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 BUILDING ON STILTS - ROATAN EAST STYLE The building style in the east end of Roatan Island  (Municipality of Jose Santos Guardiola) is very specific to that area.  Houses are built on stilts by the water to take advantage of the breezes to cool the houses.  The tradewinds blow from east to west normally and the houses are positioned to be cooled this way.  It also permits people who get around solely by boat to have full access of housing and commercial establishments right off the water. The boats can also be pulled in underneath for storage and protection from weather, if part of the houses are over the water. The island's only main road wasn't extended east until the late 1960's; hence the shorelines and mangrove tunnels have been the only means of transport for generations. Now how does one get started building like the locals?   Well hire one !!! I am in the process of getting an extra planting deck built off the back of my wood stilt house.  First the builders dig th
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PIRATES OF ROATAN Roatan Island has a long history of pirates and pirate treasures .  It is estimated by the mid 17 th  century there were approximately 5,000 pirates living on Roatan and the Bay Islands. So many stories abound from Henry Morgan to Blackbeard to John Coxen.  The island was famous as pirate hiding grounds and many of the island’s mangrove tunnels were cut out by pirates and buccaneers to escape detection You can read about the island’s pirate history here: https://www.roatanhistory.com Today, the island’s pirate history is well celebrated with many festivals and parties. One such occasion on the East End of the island is  Roatan Pirate Week, held every year in February.  A little inconvenience like COVID wasn't going to stop these pirates !   There was live bands and money for the local kinder was raised as there is an urgent need for building a restroom for the little ones. The Bay Island Rockers featuring Luis Rosa brought down the porch !!!! Pirates are alive a
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  GETTING ME BONKEY DOWN TO DA ROCK (Getting my butt down to Roatan) How to plan to get to Roatan from Canada and not lose your mind? Let me tell you.   It took 5 bookings, 4 airports, 3 flights, 2 days and 1 PCR COVID test to get here. I started by booking the direct charters from Canada.  First with Air Transat, then when the pandemic second wave started ramping up they cancelled the whole 2020-21 season and gave a flight credit only. Then I booked with WestJet for December 2020 since I had vacation to use.  WestJet cancelled all December flights so I rebooked a January flight. Then WestJet cancelled the remainder of the 2020-21 season. I did receive a full refund from WestJet.  Kudos to them for that.  Delta had opened flights starting March, going through Atlanta, so I booked one of those, and yep you guessed it, Delta cancelled all those flights. Finally for the 5th booking I looked to American Airlines, it seemed the only option left as all the countries had tightened restricti
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MAKING IT COUNT VOLUNTEERING IN A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY A pre-Pandemic happy story How lucky are we to have been born in a country of plenty; plenty of comfort and opportunity.   I am a believer that one who has, should help one that has not, so when I take my vacation, I “make it count” . As some of you know, I travel to the island of Roatan (located in the Bay Islands of Honduras) at least twice a year, and this February, I chose to volunteer at clinics that were held by visiting veterinarians from Maine. Roatan is third world, there is no sugar coating it.  Tourists flock in droves during the winter months, living large in resorts and sunning on beaches.  What tourists don’t see are the locals struggling for their next meal, barefoot children who never get an education and numerous pets who are but skin and bones, covered in ticks and reproducing at an alarming rate.   Roatan has boomed in recent years and the new expats have set up many initiatives to help the islanders and their pet
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