Python Sighting across from my office

Across the street from my office this week the construction workers found about a 6ft snake. As you can see it was pretty big and it had a big fat spot where it looks like it recently ate.

We have no posinous snakes in Roatan but there are a few types and evidently reticulated pythons are one of the local snakes in the grass.

Just so you know I got the workers to let it lose up the hill by the trees.

Exotic Island Food

As most of our readers know we do a little developing down here as well. Our newest project is the treehouses of Orchid Hill. It has just started and in fact I got a local family that lives next door to help me out and to chop our 4.4 acres so we could get a topographic survey.

Well during this process we got to know the folks pretty well and Sammy the oldest son and I started talking about what he likes to do for fun. Turns out hunting is one of his favorite activities. I inquired what do you hunt and he explained Iguana and Island Rabbit. The Island Rabbit for the un-initiated is an Agouti (google it). Here is the definition from Yahoo.

name applied to rabbit-sized rodents of the genus Dasyprocta, found in Central and South America and in the West Indies. They have slender limbs with five front and three hind toes, rudimentary tails, and coarse rough hair that varies from reddish to dark brown depending upon the species. Agoutis are forest dwellers; they eat fruits, leaves, roots, nuts, and sugarcane. They are good swimmers and fast runners. Agouti is occasionally used instead of Cuniculus as the generic name of the related paca, or spotted cavy. Agoutis are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Dasyproctidae

Well Sammy is a nice guy so when I went to pay him his money at the end of the chopping job he said wait a minute Mr. Mike I got something for you this morning and came back with a plastic bag with you guest it an Island Rabbit he shot that morning.

I watch a lot of exotic travel shows and fancy myself a bit of an exotic eater so this was right up my alley. I thanked Sammy profusely and made my way home to clean and prepare my dinner. I made a few calls and had some more instructions on how to prepare the dish from Sammy so while I cleaned and filleted the animal Cindy went to the store to get limes. I took all the meat from the animal (it could easily feed 4 people) and did a dry rub with garlic salt and black coarse pepper then I put it in a tupperware and added lime juice and let it marinade for a few hours. Then we got it out rolled it in egg and Italian breadcrumbs and pan sauteeed it in oil. Meanwhile Cindy made some stuffing and a corn souffle. Everything came together with perfect timing and let me tell you it was excellent. A little more flavor than pork but similar consistency. We both enjoyed it quite a bit.

I could not help thinking to myself who do I think I am Anthony Bourdain? (great travel show guy on the travel show check it out).

Fire Fight at Orchid Hill

June 20th started out like any other day. Doing things in the office, answering emails, called on a new client etc.

About 3pm I got an email from Jose Gomez who had a topographic survey crew out at our property Orchid Hill in Dixon Cove. Orchid Hill is 4.4 acres with a half built house my partners and I purchased last Friday. Our plan is to finish the house, master plan the property and create a small development ont his parcel.

Well all of our plans nearly went up in smoke. The email from Jose said: "Hello Mike…
There is a fire on a hill close to yours….the topo crew says it is almost in your lot….and that they controlled it putting it out with dirt…
And that in a couple of hours it can go up the house if it persists…. We called the fire house to see if they can take care of…
The crew has stopped for now…

JOSE E. GOMEZ"

When I got this email I dropped everything and drove out to the property only stopping to get some rakes and shovels (there is no running water on this site yet so I figured dirt was my only hope).

Just as we drove up we saw the fire truck at the bottom of the hill. The Bomberos (firefighters in espanol) told us they think its going to burn itself out not to worry. I drove up the steep hill to the property anyway and I am glad I did.

I got there and the flames were 2ft high and getting higher and they were 25 ft or so from our house. The wind on the hill was probably 15knts and blowing diagnolly across our property so it looked like it would blow the fire up toward a brushy area on the corner of the house and down toward the house. Not a good option.

I got some local guys from a house behind us and we started raking, chopping and digging a perimeter to prevent the fire from jumping. I sent Cindy back to the fire house and also to the store to buy 5 gallon jugs of water. We dumped the first 40 gallons of water pretty fast and she went and got more after that.

Then my cel phone rang. The coconut telegraph works good on the island and my buddy Steve Hasz had heard about the fire and was on the way with more shovels, rakes etc.. So when he got there and cindy got back with the water we were able to stop the spreading but it was still going good. Eventually Steve went to the fire house to see where the truck was and brought some firemen back with him in his car. They started helping and called and got the truck to actually come about antoher hour later. The truck carried 500 gallons of water and they had just enough hose to get from the truck to our fire. They put the water on the problem and it pretty much put it out. They left a couple of guys on site to watch it for another couple of hours. Right after those guys left it got going again but we had a bunch of water in buckets and were able to put the two little hot spots out again.

Needless to say it was a pretty scary experience. We had signed some papers for insurance the day before but had not given any money and the agent had not actually measured the house etc.. so if we were covered or not is pretty debatable.

So here are some more intersting parts of the day. The local kids said the survey crew started the fire trying to smoke the bees out of a stump so they would not bother them. The survey crew said they did not start the fire.

The local boys (Norman age 10, Lincoln age 12, Sammy age 17 and Mr. Victor 50ish) were a huge help digging, chopping, raking and pouring water. We would have been in big trouble with out there help. These people live in home without running water and have to walk a mile down the hill to a creek to get water and then back to there house. Without asking they brougth the 4 or 5 gallons of brown water they had and dumped it right on the fire. Needless to say I left them with 40 gallons of fresh bottled drinking water in 5 gallon jars at the end of the day.

The kids were over zealous in trying to fight the fire. Running in too close to the smoke and flames with shirts tied over there mouths and either no shoes or flip flops on. Needless to say I told them to stop and not to get hurt and left my shoes for Lincoln. I also left a few limps for there help. I was pretty amazed at the selfless way they offered to help and the way even young kids took great direction and new to throw the dirt and water at the base of the flame and how to brush the dirt and leaves away to make the fire break.

So it was an exciting day but after 5 hours it all turned out OK and we saved the place.

Cost of the Tropics

Everyone loves to tell me about how it must be great to simplify your life down in the islands. Less bills, less fuss etc. I hear it when I talk to my friends almost every time.

Well let me tell you life is the same you just have different issues to deal with but your still busy and you still have unexpected bills.

For example at our house we have a backup generator for when the power goes down. So if we lose RECO electric the transfer switch automatically comes on and the house stays lit and everything stays cool.

Recently the power went out and only part of the house had working electric. We checked the breakers and the usual suspects but could not figure out things on our own so we called VEGAS electric (how the guy who owns Vegas Mr. Charles George got the nickname Vegas is another story).

Vegas is a quality Electrical company that does US standard work (and prices) all over the island. We use them for all of our electrical needs because they are knowledgeable, dependable and fair.

Well the Vegas tech came out took our transfer board apart and what did he find in the box? A dead Monkey La La Lizard. These lizards are much bigger than the Geico Gecko but a little smaller than an Iguana. They are great to watch as they run on there back legs when they really want to motor. They are all over Roatan and when you come down you will definitely see them.

So to take our switch, get out the FRIED La La, repair it and put it all back together a little over $300. To have the power on when others don't priceless.

Meet Laura and Alice

Laura is my Spanish Professora. We meet up with her 2 or 3 times a week and study for an hour or two.

Sometimes we stop by her house and see whats going on. They also come over and eat dinner once in a while.

During those meetings and dinners we got to know Lauras family. She has two daughters, Alice 1 (shes the baby in the picture) and Marexa 10. She also has a nanny Maria (a 15 year old girl who takes care of the kids when Laura is teaching).

Laura is from Tela on the mainland originally but has lived in La Ceiba and now Roatan for the past few years. She works for central american spanish schools http://www.ca-spanish.com/ .

It is interesting learning spanish from Laura because she does not speak any english to speak of. So your forced to speak spanish the whole time which makes you learn faster but can be frustrating.

When you come down to visit if you want to spend a few hours brushing up or learning the basic it costs $10 an hour but its a lot of fun.

Meet Senior Ramirez

A lot of people ask me about life in Roatan and have tons of questions on the people etc. So based on that feedback let me introduce you to my Security Guard Mr. Ramirez.

One of the common questions about Roatan and Honduras is "Is it safe"? My answer is yea statistically it is safer than the USA in Roatan but just like everywhere there is petty theft.

However Labor is inexpensive and available here (Hondurans are hard workers) so Cindy and I decided why take chances. We had our house broken into in Fort Lauderdale 3 times and hated that feeling. So we contracted with a security company and now have our regular security guard Senior Ramirez.

He is 28 years old, and has a wife or 3 kids (1 nino (boy) and 2 Ninas (girls). His family lives on the mainland in Santa Barbara but he works in Roatan because the wages are better and he can send more money home to his family (this is common in Roatan).

He is very professional and is a pleasure to have watch over us at night (Security shifts are 6pm to 6am). We pay $400 a month for this service and piece of mind.

I often get up a night and look out at the property and am always pleased to see Ramirez walking the property with his flashlight checking on things. He is also a very thankful and courteous guy. We always take an extra dinner plate down to him every night and make sure he has what he needs in terms of water, insect repellent and a dry place to sit when the rains come.

Sr. Ramirez is trying to learn more English as we are trying to learn more Spanish. In fact we are getting some English as a 2nd language books and tapes for him this summer. When you come down you can look forward to meeting him.

Check out our new web site (and spread the word)!

So we are off and running now. Our new web site www.roatanlifevacationrentals.com is up and live and pretty much done so check it out, send it to your friends and book a trip to come down and see us. All of my official contact info is on the business card image above if you need to contact me.

I also got some great news today on another professional front. I was asked to speak at the International Living Conference in La Ceiba, Honduras this September 25th. International Living is a publishing company that puts out information for people looking to relocate abroad. I am going to be talking to a group of prospective real estate investors and or 2nd home buyers. I will discuss the benefits of property management (protecting their asset) and Vacation Rental Marketing (revenue stream). You can learn more about it at http://www.internationalliving.com/

So a pretty good day so far on the professional front for me. Cindy is also doing well. She put a proposal together a few weeks ago for a local company to run a new cruise ship attraction they are building. Today she had another meeting and took them a floor plan and some other information. It went well and it looks like she will have a new challenge in the near future. As soon as its official I will put out a new blog as it is pretty cool what she has cooking.

RECO and Roadblock

We are in the midst of some civil disobedience down here in Roatan.

Roatan has the Roatan Electric Company (RECO) to supply electricity to the island. The electricity is all produced by diesel generators in French Harbor (the industrial town on the island). Well recently the RECO bills for some went up 2 to 3 times what they had been for the previous month and the previous months were higher than the months before. Not all of this can be justified by the high cost of fuel and some people had legitimate questions.

So the rumors started flying around about all kinds of different things. Lots of unpaid bills causing cash flow problems, the RECO board taking money or taking loans, etc.. So the topic was a hot one on the island.

Well on Sunday I noticed a fairly large (20 - 30 people) demonstration in front of the RECO plant and offices protesting these issues. On Monday the demonstration grew and the protestors in an effort to get the RECO board to step down shut down the roads with roadblocks of cars and people. They shut down the main road at French Harbor, Coxen Hole, Flowers Bay and Sandy Bay. So as you can imagine no one could get anywhere and lots of people had to park there cars at the road blocks and walk home. This roadblock tactic has been used before for teacher strikes and other issues.

It really snarled traffic and lots of people could not get to work or get home. My friend Steven Woods left my house at 5pm and got stopped in Flowers Bay and he did not get home till 10pm. My other friend Melvin Castellanos was doing some work at my house and got stuck going the other way at Sandy Bay and had to walk from there to Brick Bay and again got home around 11pm.

Evidently due to the pressure the director or manager of RECO stepped down and the RECO board agreed to credit some of the overcharges back to people. All of this was a verbal agreement on 6/5/06 and will be in writing today.

So an interesting grass roots movement as of now was effective for the opposition. It will be interesting to see what happens on the upcoming days. I will keep you posted.

Hole in the Wall

So on Sunday Cindy and I got the opportunity to check out another Iconic Roatan original watering hole and eatery.

The plan was set in motion on Saturday, as the usual group gathered for another important meeting at the sundowner tiki bar in West End.

The outcome of the meeting was we would go to Hole in the Wall tomorrow but don't tell anyone.

So sunday AM came and Cindy and I picked up Devon and Melanie (even in Roatan people car pool) for the long drive to Jonesville (its pretty far about 40 minutes almost to the end of the island).

Well the Hole in the Wall is not a place for the easily deterred to visit. First you got to make it to Jonesville which is a drive, then you have to park in a lot where a lot of fishing boats dock. Luckily for us when one of the home owners was asking us to park away from his house he also offered to call hole in the wall on the radio and have them send a boat to pick us up. Thats right its only accessible by water.

In the lot we met up with a couple of nurses from Arizona who were down doing some volunteering work. They also had been told to check out the hole in the wall and were actually bringing some olive oil that the lady who they were working through said the guys at the wall needed (typical coconut telegraph).

So we crossed the bay back into the bight and came upon the spot. We got there about 1pm and lunch was to be served about 3pm. Hole in the wall puts a new spin on the all you can eat concept. See they have a bunch of food and they get a bunch of guests and they put out the food buffet style and you and everyone else eats as much as they want (assuming that there is enough for everyone).

So while we waited till the food was ready we went on a mangrove tour with Capty Clyde who has lived in these parts since 1959. he had a little dorrie type boat and he showed us a pretty cool cut in the mangrove back to a big pond. He explained how the pirates had used this cut to hide there ships from their enemies back in the day.

Upon returning to the wall we saw that our original group fo 11 had grown and the bar now was pretty full. So we got a libation and figured the place was about up to occupancy (supposedly the owners only want 30-40 customers on Sundays). So 3pm came and they blew the conch and out came the lobster tails, flank steak, mash potatoes, cole slaw, beans, shrimp and bread.

My biggest fear was avoided as there was plenty for everyone (especailly me) and everyone had a great time.

If your even in Roatan on a Sunday this is a good place to check out. But Remeber don't tell anyone your going or there might not be enough for all you can eat.