A Busy Year Already!

New Year's eve party, topping off party, and visitors coming to the island for their Christmas vacations.

We always get part-timers" returning to the island to stay. Some return every two months, some come once a month for a few weeks and some come during the winter for 3 weeks or the summer for 2-3 months. Whether it is for a few days or weeks, we are always glad to see these people return. We can catch up on news and what has been going on in their respective lives.

Also, we get a lot of "sail boaters" here after Hurricane season; some are returning after visiting here in past years, others are new to Guanaja. All are interesting and fun to talk to.

Recently we had a good friend return after a long absence from Guanaja. Sabina, a German woman who was once married to a German and lived on Guanaja, bore her children here and remained for a number of years before she and her husband parted ways and she returned to Germany. She was followed later by her two daughters, Saleyna and Jasmine who returned to Germany to finish their education. Later, her son, Hannas, spent a year or two in Germany pursuing his education but he returned to finish school here on Guanaja and now lives with his father.

Sabina arrived her last week for a 3 week stay and her daughters threw an impromptu party at the home of Capt. Al at the airport the day after her arrival. I had visited Sabina and her girls while in Germany last May and it was wonderful to see her again. Her daughters had arrived here in October and are spending a few months visiting their "home." They are delightful young ladies and we have enjoyed their presence immensely.

A small crowd showed up at the gathering at the airport to greet Sabina and we had a warm conversation about what has been going on with her since I last saw her. We hope to see more of her in the weeks to come but I know it will be limited as we only get out on the weekends, when most of our visiting is done. I know we will run into her before she leaves and I can spend more time visiting with her.

Plus, by blogging I meet people I would never otherwise run into. A couple from California, Peter and Jane, arrived here for a week long stay. They found me through my Blog and we had a short visit with them when they made an appearance at Manati. Unfortunately, I was visiting with a regular visitor to the island who had been away for almost 7 months and was catching up with her. Peter and Jane were kind enough to bring me a watch I ordered and had sent to their home and I thank them immensely for handling this for me. It would have been nice to spend more time with them but, as I said, it was not good timing and I was engaged in conversation with another friend whom I hadn't seen in a while.

But, Peter and Jane came by our house on their way to the West End. The guide scheduled a stop at our home to pick up some line for the weed whacker that was sent by means of another friend in the States. It had been sent to us via DIP and we were seeing to it that it got into his hands. So, you can see how important it is to have connections with people in the States when we are trying to get items we cannot get here! Peter and Jane did not get off the boat even though we offered to walk them around our property. They were heading off for fun and, apparently, had a schedule to keep. If I were them, I, too, would have wanted to see the sights rather than looking at someones property! I certainly hope they had a good vacation here as the weather was beautiful.

As I said, we have people returning to the island every year; Dick and Jennifer, Joan and David, Martha and Bill, Terry, Diane, Jack and Darien, Linda and Jim, Charles and Cindy - enough people so that with their visits we learn news of their lives in "civilization", how things are going with them, how their homes here on the island are doing in their absence, etc. It is wonderful to see them return and we look forward to spending time with them.

We have had many people leave permanently and that is always sad. With time, it is inevitable that we lose touch, but at least we were a part of their lives while they were here and we shared good times with them.

So, to all those that have "moved on" we hope you will some day return and to those who continue to come to the island, we look forward to reuniting with you.