singing at the e learning centre

 the sky declared the glory of God

on tuesday bob and i were invited to sing at a concert at the sandy bay e-learning centre.  jeremy came along and played the jambe. it was a great night together with other musicians and believers.

we arrived at 6:00 (the start time) to see that no one was there.   when will we learn that there really is such a thing as island time which means it starts an hour or so later.  but it was great to go and watch the sunset together.

me and my love

we sat outside, with the moon shining on us, an occasional sea breeze blowing over us and enjoyed listening to others offer praise to the Lord.   it was a great night... a group from montana sang, we sang, a local islander sang, luma sang and a man played his trumpet.  a wonderful evening together!

this is yourgin who mc'ed and planned the evening.  thanks for putting this together!

only one microphone worked....

but it's okay because i sang to an audience of One anyways....

thanks for helping out jeremy!!!

this guy really could play!!

wow 

gave me goosebumps to listen to him!

i love the light from the sunset reflecting

inside that boat house.

if we could see with spiritual eyes

that is what His presence is like in us.

made in roatan shop

 some views from the 

made in roatan 

shop

 coxen hole

 

i marvel at how the ladies can carry stuff on their heads

this lady is selling casava bread

it is a type of thin flatbread

made by the garifuna tribe

this is koke

he sells paintings

next to our shop

many days he doesn't sell anything

sometimes i go over and help him sell

he is spanish and therefore his english 

isn't that great

but he is trying

just like i am trying to speak spanish

he is a wonderful man

anyone who can look this good in pink

is good in my books!  :-)

this gives you an idea how close the cruise ship is to the shop

it was taken across the street from the shop

it is a short 5 minute walk from the port to the shops

the other day i went walking and invited people 

into the made in roatan shop 

and many people came in.

 we are happy to be making money for the island people.

they are sooo poor that every little bit helps.

when the ships are in everyone is in 

'selling mode'

you see people selling souvenirs,

fresh cigars,

hats,

donuts

but my favorite guy to see is the fruit guy

isn't this ingenious!!??

that is a really heavy load.

i didn't have much money on me but i bought 3 bananas

one for koke, one for samuel and one for myself.

the day i was taking these pictures was the day for 

people walking by with things on their heads wasn't it??

i had to laugh when i saw the lady walking with a stack of bras

on her head

because i always think...

so where do we try them on???

i guess you don't!!

and then a lady walked by with a cooler on her head.

i couldn't believe it!

 

times are tough on the island right now

please take a moment and pray for these people

they are poor and they are trying to stay alive

 trying to feed their kids,

to pay their bills

and this is how they do it.

they carry what they can on their heads

or on their bikes

and hope that someone, somewhere

will buy something.. anything....

another trip to the east side

today we took a couple of girls who volunteer at the clinic to the east side.  we had such a wonderful time.
i was happy when bob came along too because... well.. any day with him makes it better i think!

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our first stop was "the view" which always blows away visitors because it is just so shocking to see the ribbons of turquoise blue of the sea looming before you when we round a corner.  i should actually be ready and take a photo of their faces because that would make such a great photo.  it is sooo gorgeous!!!!!!

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then we made our way to jonesville to get a tour of the mangroves.   i thought we'd go with clyde but he was nowhere around.   this is how to get a boat at jonesville:  basically drive to a parking lot, walk to the edge of the dock, wave your hands around, holler a bit and usually someone comes.  well today, marvin showed up and took us out.
 
it is interesting because marvin was our boat driver before (when we saw the octopus) and the girls had paid for lunch and i assumed they would have left a tip for the tour through the mangroves.  later in bed that day i thought, i hope they tipped our boat driver.   so today, marvin remembered me so i asked him and he said, nope those girls didn't pay me nothin'!  well.. i said....  i have often wondered about that so don't worry today we will pay for that trip and our current one.   needless to say he was happy!

i need to tell you an interesting story that he told us.  everyone talks about pirates and i am rather suspicious about it, but he claims it is true that many pirates came through roatan.  in fact, the first money to come to the island was gold from the pirate ships.  then he told this story.  i can't verify if it is actually true but it is a good story so i will pass it along to you.

here is it:

a few years ago there were some men making a road in the coxen hole area, 

as they were diggin' they came upon a long box.

  it was the shape of a coffin.

  they were worried that it was a dead body that they had dug up so they called the mayor.

   guess what was inside??!  

GOLD! 

  

so what is the moral of the story?  if you find something, no matter what it is:  open it up yourself.. you never know if you will find the treasure for yourself!!   :-)

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our next stop was punta gorda, the garifuna village.   this is one of my favorite spots to go.  i love the timelessness of it.  there is a beautiful simplicity to life there:  kids playing in the water, people walking down the middle of the road (not alot of cars out there) and fishermen catching dinner for their families.

did you notice the lady in the collage with curlers in her hair?  well, it is common to see ladies out and about with curlers on friday or saturday because sunday's a coming!!!  i love it!

  we went for a nice long walk taking photos and talking to the locals.   the lady in the photo (top right) remembered me from the garifuna festival and i had a good time visiting with her.   i also bought some souvenirs to take back to our friends and family in canada.  i know she appreciated the money that she made off us.   she asked for my number in order to let me know if there is anything going on in punta gorda.   it is good to know.  apparently every sunday afternoon they have dancing and drumming so we might have to go out and enjoy that some sunday after church.

linda and prianka in the boat out at jonesville.

such wonderful girls. 

thanks for coming to serve people on our island.

may you be blessed beyond measure!

what do to on a hot day?

note to self:

if we ever build a house in the caribbean do NOT have the whole wall of windows 

because the afternoon sun glares in and the house becomes an oven!

truly

so needless to say i was thrilled when bob suggested

we go to the hungry kiwi restaurant for a cold drink

and to play some crib.

do you know what makes that such a delightful idea??!

they have air conditioning!

i can count on one hand the number of restaurants here that 

have a/c 

most are open air places by the sea

lovely but as hot as our house.

so we went and had a wonderfully, cool time together.

even were able to watch some of the 

fifa game

mexico vs france

 we went for a little walk behind the restaurant

along the shores of lawson rock.

it is hard to tell from the photo but that wall by the tree

is all made of rock.

it is one of my favorite places to walk.. 

especially later in the day when the sun isn't so high 

in the sky.

thursday is a special day on the island

it is 'fresh fish' day at the flying fish store

so we headed over there to get some fish

those are our red snappers that they filleted

for us.

how is that for fresh??!

we had it for dinner and it was sooo delicious.

fresh fish is different.

at first it actually took some getting used to because

fresh fish has a 'melt in your mouth' kind of quality to it

it isn't rubbery or tough.

mmmmm

delicious.

we also picked up a hogfish filet.

we often see hogfish while snorkeling and they are kinda scary looking

but i have heard they taste good.

i sure hope so. 

they have quite the operation over at flying fish

we saw about 15 people who are employed there.

most of the fish is exported to miami.

you can see the lady in white is filling up the boxes

and they will be shipped out.

they go about 300 miles away along the banks of honduras

to get the fish.

we are glad they do.

the fish isn't cheap

but it is worth it to have it fresh i think.

yes indeed!

the bougainvillea that carlos planted 

bloomed today

another moment of joy for me

i hope you had moments of joy that snuck up on 

you as if He was saying,

"how do you like that, my child?"

i do,

i like it alot.

futbol early in the morn

 good morning..
i changed the look of my blog.
not sure if i like it or not but i will try it.

the world cup game was on at 5:30 this morning.. 

we invited carlos and his brother junior to join us to watch it together

they showed up at 5:00, standing at the door saying, 

Buenos dias, Mr. Bob.

they were pretty excited and there was alot of cheering going on

you can see bob got into it wearing his honduran shirt and hat!!

but

it was rather a disappointing game.

  unfortunately honduras wasn't able to make a goal and chili won.

1-0

buddy even got into the spirit and was chirping loudly during the game!!

oh well, it is good to get together

 i fed the boys breakfast.

i think it was the first time junior had cereal.

he liked it.

i was willing to make them baleada's but i think it 

was a novelty to eat something different.

saying goodbye isn't easy!

one of the things about roatan that is challenging is that friends come and they go. 

today we went over to jeanette and don's to help them clean and close up their house. 

we will miss them as they were always willing to explore the island, 

go for a snorkel,

eat out somewhere,

or play cards together.

   i find as we get older it is harder to make good friends.

don and jeanette fall into the category of 'life friends' easily.

they live here for 6 months and in st. louis, missouri for 6 months

(or as don says... missoura).

  we are hoping that the time passes quickly until we get to see them again.

we went out for dinner to the hungry kiwi.  great times.  

jeanette, don, tia, bob and me behind the camera

the next night we went up to their place for kabobs.   here  is bob holding the flashlight

so don could see if they were done or not!
they were delicious!!!

the sunsets up at their place on the hill are so beautiful!!!

closing up a place is alot of work!

cleaning, storing, covering...

but we got it all done.

waving goodbye for the last time as

they head to the airport!

“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.”

some stories from the east side

sorry for being absent lately, but i had been ill with a stomach flu.  we aren't sure what was wrong .. just a very sore stomach.   most people on the island are thinking it is from eating too many mangos.   i am starting to think there might be something to it.  and now  the last few days we have been without internet again and so i am at jeanette's using her wireless.  thanks jeanette!!

i was thankful that on saturday  i woke up feeling better from the flu because i had agreed to take some girls from the clinic out on a tour of the east side.  i love the east side so much.  it is different then the west side that has mainly shopping centres, beaches, resorts etc.   the east side is less populated with people, less resorts and  has more raw beauty, rugged shorelines, and grandoise vistas.

the view always leaves me breathless!

our first stop was  turquoise bay, which is a small little resort with a  pristine beach and a lovely view.   while in the car i had told them about alejandro, the man who had taken us out in his boat for a snorkel tour there.   i was surprised to and delighted to have him greet us because i had heard that he was now at infinity bay.  what  a joy to see him.   the girls went down to the beach and i stayed with alejandro to talk and catch up.  once the girls came back i asked him if he could take us in his boat to the mangroves (might as well pay him as opposed to someone i don't know) but he said he didn't have enough gas in his boat but he wanted to know if we would like to go to his shark and sting ray pen.   i know the girls were on a budget (being students and volunteers) so i asked how much and he laughed and said, for you?  nothing.. you are family!   the girls were thrilled to be able to swim with sharks, turtles and sting rays!!!!   i was happy that i had left the snorkel gear in the car (see.. it pays to not put things away!!! ha)

see the shark on the top, the sting ray at the bottom left and a turtle at the bottom middle

after that we went to jonesville which is a quaint little fishing/shrimping town by the sea.  the houses are on stilts and dot the edge of the bights.   i wasn't sure about getting a boat to take us through the mangroves but i told the girls 'these things always work out' so they went to take pictures of the colorful shrimp boats and wooden shanties.   so i stood there for a second looking for a dorie to take us, and not seeing any near by i meandered over to the nearest house, and hollered.   yes that is what you do here.  i just said,  'morning!'    i asked the gentleman who came to the door if he knew of anyone who could take us out to the mangroves. his first response was 'i don't rightly know'   i told him i lived on the island and wanted to take some volunteers from miss peggy's clinic to see the mangroves.   he then said 'i will see what i can do for you'  i thanked him and then   i waited patiently in the shade while he called various local men.  finally he came out saying that clyde was on his way.

that is clyde coming in his little dorie!

we saw clyde slowly putt putt his way through the sea green water to a small little dock.   i think the girls were a little surprised to see how narrow his dorie was:  about 1 1/2 feet across.   we all managed to get inside without tipping it.  apparently this dug out dories are quite stable.   i have to tell you a funny story about clyde.  i told him i was going to quote him so here goes:

we were just entering the mangroves when he kinda wacked me on the shoulder saying:

so what time you be leavin' this morning?

i said, oh around 9:00 i'd say

well at around 9:10 my left hand she be gettin' real itchy

so i said to my wife that there be some people comin'

my way today.

i just knew it!

so then i took my hand and i scratch me ass because you 

know what they say,

'scratch yer ass and it will come twice as fast'

at this point we are all killing ourselves laughing.

but he was dead serious.

he really believed that because of his itchy hand that is why

we came.

kinda funny because we had gone back and forth about

whether to go to oakridge or to go to jonesville.

well for the sake of clyde (and his itchy hand!)

i am glad we went to jonesville!

what a character.

i don't have a photo of him unfortunately

but he is a sun-weathered, very wrinkled
thin little man who smoked cigarettes constantly!

quite the character.

we got a good tour of the mangroves and learned about how the pirates used
the pond in the mangroves to hide out from their enemies and find refuge during the storms.

on a hot day find the shade and water

after our tour i took them to punta gorda, the small fishing village where the garifuna tribe live.   i love going there.  the pace and the feel of the place seems other worldly... of times goneby before the pressure to succeed and climb the corporate ladder and amass large amounts of 'things' gripped our souls.   yes, the pace is slow and easy.   i like that.  i do.


we had lunch at a restaurant by the sea. fresh caught snapper.  um.. whole..  teeth barred which truthfully grossed us all out and i cropped off the head and through it over the fence to the stray dogs.
other then that, it was delicious and the breeze off the sea was delightful.    speaking of dogs there was a dog standing in the sea by the shore for about a half hour.  just standing there and i said to the girls that i thought he was tied up in the sea!!  but who and why would anyone do that??   i don't know but i do know that after i threw my fish over the fence he looked but didn't come over to investigate.  sure enough after about 45 min. a young man came over and untied him and then walked casually away. i guess it was his 'bath time'.







poor doggie!

all in all we had a fantastic day together exploring the east side of the island, meeting interesting 'characters', swimming with wild creatures, eating scary looking fish and enjoying beauty that most just dream about.


if you want to see some more photos you can go click here and it will take you to my facebook album.