February Update 2010

Castle and PaiaPaia

                                                       

Happy February…The height of Awesome weather in Roatan. 
 
The above photos include one good Winter Storm...the Reef Rider was no longer riding the Reef!  It was a shipwrecked Beach bar for a few days.  Sean's Memorial , My gorgeous Grandkids (the two that live on Roatan) and the ongoing Foster Remodel.  It is looking quite stable!

For my February Update I am borrowing, from a great Blog and Blogger , her review of the ongoing Zelaya circus.  She can be found at www.lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com  

I know not everyone followed the goings on last summer of the Government upheaval in Roatan but it really was quite an experience to be on the ground here and watch the Media and Political un-truths just zizzle and pop.  I think living in the States and other so called 1^st World Countries the sense that the truth is not on the surface is becoming more and more tangible but actually watching it go across the computer screen…blatantly misinforming is quite a jaw dropping experience.  Below is just a snippet of what is going on.

There were no pajamas!

Ex-president Manuel Zelaya was NOT taken to Costa Rica in his pajamas.

It was all a lie. The question is, how many presidents knew it was a lie?

When removed from Honduras on June 28, Mel Zelaya was fully dressed up to and including his cowboy boots. We heard rumors of this from the beginning, including from neighbors who saw him leave with the military fully dressed. We also heard that there was a video of Zelaya's exit that was shown to José Insulza of the OAS, who nevertheless continued the lie. But who was going to believe Honduras, when victim Zelaya was saying otherwise to CNN, Telesur, and the NY Times, who dutifully reported it without investigation.

This would be a minor detail except for the thousands of newspaper articles and outraged exclamations of presidents and pundits around the world, crying "in his pajamas!" - which you would think ranked right up there with a bullet in the head. That press conference of Zelaya in his pajamas with bed-hair set the tone and had huge impact on the way that Honduras was treated by the world.

But even worse, Costa Rica and its President Oscar Arias must have known that he arrived fully dressed and donned the pjs and messed up his hair later. Are we to believe that this fact just slipped the mind of airport personnel and Zelaya's escort to the Presidential Palace in San José? So Arias knew about the great lie but said nothing for seven months, making him an accomplice to the lying propaganda spewed against Honduras by Zelaya.

Is there any chance that the US did not know this was a lie? Is there any chance that US State Department officials have not been shown the video? What else does the US State Department know that Zelaya is lying about? What about the crimes? What about the narcotrafficking ties? What about the foreign bank accounts? Will they ever tell the US population the truth?

So now we have a new President here.  Pepe Lobo and Zelaya has been sent packing on a plane to Dominican Republic.  The Country is trying to move on and time will only tell how the Zelaya story Will end.

  January on Roatan saw busy dive shops, better numbers at the Resorts and a huge amount of optimism for the New Year. 

For those of you that remember Sean from the Lily Pond bed and breakfast we gave him a final toast on his birthday.  He passed away December 7^th.  He would have been 50 on January 24^th.

Lots of Birthdays, lots of friends coming and going and so many reasons to celebrate the first month of 2010.

January Paparazzi

The Oasis, New Years 2010
The New Band and Captain Ron
Harmony and Mark
great Party
CasPaiaPacking for the food driveLa Colonia
OrangesPencilson going Fosters

January Update

A New Year!  Starting on a Full Moon will this year be as equally wild as last?  Not sure it can top the Earthquake and Government upheaval in Honduras but one thing is for sure, Everyone here has learned the meaning of patience and taking things in stride. 

December was gorgeous!  This has definitely been a mild rainy season and with the return of tourists we sure hope the sun continues to show off how beautiful this Island is and the turquoise waters.  There have been whale shark sightings and lovely pods of dolphins moving through.  One group of divers even got to witness a baby dolphin being born, how special is that? 

We had successful Christmas fundraising events for the charities here and a super food drive.  Not hard to be reminded about gratitude when you live in a 3^rd world country.

New Years was great and hopefully a token of what we can expect in 2010,  without the Hangovers of course.  The Best of everything to all of you.

Kristin

December Paparazzi

Grandson Castle 2 months

Granddaughter Paia

on the bumpy road

ongoing renovations - Fosters
New cruiseship dock for Carnival cruiseline
West end now has a fancy Police station

behind Woodys

West End Voting station
No problems voting in West End
Pretty quiet for the Military

overseeing the elections

This boat sunk on Election day.  I thought it quite symbolic of the Zelaya presidency...but the flag still was waving

December update

Happy December all,

Well, Roatan with stood yet another quiet month.  Seems like the whole country was on standstill.  The Elections were just waiting out there on the horizon. The one thing that the waiting game offered up was the time it took Zelaya to totally make a fool of himself, lie and prove his true character.  He signed the accord that all had agreed upon to let the elections proceed and then immediately did not follow it.

Since this has been a long drawn out story and of course not everyone has followed it, I will just report (being on the ground and the sand) the events of the election of Nov 29.   And anyone that wants to catch up on a bit of History…how a little country stood up to the world and fought to remain free and Democratic when they were being pressured to put a corrupt, drug running Dictator back in office even though he was kicked out constitutionally and legally then go to   www.world4honduras.com/ . 

The Election was legal, had a record breaking 60 percent turn out and the New President is National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo ( Pepe for short).  It does appear that the U.S. will recognize this election and lift the sanctions and it is also a set back for Venezuelan President Chavez’s strongman expansionist agenda.  Hopefully this will give hope to other Countries struggling to overcome oppressive Governments.

One of the reasons that the U.S. withdrew support is a two-page US intelligence report describing Zelaya's complicity in corruption and narcotrafficking. A US State department rep told a source of a blogger that I follow that this report was "frightening". Fausta's Blog is a great source for Honduran Information.

Other than that we slowly see more visitors returning and the businesses that have weathered this year will come out stronger and have new creative marketing ideas that helped them survive. 

  

Some good rainy storms blew through but that sun is always quick to return.  The Island is beautiful and the Christmas lights are going up.  Lots to celebrate and be grateful for here.

Hope your Holidays will be bright and hope to see some of you that are off the rock, back on the Island next year.

Roatan Paparazzi

One Good Northerly The Black Pearl Golf Course

Halloween on West End Road

November update

Somehow this long never-ending summer has been so symbolic of Honduras in need of a change that just seems illusive. It’s been the summer of waiting and the term manana has never been more relevant.


The huge ray of happiness that lifted everyone’s spirit was the qualification for Honduras to advance to the World Cup playoffs. . Honduras beat El Salvador to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa! The streets in Tegus were blocked but this time not by protestors but by excited Honduran fans and the country came together. The President declared the 15th a national Holiday! Imagine that…shows you the importance of Soccer down here. Boy was that a needed little victory. To quote a blog author that I follow (www.lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com) “Crime will be reduced because everyone is so happy and because all the private ammunition of the country was used up tonight to shoot the guns in the air….It is like Mardi gras in Honduras.-“—


One thing that is moving ahead is the Black Pearl Golf course and it is good to see some building going on and people employed. They hire local town folks to go out and pick weeds from the new growing grass to avoid pesticides from running off into the ocean and hurting the reef…Very cool! The first 9 holes should be open in December.


The Cruise ship docks near completion (Carnival and Royal Caribbean) No one is cursing those Cruise ships from coming. Seems to be the only brave people in the world go on Cruise ships.


Looks like we will not see a hurricane this season since the water temperatures have cooled. After the Earthquake down here we did not need to sample anymore of Mother Nature.


Fosters on the Water in West End is being renovated. Maybe we will not see it fall into the water.


As always Halloween was a huge success with two nights of partying….This Island loves to dress up and the lack of Halloween stores makes for some interesting costumes. The little kids trick or treat down West End Road and the dive shops hand out the candy (or at least what is left of all the treats they don’t eat themselves). Very fun to see the cute kids.

Be sure to visit the Marine Parks updated web page…. www.roatanmarinepark.com