Thanksgiving in Roatan

What a week!  Last week I turned 70 (not happy about that) and then the following week (Thanksgiving) my brother and his wife advised me that they planned on flying to Roatan to spend that week with me!  WOW!

We have not had too many visitors come to our island to spend time with us.  My daughter and her husband, my son, my two grandsons and a granddaughter all over a period of 16 years!  Our island is not difficult to get to but if you have any health issues, it is not the place for some people.  Unfortunately, my brother and his wife have had their share of health problems and I have had to discourage them from coming to Guanaja.  Why?  It would be very difficult just for them to get in and out of boats even in a calm sea.  The time they chose for this visit is the season of our Northers when the wind picks up, rain falls and we have a lot of surge.  So, mindful of that, they decided to go to Roatan.  I immediately made plans to meet with them for the week.

The first photo is my brother, Danny and his wife and the second is me and my wonderful sister-in-law, Marion.

They found a good deal on the hotel Clarion Suites at Pineapple Villas.  What a beautiful place that was!  Five four-story buildings with 4 separate pools and a large lagoon.  Two restaurants and a spa on the premises and shuttle service to and from the airport.  Hey, we are on!

They arrived in Roatan on November 24th and I arrived on the 25th.  They came from Arizona so it was an all day exercise.  I came from Guanaja, just about 15 miles away and it took me 6 hours by plane!  Lot of waiting in the airport.  First flight from Guanaja left late (but that is nothing new) and then it left late from Ceiba and finally arrived on Roatan.  I really hate sitting in airports for hours and hours.  The metal chairs are really uncomfortable and once you get in the waiting room there is nothing in there to eat or drink.  You can exit and buy food and beverages but then you have to go through the whole security thing again!  Ugh.  Anyway, I arrived and after another wait for the hotel shuttle I finally reached my destination.

It was a sunny day and the room they were given was gigantic.  Hey - bigger than my house!  A huge porch with a view of the pool:

Each of the 4 pools had special themes.  This one centered around a rock formation (real, not fake) with waterfalls and a huge iguana on top:

Since I arrived after noon we visited for a while and then went to lunch at Herby's Sports Bar.  They have great food with wonderful service.  We swam in the pool that evening and had a day trip planned on Tues. on a Glass Bottom Boat.

WestBay Tours offered a glass bottom boat ride which my sister-in-law scheduled for us on Tuesday morning.  They sent her an e-mail Mon. afternoon telling her to call them as the weather was starting to look like it might be bad and they wanted to know if we were still planning on going.  Unfortunately they did not answer their phone any of the half-dozen times we tried during the day.  We finally got them Tues. a.m. and they informed us that the boat had been moved from West Bay to Flower Bay and we were instructed to go there and be there by 11:00 a.m.  We did and no one showed up.  Boat was there but no crew.  Tried calling again and as before, no answer.  We finally reached them later in the day and they could give no reason as to why no one showed up.  I, personally, think that when she checked on where the boat was going to be she forgot to tell them there would be customers coming!  So, 1/2 of our day wasted.  We did manage to stop at a wonderful Bulk Gourmet Shop and find many items one normally cannot find on the islands or the mainland.  Since my husband's birthday is coming up I bought us two beautiful steaks and 6 hamburgers (the meat for hamburgers in this country leaves a lot to be desired).  We had a lunch at a crepe restaurant, did some more shopping and returned to the hotel.

Due to the storm that passed over the islands, our weather was less than perfect Wed. through Friday.  My sister-in-law and I took advantage of this and spent the afternoon at the Spa at the hotel having a massage, a facial and she a pedicure and manicure and for me a haircut.  That was a disaster!  I told the girl not to take too much off as my hair is already short and I did not want to look like a boy.  Well, she just went wild and sheared me!  But, as they say, the difference between a good haircut and a bad one is 2-3 weeks!  Can't glue it back on so I'll have to live with it.  The massage and facial were great and I highly recommend them.

We did manage to get in a trip to Anthony's Key on Thurs. for the Dolphin Beach Encounter.  Rain and wind still present but since we were going to get wet anyway, what the heck.  It was great and very educational.  Hey - I can even tell how to distinguish a male from a female dolphin (if they will roll over for me)!.

We were in waist-deep water and keeping our balance was not easy with the surge, but we managed.  The girl trainer worked with Maury the dolphin gave an educational talk.  I learned some facts about dolphins that I did not know before.  In total, there are 19 dolphins in a penned in area.  It is a good sized area but still does not compete with the freedom in their natural habitat.  I have mixed feelings about keeping the dolphins in penned areas or in captivity but see the educational advantages to humans.  Of course, on the other hand, the disadvantages to the mammal are considered and it is hard to weigh those things considering the dolphins are well cared for as they are and the fact that they might otherwise run into more danger in the ocean makes it hard to stay on one side or the other.  But, that is their home so I would tend to lean towards giving them freedom.  This is not going to happen as many places around the world have fish in aquariums and in large pools for people to view and for their education in order to help the creatures of the sea.  The handlers seemed to be well trained and well informed and I was glad to see that aspect.

There was an added plus to the experience.  Anthony's Key provided photographers to take photos which could be purchased at the gift shop (a really nice place I might add).  They would either send the photos via your e-mail or for an extra $10 put the photos along with stills of the area taken during better weather days on a thumb-drive.

Since the day of the dolphin encounter was Thanksgiving, we went back to the hotel, showered and dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner.  And what a feast that was!  Turkey, mashed potatoes and a great turkey gravy, toasted bread, scalloped corn, green beans and carrots, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes to die for!  Yumm.  And a big plus: pumpkin pie with real whipped cream topping!  No fuss, no muss, just sit down, order, eat and enjoy!  Now that's a Thanksgiving I could get use to.  The food was delicious and plentiful as you can see from this plate!

My visit at an end I prepared to leave on Friday morning, hopefully to return to Guanaja that same day.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30 a.m. and I was at the airport at about 10:30 a.m.  The weather from Wed. on was bad with rain and wind; a typical Norther as we call it.  Unfortunately rain many times on the islands and the Mainland cause the airports to close.  Such was the case on this day and off and on all day either the airport on Roatan was closed or in La Ceiba.  We finally took off at about 5:00 p.m. which meant there was no way I would catch a flight out to Guanaja.  I spent the night in La Ceiba and was back at the airport on Sat. morning at 7:00 a.m. for a 8:30 a.m. flight.  Little did I know but all day Friday and now, on Saturday, the winds were really blowing on Guanaja and all flights on Friday had been cancelled to the island.  We were not allowed to take off in the morning and I had to stay at the airport all day until at last, at 4:15 p.m., we were advised that planes could not  fly and land on Guanaja.  Another night in a hotel was anticipated, plus flights usually do not go to the island on Sunday so it appeared that I was looking for a departure on Monday!  With the back up the airline decided to fly on Sunday and we were informed while collecting our luggage that a flight was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning and we were advised to be at the airport at 9:00 a.m.    

To add insult to the whole 3 day experience, one pays an exit tax from the airport they depart from and when you make a transfer, as in La Ceiba, you are, effectively, "in transit".  I was told Friday night that the tax I paid in Roatan would be rolled over to Saturday.  Saturday I was told the same thing.  However, on the day of my departure, Sunday, I was told that since I paid the tax effectively on Friday constituting a 3 day trip, I had to pay the tax.  I went to the ticket counter and the gentleman there went to the tax office with me as he thought I had wrong information.  The people at the tax counter reaffirmed that "in transit" covered only 2 days and since I was there longer (even though it was through no fault of mine) I had to pay.  It doesn't cost much but it was the principal.  I looked at the airline agent and said "No, you will pay my tax as I have incurred two nights stay in a hotel, taxi fares and meals and I will not pay a tax as I am still in transit."  He agreed and paid the tax.  

We took off at about 9:30 a.m. and had a fairly easy flight to the island.  The landing, however, was tricky with strong cross winds still blowing.  We made an approach to the runway but had to pull up and go around again.  The second approach was successful and I was home.  There were a lot of people in the airport waiting to leave and as a result there were approximately 4 flights that day!  No wonder we on the island do not do a lot of "island hopping!"

My thanks to the wonderful staff at the Clarion Suites Hotel, to the great cab driver we had (Homer), to Anthony's Key for a thrilling experience and to the airlines for remaining cordial and helpful during this stressful return trip. Thanks to my brother and his lovely wife for flying those many miles to spend Thanksgiving with me and for the fun we had together.  Thanks too for the items they brought for me and for re-introducing me to Roatan.

Life is a Roller Coaster!

We are at the end of November and where has the year gone?  Honduran elections are this week and with it is the suspense of "will anything change?"  I do not have a lot of faith in politicians as I think they are too far removed from reality!  Just look at the U.S. and its huge debt.  Do they stop spending?  No.  Do they make necessary and much needed cuts?  No.  Do they allow their politicians to live a much better life than the average citizen?  Yes.  Even so I am proud of my government and just wish that Honduras could look to the future - their children and provide them with a much needed and necessary education.  They should start thinking of the future of their country and not their pocketbooks.

Ok - so, I became another year older this month and with that a friend said I now have the Wisdom of the Elders.  But, what good will it do?  Young people do not want to listen to their elders.  I mean, when you were young did you want to listen to the stories or take seriously the advice of your elders?  Probably not.  So why should we expect our children to be any different?  So much is happening in the world today and advances are being made at lightning speed.  Wonders are being discovered and life is suppose to be getting better.

But, is it?  I look around our island and see unemployment, thievery, basic needs not being met and the main income of the island, tourism, has fallen drastically.  Now, the local electrical company may go under and what are the majority of the people on the island to do if they hardly have money for food let alone buy a generator to generate their own power?  The people of this island think if they build a road from one end of the island to the other it will make their lives better and attract tourists.  But, if you don't have the amenities to go with that road that attracts tourists, what good will it do?  Hondurans are not known for maintenance and who would maintain a road once it is built?  Right now there is a hole at the end of the airport runway which goes untended to.  The local government, from all reports, is responsible for the upkeep up of the runway and claims they have no money to fix it!  So, I guess we will wait for the airlines to announce they will not land here until the situation is remedied.  Why do we have to wait until the worse scenario comes along?

The education in Honduras is appalling; it does not meet basic standards and when the children finish school, what do they have to look forward to?  A job at a fast food chain?  A job as a teacher who does not get paid for months?  A job where if the local government leaders do not agree with what the individual is suppose to be able to by law so that individual is prevented from doing his legal job?   

Life for an islander is hard.  Life here for a retiree is easier but expensive.  The law is ineffectual and very little is done to stop the on-going thievery or prosecute the thieves.  Drugs are still present with many people taking the stand that the money coming in from drugs helps the islanders.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  There is nothing to spend your money on here on the island - no luxuries and if you are bringing in a lot of money people generally want nicer things in their lives.  People are spending more money on drugs, committing crimes to get the money and are not part of a "responsible" community contributing to the island.  Drugs drag the community down.

There seems to be no law forcing a builder to guarantee the completion of any project they may begin.  Thus, we have "ruins" all over the island.  Areas that are partially built up and then the forest is allowed to grow back over them.  Hotels that once were productive are left to the elements and to people stripping them of their material.  So many construction projects are started and never even reach the half way point leaving a blight on the looks of the island.  This practice should be stopped and there are way to guarantee that it does not happen, but who will put those plans into effect and who will enforce them?

I have not blogged in quite a while as I did not have much more to say about the island.  It is still beautiful and I enjoy living here but things are not getting better.  Things have stagnated and seem to be going backwards.  I ask myself, is this happening all over the world?  With my limited communication and intel from the outside world, I do not know but I suspect that in many places all over the world there is an uneasiness about people who are becoming disgruntled.  So, it is not entirely a phenomena in just this part of the world.

I can only hope that, as in the past, things will change.  People will become wiser and take more pride in their communities.  People will start being concerned about their neighbors and will no longer tolerate lawlessness.  One can wish can't they?

Lights Out for The Island?

I may be setting myself up for some hate mail, but I think that what has transpired on the Island in the past week is something that I should pass on to people, especially those who own property here but do not live here full time.

First of all, I was not at the meeting but depended upon various people to appraise me of what occurred.  Some people took notes; others, well it was from the recollections.  I am reprinting what I sent out to several people in an e-mail the day of the meeting, October 24, 2013.

"For those who did not attend today's meeting of the Board of Directors of Belco, nor live here full time and have no input into the problems facing the island, I offer this e-mail as a "catch up" if you will on the status of the island's electric company, Belco.

A meeting was held on the Cay this morning by the Board of Directors of Belco to announce that if they are unable to formulate a plan or come up with money to achieve their proposed goals, then the electric company will be in bankruptcy come this December and will close their business.

Apparently, according to the individual heading of the meeting, Belco has been in dire straits since 2004.  Ever since Mitch they have been struggling but, things really started to fall apart about 2004.  They are convinced that their purchase of two large generators some time between 2004 and 2007 was a big mistake.  At the time they felt electrical consumption would rise with new businesses opening on the island and the possibility of tourism picking up, along with the fact that 3 fish plants were operating at the time.  None of these predictions came to fruition along with the closing of the fish plants.  I instead of an increase in electrical output, there has been a decline in consumption.  Costs have risen and in spite of the fact that there is a fuel surcharge on the electrical bills representing an absorption of the rising costs of fuel, the company is looking at bankruptcy.

They admitted that they are approximately LPS. 19,000,000.00 in debt to Banco Atlantid and have the owners have been unable to honor their debit.  They proposed at the meeting that an account be set up with the Credit Union and anyone willing to come to their aid could deposit money into this account.  The account would be used to buy a smaller generator to supplement one of the two large ones presently supplying electricity to the island.  According to my sources, nothing was said about what their plans were for the unused large generator that they feel now is unnecessary.  They said that even running the one large generator was not be cost effective and, thus, it necessitates the need to purchase a smaller generator.  They stated that this account would be monitored by the Credit Union and that as soon as Belco began to make a profit from their business those who deposited money in the Credit Union (similar, I guess to owning shares but nothing was mentioned about the method to accomplish this feat), would be paid back the money they "invested."  Nothing was mentioned about any possible sale of the one large remaining generator they have no need for.

There were no flow sheets, no reporting as to how money has been handled, no accounting as to how this situation came to be; just a request that people present lend a hand and loan them money.

Of course I ask the  following questions, which have since been reflected by foreigners and Islanders alike:

1.  Why did they wait until two months before the announcement that they might have to close the business doors in December that they needed help?

2.  Will the books of the company be open for anyone investing so that their business dealings can be monitored to see that the inflow of new money and the subsequent control of credits and debits to rebuild the company will enable them to repay investors?

3.  If they owe the bank approximately Lps. 19,000,000.00, does that not indicate that the bank would be first in line to any profits gained by the company starting up again and thus delaying any pay back to investors?  What projections are available as to a timetable for pay back to the bank and subsequently to investors?

4.  No time table was given for this pay back and no flow charts were submitted to show the possible influx of cash a new generator would bring and/or a table of projected electrical consumption to support the purchase of this generator.  Nothing was shown to indicate what the present electrical consumption is and/or projected future consumption of electricity.

5.  No information was given as to the possibility of new management or the enlisting of someone who could review their bookkeeping records and correct any present spending that may have contributed to this problem.

6.  No explanation was given as to why the fuel surcharge, which is continually rising, has not paid for the fuel consumption or fuel costs each month.

7.  Nothing was said about how they planned to collect on all the outstanding bills owed to the company and do it in an effective manner.

8.  No other sources of electrical power were discussed and, apparently, some gentlemen from the mainland who are interested in getting solar and wind energy to the island, did not show up for this meeting.

  Apparently, at one point in the meeting, it was stated that they would not address various inquiries as to how the status of the company had reached this point of decline and it was made clear that this was merely a meeting to ask for people to "invest".   Yet, nothing was said as to what the invested money would represent in the way of stocks in the company; i.e., how much the shares would be worth individually."

No reports have been forthcoming as to the success of the meeting but it was stated this past week that several individuals were aware that the Board of Directors had left for San Pedro Sula/Tegucigalpa to find investors.  Several people have made various suggestions from allowing the Belco Board to go bankruptcy and relinquish their hold on the company so that new management can take over, if such investors for a new company are found.  

Going co-op has been suggested where everyone using electricity would have a stake in the business.  Quite possibly the electric users in Guanaja could ask for a meeting with the Belco Board and Banco Atlantida to see if this reorganization could be accomplished voluntarily and without interrupting the electrical service.  Belco and Banco Atlantida would have to agree along with the majority of the electrical users.  As a co-op, everyone having an electric meter would get a share and a vote to elect a Board of Directors who would then hire a manager to run the company and make PUBLIC reports to the shareholders as to the rate charged and dividends.  

Some people have suggested that the island copy Utila and go with a pre-paid electric program where the power one uses is paid for in advance.  When the meter showing the amount of purchase indicates that there is no money, the power shuts off.  Of course the problem of organizing, finding money, finding solid people to run the company will be a huge undertaking.

From an islander, the following was submitted:

"Thanks for forwarding these Email. Its hard to get things accomplish in Guanaja, because we always see the mistakes, but much of the time we don't contribute to fix them; we don't stand for one common goal as a community.

We don't set a vision for the future of our Island, we elect people which can't see any further than the point of their nose, and the sad part is that they don't take any advice [from] those people who might know something about the problem.  We have our priorities all messed up; First the Lord, Second our family, Third our friends, Fourth our community, Fifth our country.

Guanaja is sinking, we all agree on this.  There are no jobs, there is no industry, there is no money, and we belive that someone from outside is going to fix these problems.  When we elect a leader is to lead the community in the right path. There was L26,000,000 given [during] Mel's Government to Guanaja Municipality [and] not 1 penny was used for wind, or solar energy, this is the same person that was reelected. He only had to use half of the money for this purpose, and in a short time this would be a income for our local government.  There is a law in Honduras that if you can produce energy cheaper than what it is costing the company, they have to buy it from you.  If this had been done we would not be in this problem. I ask the question, what is going to happen when the big oil companies decide they want $200 a barrel of oil?  It is going to happen! Are we ready for it?

This is the first  meeting BELCO had and there [were] a lot of questions that need to be answered.  And note was taken, to be able to answer them, Belco is going to have [to have] another meeting .... and call in a second meeting with the potential investors, to give them answers to their questions.

Of 70 people that were invited about 25 were there and some were not in the list, I guarantee you if the generator went of for 24 hours it would have been a different story.

As a  grope united with one purpose it can be achieved.  

We are divided, by politics and lead by fools.  What can be achieved with this combination?"   

As you can see from an Islander writing the above comments, it is not only those non-citizens who believe something must be done.  More information is needed; the Board needs to present their accounting records, facts and figures in order for anyone to take seriously the thought of investing.

It must be added that there is a division on how much is owed to Banco Atlantida.  Reports from the meeting (in notes taken by an individual) stated Lps. 19,000,000.00.  Others claim they were told Lps. 9,500,000.00.  All in all, no matter what is owed, it is a huge amount and the fact that the Board chose not to face the problem years ago and waited until the eleventh hour to advise the populace of the dire situation was, in my opinion, irresponsible.

Again, the above comments were made by Islanders and foreigners alike.  So if someone wants to criticize me, you should first take into consideration that the population of Guanaja has been left in the dark - and will be in more ways than one.

Another thought: If the phone towers have no power - there will be no cell phone usage on the island!

We will be hit twice!