No snow and High waters

I woke this morning December 23 really missing my Island.  I realize I have skipped much of the story of our build but this morning being almost Christmas I feel I need to jump to a different part of the story. We can catch up on the rest later.

As I said I woke this morning really missing my island , the rest of the family was sleeping , I decided to take a walk.  We live in the southwest corner of the Adirondack Park, in New York State. The Adirondack Park was created in 1892 by the State of New York amid concerns for the water and timber resources of the region. Today the Park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined. (Adirondack State Park Agency description).  Much of the park is privately owned but it is all overseen by the Park Agency and we have restrictions on what we can and can’t do.

I headed down the road on this 50 degree morning, which is about 30 degrees above a typical December day here.  I think that is why I was missing Roatan this morning a hazy rainy morning with no snow and a quiet in the air reminded me of mornings we have spent on the island.  As I walked down the road thinking how strange it was to have such a warm, snowless Christmas week here when we expected to be In Roatan experiencing a warm, snowless week. See our plan was to spend the Christmas holidays working on our Lodge in Roatan this year, but due to Island time, a change in builders and just fate I guess we do not have a home there yet; our build does not start till January.

I am amazed at how vastly different and yet emotionally the same my two homes are.  The Adirondacks and Roatan are two of the most amazing locations in the world and I feel equally at home and at peace in both.  I believe places have a spirit about them , by that I mean an underlying feeling of peace, tranquility, excitement, anxiety, compassion, frustration and the list could go on and on. Anyway in all the places I go I feel an underlying energy that drives the area , some good and some bad. I think people are drawn to the places where they feel at peace and comfortable with the overall spirit of the area.  I know this may sound like a crazy theory but we have spent our entire life savings on the dream of building a Eco-lodge in Roatan, I never claimed to be sound of mind. Anyway I feel the same spirit about the Adirondacks and Roatan.

While walking down the road enjoying the calm peace in the air with underlying humility of the history of those that came before, and excitement of new adventures that lingers in both my homes.  I was reminded of some of the very real ways my home in the Adirondacks and Roatan differ.  Up ahead in the woods I could hear the yipping of a pack of Coyotes. Coyotes are definitely something you do not encounter on the Island. As a matter of fact there are very few threatening animals on the island.  On my walk I had already seen several dear and the neighbor’s chickens. There are defiantly chickens on the island and everyone has their opinion of them but I have never felt threatened by a pack of chickens. I was walking by myself and decided that a trip to the end of the road was not a wise idea. In contrast I have been known to change course while snorkeling and coming upon a 4 foot barracuda I am not sure if the threat is the same as encountering a pack of Coyotes or a Bear but I have decided to not find out on either account. .  In the Adirondacks we have chance encounters with Bear, Bald Eagles, as well as many other spectacular birds and woodland animals, while on the island we look for encounters with Sea Turtles, octopus and many other spectacular sea creatures. This is an example of how they are very alike and very different.

As I walked down to the creek behind our home I am reminded of how water is one of the connecting factors in our homes. We spend our time here in the summer kayaking, swimming and tubing. While on the island we spend our time snorkeling and enjoying the beautiful Half Moon Bay.

In both locations we find the people to be diverse, intriguing and most are welcoming and helpful. The culture and history is rich and interesting. So on this warm Christmas in the Adirondacks my heart is once again divided between the beautiful island of Roatan and the vast Adirondacks, I am blessed to have wonderful people in my life here and we have started what I hope to be long time relationships with people on the Island.  God has truly given us two amazing places to call home.

Wherever you call home this Christmas remember to be thankful for all the wonders in the world and people around you. Look for the good in all Gods people and take some time to share a story, a toast a song with those that surround you.

 

What's in a name?

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, Is a well-known quote by William Shakespeare.  We needed a name for our adventure. And a name is everything.

Somewhere in the process of purchasing our little piece of paradise the real estate agent said we need a name for our LLC. In Honduras if you are not a citizen and purchase more than 1 acre of land you have to form a Limited Liability company or LLC. I remember the conversation well; we were out at a pizza place with some friends listening to a band we know. I stood outside so I could hear; I said what kind of name? Can it be a crazy one? He said it really doesn’t matter it is just for the paperwork.  Not too long before this we were having dinner with friends at our house and someone lost a piece of pineapple on the floor. He said “Runaway Pineapple”, my girls said that would be a good name for something runaway pineapple.  So for lack of any more thought, I was ready to get back in to enjoy pizza beer and music, I said call it the Runaway Pineapple. I figured that would be a fun name for the paperwork and we would call our business something else once we figured it out. So on April 1 2014 we became the Runaway Pineapple Holding company S.A.

It’s kind of funny when I think about it; our closing was on April 1, April fool’s day. I often think it was some kind of April fool’s joke. But that is a story for another blog this one is about our name.

Over the months of planning the name grew on us and began to gain meaning, over time we realized it was the prefect name for us.

My husband and I both have our roots in New England and can trace our ancestry back to England for the most part, as early as the 1600s.  If any of you have ever been to New England states like New Hampshire or Massachusetts you probably noticed the Pineapple is used quite often in signs for Inns or Restaurants as well as a common feature in decoration and design.  

 

The Pineapple became a symbol of hospitality in the early American Colonies and still is used in this way today. The legend goes way back to early sea captains in New England colonies. The would sail to the Caribbean islands and return with ships full of trade goods like fruit, spices and rum .When the captain finally returned home he would spear a pineapple on the fence post outside his home to let friends and family know he had safely returned and they were welcome to come visit, share food and drink and listen to stories of his voyage.  Over time Innkeepers began to use the pineapple on their sign , symbolizing hospitality , stating that all were welcome to come in for food and shelter.

As I stated in my previous blog my husband and I feel we are to live a life of hospitality, we have the “me casa is su casa” philosophy, all are welcome in our home.  It is also very fitting that Pineapples are very present on Roatan, always fresh , yummy and available. 

 

In the process of deciding what to do about the little piece of land we fell in love with we had many discussions with friends and family. Should we buy or not buy. Most of them encouraged us to go for it, run after our dream.

My husband and I both having roots in New England , combined with our challenge from God to extend hospitality to all people in and ample encouragement to run after our dreams , Runaway Pineapple Lodge became the perfect name.

What’s in a name, well everything, the name gave us the perfect launching point for our whole project and became the driving force, the hope behind our dream.

 

Return home with a crazy dream.

We returned home and settled into “real “life with daily events, work, school, snow.  Before we left Roatan we had discussed making an offer on our “dream” property. After returning, securing financing and allowing the thought to settle we corresponded with the realtor and made the offer official.  This is when life started to get interesting. 

The price climbed up a bit over our comfort zone, faxes and emails flowed between Honduras and the Adirondacks.  This brought us to a conversation I will never forget.  My husband and I stood in the kitchen thinking about what to do next. For the next 30 minutes we had a discussion. Or rather I rambled about all the pros and cons and just about everything else while my quiet thoughtful husband sat there and listened.   
The conversation included a vast array of topics, what kind of crazy people send all their money to a third world country,  how do we build an eco-lodge in  such a place, what if we can’t afford to ever build, or visit or go back again. I talked about the type of people that may visit there. The thought reminded us of how we live our life here in the Adirondacks. We live by the motto “mi casa es su casa”. People are welcomed into our home as if it is their home. We believe we are to live a life of hospitality all are welcome and encouraged to become part of our lives and each other’s lives.  So the conversation flowed to the concept of people coming from all over the world to a place of beauty, culture and relaxation. What if God wanted to use our place in Honduras as a place of refuge like people find here at our home in the Adirondacks? The people visiting there would have the opportunity to meet each other, experience the culture of the island, enjoy the beauty of the reef, fall in love with the Island as we had and go home different people.

At the conclusion of my very long ramble I said “even if we never go there again, even if we build a place we never can afford to visit, we need to do it for all the people who will visit, after all we don’t just dream for us we dream for everybody”.  My husband gazed at me for what seemed like forever although I am sure it was just a few seconds and responded with the entire sum of his input, some of the most reassuring words I have ever heard.  “That is absolutely crazy, but it is exactly what we have to do”.

So with the confirmation that we are equally insane and totally meant for each other we took a crazy leap and bought a beautiful piece of land on the hillside, overlooking the ocean in Roatan Honduras.

An ending and a beginning.

It was amazing to walk out the door of our little apartment down the dock and look out at the reef.  We were able to enjoy the reef in many ways in Sandy Bay. It was a swim to the reef but not too far. The trip there was an adventure, over sea grass, past sea fans and eventually to the edge of the reef. We also kayaked out one day and went around the outer edge to the deep channel.

 

We spent a lot of our time in Sandy Bay thinking and discussing   our future on Roatan. We had looked at many properties in different locations.  We narrowed it down to three categories. The logical became a home we could easily rent to expats, dive instructors and other long term residents of Roatan. And by long term I mean 3 months to several years. The second was the vacation option; this option included buying a condo or beach front unit that we could easily enjoy for vacations for many years to come as well as rent to families for their vacations.

The third option was the crazy dream option. I guess that is the only thing to call it. The Crazy Dream where we buy a piece of land and build a dream vacation location. 

 

We reached the last few days of our trip and decided to take one last adventure to West End. We wandered out to the road and found getting a taxi to be very easy. As soon as we arrived at the road a taxi stopped and we got in. It was a rainy cold evening at Monkey Island it was quiet and we enjoyed some music and time to think about the amazing 2 weeks we had.  The musician played come Monday as we left Come Monday has a special meaning to me and my friend I was texting throughout the trip. We became good friends on our first trip on that cruise to Roatan. When they visited us after that cruise we traveled together to our last adventure before they headed home.  Come Monday played on the radio as they left. I will always remember that song as a leaving song. It fit the mood on the chilly rainy night in Roatan.

 

We continued to think about property and our future on Roatan. This dream option seemed to be the only one that really fit for us. We found an amazing piece of property on a hill just outside West End, a little over an acre of land at the end of a road.  When you stand at the top of the hill in the corner of the property you see nothing but tropical trees behind you, there is a house off through the trees to the right, to the left a valley full of nothing but tropical beauty and to the front the ocean. As we stood there for the second time in our trip we felt this is it this is our Roatan home. We had asked our real estate agent to bring us back there again because none of the other properties felt right. So it looks like the crazy dream is the only option for us.

 

Friday the rain continued so we spent the day packing and visiting, no more snorkeling days for me. Then Saturday morning arrived time to leave our magical island behind. It was again a rainy day. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. As we boarded the plane it started to pour, it seemed fitting that it was raining. The island always cries when I leave, it had rained both times we left the island on a cruise. I cried as the plane left the runway; every time we depart I leave a piece of my heart in Roatan.  So we began our long trek home.  I feel I can never get enough of this place.   I did have a feeling it may be the beginning of a new adventure, the return to Roatan. When a dream becomes a reality now that is a story I can’t wait to tell.

Many sides of Roatan

Well Friday morning arrived in a fuzzy sort of a way, but it’s time to pack up and head to the next portion of our adventure.  We pack up the car, so full we have very little place to sit, and head down to West End to fill the time between locations. We decided to pay to park at West End so we could go snorkeling and enjoy the morning.  We headed out to a nice snorkeling spot and got some coffee. There were some island boys playing on the dock , they had a string and a hook. They were trying to catch a fish. What a wonderful way to start the day coffee, beautiful view, watching the kids just be kids. We had a nice time snorkeling and wandering West End. Then we headed to our new island home.

 

Our second week was spent at a nice little beach apartment in Sandy Bay. Sandy bay is an area that stretches up the coast for a few miles, which is big by Roatan standards.  We stayed with some wonderful Expats who decided to leave Florida about 10 years ago and find an island to call home. Our week in Sandy Bay was much more laid back than the one near West End. We turned in our rental car on Tuesday .We suffered several very rainy days. When I say suffered I mean we had to walk the beach in the rain, rather than shovel snow. I think if I find myself in Roatan as a home or part time home I will come to enjoy the rainy days. They make you take a little time to relax, read a book, talk to the people staying in the house next door. We spent the non -rainy days on the dock, walking the beach, snorkeling.  We spent several days going to look at property.

 

 We decided to take a day and be a typical tourist. We headed to West Bay and paid for the rights to sit in beach chairs at Bananarama. Yes that’s how it works at West Bay. All the hotels and restaurants have beach chairs they will rent you for the day.  We received directions to the outer reef from our local expat host who has his own chair at the bar in Bananrama. We headed out to the reef which is just about 50 yards from the beach.  Jessica chose to stay on the beach and people watch with one of the people staying with us this week. People watching is a family favorite activity and West Bay Roatan is a great place to enjoy the sport.  We headed out to the outer reef and meandered along the reef all the way to the end. Then just walked ashore and walked the beach back.

 

I find it amazing that there is so much going on just below the surface just steps away from the beach. The island life in Roatan is so diverse.  I think West Bay is one of the most interesting places to observe this. There are humble little hotels surrounded by amazing resorts. There are people from all walks of life wandering along the beach. The folks in resort dress looking perfectly together, Europeans in little at all, cruise ship people following an island guide, expats hanging out at bars, vendors selling all their tours and wares, snorkelers, divers, swimmers, sunbathers, and the list goes on.  The incredible bustling diversity happening on land and the amazing peaceful beauty of the reef under the water make for a contrast that is hard to put into words. A phenomenon of many tropical island beaches I would imagine but for me it is yet another treasure of Roatan.

 

At the end of a wonderful afternoon at West Bay we decided to take a water Taxi to West End. For $2 a person we took a nice boat ride along the coast to West Bay. Best taxi ride ever. We discovered it was Taco Tuesday at Monkey Island.  This turned out to be one of the most magical nights on the island. We had to wait for Tacos so we just hung out on the beach. The girls took out their Hula Hoops and started hooping. As the sun began this older weathered looking islander came down to the beach and started a fire. Then a young woman joined the girls with her glass ball dancing. All the employees at Monkey Island came out and sat in front of the bar to watch the show. What an unforgettable way to watch the sunset.  

 

We have been here long enough for the bartenders and singers to recognize us. We are starting to feel like locals.  I have been snorkeling 7 times in the last 5 days.

 After the amazing sunset experience on the beach we headed into Monkey Island. I must say this was the best meal we had on the island for many reasons.  First it was $2 a Taco and these were amazing tacos. Second it is the local, expat, hang out on Tuesdays. What a great value why wouldn’t everyone come here every Tuesday and meet up with friends. We will be experiencing Taco Tuesdays many times in the future.

I really enjoyed Sandy Bay it seemed like a trip to a familiar place with so much more to offer. When we go to the gulf coast of Florida we love to walk the beach and find shells, birds, and beautiful sunsets. Sandy Bay offers all these things. It is very different from West end and West Bay.  One of my concerns when considering spending all our vacation time or lives on a little island was there would be no diversity. I discovered over our two weeks on the Island there are many different places to find adventure on Roatan, they all hold their own little spirit and feel about them. West Bay is the tourist beach, the Virginia Beach, Miami Beach, Hampton Beach of the island. It is where you go to get sun, sand, food, fancy hotels, feel like you are on a typical beach vacation.  West End offers the local small town feel. In West end you can go to church, eat dinner, catch a local musician, hang out with friends, grab a few groceries, do a little shopping. Then Sandy Bay is more like a retirement beach in Florida, relaxing place to live. There are many more amazing places on the island we did not even get to explore. All these possible adventures make it very exciting to think about spending lots of time there.

 

 

Too drunk to Karaoke

We found ourselves in Roatan during an extended rainy season. We woke on Wednesday to a tree falling in the wind.  Another rainy day not fit for snorkeling. We decided to drive around and see what turned up. We checked out Roatan Museum at Anthony’s Key. Nothing else going on there so we decided to go see the new cruise port ,Mahogany Bay, but it was closed, no ships came in due to bad weather. It was no calmer on that side of the island so still not a beach day. We drove past the Pirates zip line and decided to see if we could get a better price because the cruise ships did not show. The line was slow due to rain but everyone had fun. Aleena’s must do activity done. Mine is a sighting of a sea turtle hopefully. We returned to the West End for some dinner, it was very quiet being a Wednesday night in a slow season. We returned home to and discovered the weather took out the power. We are accustomed to power outages, they happen often in the Adirondacks. So having no power on a tropical Island was no big deal to us. We decided to go to bed and see what the next day had to offer.

 

 

Thursday morning came and we finally got to head out to look at some property. I could spend quite a bit of time explaining the property search process but only one of them mattered so I will stick to the rest of the trip.

I forgot to explain our laundry adventure. We took our laundry down to wash it at the laundry mat in West End, at least that is what we thought we were doing.  When we got there we discovered a nice Island woman who does all the laundry. She took my bag weighed it, gave me a price and held up 10 fingers and said “manana”  . So I left hoping my clothing would all be there in the morning.  I was a little worried that maybe all the used clothing we saw for sale in town was collected from all the tourists who drop their laundry of . But sure enough the next morning we picked up our clean and folded laundry.

 Thursday after looking at property we decided to go down to West End and try out this amazing chicken place everyone on TripAdvisor raves about. Well it was one of the best meals we had on Island they had great chicken, lots of food and really really affordable. I will be visiting here often when we return.  After chicken we headed down to Monkey Island to see what was going on. Dave our hippy friend was there with some friends, Jon was playing music. We had a great time and thanks to Dave an island taxi driver and my new favorite bar tender I enjoyed a few to many Rum and cokes. To each action there is an equal and opposite reaction or a consequence depending on how you look at it. Any way I found myself at the Blue Marlin singing karaoke with Dave and a new found friend. Sorry Roatan I promise never to do that again. That was one thing I never intended to check off my life list, I’m pretty sure this activity it was no where near my bucket list. And contrary to popular belief you can be “too drunk to karaoke”.

 

 

 

 

Sights, Sounds and Smells of Roatan

Again the little things in Roatan make the experience so very special. The place we stayed the first week was about half way between West Bay and West End. The view from the balcony was just about perfect. I enjoyed it in all its forms, day , night, rainy, sunny. Is I have already explained the Geckos like to make themselves known in the night. One surprising thing was the peepers, tree frogs, as we traveled home at night with the window open we could hear them. But they very much had a Honduran accent.  As with everything else even the frogs had a tropical flair. If you can see past the third world life, the everyday, the mundane or even the beautiful and typical vacation aspects of Roatan you see and hear where the true island lies.

 

 

 

The next day was Monday. We slept in and took some time to relax at the house. We walked to West Bay Beach all the way to the end and finally took to the sea. We headed out to snorkel. Snorkeling on Roatan is such a wonderful thing the reef is just right there. You can walk out to the beach and just go.  The walk there and home was a great adventure and quite a bit of exercise.

 

It’s amazing what little things make great memories. We had a great day in the sun, rain and sea so we decided to make dinner at the house. Nate and I set out to find someone selling fish. I decided to drive. There are really not to many traffic rules in Roatan. It makes driving fun yet challenging.  We pulled up to a corner vendor and asked for fish. He said” no ,fruit.” I said “ ok give me a pineapple.” He holds up 2 I say “ok and 3 limes”. And hand him 100 limpera (5 $) he says "2 banana fo change" of course I say yes who would not want bananas for change. . Then I pull up to this tiny shop where a nice man sells me some frozen chicken. So dinner consisted of chicken, 2 pineapples 3 limes 2 bananna all for $12 but the memories priceless. Cooking in Roatan became a fun challenge. I did not want to spend a lot of money on spices so I bought a little container of bbq spices. Everything was flavored with those spices, garlic, pineapple juice, lime juice and usually rum. I guess you use what you have.  

 

Apparently Roatan smells good even when it rain ,Just another rainy day in paridise. We decided to go adventuring and found the Roatan Rum company. Coffee rum, chocolate Rum, need I say more they taste as good as they smell. Then we drove over to the Plaza Mar to see the Norwegian Dawn in port, we came to Roatan the first time on the Dawn. Upon entering the store we were drawn to back by an amazing smell. We discovered fresh baking coconut rolls yummy, the smell unreal. We met some people riding on the Dawn also drawn to the wafting smell of coconut rolls. We wandered to the adult beverage section where we met a bar tender from the Blue Marlin , he said there was a musician playing that night and we should come by and he would make me a drink, that sounded like a good offer.  After shopping we said bye to our first ride and some passengers riding her ,took our coconut rolls and packed lunch on a real adventure.

 

I had looked at a map and thought it would be nice to drive along the coast.  As we traveled up the side of the island we soon discovered the road was not much of a road and it quickly became muddy orange clay with some road attached. At this point we were honyacking in a rented Yaris.

After many strange looks from locals who live in the wilderness of Roatan we found a place to turn around and headed back to real road .

 We drove the paved road as far as it took us. What a beautiful trip. Parts of the Principal road ride the ridge in the middle of the island. You can see off both sides what a view. We were wandering around in the rain it would be amazing on a bright sunny day. We stopped here and there to explore. It was fun to discover this totally different side of the Island. It reminded me of a trip up deeper into the Adirondacks or any other remote place. I look forward to exploring the south side of the island much more in the future. While it is not that many miles from the North end with all the people it is a totally different place. It was great to discover that even on a small island there are many different places to go and find new things to see and do.  

 We stopped at a fish marked and the plaza mar on the way home to get some dinner.  

We wandered to the adult beverage section where we met a bar tender from the Blue Marlin , he said there was a musician playing that night and we should come by and he would make me a drink, that sounded like a good offer.  Made dinner in Honduras with a giant carrot, pepper , onion, lion fish, shrimp , lime, garlic. With a side of pineapple and an unidentified fruit that tastes like grapefruit.

 

We decided to keep our promise and visit the bartender so off to West end we traveled off to sample some more local music. Here I found a new favorite bartender (at least for the night) and discovered that island drinks have lots of drink and not so much juice, good! The musician playing became another of our Island family Jon Fritz, we also at with Dave our hippie friend from our first night on the island. The girls enjoyed some hula hooping and it rounded out to be another great island evening. West End continues to be an amazing place.  Overall I will take the rain over the snow any day. Oh and I have decided Roatan smells like pineapple.

 

 

 

One Particular Harbor

We spent the day Sunday exploring the island. We decided to explore the South side of the island in hopes of finding some calm water and a place to snorkel. .We ended up at a little restaurant called French’s 44. It was a good meal in an interesting setting. The girls found a cute kitten to pet. She looked a lot like our cat Kitten Paw as a kitten. I think that made them feel a little more at home. We did not find a place to snorkel so we headed home.

 

We decided to take a walk down the hill to the beach. We found hiking to the beach to be a great experience with the exception of the large steep hill. On the way down the hill we found a large trail of leaf cutter ants crossing the road. We continued wandering down the hill to the beach. The road contains an interesting mix of empty land, and  vacation homes ending with a fancy little spa resort. The beach is a humble little stretch. The water was rough and we decided snorkeling was not an option. Taking a swim in the ocean felt like a great idea.  The swim was followed by a walk down the beach toward West End. We passed small little homes, cute hotels and abandoned lots. The sun set in a perfect blaze through a washed up fallen tree. The locals and expats raked the beach as we wandered to no place in particular.

This is how it works in Roatan.  If you have no real plan and you’re not in a hurry you find interesting little things along the way. When you come to the island for a day or even a week and rush from this or that you miss the little things that make Roatan well Roatan. I found that our time there was a mix of the rushing and the soaking in.  Maybe this is part of the transition between being a vacationer and an islander. I learned many of these lessons along the way.

 

After enjoying our walk, swim, sunset and some necessary food we headed to west end to see what was happening.

 We wandered down the road to take in the night. The road was not that busy. Our visit to Roatan came at the end of Rainy season; the holiday crowed had mostly gone home and the winter vacationers had not yet arrived. I think it was a great time to experience the laid back island life. I look forward to going during busy season and experiencing the much more active night life the Island has to offer. 

 As we explored the road we found quiet bars with few customers. There was a musician playing at Monkey Island so we headed on back down the road. The little church was having a service. A few islanders were inside singing with the door open for the breeze. Standing in the middle of the street between the little church and the Island bar listening to the blend of musical tones is a moment I will never forget. The locals, expats, and travelers are so intertwined on this little island, and it all seems perfectly natural, Just as it should be. 

We sat at Monkey Island and enjoyed the enjoyed the music of a fellow expat. Well he really is an expat we were playing the part for the time being.  Then it was time to explore what this little dirt road had to offer in the other direction. Sundowners also offered some live music. But more importantly here is where I first experienced a Monkey La La. The Monkey La La is the islands signature drink. It is basically a White Russian made with coconut cream instead of cream. It is not your typical tropical drink but not much about Roatan is typical.

 As I soaked in the fresh ocean breeze and my head hummed with  Monkey La La I realized we had been on this island now longer than we had ever been at a port of call. My “One Particular Harbor” Roatan was quickly seeping deep into my heart.

Becomming Islanders

 

We arrived on the island and spent the next two weeks getting to know our way around, blending in with the locals, meeting the expats, sampling the local eateries and looking at property.  As a disclaimer everything in this next series of blog posts are from my recollection, feelings and acquired information and were written during or shortly after our trip in January 2014. It may not be historically, geographically or in any other way correct and may have been at times altered by the rum which runs plentiful on the island and can make ones memories fuzzy.

 

After we arrived and made it out of the airport with a rental car.( I will spare you the details of the extended visit to the rental car counter.  When the blog turns into travel advice I will expand in that and similar areas.) We proceeded to the grocery store for some basic supplies. While the grocery store was foreign ,in that the items were listed in Spanish and priced in Lempiras ,it was not unlike a trip to any grocery store not in your town. Look around find things you need in unfamiliar areas of the store. So like any extended vacation we got our supplies and headed off to the house we were renting.  (I will also address our travels around the island and experiences surrounding them at a later time.) In due time we did arrive at the road on which the rental property was located.

 

When turning down the road the house was to be on we said in unison something to the extent of “You have got to be kidding”.  The road went straight down a hill in a spiral manor.  So we held our breath and gave it a try. Not so bad really. After driving it several times it became routine even in the rain. After getting settled in we wandering down to the beach. It was a hike down down down the road but the beach was nice. It was a typical beach, not as tropical as I may have expected. My goal was to snorkel every day on this trip. I realized quite quickly a much more attainable goal was to make sure my toes hit the ocean every day. So after walking in the water and hiking back up the hill we realized we were hungry. After two long days of travel cooking was not exactly what I wanted to do at that point.  We decided to find our way to West End and get some dinner.

 

One of the funny things about Roatan at least funny to me is the names of places. West End  is located on the west side but not at the end of the island. It is more like a bay than an end. West Bay is located at the end of the island and is a long sandy beach not so much a bay. So once you figure out those little quirks the island makes more sense. This also explains why we did not make it to West Bay on either of our cruises I thought it was West End we were looking for. West Bay is also called Tabyana Beach by the Cruise ships which I was told was the original local name for it. All these little quirks could be the Islands way of sorting out locals from those staying on the island and those visiting on a big ship. Or they are just little quirks you decide. Any way figuring these things out just made me feel more like a local and less like a big ship visitor.  And “I myself am often surprised at life’s little quirks”. Sorry had to be done if you don’t get the reference you better look it up.

We got to West End and found what we thought was an acceptable place to park. The first place we saw that looked like a fun place to eat. It was called Monkey Island. How can you go wrong? A beach bar with monkey in the name, pineapples sitting on the railing, tiki hut roof and drink specials listed on a black board by the door. So we go in and we are escorted to our seats by a young man who seems happy to be there and full of energy. We decide to hang with the locals and drink Hondurian beer, which is of course the only beer there is available. We order food and relax, enjoy the island breeze, breath in the tropics and soak in the laid back vibe.

 

It was here I begin my vacation, relaxing at Monkey Island, eating amazing salsa and shocking the young bartender by asking for a shot of his best rum.  By the time we left that night we had found an island hang out, a second home. The bartender turns out to be a young man from New Mexico; he arrived on the island with his uncle. They had set out on a sailing adventure. He lived in Florida for some time before heading out sailing, and left from there. He and his uncle had some adventures I assume before their boat became stranded on this little island. He said his uncle was leaving or had just left, his plans were to stay there for a while then continue on to other Central American Countries to find surfing and adventures.

 I am a bit of a collector of people. People watching is one of my favorite pastimes. I noticed there was a man sitting behind us. He looked like a left over hippy, long grey beard, sitting next to a bag of laundry. He was at home here as if he comes here often. The thing that got me, the clincher as my person of the night was the book he was reading. He sat there reading Jaws. I thought how very funny a hippy guy chilling at a beach bar reading Jaws. It would have been a wonderful photo. It was dark and taking a photo would have been an obvious intrusion on his space.  So we enjoyed the moment. Next thing I know he walks up to our table and says he just had to come over and talk to us. He says my family is “quintessential Americana”. This led to a long conversation about him and us and who we were. He had traveled many places including many places we have traveled in the states. He attended music festivals we attended and listened to bands we listen to. Most recently he had come from Afghanistan, he ended up in Roatan to house sit for a Dive instructor friend he met along the way.

Having started the day in Atlanta, traveled to another country settled in, gone to the beach, it seemed like we had spent days in this process.  So exhausted we settled in to sleep our first night in Honduras .Little did we know that we would be woken from our slumber by loud squeaky bird noises? The girls came running from their room saying there is a bird or something in our room. Upon inspection we discovered the noise came from a Gecko. He was on the ceiling and apparently they call in the night. . As the trip progressed we became used to being lulled to sleep by many different island noises.  I found it to be a wonderful part of the adventure, the girls may feel otherwise.We determined him to be harmless and again settled into sleep .

 

 

What an amazing first day. We had collected two of the many special people we would meet along the way and we found a home town bar and restaurant which would return to over and over again . We felt a lot more like islanders than I thought we would so early in the trip.

 

Dreaming of returning.

 

Roatan became this perfect place in my mind. A special place where I could stash away my dreams find a peaceful memory. We talked even then about the big dream, moving there, leaving here, it seemed so impossible so unreal. But after all that’s kind of what dreams are. Do they really ever come true ,your biggest dreams?

We did return several years later on another cruise. We were planning a cruise with some special friends and family. Some of them we met on our first cruise to Roatan. I must say I was a little disappointed when I found out the Itinerary.  I wanted to go other places explore different parts of the Caribbean. The importance of this cruise was the people we were traveling with not the places we were going. At that time Roatan had become a special memory, a place I kept stashed away for some time in the future.  Going there for just a day on another cruise seemed like a tease, so I made it just another cruise day in my mind.

We spent a beautiful day on the island did many things. When we arrived there my heart was filled with joy as if I had just arrived to see a special friend I thought I may never see again. Upon leaving I was sad and left with a feeling that the time was just not enough.  So we returned home again with dreams of returning.

Over the next several years we discussed the idea of going back to visit, dreamed of escaping there to live someday.  As life here became more and more uncertain and ever changing it became a dream to hold onto. Not long ago we found ourselves at a point in life a crossroads. Uncertainty of jobs, our girls, teens in college growing up, poor economy, drove us to think of the future. It seemed like a perfect time for us to return.  We felt God had put us in a place in life where we needed to look to the future. I guess I was at a point where I was sick of the day dream, sick of the hope. The dream of this place had become more of a burden than a hope. I wanted to know once and for all if it was a dream to hold on to or one to send off like a bottle in the ocean never to be visited again.

So when the time came to return and it seemed so unreal. Not only were we going to Roatan we were going for two whole weeks and we were looking at property with the hopes of moving there, retiring there, visiting there on a regular basis. Which if any we did not know, would this be the last time we ever go there, would we be saying good bye. I found myself thinking what if it does not live up to the dream what if it is not what I have made it out to be in my mind.

The weeks before we left were filled with holiday craziness, family, friends, and finally thoughts of packing. The days ahead were filled with pain and worry, my back was bad and I had a very hard time packing. This was probably a good thing because then I did not over think I did not worry we just left. Well sort of our flight was canceled we rushed to another airport and then left.

 

 

 

It all began over 8 years ago.

It all started well at least my conscious knowledge of it began when I was to turn 40. I have always been drawn to the sun the beach places warm. The amazing people and places God has put here. I decided it was time to take a trip. Nate came home and said we should go to Roatan. . I said something like what is Roatan. He said an Island in Honduras. . The funny thing is my sister had been taking mission trips to Uganda. I kept referring to her travels as going to Honduras. Must have been buried someplace back in my deepest thoughts, dreams. So I set out to find a trip to Roatan. Travel there in 2007 was expensive and somewhat difficult.  So I decided maybe Roatan was a future trip and settled on a cruise. My travel agent said I may have a cruise you would like. It goes to Roatan. I said book it.

We set off on a trip to Roatan. Via NY City, Key West, Cozumel and Belize. I took Nate’s and now my desire to go to Roatan to mean we had some great purpose in going there. I found an orphanage and planned to take many things to them, maybe we are going to find a child to support or bring home. We did make it to Roatan and with much planning we were able to give the orphanage things. We met the children there and found it to be a place where other people’s hearts belonged. We had a beautiful day of snorkeling and enjoying the island. The day was all too short and we were whisked away to the ship. It rained as we left. Nate and I stood on the deck of the ship and tears filled my eyes as if I was leaving something special behind. I didn’t know if I would ever find my way there again.

 

This photo is sunrise the day we arrived in Roatan on our first cruise there. I know this was going to be a special day but I had no idea how much this day would change the course of my life.

 

 

 

Here we are leaving Roatan for the first time. It rained when we left, it always seems to rain when we leave the Island, I like to say the Island cries when I leave but I think it is the other way around.

 

 

For those of you who have been to Roatan recently or live there now this photo will take you back. The pier looks nothing like this now.