wine, cheese and muffin

Yesterday afternoon we held a wine and cheese party for our guests at The Heart, a wonderful little plaza on the Paya Trail. (Muffin is Lucy's little demon dog).

holiday cocktails

Guests enjoy holiday cocktails last night at Tom's Bar.

the christmas of the green iguana

I was just out on the property checking the progress on a project the guys were working on this week and spotted this fella. It's a green iguana (iguana iguana). It always makes me happy to see the endangered animals that find refuge here at Paya Bay. I'm considering this a little present from the Universe and a good omen for a prosperous new year.

heretic to hero

Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero. The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope

I wonder if 400 years from now the Vatican's current attempts to deny basic human rights to some people will also be seen as a "mistake." I'm not impressed, Mr. Ratzinger. People and organizations who consider themselves "holders of the truth" are (and will always be) dangerous.

mom, I want to look like the president when I grow up

President-elect Obama's obvious commitment to personal fitness is inspiring. Way to go, O! (For the record, I had the shirtless look going first!)

a tropical christmas

The Roatan Ladies Club and Paya Bay threw a Christmas party for the local kids this afternoon. The kids ran races to win presents. The ones who didn't win were given little Christmas bags filled with goodies. For far too many of these kids this will be the extent of their "Christmas."

Seeing and hearing the happy kids really adds to the holiday spirit.

Happy Holidays!

the picacho challenge

Guests Sarah, Darrell, James and I summited Picacho this afternoon. It was an awesome hike!

lucky and picacho

This afternoon Lucky joined us on a hike up Picacho, Roatan's highest peak. It was his first time. He loved every second of it! Once at the top he seemed fascinated by the scenery.

sunset tubing

Lisa, our new South African restaurant manager and a wonderful guest, also named Lisa, enjoy some sunset tubing in Buccaneer Landing.

the heart of paya bay

A stop on the Paya Trail. It's the home of love, joy, and happiness.

my poor country

Honduras, Poverty by municipalities. Translation of the legend: Bajo=Low (the rest are obvious). Seeing this map makes me realize how insulated I am from the grinding poverty that 70% of my fellow Hondurans endure. Here in the islands we are especially unexposed to it since we have a multi-million dollar tourism industry that provides economic sustenance for a mere 60,000 people. This map is also eye-opening to me because the four green areas on the map (the Bay Islands, Metro La Ceiba, Metro San Pedro Sula, and Metro Tegucigalpa) are the places where I've spent 99% of my time as a Honduran. 5 million of my people live in extreme poverty, and I don't even know who they are or what a day in their lives is like. This is sobering. And shameful.

happiness study

While there are many determinants of happiness, whether an individual is happy also depends on whether others in the individual’s social network are happy. Happy people tend to be located in the centre of their local social networks and in large clusters of other happy people. The happiness of an individual is associated with the happiness of people up to three degrees removed in the social network. Happiness, in other words, is not merely a function of individual experience or individual choice but is also a property of groups of people.

Happy people attract happy people.

karaoke rage

Karaoke rage is not unheard of in Asia. There have been several reported cases of singers being assaulted, shot or stabbed mid-performance, usually over how songs are sung.

Damn. Must be some gawd awful singing.

dog or capybara?

Sometimes I'm convinced our semi-aquatic Lucky is related to a capybara. He gets hours of entertainment chasing small fish in the shallow water near Shell Beach. He's also one of the happiest dogs I've ever known. He definitely lives Paya Bay's motto: Feel Good. Be Happy.

ecodriving

The virtual road test reminds me of those early 80's Atari games. What this campaign teaches, however, is important to learn. It's a small way for individuals to help contribute to global cooling.

launch of the Kiton

This morning Dad launched Kiton, Paya Bay's new 45-foot pleasure boat. She's a beauty!


RHU Kiton, immediately after she floated. Strong attitude, eh? She's like, "Look at me!"


Moments before she floated.

quotable quote

Power concedes nothing without demand.
- Frederick Douglass

I suspect Douglass was referring to human power. When it comes to Universal Power, we simply have to ask (very precisely) for what we want in order to receive our greater good.

wordle

I wordled the keywords of this blog. It's awesome that the words good and beach predominate. After all, what's better than a good beach? (Yeah, I know... :-)

a beautiful thought

A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends.

new dining room chairs

Our beautiful new chairs were made locally from island wood. The wood is called "summwood" here, not sure if that's the name used elsewhere. Dad designed them and they were built in his woodworking shop by two contracted carpenters. (Plug: Let us know if you need furniture built here in Roatan. The machines sit idle, otherwise).

photo of the day

View from the main deck at Paya Bay, looking East. Wilkes Point is the foreground, the profile of Barbaretta Island is in the background. Photo credit: Lisa Bronkhorst.

the onion's perspective

I may be a Christian, but it's not like I'm one of those wacko "love your neighbor as yourself " types.

God forbid!

quotable quote

I swore to never be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides, Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim, silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

- Elie Wiesel

our Don

You will always be in our hearts, friend.
Thank you for all you taught us.

moonrise

The moon rising over Paya Bay.
Photo: Robert Fullerton.

Thank you, U.S. Americans!

You did good, friends. Yes We Can. All and every single one of us.

There was definitely a shift that happened tonight. We are not the same human race were even a few hours ago. Tonight love won over hate. Hope won over fear. Optimism won over despair. Perhaps the human race has finally learned that it is our differences that make us strong and capable of overcoming any obstacle. I'm filled with hope and optimism for our tomorrow. It's going to take a lot of work to build this new future, but I truly believe we are now on the right track.

I'm fired up! Ready to go!

6.4 billion of the rest of us

are holding our collective breath. Please vote, Americans. Vote your conscience. Let's hope the result, whatever it is, is what is best for you and what is best for our shared world.

the republican mayor of san diego

on why he has decided to support equal human rights for all his constituents. very heart-wrenching. kudos to you, sir.

lucky man

As my awareness continues to increase it's becoming ever more clear to me how truly sweet, genuinely kind, and naturally heart-centered my parents are. I'm a very lucky man.

wait... isn't this...? huh...?

Evangelical Christians "praying for the markets" in NYC yesterday. While intellectually I understand their intent here, and I do believe that intention and focused thought can accomplish some pretty nifty things (so why not move the markets, right?), there is something very disconcerting about this particular choice of venue. I mean, isn't this the symbol of the runaway greed that got us in this mess in the first place? It's going to take me a day or two to wrap my mind around this one. Definitely a Hmmmr.
via wonkette

c'mon california

Don’t let other young people grow up to be afraid to be who they are because of the discrimination and prejudice they might face. Let them see a future that the generation before them couldn’t even dream of — a future as full and equal citizens of the greatest democracy on earth.

- Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, ACLU

Californians: I've had the good fortune of visiting your beautiful state many times. For me, your home is a place where the magnificent light of freedom shines brighter than any place I've ever known. I implore you to vote to ensure the human rights of your fellow citizens remain intact. Discrimination, prejudice, and denying others their human rights are all such last century concepts.

quotable quote

The way I see it, is we right now stand on the threshold of a new era---and we can stride into this new era with confidence and maturity, knowing we have put forth the best and the brightest to stand as our representative and our face to the world. In this new age, there is no place for small minded bigotry, devious politics or crippling religions---there can only be an assurance that what we do we do for the betterment of the society, ours and the worlds---or we can slip back into the small minded, hateful, superstitious, warring and dangerous isolationist attitude that we've been living in since the dark ages.

This is our time, these are our wings---and we can't let these people that believe they are on some kind of holy crusade to rape, pillage and plunder the earth, the people and what is left of our dignity.

It's time for the light of dawn after this long dark night...

-chaserblue on huffingtonpost.com

wow. a kindred spirit. very eloquently expressed.

on a lighter note

"Ohhh! HERE are the nucular codes!" Center of desk.

flash flood economics

At this very moment there are mothers all over this planet wondering if they are going to be able to feed their child next week. Now that things have turned ugly, trickle down economics has turned into flash flood economics. The paycheck-to-paycheck people are vulnerable, but more heartbreaking are those who will have no paycheck at all because of the economic contraction.

I'm not sure who shares the most blame for the economic crisis currently churning around us. It seems that short-sighted politicians who deregulated banking and high finance to the point where greed was not being monitored and kept in check have a huge part of the blame. Another big chunk of the blame can be assigned to the CEOs of the banking industry who -- blinded by greed and unfettered by regulatory oversight -- allowed their underlings to take irrational risk in order to increase what seems like their already ridiculous overcompensation.

Whomever you are, if you in any way hold responsibility for this, I truly hope you can't sleep at night thinking of all the babies that are going to be going hungry because of your actions. Shame on you.

dow on viagra

Wall Street stormed back after its worst week ever and staged the biggest single-day stock rally since the Great Depression on Monday, catapulting the Dow Jones industrials to a 936-point gain and finally offering relief from eight consecutive days of stock market carnage
- Associated Press

Excellent news!

say what?!

Today Honduran President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya proposed legalizing the drug trade (en español). Quite a bold and interesting proposal from the president of a country struggling with a severe drug trade-related crime problem (on the mainland, mind you, not here in the islands). Could it be that he realizes that a poor country like Honduras will never be able effectively fight the drug lords and their abundance of narcodollars?

So, instead of chasing and killing drug traffickers we can invest those resources in education and training so that consumption and vice are controlled and lowered in this society.
- Mel Zelaya

Hmmm. This has "can of worms" written all over it, but perhaps Zelaya thinks that legalizing the multi-billion dollar trade could assist a country like Honduras in rising out of poverty. It's not like the "war on drugs" (and the hundreds of billions the US and the EU have spent on it) has worked. Definitely interesting times we live in.

you go, Hill!

Make no mistake about it. We've done it before and we will do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes.

- Hillary Clinton, 10/12/08

It can't happen fast enough. I want the real U.S. back (the one I used to admire: Ronald Reagan's "the shining city upon a hill"). I hope the first thing the next U.S. President does is make the use of torture by Americans illegal again. That would be but the beginning of the reassembly of a once admirable country.

spotting a turtle

Yesterday I took a mental health break and went scuba diving. Our first dive was at Morat Wall, which undoubtedly deserves its reputation as one of the best dives in the Caribbean. Our second dive was off the north shore of Barbaretta Island. Ten minutes into the dive I spotted a sea turtle swimming along the reef. It was truly one of those special moments that lets you know not everything is upside down in the world.

"spread the word"

Thursday evening, as Winnie and I were setting up the beach for the Tribal Beach Party, I asked her rhetorically, "Winnie, we're going to make it through this, right?" I was referring to the flood of bad news the past few weeks regarding the world's financial markets and the resulting economic contraction. Winnie didn't miss a beat, immediately replying, "Oh yeah! We're going to make it! Spread the word!" Her optimism and enthusiasm made my heart and my soul smile. Winnie is the head cook for Paya Bay's food service. Photo Credit: Robert Fullerton.

quotable quote

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.
- Richard Bach

photo of the day

An interesting view of the Paya Bay's seaside restaurant. Hidden from view from this angle is a half-moon beach located between the bluff the building sits on and the hills in the background.

quotable quote

I think McCain is down to seeds and stems.
- Rick Hertzberg, The New Yorker

photo of the day

Underlit masks light a walkway to the Cliff Rooms.

quotable quote

Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit.
-Kahlil Gibran

photo of the day

The beginning of the path to Secret Cove.

priceless

As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there.

- Gov. Palin

:-| Who taught this lady English? Dubya? [gulp]

photo of the day

A view of the cliff side, rocks, and water from the Zen Path. Photo credit: Marlon Mejia.

view looking east

In the foreground is Wilkes Point, Roatan. Behind it is the island of Barbaretta. In the distance is Guanaja, the second largest island in the Bay Islands archipelago. Guanaja is approximately 20 miles from Roatan. The Google Earth screen capture below puts it all in perspective.

photo of the day

Local guests brought their dogs to frolic on the beach and in the surf.

quotable quote

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.

- Benjamin Disraeli

hummingbirds

Literally, several dozen of these little 'helicopters' visit our feeders everyday. They're especially plentiful in the early mornings and right before dusk. They've become quite accustomed to humans and are usually oblivious by one's presence.

quotable quote

Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.

- James Allen

hibiscus

One of several hibiscus varieties you'll find on the grounds at Paya.

overheard

We keep hearing it more and more: "Paya Bay is the best thing Roatan has going for it." Quite a compliment.

quotable quote

The glory that goes with wealth is fleeting and fragile; virtue is a possession glorious and eternal.

- Sallust

exotic orquids

This species with horn-like yellow bulbs grows in the Tropical Garden Reserve. Anyone know the species? My googling hasn't turned it up yet.

quotable quote

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

- William Shakespeare

the paya trail

A view of another section of the Paya Trail.

quotable quote

Give the world the best that you have, and the best will come back to you.

- Madeline Bridges

photo of the day

Local kids fishing off the rocks at dusk.

photo of the day

A view of Picacho Peak from the main deck at Paya Bay. Picacho is the highest peak on the island. A hike to the summit is an activity we offer.

launching soon!

Very shortly, Dad will be launching the new 45-foot pleasure boat. The boat will allow Paya Bay to offer day trips to nearby islands and cays, whale shark watching and interaction expeditions, scuba and/or snorkeling trips to remote reefs, and sunset cruises. What a great new toy to enhance the vacation experience of our guests!


Two powerful Volvo engines.


At 9 feet wide, the deck is ample, comfortable, and versatile.

you know

your dog loves you when he sleeps with his snout stuck in your sweaty tennis shoe!