B&B's Travel Adventures

Time to catch you guys up.

2011-12-07T19:19:00.001-06:00

Hello! Hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday season.

Let's see, where do I begin? I have so much to catch you up on. I guess I'll back track a little bit to our trip in Texas which by the way was very short. I hate that we were not able to visit with many friends or family. Bob told me before we left Mazatlan that our trip to Houston wasn't going to be a "social" trip and he was right. But we did meet our goal of unloading our storage unit, repacking items and bought new items for our return to Mazatlan. Since we are now residences of Mexico we are able to bring all our household items across the border duty free which is a great thing. Let me tell ya; electronics and appliances are very expensive here. Sheets and towels are not the quality we're used to back in the States and costly.

Bob & I debated heavily on whether or not to pay someone to truck our stuff to Maz or do it ourselves. My vote was to pay someone. Bob of course insisted that we buy a "box truck" and drive it ourselves. As we all know...Bob normally gets what he wants. We bought a 14 ft box truck from a good friend of ours, Pete. Thank you, Pete!

It took Bob 2 full days to pack the truck up. 14ft is quite small when you're loading washer, dryer, refrigerator, 3 pc. couch set, patio furniture and 100 boxes of miscellaneous stuff. Bob is the "Master" of piecing all the puzzle together and making it all fit.

Our biggest fear was the border crossing. We've heard horror stories of trucks needing to be unloaded so Customs & Border Patrol could go thru all the items. I just mentioned it took Bob 2 days to load. Well, what can I say; we were blessed. Absolutely no hassles. They didn't even ask us to open the trailer. The Border Patrol was happy with the list I had prepared which listed all the items we had in the truck. They took that and waved us on. Amazing! You know what else was amazing? The drive. And of course our little boy, Reece.

Reece was a trooper! We flew him to Houston (in the belly of the plane) which I was a nervous wreck about. Since we used mileage; we had a 3 hour layover in Mexico City. It was a long day for our boy in a crate (10 hours) and he was awesome. My biggest fear was him not making the connecting flight. Well, Bob, my internet genius had read some tips on flying with pets. And this is great advise for anyone flying with their pets.

We bought a box of chocolates, printed out a small picture of Reece, attached it to the box, and wrote a note to the captain that we were traveling with our pet. If he would please check on him to make sure he was on the flight with us, that it would be greatly appreciated. Let me tell ya...that worked out fabulous for us. The flight attendant located us and said, "Reece was aboard and he was doing well." That made all the difference in the world to me. I was able to relax a bit and at the end of the day, he was a happy go lucky dog. No problems. And as for the drive to Mazatlan (3 day journey) Reece was perfect. He LOVES riding in a car/truck. We really lucked out with this little fellow.

Now, that we have all our possessions in Mazatlan we still don't have our condo ready. The finishing touches have been really slow. We won't get into all the issues but we are having them redo a lot of things that just don't meet our expectations. It could be any day now or who knows; it could be after Christmas. I'll have to keep you posted on that.

We want to Thank Gilda, Kuno, Maria and Caitlin; they flew over for 2 days visit. Love seeing you guys and glad you used your flying privileges to come to Maz. Come see us more often.

In the meantime, our calenders are filled with activities. Mazatlan is waking up and lots more snowbirds are filling the streets. Just like back home; this is the time of year of Holiday Cheer.

Merry Christmas and much love,
Bonnie y Bob

Our latest and greatest.

2011-09-23T09:58:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

How has your summer been treating you? Hot? It's been a bit warm here too but not unbearable. Living on the ocean really makes a difference. The breeze is absolutely wonderful but we still do most of our running around town in the mornings and or evenings and leaving afternoons for siestas.

It is official, we are the proud owners of Reece! This little guy is pretty special to us. When we fly back to Houston; he'll be joining us on the family vacation. Hopefully some of you will get to meet him.

I thought I'd post a few more pictures of him. Bob didn't like the ones I posted before.

Bob has been spending his summer playing some golf but mostly playing tennis. He's really taken to the sport. And I'm hearing his game has come a long way.

I have enrolled myself in Chinese cooking classes "Mexican" style. The course is rather intense and all in Spanish. I go twice a week for 3 hours each session. We started Aug 30th and will complete Oct 30th. It's been a blast. Marilyn "a neighbor" and I are the only two Americanos in the class. We are both learning so much and this class has really broadened our vocabulary. But, I do have my bouts with the maestra "teacher". She has to keep telling me that we are doing this class "Mexican" style and I keep challenging her as to why? We're able to get a lot of Chinese ingredients and why aren't we using them? For instance, last week egg rolls were on the menu. Do you know the class used floured tortillas? I said, "hell no". I bought the large Wonton wrappers and introduced them to the class. They had never used them. So, you can see how I butt heads with the instructor. Each week is a new story. This coming Thursday I'll introduce the class to Wasabi. We'll be making sushi rolls and to spice things up the instructor is using Serrano peppers. Really? Naw! I'll be rewriting that recipe for her and the class. She gets me back though. Last Tuesday she said, I overcooked my stir fry vegetables. Of course you know my jaw dropped. Hahaha! I sucked it up and said, "OK". I do have to admit we've been cooking some great things; Chow Mein, Chop Suey, Sweet & Sour Shrimp/Pork, Pork Chops in a Pineapple Sauce, Fried rice, Egg rolls, Spring Rolls to mention a few dishes. But meeting new friends in my class has been golden. Nationals are so warm and inviting and I look forward to my class each week.

September 16th was Mexico's Independence day which was a lot of fun. The party's started on Thursday and didn't stop til Sunday. The streets were filled with people, cars & offices waved their flags proudly, music all around and of course Independence day isn't complete without fireworks. Good time had by everyone.

Next is the news on our condo. They say we are 2 weeks out from being completed. Hummm! We monitor the progress daily and stay on top of anything that doesn't look right. So, maybe 2 weeks is a good target date but I'm not holding my breathe. The finishing touches always take the longest and the hardest to satisfy. But, I gotta say...The condo looks great. We can't wait to move in and make it our own. Several of you are wanting pictures.

This is our view from our patio.
Over looks our pool, the malecon and the ocean.

As you can see; we'll enjoy some fabulous sunsets from
the comforts of our home.

Our unit is on the 4th floor and on the corner.
We'll have two large size patios to entertain and.
the blue you see is our infinity pool.

this is the Vue Centro Historical.
I'll post more pictures as the project is completed.

Our agenda for next week; we'll be filling in at Casa de Leyendas Bed and Breakfast. http://www.casadeleyendas.com/ The owners Glenn & Sharon will be taking a week off and has asked if we would stand in while they are gone. Normally they would close for the week but they will have a couple of guests that had reservations and needed someone to be on site. We were honored and we gladly accepted. It's a freakin amazing experience for Bob & I to have the opportunities we are presented with and what an honor. I don't know how to put in words but to be trusted and thought of in such high regard that someone would want us step into their shoes and keep a business going in their absence is huge. We don't take this lightly and we're very grateful!

With that being said, we have a meeting with Glenn & Sharon in a few minutes to go over some things that are expected of us.

We hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying life to the fullest.

Much love,

Bonnie & Bob.

Long Time No Hear!

2011-08-09T20:18:00.001-05:00

Hello to our family and friends. I know...I know! We've been out of pocket for a good while now. We've heard several voicemails from you and hear you loud and clear.

Bob & I are doing fabulous and staying pretty busy. The condo construction is coming along nicely. They say it will be completed by the end of October if not sooner. Humm! Since we live in the same complex that the condo is being built we're able to keep very close tabs and fortunately have had lots of input.

We are officially Residents of Mexico. ( Do not confuse with Citizenship.) Totally different meaning. The process for obtaining our residents was a breeze and just took a few hours out of our day to complete. We headed to the immigration office early one morning gathered the paperwork needed for us to fill out, went next door to a gentlemen who fills out all the paperwork in Spanish and takes our photos which is required; all for $100 pesos. The funny thing through this whole process was taking the photo. Apparently the Mexican Government uses photos of ears as we in the States use fingerprints for identification. We had a difficult time with this because the straight head shot needed our ears to be apparent in the photo. Well, neither Bob nor I have an issue with our ears sticking out and away from our head so, we had to improvise. The guy taking our photo put white folded paper behind our ears to make them stick out. Bob & I were cracking up at each other as we watched the photo session take place. I can tell you these were the ugliest photos we have ever taken. Not only did our ears had to stick out but we couldn't have hair on our foreheads so we both had to slick back our hair with water. Isn't that hilarious? We just went along with it and move on the next step. After the photo session we left our paperwork with the gentlemen for him to finish and we made our way to the bank to pay our Residential fee which was only a couple of hundred USD. Once we paid all we had to do was pick up our completed documents and photos and take them back to the immigration office. We handed them the packet and they told us to come back within 5-7 working days and our card would be ready. Really? That's it? Unbelievable! So, why is it important for residency for us? Well, with this card we are able to ship down our household items from the States duty free, we no longer have to pay the "tourist tax" that is applied to all airline tickets when purchased, we're able to apply for the Mexican medical insurance, we can stay in this country without having to leave every 6 months and we can have a car with US tags on them. There are lots of reason to have a residence card if you plan to live here year around.

Let's see what else is going on...I've been helping a friend out in her Spa in return I get free treatments such as nails, hair, massages and facials. Not too shabby! All I have to do is fill in when she needs to be away from the spa for any given reason. I work with the manicurist and masseuses by letting them know of their appointments, help translate for the Gringo community. The workers at the spa speak very little English so when a English speaking client comes in and wants something specific; hopefully I can relay that correctly. So far I'm doing well with that. We have a lot of men that come in for waxing. I just hope that I don't screw up and tell the girl working he's there for a bikini wax when he's really there for his back waxed. That could pose for a serious problem. hehehe! I've only had to work 2 days so far but Debbie has asked if I would have interest in working more. She's the owner of Tippy Toes ( www.tippytoes.com ) and would like to have some time off. I absolutely told her that I would be interested. I've never worked in a spa before but it's fun.

Here's some really big news. We've been fostering a little dog for a week. He was lost and we've been trying to track down his family. We know he was well cared for and we're sure he is missed. The vet says his about 2 years old and is a mix of a White Scottish Terrier and possible a Bishon or Poodle. He is adorable. He's very well behaved, potty trained and hasn't chewed up a thing. We do know he belonged to a Mexican family because he knows all his commands in Spanish and he still has his balls. Now we all know an American would have already neutered this little guy. We'll give a couple more weeks of trying to find his family. If his old family isn't found that we plan to keep him and get him neutered. I wanted to keep him after day 1, Bob took a little longer to get on board with the idea just because of the commitment and that having a dog in a high rise building is quite different from having one in a home with a yard. You want to see a picture of him?

This is Reese.

He is so stinkin cute! Those ears just kill me. He only weighs about 20 lbs and has been a wonderful "condo" dog. We love having him around.

Well, its time for my yoga class. We just wanted to touch base with you and let you know we are doing great. We've been promising to stay in better communication with everyone so, I'll start blogging more often. I just need to work it in; in between naps.

Love to all,
Bonnie & Bob

Zumba Maz Style

2011-06-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

I was on my way to the Mercado last week when I saw a friend of mine in the plaza, Rosie. Rosie plays poker with us and is the wife of one of Bob's buddies. She's originally from here and speaks a little English which is why I really love hanging out with her. She forces me to converse in Spanish which I have enjoyed.

She asked me one day what my morning routine was like...if I were an early riser? I replied 'no, not normally, why do you ask'? She said she was looking for a friend to work out with and wondered if I would have any interest. Hummm? Well, I'm thinking I need this and a buddy would make it that much more fun so there I go saying "Yes" with a big smile on my face. Let's do this. What time do you want to meet tomorrow, I ask. She said 6:30 a.m. As you can imagine my mouth dropped. Do you know how much I HATE hearing an alarm go off these days? I said, "really"? She laughed. There I go again saying "OK, No problem"!

The 1st morning we walked about an hour & half at a nice pace. The Malecon was full of walkers, joggers, bicyclist, and skaters. It was beautiful morning and I was so glad I made the effort to get up. As we walked, we came across a dance studio offering Zumba classes. I love Zumba as well as Rosie so we decided our activity for the next day was Zumba. Classes are only 20 pesos ($1.70) a day or 50 pesos ($4.20) for a week.

I had every intention of buying a bottled water on my walk to the class but nothing was open at that time. I left the condo at 6:40 a.m. to arrive for the 7:00 class. O well, it's just an hour and I'll tough it out.

The class was small; 6 of us and no A/C. The studio had several freestanding fans circulating so, it wasn't too bad. Now, I take some pride in being able to shake my booty to some tunes but WOW, I was next to some 20 something year old who was amazing. So wouldn't you know that seeing her made me add more flavor to my dance moves. So much so, that I almost pass out. If the class were 5 mins longer, I'm pretty sure I would have collapsed. At my age this urge to be competitive is going to kill me.

I did dehydrate myself. No water, no A/C and I sweated my booty off during that hour. It took me awhile to muster the energy for my 15 min walk home but fortunately small corner stores where open. The 1st one I found I got a large bottled water. I had the headache, dizziness and the nauseous feeling. For some of my blog readers I had written about Pedialyte 3 years ago. I still swear by that stuff. Water wasn't cutting it and as soon as I bought Pedialyte and drank it, I felt 100% better. I think I'm going to have to make popsicles of this stuff and eat one every night.

Today was my 2nd Zumba class and I'm very happy to write that drinking water during the class really made a difference. No dehydration, no headaches and I felt fabulous after the class. And yes, my 20 year old motivator was in class next to me. I haven't committed to Zumba for a full week. I like it but it's still not the Zumba I do on DVD. The studio does 30 mins of aerobics first (which I hate) and then the last 30 mins is actual dancing. What I do love about it; is the atmosphere and I've met some really nice girlfriends. So, I'm thinking twice a week will do for me at this time.

Latest Updates from our Mazatlan Living

2011-06-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

Hello! How is everyone doing? Well, Bob & I are staying busy and we've had lots on our plates the last few weeks.

We're pleased to announce that we have planted some roots here in Mazatlan and purchased a condo. We're back to "owning" our own place again. It's a little scary but at the same time very exciting. Our condo will have some amazing views of the ocean and the Malecon "Boardwalk", it's located in the El Centro area of town where we really enjoy being and it's walking distance to restaurants, bars, shopping and entertainment. The condo is located in the new phase of the building that's still under construction but the deal included a fully furnished unit in the 1st completed phase until ours becomes available. It's nice to know the developer. We meet & became friends with him & his wife while we stayed here for 3 months in 2008. Hopefully we'll be living in our new place sometime in November. Yeah!

We're expecting our 1st guests, Stephanie and Bracy at the end of June. They were our 1st guests in Honduras and will be our 1st guests here in Mexico. I'm almost sad that we're putting down roots... it's kinda cool to me that our guests get to discover & explore a new locale. Well that road ends here & now. Oh well, we hope they'll enjoy Mazatlan as much as we do. Can't wait to see them.

Some of you know that I'm keeping busy with a small project of being a food critic for an online Mazatlan magazine, called MazatlanLife.com. My friend, Sheila whom we met 3 years ago here in Mazatlan had been following us thru our travels by reading our blog. When she read that we were leaving the island life and that we were relocating to Mazatlan; she offered me a wonderful opportunity of writing for her magazine. Well, I'm very pleased to say that I have had my first article published. My 1st job assignment was to attend the Gastronomico Tour in Sinaloa. Which by the way I've re-named the "Gluttony Tour of Sinaloa". Sinaloa is the state we live in. The tour included 7 cities in 3 days all meals were included along with hotel stay. I met some amazing people on this tour including the Governor of Sinaloa but its not a tour I wish to do again. It was so fast and furious; It felt like cows being herded into a restaurant to graze and then we were herded back onto the bus to travel to our next meal. I was so tired of eating; I didn't even make it out of the house to the restaurant that was highlighted on the tour here in Mazatlan. Of course later I hear that this event was the highlight of the trip & that the best meals were served, but I just couldn't muster up the energy. I needed sleep and I needed a reprieve from food. For those interested; here's the link to the online magazine where my article was published. http://mazatlanlife.com/restaurant-review/ Please know that the prices I indicate for meals are in pesos, not dollars and currently that exchange rate is 11.825.

My next assignment is to tackle Asian cuisine in Maz. Now I'm really going to enjoy this task. I love Asian food and I've already scoped out a few restaurants that I'm dying to try.

I'm ready to find a lounge chair by the pool, read a chapter (OK a page) and then Siesta Time.
Much love,
Bonnie & Bob

Living Large

2011-05-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

Hola mis amigos y la familia,

It's been awhile. I just wanted to let you know we are doing fantastic and staying very busy. It didn't take us long to work out a routine in beautiful Mazatlan.

Currently we are living large at a fancy resort in the marina area called Torres Mazatlan. http://www.viresorts.com/resorts/tm.html Bob & I are very familiar with the El Centro area of Mazatlan but wanted to check out the feel of the marina area. Had I not lived on the island surrounded by beautiful water we would be living in El Centro hands down. What can I say, the island life spoiled me and I want to see water ALL the time. And why not since we are living on the coast? But the fact of the matter is there aren't too many ocean front homes for rent or sell in the El Centro area. So what do I think about the marina area so far? It's absolutely beautiful. There are lots of high rise condos in this area that are right on the water and might I add very reasonably priced. We leave our living room sliding door open all day and listen to the waves pound the beach and feel the cool ocean air throughout the apartment. As I said we are staying in a resort so that means everyone around us in "vacation" mode. Party...Party...Party. The resort host events all day long around the pool, discos or karaoke in the evenings and happy hour specials throughout the day. No, we don't participate too much. I mentioned we have a routine and that takes us away from the resort grounds.

I've started yoga classes twice a week in the evenings. The classes are held poolside which overlooks the ocean and they are in Spanish. It is an intermediate level and can be a little more difficult than what I'm used. Now I admit, concentration isn't one of my stronger traits so, I'm having a hard time staying in a balance pose for any length of time especially when there are pelicans dive bombing for a quick snack or cliff divers toying with fate. It's a great class and I'm learning lots of Spanish.

Bob has picked up tennis and has been playing several times a week. He seems to really enjoy it. We haven't played golf yet although Bob has a tee time next week. I know he's looking forward to that.

And we both play poker twice a week. We're doing OK for now in our poker playing. Bob started strong with a few big wins & I had a few 3rd place finishes, but the last few times out we've both struggled. Hopefully things will turn around for us, especially me as Bob told me just today that I need to start picking up the slack.

Amongst all our "play time" we are searching each day for our permanent dwelling. The market here in Maz is definitely a buyers market. We are looking at rentals and homes for sale. We do have one very strong contender. It's a brand new condo development in the Centro area and (drum roll please..) overlooks the ocean. But there are details to sort out and since it is a buyers market we're having fun checking everything out. I'll keep you posted as things progress.

Looks like we are going to have another amazing sunset. Time to grab a cocktail and head to the balcony.

Hope all is going well with you.
Take care and many hugs,
Bonnie & Bob

Texas Tour Over...Mazatlan here I am!

2011-04-29T23:18:00.000-05:00

I can't believe our time in Texas is over! It doesn't matter how much time we spend there; there's never enough time to see EVERYONE. We hope we can catch up with you next time. Or my advice....Come see us!

I am now in Mazatlan having a great time. Unfortunately, Bob isn't with me at this time. He's been very busy helping his mom with a move and getting her settled in her new home. He'll be joining me in a week.

So guess what? I'm on VACATION! Woohoo.

As I mentioned I'm in Mazatlan and staying with some friends. I had no idea the motorcycle rally was going to take place this weekend. This place is wild right now. I left my camera with Bob and I'm missing some fantastic photo opportunities; bummer. The malecon "boardwalk" is one giant party. I'm loving the energy and remembering why we loved it here.

I'm still getting used to all the cars, though. I've always been a city girl but after being on the island...I really enjoyed not having roads, cars, honking, squealing brakes, and fumes. I'll adjust though.

Next week there's a Canadian PGA Golf tournament being played at one of the best courses here in Mazatlan. I'm on the volunteers list to help out with the event. I'm so looking forward to it. Not to mention I'll receive two free rounds of golf for my services. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Well, I'm pretty wiped out tonight. I'll be back soon.
Take care everyone.
Hugs to all,
Bonnie

Our journey to Utila

2011-03-02T09:52:00.000-06:00

You know the saying "Time fly's by when you are having fun"? I honestly think "Island time is even faster" which is a huge bummer!

Our journey to Utila isn't a straight shot. We had to fly to LaCeiba, taxi to the ferry and tried to board the Utila Princess. Our timing was a little off. We were told that the ferry left the dock at 10:00 a.m. As the taxi dropped us off, the ferry was leaving. What, come on? It's only 9:30. Well, guess we got some bad information but we made the most of it. Bob decided to visit a dermatologist in LaCeiba.  He has a spot on his chest that was lanced off years ago but came back in full swing. This time he decided to get small mass cut out and stitched up. Nothing major and the doc is pretty sure there's nothing to worry about but as a precaution he'd mail it off to a pathology lab.  Bob really like the doc and he did very well with the procedure.

We proceed on to the ferry dock where we caught the 4:00 ride to Utila. We have some of the most spectacular friends on this small island. When we dismarked the boat, we had a welcoming committee with beers in hand. We really want to thank John, Jeff, Monica, Andy and Lena for a wonderful greeting. You guys are the bomb!

We stayed with our good friend, John. Who we'd like to thank for putting up with us and throwing a nice BBQ party. He's a fabulous host and we really enjoyed our time with him.

Now Utila is way different island from Guanaja. Utila is a party island filled with young backpackers, lots of great bars, good restaurants and tons of night life. We lived on Guanaja for a little more than a year and the party scene is nothing like that of Utila and I have to be honest... Thank God!

Don't get me wrong in any form or fashion...we had an absolute blast but when you are good friends with 2 lovely ladies that own their own bars; going home early or sober isn't an option.  It's the double edge sword...never have to wait in line for a drink and means for a long incoherent nights.  I did manage to get in Texas Hold'em game; not that I won anything but it was great to play.

Our friend, JJ is a band member for the group The Barefoot Band and we were his groupies one night. We love live music and danced all night to their tunes.

What can we say...we had a rockin good time and what a fabulous way to send us off "island style".

We will miss ALL of our islanders and I will definitely miss the island living. I have no doubt that we'll back. It's a part of me and I'm not willing to let it go.

Bob & I are currently enroute to Houston. We'll be boarding our plane within the next 30 minutes and look forward to seeing our family and friends back in Texas.

Much love to everyone,
Bonnie & Bob.

Island living coming to an end.

2011-02-19T11:09:00.000-06:00

Hello!

Well, our time in Guanaja is coming to an end. I knew the past few months would fly by and they have. We're packing, repacking and packing again. We found that shipping to Guanaja was quite easy but shipping back to the states; isn't so. We use Fernandez Express out of Houston but unfortunately they do not have a "import" license back to the States.  Fortunately, we really don't have that much.

We leave Guanaja on the 22nd of February; but, before heading back to Houston we're going to stop in Utila for a week to visit our friends there. We're looking forward to seeing them.   Here on Clark Cay; it's not so relaxing right now. The Pullum's are here with their guests and I've been cooking away. I'm ready to hand over the reigns to the new caretakers.

We'll be arriving in Houston on March 2nd. Can't wait to see our family and friends. We plan to spend a week in Tahoe do a little skiing and lots of gambling and then gather a few belongings and head down to Mazatlan Mexico mid April.

Now some of you are having some concerns with our decision to live in Mexico. Please don't. We know of all the problems with cartels and drug wars going on. Believe it or not; Mexico is a country! The problems you hear about from that wonderful media of yours, is around the border areas.   Turn that crap off! By now, you should know that the media LOVES to report that absolute worst areas, crimes, & catastrophes. I shared this article with my facebook friends and I'll share it with you too. This article is actually written by a US journalist and FINALLY someone got it right. http://mazmessenger.com/2010/07/02/one-us-journalist%e2%80%99s-nonconformist-view-of-mexico/

Well my friends and family, we have a Farewell Party to attend to.
We look forward to seeing and giving everyone BIG hugs when we get back to Texas.

Love,
Bonnie & Bob

New Judge in Town

2011-02-10T14:13:00.000-06:00

Guanaja has a new judge and he is cracking the whip. First order of business is making sure everyone has their boats registered.

I know this sounds really simple and no big deal but it's been an ordeal.
I would say 10% of the islanders and expats have their boats with the proper Honduran title and registration. It is the law but this law has never been enforced.

Bob & I got caught in the sting a couple of weeks ago. While enroute to our favorite watering hole we were flagged down by a group of men heavily armed Naval Officers and the Municipal Police. At first I thought they were just being friendly (as we all are on the water) and waving at us. So, I wave back. But then their hand motions were more intense and we knew we need to pull over. As we pulled over they were asking for our paperwork. We asked, "what paperwork"? They said, if we didn't have our registration and title of the boat on hand we needed to go to the Municipal dock and wait for them. UGH! We got in line with the other boats they had pulled over and we were followed by smaller boat with 3 officers to make sure we complied.

We waited about 20 mins for the policia to arrive and give us further direction. Well their direction was to leave the boat in their possession until we could produce the documents. We're thinking "no way"; "They really want us to abandon our boat".   Most everyone that was pulled over, handed over their boats. The policia were nice and offering all of us a ride home.   We boarded their boat with cloudy judgement due to the shock. Luckily the clouds cleared quickly prior to pushing off and we decided to stay with the boat. We were told we could talk the Chief of Police to get more info on other options other than leaving the boat. He unfortunately was in the other boat that was pulling everyone over. So we waited and waited and waited; not knowing when they would return; afterall, it was early in the day we were sure there were plenty more offenders to rally up.

While waiting we had learned that the police was in full throttle because they had been caught sleeping. Apparently their boat was stolen literally from right behind their station. Whoever stole their boat took the motor and left the boat abandoned. Yikes.  Not a good thing. So now they are pissed and ready to take action. They probably came to the realization that they're never going to find the true culprit to punish, so why not make everyone suffer for the actions of a few.

Guessing after 3 1/2 hours we finally get to talk to the Chief of Police. Short story is that we were handed all the paperwork that outlined the criteria of obtaining a Honduran title and properly registering the boat; we thanked them and went on our way with our boat.

We fully support the law and if that's what it is, we will definitely comply and get the documents in order.

It's been a few weeks since we were pulled over and the boats are still not registered. Not from lack of trying. Since we are registering the boats on the Pullum's behalf, we've been waiting on bill of sale, passports copies, and personal fotos from them. Which we now have. So, our first thing to accomplish is getting the proper Honduran Title in their name.   To do that we must use a lawyer. Hey...Hey...the Municipal is supplying the lawyer for us. How nice of them? For a low cost of 2500 lps ($133) we can obtain a title. Seriously? How unfortunate for a lot of the islanders. That truly is expensive.  The average daily wage of an islander is 300 lps ($16) You do the math.   Fortunately, word is getting around to other islands and lawyers are offering to help out and file the documents at a much reduced cost.  Once we get the title lined out then we take it to the Port Captain and register for yet another small fee.

This has been a process. And we have 4 boats (3 different owners) to register. Wish us luck!

Hugs to all,
Bonnie & Bob

Island Christmas

2010-12-30T14:59:00.000-06:00

Hello Family and Friends,

Did everyone have a fabulous Christmas? How much weight did you gain? OK. OK. I won't go there. As a friend of mine, Robert once explained to me, "Phat" is a good thing". Hummm.

Bob & I had a wonderful Christmas here on the island. We were recruited to help decorate our favorite watering hole, Manati's. We had no idea what we were in for but we had a blast. This was a two day event. 1st day was hanging ornaments, garland, lights and tassels. The second day was all about hanging balloons. Geri is very well organized. She had recruited plenty of help and everything went very smoothly. Not to mention, she and her husband Al fed us well for lunch.

Cathy & Geri

We were to report to Manati's by 10:00 in the morning. I made a gallon of Bloody Mary's. I had to make sure we had plenty of vitamins and veggies before we got to work. Sure enough 1 gallon wasn't nearly enough. The 2nd day, I brought 2 gallons of Bloody Mary's. Cathy wanted to make sure we had enough and ended up bringing more. We were not short of supply this day.

Bob had a lot of jobs. He hung garland, bar tended
but his most important job was DJ.
Without music, I'm useless.

Among those helping; were a couple from Houston. They were sailing south, caught wind about Guanaja and decided to stop for a few days to check it out. Well, those couple of days has now turned into a month. We're glad they are still with us celebrating the Holidays. We'll be bringing in the New Year with them.

Carl & Iris Meredith
Sailors from Houston TX

My Argentinian friend, Mercedes & Jim

Al was in charge of blowing up the balloons.
Don't feel sorry for him. He brought his air compressor with him.

Mercedes & Iris hard at work.

What a Motley Crew.
(Me, Geri, Iris, Cathy and Mercedes)

Did you notice all our elf hats? Geri's sister made those for us and had them shipped down. Thank you, Gwen.

Now for Christmas day. I volunteered to cook up a turkey for our potluck at Manati's. I didn't cook one for Thanksgiving and I felt I missed out. So, Bob put in an order for a turkey at one of the stores in town. We went to pick up the turkey a few days before Christmas and I thought Bob was going to shit in his pants. The lady behind the counter retrieves this big Butterball turkey and said, "That will be 900 lempiras". My friends, 900 lempiras is $50! Bob mumbled all day long. I had warned him it was going to be expensive.

Well, there were 3 other folks bringing turkeys. So, I wanted mine to be different. I decided to make a "Texican Turkey". I soaked my turkey in jalapeno/garlic brine for 15 hours. After the soak, I stuffed the bird w/seasoned jalapenos and grilled it. That's right, "grill". Had I ever done this before? No. I went online and did my research & it seemed easy. Just a little higher maintenance but no worries. Bob & I got up early to prep the grill and to make sure the bird had plenty of time to cook. According to all my research it should take 3-4 hours for the 17.5 lb turkey. (Lunch was being served at noon)

After soaking in a brine; no need season with additional salt.
I did add a little cayenne to the skin.
Jalapenos are stuffed in the cavity and its stuffed in the
meat (breast and thighs)
We did put foil around the wings and tips of the drumsticks
to keep from burning.

The bird was on for about an hour and everything looked good. I had left for a few minutes to feed the dogs and when I came back...FIRE! Oh My God! I'm not talking a little fire. I'm talking flames were coming out from all areas of the BBQ Pit. After all my screaming for water, we got the fire under control and the bird was charred. I was sick. We paid how much for this bird only to burn it. We took it off the pit and assessed the damage. OK.

Char means flavor, right?
It doesn't look too bad!

I over reacted. It wasn't that bad. We made more adjustments to the grill and got the bird back on. After 2.5 hours I decided to check the temp with a thermometer. I was shocked. The turkey was done. How can that be? I must have Flashed Cooked it by charring it. I check the breast and the thighs several times and sure enough it was done. We pulled it off the grill, let the turkey rest for 15 mins and then sliced into it. WOW! That was a delicious, juicy and a flavorful turkey.

As I was carving the turkey, I heard this thump and thump. I turned around; it was our dog, Hero. We normally call Hero to this window if we have any bacon or left over meat to give him. But this time he wasn't waiting for the invite.

Hero... "come on I'm ready to place my order".
"I know you have extra for me".
"Come on, please!"

How can I tell him No. He's so dang cute.

Well, 2011 is knocking on our door. We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous year. We'll see you guys soon.

Much love,
Bob & Bonnie

It's Time.

2010-12-16T22:38:00.000-06:00

I have written and re-written and re-written this blog in my head and on paper several times. I think I can now post this what without some animosity. Nope, "think" is not correct, I know I feel no animosity what-so-ever. So with that said, here we go.

It's time I tell you that we are leaving the Bay Islands. I have shed lots of tears over this decision but together Bob & I have decided it's time to move on. I knew before coming here that a trial living period would be required for us before we made any final decisions or commitments. I also knew before coming here that Bob had his doubts regarding building & settling down here.  So the conclusion is that the lifestyle here on this secluded island is too slow & boring for Bob. He wants more. He wants to have more choices of things to do and I do understand his feelings & needs.  The seclusion of this undeveloped and unspoiled island is not for everyone.

It's also time I come to terms with the fact that MY dream of owning a beach bar on this great island is not in the cards right now.   I'll admit I was very upset, hurt, disappointed and flat out pissed about this outcome. Bob & I worked hard to be where we are today. To come so close to making MY dream come true and then to walk away breaks my heart. I have learned that we can share the same goals, share the same bed, share the same great memories but that doesn't mean we share the same dreams. Guanaja has and will always hold a special place in my heart. But what can I say...my heart belongs to Bob.  I want us to live where we can both love the locale, the culture, the people, the weather & have all the opportunities to fully enjoy living our life's together.

So, it's time to embrace the next chapter of our lives. We've decided to move back to Mazatlan Mexico. If you guys have been keeping up with our blogs from the past few years; you know Maz is a special place for us. We have good friends there and Maz has lots more to do such as golfing, shopping, theaters, dinner outings, spas and gambling to name a few of the offerings. Bob may regret that Maz offers casinos. ha ha! Luckily for him, they don't have table games, at least not for now. Things happen for a reason and I'm trying to find all the positives.  We are blessed & have been fortunate to have seen many great things happen in our lives & I'm confident that the future holds even more wonderful opportunities & rewards that will enrich our souls.  I love Mazatlan and I look forward to calling the "Pearl of the Pacific" our home.

We'll hang on to our property here. We can't predict what the future holds. It appears that this time in our walk thru life does not include a long stop here in Guanaja. That time may be later, maybe our golden years would be spent better here than now. So we may be back here at a later time, you just never know.

We will be leaving Guanaja on March 1st. We'll head back to Houston to visit family and friends and we have a trip to Lake Tahoe planned in late March to do some skiing &; gambling. Once we get things in order we'll be heading down to Mazatlan. Here's a special thank you to our friends in Mazatlan. Your enthusiasm in our return means the world to us. We'll look forward to seeing you guys and to enjoying some sunset cocktails.

We've had a lot of friends express interest in visiting us down here in Guanaja and I'm very sorry that you will not have that opportunity. Guanaja is beautiful and you would have had a great time. BUT, now you can visit us in Mazatlan. Here's another positive...Flying to Mazatlan will be half the cost as it would have been to fly here.

We want to thank everyone who did visit us this past year. We enjoyed your company and it was awesome for us to introduce this small island to you.

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. We'll be making the most of our time here till we depart.

Love,
Bonnie & Bob

Funny Story

2010-12-10T18:45:00.001-06:00

This is just a funny story I wanted to share with you guys.

One day we were on the Cay. Remember I told you guys there's a large cay called Bonacca which we just call "The Cay". This cay is where we do all our shopping, banking, pay bills, etc. Anyway, I was at the bank while Bob was carting groceries to the boat.

We had parked our boat at the Municipal dock, so as Bob walked down the walkway he heard, "Bob....Bob". He turned around, looked down the the walkway and saw nobody. He just shook it off and continued to walk to the boat. On his way back, he heard it again "Bob...Bob". He's like what the hell. He sees no one around, then it hit him. Someone was calling him from the jail cell.

He's thinking "who the hecks in there that I would know?" So, he walks to the door and the person behind the door is asking, "Will you please buy me a baleada? I'm hungry". The cell is very dark, dreary and you can't see but a few inches thru the bars, so Bob asks who's in there? He gave his name and sure enough Bob knew him. The guy would on occasion carry our groceries to our boat. Bob of course wants to know why this guy is in jail and he told him it was because of a fight. Bob has his doubts but whatever. Bob says let me see what I can do.

A baleada is a flour tortilla filled w/refried red beans and cheese. It's a cheap Honduran snack if eating one.

Anyway, Bob finds me on the cay and tells me what happened. I asked a friend on the cay if inmates get meals. She told me absolutely not. The only way an inmate can get food is by family members or friends that want to take them food. How about that concept? Jails here are how it should be back in the US. Concrete walls, floors, dark and no food, no bed. Gotta love it.

Bob and I decided to take him a baleada and told him to stay out of trouble.

We'll be in touch!

Miss you guys.

We're Famous!

2010-12-05T19:05:00.000-06:00

OK...OK. Maybe saying "We're Famous" is a little exaggerated. But check this out.
My friend Shari Hernandez gave me the heads up that we (Bob & I) were mentioned in a Travel Magazine.

December 2010 issue

There we are; in Black & White. It's not much of an article about "us" but to be mentioned by name is very cool.

I have no idea what the rest of the article entails; but it looks like it might continue on about Guanaja. If anyone picks up the magazine; we'll sign it for you. hahaha! I'm just joking! I am proud though.

Big Hugs,
Bonnie & Bob

Holiday Season is Upon Us

2010-12-01T13:11:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,

We hope all is going well for you and your families. We're getting lots of inquiries how Holidays are celebrated down here. Did we have a Thankgiving? What are our plans for Christmas and New Years?

Well, Bob had asked me back in September if I wanted to get off the island during "rainy" season.  Rainy season kicks off off mid October thru end of January. We had no idea what to expect during "rainy" season but I do know that I love rain & therefore wanted to be here to experience the climate change & to celebrate the Holidays island style.   There's no doubt that we miss our families during this season but we'll stay in touch.

Honduras does not celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving. Both are Americano traditions.  I really enjoy Halloween but didn't miss it too much this year especially since there wasn't anything to remind what I was missing.

Now Thanksgiving is celebrated by a few local islanders. Lots of Islanders have lived in the States at some point in their lives or their family heritage is linked somehow to the States. So, they have carried the tradition down here. Turkeys are available at the local grocer but just to be absolutely sure you get one; it's best to order ahead of time. Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE to participate in. It's always about family and friends gathering and enjoying a feast of fabulous foods. With the approval of the Pullums (owners of this wonderful island) we hosted our 1st Island Thanksgiving.   We kept it very simple by making it a Potluck Luncheon. No, I didn't have the honors of cooking the turkey. Al & Geri stepped up and insisted they bring the birds, dressing and gravy.   Let me tell ya...It was one of the best turkeys we've had; not to mention the dressing and gravy were over the top.

The party kicked off at 10:30 a.m. We live on an island where there are no cars. Everyone travels by boat and most prefer to be home before dark; so most parties start and end early. The guest list had started out small but ended up with 30 guests. A few sailboaters had recently set anchor and they too wanted to be part of the celebration. I can't say no to that.   We had so much food and it was wonderful to taste other's creations. We have some fabulous cooks on the island. Being the host & hostess we were; we're very sorry to say we have no pictures to display.   I know Bob & I made our way to the apartment numerous times to retrieve the camera but was always interrupted by something. Just know we had such a great time. We made some new friends and wish them safe sailings as they continue traveling south and our cravings for Thanksgiving traditions were met.

We're looking forward to our Christmas celebration. Each year it is celebrated at Manati's amongst all the expats. Bob & I have volunteered to help decorate the bar and bring Christmas cheer. It too will be a potluck.

New Years Eve & Day will be hosted by George & Ginger who own Clearwater Paradise resort. Not sure how NYE works since most want to be home by dark but I do know they are opening up rooms at their resort for those wanting to stay to bring in the New Year. I'm assuming the real celebration will be New Year's Day. We'll see how it goes. Either way will be a good time.

And as far as "rainy" season... The end of October and the beginning of November we had 3-4 weeks of straight rain.  Fortunately we have lots of movies to watch since the heavy rain effects our satellite system.  The 2nd half of November has been absolutely beautiful. We'll see what December holds for us.

So, stay tuned! I won't forget the camera.
Love to all and we wish everyone a Merry Christmas,
Bonnie & Bob

Hurricane Season in the Tropics

2010-11-29T18:03:00.000-06:00

Hello Family and Friends,

Woohoo, Hurricane Season is officially over. Did you guys realize the season was extended? It starts June 1st and ends November 30th. The season use to end October 31st. This was our 1st season to weather the storms. We had some nice ones.

I got say this was truly a learning experience for us. Sure we've been on hurricane alerts while living in Houston and yes, hurricane Ike hit before we left states but let me tell ya living on an island really puts things into prospective.

Prior to moving here we did some homework on the hurricanes that passed thru the island of Guanaja. Hurricane Mitch was the most devastating at a Cat 5 for 72 hours on this island back in 1998. He liked it so much that he wouldn't move. Well, just like Texas...The history of a major hurricane hitting the islands is once every 25 years. No problem; we can handle that! Yeah right! Never have we paid so much attention to the weather updates as we did during this season. One late evening we were surprised by a TS Alex that developed 8 miles from here and quickly turned into a hurricane as it passed us. We were woken with the heavy rain and strong winds that night. I should say, "I was woken". Sleeping Beauty Bob heard absolutely nothing. TS Alex was a wake up call for me. You have to be prepared for this tropical season especially knowing how quickly a system can develop without much notice.

I don't know how many of you have looked at map and know exactly where we are. I've learned my coordinates are 16 latitude and 85 longitude. (Apparently that's Island Living 101). Anyway, we're a very small island off the mainland of Honduras. But not only is Guanaja a small island of 9 miles long and 3 miles wide; we live on a much smaller island called Clark Cay (pronounced Key) which is only a 4 acre private island located on the south side of Guanaja. Let me tell ya...we feel the winds a lot stronger out here than those on the island of Guanaja and not to mention we are at sea level. This arrangement has shed a lot of light on owning your own island for me. I used to think having your own island would be the bomb, I'm sorry to say I've changed my tune. It's freakin scary out here. Now some of the other cays around us are a lot more protected with abundance of trees, plants and have higher elevation in the center of their island; they can barely see the ocean from their house but not Clark Cay. You can see the ocean all around ya.

This is our apartment. As you can see its elevated and due to
where it sits on the property captures best winds all year around.
We leave all our doors open and catches all the trade winds thru out the apt.
HOWEVER, with that being said... Not so comfortable in 50+ mph winds.

We have amazing views from our deck.
We can see all the bone and reef fish swimming by in the shallows

This is Clark Ark. A 40 ft panga that is tied up to the dock out front
As you can see it's totally exposed to the rough seas during a storm.
We have the responsibility of moving the boat out to a protected marina
near by.

A view from the dock out front. We face the island of Guanaja.
Literally a 5 min boat ride.
This is just a cloudy day with a few rain showers.
Wish I had pictures of the ocean during a TS.
The waters were extremely rough with lots of large white caps;
which is why you want to move the boat out early.
You don't want to be caught in the waters under these conditions.

Hurricane season isn't bad at all as long as you have a prep sheet ready, monitor the system often, tend to the boats early and clean up lose items.   All the cabanas here on Clark Cay have hurricane shutters and are very easy to close and lock. We made sure to move all the patio furniture inside and remove possible flying objects. All you folks who like to find conch shells and cool driftwood to display around the grounds...Thanks! We have to pick up all that stuff and put in the bodega. ha-ha-ha.

Now here was the major problem I had during this time...BOB!
Bob thinks I over react to "possible" storms. Which he is probably correct BUT, living on an island with little time to react isn't a bad thing. He always "assumes" the storms will stay on path and by-pass us or worse treat them as tropical storms. He thought I was crazy when I wanted to pack up things such as water, food, flashlights, dogs, etc and be ready to vacate the grounds for safer shelter.   We fought a lot needless to say. Safety wasn't his priority. He felt we could do everything at the last minute and be OK. I don't operate that way. I would rather be ahead of the game than scramble at the last minute.

So the storms that were close to home and we monitored along the way was TS Matthew, TS Paula and Hurricane Richard.
TS Matthew went directly between us and the mainland. We got zero rain but high winds. The winds actually pushed the reef closer to us. TS Paula was minimal too but turned into a hurricane shortly after she passed us. Now Hurricane Richard which I had renamed to "Dick". He headed directly to Guanaja at a Cat 1. OK we knew Dick was coming and Bob didn't want to leave Clark Cay. I did however make him sleep down in one of the other cabanas. I sure as hell didn't want to be up in our apt with all that wind whipping around.  Like I said, we knew it was already a Cat 1 and could become stronger as it approached.   As the hurricane was approaching us; I was on the Internet "facebook" with all my other island friends. It was actually fun and comforting. They had all been thru hurricanes before and told me not to worry. The island can handle up to Cat 3 without any problems. Homes are built for this situation and the surge is minimal within the reef. At 2:00 a.m. all the power went out and lost communications with my friends. Bob and I got the dogs, went to one of the cabanas and barricaded ourselves in. My sleeping beauty Bob was out like a light. As soon as the hurricane was upon us. I was up. The windows were rattling and I kept shining the flashlight in Bob's eyes to wake him up. I told him maybe it was best to move into the bathroom. He wasn't too happy with me and told me to go back to sleep. How in the hell am I suppose to sleep? This is my 1st hurricane.

Well, Dick was renamed once again to Lil' Richard. He actually was a small Cat 1 with 60-65 mph winds by the time he hit. The property sustained minimal damage. We had some large trees uprooted and tons of debris on the beach. Took us a full week to get the beach cleaned up. We're very thankful that all the storms that came our directions and didn't amount to anything but that just gives Bob ammunition that I over react. So, do we balance each other out? I would say we stress each other out. ha-ha-ha! More importantly...He's alive to tell his side of the story.

Well, we are into Rainy season now. Our friends at Half Moon Cay informed us the best time to trim all the plants is October 16. That's when we'll start seeing some rain. Well, I'll be damn! Oct 14th the rain started. It rained every day for 4 weeks solid. After that we would have some nice heavy rain around 2:00 a.m. till 6:oo a.m. and then the sun would come out during the day. Loved it. November is just about over and the weather has been fantastic. Cooler temps high 70's, lots of sunshine and rain in the evenings or early morning hours.

Well that's my tale of the hurricane season. Hope you enjoyed.
As always wishing you and your family true blessings,
Bonnie

1st Honduran Surgery

2010-11-06T20:50:00.000-05:00

Hey! How is everyone doing? It's been a long time. Bob & I have been doing very well. We got thru our 1st hurricane season and that's worth a post on its own. (stay tuned)

Some of you may know that I've been dealing with bone spurs for at least 2+ years now.   It has been a painful experience but decided surgery wasn't an option due to what I've heard of the procedure, not to mention the recovery time.

Well, my friend Sharon talked me into seeing her doctor on the mainland (San Pedro Sula). I agreed but was looking more forward to shopping after the doctor visit. I had no idea I would be engaging in this type of surgery especially so fast.

The doc said the spurs were pretty big in both feet but the one on my right; x-rays indicated that the bone spur had broken and the fragments were embedding on my tendon which was causing pain. He was adamant that surgery was the only option if I wanted relief. GEEZ, not what I wanted to hear but OK.

Now, I've had a lot of surgeries in my short life but I gotta say this is the 1st where the doc doesn't accept credit cards. Cash Only. Apparently the system is for me to pay him upfront and he then pays the hospital, assistant, anesthetic and whatever else is needed. Humm! OK. No problem I have the money in the bank. I'll make a trip around the corner and get the cash.  Nothing is that simple. Bob & I have a Honduran savings account. Even though I had ID; I wasn't able to withdraw the money needed. Apparently I must present my banking card in order to withdraw cash. They can't just look up my account and take the money out. Nope, doesn't work that way. Bob managed to go online and figured out how to transfer money from our account to the docs account. No big deal, right? Wrong! That was a huge task for Bob to do on his own. Online banking is in Spanish folks but he got it done. Way to go Bob!

Now that the doc is paid; the procedure was scheduled. Technology has come a long way even in a "3rd World" country. The incision would only require 2 stitches and only a week of crutches. The thing that concerned me the most and made me actually have nightmares was the injection to my spinal cord. Why in the world would you need to numb from my waist down? But, guess it's a common thing. Fortunately, my friend Sharon had the same procedure. She told me not to freak out when I wake and I can't move my legs.   What? Are you kidding me?   She wasn't. That is a horrible feeling. Even though I knew what to expect; when I came to, near the end of the surgery and couldn't move...panic started to set it. It's a horrible feeling when you try to will your toes to wiggle or try to bend your leg and not be able to do it. But the anesthetic wore off after several hours. I truly did have nightmares. I woke up in a sweat w/the idea of spinal injection going wrong and being paralyzed from it.   Crazy, huh? I must get that from my Dad. He's the worst at assuming things to go bad. Thanks Dad. I appreciate that gene you passed on to me.

The doc ruined it for Sharon. She thought she was going to have the hotel room to herself for a night. I was suppose to stay one night in the hospital but the doc said I was doing really well and could go back to the hotel. Poor Sharon. Nurse duty immediately and no disco dancing for her.   She was fantastic. She made sure my foot was elevated, made sure my ice pack was full and if I needed anything she was there.

I was feeling really good that evening. We ordered pizza and played cards. Sharon didn't have much sympathy for me and took great pleasure in beating me at Rummy 500. My story is and I'm sticking to it... "I was under the influence".

The doc paid me a visit at my hotel room the day after surgery. He gave me the green light to travel back to the island. Sharon went out immediately to purchased our airlines tickets and hook us up with a taxi. What I had failed to mention till now is that Sharon & I did some serious grocery shopping before I was laid up. We both had full coolers and extra bags to tote w/us. Thank God for hotel concierge and airport helpers. I was absolutely no help. I remained confined to the wheelchair. To tell you how much we had; we had to pay $200 extra to cover the extra luggage weight we checked.

We finally made it back to the island of Guanaja but damn; for such a short flight we transferred planes 3 times.   My foot was throbbing something bad by the time we got to Guanaja.

I'm proud to say I managed to get in and out of the boat successfully and without injury. It wasn't lady like but I managed.

I have to give HUGE kudos to my wonderful husband, Bob.   He has been fantastic. He has cooked me some fabulous meals (he Hates to cook) and has made sure I have absolutely everything I need. He's been awesome.   He's going to hate that I'm writing this, but I have to...Do you know he followed a recipe and made me some of the best homemade biscuits I've ever had. Delicious. I'm thinking he needs to cook for me on a more frequent basis. Can you hear him now? Not going to happen. Bob, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the BEST.

Well, in a few days my stitches will be taken out by Mike Jones. (Sharon's husband) I saw him this afternoon and appears he's taking great pleasure in this task. Should I be worried that he wants to bring his garden tools to pull out the stitches? ha ha. I'm sure he'll do a great job.

I'd say this surgery has gone very nicely and I'm feeling better each day. I haven't had any pain and by this coming week I'll be crutch free and wearing my own shoes. I won't be dancing but that too will come in time.

Take care my friends and hope that all is going well for you. Big hugs - Bonnie

Guanaja's International Fishing

2010-09-13T23:12:00.000-05:00

Hello out there!

How is everyone doing? Bob & I are doing fabulous. We haven't done too much since we haven't had guests in a while. (yes, I'm whining!) ha ha.

I just wanted to help get the word out that Guanaja is hosting it's first IGFA Offshore Fishing Tournament. This is huge for this little island. Hopefully this event will drum up some tourism for our sleepy little island. The tourney will be the weekend of October 21st - 24th; for any of you who may be interested.

I wish I had the equipment and fishing boat to enter. They actually have a bracket for women.  I think I'll have to check it out this year and maybe get my stuff together and fish next year. Any of my girlfriends want to join me?   I'll need a team of 4 girls and a captain. Of course, I'll work on getting a captain.

Anyway, I'm proud of the "locals" around here that are spear heading this event. They seem to be pumped, putting in a lot of hours and doing a good job organizing it. They do have a website if anyone has questions. www.guanajafishing.com

I'll have to find out how Bob & I can get involved. Maybe volunteer at a booth or something. I'm pretty excited about this as you can tell.

While we're on the subject of fishing. My "island" husband picked up a new hobby. Unfortunately the island is being hit hard with Lionfish. Not a good thing. While this fish is pretty they are also pretty deadly to the reef system. They are very territorial and aggressive & have no natural predators.  The Lionfish is not native to the Caribbean or other warmer coral regions of the Atlantic, yet they have started to flourish.  Most reports show that the aquarium trade is to blame for releasing this species into the wild. Way to go people. If you buy them for your salt water hobby...keep them or eat them.

We had one lingering around our boat dock and Bob decided he's getting him a Lionfish. Bob had bought a spear gun and thought it was time to figure it out.

He's on a mission, folks!
And yes, this is his 1st time using a spear gun.
Should I be worried?

Hero, Our dog is observing from the dock.

Guess what, folks? He got it!
He actually speared the fish!
I'll be damned.

That my friends, is what a speared Lionfish looks like.
Had I known he is actually good eatin;
He would have been an appetizer that night.
Bob, go get us another one.

The dorsal and side fins of this fish are venomous. But once you cut those off with scissors, scrape of the scales and remove the guts... it's time to season, flour and fry. We need to get the local folks around here to realize that this fish is delicious so they too can get out there and fish them. We need to remove as many of these creatures as possible to preserve the reef.

Really don't have too much more to say. But we hope everyone is doing well. If you can swing it; come see us.

Much love,
Bonnie & Bob

Family visitors with a Special Treat

2010-08-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

Hello! Well they say 3rd time is a charm...well I'm hoping 4th will do it for me. I have no idea if Blogger made some changes that gave me a hard time posting this blog or if all my napping has made me goofy.

We had an absolute blast with my family that was just here. My Mom, Sandy (my step dad), Aunt Luz and my cousin, Gloria. They spent 9 days with us which wasn't enough time.

Everyone thinks we'll be happy when they leave but that is the furthest from the truth. We love hosting and entertaining our family and friends. We miss everyone dearly and when you come down; it means the world to us and we're very sad to see you go.

This visit from my family was a true blessing. My Aunt is actually my Great Aunt Luz of 82 yrs. Do you know how excited I was to hear she was coming down? I had only prayed that we would have a place built so she could see and enjoy the lifestyle we've chosen. No, we don't have our own place but we do have a very special home that we are able to share. Anyway, one of my dreams was for my Aunt to make it down here. She's always been a big supporter of us and so proud that we're achieving our dreams. To share this with her was a True Blessing.

Let me introduce you to my Great Aunt Luz.

Bob & my Great Aunt Luz

Of all the guests we've had visit; my Mom and posse had the worst time getting here.

So cool to watch a storm approaching.
OK maybe not from the bird's eye view

Unfortunately, we had thunderstorms all day. We could see the plane in a distance but then all of sudden the weather turned wicked and the pilot made the decision to pull up and head back to Roatan where they came from. Awe man! We kept asking the airlines rep will they make another attempt. We could see the clouds make a break. Sure enough as soon as the gang approached the Roatan landing strip; the pilot gave the passengers a thumbs up and announced that he's trying again for Guanaja. Thank God Guanaja is only 15 mins away; I'm sure the passengers are wondering about gas consumption along with the weather. But ended very well.  I only wish I had camera on hand when everyone got off the plane.   I would have captured some great photos of the family with bulging eyes, white knuckles and a huge relief of being on the ground.
I'm so mean!   I can be since they arrived safely.

Fortunately, the rain held off for us on the 30 min boat ride to our cay. They were pretty stressed out and figured they would be...I was prepared. I had ice cold libations on the boat for them. Even my Mom who is not a beer drinker downed hers. I think she was the 1st on to finish. hehehe!   By the time we got to the cay; all was really good. I even think they may have put that flight experience way back in their minds.   We got them all settled in their cabanas and had a nice dinner.

As we do with all our guests; we took them to Manati's for our Saturday ritual. I was so excited to introduce them to our friends.

Mom, Sandy and me

My Mom...isn't she pretty!

Now we were a little concerned for my aunt being a 82 yrs and getting around. For obvious reasons her main concern was falling. When we left Manati's...I insisted on helping her down the stairs. She held on to the rail with her left hand while I had her by the arm on her right.

Manati's entrance

Well guess what folks. I let her stubble over the very last step. UGH! How could I have allowed that? I can't say this enough...my Aunt is one tough cookie and likes to drink. She busted out laughing, dusted off her knees and was back up on her feet.
Wha-la...she's OK. Thank God.

Bob & Sandy coached her thru the process
of where to step

Getting in and out of the boat can be tricky especially since our bigger boat is out of service. The smaller boat is a little more unstable but with the help of everyone we made sure my Aunt didn't have another accident.

She did fabulous!
I'm so proud of her.

What can I say? I'm married to a pretty cool guy. He definitely went all out while the family was here. He was a great host and most of all made sure we had everything we needed.

Early one morning he had the beach area ready for us to enjoy our day.

He had the umbrella and beach chairs up and ready

My aunt & I hung out on the beach near the cooler.

She's drinking her Rusty Water.
At 1st she was saying our pipes were really
rusty only to find out that's Crown & Water.
Nice one, Tia!

My cousin and Mom ventured out in the ocean on their kayaks. I was so impressed with my Mom. She loved being in the kayak. She went out several times on her own.

Gloria getting the feel for it. She
was a little worried that she wouldn't
be able to paddle back to shore.
She did great once she got the hang of it

A picture is worth a thousand words. If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes...I would have said this picture was photo enhanced. My Mom helping a dog?! Now this is one area where my mom and I are so different. I'm a huge animal lover and my Mom...hell no. She doesn't like animals much and would never want to be around one. But looky here. This was very impressive. Hero is our island dog. He has to be in the water when we are kayaking. He has a mind of his own and won't listen. Well the current was pretty tough this day and our kayak route was a little further out from the island than Hero was used to. He needed a little help. There goes my Mom to the rescue. With the help of her & Sandy, Hero is now on Mom's kayak and on their way to safety.

So what were the guys up to? Bob & Sandy played bocce ball every evening and Sandy would come in beat up. He sliced his head on a tree and cut his foot on something. He always blamed Bob for the accidents saying, "Bob became violent when he lost." Always something with those two. Apparently, Sandy was pretty good at this beach bocce game.

Mom & Sandy were so looking forward to coming to the island to chill. Apparently the past few work weeks were very stressful before leaving. You want to chill? This is the place

Sandy had no problem relaxing!

Mom's hangout was the hammock at the boathouse.
Where there is always a breeze!

Their last night with us we went to Graham's Resort for drinks and dinner.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful evening.
The sunset was beautiful. The clouds and sky color were spectacular.

Gloria's sunset glamour pic

Fortunately the weather was very nice when they took off back to Roatan and then on home.

Aerial photo of the island as they left us

We enjoyed a fabulous time and really miss having them here. We hope they return very soon.

We hope all is going well for you. Bob & I are truly enjoying life.

Love,
B & B

It's been so quiet!

2010-08-04T15:44:00.000-05:00

Hello out there!

How has everyone been? We've been chillin and still taking it all in. We've been without guests now for 3 weeks. The last two guests were my cousin, Kris and her husband Greg.

Kris celebrated her 40th birthday while here & they both toasted their recent marriage several times during their stay. It was a party and a continuous party at that. We sent them out with our fishing buddy Hansito and they had a great day as they brought in the heaviest load & most variety so far out of the 3 trips that we have booked with him. Kris caught a 3-4 ft Lemon Shark, Greg caught a 45 lb Wahoo, and they both caught several Barracudas, Blackfin Tuna and Bonita's. Most people have said that Bonita is not very good to eat and when we tried it after the first trip, we fully understood their stand & agreed 100%. They're basically only good for cut bait. Everything else was a great catch. Yes, even the Barracuda. This is one of our favorite fish to eat on the island. Don't shake your head till you try it. It's a clean white fish. When eating Barracuda; you must first throw out the head in the sand or dirt. You ask why? Well at least I would hope u would. This fish sometimes carry a toxic posion. But hey, several other tropical reef fish carry this toxin like snapper, amberjack, grouper. & I bet some of u have eated these fish w/o giving it a second thought. The locals here and in other countries have told about "head trick". If the ants eat it; then the fish is OK to eat. If the ants stay away; throw the Barracuda away. It's poisonous. Seriously!!! Well at least it has worked for us, so far. Want to more about this posion, than google Ciguatera.

Greg enjoyed fishing every evening at sunset from a
corner of the island.

and every evening he reeled in something.
If you look closely...this Barracuda has war wounds (belly towards the tail).
As Greg reeled it in, there was another Cuda attacking this one.

Kris and I are very close and have always competed in sporting events. We both can be competitive but she definitely still excels where I've seemed to have fallen off quite a bit. Well maybe more than a bit, cause I basically suck now. I have no idea whats happened to me. I used to excel in sports; now...don't pick me for your team. Every afternoon, we got our cocktails, put our game faces on and had a Bocce Ball tourney right before sunset. I'm not sure I won a game the whole week they were here. Kris, Greg and Bob were intense and there was lots of trash talking.

Intense game.

But more importantly
Everyone has drinks in hand.

I sure miss them being here. I had a small boating accident where my arm got jammed up between the boat and the dock. Pretty much had only limited use of my right arm. Thank God I'm left handed. But even at that; I had no idea how much I actually used my right arm. Anyway, Kris was a huge help for me in the kitchen and she was basically my right hand. Thank you, Kris You're the best!

Everyone thinks we'll be glad when they leave but I have to say that's quite the opposite. We love having visitors. We enjoy a special place here and love being able to share it. No one has been disappointed yet.

They looked pretty relaxed to me.

My Mom, Sandy (step-dad), my Great Aunt Luz and cousin Gloria will be our next group to arrive. They'll be taking off from Houston tomorrow a.m. Can't wait till there get here.

Well hope all is going well for you and your family.

We miss you and hope you'll be down to visit us soon too.

Big hugs,

Bonnie and Bob

Our 1st Island Wedding - Guanaja Style

2010-07-09T22:00:00.001-05:00

Hey...Hey...Hey!   I've been hearing from lots of you wanting to know how the wedding went and wanting to see pictures.

First of all, I have to give my husband lots of kuddos for all the help he put into making this wedding special for Ginger and Rick. I couldn't have done this without him.   I gotta say the boy has talent and taste.

Ginger and Rick were looking for a simple beach, barefoot, and sunset wedding.   It wasn't about all the bells and whistles. It was about their commitment to one another with their parents by their side.

Regina and Mark (Ginger's parents); Rose and Paul (Rick's parents); Ginger and Rick arrived on the island of Guanaja Friday July 2nd.

Puddle jumper from Roatan to Guanaja

Tight squeeze but a 15 minute flight.

Our Guanaja airport.

Regina and Mark (Ginger's folks)

Boat ride from the airport to Clark Cay.

Rick and Ginger

They love being in a boat.

Rose (Rick's Momma)

Paul (Rick's Dad)

Taking it all in.

The wedding was set for Saturday, July 3rd. This is the first wedding we've ever hosted and weren't too sure how this was all going to turn out. We know this is a spectacular island and the scenery is amazing but hosting a wedding was a little scary. I've seen the reality shows of Bridezilla.

It was nothing like that. Ginger was a wonderful bride and so beautiful. Really made things easy for us. Thank you, Ginger!

The day of the wedding was fast and furious. Bob and I were a team. First thing we need to do is make sure our guests are occupied and out of the way.

Fortunately the seas were calm

and a fantastic day for kayaking

Rick and his Mom enjoying the clear blue seas.

While Regina and Ginger relaxed on the beach

and took in some rays.

Mark was all about cooling off in the water

While our guests remained busy; that gave us plenty of time to decorate the beach with palm fronds, flowers, conch shells and tiki torches.

Not too shabby, huh?

I had mentioned Bob was pretty creative. I put him in charge of the flower arrangements. We needed one for the dinner table setting and one for Rick and Ginger's room. Drum roll......

Didn't he do a fabulous job?

I was blown away.

This arrangement was placed in their room

from Ronnie and Anita.

Ginger and Rick loved it!

Next. The arrangement for the dining table.

I tell ya, Bob has some talent. Very impressive!

While Bob was arranging flowers. I was taking a cake decorating

class from Martha. Thank God she was around.

Bride's cake.

Strawberry Pineapple Cake

with a cream cheese frosting.

I made this. I can't even believe that it turned out so well.

I know what you are asking. "How did it taste?"

It was good! Ask Ginger. She'll tell ya.

OK now Rick's cake.

Chocolate Cake Balls.

Not at all what I wanted to present.

Poor Rick.

He saw the cake and thought it was a plate of coals.

Awe man!

I tried building a pyramid w/ greenary

but it fell apart.

I had no time to try again.

Sorry Rick!

Sharon Jones was the officiator of the ceremony.

She met with Rick and Ginger early in the day

to work out some of the wording of the vows

and to go over a few of the details.

Once the beach was decorated, flowers arranged, cakes were

in the fridge; it was time to start the dinner prep.

I did hire some kitchen help and was quite organized.

It was a little too easy in some ways.

The dinner was simple but wanted to make sure

everything was on schedule.

The dinner menu.

Lobster Dumplings w/Ginger Soy Sauce

Ceasar Salad

Grilled Grouper topped w/a Basil Butter

Roasted Herbed Potatoes

Steamed Green Beans

and Dinner Rolls

Everything on my list was checked off.

Time for the wedding!

The day started out absolutely beautiful and we were so

excited that we had a cool breeze. As we were counting down

till Ginger walked down the beach; the clouds rolled in.

I was not a happy camper. It was too late to move anything around.

Bob and stood around giving those dark clouds the evil eye.

Guess, we must have some strong "evil" eyes (no comments, please)

The storm went right around us. It was awesome.

It was a little cloudy to start out but all was fabulous.

Here she comes!

Isn't she beautiful and she's barefoot.

Ceremony in progress.

Their first Kiss?

Doesn't appear so.

Introducing

Mr. and Mrs. Sammons

So Sweet!

Great looking couple

How's this for a special treat?

Notice the rainbow behind them?

How about now?

Looks like she is pooped.

We'd like to offer our special thanks to

Sharon Jones

for conducting a wonderful ceremony.

You did an amazing job.

To the Pullums

Clark Cay is their beautiful island

and thanks to them we were able to enjoy

a fabulous celebration.

Thank you for allowing us share this wonderful island

with our family and friends.

Of course a wedding is very special

with the love and support of family.

Rick and Ginger are blessed to have

wonderful parents.

They are amazing.

To Rick and Ginger,

Bob and I want to wish you both

many years of happiness.

We love you guys!

Time to catch you up!

2010-06-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Hi!

I hear I'm taking way too long between posts. Ut-oh! Guess the island life has made me a slacker. I gotta tell ya, I like being a slacker but we've actually been pretty busy around here. Not work wise but entertaining... My Favorite!

We've had several friends and family visits over the past couple of months. It's been awesome. We've taken them on some amazing snorkels trips. I'm hoping some of our pictures came out. We actually bought a case to fit our camera so we can take pictures underwater. We just haven't had time to view them on the screen yet. During our snorkel... we swam with large spotted Eagle Rays, lots of reef fish, turtles and saw a 6-7 ft. nurse shark. Now, why do I need to get certified to dive? I don't think so. And listen to this; we've been living here on this cay for 4 months and just discovered all the amazing night creatures living in our own marina. We have octopus, sea horses, red-banded shrimp, brittle starfish, and tons of sea urchins. It's absolutely beautiful! Thank you Ken for leaving us your dive light. Checking out the marine before going to bed has been fantastic.

Jack and Cheryl from Dallas TX

Greg and Sandy from Tempe AZ

The cousins!

We had lots to celebrate while they were here.

Cheryl's birthday, Greg & Sandy approaching retirement.

Cheryl and Jack closed on the sell of their home while here.

They too were homeless. We'll at least for a few days

till they got back home to make their move as empty nesters

from the casa grande to the condo life.

We loved having them visit. Sounds like they want our jobs as caretakers

when ever we decide to vacate and build our own place.

We look forward to a returned visit!

I did make a quick trip to Texas a few weeks back. My Dad got married in Corpus Christi. They had a beautiful large wedding. Now, don't get all mad that I didn't call you while I was there. My time was split between Corpus and Houston and it was a whirlwind trip. I'm waiting for you all to come down and spend some quality time with us.

My handsome Father!

Ester. It's not too late.

Me offering my words of wisdom...

"Are you sure you want to go thru with this?"

No turning back now.

I'm very happy for them both.

Ester is a wonderful person and I'm so

happy to welcome her to our family.

While I'm at. Might as well introduce you to the rest of the family.

My Dad's side of the family is very small but we be tight.

My Dad's sister, Mary Alice and my uncle Nacho.

My brother Mando and cousin Ronald

Ronald lives in Austin. He joined us for a few hours at the

rehearsal dinner before having to head back home.

Thank you Ronald for driving all the way down to Corpus

to wish my Dad congratulations.

It was great to see ya.

My cousin Danette

Danette's kids. Devin and Dylan.

Don't let those smiles trick you. They're rotten!

But love 'em.

My brother's girlfriend, Lynn.

We all had a great time at the wedding.  To paraphase my Dad's comments; "We have all come together today on this joyous occassion. At our age, to achieve this feat would usually be for a funeral"   That's my Dad! Love you!!

I had a week to get things together before welcoming our next guests all the way from Sacramento CA.   Ken and Cyndra. Ken is a long time friend of Bob's and was a groomsman in our wedding.   LONG time ago. I guess that makes him my long time friend, too.

Ken is 6'9. We were a little concerned if he wouldn't fit

in the puddle jumper. Whew! No problem.

Cyndra and Ken are divers.

Bob is a diver also but has yet to dive here.

Can you believe that? Guanaja is known for its diving.

Glad they all went.

Looks like they had a great time.

Still doesn't appeal to me but they loved

exploring the underwater world.

Bob. My goof-ball husband.

The guys dove with George.

He's a the owner and dive master at Clearwater Paradise Resort.

George and Scooter (a white-nosed coatimundi, or coati)

The guys were very impressed w/George and loved diving with him.

Cyndra is a lot worse than me when it comes to animals.

As soon as they show me their teeth; I'm gone.

But Cyndra...another story.

She fell in love with Scooter. Teeth, nails and all.

He's tricking me. He's hoping for me to reach down and pet him.

I'm not falling for it. He is cute from a distance.

Let's see what else.... This is huge. I've learned to drive a boat. Woohoo! Bob was out fishing with the guys and was running late to take the gardener home. Cyndra, my friend gave me all the confidence in the world to take the boat out. I asked her, "are you sure I should do this? I've only driven the boat once before and for a very short distance." She stated she trusted my abilities and she would join me on the ride. I thought about it for a brief moment and said, "Hell ya. I can do this". Off we went. The boat ride is about 15 mins to the airport where Cefe the gardener lives and 15 mins back. I was expecting a Lucy and Ethel scenario but turned out we were more like Thelma and Louise. Cyndra, you believed in me. Thank you, my friend!

Who cares that I can't see over the bow.

Bow is the front of the boat. Don't feel bad;

I just learned that myself.

I stood on my tiptoes or off to the side.

My friend, Trechell has been asking what kind of boats do we drive.

We'll here's the one we're happy to have. It's a called a Panga.

I think it's 26'f. Large enough to fit 6-8 peeps on it.

This one we call Clark's Ark.

It's a monster boat. 40 ft.

This boat was used to haul materials and construction crews.

Now, it mainly sits and used on occasion to haul large debris.

This boat we use to go out snorkeling.

Much smaller at 16 ft, has a ladder to get in and out of the boat

and we're able to get closer to reefs since the hull isn't so deep.

That's it.

These two boats we take care of and they

take care of us.

So what's next for us?   Let me tell ya.   We have a wedding here on the island coming up. My girlfriend, Ginger wants a barefoot, beach, sunset wedding. We are more than happy to accomodate her wishes. Well, hopefully the sunset will cooperate.   Have I ever planned a wedding? Sure, my own 21 years ago.   Thank God, Ginger is so low maintenence. She's all about the scenery, family and friends coming together to share in their celebration.   I'm sure everything will work out! I'll definitely post the pictures of that event in the near future. The wedding date is July 3rd. Let us all pray for nice weather.   With that being said, I have lots to do when I close out here.   Doing a little each day so I'm not overwhelmed nor am I in the kitchen too much while they are visiting.

We are doing fabulous as we hope you guys are also. We've enjoyed our company and look forward to having more. Will you be the next to book your flight?

Next, we'll be celebrating my cousin Kris' 40th birthday.   She and her husband will be here July 5th.   August 5th - Mom and Sandy will be make the trip down to visit as well.

I told you we've been busy.   It's actually been a blessing.   We love having our family and friends visit us and check out our new lifestyle.   We enjoy showing off a bit. The island life works for us and enjoy living it everyday.

Love to all,
Bonnie and Bob.

Guanaja Reef Realty

2010-05-28T14:48:00.000-05:00

Hello!

We just wanted to update & clarify some information that we posted earlier about Jim & Cindy Jones.

Jim & Cindy own & operate Guanaja Reef Realty. As stated earlier they have unfortunately relocated back to Florida. We wanted to let everyone know that they are still fully in business here & we apologize for creating any confusion in regards to this matter. All current listings are still being promoted, new listings will be forthcoming & showings are still occurring. Clients & customers can still rely on the outstanding service that Jim & Cindy have always provided. Prior to their move, they invited Bonnie & I to join their business & we are honored that they have selected us to provide as much assistance as is needed here to keep the company fully functioning. They will still be 100% involved in the daily operations via the Internet & telephone & will also be making return trips here to Guanaja as necessary. .

We look forward to your visit here. If you have any qquestions or need information on Guanaja real estate please contact Jim & Cindy in Florida at 941-876-3255 or sales@guanajareefrealty.com

You can also us, Bob & Bonnie, here in Guanaja at 50494609824

We are all here to assist you with everything from travel to purchase.

http://www.guanajareefrealty.com/

Thank you & have a great day - Bob Langston

Celebrations in Guanaja!

2010-05-11T16:41:00.002-05:00

Hi to all our family and friends!   Once again it's been awhile since our last post. So very sorry.
We have been extremely busy; no lie.   Martha and her guests occupied the island all of March thru the end of April.  Jeff and Cindee Jobe were on the island the full two months and aside from them we had a consistent rotation of guests who became our wonderful new friends.  I used to kid Jeff that I would get so much rest when he left but the truth of the matter is; I miss both the Jobe's dearly.   They are awesome people.

We finally had guests of our own. My dear friend, Stephanie and her husband Bracy flew down to visit for 10 days.  I was so sad to see them go. We had a great time with them.

We took them out snorkeling a few times

We had intentions of more excursions

but porch swings, naps and relaxation got in the way.

They enjoyed the slow lazy pace of this island.

Bob and Bracy had never met before but you would have never known that.

We played lots of Spades while they were here

(of course Boys against the Girls) and they were

a great team.

Pretty evenly matched in pool.

We introduced them to all our friends at Manati's.

Stephanie and Cathy

The gals of Guanaja

Geri, Capt Al and Mercedes

How can a Texas Girl not know how to Two Step?

Bracy loves to dance and Stephanie was a rocker chick when we

were growing up. She's more tolerant of country music now.

We took them to Graham's Place and got them on the dance floor.

yeah...no broken toes.

It was very sad to see them leave. But I'm

pretty sure they will be back. They seem to enjoy

their time here on this beautiful island.

So what's to celebrate? Definitely not the departure of our friends.

Jim and Cindy have sold their beautiful home.

Yes, this is sad news for all of us. But, excellent news for them.

Jim is the gentleman that welcomed us to their home when we

arrived on this island. Cindy has had her bouts with cancer and

lives in Florida. They had hoped that she would be able to return to the

island but with all the doctors visits and necessary medications - they

needed to relocate back to the states. Cindy made the journey down to

close on their home. It was absolutely wonderful to see her again.

And I might add she looks wonderful.

The real estate business they have created here is still in full swing. All current listings are still being promoted, new listings will be forthcoming & showings are still occurring. Clients & customers can still rely on the outstanding service that Jim & Cindy have always provided. Prior to their move, they invited Bonnie & I to join their business & we are honored that they have selected us to provide as much assistance as is needed here to keep the company fully functioning. They will still be 100% involved in the daily operations via the Internet & telephone & will also be making return trips here to Guanaja as necessary.

If you have any questions or need information on Guanaja real estate please contact Jim & Cindy in Florida at 941-876-3255 or sales@guanajareefrealty.com. You can also us call us here in Guanaja at 50494609824

We are all here to assist you with everything from travel to purchase.
http://www.guanajareefrealty.com/

Eugene and Cynthia

The new proud home owners of Jim and Cindy's place.

They will be our new neighbors when ever we move over to

our side of the island.

Welcome to Guanaja!

As you can see we are living it up here on the island.

Cheers!

Bonnie and Bob

Alive and well in Guanaja

2010-04-02T21:27:00.000-05:00

Hello! It's been awhile since you've heard from us; we are doing fantastic.

As you know we're living on Clark's Cay as "caretakers" and we've been busy. We've had guests on the island since March 6th. So far, all the guests have been friends of the Pullum's and great people to hang around with. We do have a staff of a few gardners, and two ladies that come in daily to help with breakfast, lunch and cleaning the rooms. Bob is in charge of the guys and I get to direct in the kitchen. I prepare and cook most of the dinners, except on Saturdays. (That's our day; Bob and I hang out at Manati's with our friends.) As you can imagine, I spend several hours daily looking at recipes and preparing the evening menus. Depending on the mood of the guest we'll have appetizers around 3:00 and of course a sunset Happy Hour around 5:00 and dinner is usually on the table by 7:00 p.m. Bob has been keeping himself occupied by trying to figure out why our satellite tv signal has not worked since day 1 when the Pullums arrived with the receivers and tinkers with minor issues w/ the boats. Plus other problems pop up all the time, like the internet went out the other day on our end of the island & he had to run a new cable & put in a new router. We both do all the shopping for ourselves and the guests. That's a full day, I might add. It's not like going to a major grocery store and buying what you need. We have to plan for a week at a time since the boats bring fresh veggies, fruits and dairies once a week. Everybody is doing their shopping on the same day, at the same time and it's hectic. Once the produce is gone...they are out till the following week. And if you forget something, you pretty much do without till the next shipment comes in. Staples are a different story; the shelves are always plentiful of can goods, rice, flour, paper goods and so forth. Of course now we have the system down to an art.

1. Get to town early (9:00 a.m.) to get a good parking spot for your boat,
2. get first dibs at the produce and veggies (if you arrive late, the good stuff is gone fast)
3. stores close up at noon and re-open at 2:00. This is a good time for all the expats to meet at the local watering hole to re-group and check over their list for round 2.
4. At 2:00 start shopping for frozen goods and then head home.
Told you it was a full day.

How about I introduce you to some folks?

Here are the Pullum's (Bill and Martha); owner's of Clark's Cay. They reside in Florida and visit this beautiful island a couple of times a year. Martha has been here with us since March 6th and will depart the island April 10th. Bill came on March 6th but only stayed a week to return back to work. Both will be back on the island April 19th for a week stay and will be bringing a wedding party with them.

Bob, Dave and Bill.

Dave was our 1st guest to arrive. He lives in the Pearland area;

in fact he's neighbors with some of our friends...Ginger, Sam and Barbara.

Not that they know him but still a small world, huh?!

Cindee and Jeff Jobe

They are from the Washington State area.

Cindee is a hoot. She loves to kayak and swim. Everyday!

Jeff's name might ring a bell with some of you waterski enthusiast.

He was a professional skier in the mid 70's & created his own water ski back then that competed with names like Connelly & O'Brien. He built a successful company developing & producing water sports equipment that later sold. Now he's an avid kite-surfer. They will be on this island for 2 months enjoying

the fun and sun. Jeff loves to give lessons to anyone

who has an interest in learning to kite-surf. Bob is taking

full advantage of this. Today he finally felt some success on the board after a good 200 yard run that lasted 20 seconds.

Mike and Susan

They too are from the Washington State area and

friends of the Jobe's. This was their 2nd yr to visit the Cay &

I'm sure they'll be back again next year. Mike is a dedicated student

of kite surfing. Very nice couple.

This is the Boathouse where we host our sunset Happy Hours.

Music is piped in, nice breeze, and great place to watch the sun set.

How is this for a porch swing?

The sun sets on the other side of the mountain but still makes

for a great time and scenary.

Nice color.

Not only is the Boathouse a great place to party

but here is where we set up for the massuse.

This is Filiberto.

We had a ladies luncheon and spa day one afternoon.

Nice massage to be had by all.

We celebrated Bob's Birthday!

In fact we had 3 birthday's within the same week.

Bob and Mike's birthday was on the same day (March 24th)

Jeff celebrated his birthday (March 26th).

Each one of them got their own special cake.

We're always finding ways to keep ourselves busy and living

more and more like the islanders.

I mentioned before, Bob tinkers with the boats.

We had one boat on the island that wasn't working

so he's learning and doing very well.

Wha-La...It's working.

The battery cable connectors were corroded.

Bob went in town to find replacements but no luck.

Who says he isn't resourceful?

OK. It's a temporary fix till the part comes

down from the States but at least the boat is fully

operational. Good Job, Bob!

Another example of island living?

Bob and his machete.

How many whacks does it take to open up a coconut?

Lost count but check this out. As long

as we live on this island and Bob still has

all his fingers from using his machete; I'll

never buy coconut milk in a can again.

Homemade is the best.

Found another use for these shells.

(not what your thinking)

They make the perfect planters for seeds.

I brought down several seed packets

of cilantro and peppers. Let see how they do.

Awe man, I can't wait to use this cilantro.

Pretty! Thinking its time to transplant

and start my next package of seeds.

Well its about time for me to get back to work.

We just wanted to share a few pictures with you and let you

know we are doing great.

We do have some family and friends scheduled to come visit

in the near future and we can't wait. We're missing

everyone dearly.

Love ya -

B and B

Greetings from the island.

2010-03-07T08:32:00.000-06:00

Hola,

How is everyone doing?   Bob and I have been on Clarks Cay for a full two weeks now.   We're finally adjusting well.   I should say I'm finally adjusting and getting more sleep.   I'll admit the first week was a little tough for me.   Bob, well you know Bob...sleeps like a baby; no worries.

We had some strong northerns come through a few times while being here. We had gust of winds up to 45-50 mph and there's not too much protection living on a small island such as this one.   I was worried all night about the boats.   We have 3 in our care right now. Two of them are under a boat house while the other is tied up to a dock.   The one out by the dock is monsterous and doesn't have a canopy or slings to get it out of the water so needless to say, I worried that the waves were going to sink it.   Or that the boat was flooded due to the heavy rains.   Of course neither happened but, this "responsibility" thing took its toll on me and caused some sleepless nights.   We hadn't been responsible for a single thing in 2 years.   Now I see these boats can take a beating and remain afloat; I'm good.

The owners of the island, Bill and Martha are expected to arrive today around 3:00 p.m. and we've had the gardeners, the accountant and cleaning crew out here for the past 4 days trying to get things in order for their arrival.   Bob has been up early every morning (i mean actually needing to set an alarm) to pick up this crew by 7:00 a.m. each day.    The gardener lives furtherest away at the airport (15 mins by boat) while the others live in Savannah Bight which is about 5 mins away.  They all put in a full days work before Bob drops them back off.   You see, there's an advantage to me not driving a boat. I get to sleep in.   I'm sure when Bob gets more comfortable with boat manuevering he'll be showing me.   Bob is learning too.   We've never owned a boat so this is a whole new game for him.   He's done well in my opinion.

I plan to host a little Happy Hour for Bill and Martha and have some margaritas ready with some chips, dips and appetizers followed by a dinner.   We told them to come hungry.

The two weeks we've been here has been really nice.   We've been out kayaking a few times. There's an amazing reef all around this island and lots of fish to see.  I love the swing on the patio and I'm able to read a few chapters and catch some zzzz's.   Bob's been helping the gardener, tinkering with some tools and putting together a water heater.   The hot water in our apartment went out and Bob is handling the situation (something about the heating element).

I hung out Hummingbird feeders the other day and forgot to take them down before dusk.   Anybody guess what happened?   We had lots of fruit bats drinking the sugar nectar.   I freaked out; I saw something flying around in the house and was cussing.   "Bob, there's a f-ing bat flying around".   When it finally stopped it was only a huge moth.   We had a nice laugh. Bob got the opportunity to take the feeders down, brought them in the house and put them on the kitchen island. Within minutes we definitely had bats flying around. Now, I was really screaming..."Bob!"   Bob got the feeders once again and took them to another area of the island.   It didn't take long to get the bats out of the house. Whew! I won't make that mistake twice.

We still haven't bought our own boat yet.   We've looked at a few but since this is the first time for us we're not sure what to purchase.   Now, that we have two boats at our disposal, we can take our time and figure out what we want.      We're thinking a 18-20 ft long panga.   We can have one built on the island within 2 weeks.   We're trying to educate ourselves as much as possible. So many different size engines, 2 stroke vs 4 stroke, and diesel is an option.   We think a 40 - 4 stroke will work for our needs. We've learned 4 stroke gets better gas mileage at $4.50/gal something to seriously consider. We've been told not to buy a used motor.   Do you think any of these used boats come with maintenence records, titles, or any kind of paperwork? No they don't which is why I want to buy new. We'll figure it out eventually and buy one.

We just got the phone call that Bill and Martha are enroute from Roatan. That gives me about 40 mins till they arrive here. Time to go and get things on the table.

Take care!
Bonnie and Bob

We've moved to another island!!!

2010-02-24T17:31:00.000-06:00

Hello family and friends.

Wouldn't you know it... we settled in our apartment, meet all our nice neighbors and finally got used to a routine only to change it all up again.

No worries though, wait to you hear what we have enbarked on.   This has actually been in the works from the 2nd week of arriving here but I never like to talk about things "happening" until it's finalized. Jinx thingy; don't try to figure me out. Bob gave up years ago.

Approximently, a month ago Sharon (whom is now a good friend) approached me and asked if I was Bonnie.   We introduced ourselves and she asked if we had any interest in "caretaking" for a good friend's home.   Sounded interesting; we hadn't thought about it but absolutely, why wouldn't we give it our full consideration.   We emailed the couple (Bill and Martha Pullum) who were looking for caretakers and learned of the requirements. Whoa!  What have we here?   Are you kidding me?   A 4 acre private cay (pronounced key) in other words..their own island.   This place is unbelievable!   We thought we would stay retired and unemployed, but when a job like this comes along, we had no choice but reconsider. So after a few e-mails back and forth between us and the Pullums and an overnight stay to check out the digs, we decided to take on the gig.    Check it out for yourselves. Here is their website.   http://www.clarkscay.com/   Go ahead. Click on the link now, I'll wait till you come back so we can discuss further.

What did I tell ya? Beautiful isn't it.   We are now living in this paradise as the caretakers since Sunday.   Brian and Maysa are the current caretakers but they have to make their way back to the states for real jobs.   They've been showing us the ropes of how this magnificant place operates.  So far it's been very easy and low key.   We'll be transporting the gardener back and forth each day, handle any misc. errands they may have for us to do and provide maintenance services, take care of any repairs that we (mostly Bob) can handle and look after Hero and Vanilla, the resident dogs. Yeah, I have dogs again, at least for a while. More on them later in this post. Our overall responsibility is to make ourselves present on the island so no unwanted guest make themselves at home.  We also we'll have the pleasure of taking the boat to pick up Bill and Martha from the airport in 2 weeks. We can't wait to meet them. Bill and Martha will have guests staying on the cay at various times and they already have a cook and cleaning service in place.   Thanks to Bob, Martha now knows I love to cook.   I've been offered to cook for the guests if I so choose.   Heck ya! I'd love to.   What a fantastic opportunity for me.   Especially since I'll be running my own small restaurant one day.

So far our week has been very nice.   Bob has driven both boats that are on the property to get a feel for them.   No problem! He's a natural.   The main challenges are learning the reef and shallow areas around this cay. Fortunately, things are marked nicely.   What better way to learn the reef than a kayak.   Maysa and I have spent a few hours exploring and kayaking around.   We've made it out to Graham's Place for a cocktail or two.   The resort is very near to this cay in fact you can actually walk the reef from here to Graham's.   This whole area is the place to be for bone fishing.   We've also toured around the Brick Point area.   Brick Point is a massive project Bill is spear heading.   You can find a link to Brick's Point on Clark's Cay webpage.   The dream here is a planned community of large townhomes, nice marina and a shopping/restaurant area.   I gotta tell ya the views are amazing. I didn't have my camera but next time I will get some pictures to share with you.

Thanks to my friend, Trechell; I've already had my night of nightmares.   Trechell loves scary movies as do I, but she recalled a movie and wanted to share some of the highlights.   Greatly appreciate it.   An island can be so beautiful and yet can be scary. You're exposed all the way around.   Anyone can come up to the cay and hide in the bushes waiting to ambush you.   You can imagine the nightmares I had.   Fortunately we have Hero and Vanilla.   Hero is so smart but we can't keep him from killing animals.   He loves to hunt crabs, birds, lizards and iguanas.   Maysa thinks he got hold of the last iguana on the island.   Vanilla is an old white lab.    She still packs a great bark though.   We both love them already & we know they'll be our protectors; everything will be just fine.   Guanaja is actually a very peaceful place.   It's not an easy island to get to which really helps keep crime down.    There's no place for anyone to escape and everybody knows everyone which makes it really nice living here.

As you can see we are doing great here.   We're only a 30 min boat ride from our property.   Let me tell you, 30 mins on the ocean taking in the beautiful scenery beats the hell out of 30 mins driving in Houston traffic.   Did I say that outloud? Sorry to rub that in.

For whatever reason, good things happen to us and we definitely count our blessings.

Brian and Maysa, thank you so much for showing us the ropes.   We wished we would have had more time to spend with you before you had to venture on.   We both wish you the best of luck in your new journeys and safe travels.   We'll always be in touch!

Bill and Martha, thank you for the opportunities.   We look forward to meeting you both and working closely with you.

Looks like we're about to have a nice thunderstorm which I absolutely love.   So, I need to be going so I watch it come across the ocean.

Take care to all,
Bonnie and Bob.

Guanaja update

2010-02-17T18:20:00.000-06:00

Hello family and friends!

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. Valentine's day has a special meaning to me and not for the same reason as you guys. Valentines Day 27 years ago my Dad gave up drinking and 26 years ago on the same day he gave up smoking cold turkey. So, as you can imagine this is a huge accomplishment for my father. He's a strong willed individual and has stayed true to his goals all these years and some days are harder than others he tells me. Well Dad, I tell you... "I'm very proud of you and love you very much."

My dad and his beautiful fiancee, Ester.

We spent our Valentine's Day with some special friends.
Sharon and Mike hosted a very nice luncheon at their place.

They have a great island house. Loved it.

A fantastic garden that leads down to the water.

Both are big animal lovers but Mike has a special

bond with birds. He has 4 of them.

Sharon showing some love to one of the 3 dogs they own.

Sharon prepared a fantastic Cuban cuisine.

Hot pressed cuban sandwiches, delicious black beans and

a fantastic cabbage salad. Amazing!

Also, Sharon is very "Martha Stewart" with her place settings

Name tags, homemade baskets filled with a candle and candies for the ladies

Sharon and Mike, Thank you for inviting us to your home and

making us feel so welcomed. You guys are very special to us.

Bob and I have been on the island for a month now. Time goes by

fast even on "island" time.

It has been wonderful so far. We've met some really nice

people and of course we've met some folks that are just out there.

As you can imagine island life brings all kinds and everybody has

a story.

We love hearing everyone's story at our favorite watering hole,

Manatees, a bar/restaurant owned and ran

by a few wonderful Germans. The Germans have a pretty

strong expat community here

and have been some of the nicest people yet. Who knows

we may come back to the states speaking German.

Hansito and Bob.

Hans it the owner of Manatees and has been on this island for 23 years.

Annette and Klause

They are the operations and cooks behind Manatees.

Absolutely lovely people

Jerry and Capt Al.

Capt Al has all the stories. He is a hoot.

Jerry is a very kind and warm person.

Bob and Andy.

Andy is Capt Al's son. He spends half his time here on the island

and the other half working in New Orleans.

Mike and Sharon.

They too have been on the island a long time.

These guys started building their home just before Hurricane Mitch (Oct. 98),

which decided to hang around and destroy most of the island of Guanaja.

They basically had to start over. Heartbreaking but they hung in there.

Manatees is the place to be on Saturdays. It looks like it

will become a ritual for us for have yet to miss a Saturday.

The expats openly welcome one and all, newly anchored sailors,

yachties and those staying for the day or the rest of their days. They serve up excellent food and has great views.

Well, we've hired out the job of clearing our land.. woohoo.

Soon we'll be able to walk the property and design

our layout.

As you can see...it's way over grown. Bob is assessing

if he can take the project on himself. I'm telling you,

the boy is tight.

Bob did clear a 10 x 10 area with

his very own machete. But decided it

best to leave it to the professionals.

Our little piece of paradise. Can't wait till

we can walk the property. We'll of course

try to keep as many big trees as possible and our

fruit trees as well. We have mangos, avocados, and

pinepple growing already.

While Bob walks the property with some guys;

I hung out on the dock and basked in the sun.

This is our view across from our property.

Absolutely beautiful and nothing around but a lighthouse.

So, do you think you could live this lifestyle? I'll be honest,

it's not for everybody. What's to do here?

Diving (some of the best), snorkeling (this island is surrounded by reef),

fishing (we have deep sea, reef and bone fishing), kayaking, hiking to

some nice waterfalls, and lots of time to read and nap.

Most of the folks here come to "retire" not start a new

job venture. There are very few restaurants, bars, and minimal

shopping. Groceries are delivered to the island once a week.

Thursday's is our big shopping day for fresh produce.

Local people would love for the "tourist" to come down. Some

of the expats would love to keep it as is.

We still plan to continue with our dream of small beach bar and

a few cabanas.

Stay tune for upcoming events.

Hugs,

Bonnie and Bob

Settling down on the island...Guanaja

2010-02-08T12:55:00.001-06:00

EDITED VERSION TO LIST CORRECT URL FOR THE REAL ESTATE COMPANY

We spent the last 15 months traveling thru Mexico, Central and South America. Now starting a new journey of the island lifestyle on Guanaja. We finally landed here and are very excited about this venture.   We arrived on the island January 15th with the intentions of staying with our friend, Jim for 3 days.   Well those 3 days turned into 13 days.   We had 3 apartments to chose from when we arrived but getting to see those apartments was another ordeal.   We were relying on a guy to show them to us but during this time he had guests/divers to accommodate and tomorrow came 13 days later.   Jim was a wonderful host and very generous man.   Jim, Thank you very much for your hospitalty and all your island wisdom. We greatly appreciate you.

Jim and Cindy have lived on the island for years. Unfortunately Cindy is back in the states and Jim will be following her as soon as they sell their fabulous place. We are both bummed that we won't be neighbors.   If anyone is looking for a wonderful retirement home or vacation place...look no further.   The house was constructed 3 years ago up on a hill and has a fabulous view. I'll send you the link to their webpage so you can see for yourself...although, pictures don't do it justice. If we didn't have other ambitious; we would buy their home. And just think if you did buy it; we would be neighbors! Wait, is that a downfall? haha.   The price of the home includes a nice boat, boat dock, kubota, numerous of tools and all the furnishings. Check it out on http://www.guanajareefreality.com/condoandhomes

As of January 27th we've moved and are living in our 2 bedroom oceanfront furnished apartment. No addresses here, heck there's really only one road here, so the locals call it the Blue House on Sandy Bay. We have a great view and nice porch. Just need a couple of hammocks which they do not sell here on the island.  Crazy right? Probably the only island in the Carribean where you can't find a hammock to buy. I guess it's more of a tourist thing & that's one of the beauties of this island, only a handful of tourists at a time visit this unspoiled paradise. We do have a/c but have yet to use it due to the breezy days and nights.   And the bugs have been minimal. We've been warned that on this side of the island the sand flies can be brutal and boy do they love me. As part of living the island lifestyle I lotion up each morning with Cactus Juice (non-toxic) that has an SPF of 25.   Keeps the bugs off me and provides a little sun protection. If anyone comes across this lotion, please buy it for me. I'll pay you back. The stuff is expensive here but we found in at Academy in Houston for half the price. We bought all they had but with our daily routine we'll be out soon.

So what do we do all day? We have no cable or TV at the moment; which has been nice. Took a little adjusting to since we are both TV people but now we read a lot and test our patience with the internet.   Here the phone company provides a dial up modem. Feels like we've gone back 15 years in technology but at least we can surf the web and keep in touch with everyone. The only problem is that our Skype isn't working. We were told that we shouldn't have any problems but the error message we get says we need to buy another component to use this free download.   Hopefully we'll figure it out soon, Angela at the internet place is helping us out to find the problem.   We did find this paved road behind our house that is really steep and we walk it for exercise.  It was strange to find this road on the island but its really nice. Apparently, some investors came down 5 years ago with the expectations of building a neighborhood.  Guess they ran out of money.  There's only two houses built in this neighborhood. One is being occupied and the other was left totally abandoned. Let's see if I can download some pictures for you.

This road is a 25 min uphill walk and it's beautiful.

As you walk along this paved road, you can

hear fresh water cascading down.

The road forks off and continues up.

Ready for homes to be built. They already have

the transformers in place and they are humming.

Beautiful views from up here.

Sailboats pull into this harbor and hang out for several

days or longer. Safe haven for them.

This is the house we found abandoned.

Really nice concrete structure built on the side of the hill.

Why would someone build and just leave it?

The landscape will be taking over soon.

We keep our front door open pretty much all day long

The breeze is just wonderful not to mention, I love looking

at the water.

This is our groundskeeper's dog. Cori.

He is so sweet. He's owners are so mean.

They never pet him. They feel his only purpose is to bark

when strangers approach. UGH. I hate that mentality.

We show him lots of love and he stays at our door most of the day.

He won't come in. That's as far as he goes.

He's so stinkin cute and loveable.

This is our boat slip for when we get our boat.

We will get one soon. It's a must here on the island.

We do have water taxis but that expense adds up

fast. Taxis are not cheap.

We are however walking distance to what has become our favorite watering hole.

Manatees. Expat hangout and just across from where the sailboats

pull in for the night.

It's a 25 minute walk and normally we work up a thirst by the time we get there.

Here are some pics from the bar. Well, maybe I can download the

pics next time. I keep getting booted out.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

Much love to all,

B&B

We're Back! Highlights of our Texas trip

2010-02-03T21:32:00.000-06:00

Well Hello There! We've been getting scolded that we've abandoned our blog... Well, we love hearing that. To us that means you miss us! We appreciate that.

Bob and I have so much to catch you guys up on. First of all our trip to Texas was fast and furious. As soon as we arrived in Houston we had a funeral to attend. My 13 yr old cousin decided to take his life and you just can't imagine the devastation that decision had on the family. Chris, where ever you are...we love you and hope you are resting in peace. Since the funeral was in Portland, Texas that gave us time to visit with family and best of all see my Grandmother. She's amazing and we love her so much. She's in a nursing home but is sharp as a whip. She's had several strokes so she can't walk and has a hard time communicating. She understands absolutely everything you tell her and you know when she's upset with you too. (ha-ha). She adores & loves Bob, so I like to joke around and stir her up by hollering at him... boy, can she jump my butt without saying a word.

I've said it before and I will say it again...Bob and I are blessed with some amazing friends and a tight large family.   Every day and night we shared lunches, dinners, happy hours, and put on tons of weight. A sure sign of a good time.

My cousin Tunisia who now lives in California returned to Houston for a few Christmas parties. During the short time she was in town she made time to cook us a fantastic dinner.   Love you, Tuni! Thanks for getting the family together.

The one event we miss most is our Texans football and tailgating.   Thanks to my Stepdad, Sandy and my friend, Trechell; we had the opportunity to take in 2 games and experience our tailgating with some of our best buds.   Talk about a spread, Ina cooked ALL my favorites.   Gumbo, Boudin, Shrimp Etoufee, Grilled Lobster, Porkloins... she asked what I was craving; I just had no idea I would have it all in one sitting.   Fantastic food. Not to mention we spend several nights at their place. Thank you, Ina and David!

My friends from high school gathered for a great Happy Hour at one of my favorite hangouts, called Lucky's Pub.   We were a very tight group in the Alief area and still remain the best of friends.

Alief Hastings Class of 86

My Mom and Sandy host an annual Christmas Eve party. We were glad to spend a wonderful evening with numerous family members & friends. Always a good time and a great tradition of ours that unfortunaley we missed last year as we were suffering thru the last days of our 3 month stint in Mazatlan.

We spent Christmas Day with my Mother-n-Law, Edna and our nephews and Keith.

We cooked up a fabulous meal and played games till all hours of the night.

New Year's Eve was spent with my brother and all his wonderful neighbors

We had such a great time. Karaoke, jello shots, bonfire, fireworks and good people...

what better way to bring in the New Year.

As you will see our time in Houston was one BIG Celebration. We love all our friends dearly. Here are just a few memories of our trip back home.

Ginger and Rick

Eddy and Selena

Cindy and Bob

Trechell and Lydia

All my co-workers at DCP

Michael and Karen

My brother, Ina and David

I have so many pictures that I would love to load but unfortunately internet has me at a standstill.

We do want to thank the following for opening their homes to us and making us feel at home.

My Mom and Sandy, my Mother-n-Law, my Dad, my brother, Ina and David,

Trechell and Terald, Pete and Nancy, Selena, Cindy,

Sam and Barb, Tom and Lien, Brian and Adrienne,

my Aunt Mary Alice and Nacho, & Alma and Wally

As you can see even though we were in our home town of Houston, we moved around a lot and continued to live out of a suitcase. We miss you guys and we look forward to our next visit.

We just started the next chapter of our life here on Guanaja a few weeks ago.

A beautiful island and we look forward to all the new challenges that come with

living the island lifestyle.

Although we don't have our place built yet...

you are always welcome to join us at anytime.

We will be keeping you posted on this new journey of our lives.

Take care!

Bonnie and Bob

Punta del Este Uruguay

2009-12-04T20:04:00.000-06:00

Hi, how is everyone doing? We're winding down our travels here in Uruguay.

We spent 5 wonderful nights in Montevideo. The largest city in Uruguay. From Montevideo we hopped on a bus and traveled east to Punta del Este (2 hour journey).

We had heard Punta del Este was another Miami beach scene and extremely touristy and expensive but we had to check it out for ourselves. It was fabulous. First of all, this city is a "seasonal" city meaning the tourist start arriving mid December and is at full capacity in January and tapers off late February. The population for 9 months of the year is roughly around 15,000 people and very relaxed. Then the elite of Buenos Aires and Brazil arrive, bumping the population for the other 3 months to 500,000. From a few days after Christmas through the first 2 weeks of January, the Punta area and several other high scale nearby towns draw movie stars, models, and high power executives from all over South America. So in our opinion, we timed it perfectly. Restaurants, shops, hotels and other touristy places were opening back up and the crowds hadn't gathered around as of yet. If you want to own rental property...this is the place to do it. Apartments rent from $3500 a month to $15,000 a day during the peak months and they are fully booked...Unbelievable!

La Lomita del Chingolo Bed and Breakfast - where we laid our heads for 3 nights

Rodrigo and his wife are amazing hosts. If we come back, we will definitely stay with them again. The guesthouse has accommodations for 12 guests and offered a great breakfast. Rodrigo also provided an amazing BBQ for his guest and we had a fabulous feast.

The BBQ pit was roaring.

Rodrigo cooked pork, steaks and sausage.

We tried this one sausage called Sweet Blood Sausage.

It was very dark in color and really doesn't look all that appealing in the grocer

but I'm glad we tried it. It had the taste of Christmas. Heavy in a cinnamon flavor.

It was so good.

Rodrigo's wife and son.

Hush. The family pet.

Other guests in the house with us and enjoying the BBQ cookout are...

Jia Li Moore from Chicago.

Bob, Yin Hung, Jerry Hufanda (both from New York)

and Rodrigo

Chuck and Miriam Verhdef from Holland

Chuck has an interesting hobby. He collects papers and news clipping from

all over the world and files them. Every time he travels; he pulls the file of the country

they will be visiting and compare the news of what he had versus what was

happening of the time of their visit.

Here he's reading a newspaper dated 2001 of Punta del Este

We found this city being the best of both worlds with its high dollar fancy apartments, glitzy restaurants very similar to those found along South Beach in Miami while only a few blocks off the beach you'll find the suburbanites with large yards, beautiful homes, McDonald's and large grocery stores. I had the best time walking around the grocery store. It resemble that of Central Market back home.

Apartment High Rises

This is Mansa Beach.

As you can see the beaches were empty.

In a few weeks it will be hard to find a spot to lay out.

Just a few blocks of the beach turns into this beautiful subdivision

Huge yards and nice homes.

Punta del Este has accommodations to meet the needs

of both the city folks and those who prefer the burbs.

One of the famous city landmarks is called La Mana (the hand).

How is this for photography? I was able

to include myself. ha-ha.

El Faro de Punta del Estes

Lighthouse built in 1860

Punta del Este is an exclusive resort town for the wealthy South Americans but it is also rated as being one of the safest cities in the world. Here the wealthy come with their fancy cars, high dollar jewelery and flash money without worries of being robbed any time of the day or night. We had a very relaxing time here and learned early December or March is the best time to visit.

Our next destination destination in Uruguay is Colonia de Sacramento.
Till then,
Bonnie and Bob

Montevideo Uruguay

2009-11-29T17:21:00.000-06:00

Hi. We hope everyone has fully recovered from that "over-stuffed" feeling we uncontrollable sacrifice everything that we have pledged "not to do" in order to keep alive the tradition of properly celebrating our blessed American holiday, Thanksgiving. We sure missed the enjoyment that is associated with this blessed feast and believe me... our thoughts continuously reflected back on previous trips to the seemingly endless trough that represented every food group & beyond. To compensate for the absence of that juicy plump turkey I'm sure most of you feasted on, we settled on another species of the poultry family, a juicy rotisserie chicken. When we get back to Texas, I plan to grill up a few jalapeno stuffed turkey legs. Woohoo! Can't wait.

In the meantime, we are having a very nice time in Montevideo, Uruguay. A fellow world traveling friend of ours, Chef John (from Houston, currently living on the isle of Utila); told us to spend more time in this country and especially this city. Wish we would have taken his advice more to heart. Unfortunately, we only allowed ourselves 5 days to explore this marvelous city.

Uruguay borders Argentina and Brazil. It's the 2nd smallest country in South America with a population of 3 million. Montevideo is the capital and host the largest population of 1 million. The exchange rate for us Americans is 20 to 1; not too shabby. But it's all relative, right?

Steaks, seafood and pastas seem to be the common denominator of most restaurants.

Nothing like the smell of grilling meats.

Chicken, steaks, sausage, pork loins, etc..

Awe... Look it's Babe (Priscilla to Nancy)

Butterflied, basted and cooking to perfection.

The average cost for a steak is $11.00 plus beverages. Even though we are on the coast, seafood is a bit expensive. Those dishes average over $20. What we found to be annoying is that most restaurants charge a "cubierto" fee of $1.50 - $3.00 per person (depending on the restaurant). This fee is for the table setting, fresh bread & packaged crackers & bread sticks. What the hell? We thought we'd beat the charge by seating at a bar with barstools and no tablecloth. Nope, the charge was still on our bill. Fortunately we did get a basket of bread and we ate it all. We should have taken all the packaged

bread & feed them to the birds.

Montevideo reminds us a lot of Mazatlan Mexico and its so much more quieter than Buenos Aires.

An active boardwalk lines most of this city

with walkers, runners and bikers

Town squares are filled with vendors on Saturdays

Mostly with antiques and not my thing.

Finally... a sunset! Been missing these special times.

What's this? A gas station!

How about this for a novel idea?

It's a place to hang, drink some gas station brews and watch the sunset.

Yeah, not the greatest sunset but who cares, it's still

another day in paradise.

We've seen several gas stations and convenient stores loaded with

people hanging out and partying thru our travels in S. America,

but didn't see the attraction of drinking beer at a gas station.

But here.. this gas station has oceanfront view and a park.

Family, friends and pets enjoy a few hours as the daylight dissipates.

We shared a few liters of Cerveza with them and had a great time.

Bob humored me and saw the movie Julie / Julia with me. He's such a good sport... (at times)

"anything for my wife, right?"

Here's my new friend. She was walking around the square; not a care in the world nor a adult nearby. Some of the local folks must have known who she was. I heard them talking to her as she walked around.

She loved the camera and wanted me to take her picture.

I'm thinking 3 years old.

Maybe?

Today is the Presidential election and folks are very passionate about their country. Flags are flowing from vehicle windows, rallies are in full throttle in surrounding plazas and cars are honking showing their support for their political party.

The hotel that we laid our head at over the past 5 days was called Hotel Palacios. We couldn't have asked for a better staff or location. This historical hotel was in the Cuidad Viejo (Old Town) area, one block from Plaza Indepencia and on the corner of a pedestrian walkway.

This is our hotel.

Plaza Indepencia

Beautiful Plaza

An apartment building with a few

offices.

The architect was fabulous.

Most of Uruguay is 90% of European decedents

and is reflected in their buildings.

Of course with a growing city

you'll find several modern buildings.

There's nothing 3rd world about this country.

It's actually ranked 41st in the world as a top destination

for living an upscale lifestyle.

Gotta like this stat... 97% literacy rate.

Bob can be so creative in his photography skills.

The centro area has tons of squares and

these were just a couple.

We really enjoyed our time here in Montevideo and look forward to our next destination. Uruguay is becoming my top pick of South American country's.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to a city called Punte del Este. This is another coastal town and is compared to Miami Beach (upscale & pricey, Bob would like u to know that we do have a PayPal acct in case u want to support our lifestyle).

Hope everything is going well for our friends and family. We miss you guys and look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Ciao,

B&B

Mom's Visit

2009-11-24T20:47:00.000-06:00

Well, we just put Mom in a taxi. She's on her way to the airport to fly back home and she's is pooped. She was here for 10 fun-filled days.

It all started on Saturday, November 14th when we met her at the airport at 10:30 a.m. She was in pretty good shape for having traveled 12 hours and was ready for whatever we had planned for the day. We admit we took it easy on her the 1st day here. We have a nice square a few blocks away from the apartment and we hung out there most of the afternoon eating, window shopping and walking the area.

We had a nice lunch at an outdoor cafe

The Serrano Plaza

On Sundays the area to be in is San Telmo. We hopped a bus and made our way to the oldest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. Weekends host an Antique Fair in Dorrego Plaza.

The fair brings out musicians

Weird art lined the cobblestone streets

And performers were on most street corners

We walked and walked and walked most days showing Mom the various neighborhoods. One of the more exclusive neighborhoods is called Puerto Madero. It's an old port area which is lined with contemporary high rises, loft style apartments, restaurants, cafes and a casino.

The artsy bridge located behind us is called

the Woman's Bridge. The center of the bridge

pivots out to a 90 degree rotation to allow

large boats to pass thru.

Marina for private boats

As I stated, there was a casino in the Puerto Madero area. My Mom loves to gamble. Slot machines were her thing while Bob & I headed for the table games of 3 card poker and blackjack. None of us were big winners but we had a good time.

Mom got a good dose of the public transportation and she was a great sport about it. In one day, we rode the bus to the subway station, then took the subway to the train station to spend the day in a small city called El Tigre. For those who don't know, my Mom is somewhat the princess and we weren't sure how she'd take to riding the city bus and subways. You did great, Mom!

El Tigre was an hour train ride out of Buenos Aires and it was beautiful.

Cute train depot

El Tigre is an island surround by a web of rivers and streams. The city was very clean with some exceptions around the river banks. There were lots of kayaking and rowing clubs.

Argentine Rowing Club

La Marina Regata club

These boats were available for rent.

You could go out yourself or hire a guide while you sit back and relax.

Kayaking is a popular means of exercise

Parana Delta

Along the banks you could buy tickets for boat rides of all sizes, catamarans, and kayaks. Bob noticed the large catamarans were much slower and didn't seem to maneuver as well as some of the smaller wooden boats. So, we opted for this boat.

The boat ride was an hour and cost $5.00 per person. On this tour we saw some homes for sale or rent, plenty of camp grounds and restaurants along the banks.

The houses in this town were very cute and the park areas were very well maintained.

Municipal Museum of Arts

I could have stayed in this small city longer. The marketplace was amazing and so many cool shops. Did I mention this city has a casino? haha... it did. We spent all day in El Tigre and I'm thinking this was one of my favorite days. Mom seem to really have enjoyed it here too.

Other tours included a walking tour of a few of the barrios & a full city tour by open-air double decker bus. We enjoyed a mother/daughter spa day and overall explored a major portion of Buenos Aires & everyday we had aching feet as proof.

and Bob tolerated us.

We love you, Bob!

Mom, thank you very much for visiting us. We really enjoyed your company and look forward to seeing you and Sandy in a couple of weeks. Love you very much!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Unfortunately for us, it's an American holiday which means no turkey and all the fixings. Make sure to eat plenty on our behalf.

We will be traveling to Iguaza Falls which borders Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for a couple of days and then flying down to Uruguay for our final leg before heading back to the states.

We're missing everyone and hope all is going well. Won't be long till we fly home for the Christmas Holidays.

Much Love,

B&B

It's My Birthday...Month!

2009-11-10T21:25:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,

How's it going for you guys?   We've been doing pretty well and gearing up for Mom's visit.   She comes this Saturday and can't wait. (Sandy, we wish you were joining her) We have lots of fun things planned for when she arrives.

In the meantime, we celebrated my birthday. Woohoo, I survived another year and to me that's a fabulous reason to celebrate.   It was quite a bit different this year without friends and family so I'd have to say this was the first time I wasn't all that thrilled. I could care less about my age. It's just that the passing of another year reminds of all the great times I have had with all my fabulous friends, especially when celebrating my birthday.

It all started at the Casabar watching my Texans play some football the eve of my actual birthday and I was hush-hush about celebrating till my team disappointed me with a horrible loss.   I let the cat out of the bag that it was my birthday.   I couldn't contain myself any longer and Thank God the folks around us were awesome; we knew no one at the time but everybody likes a reason to party and wha-la...new friends.

Since my spirit was down a bit, why not indulged in spirits of another kind that have uplifting properties?  They also have other properties that some of you may be familiar with, hence why you don't see anybody's name written by their pictures.   I can't remember their names!   How horrible is that?    It's not as bad as it sounds.   In general, Bob & I both are the worst at remembering peoples names, so we can't really place all the blame on the over consumption. We'll catch their names next week.

As for the actual day of my birthday; we did nothing.  I had not partied like that in a very long time and didn't know what hit me that morning.   What's with the severe headache?   That doesn't happen to me or it hasn't till now. Does that come with age or did I just have some really bad tequila?   Wow!   I lean highly toward the latter. We'll save the nice dinner plans for when Mom gets here.   She'll like that.


I do want to thank everyone for the warm Birthday wishes. I truly am blessed with great friends and a wonderful family. My day was very special because of you.   So thank you very much!

Much love,

Bonnie.

Don't ask about the horns. I have no idea what that was

about. Other than I was partying like a rock star.