West End – Mermaid on a Raft

The good, the bad and the ugly.

awesome

01/31/2017 When the weather has been crappy for so long and then it gets nice, $hit starts happening and it gets downright exciting here on the rock. We had Francie and Franklin over for Bill’s signature pizza, which he had made the day before while I was running around with Jason and Alex. We sat by the pool and sipped wine for awhile, then went up to the porch to have salads and pizza. As usual, the pizza was the bomb, there were only 2 small pieces left from 2 big pizza’s. Old Kentucky Bourbon chocolates from our Kentucky friends were dessert. Thank you John and Lizeth for the yummies. I am eating the last one right now. And Francie and Franklin, you are missed already. {They took off last week to spend some time on their new ~~boat~~ yacht. They’ll be cruising around wherever they want to for the next year or so.}

I met Jason (IL) at Barefoot Cay on Thursday morning for a tour with my wonderful friend Milesse. Milesse is one of the founding owners of this exquisite small boutique resort on it’s own private cay. We started with a tour of the resort. Having been there many times before, I thought I knew the resort rather well, I didn’t. Milesse pointed out so many things, took us into the rooms, behind the closed doors, laundry, food storage, into the villas and into the condos above the dive shop. I wrongly assumed the places above the dive shop were nice, clean little rooms for divers. So wrong. They are elegant condos overlooking the water that separates the dive shop from the cay. There is nothing plain about any of the rentals. They all emanate subdued elegance.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — From there we went over to the palapa where you can enter the water to snorkel or lay on the hammocks and swing in the breeze.

We walked all around the cay and saw where they will do a few more rentals. They won’t overpopulate or change the atmosphere of the resort, they have a lot of unused land. BFC has become Barefoot Luxury and will seek out new locations in the Caribbean to open dive shops or a new boutique resort or both.

When we were finished with our tour we went to the second level of the restaurant and had watermelon smoothies. They were extremely refreshing! It’s always pleasant spending time with Milesse, getting to do it at the resort is like icing on the cake.

From BFC Jason and I went to French Cay to Arch’s Iguana and Marine Preserve. My friends own the iguana park and I am blessed to have become family with the Arch’s. They are a very cool, well known and respected island family. The Arch family patrols the Marine Park Reserve which is right off of their docks, 24/7. It’s all protected waters with no fishing allowed and people still poach at night, stealing small conch and baby lobsters. It’s a never ending thankless job. People that do this stuff either don’t care or don’t understand that they are ruining the future of these sea critters. Kill the babies and you’ll have no adults. such bad behavior.

Jason and I got to visit with the iguanas, see the babies and let the big guys crawl across our feet.

Just as we were finished looking at the babies, Sam came. He took us out on his boat (that he and his father built) Miss French Cay. We were in the area that he protects, down to Fantasy Island, CocoView and back. It was simply gorgeous on the shimmering sea.

We left there and drove straight to our house. I wanted to show Jason the view from our roof, which is amazeballs. We, along with all 5 dogs, went up there, he took some photos and then we left for the quick drive to Cal’s for lunch.

When we got there I told Carl (owner of Cal’s) who I was with. He actually smiled. If you know Carl, a smile is a big deal. Jason and I had a great meal, I saw some friends there and we also saw Paul, a gringo who Jason interviewed on Tuesday. When we went to pay, Reynaldo said Carl got the bill. Super nice of him, not necessary, but appreciated.

Feeling satiated, we went straight to Daniel Johnson’s Sloth and Monkey Hang-out. Daniel wasn’t there when we got there, they said he was just at lunch. Stephanie (Daniel’s GF) had our name on the sheet and we were given a guide and taken in. It was later in the day so the sloth’s were sleeping in the trees but we could easily see them. Some of the monkeys were running helter skelter on the roof, sounding like rhinoceros. The monkeys all get 2 hours a day out of their cages (in pairs, not all at once). The guide took us in the cages with the huge Macaws. These birds are magnificent. Now, let me say, I’m not a bird person. I used to lock myself in the bathroom when my mother let her damn parakeets out to fly around the kitchen. Here I am in a cage with birds bigger than my head. Just then Daniel came and he stepped into the cage with us. They held a sunflower seed over my head and the freaking bird landed on my head, 2 TIMES. I ask Daniel if it was going to poop on me and he said, you never know. Great, thanks.

Daniel talked to us about his next project which is to make his cages much larger and taller than they currently are and to move a few things around. He has a nice operation and he takes impeccable care of the animals. He is Sam Arch’s cousin, small island.

Jason had another appointment in West End at 3ish and I had volunteered to drive him back to the other end of the island. Once I dropped him off I called my friend Ann and ran up and said hello, she’s my twin, in case you didn’t know that.

On Saturday Jeanie and Roger came here and we all rode together to Trish and Dave’s home in Sandy Bay. Trish and Dave were headed back to Canada the 23rd. We had a nice dinner, enjoying the amazing view. Once it started to get dark, we left for home. I never had the tint removed from my windshield, it’s pretty dark and makes a night drive similar to driving at night with almost dead flashlights. Plus, the Duchess and husband still had to drive to Hell with a View in Camp Bay.

This is part of the mess we came home to. Barrio and Highway were left inside. Aside from the bottle of Black Seed Oil that Barrio chewed up on top of the ottoman, he also destroyed a styrofoam egg carton. This really isn’t a big deal, but I never buy eggs in styrofoam, only in a cardboard flat of 30. I then transfer them to the styrofoam containers because they fit in my fridge so much easier.

Sunday was a day at home. I did go to Mega Paca in the morning but then stayed here all day, we had several workers so I stuck around and made sure things I wanted done were getting done.

The school bells are once again ringing for the island kids, they are on break Nov-Feb. This year Alexi will be going to a different school, one he needs to go to for the Bomberos (fire fighters) that is held every Sunday in Punta Gorda. He needs new school shoes, we are taking some of his pay every week and holding it for him so he has some money to buy things he needs. If he has money, his mother “borrows” it and never repays him, of course. We are going to open a bank account once he gets ID. He has never had any because it requires his mother to actually do something to get it. Jessica, his younger sister is going to go to the English school that Alexi went to the last 2 years. She needs everything for school except undershirts and socks which Julie and Robby brought for her already. Alexi’s brother and nephew both need school clothes also. I don’t know if it’s me and my attitude or what but it pisses me off that Alexi’s lazy assed “mother” will not spend one penny for her kids to go to school. If someone else doesn’t cough up the money, so sad, too bad, they don’t go. This will be Jessica’s first year back to school after not going for a couple years because her mother wouldn’t buy the uniforms and supplies that she needed. In her defense (and believe me, the last thing I would ever do is stick up for the lousiest mother of the year award winner) the uniforms are expensive. We spent $100 USD on 2 pair of dark blue pants, 2 white short sleeved shirts, a pleated skirt for Jessica and a pair of slip on black shoes for her and socks for the boys. We also got them each writing notebooks that they needed. $100.00. A hundred dollars to get kids almost ready for back to school is nothing for people who have a little money but for the majority of people on the island, it is a LOT of money. Now remember, many families have MANY children (hello birth control?) and they can’t afford the uniforms so the kids don’t go to school. In a country with such an overpopulation of children and extreme poverty in the majority of the communities, why the hell do they have to wear uniforms? How does that change their learning capabilities?

We dropped Juliana and the boys off at a seamstress in Politilly. The boys both needed their pants shortened and tucks put into the waist. Hopefully they will get 2 years out of the pants. We didn’t buy them big on purpose, they were the 2 smallest pair they had.

When we were leaving Politilly we had to slow down to go around a motorcycle on the road. When we got right up to it Bill said, “well, look who it is.” It was Alexi’s poor excuse of a mother and her boyfriend who beat Alexi. She probably knew the kids were with us and that we were buying them school clothes but she never even said thank you. We should have knocked them over. Or run them over. I turned my head, I was afraid of what I would say. If she cared at all, just one tiny little speck of care, I wouldn’t feel so upset by her, but she doesn’t. She just does not give one $hit about the kids she brought into this world.

It’s all about the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m trying to make peace with it, I struggle.

It’s been awhile

06/22/2015 Our much anticipated guests have come and gone, we wish they had stayed longer than a week. We had semi decent weather while they were here so that was a bonus. Their flight was delayed arriving, then all 3 flights landed {American, Delta and United} within minutes of each other which turns the small immigration room into a virtual circus. Luckily Kathy was old enough to get in the resident line and she took Jen with her; then my friends at the airport grabbed them and put them in the front of the line. Perks…

We, unfortunately had to take a puppy with us to the airport. Max was sick all day Friday with a variety of symptoms. I managed to get in touch with some vets who came from Tegus for a weekend to set up shop here. We had an 11:30 appointment. Max was sick beyond sick on Friday all day and into the night but we gave him a little Pepto Bismol and in about 45 minutes he rallied. We still planned to go to the vet to get to the bottom of this. They were busy and behind schedule and with the plane being late and 3 planes arriving at once we made it to the airport in time to see them get taken to the front of the line. Our friends Kevin and Claire were there. Claire has wanted to see the pups for weeks but Kevin kept saying no more dogs. He saw me with Max, grabbed him and went down to where Claire was standing. When he came back he asked if Max was the biggest, we said no Tank is at home. He said we’ll probably take him. Happy, but so sad.

We came back here and got Jen and Kathy situated then went up on the roof for awhile. After dinner it was early to bed for everyone.

Sunday morning looked ugly, it rained, then cleared then rained some more. We had planned to have Alexi dog sit while we were entertaining our company so Bill went to get him. I’m not sure what good it is even having him here because all he does is surf the web on the Kindle I gave him. This too confuses me because he barely can read or write..

We left for Camp Bay around noon, final destination La Sirena. Right before we left we got a call from a friend who wanted to give us some mangoes. We stopped by on the way and got a BOX of yummy fragrant delicious fresh picked mangoes.

After that we made a detour through Punta Gorda and then to Oak Ridge where we pointed out the highlights on the way. We then headed to Heaven. Well, that’s what the sign says and I think we’ve been there many times.

Jen and Kathy could not believe the condition of “the road” to get to Camp Bay. I guess I’m just used to deplorable roads. We had a great time at La Sirena, had some lunch and the waiter thought I ordered a Port Royal AND a rum punch so I didn’t want to hurt his feelings and drank both.

Jimmy was there so we talked to him for quite awhile, always interesting conversation. By the time we got home everyone was tired and not hungry for a big dinner. We picked at food, ate some mangoes and went to bed.

Monday was a semi sunny day and I thought we should head west, all the way west, to West Bay beach. We took the scenic route through Coxen Hole and made it to West Bay in under 40 minutes, not bad. We settled ourselves at Banarama and went in the water to float on the rafts. It felt so good and has been too long. DAMMIT, I live here…

Jen and I walked down past Infinity Bay to snorkel. She said she was cool with deep water so we went for a swim and saw some pretty cool stuff.

After lunch we floated for a bit more, then headed home. Bill was making pizza tonight so I had to get veggies cut up. That night we gorged ourselves on grilled pizzas. It was (and has been) so windy it blew the pepperoni right off the pizza into the waiting mouths of 8 dogs. Luckily we had more pepperoni, damn wind.

The pizza was yummy as usual and we were stuffed. Being at the beach in the fresh air, water and wind PLUS snorkeling for awhile is tiring stuff. I think we watched some “Whose Line is it Anyway” and went to bed.

We realized on Tuesday that Max was sick again, same symptoms but getting worse. He was throwing up but there was nothing there, just stomach bile. I messaged my friend to see if Doc was coming on the ferry that evening. She said he was and I said we would pick him up at the ferry for an emergency visit Tuesday eve. Normally he doesn’t start work here until Wed. morn.

Earlier in the day Kathy, Jen and I went to Parrot Tree to float in the pool for awhile. It was empty, we were the only people there. I came home a few times to check on Max so Bill went and picked up Kathy and Jen around 4.

We left for the ferry terminal at 5:30 to pick Doc up and take him to his clinic. Bethany was there waiting to help and translate for us. Max was so dehydrated they couldn’t find a vein for the IV. After about half a dozen times I was pleading saying I could make him drink, don’t stick him anymore. Just about that time they got a vein, they taped it to keep it in place and then administered some shots via the IV. We let him get a good bit of the fluid and then left to take Doc to Brick Bay where he stays while on island. After we dropped him off we had to get gas and realized that Max had gotten the full amount so we took the IV needle out at the gas station.

Only in Honduras. We took Bethany home and got back to the house around 8. Kathy and Jen had to fend for themselves but made out just fine. Max seemed lively and he was hungry again so we fed him a light meal. He had to be on Metronidazol for 2 more days.

Wednesday was deemed a West End shopping day. We got a good start on the day and sauntered around West End, checking all my usual haunts. When we were done there we were off to Umbul Umbul, it’s just somewhere I always take company. For lunch we were going to the Beach Grill to see Lisa and Rob and of course my babies, Sable and Bandit. When Lisa and Rob pulled up I couldn’t wait, I had to go see the pups. Lisa said they are doing really good, they are spoiled and sleep on the couch and they even get in the shower on their own when Lisa is in there.

After we left there we went to the Iguana Farm to see all of the iguana’s. They were surprised that there were so many running loose..

We were going to Cal’s that night for dinner and we were hungry!! Cal’s wasn’t too busy, food was fabulous as always.

I’ll finish this post another day, too many more photos to post and my mind is fried. I drove into Coxen Hole today to inquire about my NON EXISTANT license plate for my car. Three weeks ago I was told 2 weeks and THEY WOULD CALL ME. hahahahahahaha! Today they told me to “keep checking back.” Sure I will, it’s real convenient to drive all the way to Coxen Hole and try to find a spot to park, just makes my day. So, no license plate yet, it was made May 19th, why the hell it hasn’t gotten here yet from the mainland 36 miles away I’ll never know.

One thing I do know is that come hell or high water I am going to go to the beach at least once a week from now on, I NEED IT..It does wonders for my soul..

Vitamin Sea, I love you….

And they called it puppy love….

05/04/2015 Click here if you want to listen to Paul Anka croon Puppy Love while you read. Thanks Marilyn for the blog title.

We are living in Puppy Central. It’s a special kind of neighborhood, one where you don’t get shit done all day long because all you do is PUPPY STARE. Yes, we sit for hours and watch these little creatures develop before our very eyes. Their eyes opened and they are all a milky blue color, they really can’t see very well yet but that is coming. Cuteness abounds in this household, so does puppy pee and poop. We have lots of both!

My friend KP arrived on Sunday, she had been bumped to first class so she was off the plane immediately and in line. It only took her about 5 minutes in immigration, a record for anyone I’ve picked up at the airport! We haven’t seen each other for at least 20 years but once together, there was no time space. We went to our house, unloaded suitcases, visited puppies then went to Parrot Tree to float in the lagoon and drink some beer.

It was an oppressively hot few days with the “real feel” temp well over 100 degrees. The sweat was abundant on every square inch of the body. We didn’t get out of the water except to get more beers. Bill had dinner ready when we got home and we had drinks on the roof.

The next morning we got up early and waited for Nidia’s call. We were headed to Pandy Town to deliver desks and school supplies. We met the crew at 8 and followed them down into Pandy Town. School wasn’t in session but they had the students from Pandy Town and Calabash Bight waiting for us to arrive. This is the school we went to the first day I helped with the TOM’s shoe delivery. The classrooms are in bad shape, there were desks with sharp pieces of rusted metal sticking up in the air still being used! Desks were very needed here. There were only 6 in a room that has 23 students.

This was the last time I was going to see Addy, Brian and Nancy before they headed back to Canada after being here 3 months working in the schools and the clinic. Actually those 3 worked almost every day of their 3 months here. So happy we became friends, hope to see them again!

Later on Monday, KP and I went to Lady Lee and bought some toys to take to the kinder. We got a set of big Lego blocks, a few puzzles and a small interactive toy set. That evening we made cupcakes for the students in El Higuero, we were going there Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday we went to Big French Key for a few hours. There were several cruise ship people there but it wasn’t too crowded. We spent the majority of our time there on rafts in the water. It was just too dam hot to get out.

We got home about 2 PM and Bill and Alexi loaded the desk and the whiteboard up, we grabbed the cupcakes and the juice packs KP bought, the school supplies and toys and TOMs shoes and went down in the valley. The teacher was in the midst of a lesson but was very happy to be interrupted by us. The students were excited to get new shoes. One of the little boys needed a smaller shoe and we didn’t have any but luckily I had a pack of new socks and put a pair on him and the shoes were fine. There was no way we could leave one little boy without new shoes. KP brought little Koala pins from Australia for all of the students, They loved them and were excited when she clipped them onto their shirts. We had Alexi tell the teacher about the donations, (she doesn’t speak any English) who paid for the whiteboard and toys and they showed the teacher which markers to use on the whiteboard and how to flip it over. When we left the kids were digging into the cupcakes and juice. These students are so sweet and it felt really good to give something to this (pregnant) teacher who volunteers her time. Thank you again Walt and Judy Kaiser, I still have lots of $$ left to spend, just finding the biggest needs.

When we got home we rushed around getting showers before Dave and Lynda came for dinner. They were leaving on Thursday and we wanted to get together one more time. I’m so happy we finally got to meet them!

On Tuesday afternoon I got a FB message from a friend. She and her husband have the Free Radical catamaran that I’ve been on a few times. They had 28 backpacks and several bags stuffed full of school supplies and needed to get it out of their boat. I said I would come and get it so Wednesday morning KP and I met them at BJ’s. They were not kidding when the said they had A LOT OF STUFF. OMG!! It’s like an office supply store in the downstairs living room.

That was a hot sweaty job that required wine and lots of fans. It’s so exciting to get all of this stuff for the kids. Thanks so much to all the teachers who took the time to buy and transport this to Roatan and thanks to Ed and Julie for storing it.

Wednesday eve we went to Cal’s for dinner. Fabulous meal as always, never disappointed there!

On Thursday it was raining and gray, not much to do outside so we headed to Camp Bay for lunch. It was drizzling on and off, not pouring by any means. There were 6 people there when we arrived, Joe and his brother were 2 of them. We had a good lunch, talked to the other people and Joe and Pete. We always run in to interesting people at La Sirena.

Friday KP and I were beach bound, gloomy or not. It was Labor Day here on the island which meant that a lot of places were closed and there was a big ~~riot~~ parade in Los Fuertes. We knew before we left that traffic would be ugly and that we would have to take the Bahia road. It was ugly on the Bahia road but we really didn’t have to wait all that long.

KP wanted to do some shopping so we went to West End, hoping that the stores would be open. There weren’t many people in West End, not like there usually are. We wandered around, went in a few stores. I bought some things for the house (downstairs.)

When Cis and Cheryl were here we were looking for a place called Eataly in West End to grab lunch. We walked way down the road, but not far enough. Today KP and I found it and we fell in love. Their pasta is home made, sauce is too and it was a delicious and filling lunch!

After our stomachs were full we went to West Bay beach and parked our butts on chairs at Banarama and drank beer while watching people on the Jet Boards. Looks like fun but extremely hard work to actually stand up. We made a quick grocery stop on the way home. KP had to pack tonight as she was leaving on Saturday.

Saturday I took KP to the airport for her 1 PM flight on United to Houston. I left the airport and went home to get Bill, we were doing free skin cancer checks at Barefoot Key. We got there @ 1, left around 2:30, got groceries and came home. I started making my breakfast for the week, got that all cleaned up, washed all the dishes and decided to sit down and relax. Just as I did I noticed a message from KP, she was STILL at the airport, flight canceled. I put my bra back on and drove as fast as I could to the airport. We left there at 5:30 after realizing it would be easier and faster to call United from the house and get the flight re-booked. Plus, it was going to get dark soon and I have NO HEADLIGHTS still. She got booked on Avianca, leaving Roa @ 11AM on Sunday. Bill was going to have to take her to the airport because I was headed to Helene with Nidia and Because We Care.

The Helene trip will be another post because this is too long and I don’t even have any puppy photos, so here we go. PUPPY CENTRAL! You may want to play Puppy Love again, just saying…