Orchid Hill Development

As my friends and frequent bloggers know Gene, Cindy, Steve Muslin and myself bought a 4.5 acre property in April that we have named The Treehouses at Orchid Hill (lots of natural flora and great views from atop this bluff).

Since that purchase we have been busy out at the site getting things done and fighting fires (sometimes literally).

It is all coming together now. The first spec house will be complete in October. Additionally we have contracted with a master planner for our development and have now figured out where the future houses will be along with the road and water/electric infrastructure. As you can see from the map above it is a neat community with great views of the ocean and Dixon Cove.

In the coming 3 weeks the road work will be completed and we will be getting the exact lots surveyed so we can put the remaining lots for sale. We are also nearly complete with the CC&R's for the homeowners too.

preliminarily the pricing on the spec house will be $250,000 and we think the lots which are about .20 of an acre will sell in the $50,000 range.

I look forward to reporting more about this exciting project in the coming weeks and months.

Cuban Refugees in Roatan

Today I went out to Palmetto Bay and took some pictures of the Cuban boat that landed there in June.

Here the brief story from www.roatanbruce.com about the Cubans who risked everything for a better life.


Near the end of June, sixteen people left Cuba in the dark of night to find a better life. On July 5th, these Cuban Boat Refugees landed on Palmetto Bay Plantation after a ten day trip that was supposed to last only five. They did so on a hand made boat made out of hammered steel drums. They are twelve men, three woman and one 11 year old girl. One man was a Mayor of a city. He brought his wife and two children with him. Others are educated nurses, accountants, lawyers, chefs and auto machanics.
They could not live at a place where they only were allowed to make $12 to $15 per....month. As of July 17th, they all left Roatan for Guadamala where I am sure they will continue along until they reach friends and family in the Miami area..

Beach Day in Paradise

We recently had a house guest. The adorable Trish Gonzalez from Fort Lauderdale came down and we all had a great time turning Fort Lauderdale Trish into Roatan Ruth for a week of fun here in the sun.

Trish said she had a great time and can't wait to come back soon. As you can see from the picture of Cindy, Trish and Gene at West Bay Beach its tough going down here.

Here is a testimonial quote from Trish "it doesn't get much better than being with three of my best friends on a perfect beach drinking monkey la la's"

I Hope this inspires the rest of you blog readers to come down and keep us company real soon.

Oversize load Roatan Style

We have all seen or been behind the big flatbed tractor trailer hauling something down the road. Slow in the way terrible.

Well Roatan is no different except. Of course Roatan still has a way of making things unique.

In the picture to the left you see a bulldozer on the back of a flat bed semi trailer. They are heading down the Flowers Bay Road and as you can tell there are a lot of electric, phone and cable wires crossing the road. Unfortunately the wires are al little lower than the top of the bull dozer.

Don't worry mon they have it figured out. They pull up to the wire and the two guys on the bulldozer pick up the wires and pull them over the top of the cab. As you can see from the many wires they have a lot to grab.

I am no electrical expert but it would seem dangerous. Trish Gonzalez, Cindy and I watched this for 15 minutes (yes stuck behind them in traffic) and saw no disaster so it must be business as unusual here in Roatan.

New Non Stop Service to Roatan from NY/Newark

Continental Airlines Announces New Nonstop ServiceBetween New York and Roatan, HondurasHOUSTON, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ContinentalAirlines (NYSE: CAL - News) today announced newnonstop Saturday service between New York at NewarkLiberty International Airport and Roatan, Honduras,beginning December 16, pending government approval.Continental will operate a Boeing 737-700 with spacefor 12 customers in first class a nd 112 in coach onthe Saturday-only flight to Roatan, located on thenorthern coast of Honduras and a favorite among scuba,golf and sport- fishing enthusiasts. The flight willdepart New York/Newark at 9:50 a.m. and arrive inRoatan at 1:35 p.m.The return flight will leave Roatan at 2:25 p.m.,arriving in New York/Newark at 7:45 p.m. Flights aretimed conveniently to allow connections for passengersat Newark Liberty. Continental also offers year-roundservice to Roatan, from Houston, Texas.Framed by tranquil bays and mountain forests, Roatanis a popular gateway for eco-tourism in the diversetropical region. It is home to nearly 100 dive sites,excellent, well-established dive resorts andoperations, and the most developed tourisminfrastructure in the Bay Islands, Honduras.Continental Airlines is the world's fifth largestairline.

If its not one thing its another

Last night the power went out about 2AM. No big deal its been happening with all the RECO company stuff going on around here.

Strangely enough the power was still out when I went to work at 8AM. I got to work and we called the power company and they told me noon and my buddy 10AM so we figured play it safe and picked the noon time. Against my better judgment I did not go to the beach to relax and instead went to the Roatan Life Office at the Anthonys Key Resort. AKR has there own generator for the whole resort so they do not lose power.

I spent my morning checking email and swapping gossip with the staff at that office. When I left to go home for lunch the power was still out, but as I was pulling up to the house the power came on.

My neighbor across the street built a 6 unit building and I noticed that the area around his electric meter installation and incoming power was smoking and I saw flames. I stopped my car (away from the flames) and ran into my generator room and grabbed a fire extinguisher. I then put out the fire (my first time using an extinguisher) and noticed how the fire had started in the area by the meter and had melted an a big pipe and a breaker box.

I sent my Gardner up to the building to tell someone and eventually a local man and the girlfriend of the owner came down. She is a girl from the mainland of questionable character (that is another story and good island gossip) and when we explained what happened, showed her the damage and implored her to call her man so he could come home and fix this issue. She shrugged her shoulders and walked off.

Well eventually the man did come home (she had not bothered to call) and I went and talked to Gary (retired guy from Texas down here living the dream). I showed him the damage explained the story and then we figured they had used too small of a wire on the breaker and it must have melted and caught fire instead during the extra heavy surge we got when the power came on. Since the melt and fire happened before the breaker it never tripped the switch.

After thanking me a few times Gary then turned looked up at the sky and muttered Roatan if its not one thing its another.

We started a new Business Roatan Language School!

As my frequent readers know Cindy and I have been studying Spanish. It was going pretty well for a while then we had some problems.

My teacher Laura stood me up a few times and did not show up and kinda had a bad attitude. Cindys teacher Sogquey was always great and although she fell ill and had to go to the mainland for some medical treatment she was always reliable and even kept in touch when she went over to the mainland.

When Sogquey got back we started talking to her about our frustrations with Laura and how the Spanish school they worked for was tough to deal with on long term learning packages and books etc.

Sogquey agreed and then we learned that she had frustrations too. Her pay was minimal at best and she got no bonus or incentive to teach more students (no commission). I was shocked at this because Cindy and I had sent her so many students and she got to work a lot more but made the same measly wage.

I was sharing all of these problems with Jeff Kuken a local realtor and the proprietor of Casa Calico hotel. He knew some of the details as the Spanish school had been using his hotel as a teaching center and sending him a few students too.

The next thing you know Jeff says lets do our own school. I said this is crazy neither one of us even speak Spanish to any extent. But after a few more minutes I thought this makes sense. I can set up a company with Jeff. I will recruit Sogquey get the web site going (www.roatanlanguageschool.com ) and set up some marketing. Jeff will pull together a new classroom environment hire an office girl and has all the local connections we need to get refrerral business here in Roatan. Jeff and I also agreed we had a large market of local islanders that would like to better there abilities to serve the tourist market with more English skills so we are offering English as a 2nd language classes too.

So since the inception of this idea in July till now we have gotten everything done and Tomorrow (Saturday August 12th) we start business. Sogquey and Melody our staff are very excited as they have 25% stake in the profits and better wages than before. Jeff is happy to have a reliable service to offer visitors to Roatan and a new language stay and learn package for his hotel. Cindy and I are happy to help Sogquey and are looking forward to taking lessons from a new and professional school (which we own part of).

Needless to say its pretty exciting times and when you come down to visit we look forward to you spening a few hours brushing up or learning Spanish.

Here is sine info from our web site or just check it out at www.roatanlanguageschool.com

Roatan Language School specializes in teaching Spanish to vacationers and residents on the island of Roatan in Honduras. We also teach conversational English to native Spanish speakers.Our full focus is on helping all of our customers improve their communication and comfort.

Spanish LessonsSpanish is one of the most important languages in the world, and its importance is bound to increase even further. Globalization of the economy, international travel and the growing Hispanic population in many areas make speaking Spanish a necessity. Learning to speak Spanish - or improving your fluency - will give both your professional and your social life a boost.

What better place to study Spanish than where it's spoken - in Latin America on the Beautiful Island of Roatan! You will enjoy the flexibility of learning at your own pace with our professors.
We offer
Offers one-on-one and group instruction so you have a choice
Modern classroom and materials to facilitate your learning
Competent and experienced teachers
Centrally located in West End of Roatan to allow you a full tropical experience

The most outstanding feature of our Spanish courses is their focus on communication. Of course you will also study grammar and vocabulary, but we don't stop there. Unlike most Spanish schools in Roatan, we will make you speak, speak, speak! You will learn to speak Spanish in realistic everyday situations and communicate effectively with native speakers.Sign up now and rest assured that we will arrange a unique and unforgettable learning experience for you.

We look forward to meeting you in Roatan!

Centrally located in West End of Roatan to allow you a full tropical experience
LocationWe are located in West End of Roatan on the property of the Casa Calico Hotel. Contact us at info@roatanlanguageschool.com

Spanish Lesson Rates
Private Lessons (1 on 1 with your Teacher):Course Fee = $9 per hour.

Private Lesson learn whenever Package pay for 10 instruction hours get 11th free (*use your hours when its convenient for you): Course Fee = $90.

Spanish Group Lessons (max 4 people per group): Course fee is $6 per person per hour 2 persons minimum.

Introduction to Spanish Package 3 hours of private lessons per day for 5 days: Course fee= $120.

Communicating with Spanish workers is 10 hours of work and direction based communication designed for supervisors of Spanish laborers. Intro to Spanish or basic Spanish knowledge is recommend for this course: Course fee = $150 and includes text book.

Hotel and Spanish Instruction Package includes (7 nights lodging at Casa Calico in standard room, Intro to Spanish Package, Breakfast daily.: Course fee and lodging is = $400 per person.

Roatan Language School:Located at Hotel Casa Calico in West End. Roatan Phone # 334-4824 Email info@roatanlanguageschool.com

How is Jazz?

One of the most common questions I get is "how is your dog Jazz doing down there?"

Well she has adjusted just fine. Here are a few of the fun and interesting things going on for Jazz since her move to Roatan.

She has re-discovered the great outdoors. Jazz has always been fond of the inside and in Florida she would mostly hang on the screened in porch or around the pool. Not in Roatan she loves to go out in the morning and the evening to sniff around land crab holes, play in the dirt and as you can see from the picture chase Lizards up trees.

She has not forgotten how nice AC is. In our home down here we only have AC in the bedrooms so Jazz has readjusted to normal temperatures and now is an expert at being one of the first living things to the fan zones. When we turn on the AC in a bedroom she is aware and likes to head that way.

She has made some new friends down here with Butch and Betty our puppies. At first she was standoffish but now she is embracing the big sister role and while still showing them she's the boss, playing nice.

Back in Florida Jazz was accustomed to going to the doggie spa for her monthly bath and trims. Now we have no local dog groomer and this task is up to Cindy and myself. Jazz often looks at me as if to say what happened to the nice spa with the good groom jobs. We do our best and she still looks ok and thanks to our friend Karen she still has new scarves to put on (Karen sent down a dozen or so).

So as you can tell Jazz is happy and healthy and doing well down here. She sends her best.

Guatemalan Chicken Buses

I am going back in time to July to do one more post on Guatemala. It was a fascinating country with a lot of culture and history. With such an interesting history its only right that you would find some current day interesting twists going on in every day life.

One such twist is the transportation of the common person. The slang term is the Chicken Bus. These reinvigorated school buses are more than just functional and inexpensive modes of transport. They are highly unique and colorful.

The bright color is more than just for fun or branding it is actually a way for an illiterate person to recognize the correct route. The different colors represent the route from different towns and villages. The drivers and fare takers do not rely on this alone. At every stop they are yelling out the doors and windows the name of the final destination. As we walked through Antigua more than often we heard the steady call of Guate Guate Guate. This is the oral cue that this bus is going to Guatemala City come on board.

But why Chicken buses you might ask? As you can see from the picture above the buses are outfitted with a large roof rack and they will haul anything (fruits, pigs, chickens etc.) So not only can you travel for cheap farmers can move goods to market as well.

We saw all manner of bus customization beyond just coloring. Some of the more memorable things were a baseball player trophy top as a hood ornament, Back off mud flaps and of course Spinning rims, oh yea.

I am not sure that I can recommend this mode of transport to the average person. I saw on steep mountain roads buses pass each other on blind, hairpin corners. I vividly remember honking horns, smoking brakes and the door open with the ticket taker hanging out the door smiling and yelling at our car as they flew past. I vainly tried to console myself with the thought that an American school bus is an incredibly sturdy vehicle. Of course, this only made my relative frailty all the more obvious as we were in a small min van private car we had hired.

The chicken buses are cheap; but then they can be dangerous, are certainly uncomfortable and, with any luck, slow. Yet I recommend them highly (Cindy and I took one, kinda of a been there done that experience). For local color and character they can't be beat. Besides, think of all the stories you can tell when you get home.

Ice Cream the Island Way

Its Hot on the tropical island of Roatan and as my partner Gene says nothing is cooler than Ice Cream.

As you can tell from this picture Ice Cream is one of the few things you can easily get around here. Sure its not yuppie style Cold Stone but when your hot and the Eskimo or Good Humor man rolls up a push up or ice cream sandwich is just what the doctor ordered.

So if you have never been here and you have been counting the reasons to come down to Roatan be sure to add ice cream on a beach to your list of why Roatan is a must stop for any traveler.

Utilities and Generators oh my!

Well as our consistent readers will know Roatan has a Utility company that operates with some controversy.

Back a couple of months ago the locals protested the high cost of electricity and got RECO to lower rates until a government audit could be performed to insure that the coop was being managed correctly.

Everything was fine for a while but starting last week RECO has started turning off all power for 3 -4 hours a day. Rumors abound but it looks like the reason for these organized shut downs (usually from 4am to 7am) are to save on fuel costs as RECO is cash poor operating at the new lower rates and does not have credit to purchase diesel. Others say RECO is doing this on purpose to posture for raising the rates in the future. Where is the truth I do not know.

I do know that we have a Diesel generator (we call it little Shaq) at the house and it has been coming on every night and our fans keep running and that's good for us. Yesterday Gene and I checked the batteries and put in some more distilled water (had to go to 3 places to find distilled water of course). We also decided to drain out the water from the water separators. Our generator has 3 inline and the first two drained just a little water flawlessly. The third drain plug / cockney valve broke off in our hands and we had diesel coming out slow but steady. We hooked up a quick funnel drain to a bottle system and Gene took off to look for a new plug as the fuel flowed.

Believe it or not the folks at the AKR engine shop (genes first stop) had a plug and we had the problem stopped in less than an hour. Good thing too as just like clockwork the power went off last night again.

As you can tell from the picture repair work in our generator shed is not cool island work. Take a good look at our glamorous island life above.