Sorry - no pictures as I still have no new camera, and have decided to just go out and buy one for whatever it costs, instead of 'shopping', but in the mean time, no pics.
So tonight, driving home in my 2000 Kia Sportage, and laughing to myself about my dad calling our old family car - a '49 Chrysler Windsor - a Rolls Canardly - OK - here it goes......It rolls down one hill and canardly make it up the next - I realized that today, perhaps, epitomizes the great life I am living. (yes, there are problems and troubles and all that dreck, but usually, I choose not to write about it here) OK - I know you don't have to believe it, but below is a picture after I ate lunch recently at the Casa Presidentia in Tegucigalpa - you are supposed to wonder who took the pic, and I am supposed to answer - el Presidente. But, really, is true, I ate lunch there recently.
My day started with breakfast at a gringo restaurant where I had never eaten, with the "Grand Slam" and it was great, and damn, my buddy Justin, a Canadian who owns a local hotel, who had asked me join him paid for it. He and his gf had the eggs benedict and my other friend had "the American". Everyone enjoyed the rather pricy food, though. I returned to the boat to gather some stuff for my errands ( I have been away from the boat now, for what seems like 2 months, but is really about 4 or 5 weeks. She is fine and happy, and yes, I need to clean her up quite a bit.) which are the first I have done in weeks and weeks, I think. I successfully navigated the Spanish speaking bank lady, who renewed the registration for one more year for the car. (It is still in the name of the seller, as the govt of Honduras is rather slow to process changes of title here - now, 3 months, I think.) I stopped off at Paul's boat and we got to talk a bit, since I have been gone for so long and we caught up on our news, etc. I stopped and picked up the laundry from the lavandaria owned by my buddy Steven, and stood for over an hour and talked with his brother, Michael, and heard a bit about his past life, successes and failures. Not many folks understand that I would rather spend time talking to locals than most Gringos, although there are certainly a lot of exceptions to that, but I really enjoyed standing by my car and just gabbing away with him for over an hour.
Oh, did I mention that as I type this, at midnight, Sept 21, that a white faced monkey is sitting on my shoulder, kinda purring, with his tail wrapped around my right bicep? Not quite the way things are done in Pa or NC.
So, my other errand was to stop at the Roatan Yacht Club, to make a deposit to hold a slip for me, and walk down to the dock and choose which I wanted. (more on that later, but yes, I have to depart Fantasy Island Resort and Marina). After that, I walked over to the bar where only one other man was sitting, and I made my first friend from the Caymans. We swapped stories and rums and vodkas, and yes - a shot or 2 of tequila - and I departed feeling......ah, how can I say this - .....In Espanol, the pallabra esta "bolo" - which means drunk.
I decided to stop back at Pineapple Villas where I had had breakfast, to the more reasonably priced sports bar and restaurant, for a quick dinner and then return home to AF. As I stepped off the elevator, at the 1st table in front of me, sat one of the most influencial men on the island, Mr Bobby, who permits us cruisers to use his dock for our dinks, to go shopping, etc in the town of French Harbor. so we don't have to pay for a taxi from the resort to town. After formalities are exchanged, he asked this Gringo to sit and join him and his party, and a waitress brought another glass for me to enjoy the last of the FIRST bottle of wine. Across from me sat a guy, exactly my age, who now lives in New Orleans, and who also welcomed me to the table, As it turned out, Mr Bobby had to depart early, and the rest of us left for the more expensive place on floor below for dinner where I had started my day with breakfast - NOT the dinner I had expected to enjoy, but which turned out to be a great steak - When I bump into folks like this, I always make sure the waitress puts my tab separate, as I choose not to free load or mooch, on these very wealthy men, whom I respect and admire, but will not mooch off. This fellow Richard, whom I had never met before, told me about his childhood on the border of Honduras and Nicaragua, I think - how he came to Utila in a Cessna 180 at the age of 8, the next little island east of us - how he ended up in the US, and how he became an expert on boat transmissions and drives, and now bills about $18-20 million a year for the company he owns. He was just back from Brazil, and off again this weekend to - oh, some other exotic place - I love to hear these stories, and always wish that I had found some similar success, but, I did not. I have matured enough to know that now, friends are more important than money. Anyway, when we were ready to leave, there was no bill for me, as he had insisted, behind my back, to add it to his. I do not deserve such kindness, I think.
So, today, I enjoyed my wealth and fortune, again. I am a wealthy man with good friends - both poor and rich - and I get to enjoy my fortune almost daily.
Now that should have been the ending to this, but I must update you a bit on my recent good fortunes. Well, - yes - there are also some bad. It all started with a dead rat. Dead. Stinking up the whole boat. And I couldn't find it. Phew! I did find it finally - it died after eating the poison, instead of the food in the crappy rusty trap I bought a year ago - and after cleaning up the remains, and fluids, and - well, you get the idea - one hour later, it smelled again. There must have been a 2nd dead rat, which I could not find. So I took a vacation and checked into my friend Justin's little hotel for a few days, which turned into weeks, I think. From that time, my life changed, again.......
Justin said he had to visit the capital city of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, for business, and would I like to go along. A few days later, he said the trip was postponed until after the fishing tournament, next week. Within one hour of that, a friend of his sat down at our table, put down his phone, turned to me and asked if I wanted to go to Teguc for 2 or 3 days. He has a house there and a car, and needed to shop for car parts for a car for his rental business. Hell, yeah. We left 2 days later, and were picked up but the 2nd most popular TV newsman in Honduras, a friend of his, and road to my friend's house - high on a hill, overlooking the bowl that Teguc lies in. A 3 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bath townhouse, with his Volvo sports sedan in the driveway. We had dinner at El Patio, and I really enjoyed real Honduran food, as the city is filled - and I mean filled - with Gringo fast food restaurants, from Dunkin Donuts to TGI Fridays. Is GRINGO LAND!!!!! I had met a wonderful lady here at the resort who lives there, and contacted her to say I was visiting, and Paul, my host, put off parts shopping so that she and I could meet for a coffee. Then Justin called to say that friend Douglas was wondering when we were coming to his house, and the next day, after driving around and around looking for his house, we finally found it - only 12 bedrooms, with elevator for 4 floors, swimming pool, steam room, overlooking the Cuban Embassy and several others - well - you have the picture - and geeze, why am I invited here? Douglas asked if I would like to drive out and visit his ranch the next day, and Paul dropped me off, and we departed - an hour and half drive - geeze, I cannot describe some of it and wish I could - through beautiful Honduran mountains and little villlages - to his 2000 acre ranch and hacienda with pool, horses, shooting range, stocked fish ponds, the best tree house I have ever seen, for his grandkids, - geeze, I just cannot tell you how nice it was, and how great a host he is. We returned that night, after grilling some of his fantastic Black Angus beef - aged 15 days - on his BBQ, and I stayed the night as his guest in his beautiful home.
During the drive, he mentioned that he was taking his 70'ish 67 foot Cheoy Lee ketch sailboat out for the fishing tournament the next week and that I was invited. Geesh - another story, entirely.
After a night and day at Doug's house, Paul returned and we discoed with 2 beautiful young ladies he knows at the communications department for the president of Honduras. The next day, we visited a friend of his there, and this humble, simple, Gringo, had lunch at the equivalent of Honduras' White House, sitting next to one of the govt's Ministers as if I had known him for years. Geeze, I really do not deserve these honors - who the hell am I to eat at the President's House?
Instead of flying back to Roatan, Paul and I drove 6 hours to the coastal town of La Ceiba - another place I have wanted to visit - and returned on the ferry the next day - he also has a house in that city so again, we didnt have to pay for a hotel room. So the 2-3 day trip turned into a great 6 day trip and a great break for me from Roatan, and Annah Foster.
Upon my return, I learned that the resort is raising our slip rentals to more than double what I spend now, and a group of us are departing for another marina - the Roatan Yacht Club, in French Harbor, which, I am sorry to say, is not so very nice, but is so much less money. As a group, I am sure we will make it a better place, and one that others will want to visit, like Fantasy Island was last season. Jerry, the dockmaster then, worked so hard to make this a place that cruisers wanted to visit, and stay. So, at Thanksgiving, we had - what? - 40 or 50 cruiser folks for dinner, and Christmas, even more. When Jerry took off for his European and African tour, a new dock master took over, and unfortunately, he has reversed every good thing that Jerry worked for, including the morning radio net. He just wants to collect rents and boss people around, and look important. He used to work in construction and had to boss those folks around, and now thinks he can talk to yacht owners the same way. He is also an old man who has not worked for many years, and this new 'job' - perhaps his last - has filled his already big ego to breaking point. Up until now, we have laughed at him behind his back about his bossing us around, and telling us "the best way to do things", as if we don't know how to wipe our own - oh well, you get the idea ........ Why the owner here is raising the prices is subject to great speculation, but with a 120 room resort with 15 guests tonight, perhaps, he would like us all to go so he can just shut it down and re-group. Who knows? I feel that I have been one of the biggest promoters of this place, in every instance I could, from asking guests who had a good time to write about it on Trip Advisor, offering managers my advice, to giving free rides in my dink to kids from the mainland. I have loved my home here, and I am sad to see it crumble before my eyes in the last 14 months I have made it my home - proudly and happily.
By the way - the fishing tournament, which I thought was for 1 day - was 3 days long- filled with lots of rum, day old pizza, wings, great cooked beef, but not much sleep or fish - was a great experience and I thank Douglas for inviting me to come along. It took me 4 days to recover, but was well worth it. Each day we caught a small fish, but never anything worth mentioning here, unless you would like to hear about the big one that hit, but the hook did not set, and it got away.
I am blessed. So rich with good friends - from my amigo who runs the local laundry to the rich and famous of the island and Honduras. Thank you, God, for these rich blessings, and please, keep them coming. I love this life.
