Preparing to depart Fantasy Island Resort

(As I preview what I have written tonight, as the page lays out today with my profile picture on the right - 2 years old, and this recent picture, I see that I have aged quite a bit.  Have a better tan.  Changed to an easier hair style.  And perhaps, regardless of what friend and former neighbor Betsy, wrote recently on Facebook, have lost some weight, or perhaps redistributed it!) 
Getting ready to depart Fantasy Island Resort, sadly.  I arrived here in late June of 2010, and Annah Foster has moved no more than 50 feet since my arrival, when I moved her to a better spot on the dock after friends in that spot departed.  It has been a wonderful 16 months and I have really enjoyed making this resort my home.When I arrived, you may recall, I was exhausted from my 18 days or so at sea, with 4 days of tropical storm thrown in at the last, and so I ate every meal in the restaurant here for about a month or so, sort of re-building myself after Cup o' Noodles, apples, bananas, sandwiches while the bread lasted, and cans of Bush beans at sea - oh, and yes, one fish eaten raw.  I was very tired, physically and mentally - more than I recognized at the time, and this place was a great place to begin this new adventure.
Fantasy Island was a safe place from which to venture slowly, to begin learning my way around since I speak no Spanish.  The first times, whenever I left the resort property, were very scary for me - a stranger in a really foreign country.  ( I vividly recall the first time I bravely walked out to the main road, to take my first collectivo taxi to save on the fare, after having taken taxis from either the resort front  door(very expensive) or later, from the guard shack across the bridge (still expensive, but not so much).  I sat on the curb and waited and waited - about 5 cigarettes, I think, and when no cars or taxis passed by, decided I might as well start walking - in flip flops, no less.  As I neared Bojangles, a taxi finally passed and blew his horn, but I was almost there and let it pass.  It turned out to be the National Holliday and the store, my destination, was closed - EVERYTHING was closed, and I paid full fare to ride back, empty handed.)  With no Spanish, when I arrived, to a little bit now, it has been a wonderful adventure for me here.
I recently told friends about a couple firsts I have had lately.  One is silly and the other just a bit exotic:  I had the occasion to help a friend's mother by stopping by, with my machete in hand and chopping down my first stock of bananas, as a favor for her.  I have never done that before and for some reason, it was kind of cool.  I have always gotten my bananas at the grocery store.  The other was seeing my first tarantula spider in the wild.  It was crossing the road in front of me as I pulled the car into Fantasy's entrance, and after reversing, I visited with it in the light of the car's headlamps.  I tried to take a pic with my phone's camera, but with no flash, it failed.  Unfortunately, I had thrown my Bic lighter down next to the spider for perspective, and had to figure a way to retrieve it.  Yup.  The spider jumped AT me when I tried to scare it away.  I screamed like a little girl!  Ha!

Taken from the wooden bridge to enter the resort island, these are a couple of pics of my dock and Annah Foster, in the center of the picture - third from the right.  Friend Skip has already departed or his boat would be on the right in that big empty space.

Of these boats, from left to right, the first 2 will depart as I do, going to different new homes, the 3rd probably, and there is my boat.  The boat with the nice blue cover to the right I don't know his plans - a really nice Mexican fellow who works for the Supreme Court of Mexico.  (I have emailed him about the rent increase, and my plans, as I have his cell phone in my boat, but have heard nothing from him as of yet.)  The last boat is owned by a Canadian named Martin, I know nothing about his plans.

This is Annah Foster from the land side, and if you look carefully, you will make out one of the iguanas I have been feeding for months on the dock in the foreground.  Occasionally, this one will become impatient with me, and climb into the cockpit ( I found 'evidence' of his visit on day on the floor the other day, and it looked like a big bird and a small dog had done their business together.  Thanks, buddy.

Having bought a new camera, finally, here are a couple of pics of the "Crap-mobile" - my 2000 Kia Sportage.  WHO would ever order a dark colored car for the tropics - are you kidding me?  It is so hot some days when I open the door.  I think I will paint the roof white soon.

You cannot see the dents on the sides and hood, or the scratched bumper that fell off as I drove one day, scraping it along in the gravel in front of the tires until I stopped.  Or the cracked windshield (in 2 places)  or the many other problems it has, OR smell the mildew-y smell inside!  The local's who speak English have laughed at my dad's joke - calling it a Rolls Canardly - It rolls down one hill and can hardly make it up the next.  Love ya Dad!  Oh, yeah, you also cannot see that the tires are brand new, and one size smaller, to save money!

 Friend Paty, loves technical gadgets - I Pad, Blackberry, etc, and loves to take pics. (She is very artistic and loves playing with different apps on her IPad.)   Both of the pics of me here are recent gifts from her - the top here at Fantasy after I bought my new camera (Can I change the settings to make it better for you, Dennis?) and the one above, taken at Appleby's with her IPad yesterday - a cool, and rainy day - I think we had 8 inches in 2 days.  I joined her and resort director, Christina, for drinks and talk.


I have been reading a lot of books during these many months when I have written here so sparingly, and have marked many passages that I enjoyed, from O'Henry to le Carre, with the thought to post them here, and then I forget and put the book away.....

One was from one of Ian Fleming's James Bond series - now 50+ years old - at a point when Bond was believed to have died on a mission, his secretary wrote this epitaph for him - a new old favorite for me:  "I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them; I shall live my days....."  The other night I was re-reading John le Carre - the great British spy thriller novelist, and ran across this passage written from the viewpoint of a spy master, describing a somewhat broken down, alcoholic character about to sent into the Soviet Union to spy, and it reminded me of ME.  Perhaps this is fair description of me and why I undertook this last adventure.  I give you John le Carre:

"How convenient, I thought, for him and me.  If I could have pointed to some great crime that haunted him, some act of cowardice, or omission.  But Ned had shown me his entire life, secret annexes and all, medical history, money, women, wives, children.  And it was small stuff all the way.  No big bang, no big crime.  No big anything - which may have been the explanation of him.  Was it for want of a greater sea that he had repeatedly wrecked himself against life's rocks, challenging his Maker to come up with something bigger or stop bothering him?  Would he be so headlong when faced with greater odds?"

I HAVE enjoyed this challenge, more than I can ever describe here, and if I die tonight, will die a happy man.  Oh.  One more thing.  Tomorrow marks the anniversary of my mom's death.

Life is good.  Thank you, God, Mom, and Dad.