Utila Cays Life

Last Utila Blog!

2009-01-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

Incredible restaurant, hotel, bar..Jade Seahorse on Utila

Took 15 yrs to build...this is full of shells, bottles, etc.

The detail work on this place is stunning

Jade Seahorse rooms...enchanting, would love to stay there

Has to be seen in person to really appreciate

Beautiful arch

So many nooks and crannies at the Jade Seahorse

HH cooks, Zeidi and Mirna with Mgr. Loretta

HH employees Tammy (we had lots of laughs, thanks for the lobsters Tammy!) and Ellen

Simba a cutie patootie. sorry for the sideways pic

HH employees, Ellie and Lori, twins that I can never tell apart!

View from the HH Internet Room, nice, eh?

HH Internet Center, where I was most of the time

Beautiful sunset coming back from Utila to the Cay, for you Joann!

Yes, a real beach! But on Utila, none on the Cay

Delicious Cantaloupe Juice, Zanzibar Cafe, Utila

Very nice place to stay on Utila called Lighthouse

Getting towed to Utila after breaking down

Stranded after breaking down on Mr. Donald's water taxi

Licsy and Erin....help, come rescue us!

Maybe we don't want to be rescued..we're in paradise!

Pam and me goin' with the flow after breaking down

Jade Seahorse

Kelly at the Jade Seahorse Inn

Feeding apples to the horses

Kelly at the caves where you can swim

Beautiful ocean view from Pumpkin Hill

Local Cayon woman salting fish which they sell to visiting Catholics for lent

Me at ML which I was marketing to sell land

Doing my fave thing...shell hunting

Henry with HH in background

Garifuna cleaning a Black Fin Shark

Well folks, it's finally time to say goodbye to the wonderful Cayons, divers and tourists I've met along my interesting journey to the Utila Cay in the Bay Islands of Honduras. I leave tomorrow morning for an uncertain future back in San Diego, California. Not sure what I will be doing there for work, but I am open to almost anything. I'm going to stay with a firefighter friend of my sons. All I know is I will be closer to Ocean Beach which is my dream place to live. Someday...and soon I hope.

I have had a lot of fun with my new roomates of the last few weeks, Kelly and her Dalmation, Basil. We went horse back riding on the most beautiful trail on Utila at Red Ridge Stables a few days ago..and I've got some sore thighs to prove it. She said horses always looked so emaciated in Guatemala, but they were well fed here. I might have mentioned this before, and am too lazy to look back...but her and her husband Dave are cruisers and live on their boat. He's got it up in dry dock on the mainland repainting it while Kelly has been working with me here at HH doing marketing. She's a tech whiz compared to me on the 'puter. But having her live in the house with me has been one of the bright spots on my journey. We have really had fun bonding, telling deep dark secrets (ha!) to each other and cooking together. We're damn good cooks if I do say so myself. And once Basil warmed up to me, she has been a total cuddlebug. I'm gonna miss her...ok, and you too Kelly. Thanks for turning me onto Maya-Ik hot sauce...gotta find me some of that stuff back home.

I am really going to miss the employees I worked with at Harbor House. Didn't get pics of them all, but thanks for making my time there that much richer, and teaching me about your culture, a little Spanish, absolutely fascinating. Antoinette, Tracy, Tammy, Loretta, Zeidi, Mirna, Janis, Ellie, Lori, Nicki, and new girls Ellen and Erin, thank you all.

All the locals have been so incredibly sweet. When I would tell each one I was leaving, they all said, "You're coming back, ya?" And Sheila, one of the market owners told me that I'm now a Cayon..that pretty much brought a tear to my eye. I guess I do have to come back now.

My only regret was not seeing that giant leviathan of the deep, the whale shark. Even though I went out on the dive boat to snorkel several times, I always seemed to just miss seeing them by a day. One day they saw 5 of them. Another reason to return.

Several of my friends have asked what did I learn about myself while I was here. I think I might have to digest that first and do a bit of hindsight introspection. Kind of hard to see it while I'm still here. One thing I can say though, I did find out that I'm a pretty good creative writer. Victoria really was pleased with a lot of the marketing material I wrote. Most of it was quite humorous, which I wasn't sure she would like, but she certainly did. I'm now applying for creative writing jobs, relating to marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and entertainment reviews.

The horse back riding trip that Kelly and I went on was fun. I used to own a horse, but haven't ridden in over 15 yrs..and man, are my thighs sore today. Two hours in the saddle is a lot when you haven't gone out in a long time. But what gorgeous trails we were on. Mostly very lush, green and shady. We did one full out gallop and I almost felt like I was going to fall off the saddle..shows how long it had been for me. I'm a little ticked off that Kelly's thighs aren't sore..must be the luck of youth I guess. 2 hours for $25...much cheaper than anything back home.

Actually, everything here in Central America is very cheap. You come here with US dollars and it can go pretty far. But if you work here....not so much. I was offered a bartender position on Utila, but at about $15 a shift plus tips, which usually aren't much, I wouldn't have been able to save a dime. But rents are fairly cheap, especially if you have a roomate which you pretty much have to do. 1-2 bedroom places go for $250-350. Man, wish I could get that back home.

I think it's significant that when I would tell everyone that I was going home and it was too remote here for me, they would never feel the same way...they loved that about the Cay. People seem to love traveling through Central America...after all, it is quite affordable, especially if you are very young and don't mind giving up things that you were used to back home. In the long run, it is really not for me. I miss being able to go out to great restaurants, buying anything I want to make that special meal with, the creature comforts I've grown used to and am spoiled by. I'm a TV nut..so, I miss a lot of my shows back home. Maybe insignificant to some, but it's what I enjoy. I can still be near the ocean back home and go snorkeling if I want to. I know I will miss the color of the waters out here though. I could

never live in a land locked state..got to have that sea...for some reason I just can't live without it.

So, it's been a lot of fun sharing my Caribbean adventures with you all. Thank you for your personal emails to me, your support when I got lonely, and for your comments on here. I hope to have another blog posted when the next story unfolds. Life affords us so much if we only open our arms, reach out, and embrace the great adventure.

New Year's Eve 2008

2009-01-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

My new roomate's dog, Basil

Two bunnies that live on the Cay..cute, eh?

Cassandra and Toby emerging from their NYE night dive

Toby, Anka, Jerry and Renee gettin' down to Michael Jackson

Jerry, Anka, Cassandra dancing the night away

Anka, Jerry...Jer..how do ya bend like that?

Cassandra kickin' it

Doin' the Swedish Hokey Pokey?

Jerry and his Dad Jim, trying to follow Renee

Renee and boyfriend Oscar leading the Swedish hokey pokey?

17 in our motley crew on New Years

Kingfish feeding the masses...yummmm!!!!

Jim and Lighter laughing it up over homemade hootch

Anka, me and Jerry welcoming in the New Year

Chowin' down

Curtis trying to fan the flames with an air tank!

Had another great party with all my diver friends on New Year's Eve here on the Cay. We stayed and partied at the Hotel Kayla where they all stay. I gotta tell ya, it is SOOOO cheap to stay there. It's very basic, backpacker's kind of hotel. $10 a night..and if you get their dive package...only $5 a night! Wow.

Alex, who made our fish feast on Water Cay on Xmas Eve, was the chef du jour again that evening and made a big Kingfish that you can see above. That along with some veggies and papas..and LOTSA rum, we were fueled to the gills..pardon the pun. There were 17 of us, and at one point, one of the Canadians pointed out that I was the token American. I reflected on that later as I was three sheets to the wind at the time she mentioned it. It is kind of cool making friends from all over the world...most only stay for a few days and then move on. You almost feel like you're saying goodbye to old friends. Some of the divers are instructors or staying to get their dive master certs, so those are the ones I know the best..they stick around longer. Either way, ya gotta move on at some point.

The pics where you can see us all around the table, standing on chairs or on the floor was a really fun thing that I thought was going to be stupid. As we sat around after finishing our meal, and looking like stuffed pigs, our Swedish friend Renee said..c'mon, lets all stand up, I have something fun for us to do. I thought..oh no....is she going to make us do the hokey pokey or something?? Well, my worst fear was realized, but it turned out to be quite a laugh. She did do something similar, but she would hold her hands up and make funny sounds, or non sensical words and had us repeat them..we were laughing our asses off and as she got us up off of them (our asses that is) and it really energized us all...for more drinking and dancing!

I brought my iPod and speakers and you can see us all dancing, mostly to Michael Jackson songs..and I just love the pic of Toby, our friend from Germany doing his best MJ. I hear there is a pic floating around of me grabbing my crotch, a la Jackson style, but I have yet to actually see it.

At midnight, we all went out to the top deck of Captain Morgan's dock and I had one bottle of champagne for us all, poured a few sips for everyone, and we celebrated with fireworks going off all over the Cay. We could even see big ones in the sky from Utila. Toby and Cassandra went diving at midnight to share a cerveza underwater..got a cool pic of them coming out of the water above.

A great time was had by all. It reminded me of the old days when I was younger and partied like crazy on New Year's Eve...usually I have a pretty quiet one the last few years. Ah youth....nothing like hanging out with them to make ya feel young again. Who am I kidding? I don't do most things someone my age would do. Like my 26 yr old dive master friend Frederick said the other night....you don't look 54, you don't talk like you're 54 and you don't act like you're 54. I know it's a good thing not to look 54, but is the rest ok?? Or am I in arrested development? Who cares. I'm in the Caribbean, I have two weeks left before I go home and I am richer for the experience. Life is good..turned upside down the last 6 months, but good.

HH Xmas Party, Party on Water Cay, Where I hang

2008-12-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

Drifter just chillin'

Local kids putting on a Xmas play at church on Xmas eve

On the way back from Water Cay, one of the girls from Spain

Fooling around on the way back

BBQ pit on Water Cay

Cassandra the Monkey Girl

Lovely bunch of coconuts Vero just swinging and eating

The gang at Water Cay

Braiding Edoardo's beard

Enjoying the day

Alex our cook and host, and some friends

Cooking the barracuda under the fire pit

Anka and me. She is a divemaster and g/f of Alex

My cute new friends from Germany

Was a beautiful day on Water Cay

Who says it doesn't snow on the Cay?

The mayor of Utila, Alton Cooper and me

HH Xmas Party

Employee Xmas Party at HH

Chowing down

My famous sweet potatoes/marshmallows upper left

This is the view from Captain Morgan's Dive Dock
where I spend my spare time snorkeling and reading

Another view from the dock

I hope you all had a great Xmas and for some, I hope you are still having a great Hanukah. I had a couple of fun days off. On the 23rd, we had our employee Xmas party. Turkey, roast beef and a lot of trimmings. It was fun and the place looked lovely all decorated.

The next day I went with 23 other divers to Water Cay. We rented a boat, took over a load of food and partied. Alex, one of the locals, brought over a bunch of barracuda wrapped up in foil, buried it under the fire pit and cooked them to perfection. We also had food left over from the employee party and more food the divers made...too much food for sure. I guess sweet potatoes and marshmallows is a very American dish, as no one had had it before and it was a big hit at the HH party and at the Water Cay party. Soooooo sweet, almost like a dessert.

Was a very nice cosmopolitan mixture of people from all over the world. Germans, Spaniards, French, Colombian, New Zealanders, Canadian, American and Cayon. My Spanish is getting a bit better, but is still muy malo.

Some stayed the night...ummm..unless there is a camper to stay in, I'm outta there and I did go back with others who I guess felt the same. I tell ya, that boat ride back (about a 10 min ride back to the Cay) was the highlight of the evening. Just beautiful with all the stars out and a balmy night. Just what you would expect in the Caribbean.

The Haunted Howling Winds of Harbor House, seasickness, and good food..the missing of it.

2008-12-18T11:08:00.000-08:00

Finally got to go out on the dive boat yesterday with all my new diver friends. I think what I like most about living here is meeting people from all over the world. Spent part of the day and a meal with this young Irish couple, very nice. It was my first full day off since working here.

So the boat...why am I in constant denial that I get seasick? I know I do, but not always. But the rolling waves were a bit much for me. I was fine when in the water, but once on board and moored waiting for the divers to come back up....ugh. No tossing of cookies, but just more like...get me offa this boat. Saw a lovely rainbow on the way out too. There is just a lot of wind here most of the time. I've been wanting to take a nice pic looking down into the water off the dock that I sun myself on and snorkel off of, but it has been too choppy lately.

Was nice to finally dive somewhere other than off the Cay here. I saw a few Black Durgeons, A Queen Angel (did you hear that Darlene?!) and some French Angel Fish. I was told they're all rather common out here.

I might have mentioned in one of my older posts that the winds around HH sound amazing when it is really blowing. I've decided to call them the HAUNTED HOWLING WINDS OF HARBOR HOUSE. Just sounds cool, doesn't it? I was thinking it had a lot to do with the unusual dimensions of HH and the winds just love curling themselves around it. When I was in here late at night a few weeks back making sure nothing got flooded, it was actually creepy in here because of those winds. I bet some sound guys would love coming in here and sampling those winds to use in a scary movie.

Man I gotta tell ya..I am just dying for a decent meal. I have not had any really good food since I've been here. There are only two restaurants here, The Fishburger and The Cay View. They are just mom and pop places with a few things on the menu..while not bad, they are way over salted. Not a bad thing when it's wicked hot and you're sweating like crazy and need to replace those fluids. But damn, my blood pressure must have been spiking after a couple of the meals I had there. But hard to complain when a full plate of food is under $4...but I guess I just did. I've been cooking too, but with very limited things you can buy in the little local markets here..you've got to be inventive. I think I'm finally getting sick of my own conch soup. And now that I found out they're being overfished, I won't be eating it anymore.

I would love to have a meal at some of my fave local places in LA and SD that I miss. The ribs at Dr. Hogly Woglys Tyler Texas BBQ, the chicken picatta at Fabrocinis (both in LA), anything at Craves or Yogurt Time (amazing Pinkberry type yogurt AND sushi, ya I know, but WAY fresh) and Phil's BBQ, all in SD. I live in the land of fresh fish here...can't believe I haven't had or made my own sushi! But without wasabi..why bother?

Ok, my bitch session is over, time to go enjoy the little bit of sun we're getting. Currently reading "Alice Waters and Chez Panisse"....oh yeah, a book about food and the most famous restaurant in the US.

Roughing it on the Cay, Wondering about my next destination...and bread

2008-12-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Victoria, Barbara, Me and Marilyn at Barb's house a couple of nights before Barb and John were leaving to go back to the states. This was from the turkey dinner I wrote about on the last post. Barb's ever present (on loan) parrot Paco likes to party with us. He belongs to her neighbor Bobby, who lives in the big hunting lodge type house. She says it's the first thing she does when she gets to Utila..goes next door and gets the parrot. Bobby is hardly ever there, and Paco gets lonely. Lucky parrot. Barb is a hoot. So is her friend Marilyn, we had a lot of fun talking up a storm that night, and burning the marsmallows as previously mentioned.

Speaking of storms....so tired of it raining. Well not today thankfully. But we actually had 5 days of sunshine, got to snorkel and lay out a bit...then the rains and winds returned.

It's cold here! Ok, maybe 67 doesn't sound cold to you, but again, when you're in the Caribbean...that's cold. And Henry finally got my suicide shower working....oh yeah, I said suicide. And that's not my term for it, it's a commonly used one here. You flip on this little switch and the water gets hot...and then it gets really hot..and then..well, you know where I'm going with that. So ya gotta kind of toggle the switch back and forth and you burn a little, you freeze a little. But last night I went home after work, got all lathered up head to toe and it stopped working..had to rinse off in cold water when it was cold outside and in the house...ok, that's about as much as I want to rough it.

On one of the nicer days, I went into Utila with Roger, my friend who lives next to all of the above. He picked me up in the big inflatable boat....pic on a previous post. That thing hauls ass. Was my first time having a few hours in town. I was on my own. Ended up at this bakery...of course. Had some incredible homemade walnut, raisin bread with Nutella on it...yumm! Sat and talked to these young girls for like an hour on the front porch of the bakery. We had this great convo about traveling and their adventures. Seems they were walking on the beach in La Ceiba one morning...La Ceiba is on the main coast of Honduras..and they were robbed in broad daylight by gun point! Bad guys took their cells, iPods, money..but left them unharmed. Wow. Said they had been here 4 months already. One girl was German, but didn't have much of an accent. The other girl was American. They were about to go get tattoos and invited me to come get one with them..I'm like....hmmmm....did that 27 yrs ago...don't really have the bug to do that again. But thought I would walk with them in that direction. That's when I found out they were only 16 yrs old!! They were exchange students living with local families. Again, wow. I just never had the opportunity to do things like that when I was their age, or didn't know it existed. They seemed older, like at least 18 or 20. Traveling definitely makes you more sophisticated...ok, maybe not sophisticated, but ya know, more mature. Can't wait for that to take effect on me.

I then strolled into this little food place and found out they could make me a loaf of sourdough bread. I was pretty excited about that. See what happens when you travel to far away, remote places? Bread becomes an exciting thing. Well, the bread here in Utila and on the Cay is just that mushy Wonder bread type stuff..which my Mother always said when I was growing up...any bread that you can roll up into a little ball is not healthy to eat. So of course I was always trying to do that with the bread I could get at my friend's houses...so cool I thought..and then I would pop it into my mouth...pure orgasmic carb overload. This young Irish guy was running the place and said to come back in two days and he would have a whole loaf of crusty sourdough bread for me. 70 lempiras, about $3.50. Henry went into town two days later and picked it up for me. Not bad..not sour enough though. But the loaf was so big and hard...could seriously knock someone out with that. Popped a slice into the toaster with some butter and a bit of salt on it...was heaven.

It's been extremely slow at HH this week. This is the low season here and they don't expect it to get real busy again until Feb. A bunch of crusiers came in yesterday. You could see them moored out in the harbor the last couple of days. 4 boats..none of them knew each other, but they all ended up coming in together. I met my first batch of cruisers on Bonaire a few years ago and I just really dig these people. They always have a bit of that, I've dropped out of society and I'm loving it kind of air about them. Would love to do that...if sailboats didn't make me seasick. Yeah, I know I dress as a pirate for the Ren Faires...so don't tell nobody, ok?

Have to admit I'm feeling more comfortable in some ways here. I seem to know most of the locals now and they know me too. Many have asked how long I'm staying and seem to be comforted by the fact that I'm here till the end of Jan. Don't know why that is, but that's cool. One asked today when I'm coming back after that..and I said I'm not. He seemed surprised. I said I have to look for work anywhere I can get it these days.

I even have an offer to possibly go to New York which I'm waiting to hear more about. But awfully cold there this time of year. But again, I will go where there is work. Because as I'm sure you all know, and the media keeps pounding it into our heads, there is work, but too many of us looking for it. I read on the CNN web site the other day that there is this 29 yr old marketing woman who has been applying to over 40 jobs every day for the last year with no results. Bosses telling her they're getting 500 applicants for each position. Remember I said that in one of my first posts on here? So she put her resume on a t shirt and is standing on the corner advertising herself! Now that's what I call thinking outside the box. Bet she gets an offer just from being on CNN and showing some ingenuity.

This is why I will consider taking a job almost anywhere. I'm getting offers of places to crash in Hawaii (where work would be even harder to find), New Jersey (2 different friends) LA, Las Vegas, and New York. But ultimately, I'm doing affirmations to end up back in San Diego where I've wanted to live for many years now and I will eventually. I'm even looking into professional house sitting situations..who knew there were web sites for that?

Victoria, Henry and I talked this morning for a long time. She mentioned that I need to be somewhere with more people and I couldn't argue with that. This place is just not for everyone, and I agree in the long run, not for me. So, I will just do my original commitment here and fly out on Jan 27...to where, I'm just not sure yet.

Back to work, Turkey and Xmas lights

2008-12-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

Pics of an incredible sunset over the Cay (a bit blurry..taken from a moving boat!), view from my back porch and one of our employee's Tracy's dog..she says Frisky is the oldest on the Cay....14 yrs old!

V&H made it back just fine, no weather glitches. They brought back all kinds of cool stuff for HH. So, of course that meant back to work today for me. We are way slow in the cafe due to the fact that a lot of people don't know were back open again. But they sure seem to know the Internet is back up! Ah, the lure of the glowing screen.

Last night the 3 of us went over to John and Barb's house for that turkey dinner we never made. We also celebrated Norman's birthday, he's one of the locals. Also made friends with their neighbors, Jeff and Marilyn. Marilyn makes such a mean vodka/cranberry/pineapple, that I had to tell her to put my cranberry in it. Damn that drink got me lit!

I finally got to make my famous sweet potatoes with marsmallows, which we promptly burned all the marsmallows on because us girls got talking and drinking and...one of us said...doesn't that smell like burnt marsmallows? Uh, yeah. We literally scraped off most of the burnt part and it still tasted pretty good.

But the dish that had everyone talking was my conch soup. I only made if for the first time a few days before that. I was walking down the pathway here and one of the local Garifunas (very interesting culture, http://www.garifuna.com/) asked if I wanted to buy a little baggie of conch for L50...about $2.60. Geez, that sounds like a drug deal. I was like sure...now, how the hell do I cook this stuff? But there was a recipe in the Utila Cay Cookbook that Victoria is selling and I tweaked it a bit. First though, you have to pound the conch (pronounced konk) so it's kinda flat, then you have to boil it for awhile until tender. Pounding was a crack up. Nothing like flying conch in your kitchen. But I added cayenne and honey to it, and that gives it that sweet and savory taste I love. Then yesterday, that same Garifuna guy (he's hip to my sucker buying now!) asked if I wanted to buy a MUCH larger bag of conch, to which I said let me see it first...wow, really sounding like a drug deal now. This bag was way full and was 200 lempiras=$10.50. Froze some of it and made a batch to bring to dinner. Norman said it was the BEST conch soup he's ever had! Hmmmm...wonder if that was Norman or the cerveza talking? But everyone raved over it. I don't think conch is that easy to get back home, but sure would like to make it again.

The rain is really getting old here, but when I saw a ray of sunshine yesterday I grabbed my snorkel gear and practically ran down to the dock only to find that the water was like a urine colored golden yellow! Yuck. Turns out sometimes the channel drains here and puts all this dirt into the waters..no way was I going to tempt fate. Divers said it is about 5 ft deep but they get under it. Of course today, while it is sunny again, and I'm WORKING..it's a beautiful blue again.

Xmas underway here and a few houses do it up light wise, just like back home. It's kinda comforting. I even bought some lights from a store on Utila..where no one spoke English...kinda proud of myself that I was able to purchase my lights and a little wreath with my espanol..which is muy malo. So, this Jewish girl is able to kinda put up the Xmas cheer...too bad there are no menorahs around here..I don't think so. I grew up celebrating both. What can I say? My Dad's Dad was a rabbi, but my Dad didn't like all that strict stuff. He loved the decorations of Xmas so I was the lucky girl on the block that got the 8 days of Hanukah and all these gifts at Xmas too!

O.J., ferry breakdown, pedis & lack of privacy

2008-12-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

Thank god for the Internet. I have been listening to my favorite radio shows based in Los Angeles on there. Mark & Brian on KLOS (been listening for over 20 yrs already) and Frosty, Heidi and Frank on 97.1 FM Talk. I was listening with rapt attention to the O.J. Simpson trial as they played the live feed on Mark & Brian. All I can say is...it's about time that smug, arrogant murderer goes to prison...for a loooong time. Looks like it will be at least 15 yrs for him!! YES! Justice FINALLY served for that MF'er! Not that I have any strong opinions about it or anything. I've just been following all his antics for 13 yrs..since he obviously murdered his wife, Nicole and Ron Goldman. Goldman's parents were in courtroom. I can't help wondering if they feel any satisfaction at all in this verdict. At least he's off the street for a long time....being the obvious criminal he is. I love how the judge said, she couldn't decide if he was ignorant, or arrogant...she decided he is both! Love her! Karma baby....payback is a bitch!!

On a more local note for me, weather is still bad and I just heard from one of the locals that the ferry from La Ceiba to Utila has broken down. This could be bad news for V&H who are supposed to return on the ferry tomorrow. I wonder if they will have to charter a plane to get back. I'm currently moving all my stuff that I have at their house back to mine. I will miss their crazy cat! But I can come visit anytime I want if I'm up for the abuse.

I used Mr. Donald's water taxi yesterday to get over to Utila for a much needed pedicure. Hey, I already had all my fake fingernails removed before I came here....that was hard enough. But the toenails were starting to look like a gargoyles worst nightmare..had to do it. The taxi....$3 RT, the pedicure....$7, the relief to have toes looking normal again? Priceless.

It is so weird walking out of the house and the locals asking me where I'm going. I'm just so used to being such a private person in my daily life, but it's a way of life here.

Trip to Water Cay, Semi Automatic Weapons and my Crafty Shell/Wood Thingies

2008-12-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's Dec 1 already! And how awesome is it that I don't have to deal with holiday rushes anywhere?! Nice.

There is this big rivalry between the Cay and Utila baseball teams. Forgive me if I mentioned this before...memory is what it is, which ain't much lately. But the Cay won the "world series" last night and they came back on the boats whooping and hollering. I could hear them coming across the harbor! Funny aside, most of the locals have told me their favorite baseball team is the LA Dodgers! Some of them love the fact that I'm from there. At least someone in this world is happy to hear I'm from Los Angeles, ya just never know. And the Utila team has a regular baseball field to practise on, whilst the Cay has nothing even close to that, no less having any grass or dirt anywhere.

Anyway, the neighbor next door came over to forewarn me that there would be some firecrackers and maybe a gun going off to celebrate the win. Hey, I'm from the San Fernando Valley, gun shots are one of the ambient noises where I'm from! Along with searchlights, helicopters...you know, searching for criminals in our backyards..but I digress. He said last time Victoria freaked out and no one had warned her.

So, I was braced for it. But duuuuuude....you didn't tell me there would be semi automatic weapons going off!!!!! Geesh!! And literally..right next door! I could tell they were shooting off into the ocean, but it was RIGHT NEXT DOOR!! I tried to stay calm...but I sure can't say that for Drifter...who disappeared somewhere in the house for quite awhile. I always feel bad for animals anywhere when people shoot of firecrackers and stuff.

Here are some pics from a little side trip yesterday with John, Barb and their friend Hank. We went to Water Cay which I heard is THE beach in the area and good snorkeling. Didn't bring my snorkel gear, so will have to check that out another time. While there was fine, white sand there, it was kinda trashy. Barb said she had heard that it wasn't cleaned up after the Sun Jam Festival from last July. That's a techno music festival that FOR SURE you will never find me at, not being a fan of techno. Yuck. John was bonefishing right from shore and caught one, Hank was carving a stick and Barb and I lollygagged (jeez, thought I would NEVER get to use that word in my life!) in the water and generally just got to know each other better. We talked about what amazing lives we've both lived and how we're both supposed to be writing our life stories...maybe we can encourage each other a bit with that.

So, pics are from the boat (Barb, John and I), the sign on the beach at Water Cay (notice it says no spearfishing and no picking coconut!) a view of Sandy Cay, where there is a private home that a friend of theirs lives on, a fisherman in his boat, a couple of views of the Cay I live on from a different angle, a picture of the Honduran flag that is on the dock of a friend's house, and some pics of my little hobby..shells and driftwood.

Little story about my arts and craft. Since I love shells so much, having been an archaeologist that specialized in identifying artifacts made from shells, I started collecting them on Bonaire my first time there. I made these cute little things with driftwood and gave one to each of my friends on Bon. Later they told me they all fell apart. Seems glue from a glue gun just is no match for the humidity of the Caribbean! Sooooo..this time I'm determined to make them stick...so to speak. I bought Gorilla glue...supposed to last through anything..so time will tell. Cute, huh? Oh ya, Barb? If you read this blog before I see you again, that small one is yours!

Finally got out to eat for lunch yesterday...called dinner here..or it is supper? I get confused about that..but lately, I'm easily confused. I went to the famous fish burger place and it was ok..not bad..good french fries. Hadn't had anything fried in over a month.....was starting to have withdrawls over not getting enough grease in my diet. Satisfied that! But my new friend, Frederick..cute, young French/Canadian divemaster here..was having a BBQ plate that looked awesome....have to try that next time. For me to eat out only twice in a month..has be a personal best when it comes to the foodie in me!

Out of Hibernation, Thanksgiving, New Friends

2008-11-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

This big city girl is not good at isolation, and being from Los Angeles, I'm NOT used to a LOT of rain. But that's all it did pretty much for a week straight..rain, rain, and guess what? MORE RAIN! Even the locals said this is a lot of rain for the rainy season. I was going out of my mind being cooped up. There is only so much you can be on the 'puter even though it was somewhat work related, and watch DVD's, or read books and do crossword puzzles. I NEED HUMAN CONTACT!

And with my new friends Barb and John being across the bay, we could only email back and forth all week, which believe me we did! We were going to have a Thanksgiving Day dinner at their place, and went back and forth with some recipes, but John got sick the night before and plans changed. I went with my new friend and caretaker of that big house in the pic above, Roger and his girlfriend Gladys, over to Utila for an ex pat dinner at the Driftwood Restaurant. And what a great dinner it was! They pretty much had all the fixin's including my fave, yams with marshmallows! I had met some of these people at the HH grand opening, and it was nice talking to some new ones. We also went to pick up Roger's boss and his grandson, the guy who owns that big house above (looks like a hunting lodge, doesn't it?) and we all went to dinner together. Was too short a time, but I was grateful to get out. Pics of the inside of that house and a pic of me at their bar which is outside over the water..pretty cool, eh? Another pic of me on this big tire the owner brought over from Louisiana where his kids grew up playing on that..I thought that was really neat.

The ride over was another thing! It was raining pretty good and we all got very wet, but hey, it's water....we can always dry out. We went over on that inflatable in the pic above...that thing cost $25k! Wow! Cute pic of Barb feeding the parrot from her mouth. The parrot actually belongs to Bobby, the owner of the big lodge looking house next door to hers. He is lonely I guess, so every time John and Barb come to Utila, the first thing she does is go over and get the parrot!

There are some pics of the Driftwood, food, people and the bar. Pic of me holding my favorite drink..vodka/cranberry/splash of pineapple. For those that know me, I was never much of a drinker..in fact, only discovered I liked that drink about 4 yrs ago. I got so sick on cheap wine (Thunderbird and Ripple!) when I was 13 yrs old, I was not really able to drink again for years. Then I got sick on Jack Daniels and Tequila years later and didn't drink again for many more years. I'm good at doing aversion therapy on myself....if I could just do that with some food, that would be awesome!

Hey, I need to clear something up. Some of you seem to think I'm working at a resort..HH is NOT a resort. It's a commercial building with the amenities I mentioned in the first post. And V&H also own land across the harbor, called Mariner's Landing that I'm trying to help them sell.

Cute piccy of Drifter the INSANE! That's my new name for him. He goes full speed around the house to let out his ya ya's I guess!! He climbs up on the top of a doorway to get in that little space..and sometimes he attacks me from there or when I just walk across the house!!

Barb just emailed me to say they are feeling better over there and are coming by later today. We're going to a restaurant on the other end of the Cay, the lower Cay actually (Pigeon Cay), that is called The Cay View Restaurant for Herman's BBQ. Really love BBQ..my fave along with Sushi. Oh btw, I live on the Upper Cay, also called Jewel or Suc Suc. I can't believe that I really haven't gotten out more and gone to a couple of the few restaurants there is on the Cays here..I do love to eat out, but am trying to save some dough.

Ok, I actually have a sunny day here and I'm going to take advantage of it. Going to go snorkeling. Have been finding some fun shells and driftwood for my things I like to make. Pics to follow of my little crafts in next post.

2008-11-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

Posting some new pics today. This is from a couple of days ago when I met John and Barbara and went to Utila with them. Pic of them walking down the "main" street in town. Kid holding a fish, maybe lunch for the day? Pic of me on the dock in front of John and Barb's house with the Cay in the background...click on that to blow up and see HH in the back there. A pic where you can see a 4 wheeler which is one of the few modes of transpo on Utila along with golf carts and a few mini type vans which are usually taxis. No cars at all on the Cay, which is really cool. I've probably never been anywhere in the world where there is such little airborne pollution! Big Yellow house is the Cafe Mariposa, which I hope to try someday. At the top is Drifter, Victoria & Henry's (V&H from now on) cat, more below about this nutburger!

It has been real interesting meeting people, mainly divers staying at the little backpacker's hotel next to HH, called Hotel Kayla. It's run by Kevin, who owns Captain Morgan's Dive Operation. For $5 a night, you have a bed in a room you might share with two or three others, and a bathroom you all share, and a main room with a TV/DVD player and a little set off to the side is a dry erase board and community table where the divers hold the written part of their certification classes. I do not remember seeing if there was a kitchen. Some of the divers who stay there were coming over every morning to HH to get coffee and a bagel or fried egg sandwich. Got to know a few of them. Bogdon is from Romania, which I thought was so cool since my dad was born in Temeshvar, Romania and he knew where it was! Then there was Maria I think..she was from the Czech Republic. Most of you know that I was seeing a very famous Czech NHL player many years ago and when I mentioned his name to her, her eyes lit up saying he was SO famous in over there, that put a smile on my face. I tried some of my very bad Czech on her..she corrected me of course! Then there is Derek, who came to use the Internet every day and when I mentioned where I had just moved from...La Mesa/Mt. Helix, in San Diego, CA, he said he lived in Mt. Helix for awhile..talk about a small world! I've also been talking to Frederick, who is French-Canadian, what a cutie. He is a dive master for Captain Morgan and we've had some great convos about life in general.

I can't believe I've only eaten out once since I've been here, and that was with V&H one night. I don't even know the name of the place, but right now there are only two places to eat out on the Cay. I had lobster, which was only about $6! It was not anything like Maine lobster, it was Caribbean lobster and was cut up in this yummy sauce. With rice and some bad french fries which I didn't really eat. It was a deal for the price, that's for sure.

Those that know me well, know that I LOVE to eat out, cook and just generally am a big time foodie. I am also a bit of a celebrity chef groupie! I miss my Food TV Network! All we get here and it comes in pretty bad sometimes is CNN, TBS, TNT, Disney, The Weather Channel, and a few religious Spanish stations. I LOVE TV so it's hard missing all the shows I love to watch...and DVR. But H & V have plenty of DVD's which I'm watching and they have the first 4 seasons of House which I never really could get into back in the states as I felt all the episodes seemed too much alike for me. But I started watching it last night..guess I'm a captive audience!

To see what I like to watch, you can check out my My Space page at www.myspace.com/merciless68 I'm sitting here listening to my favorite old morning radio show on the Net, Mark and Brian from KLOS in LA. Been listening to them for like 20 yrs. They just announced two of my favorite new shows were cancelled, Pushing Daisies (SO original, so of course it couldn't last long!) and Dirty, Sexy, Money...a fun soap opera type show with Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh and Peter Krause from the great HBO show, "Six Feet Under".

Ok, I digress a bit. I know this blog is supposed to be mainly about Utila and living on the Cay, but it's also about me, me, me!! And some of you don't know me that well, so I'm telling a bit about myself too.

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN! It was sunny this morning when I woke up and I thought maybe I could get in a snorkel, but we're right back to rain as I write! Bummer! I'm not a rain loving person, it stops you from doing things. Like I was also going to lie out on the hammock on the porch here and read a book for a bit. Another time perhaps.

I was also looking forward to John and Barbara stopping by, but you can't get on your boat and come across the harbor in this weather unless you really have to. Barb told me she came by yesterday, rang the bell out front but I didn't answer. Oh, I was here, but I was taking probably only the 3rd nap of my life! I never take them because mainly, I'm never tired (even though I only get like 4-5 hrs sleep a night..not by choice, but by menopause!) or something always has disturbed my drifting off, so I gave up on them a long time ago. But I need to start doing them as getting that little sleep is not good for many things including memory and losing weight..yep, that's what Dr. Oz says and that man is totally right on about many things. Many reports are showing that to be true also.

I'm taking care of V&H cat, Drifter. He is a ball of energy which I guess most indoor cats have since they don't have the great outdoors to expend it in. He is allowed to go out, but rarely chooses to do so. Sometimes, he just spends about 2o min running up and down the hallway from the Living Room to the Den at lightening speed! Sometimes he jumps up onto the computer table, onto another file cabinet and then onto the top of the door! You should have seen him trying to catch a moth the other night...that was on the ceiling...and he got him! He is not a very affectionate cat, but Victoria thinks that may be due to him having been dumped in a trash can before he should have been taken from his mama. She fed him with an eye dropper! But he does love a good face wash, which reminds me of Sheba, the Calico I just lost earlier this year at 19 yrs old! She loved a good old hockey style face wash too.

Rock Fever...Already!!!

2008-11-19T16:06:00.000-08:00

Did you guys know that you can click on all the pics on here and they get GINORMOUS?? My friend Jeff told me that today, I had no idea! So if you really want to see details, click away!

Well, I finally got off the rock today! This couple, John and Barbara, who are friends with my bosses, live across the harbor in this amazing round wooden house. It was jaw dropping when I got inside. Decorated impeccably with furniture and decos from Nicaragua. The couple are from New Mexico and spend about 5 wks at a time out here every few months. They came and picked me up in their boat which was nice. I only met them once a few days ago and they said they would come get me next time. People mean what they say out here!

It is SO nice across the harbor. They live on the Southern tip of Utila. I sat and had a beer with them before 11 am! And most know that I'm not much of a drinker, so to have one that early...well, I figured why the hell not?! They also had the cutest 7 month old goofball of a dog....just loved him!

We also went into "town", which is downtown Utila. Basically looks like one built up alleyway. Lots of businesses, motor scooters, golf carts, etc. Went into Bush's which is like a bigger market than anything here on the Cay. But Barbara said they didn't have much today. Still got some stuff I hadn't seen here. Mmmmmmm....bacon!!

HH looked fairly dry today. No rain thank the gods! I was actually able to hang laundry....yep, that's right, HANG laundry. I really don't mind doing that. It smells better that way too.

The cat I'm watching for my bosses, Drifter, is a cutie, but not a very affectionate cat. Victoria said he comes up onto their bed and stands on their chest in the morning. I figured he wouldn't do that to me since I'm new around here. But early this morn..here was this cat standing on my chest! Geez, I could barely breathe! It was funny.

Hard Rain Gonna Fall

2008-11-18T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it got so bad we had to not only close HH yesterday, but the owners, Victoria and Henry decided to close for the whole 2 and a half weeks they're gone back to the states. Sounds like I'm on a paid vacation now, eh? Not totally. When it's raining this hard and the water is seeping in, I have to go back and constantly wring out the towels laid down everywhere. And there are a lot of them!

Soon as it totally dries out here, Henry's right hand man is going to get in there and repair things. Didn't make sense to stay open to the public with all that going on. Even the gym had water seeping up through the rubber mats!

Meanwhile, V & H left this morning, but had to wait up until the last minute to see if their plane would take off, but I guess it did because they haven't come back yet! I'm staying at their place and watching their cute kitty, Drifter. Have a pic of him but will post later.

Took me part of the day to move all the things from my house to theirs. They put a new front door on my place, but it keeps swelling up and they have taken it off and shaved it twice already and it still won't close. I'm told not to worry about things left in the house, but I moved almost everything out of there just in case.

All our employees have been so helpful coming to help me mop things up. One of them even brought me a plate of food! Fishballs, rice and beans...yumm!

So, ugly weather, time off and can't snorkel...bummer!

Crazy Weather!

2008-11-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

This is my first real tropical storm I've ever been in. Bad enough that we had to close HH today. While the place is built like a rock, we still had water seeping in in many places and have used every available towel to mop it up. The wind is HOWLING around the building like you wouldn't believe! But that is due a lot to the way HH is built.

The Net is a bit unstable to day as well. Even though we're on satellite, it goes off and on. My house is dry which is a minor miracle considering they told me it was leaking like crazy before I moved in, but they patched it up as best as they could, and it needs a new roof. I was actually surprised when I went home after work last night and found it dry.

But it's cold here now! I've never experienced being cold in the Caribbean. Since I only have a cold shower, I haven't even taken one the last couple of days...too damn cold! It supposedly has this little heater button on it that makes steaming hot water come out and then you have to mix it with the cold or something like that..but like a lot of things here..it ain't workin'! Welcome to life in the Caribbean!

I heard about all the fires in So. Cali. My heart goes out to all that lost their homes. My son is a firefighter and sometimes gets called out to really big forest fires if they need him even though he is stationed down in San Diego and is a federal FF. But I think he told me he won't get called out to those anymore since he is now stationed at a different location. I still worry about him when he does go out.

Henry, my boss, took me out to see Mariner's Landing yesterday. This is the land that him and Victoria bought and are selling as residential lots. He told me that it took 17 men, 3 months to clear it all with machetes! And it is stunning beach front property. I will be helping them to promote and market it once they get back from the states..that is if they can even go! They are supposed to leave tomorrow, but the weather rules all! We will see. Another storm is supposed to come in behind this one. That will be such a bummer for them as they have such great plans to go to New Orleans, Dallas and Cali.

Ok, will write more later...got to go wring out towels from all the water around here!

2008-11-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pics. Kids playing on the public dock in front of HH. People eating at our lunch counter. A view off the top Yacht Club floor on the day of our opening..hence the balloons. And employees in our new kitchen getting things ready for the day. Our pirate at the top of the stairs to the HH and he also has a "voice" that speaks! It really scares the little kids...pretty funny. A pic of Victoria and some of our employees.

2008-11-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

I remember when Bonaire was the smallest place I had ever been to. About 12,000 people. Well, the Cay has about 600! Talk about everyone knowing your business! I'm a big city girl, so this is going to take some getting used to.

I don't know how many houses are here, but it only takes a few minutes to walk from one side of the Cay to the other. Attached are some pics of the walkways.

There are about 5 little mom and pop markets here. What's so cool is that you can buy just half a carrot or green pepper if you want. I wanted some BBQ sauce today, but didn't want to buy the whole bottle, so they poured a little bit in a plastic baggie for me and I just think that is so cool. Especially when you're single and you can't use up larger portions quick enough.

I was just watching some of the local kids playing earlier. For them catching and cleaning fish is some of their play. Or I guess their parents are teaching them the family trade. Was kinda weird watching them holding these big sharp knives with no parental supervision...yeah, like we'd ever see that in Los Angeles!

Some of them just sat and watched me work out in the gym today. These little cuties are like 6 yrs old or so. School is out now. I think they only go up to 6th grade here? Most don't go across the bay to Utila for higher education because they don't have a boat to get across. But the mayor of Utila just gave a bunch of money here to fix up the local school.

Victoria is selling a Utila Cay cookbook, the proceeds will go to fixing up the park. Not like any park we're used to seeing. I should have the pic on here...the blue metal benches under the blue roof. Most of the men sit under there and just shoot the breeze.

I went snorkeling the last couple of days. It was really pretty under there with a variety of sea fans and all the corals, brain, elkhorn and many others I'm not good at remembering the names of. Same for the fishies. Most of the fish I've seen are the same I've seen before with a couple of exceptions that I've got to look up. Waters are SO warm and wonderful. But I'm still sweating away here and this is their winter! I don't know if I can handle the summertime here. Bonaire was pretty hard to handle for me when I first went in July and they don't consider themselves a very humid island! Yikes, we'll just have to see if I even last that long.

I have to admit, I would like to get over to Utila to see what it's like over there. Was hoping that would be easy to get to, but I guess not. And even if I did want to go over there at night and check out the social scene, there is really no one coming back at night in a boat in the dark. So, the true test of all this is can I handle being this isolated for a long period of time. The HH has kept me fairly busy so far and at night I just look forward to going back to my house and watching DVD's. You only get about 7 channels here...CNN, TBS, TNT, Disney and the Weather Channel and a few religious Spanish stations. Thank god Victoria and Henry have a TON of DVD's to choose from!

Oh my....what a big orange moon coming up tonight! One of our employees said that means good weather...we're definitely having that already!

Getting here, living here and working here!

2008-11-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

Don't know if it's possible to have more changes in one's life as I've had the last year. Lost my home of 25 yrs in Los Angeles, moved down to San Diego to be near my son and hopefully find a job and move to my dream destination of Ocean Beach, a small hippie-like beach community in SD.

I spent 3 months looking for a job to no avail. And I mean EVERY kind of job! But when bosses are telling you that they're getting 200-300 applications for each position, you know you've got some serious competition! And just as I'm cursing the flakiness of everyone on Craigslist in my job search, I find a position in the Caribbean that sounded perfect for me! From Craigslist??!! No way! Yes way!

I find an ex pat (Americans living in another country) couple from San Diego who moved to this remote island that I've never heard of (and I'm somewhat savvy on Caribbean islands having visited quite a few) asking for help in managing and promoting this new building and residential properties they are developing.

First let me talk about the island and then I will get into the actual property I'm working on.

I'm in Honduras, in the Bay Islands. You might have heard of the largest Bay Island of Roatan...well I'm not there! I'm on the smallest Bay Island of Utila. Well wait, I lied, I'm not even on Utila! I'm on a small cay about a 10 min boat ride from Utila! I'm in what they call the Upper Cays, or Jewel and Pigeon Cay..but the locals (Cayons) just call them the Cays. Utila is called "Town".

I'm used to the slower pace of life in the Caribbean having spent quite a bit of time on the island of Bonaire, one of the top diving destinations in the world. I fell in love with that island and go back every year for like a month at a time. Incredible snorkeling as I don't dive. I have lots of friends who live there and many who visit the same time as me. Many of my friends who live on Bon have asked why don't I move there. I replied...well, I think I would get "rock fever" and would have to get off the island every so often. My friend Annie lives part time on Bonaire and part time in Cape Cod. That kind of life sounded ideal to me. But, like most islands, it's not easy to find work there.

So that just gives you an inkling of how screwed up our economy is that I had to take a job in Central America! And in an incredibly remote place..with no beach on it! WHAT?! No beach you say? Well, at least that is what I said! Because everyone that knows me, knows that I'm a TOTAL beach freak. The Cays have nothing but houses built on them...not really one grain of sand to lay out on. Oh, there is Water Cay, which is a 10 min boat ride away and is supposed to have beautiful white sand beaches on it, but I don't have a boat to get there myself. I would have to pay someone to take me there, or eventually I will have my bosses take me there. If I had anytime to spare, which I currently do not have.

Oh, just have to stick this in here. I can cross flying in a VERY small plane off of my bucket list! I have always wanted to do that and from La Ceiba to Utila I was on a 6 seater. It was so exciting! Flying across the water with a pilot, a German couple and me. Very cool. Scratch that off the list.

Ok, let me tell you a little bit about my job and then some more about life here on the Cay. Victoria and Henry are my bosses, but really, they are more my peers. They are very cool, laid back people that are very easy to work for. They both left high paying careers to sail around the world. But they found Utila and haven't left! They first bought the properties to develop and we're talking 10 acres of beachfront which they've sold 8 lots so far, and that is on the South shore of Utila. Then they built Harbor House (HH) which is the bldg I'm helping them with on the Cay which is basically right across the bay. There are also several private Cays around here where you can rent the whole Cay and they have a house on it.

HH is the ONLY modern building on the Cays. It has a gym on the first floor, a pirate themed (AAAARRRGGGHHH!!) cafe and an Internet business center on the second floor and a Yacht Club and soon to be an upscale restaurant on the third floor. Most people here do not have Internet as it costs $300 to install and about $50-60 a month! And this is a third world country, so most can not afford that here. So they are thrilled to have an Internet place to go to. We have 3 computers here and a hook up for your own. And it's only a Limp a minute. Oh yea, they have Limperas here as their money and it's 18.89 limps to $1. So one Limp a minute is CHEAP!

We will be also promoting ourselves to the dive operations on Utila who come here to dive. They said their divers are looking for healthier places to eat and the Internet to use when they come onto our Cay.

The people here on the Cay are so nice and helpful. Almost everyone speaks English and they all speak Spanish. You'd think after living my whole life in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles that I would speak Spanish by now, but my Spanish is muy malo!!! But I'm gonna learn it, that's for sure.

They only thing that has me a little nervous right now is that Victoria and Henry are going back to the states on Tues the 18th and won't return until Dec 6! And we just opened 5 days ago! Oh ya, we had a ROCKIN' grand opening last Sat....3 days after I arrived. Over 100 peeps showed up and we had a DJ, food, liquor and a lot of fun..but we worked hard. In fact, I've mostly been working like 10-13 hr days the first week, but Henry and Victoria work even more.

The last few days Victoria had me come in later so I could snorkel. I did and it was great. We are actually at the end of our rainy season and it looks like I just missed a lot of it right before I got here. Other than some rain, it has been very sunny and beautiful the last few days.

I was offered a house in my deal with them and it wasn't ready when I first got here. It's pretty rustic and even though they lived in it when they first got here and they still rent it, it needed some fixin' up before I could move in. Mainly the electricity was totally screwed up and they pretty much rewired the house. Some new furniture and paint and it was ready to go.

But the first few nights I spent in an apt that is attached to HH. It's very nice and new. One night I heard some scratching noise in the bathroom. I'm not new to things like this in the Caribbean, so I bravely stepped in...and there was a big blue crab in my shower! I grabbed a towel, a pot to put him in and ate him!! Ok, not really. But I did throw him back in the ocean...damn he looked tasty! I'll eat some of his cousins I'm sure at a later date!

I finally moved into my place about 4 nights ago. Cold water only. But again, I'm used to that from Bonaire. Hey, the Cays only got 24/7 electricity 5 yrs ago! They did have generators back then, but this is supplied by a power company and I hear it ain't cheap. I do have to pay for that myself and when the time comes I go buy the card and put it in this box in my bedroom...weird, huh? But because of that lifestyle they had for so many years before the power company, this whole place closes up about 9 pm..and peeps are up EARLY here! Thank god I'm up early too because it gets kinda loud with everyone getting in their boats...most are fishermen here, that's how they make a living..if they can afford a boat.

It's really a cool little place, gorgeous waters and corals and fish..but for some strange reason, the locals throw some, not all of their trash in the waters. WTF?? Victoria has tried to school them on that, but to no avail. I just don't get it. They have this beautiful place with incredible looking waters and they do this. I just want to organize a clean up day around here! But it would have to be more like a clean up month I think!

Here are pics of my house and the rooms (hey, some have asked to see that!) and a pic of the blue crab that showed up in my shower. And also a pic of Victoria and me from our opening day. Most of my posts won't be this long, but I've been here a week already and I didn't get started until today.