Update for 2013

I mentioned in 2012 that I was not going to blog anymore as I felt all the subjects I could pass on to people about Island living had been said.

That being true, for the most part, I did my "final" blog in May about the telephones here.  However, I decided to do an update due to the fact that a handful of people (and they weren't even friends or known to me!) have asked me not to stop as they enjoy reading about life on the island.  So, to honor those few that made the request, I will at least publish this update which I started as a "draft" in 2013.  Sorry for the delay.

I should start from where I left off so as not to confuse people as opposed to jumping around like a jackrabbit, which is my normal speed.  Much of what I will write here will just relate to happenings other than island life.  I will cover my trips, my crafts, some comments on living in Honduras and my pets.  So, here goes.

First of all, in June my Grandson, Joshua, and his lovely fiancé decided to join in wedlock in her hometown just outside Richmond, Indiana on the 10th of June 2012.  I flew up there from Florida where I was visiting with friends and drove from Dayton, Ohio.  My daughter, Tami, also flew in the day after me and together we attended a lovely outdoor ceremony at the home of the Bride.  It was the first time I had met Brandice and her family.  They have a lovely farm and a perfect spot for the wedding.  The weather couldn't have been better and we had a wonderful time.  Congratulations Josh and Brandi.  Of course they have been married a year now and Josh has become a Policeman, they have acquired a dog and moved to a new home.

After the wedding I flew up to Minnesota as I had arranged, through the help of my cousin, Mike, to have a small family reunion.  Out of 8 children on my Father’s side of the family only two sisters are still living; Aunt Margie and Aunt Betty.  Both are spry women in their 80’s and in relatively good health.  Margie has been a widower for more years than I can count and Betty and her husband, Leo, are still in love and active with square dancing, tennis, trips to Florida and Arizona and entertaining their children and grandchildren.

We all met at a lovely restaurant outside Minneapolis and in spite of the fact that it was a week day, several of my cousins were able to attend.  My brother and his wife were there along with my brother’s daughter and her husband.  We talked about old times, had some good laughs along with good food.  Photos were snapped and I can honestly say it was one of the real highlights of my trip.  

My brother then drove me up into Northern Minnesota where I spent a few days with him in his home.  While there I managed to look up a girlfriend of mine with whom I attended high school (1959-1961).  She and I have remained close and correspond as often as distance allows.  She is not overly enthusiastic about computers and, therefore, our letters are few and far between.  Carol and her husband, Jim, met up with us at a restaurant and after a light lunch we returned to their lovely lakeside home.  It was a wonderful day and a great visit and I’m so glad I was able to reunite with her.

My brother drove me back to Minneapolis where I spent the night with my cousin, David, before flying on to Florida and returning to Guanaja.  David and I were years apart as cousins and it was nice to finally learn more about him, his family and his life.  Thanks to David and his wife for putting me up and showing me a lovely evening.  The only black spot on the trip was that somewhere during the time I was being driven back to Minneapolis from Northern Minnesota, someone had managed to get my credit card information and charge about $400+ to my account.  Luckily I discovered it right away and notified my credit card company who promptly cancelled my cards and reissued new cards.  I did not have to pay for these fraudulent charges which was a blessing but it is such a hassle to get new cards and puts a crimp in one's travels.

I returned to the island where things were as usual.  June is generally very pleasant here and 2012 was no exception.  The only difference in the weather this year was that the rains we usually experience in October through mid-January did not appear until the first of Janaury.  This made traveling to and from Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas dinners and celebrating New Year's Eve much more pleasant.  But, I get ahead of myself.

In September I flew to Germany and spent several days with friends in Rotenburg un der Fulda in Northern Germany.  I had been here before and my hosts had more to show me.  It was a visit filled with fantastic sights.  Especially wonderful was Bergpark Wilhelmshohe in Kassel.  This remarkable park has rose gardens, miles of beautiful walking paths and a couple of castles and an octagon shaped building at the top of the hill that is remarkable.  The entire octagon structure, which is the center point of the park, with the statue, stands about 212 feet.  The statue of Hercules at the top stands about 25 feet tall and made up of single, embossed copper sheets on a wrought iron frame. The Statue took 16 years to build and can be seen as far away as the town of Kassel which lies at the foot of the Park.

Every first Saturday of the months of June, July, August and September this event takes place during the evening with lights of different colors illuminating the water, the fountain and the different monuments. Every time about 350.000 liters (92,000 gallons) of water are needed and visitors can follow the water's way starting from the Hercules monument and ending at the big lake of the castle Wilhelmshöhe. The water runs down the cascades, the Steinhöfer's waterfall, the devil's bridge, until it tumbles down the aqueduct before finally arriving at the lake of the castle where a fountain of about 50 meters ends the spectacle. This whole system relies on natural pressure from reservoirs and underground pipes whose locks are opened manually. This system has been in place for more than 300 years.

This is truly a spectacle to see and I would highly recommend it to any travelers visiting Germany.

I then took a train to Berlin where my Yoga teacher in Guanaja, Anke, and her husband, Bernd, provided a lovely room for me in their home.  Their apartment building was once in the Eastern part of Berlin and much renovation had to be done after the wall came down.  The area they live in is a bustling community with apartments, shops, restaurants and a transit system that is convenient and efficient.  We did a 9 mile bicycle tour of Berlin where my hosts pointed out some of the special sights of Berlin.  I had been to Berlin in 2009 but had seen only the buildings in the “Western” part of Berlin so this was a treat.  We also did a 3 hour boat tour of the River Spree.  It was a lovely fall day and a great way to take a relaxed overview of the city.  On my last day Anke’s Mother, Gerta, and I were ushered to a local museum where we took in a 360° panorama of the ancient city of Pergamon.  This was an incredible mural about 5 stories high which has to be seen to appreciated.  It was simply breathtaking.  The whole undertaking was created from the mind of Yadesar Asisi.  It was the last days of this spectacle in Berlin but soon to follow will be a panorama of the Berlin wall as it was before it was torn down.

Unfortunately, again, my credit card was compromised with a whopping $600-$700 charge from Zimbabwe made.  My credit card company were on their toes, caught the charge and cancelled my cards!  Made for an inconvenience but my host, Bernd, loaned me Euros for the remainder of my trip.  Thanks Bernd and Anke.  

Leaving Berlin I continued by train on to Künzelsau the home of Annette and Klaus who run Manati the German restaurant on Guanaja.  Their daughter was pregnant with her second child which was due to be born any minute after my arrival in Künzelsau.  The weather had held out for my whole trip and in spite of a few chilly and overcast days while here, it was really beautiful.  I visited friends I had made on the island when they came to visit Klaus and Annette, picked grapes in a vineyard.  The day was damp for picking grapes but I wanted the experience.  We were set to the task of picking purple grapes, which are much easier to locate than green ones on the vine.  The people were from around the area and hard working, fun, friendly souls.  At lunch they set up tables in the vineyard and provided typical German fare of ham loaf, potato salad, bread and wine - lots of it.  We worked on into the afternoon and I was really glad to see the work day come to an end.  Picking is not so hard or even the bending - it’s the standing on a hill at a slant that will ruin your back!  Thanks to the owner, my friend, Molie, for allowing me the experience of picking grapes.  He also runs an excellent restaurant where we had a fantastic meal.

I got to visit little Riko who was born about 3 days after my arrival.  He arrived healthy and sound and is a beautiful baby.  Congratulations to Judith, Daniel and Erik.  Riko is a lot bigger now and doing well being watched over by his Mom, Dad and Erik who is of course, growing by leaps and bounds.

I had wonderful meals, went to a couple of fairs, shopped in town, saw some unusual house ornaments and furniture and saw my first hedgehog!  I sampled chestnuts that had been roasted over a fire for the first time and lots and lots of wonderful German wine.

I left Germany to return to the island filled with wonderful memories.  When I returned home I took up my Yoga again but in about a month’s time I discovered small discomfort with my left knee.  After procrastinating, I finally went to the coast and had a CT Scan.  It was discovered that I had a torn meniscus and surgery would be required.  I scheduled an appointment with my surgeon in San Pedro Sula, Dr. Saybe, and in less than one week (the end of October) I had my successful surgery and was back home with no pain and just some physical therapy to keep me busy.  All was going well and I had no problems with the knee.  But........

As I mentioned at the beginning, Oct.-Dec. did not produce the normal amount of rain and we had more sunshine than we normally do in those months.  However, it did rain and several days saw from 5-7” of liquid sunshine.  The sidewalk in back of our house receives all the drainage running down hill and thus is the recipient of a lot of clay which the rain washes down to the sea.  Our sidewalk is very slippery and so I was being extra cautious when I had to walk out there.  It just so happened, one month almost to the day of my surgery, I stepped off the back steps and as I placed my foot on the slick sidewalk, it went out from under me and I fell on my left leg!  First thought was I hope I haven’t done something to my knee.  I lay there with my leg under me and what pain!  I had sprained my ankle!

Lucky for me the wind was not blowing because if it had neither my husband nor or worker would have heard me screaming for help; one was at the boat dock and the other high on the hill behind the house.  As it was, after a couple of good yells they both came running.  I could not walk and they had to almost carry me into the house.  I immediately put ice on the ankle and kept it up most of the day.  So, here I was, back at square one, my knee just about healed and I could walk and now I could not walk because of my ankle.  

Thanksgiving was on its way and even on an Honduran island this feast is celebrated, at least by those who either have family in the U.S., are dual citizens or have spent time up there.  Turkeys come into Sikaffy’s and Wood’s store and we all look forward to a big feast.  My friend, Linda was preparing to move back to Texas and so gave me all her cans of pumpkin as that was something one cannot find here.  My Thanksgiving meal is not complete with out my famous pumpkin bread and I had plenty now to make and give as gifts.  Sadly this year there was no canned cranberry sauce so I had to use my imagination and I made some up from dried, frozen cranberries I had on hand.  

We had about 10 people at the house and everything went like clock work for once.  The meal was great and everyone enjoyed themselves.  PLUS the weather cooperated which is a big happening here on a holiday.  No one arrived soaking wet and the seas were calm.  About the same thing can be said for December; mild, sunny and calm seas.   We celebrated as always at Manati where two beautiful turkeys were cooked on the outside oven by Klaus.  Good job Klaus!  We jumped right into New Year's Eve confident that the weather would hold.  It did and my husband and I took our boat around to the other side of the island to celebrate with George, Ginger, David and Joan.  

This is something we rarely do as we try to be home by dark, especially when we go to the “other” side.  We are just not as familiar with the reefs over there and with no “big” town or homes on the hillside to light the way, it is DARK!.  Again, we brought appetizers and George and Ginger fixed a delightfull small meal for us as we had really pigged out on the appetizers.  We did leave about 11 p.m. as the day had been a long one.  Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time ushering in 2013 (even if we left before it was ushered in) and thank our companions for a great time.

All this time I had been busy with my crafts, making presents for people and trying to come up with new ideas for gifts.  I discovered Origami and found some great instructions on line in order to make a variety of little boxes to contain small trinkets for people.  I still did some crocheting and got a few table runners made for Annette's gift.

January arrived and with it rain and more rain.  The whole month we saw little of Mr. Sun but the yard and garden thrived.  In the meantime, about the 2nd week of January I came down with bronchitis.  I am susceptible to this and had it about 12-13 years ago.  I was really sick then and so I was on my guard.  In spite of this I suffered for 4 weeks and the coughing was wearing me down.  I had no energy and this was the worse part for me as I am always a go-go-go person.  I read up about it on the internet and since 90% of bronchitis cases are viral and I had no way of running a blood test here to determine whether it was bacterial or viral, I treated it with hot tea with lemon and honey, hot, hot showers on my chest followed by slathering my chest with Vicks, taking aspirin, and lots of rest which was forced upon me.  The 4th week my ear started aching and I had a sore throat so I went to see the doctor on the Cay to see what she would advise.  She gave me something for my sinus and a mild spectrum antibiotic to take.  Everything finally worked and I bounced back.

In the meantime I must report that our 14 year old dog, Nod, passed on.  She had been bad for a few months but nothing we could not control with occasional drugs.  One day, however, I heard a thump on the stairs.  Apparently her legs gave out and she fell down the last two stairs off the porch.  We brought her up and laid her down but she could not stand up on her back legs.  We watched over her for more than an hour and finally decided that this was it for her.  My husband dug her grave and had to put her down.  I really hate this and we now have 7 pets in our little pet cemetery.  

Then, one of our dogs, Desi (the brother to Lucy) had decided that he did not want to live with us anymore.  Desi loved to run and be free.  He hated to be locked on the porch when we go somewhere and the minute we let him out, he is off.  He runs up to the hills where there is a farm with cattle, chickens, another puppy and horses.  They do not feed him there and he will be gone for at least 2 weeks at a time.  About that time, Lucy and CocoNut go off and bring him home.  We feed him like a King, keep him over night, give him a meal in the morning and let him out.  Off he goes not to return until one of the dogs goes to get him.  He was a beautiful, sleek dog, with a beautiful body.  He is now skin and bones and has an infection in his ear and ticks.  We treated the infection and kept him locked on the porch.  With medication and feeding he returned to normal but with his penuche for roving we decided to return him to Susan, his original owner, and she found a home in La Ceiba for him.  But, she insisted we take one of her puppies so we now have Desiree:

I think I'll end here and report more on Desiree and happenings on the island in 2013 in another blog.

Hooked on Phones!

When we came to the island getting a telephone was difficult.  There just were not enough lines to go around so one had to wait until a phone number opened up.  Of course then you only had HonduTel to work with and if you lived in an area with access to their lines, it was still difficult at best and almost impossible if you did not have access.


About 6 years ago or so (more or less), cellular phones came to the island!  What an innovation!  While we had all connected with our VHFs and depended upon that for a source of communication we now had access to cell phones.  


It took us a while before my husband and I broke down and bought a phone giving up our VHF connection.  Of course here on the island we have to buy minutes and these are sold at many of the stores around town.  At first the cards were small but manageable and of readable size.  Suddenly, one day, TIGO, in their infinite wisdom to save money (?) decided to downsize the card and now it is 1"x1".  Of of course this means it is much easier to lose and to read those scratched off numbers which one must input into the phone.  Then there is always the problem of being in the middle of a conversation and having no idea that you are almost out of minutes and bam, the conversation is ended.  You keep talking thinking you are still connected and then suddenly realize that that other end of the line has been disconnected and there is a vast void out there.

Of course, there are times when you have minutes available but evidentially TIGO or some other power decides that “Hey, you’ve talked long enough” and the line goes dead for no reason at all.  And calling is not always that easy.  Sometimes you will get a message that there is no access, but if you are persistent and keep on entering the number in various ways you will get through. Sometime, for no reason, you seem to be out of reach of the tower’s band width even though you are in the same spot where you’ve made hundreds of calls.  Then there are always those blackouts; unexplainable happenings wherein we get no signal even though we have enough bar codes for strength indicated.

One becomes accustomed to these inconveniences; after all, we are now in step with the modern world and we have communication at our fingertips so we must take the good with the bad.  This along with the internet has made our lives so much easier.

Of course, once they have you hooked they do all sorts of stuff.  Like, make your old phone obsolete either by the way it functions or it looks.  People are constantly scrambling to upgrade their phone for who knows what reason.  I prefer to stick with what I have; it works so why spend more money?  Then, since we live on the ocean, many phones are lost over the side of the boat!

If they can't get you with that well then the "World At Large" decided that in order to control terrorists, people running drugs and/or kidnappers everyone must now register their cell phone.  Ok I say - what's the big deal?  We are offered the option of registering on-line so I do.  It is a little time consuming and redundant because they got all this information when I bought the phone and the number, but what the heck, in the name of safety and our future well being (?) I'll go along.  

Then they announce that while you can register on-line, they have decided that you MUST go into a TIGO office to present your I.D. and complete registration.  Well, this is just great.  Here we are, on an island and no TIGO office or representative to take our information.  This means each person must spend about $200 to fly to the mainland and register!  What the really, really poor people are going to do is beyond me.  I for one go the coast twice a year; once for a yearly medical checkup and secondly to renew my residency and get blood work done at the clinic.  I'm not about to spend money to fly over just to register my phone!

We did have until May 15th as the deadline to accomplish this registration but then the government or whoever is in charge decided to extend the deadline.  One source said we now had until December 2012, another source said July 15, 2012 and finally, from what I hear, we have until June 15, 2012!

Plus, I was just reading the other day on our Honduran Living Group the following:

"[I] went to Tigo at the mall in La Ceiba last week. I had already registered my # online but was also told that I needed to come in. My friend had also added some time onto my # a few days before and I had only been away for 2 mos. Regardless, although they accepted my registration and my friend's $$ (no refunds!), they had already "recycled" my number. The young man assisting me told me that chips will now automatically be recycled every two months if they have no activity.

Upon trying to buy a new chip, it turned out that they are having a lot of problems with the chips and the first 2 did not even work. Finally I was able to get my phone working but it took quite a while.

For those of us who travel back and forth, I guess this means that now, in addition to trying to keep our #s active, we will have to continually go to Tigo to register NEW numbers! Agh! Just another day in Honduras . . . . 

Never gave this much thought before but I wonder how far away we are from world-wide, low-cost cell phone service?"


So, now I'm reading that if you don't use your phone for two months, they take away your number which means we must go through the whole process again!  


I'm sorry, but this is complete madness.  The "government" (or whoever is in charge of this action) says that if a terrorist/drug runner/kidnapper uses your phone in a crime, you are responsible because it is your phone!  Yeah, like they are going to enforce that law!  Hey, they don't enforce the laws against stealing, breaking of environmental laws, murder, child abuse, trespassing, land stealing - so why should they enforce this one?  And if your phone is stolen and you live on an island with no representative or in some remote area and can't get to a TIGO representative to report it and a crime is committed, what then?


This all may work in the "real" advanced countries but just ain't gonna work here.  It is simply a real inconvenience not to mention a huge expense on the people that do not have access to a representative!  


What can we do however?  Luckily for me I registered my "travel phone" in Ceiba when we were there for our residency renewal in April and am fortunately going to leave soon to attend my Grandson's wedding in Indiana.  On the way out of the country I will be in San Pedro Sula and I can register my phone then.  But what of all the unfortunate people that can't afford it or live too far to make the long trek to a village/town/city where they can register?

Over Hill, Over Dale......or, are we crazy?

Walking is not a casual thing on the island.  Walking is akin to a sport - Mountain climbing.  There are a few "trails" on the island which are simply beaten down paths that people use daily to get from one place to another.  We have made the trek over the island via Michael's Peak (the highest point said to be 1,500 feet) several times and the last trip (with my Grandsons) was just that, my last!  I don't mind the hike up; its the travesing the rocky hillside down that is dangerous and, at my age, is best left to those with less years under the belt.

So, we were talking to Ann and Jim who live on the other side of the island in a remote area and it was agreed that we would "drop by" for a visit.  Our intentions were that if the seas were too rough and we could not dock at their place, we would go around to the marina and hike up the mountain.  Notice, I do not say "hill" as Ann refers to it in her FaceBook entries!  Sorry, Ann, this is no hill - it is a mountain.  If you want a hill, go to Florida.  Ann, dear, you are now in "mountain" country.

This is a view of the area called Grant's Peak.  While their home is not "on" Grant's Peak and is to the right of the mountain when you face it, this gives you an idea of the area they live in. While not the tallest of the mountains on the island, it is still something to walk up.  Grant's Peak is one of the mountains that is quite visible when one arrives by plane.  As a matter of fact you pass right over it (or to the side) when getting ready to land on the runway.  It is quite barren and treeless with scrub brush and lots and lots of rock formations.

This is the point where Jim and Ann live -  it is about in the middle of the photo although their dock and house don't show up too well (their place is to the right of that dark spot you see in the middle of the photo).  We came up from the grayish area towards the back and to the top left of the photo - so, it is a long walk.

As I said, we found we could not dock at their pier so we had to go back around the point to the canal where there is a marina that we could park in.  The first part of the trail is fairly level as you can see here:

After this point, there is about a 5-8 minute walk along the beach and then we start the uphill trek.  Most of it is fairly gradual except the last portion, but all is rough going with huge, loose rocks causing one to watch where you step.

This picture does not really give you the degree of incline of the hill and, at this point, it is not too bad.

Now the incline starts to increase which you still can't tell well from the photo, but take my word for it. The bad thing was that I had not thought of walking to their house until we left and were half way to the other side.  I wore flip flops with a really slippery insole and it proved to be a very bad mistake as the going was rougher than had I worn proper walking shoes.

We are still walking uphill at this point and the last few inclines ahead.  The one directly in front and the one to the back of that hill, were extremely steep.  As a matter of fact, the other people that live on this side of the island have a 4-wheeler and travel to their home on it when the weather is rough.  Even riding in that machine is scary because of the steep incline of the mountain.

   

Success! 

At last, we reached the top (about 20 minutes later from when we left the beach) and we at least have level terrain to walk on.  However, it is still filled with large rocks and pebbles making it difficult to walk.

This is the view of the airport runway (in the middle of the picture and the canal to the right looking off to the East/Southeast of the island.

This is a view of Michael's Rock which juts out on the left of the point out in the water.  Not to be confused with Michael's peak which is in about the middle of the picture and is the tallest mountain on the island.

This is a view of Jim and Ann's dock.  The water doesn't look particularly dangerous but the rollers that come in preclude one from safely maneuvering a boat along side the dock.

And, now, our guests, Ann and Jim with two of their dogs.  The one behind Ann is a visitor from the neighbor's house.

This is a photo of their guest cottage and where their full-time worker lives.

Everyone on the island tries to do something silly or cute or unusual to set their house apart from the rest.  Ann and Jim have created Ernie and Ernest (I think that's what their names were) with cast off pieces found on the beach.

This is an older photo of the back of their house.  It now has a fresh coat of paint and looks really nice. Sorry, I didn't have a photo of the front of the house.

Ann in her kitchen.  She is happy because she did not have to cook a meal for us.  I had volunteered to bring a special baked sandwich, cole slaw and banana muffins as they have been so busy working on their home between trekking over the mountain to do their errands that I felt they needed a break.  They were very happy to see us arrive, especially with food in our hands.  They said we could come back any time!!!

Here we are, ready to trek back and this time I have more confidence because Ann loaned me her walking shoes!  Thanks Ann - they were a real help.  We also took "walking sticks" which are a definite must when going up and down steep mountains.

 Ann mentioned that she has really built up her strength and can now walk some of the inclines without stopping half way up!  Way to go Ann!

We had a very pleasant day with them and enjoyed our visit.  They have come a long way from when they bought a "shell" of a house and are doing a lot to make it cosy and warm.  We look forward to revisiting them but, hopefully, the seas will be calmer and we won't have to make the long walk.  

As I've said before, you must have stamina and be willing to do things you ordinarily would not think of doing when you live on Guanaja!  And I know people who simply complain when they have to walk too far to the store from where they parked in the parking lot!  HA.