Jaimes Jeep and Jumpin Lucky Dog

Meet Jaime Stathis. Jaime works with me at Roatan Life on the Real Estate side with Steve Hasz. She moved to Roatan this year around the same time as Cindy and I.

There is quite a bit to talk about regarding Jaime but I am going to start out with Old Red her trusty 1990 Jeep Cherokee Limited. Old Red has been on Roatan since 1996. Jaimie purchased it from a couple who bought a house that included the jeep. Jaime paid the princely sum of $1,500 for this classic island vehicle.

Some of the standard features on a 1990 Roatan Cherokee include No Headliner, No turn signals (Jaime uses her childhood bicycle arm signals instead). Shredded leather seats, No AC (tried to get this fixed but Walter at the garage said "wire been cut long time ago" . Radiator much like a tropical plant necessitates frequent watering. And most importantly the driver side window does not roll up.

This last feature was no major deal till the rainy season began. Jaime always the inventor has given her trusty poncho the responsibility of stopping some of the water. This open window with optional poncho brings us to the 2nd part of our story.

Jaime came to Roatan from Missoula Montana with her dog Lucky (part wolf, part Lab). Lucky is one of the biggest dogs to ever step foot on Roatan. Just getting Lucky to Roatan was quite a chore because of the size of her Perro Casita Mas Grande (JUMBO Dog Carrier).

Luckys head is the size of cinder block but he is one of the nicest sweetest dogs I have ever met. lucky has such a soft heart that when Jaimie leaves her house for a short trip to the mainland she always gets a dog sitter.

during a recent trip for 3 days to Tegucigalpa the dog watcher Tree (local dive master that is real tall, Much like Kramer of Seinfeld fame no one knows Tree's real name but that's another story), watched Lucky. When Jaime talked to him the day after her return Tree inquired how did your car smell? Jaime said bad as usual why do you ask? Tree went on to explain that Lucky chose to jump through the poncho and sleep and hang out in Old Red while his master was away. Jaime was amazed and quickly put this story to the test and coaxed Lucky to make one more leap. The technique was sound according to Jaime as only his back paws barely touched the window seal.

Personal Greetings from President of Honduras

Most of us have Cel phones and some of us even get text messages. I seldom do so when I get a text I always look at it suspicioulsy. Here in Honduras text messaging is almost spam level with all kinds of weird texts popping up that I do not understand.

Well today I got a text message from the President of Honduras (Jose Manuel Zelaya) wishing all of us a Happy New Year Merry Christmas and best wishes etc.

Don't get me wrong it was not a personal text to me but a mass communication to all (sure I was a little dissapointed). I still thought it was pretty funny and kinda nice that the president texted his populous and said have a good year.

Carter Famiy Christmas Letter for 2006

December 21, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

Another year is coming to a close and we just can not believe how time has flown. Cindy and I had a big year of change and everything is working out for the best and we are very happy. The letter this year is broken in segments to help retell our story.

The Big Move

The year began with change in the air as we made the decision to sell our home in Florida, leave our good jobs and great friends in Florida for a new adventure in Roatan Honduras. The move was based on our desire to live our dream of residing and working in a Caribbean paradise.

After making our decision we made a few trips to visit friends and family before our big move. The best part of announcing our move to everyone was the warm wishes and going away parties. Thank you to everyone as great times were had by all at send offs at the Sagebrush in North Carolina, Dinos Pizza in Jamestown TN, Jet Setter Lounge in Lake Worth and Rustic Inn in Dania Beach just to name a few.

Thanks to the help of our friend and realtor Shawna Lochner we were fortunate and sold our home in Florida in a reasonable amount of time and on April 12th with our home sold, possessions packed onto a container ship Cindy, Jazz and I boarded a flight for Honduras.

Believe it or not everything arrived in perfect shape. Not one item got broken on the Journey and most importantly Jazz adjusted quickly and completely to being an ISLAND dog.

The New Jobs

Once we hit the ground in Roatan Cindy made contact with the Galindo family owners of Anthony’s Key Resort and she presented a proposal to them to run their new Fins and Flippers Cruise Ship Attraction. They came to an agreement and over the next months Cindy helped in the prep work and the attraction opened for business in October. She loves to tell everyone about her new job and how she takes a boat to work everyday and is the general manager of the island that has a private beach, huge pool, restaurant, bar, gift shop, snorkel pier and has a dolphin encounter where guests can swim with the Dolphins (yes Cindy gets to go Dolphin Swimming for Free!).

I got to work and got quickly initiated into the 3rd world. My first order of business was setting up our new office with phones, internet, signage etc. Within a month we were up and operational. We started generating business pretty quickly and really hit our stride in June when my partner Gene DeMarco arrived to live and work full time in Roatan. Currently we have 21 rental properties we manage and some marketing relationships with a few others. Our goal was to have 20 by the end of the year so we were real happy to meet our goal and the company is running pretty well. We are planning for a profitable and rewarding 2007.

If getting our new careers going was not enough we also acquired with our development partner Steve Muslin and Gene DeMarco a 4.5 acre parcel and half built house. We closed on this in June and have since finished off the house, brought water and electric to the property and subdivided the property into ¼ acre lots with beautiful ocean views. We brought this project to market in November and now everything is up for resale. Wish us luck and or send us leads if you know anyone that wants to own a piece of paradise.

We have dabbled in a few other things including selling some SCUBA and Snorkel equipment. I kept a few of my old ties alive and Gene and I represent Princeton Tec Lights, Bare Wetsuits, Innovative Scuba Concepts, Oceanic, Aeris, Armor Bags and 500 PSI. We have made a few sales but the retail market for things here is pretty slow. We will keep plugging away on it. I also partnered in setting up a Spanish Language School where tourists and expats can learn Spanish. Check out www.roatanlanguageschool.com .

Some fun in the Sun

Part of our life in Honduras is we have to leave the country every ninety days till our official residency is finalized. This is a law tailor made for Cindy and Myself and our passion for travel. We took full advantage with trips to Guatemala, Belize and back to the states.

Of course living in Roatan has some advantages too. We have gotten in some great diving, snorkeling, birding, sailing and just going to the beach with our new dogs. Yea we got two more dogs a brother and sister that we got when they were puppies. Butch and Betty are ¼ Doberman and ¾ Rottweiler and a lot of fun.

While we still miss our old friends we are happy to report we are making new friends here in Roatan. We have had some dinner parties, times out and are enjoying the social aspect of island life. In fact it’s a lot like the small town life Cindy and I grew up in. You wave a lot to friends on the road and see folks in the banks etc.

Don’t believe it come on down

I know it sounds like a great place to live and it really is. We were happy to see so many friends come down since we moved and we are really looking forward to more visits from those people and the rest of our friends and family real soon. It is easy to get here with INTL direct flights weekly from Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Newark NJ, San Salvador and Milan Italy. Prices vary but my parents just got round trip from North Carolina for $585 which is pretty good.

Once your down on the island there is all kind of things to do and lodging (including good deals on vacation home rentals hint hint).

Merry Christmas, Good luck and Best Wishes to everyone in 2007 Mike and Cindy Carter

Birding and Mayan Ruins in Belize

Cindy and I took a quick trip to Belize in Early December. We went inland near the Guatemalan border to a place called Crystal Paradise Resort owned by the TUT (pronounced Toot) family http://www.crystalparadise.com/. This Belizian family really made us feel at home as we stayed in one of their dozen or so thatched bungalows in the jungle.

During the trip we got to do a few different activities including canoeing, bird watching, some Mayan ruins, dining out (of course), a little hiking and renting a car and explored the country. The best parts were definitely the birding and Mayan Ruins.

One of the Tuts sons Jabroni was our guide. You can check out his services at http://www.birdinginbelize.com/ Not only did this man have incredible local knowledge he also had the best equipment (scopes and Binos). We accomplished our trip goal and saw a Toucan the first day. In fact we saw two varieties and multiple toucans so it was a real hit. We also saw Brown Hooded Parrots, Social Flycatchers, salttaters just to name a few. The birding is really fun and a great way to see Belize. Most of this birding took place in the El Pilar reserve which is also a Mayan area that has not been excavated.

The next day another Tut son, Averil, better known as Caracol King took us up the the Caracol archeological preserve. The ride itself was part of the fun and included a trip through the Mountain Pine Forest Reserve. We even had a military escort due to some recent bandit activity in the area.

Once we got the Caracol it was amazing the size and beauty of this Mayan site.

Occupied as early as 1200 BC, The site was rediscovered in 1938 by a logger. The true name of this ancient city, found in hieroglyphics throughout the site, has not yet been successfully deciphered. Its modern name is Spanish for "snail," the derivation of which is not entirely clear. One translation of the emblem glyph, indicates it may have been named "Place of Three Hills," but this is also uncertain. The comprehensive work done by archaeologists Diane and Arlen Chase, of the University of Central Florida, tells us that in 650 AD, a population exceeding 150,000 was occupying the epicenter of the site.

We were able to experience this special place in relative isolation. On the day we visited there were only 8 other tourists at the site. It was amazing to see the creation from so long ago that he jungle had completely enveloped and now thanks to some modern day Indiana Jones is open up for the modern world to see. If you get a chance to go to this or any other Mayan site it is worth your while.

The next day we rented a car and gave a lift to a fellow traveler Sarah from Olympia Washington that was heading down from the Jungle to Hopkins on the Belize coast. We took the famed Hummingbird Highway through more mountains, orange groves and salt marshes till we dropped off Sarah at the beach. That night we checked out the running W Steak House in San Ignacio. This was a true first class steak house overlooking Macal River. http://www.sanignaciobelize.com/home_page.html

The next day brought some rain that looked like it would stay all day so we checked out of our jungle accommodations a day early and headed to Belize City to the Best Western Biltmore. Truth be known it was Sunday and NFL season so we picked the hotel based on the knowledge they had satellite TV. We were not disappointed and spent the day watching football.

All in all Belize is a great vacation and I encourage you to get off the beaten beach path and check out the interior jungle