. No words.

Her pool is gorgeous but it was coooold.

She had a table made in the pool. Genius.

We went to a place called Oregano’s for lunch. It was great food. The waiters shirts said Legalize Marinara.

My good friend from high school who rescued me when I got stranded in LA has a daughter I have not met. She lives in Chandler, about 20 minutes from Kelly’s house. I ran over one morning to meet Katie and Jon and of course this adorable little nugget, Dane. He is the only brown eyed grandchild out of 5 for Tim and Cathilee.

I’ve been home for a little over a week. When I arrived in Roatan I was getting my luggage and my friend who works there said Bill was there with a dog. When I walked out and said Max he almost jumped in my arms. I could NOT wait to get home to the other ones and give them their toys and lots of loving. Barrio, my shadow really missed me.

Barrio was sound asleep, I had about 4″ of bed.

We have not had rain for months and months. People’s wells were drying up, plants and trees were dying, it was getting bad. Well, lo and behold, I brought rain. I took this photo outside my back door and it looks like snow. It was really pouring.

This was the next day. We have had thunder storms at night and hard rains during the days. The island needed it badly.

Usually after a long dry spell we have termites, wood lice, whatever they are called. They are black bugs with 4 wings. They are attracted to light and swarm. They mate and drop their wings (or vice versa, never watched) and then they leave. Behind is the massive mess of wings. They are like Christmas tree needles, you find them months later.

These things were brown instead of black, probably a mutated bug. There were so many the birds were at the back door eating the bugs.

This is my outdoor concrete sink, full of wings. They are disgusting.

So, I’m back, haven’t done much, other than getting some work done on my car and staying home with the dogs. I can’t guarantee that I will be any better about blogging but I do promise to try.

The last 3 days in La Mosquitia.

Day 5 in La Mosquitia was a busy day. Eric, the mayor, Edgardo and his wife Graciela picked us up after breakfast and we set off to visit some communities. We started our day by going to the store and buying soda and water and snacks, and candy for the Mayor to pass out to the kids.

Getting to anywhere in the area is not easy. The people in Roatan complain about the state of the roads, Puerto Lempira roads make ALL of the roads on Roatan seem like super highways. I saw one partially paved road in the city, the rest are dirt, red dirt. Dusty red dirt that gets slippery when wet and very dusty when dry.

This is the mayor’s home. They have church every Sunday on the lower porch. Every church we passed was full to the brim, overflowing with people.

We drove for awhile until we got to the community of Palkaka. A while ago when the mayor was running for office one of the men in Palkaka told the mayor he would vote for him if he brought him a gringo wife.

Nidia’s sister Rose Mary spotted a woman sitting in a doorway so we walked over to her. This parrot is her constant companion.

This is Lillian. She was born blind. Her home has a hammock, a small table and a mud stove. The mayor kept a mattress and a sheet back for her and I’m sure it has been delivered already.

I was surprised to see a young Albino girl in the community. We were told there are several in La Mosquitia.

Some of the kids in Palkaka. They loved seeing their photos.

The man in the middle is our tour guide, Edgardo, the mayor of Puerto Lempira. I can’t begin to tell you what amazing people he and his wife are. So down to earth. The man in the yellow is the one who said he wanted a gringo wife. When he saw me get out of the truck he thought his prayers had been answered. He smiled so much and for so long. He only had about 6 teeth, but man, could he smile.

Yep, just walking around with a turtle shell.

We left there and made the drive to Tansin. Don’t ask where it was because I’ll say, “Right there.”

Tansin is an amazingly gorgeous place sitting on the banks of Lake Caratasca. The trees were huge mango trees, everywhere. I don’t mean a few, I mean groves of them. And breadfruit. We walked to the lake with some women and kids and while we were standing there talking a breadfruit the size of a football, but harder, fell from high up in the tree. Good grief, that sucker could put you in a coma. I think hard hats should be required.

One of the homes on the way from Palkaka to Tansin. Not sure this one had residents.

Water. Crank the handle and the water comes out. There is no running water in the community.

We walked down onto a very rickety dock that stretched about 15′ out into the lake. It was surrounded by emptiness. There was nothing out there. There were 10 cayucos laying around the lake. They are each a piece of art.

Water lilies. I haven’t seen these for years, a feast for my eyes.

While I was on the dock taking photos a young woman walked down and out into the lake in her clothes and bathed. She had a bucket with her which may have contained her wash.

This woman approached us as soon as we got there. She was very sweet and had her son on her shoulder the whole time. I noticed the side of her face was very swollen and I mentioned it to Nidia. I thought it was a tooth infection. She told Nidia she had a tumor. I have thought about her several times. She has a tumor and can’t do anything about it. Heavy on my mind.

Nidia and the Mayor with this beautiful lady. She walked up to us as we were standing near the dock. She doesn’t know how old she is but she is feisty. I would love to hang out with her. She did a sexy pose for Nidia. What a cool lady. It was right after this photo that the breadfruit fell out of the tree and made a crater size hole in the ground. (not really but it could have.)

Holy crap, the trees were filled with these Tillandsia, or Bromeliads. Not sure which these really are, prob Tillandsia.

We walked to a different area of the community / village. Let me explain this, there is so damn much land in La Mosqiuitia that the people build in small villages within a community. The communities themselves cover a very large area for each location. It’s not just what you see when you are walking the path to the lake or going to the school. These communities go waaaaaay back and get a little more remote and simple the further back they go. It’s someplace you just want to get lost in, visit the people who live basically cut off from society. It’s really not that bad of a thing. When I was in Kaukira, even Puerto Lempira, I thought about the not having power until 6 PM daily situation. It was totally doable. So much less.

We went into an older ladies home, I didn’t want to take her photo out of respect to her. She lived in a spotlessly clean, empty wooden home. Her bed was boards covered with cloth. Her daughter and probably her grandchildren sleep in a cot like sling over-top of her bed. She is ill, has severe pain in her womb. Been bedridden for 4 years. By now she has a mattress to sleep on. She decorated her walls and door with pages from old advertisements.

Clean as a whistle, despite the baby chicks running up the steps and inside the house. The chair is her only piece of furniture.

The bathroom at the school in Tansin. The school is asking for solar panels so they have some electricity at the school. Can you imagine your child trying to learn in a school with no power, no fans, no running water? Kids in the US could not function, yet to these children, it is the norm.

Their faces. I just can’t stop taking photos of them.

It was late in the afternoon so we headed back to town. Tomorrow will be the big day of unloading

We had to honk the horn for this pig to move, it was laying in a deep puddle in the middle of the road.

The next day we were picked up late morning to go to where the container was. When we arrived the truck they use to move the containers was out delivering so we had to wait for it to get back.

Huge thanks to Mayor Jerry Hynds who donated a 40′ container and free shipping so we could move these items to Puerto Lempira.

This is only a portion of the propane tanks that are sent to Ceiba to get filled and returned to Puerto Lempira.

The woman found a desk. What an obscure place for a desk. Nidia and I sat on it for awhile and waited.

When you don’t have a funnel, just cut off the tip of a traffic cone. Instant funnel, it’s how they pour gas in La Mosquitia.

There were several ministers in this group and Nidia, the Mayor and I. We held hands and they blessed the contents of the trailer.

OHMYGOSH. It was jam packed. Carnival cruise lines donated chairs, couches and 140 mattresses, sheets and blankets. We had shoes, sandals, food, clothes, school supplies. A little bit of everything.

We unloaded all of the furniture first so we could get to the mattresses. While doing so Nidia and Graciela, the Mayor’s wife had to pee. We were in the middle of nowhere so they walked out into the woods. While out there they noticed a house across the water with a guy out front. They started to yell and jump around trying to get the guys attention. He jumped in his Cayuco and paddled over, thinking they needed help. All they really wanted was to give him a mattress and some school stuff for his younger siblings.

This is not a photo you’re likely to ever see again. People in cayucos do not usually carry a mattress. Look at the smile on his face. He was the man of the house, his Mom had a few other children. He was the oldest.

Word spread around their village like wildfire and women and kids started coming out of the woods. These 2 got backpacks and school supplies.

All 3 ended up with packs and the younger one got some candy and some clothes.

The boy on the right was very happy, the one on the left, not so much.

Nidia helping to load all of the mattresses. This truck we call the stuck truck. You’ll see why. It was actually a livestock truck, that’s why they put tarps down before the mattresses went in.

A little overloaded. This truck took the mattresses to the school and then came back for another load.

After several truck loads (the Nicaragua bus truck was delivering for us also), we finally got the container emptied. Next stop, the school in Mistruk. It was almost dark, Nidia was going to wait for the Nicaragua bus truck guy so I rode in the stuck truck with 2 men I’ve never met. Neither spoke any language I could speak so not a word was uttered the whole way there. Several times on the ride I envisioned us getting stuck and being there for a while until someone came along. The sounds of silence. We didn’t get stuck until we got to the school. And boy was he stuck.

Finally the Nicaragua bus truck came and pulled him out.

We got everything unloaded and sorted, shoes in one room, clothes in another, mattresses in yet another. Now we had the long drive home. We had 4 military police guarding the school.

The mayor picked us up at 6 the next morning and we went by boat to Laka, a very impoverished area. We took enough food to feed the whole village. They did not know we were coming but soon after we got out of the boat, word had spread and people were coming out of the houses.

Before long they stripped to their undies and were swimming.

This house was pretty much on the waters edge. Talk about water view.

The faces of Laka. Many of the children were all smiles but some seemed so distant.

This little guy was so happy and filthy dirty. Boys and dirt.

The family living in the house on the waters edge.

The girl with one shoe. I mentioned it to Nidia and the mayor asked the community leader. The story is she found this shoe on the edge of the water. She has been wearing it since hoping that she finds the other one.

We righted an overturned cayuco and filled it with food. Everyone walked along and grabbed one of everything.

My mother had recently passed away and she had a lot of costume jewelry. Neither my sister nor I wear it but we just didn’t want to “give it away” since it meant a lot to Mom. We decided I should take it with me and pass it out to ladies who don’t have much. Taking it to La Mosquitia was perfect and after we passed out the food, Nidia suggested I pass out the jewelry. She and Rose Mary and I walked around putting pins, earrings and necklaces on ladies. BLING in a very remote part of the world.

This was the community leader, she got a chain. The ladies in the background got brooches and necklaces.

I think that’s a smile. She got a brooch.

And this girl. I bought my Mom this necklace in Macy’s. It’s all of her favorite colors. When I saw this young girl, I knew it was going around her neck. Her face just lit up. Hope Mom was watching. The man on the right in red was mad we didn’t bring anything for the men, he wanted jewelry.

This is as close to running as you can get on a boat. Word spread people were giving out stuff. We don’t know where these people came from. We asked and were told, “right there.: Everything in La Mosquitia is right there. It could be 75 miles, but it’s right there.

We walked up to the school and just as we got there my camera said my card was full. I switched to my brand new flashcard and it wouldn’t work, said it was a read-only card. I called Bill (barely had a signal) and he said to unlock it. There was no lock on the side of the card, nor could I format it because it was locked as read-only. I had to delete photos and I was furious because we were on our way to the big giveaway in Mistruk.

We left there, went back to a different place where Eric picked us up and we were off to Mistruk.

We knew there would be a lot of people but had no idea there would be as many as there were. It was crazy.

We started with the school kids. They all got shoes, sandals, backpacks, school supplies, deodorant, toothpaste and tooth brush and hugs. They all got hugs. And boy did they hug back, some of them even kissed me. It was amazing, they weren’t pretend hugs either.

I would say 95% of the kids came in with no shoes on. They were some of the dirtiest feet ever. Shoes are new to them, they walked like they had planks stapled to their feet.

The mayor in the front and his wife in the back with the white hat. These 2 sat on the concrete all morning fitting shoes. Amazing, humble people.

These feet haven’t been in shoes before.

The Mayor and his wife helping a young girl.

The kids showing off their backpacks. Some of them didn’t know how to wear a backpack. New things.

My buddies standing outside of the building. They were getting a kick out of me taking pics like this.

Next we passed out shoes and clothes to the adults. This guy had on my brand new Diesel shoes. I only wore them once and Highway chewed up the shoelaces. I never could find any laces that looked right so I never wore the shoes. He didn’t care about the laces.

We passed out little girls’ dresses made by the ladies at Live Again Ministries.

It was getting dark when we started to pass out mattresses and small tables. The community leaders made specific lists, considering who lived in the house, single, elderly, large families and they were passed out like that.

The village is probably 1/2 mile from the school and the people carried the mattresses home.

People still carrying their mattresses home.

The perfect ending to a perfect day of giving from sun up to sundown. Sheer exhaustion. Quiet ride back to Puerto Lempira, listening to country music and watching for shooting stars. I think I saw one.

The next morning the mayor and Eric were waiting for us at 6 AM for our ride to the airport and our flight to La Ceiba and then on to Roatan.

Check-in counter, Puerto Lempira airport.

The runway. A plane landed and drove around the people standing on the runway. We didn’t have to wait long for our flight. In about an hour we were in La Ceiba.

We had an hour wait there and I was starving so Nidia called her friend the taxi driver and told him to go get us a pizza and bring it to the airport. He did! Food never tasted so good. Our flight home took about 15 minutes.

I was happy to be home but happier that I went. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The good news is, we are going back.

One of the best things I ever did on Roatan was introduce myself to Nidia Webster. Without this woman in my life I wouldn’t be having these amazing giving experiences. Roatan Because We Care is her community grassroots organization and believe me when I say, this woman can move mountains. She does so much for the island of Roatan, and now Puerto Lempira, blessed to call her my bestie.

Another 2 days in Puerto Lempira, La Mosquitia.

As I reached for a tea cup this morning, pausing for a second to decide which one I felt like using, it made me think about La Mosquitia again. There are no choices there, you get a cup and you use it. Is that really so bad?

The morning that the dogs woke us chasing the horses was bright and sunny. I woke up sweating because when the power shut off, so did the fan. I went out to the front porch where Rose Mary was sitting, enjoying the breeze. She picked some lemon grass and some other small fruits. She made tea from the lemongrass, it was delicious.

This is one of the teachers dogs. Not only was her eye infected, she was old and pregnant. Next time I will take some meds for the animals.

She was pregnant too. She managed to stick her head in the loaf of bread and inhale many slices.

They all got peanut butter sandwiches from me.

I also pulled as many ticks off of them as I could. So sad.

While we were waiting for the Mayor to come get us, the laundry lady came with her daughter in her cayuco. The little girl, Hila was more interested in what we were doing.

The weird thing, staying at the teachers house in Kaukira, there was a tower in her backyard, we had a 4 G signal the whole time we were there, however it was always a mad dash to charge our phones because power was for a limited time only.

The Mayor and his wife and Speedy Gonzales picked us up the next morning in the fastest boat in La Mosquitia. Today I tried to wear a hat but not having a ponytail to help hold it on meant I had to keep one hand on it at all times. I wish they had speed limits on rivers. We loaded all of our luggage into the boat as we were going to be staying in Puerto Lempira the next night. We went to Kaukira first to get 60 gallons of gas and a cooler of drinks and snacks.

Nidia the nomad, taking care of business with a phone in each hand, hundreds of miles from civilization.

Little girls playing in the boat while we waited.

We passed the area we went to the day before to look at the health clinic and soon we were in a large lagun again. From there we saw waterways in many directions, veering off into the jungle or mangroves. We passed through a few small communities and came upon one Nidia named Bali wood. Most all of the homes were on stilts over the water. If they weren’t on stilts they were on the waters edge. There were children playing, cows grazing, horses, chickens and pigs everywhere we looked. Luckily we had to go slow through here as it was very shallow.

The whole horse family on the shores of Bali wood.

People on the bridge crossing to the other side.

After we got through this area we turned right and were on a large swift river. If we had turned left we would have gone to Nicaragua. The river was gorgeous with many small communities dotting the river banks. We saw dozens of families in their cayucos, just barely above the water. Speedy slowed down when we got near them so we didn’t swamp them with water. Most of them were carrying fruit, supplies, a chicken, even saw a dog.

I noticed this tree and Nidia said they were nests so Speedy turned around so we could go look at it.

These are the nests of the Montezuma Oropendola bird.

I thought I was on the set of Avatar, this area was just magical. Click HERE to get more info on this bird. I have never seen anything like this before.

These were growing all over the river, as were water lilies.

We were still hauling A$$ with Speedy at the controls. The Mayor wanted to take us to an area called Tuburus. The community is divided by the swift river. The children on one side have to take a boat across the water to go to school. The banks are steep and quite slippery. Last year 3 children drown, this year they’ve lost 2 so far. They asked the government to build a bridge but they are not interested. They said there aren’t enough people. We would like to build a school on the other side because building a bridge would be a difficult and expensive job.

Just a cow in your yard. There was cow poop everywhere.

These children aren’t naked because they didn’t feel like wearing any clothes. They are naked because they don’t have any clothes. 85% of the photos I took in Tuburus couldn’t be used because I didn’t notice the nakedness of the children when taking the photo but looking at them to post I could see it.

They ran from me at first, they were afraid of my camera. Once I showed one brave boy his photo, then they were all interested.

The Mayor was tossing candy for the kids.

This is rice, home grown. It’s not something I’ve ever considered growing but I get it now, there are no stores, rice is a big part of their diet, so they grow it.

They got giggly when they saw their photos

Most of the homes are close to the river but there are still many tucked further back in.

A grandmother (Abuela) came to see who was visiting.

When we left here we went in the same direction we came from, past the tree with the hanging nests, very slow through Bali Wood because the tide was out and it was really shallow.

On the way home we passed this boat laden with bananas and plantains so we pulled up alongside of them and bought some of their stuff.

Bananas, plantains and fish. A floating market.

Once we got back into the Lagun, Speedy started speeding again. We went back to Kaukira, got more gas and an elderly man joined us. It was late afternoon as we headed across Lake Caratasca in a totally different direction. We were going to the village of Krata where they needed a new kindergarten built.

These two were the first kids I spotted. The little fella was naked as a jaybird.

I really liked this house, so nice and neat.

He was very scared of the camera and almost running from it. He didn’t smile when I showed him his picture.

These ladies weren’t sure they wanted me to take their picture but when I did and showed them, they had the biggest smiles on their faces.

This man walked with us to the school. On the path were some palm fronds that had probably been there for months, if not years. He stopped and moved them off the path, I assume because there were visitors. I doubt they get many visitors, especially no white girls. He was from Nicaragua, spoke English and has lived in Krata for 31 years. He asked me to take his photo.

The desks in the kindergarten. The floor is dirt and when it rains, it’s muddy. The children have no shoes. None.

The school has a metal roof but it doesn’t meet at the peak, it’s open about 4″ between the metal so the rain pours in. The school doesn’t have one single piece of paper in it, no posters, no books, pencils, paper.

This is the other school, it was pretty neat and clean. This is their water supply, hand crank for water.

They also asked if someone could buy some nails and donate some money for gas. The community wants to build a small dock, they have all the wood they need but don’t have money for nails or gas to go get the wood. This is their view. Gorgeous.

Leaving Krata after dark and we had a bumpy dark ride back across the lagun to Puerto Lempira.

I was never so happy to see the dock! My back was killing me. From here we unloaded our luggage and checked into our hotel right on the shore of the lagun. Nidia and Rosemary showered and went down to the restaurant, The Mayor and Vice Mayor were there. I was too tired to go anywhere so I just laid in the room in front of the fan. That was after I took a nice cold shower.

The next morning we lazed around. The Mayor had things to do during the day and wasn’t going to have us picked up until later on. Nidia and Rose Mary and I went for a stroll. I wanted to buy another card for my camera so I didn’t run out of room with photos. (I forgot my other 32gb card). We found a store and I got a card. From there we went to a restaurant where they had breakfast. Nidia needed to get a Claro chip for her phone so we walked to the Claro booth in the town square. Nidia asked the lady at the Claro booth where she could get a pedicure. The woman’s daughter was with her so she sent her with us. She was a sweet girl named Sharon. Sharon found a beauty salon and Nidia had her pedi and I sat beside her and charged my phone. I was almost giddy when I saw they had electric.

The supermarket, ready for the holidays.

This was the owner of the salon’s son, he was a cutie.

We sat in front of the hotel waiting for Eric to come and get us.

Around 4 PM he pulled up and we all jumped in his truck and set out for Mistruk. This is where we planned to distribute the things that we brought on Monday. However, Island Shipping could not get their boat in the channel because the tide was out and the water was too low so everything was pushed back a day. We had to go to Mistruk and tell them this.

It is a beautiful drive to Mistruk, all on a dirt road, nice red dirt. Every now and then we would come across a small village and then back to barren land with rolling hills and sparse trees. It would have made a fabulous golf course.

The whole area was like this except when we got close to Mistruk, then it was more jungle like.

As luck would have it, we got a flat tire. Of course we did. Eric was trying to change it when a truck came from the other direction. The guy stopped and helped Eric change the tire. I thought he was just some random guy but found out later he and Eric know each other. He drives the truck (bus) from the Nicaragua border to Puerto Lempira, hauling people.

He had 2 passengers with him. They had to dig a hole to set the jack in to get the tire up enough to put a new one on. We were finally on our way.

This is the school in Mistruk. It would be the location of our distribution of goods to the community.

This woman was washing her clothes in the stream.

When we finally got to Mistruk the whole community was waiting for us. They thought we were bringing things for them.

This was in the “restaurant” right on the water.

These boys got a kick out of their photo.

The community listening to the one teacher tell them what was going on. See the little girl that’s a blur in pink towards the back? After I shot this pic, she pulled her pants down and peed all over the floor. Nobody even noticed.

The guy on the left in the white shirt speaks English, Spanish and Moskito. He is a teacher in the school and was very helpful.

The sign says “Show your love for the children, do not pollute the future.” Not a clue why there is a crocodile or alligator on the sign.

We left there late and went back to Puerto Lempira. After we got cleaned up we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We took our last bottle of wine up there and drank it while we ate.

Not long after that we were sound asleep, waiting to be picked up early the next morning. More adventures await us.

Because We Care spends a week in La Moskitia

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.

Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action — for the poor and the wealthy alike — a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.”

Wow, really, where do I start. My friend Layle said “I’m sure all those rich experiences are shifting around in your mind as you go about your daily routine and when you are ready to sit down and type it’s all going to flow” and I tend to believe her because she is such a spiritual soul.

I have decided to do this by days because mentally, I can’t do the whole thing at once, I saw so much.

This was a once in a lifetime trip (although I do look forward to going back, despite being hungry and dirty for a week). The people I met and the places my eyes saw will forever be in my mind. La Mosquitia (or Miskitia or Moskito, call it what you want) is one of the most beautiful places you can imagine. It’s rolling hills and pine forests or woodland vegetation with every type of bromeliad growing out of the trees, catching your eye as you drive by in a truck or in a boat. The way the mangroves grow is like nothing I’ve ever seen. There were more mango trees that your mind can even imagine and breadfruit and sweet little dark plum colored, avocado shaped berries.

I was with Nidia and her sister Rose Mary. We were hosted by the mayor of Puerto Lempira, Edgardo Saicion and his wife Graciela. They are humble, wonderful people. The municipal driver was named Eric and he was on time every single day to pick us up. He used to live on Roatán. They treated us like royalty. We listened to American Country while riding across the vast barren land.

The Mayor of Roatán municipal (and Nidia’s boss, she is a council woman) Jerry Hynds, owns Island Shipping. He offered us a 40′ container and free shipping to Puerto Lempira. Without his generosity, this mission would have not happened. Also thank you to the Galaxy Wave for donating our tickets to La Ceiba. Many thanks also to the people who donated.

So, are the people we visited living in poverty? They have shelter, food (albeit limited choices) is available and the most basic of needs. They have little to no clothes or shoes, they have no beds, they have no running water, no electricity, no toilet paper, the schools have no books or paper or pencils, crayons and coloring books are unheard of. Do they miss what they know nothing about?

This is the great debate going on in my head. Do the people that I saw in the insanely gorgeous remote areas living the simplest life imaginable really have it so bad? They know nothing about how we live. They have no TV, see no newspapers or magazines or even books. Their knowledge is quite limited and based on routine daily, not life experiences. Could the majority of these people function in our crazy world? Do they even want to? I think not, however, the children that I saw all had this blank, empty look in their eyes, they were there, but not there. Only when I could surprise them with a photo of themselves, did I get a remnant of a smile. One little girl looked at the photo, then down at her dress that she was wearing, then back to the photo. Her eyes were not believing that she was looking at herself. Can you imagine not knowing what you look like? I think the blank stare is due to lack of experiencing emotion, things are just the same for them every day. Our visit was a big deal.

My trip began at the ferry terminal at 1 PM on Wed the 8th of August for the 2 PM ferry to La Ceiba. I met Nidia and her sister Rose Mary there, we did our check in and went inside and waited for the ferry to leave. I took a small cooler loaded with food because I don’t eat meat, fish, seafood or beans. Yes, I’m a really horrible snoop and was quite nervous about what I would eat for a week.

The ferry was on time, as always, and Nidia’s taxi driver Donald was waiting for us when we arrived. He took us to our hotel, The Emperador in Ceiba. Later on Donald took us to Little Cesar’s Pizza. I was starving by that point. We had him pick us up and take us back to the hotel and we went on the roof and drank a bottle of wine. I mean, why not, we were on an adventure.

Donald was a few minutes late picking us up to take us to the Ceiba airport at 0 Dark 30 AM. Nidia gave him a large portion of her mind that morning for being late, I couldn’t stop laughing.

While paying our departure tax Nidia ran in to her friend, the man we were going to see, the Mayor of Puerto Lempira and his wife. They were on our 90 minute flight to Puerto Lempira. When we landed, I was kind of surprised to find out it was a dirt runway. Pretty smooth but I imagine it turns into a dust bowl during the dry season and a slimy mess during the rains. When we arrived, since we were guests of the mayor, there were men to carry our bags and drive us to the ferry dock. We walked around town for a little bit and visited a school where there was a celebration going on. The vice Mayor told me I could go stand in the middle of the ceremony that was going on and take photos. So, WTH, why not?

Rose Mary really wanted to take this iron home to her daughter. She actually attempted to use one while we were staying at the teachers house in Kaukira. It was pretty funny.

The kids on one side of the bleachers, the other side was packed too. School celebration, Puerto Lempira

So, she (vice mayor) told me to walk out and take a photo. So here is this white girl, the only person standing in the center of the show, taking photos. I felt uncomfortable. Love the cayuco decoration though.

Nidia and the Alcade, Mayor Edgardo. I love this guy. Since I certainly do not speak Moskito, neither does Nidia (they have their own language) and my Spanish is not great, he would tell Nidia what he wanted to tell me in Spanish. Then she would say it in English, a few words at a time, and he would repeat them in English so he could “talk with me.” It was extremely gracious and felt so sincere. This photo is at the muni, they have no running water. Nidia and the mayor are standing at the pump.

Puerto Lempira Municipal building. There is a huge table in the back room and only 1 chair for the whole table. We made sure they got some chairs.

Where all the starving dogs hang out. The dog situation hit me hard. I did not see one food dish or water dish for a dog on my whole trip. I saw grease thrown from a pan on the ground for the dogs to eat. So many pregnant and unfixed dogs, it’s a crying shame.

After our tour through town, {where I bought a Claro chip for 10L and a week of internet for 100L because TIGO didn’t work where we were}, we went down to the dock, we were going on a boat ride. The dock was really long with several perpendicular docks abutting it. Problem is, the water was shallow. Real shallow and the boats, especially those with larger motors had trouble getting out to the deeper water. We loaded our suitcases on the boat and the Mayor, Nidia, Rose Mary, one woman with a small baby and another woman with 2 young children were on board. This boat had a 200HP motor on it, way too much for the type of boat that it was. The woman with the 2 kids had haphazardly put on the life vest that was given to her, it flopped and blew in the breeze the whole trip. We crossed the lake like a bat out of hell with Speedy Gonzalez, our boat captain. If we were in a race, we won for sure. No other boat would be insane enough to go that fast. It took me a long time to untangle my hair and my butt is still sore.

Once we crossed the lake we took a narrow channel that T’d into another channel. We were in the town of Kaukira. Kaukira is located on a thin spit of land between the Caribbean and the channel of water that runs between the town shores. We parked on a dock and I feebly got out of the boat. Let me state this now, I suck at getting in and out of boats. I have a knee that does not bend, it makes for very clumsy entrances / exits for me. Happy to entertain the troops, it’s all fun and games until someone breaks an ankle or falls out of a stationary boat. I did neither.

Kaukira, I’ve never seen so many mango trees in my life. This is the main street.

The gas station and yes they have to carry the gas down to the water to put in the boats.

The biggest flamboyant tree I’ve ever seen. The people who own the home where the flamboyant tree is offered us their home but it had rats. Rose Mary is not fond of them and honestly, they are not my BFF’s either. We stayed elsewhere. It had horses and dogs.

We walked through town with the Mayor, stopping here and there while Nidia looked for food. I saw a male cat attempting to force himself on a young kitty girl, she was screeching and having no part of it. Two old men sat on the porch and were oblivious to what was going on. I stomped my foot to break his attention and she ran away and hid under the low steel shelving for water bottles.

Local travel. The road taxis in Kaukira are motorcycles.

The house where we were staying. There was an extra bedroom with a double and a single, perfect for the 3 of us.

This is the police station of Kaukira. There are 2 officers, we met one. The other is on vacation.

I loved this house. Only a few windows had any type of covering.

It’s nothing to have a bull walk down the dirt road. I saw 2 dogs chasing one at one point. We went to a cell phone store and the Mayor bought a baseball cap and we met the profa. She was a teacher at the Kaukira school and she had offered her house to us the first night. The boat took us over to see the place, we unloaded our luggage and the mayor’s brother guarded it while we entered another race with Speedy Gonzalez at the throttle. We went down river to see a health center that needed a new roof. The Dr spoke English so we had a nice chat.

Through the center of town. At least he was quiet, unlike the one being chased by dogs.

We saw this beautiful lady at her outdoor kitchen. Nidia had noticed that her pots shone, they were so clean. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like this. She got off her porch and went in to pose for us.

Laundry day. I assume they watch the tides before doing their wash in the river, especially because all of the septic goes in the same water. In fact, I saw many people washing their clothes right next to the outhouse.

This is where the lady who owns the house where we stayed, docks her cayuco. Naked children everywhere.

This is the health center roof. It’s almost gone. This is the only health center for many communities. The Doctor there spoke English. We had a long conversation about the lack of government help and their inabilities to always be able to help due to lack of supplies. There are 15000 people living in the Kaukira area, that’s not counting the outlying areas who also depend on Kaukira as being their go to spot for help.

We did a little more touring and then went back to the teachers house to hang out. I made friends with her 4 dogs by feeding them pretzels. The teacher made food for everyone, I had rice and some slaw. The mayor and his brother were still there. They left after a late lunch and were going to pick us up at 7 the next morning. After they left, the teacher was going to take us all in her cayuco across the water so we could walk to the beach. As we were getting ready to go, the Mayor came back because he had to change the time to pick us up so they took us across to the main part of town and the teacher met us there.

The teacher showed us the third grade class room, the roof has a huge hole so they have to all move to the opposite end of the room when it rains. It wouldn’t take much to fix this.

Unbelievable that the government does nothing about this.

It’s a huge hole that has been patched several times.

We walked for about 20 minutes until we came to the ocean.

These are the teachers grandkids, the little boy is named Nelson. They walked to the beach with us. Nidia gave him the slap bracelets and candy and they were going up to the children outside and giving them gifts. Nelson wanted to learn to speak English so Nidia and I were telling him English words for everything and he repeated them. They were both sweet kids. Nelson lives with his grandmother most of the time.

Laundry on the barbed wire, this was the road to the beach.

Breadfruit galore. When they fall from the tree if you are standing in the wrong place, it’s going to hurt.

Simple houses, notice how curved the limbs are holding it up.

These were growing in the marsh land. Rose Mary knelt down to pick one and got bitten by ants.

Nidia found some guys with fresh conch, crab legs and lobster. The only cop in town was there trying to buy some too. She argued with them until she got the price she wanted. They were all laughing at her but they gave in because she is one persistent woman.

The beach on the Caribbean. The waves were muddy and the beach was littered as far as I could see with trash.

Nidia took this photo of me resting on a boat on the beach. The buildings to the left behind me are where they gather and sort the sea cucumbers and jellyfish that they export. They said the sea cucumbers go to Japan and I read the jellyfish go to China. What I want to know if who catches the jellies and how?

Here is a link about the jellyfish.

Nidia passing out candy and slap bracelets. She’s like the pied piper.

Kids were appearing from every direction.

Ring Around the Rosie. How long has it been since you have seen this played somewhere? It brings back memories of childhood, when life was much simpler.

Nidia wasn’t quite at the boat when I did my epic “almost fall out of the dang cayuco while trying to sit down.” Rose Mary was hysterical. Once I was seated, I did not move, the last thing I wanted to experience that day was a dip in the channel that is filled with sewage.

Once I was seated I was fine. I still didn’t move. The gasoline is to run the generator so we have power for fans and to charge our phones. Photo by Nidia.

We were anxious to get back to the house and get showers and sit some where other than a boat. The electric was to come on once the generator was started. They turned on the water pump so we could shower. I’m not used to cold showers or dunking a bowl in a big barrel of water to rinse off with. This was a first for me. Regardless, it felt great to get clean. After all showers were done, it was dark and the bugs were really bad outside so we stayed in the house, Nidia and Rose Mary were working on cooking the conch and crab legs they got. Me? I ate granola bars and surfed the internet.

We went to sleep early, we were beat. At around 4 AM (about when the generator shut off) the dogs started barking like crazy and it didn’t stop for a long time. They were running around the outside of the house. We found out later a few horses had gotten in to the fenced yard and the dogs were having a fit and the horses were in a frenzy. I think I went back to sleep for awhile after that. You just never know what to expect next.

So ends our first day in La Mosquitia. Please follow along, we’re just getting started, there will be 2 more blogs about the trip.

I can’t begin to say how glad I am that I went.

Planes, boats and fins

04/30/2017 First of all, I apologize to those of you who received an email yesterday saying that a new blog was published, only to have me take it down. Somehow the post got published and wordpress wouldn’t allow me to get it back to a draft so I had to trash it and do a shabby copy and paste into a new blog. Our internet has been shit so that may account for it.

Saturday afternoon was the first I stopped and relaxed in a solid week. Remember, I’m O L D. Very old. Don’t misunderstand me, I had a blast entertaining Jillian and Justin this past week. Jillian is my great niece (well, Bill’s really, but I claim her as mine) and Justin is her boyfriend. It was Jillian’s second visit and Justin’s first. In fact he had to get a passport to come visit. We’re happy that he made it to Roatan. So are the dogs, especially Lola, she really liked Justin.

I picked them up at the airport on Saturday. I’m a weirdo who loves to go to the airport to pick up friends. I see so many people I know that it’s like a big party, this Saturday was no different.

Once Jill and Justin got through the insane immigration lines, we headed east, stopping at Eldon’s for them to get some food. After getting settled we all retreated to the pool, it has been so flipping hot that being in the water is all you can do.

Sunday we made the routine Mega Paca shopping trip then came home and got ready to go to the Reef House on Oak Ridge Key. We parked the car and went by boat for the short ride there. I was excited to see my dive friend Caroline there, haven’t seen her for months. We spent some time in the water then I got out and wandered around talking to friends. Tim Blanton, who lives on Roatan and is an exceptional photographer was there with his drone. He made a short video of the Oak Ridge area and hovered over the porch where we all were posing. Check it out HERE. Beautiful video of the area.

Monday we went to Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. I didn’t know until Justin and Jill got here that Justin’s favorite animal was the sloth. It was a no brainer that we would go there first. When we got to the farm Preston was waiting to give us one of his exceptional tours.

One of my favorite animals is the Coati. They are a part of the raccoon family. Two of them live here.

The first cage we got to go in was the monkey cage. The white faced Capuchin’s are named after the cast of The Jersey Shore, AKA, Snookie, Vinny, JWow, Pauly D etc. These monkeys are very friendly and love to interact with people.

They were particularly fond of Justin’s curly hair.

They are like kamikaze monkeys. They vanish and then out of nowhere come flying onto your shoulders. They were so much fun.

Next we looked at the spider monkeys but they are not very friendly so guests don’t interact with them.

When we were ready to leave Justin walked over to look at the water again and the monkey grabbed his sunglasses. He finally managed to get them back, all in 1 piece.

Next stop was the parrots, the Red and Green Macaws. These birds are so stunning. There is only 1 green one, Fiona, from Shrek. Her colors are so intense that she doesn’t seem real.

I think the red macaw is named Rose from the Titanic and the other is Fiona.

We saved the best for last, the sloths. These are all 3 toed sloths and are all rescues.

Jillian and Olivia the sloth. The sloth is adorable but Jillian is gorgeous! Love this young lady!

The sloths mostly live in the trees and venture down to the ground once a week to poop and pee. Their only defense is camouflage, they do not use their claws except to climb and grab leaves.

Just an FYI: Daniel does not buy animals, every animal he has is a rescue and they are treated very well.

After we saw all the animals and were getting ready to leave, Daniel arrived. He invited us to go on his maiden snorkel trip on his new snorkel barge later in the week. We said sure, something else fun to look forward to.

We went straight to the Iguana Farm, critters to critters. It was a hot sunny day and there were iguanas all over the place. Jillian and Justin fed them, Jill wasn’t ready to get up close with them though.

This is a black spiny tailed iguana, indigenous to Roatan. This one is molting, shedding it’s skin. Black spiny-tailed iguanas.

This dude just chased another male out of his tree. Sam (Arch) said they are very territorial, especially during mating season.

Look how long the spines are on this guy’s back!

We had a great visit at the iguana farm, especially because we got to see Sam. Sam and Daniel (sloth farm) are 2 amazing young islander men (and cousins) who work very hard and are quite successful. I am blessed to have them as good friends.When we left the iguana farm I called my friend Marcia to see if we could come kayak and snorkel and she said sure. The 3 of us went home, changed, ate and left for Carib Bight and Marcia’s house.

An extra bonus of going to Marcia and Dennis’s home is I get to see one of my puppies, Duke and their other 2 dogs, Shay and the new rottie, Luna. Puppy breath is the best.

Justin, Jillian and I went down to the water and got the kayaks down and set off for the mangroves. It was a little later in the day so there wasn’t much boat traffic. We kayaked all the way through the tunnels and back.

We then tied the kayaks up to the broken down dock and snorkeled out to the reef. For some reason it was extremely murky and stirred up and the visibility was not very good. And, my camera battery died. bummer.

Once I got more puppy kisses we came home, all got showered and went to Cal’s for dinner. We had an excellent meal, as usual. It was a busy day and we were all tired so it was early to bed that night.

The view from Cal’s and my friend Linda’s house.

The next morning we stopped at Jessica’s school to see why she was absent Monday. The teacher said her mother’s lame assed boyfriend kept her home from school because they all overslept. I’d like to lynch him.

From there we drove through Punta Gorda to hand out some of the toys that Liza and Mike brought down for the kids. Once again, it got crazy. The kids were grabbing out of my car, the ones I gave toys to hid them and said they didn’t get any. It became bedlam so I did what I had to do; I closed the trunk and left, no more for them. We passed out a few more along the way, choosing wisely where we stopped.

Jillian wanted to go to La Sirena in Camp Bay, it’s pretty much a must see spot. We all had onion rings and rum punches. My friends Don and Janice were there so we sat near them and chatted for awhile while watching the wind surfers. {side note, I bought a new camera, a Nikon CoolPix B 500 with a 40X zoom lens on it} I am still learning to use the camera and did not have it on the correct setting so these photos aren’t the best.

It must be so amazing to be wind surfing at Camp Bay, it’s one of the more pristine spots on the whole island.

Jillian and Justin at my favorite beach on the moon.

Alligator Nose, just seeing it makes me miss the Duchess of Camp Bay and her husband.

Almost every day when we came home from our activities we jumped in the pool to cool off, rinse off the salt water and visit with the dogs. On Wednesday I thought we could go to The Buccaneer in French Harbor for something different. If I had known they charged $5.00PP entrance fee I would have stayed home in my own pool.

It’s a nice place but it isn’t worth the entrance fee.

They have an area roped off from the sea and pretty much protected from the waves. There are huge decks, swings in and out of the water, hammocks, floats. It’s just not the beach to me.

Floating their hectic career/school lives away

Unicorns, flamingos, swans and penguin floats. I can’t imagine what it looks like with all of them floating around,

Very colorful and somewhat tropical. I liked the ceiling at first but then I didn’t. It’s trying too hard.

I did like the hand painting on the wood deck

I think the painting would have been enough without having fake flowers and dried up leaves on the ceiling.

Not sure where these are going but I liked them.

Jillian was interested in seeing Cattleya school so I made arrangements with Connie to go there after lunch. When we arrived the students were with Kamille learning ASL. Afterwards they split into groups and did various projects.

Cattleya is a school for physically emotionally and mentally handicapped children. It’s an amazing school.

We watched the 3 different teachers conduct their classes and learned what each one was doing. The little girls flip-flops on the floor in the photo are some of the ones I donated to Cattleya, thank you Kelly. I’m still passing them out. I also donated the 3 games that Kelly brought to Cattleya.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in our pool at home. We had big salads for dinner and drank some wine on the roof.

Thursday morning we hung around the house, in and out of the pool, waiting to hear from Stephanie and Daniel. We were going snorkeling with them this afternoon. As soon as they called we went over to the sloth farm. I sat and chatted with Daniel’s Mother until they arrived. Stephanie’s parents were here visiting and they had been touring the mangroves, zip-lining and then going snorkeling. We were fortunate to be invited and very excited to go. Daniel just built a new snorkel barge with The Steelers (as in Pittsburgh) and Big Ben stenciled on the sides. Nice boat with an easy access ladder.

We went out in front of CocoView and snorkeled there. It was beautiful.

Daniel had my camera for a few minutes and snapped a pic of me.

Four eyed butterfly fish, Daniel may have taken this photo.

These are amazing Spaghetti worms (click on the name for a fascinating video on the worms). They are alive and move along the sand getting food to take back to their hole.

This was the biggest Porcupine fish I had ever seen.

They can puff themselves up to 3 times their normal size by drawing water into their abdomens. Once inflated their spines stick out and they are quite long and very sharp. They do this to protect themselves from being eaten by other fish. Then we moved to a different spot to snorkel, looking for lobsters.

Juvenile French Angelfish, Daniel took this

A school of grunts and Daniel took this too

Love to hate, hate to love. The Lion Fish. Beautiful but poisonous if you get stung by them and they are decimating the reef by eating all the small fish. They are the only fish you are allowed to spearfish (with a permit). Kill them all.

A conch slowly trucking along. I swam past him on the way out and on the way back he had barely progressed.

Daniel and Dustin (red shirt) wrestling underwater trying to pull each other’s mask off.

Beautiful day with our heads underwater with friends, can’t beat that.

I dropped Jillian and Justin off at Cal’s at 6 so they could have a nice dinner together, then Bill went down to get them when they were finished. They were done in less than 45 minutes, I thought something was wrong but they said it was all good, he just wasn’t busy.

The next morning we left here at 8:45. We stopped and got Ann then took Jillian and Justin to zip-line at South Shore. Ann and I sat and watched them zipping along under the canopy of trees.

Justin seeing the trees from a different angle

As soon as they were done we went to West Bay Beach, grabbed some chairs at Bananarama and waited in the water for Sean (my friend from Canada) to meet us. Soon as he arrived we walked down to Infinity to snorkel.

I think this is a longspine squirrelfish

I love when I see an opening out into the deeper water. Really feel like a mermaid then.

I was swimming around in the shallows looking at little things and hoping to find this big Parrot fish. I swam around a coral chunk and there he was in all of his magnificent glory. I was lucky enough to be able to swim with him for several minutes, watching him do his thing.

Mr. giant Parrotfish, I was looking for you.

You really can’t tell the size from this photo but this guy was almost as big as my dogs.

He had several fish following him as he gnawed on the coral so he could then poop sand. I know the best facts!

Such a beautiful beach. After snorkeling we ate at Bananarama then floated our cares away.

Ann walked up to a restaurant called Nice and Spicy to get her husband some dinner so we ran Sean over the hill to the place he is staying, then went back and got Ann and took her home. We went inside so I could meet her new kittens and I wanted Jill and Justin to see her place and her view. After that we made the long drive home. As soon as we opened the gate to come in the driveway the power went off.

Wonderfreakingful. Bill was making pizza. He got the dough rolled out and partially cooked on the grill before it got dark. Then we put the stuff on the pizza with the LED’s for the lightsource. It was so windy that Bill had to cover the pizza with another cookie sheet just to carry it out to the grill.

Nothing says romantic better than glaring LED’s. I lit candles several times, only to have them blown out by the wind.

Miraculously, the power came back on just as it was time to eat. We ate and cleaned up the kitchen and all ran to take showers while we had water pressure. Not long after that, the power went out again. It wasn’t only us, it was island wide. Just a 36 mile strand of darkness in the Caribbean. It really wasn’t a big deal because there was a very strong wind blowing through the house, keeping temps cool.

We hung out here the next morning, watching Flightstats to see what was going on with Jillian and Justin’s delayed flight. Once we saw it was airborn we went to the airport and got them checked in. The line for departures was long so I took them for a tour of Coxen Hole, the “downtown” center of the island. We drove all along the waterfront and stopped to take a photo of the new sign by Petro Sun. I dropped them off at the airport with time to spare before their flight. We enjoyed having Jillian and Justin and look forward to them returning.

I started talking to them about diving. I suggested they do the course work at home, then get their certs with my friends @ Blue Island Divers when they get here. I need to get Jillian’s sister to do this also, she will be here the end of June.

It’s been unusually HOT. 90 degrees with 85% humidity. Despite the insane temps the wind has been blowing hard and steady, keeping the air moving and keeping it cool inside. If there were no breeze we would either have to remain in the pool 24/7 or melt. The wonderful wild and crazy wind is blowing so much dust and dirt around that my screens are filthy and everything is covered in an inch of dust. Lola is sneezing and Barrio has goobers in his eyes, I think it’s allergies for both of them. Tomorrow is Max’s last day of meds, keeping my fingers crossed.

I have a busy few weeks coming up. A friend is coming for a few days to sign the papers on the land she is buying, another friend is coming to stay with us for 2 weeks while she sorts things out with her house building project. I am helping at a fundraiser for Cattleya for Mother’s Day and am also helping Nidia with a Mother’s Day luncheon on the 13th. TOMS shoe delivery will start in June, super late start this year due to some customs snafu.

Off to find something to watch on the computer. I hope everyone had a great weekend, it’s kind of quiet around here. Jillian and Justin, maybe you should come back.

Prosciutto

08/31/2015 It’s been a quiet week, which is a nice change. Brenda and I tried to do a vet clinic on Thursday but the guy who was going to help us was so sick we ended up taking him to the doctor. He had impacted sinuses and was a mess. After a visit with the doc he was on 2 nose sprays and 3 different meds. On the way back to the boat we stopped and treated a puppy, a bigger dog and a severely malnourished cat. The cat was 3 months old and weighed about 2#’s. It is heartbreaking and there is nothing we can do but try and educate the people about feeding the animals. Oh, the 3 month old kittens’ momma was preggo again too. Just what the island needs, more animals.

On Friday I had the pleasure of attending a spelling bee at the Pedro Nufio school in Politilly. I got there around 9 AM, it was (and has been) miserably hot. The school is situated up a very steep road and I had to do a 17 point turn to get my car faced downhill and then hope like hell that my emergency brake was in excellent working condition. I trudged down the dirt road then up the dirt hill to the school, which is situated next to a small cemetery. I walked to the back of the tents, searching for a seat in the shade. There were none. A young boy brought me a blue wooden school desk chair to sit on and I squeezed as close as I could into a shaded area, waiting for Nidia to arrive. In sun like this you will melt in 10 minutes flat. Maybe less if you are not Italian.

The ladies in front of me were the Pandy Town teachers, they recognized me as “the Camera Lady.” I sat there in the sweltering heat for several hours listening to the kids spell. I felt that some of the words were not appropriate words for these young kids who are just learning English, like ALLITERATION. I mean, even the judges had to look up the meanings of the word and the man saying the words didn’t always pronounce them correctly either. I wish I knew for sure the ages but I think it was 4th, 5th and 6th grade. There were a couple really good spellers in the group. You could tell the kids were extremely nervous plus the crowd was loud, lots of kids carrying on, parents talking and arguing. My idea of a spelling bee is the audience is supposed to be “Pin Drop” quiet so the kids can concentrate. Not in Honduras, it’s just not how its done. There was one little boy who knocked my socks off. He walked up, blue shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, hands in his black pants pockets, this boy was ready to spell. I’ve never seen such confidence is such a young boy . He said the word, spelled it INSTANTLY, no hesitation, repeated it and he was always right. When they gave him the word Prosciutto, I was all WTH?? Most English speaking adults can’t even begin to spell that word but it fell off his lips instaneaously. Many people don’t even know what the hell it is, yet he spelled it. Amazeballs.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — The crowd of parents and loud unattended children

I only had to back up and pull forward 6 or 7 times to get out of the parking spot at the school. Someone had totally parked me in. I was a hot sweaty mess (and not in a good way) by the time I maneuvered my car out and started down the hill towards home.

August was a typical hotter than hell month with humidity so high you were in a perpetual state of sweat. So be it, I’m not complaining about the weather in the Caribbean, really, I’m not. I remember when I lived in the states, way back when, 2 years ago, I loved the end of July and all of August. They were typically the only weeks I could really use my ghetto pool. We had always considered putting in a nice pool but given the fact that summer is only 6 weeks long, it wasn’t worth it. That is unless we wanted to HEAT the water. Pools here have the opposite problem. They are too damn hot. I recall going to Parrot Tree with Walter one Sunday and the only way we could be in the water was if we stood under the bridge, where the water was shaded. There was no, “aaah, this feels so awesome” when you entered the water. It was SHIT, “this is hot”.

So this is September now and August forgot to take the heat with it. The other day Bill hooked up a random mister section of hose he brought with us. It was a semi breezy day on our porch so directing the mist was not something we could do.

The pups were afraid, then curious, then fascinated, then they were sure it was their own personal drinking fountain. They were biting at the jets of mist that were spraying into the air from the tiny holes.

For the sheer entertainment of it all, I have been sewing dogs faces together, cutting off noses or paws and re-stitching. NOT A DAMN TOY IS SACRED.

Anything with stuffing meets a swift and sudden death here. There are still 2 crate pillows and 2 specially made dog beds that I am trying to figure out how to make them tooth proof. Aside from a suit of armor, I’m lost, no thoughts, so they sit in a corner of my house.

New dog treat: scrub a huge sweet potato, cut off the ends, slice it 1/4″ thick and bake for 2.5 hours in a 200 degree oven. Then let it cool. The dogs LOVE to chew on it, much better than the nasty chew toys you get in the stores.

I’m going to wrap this up because I want my bed…we took the Beach Boys down to Parrot Tree for a dip. They had their normal fabulous time. They came home, got showered, had lunch and a nice long nap.

Just hanging out for the next few days with the boys, may set the sprinkler up and see if they will play in it. Once again, it’s hot hot hot!!

Sunday will be another swim day for the puppies. This time we are driving to Paya Bay with the Beach Boys, one of their brothers and his parents. Should be a fun day. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures. Luckily my dogs are used to my camera, Dooce was terrified of it. We always felt she thought the camera stole her soul..Who knows, maybe it did.

catch you later my friends..

The best laid plans go astray on Roatan

08/26/2015 I worked at the airport on Saturday doing my airport lady gig, which I love doing. You get to meet so many fascinating people who all have stories to tell. I just wish I had the time to hear them all. It was another day that United’s computers were not working and it was taking light years to check someone in. I really feel bad for the people who are waiting in line. I hear them bad mouthing United and that makes me feel bad because I am very partial to United Airlines. It is the airline Bill flew for years when he was working and we are lucky enough to be Premier Gold Elite for life with them. When I got home I decided to sign into my United account and send them a little note telling them of the situation from an outsiders view point. I received a very nice email back and she said she was glad I wrote, she appreciated it, that it was refreshing to get a letter from someone because they cared about the fact that the situation made United look bad. And she gave me 5500 bonus miles. SWEEEEEET!!! They are aware of the issue and are working very hard to find a remedy. She even sent me her personal email so that I may contact her if other issues arrive. YAY for United, we have never received poor service from them.

A few Sundays ago Bill and I went to Turquoise bay for a swim and a float. We each had a monkey lala (drink not the lizard) and I floated and swam for awhile in the pool. It’s nice to go there and not be charged to enter and to be treated like a guest. Kudos to the people running the place.

This past Sunday we took the pups to Big Bight again for a swim. They went crazy when we got there and couldn’t wait to get in the water.

After that it was home and showers for the 3 of them. I scrub every inch of their bodies to get the sand off of them. They don’t love it but they are getting used to it..I fed them, they crashed and I showered and napped too.

We spent another fabulous Monday with our friends Trish and Dave and friends in Sandy Bay. We ate, floated in the pool and watched a boat motor on by that we all assumed was on fire. Apparently, that’s how it always smokes when it runs. Pollution much? I drank too much wine (I know, hard to believe) came home, fed the pups, ate and went to bed.. It’s Dave’s fault, he kept filling my glass.

This morning Bill and I picked up my friends Brenda and Tony from Royal Playa. We were meeting them at BJ’s and taking a dog who belongs to someone who lives on one of the cays (small island) to get a throat X-Ray. The dog, Grizzly, has had a breathing issue since he was born. It sounds like he is gasping for air. We got him in the kennel in the back of the truck at Oak Ridge and stopped at our house for a minute to drop off Alexi and let the roof rail guys in and then went straight to Dr. Calderone’s. Doc looked at the dog and listened to his lungs and said he felt the dog had emphysema. Grizzly was so stressed out by the time we got there that his tongue was swollen and blue from lack of oxygen. He was almost hyperventilating. We knew he would need to be knocked out before the medical center could get him in position to X-Ray him but Doc didn’t think it would be a good idea to sedate him because he may not wake up, his oxygen level was so low at that point. We came to a joint decision, Tony, Brenda, Bill, myself and Doc and Bethany, that it would be in the dog’s best interest not to sedate him but to try to treat him for emphysema and to reduce the fluid in his lungs. We left Tony and Grizzly in the shade at the vets and we continued on to Coxen Hole. The plan was to take a new dog crate to Coxen Hole for Brenda to exchange for a larger one and return a desk to Nidia that had an unfinished phrase on the back of it (we picked that up in Pandy Town before we met Brenda and the dog). The guy who was to have the crate was not there, big surprise!!! and he wouldn’t be back for awhile so Brenda made other arrangements with him. We went to drop the desk to Nidia and Bill wanted to see if he could make a sturdier desk for the same cost for her so she said to keep it. So we still had 2 dog crates and a desk in the back of the truck.

We put the one crate in the back seat with me (Brenda gets carsick and was sitting upfront) and Tony was in the back with the dog. We barely got down Doc’s road when Tony started yelling, Grizzly had jumped out. We got him secured in the back again and went to the pharmacy to get the meds for him. Grizzly wasn’t looking too good. This is a dog who has never been in a crate, a truck or in traffic, he lives on a small little island and is free to do as he pleases. At that point we decided he would be riding in the back seat with me. Now Grizzly weighs 100#’s easily and he was doing more than drooling. It was coming out in buckets because the poor guy was so stressed. He would get up every so often and take huge gasping breaths of air, his tongue was really thick and turning blue again. I was so afraid he was going to have a heart attack on my lap. We made it back to BJ’s and Grizzly is safe (and probably happy as hell) at home. Hopefully the meds Doc gave him will help reduce the fluid so he can breathe better.

Grizzly back home with his buddy. Photo courtesy of Brenda Lee Beckmann

We had plans in order to do everything to be the most resourceful we could and not waste time and Island Time and mañana once again foiled us..

A few other things from the last couple of weeks,

We let the pups in at night to play, sometimes with Frito, sometimes just them. Lola does not like it at all and she just bolts through the window and comes in. One night I forgot to close the window and she was wandering in the bedroom. Three times in 24 hours she ruined the screen. Bill gets so pissed because he has to fix the screen. She could be trained to do it herself but the fact that she lacks an opposable thumb makes it difficult.

Tomorrow is another vet clinic, meeting Brenda and Tony at 9, hopefully not a full day. We are out of vaccines so it is more of a check up on last weeks issues and worms and flea and tick treatment. Friday there is a spelling bee that I am going to go to in Politilly, looking forward to that and Saturday finds me back at the airport.

And that, my friends is how you spend your 26th (yes it’s today) wedding anniversary!!

Rooms full of desks

07/21/2015 On Friday, Roatan Because We Care (BWC) delivered 20 more desks to the school in Pandy Town. For some reason it is one of my favorite schools. It was the first school I fitted TOMS shoes at, so it’s kind of special. It’s also where I got my first hug from this guy.

I was to pick my friend Carmen up and then meet Nidia at the school. On the way to the school I saw the truck with all the desks alongside the road. It had overheated. I took Henry to get a 5 gallon jug of water, Nidia was already calling for back-up so I went to get Carmen and would meet Nidia at the school. The municipal truck must have come right after I left because by the time I met Carmen at the dock, they were just coming across on their boat as I pulled in, we arrived only a few minutes before Nidia, the truck with the desks and the boxes of sandals. Pandemonium ensued. The kinder from Calabash Bight was also there for sandals.