Food for thought in Roatan, Honduras

When we got to Roatan, we knew that we'd be in for some changes. Thought you might enjoy some of our new finds.

The house we are in has a water well that the gutters are piped into, the caretaker said we could drink it, but we might regret it for about a week (Montezuma revenge). So, we only wash and bathe with it. Our drinking water is in large 5-gallon jugs in a dispenser, like an Ozarka water cooler. We go through about 1-1/2 of these per day, we drink tons of water here. The cost is about $1.50 per jug. We cook with a gas stove/oven that operates from a small 25-gallon propane tank that sits next to the stove, it's about $6 to fill it up and we most likely will not have to mess with that for the rest of the trip. There is no dishwasher, just us, and no ice maker. Pretty funny trying to fill up ice trays and operate the water jug at the same time. The house has a septic tank that we have to be careful not to let food go down the drain, no garbage disposal and the owner says it is very sensitive. This house only has showers, this has been quite interesting teaching a 1-year-old how to shower...God bless her for hanging in with us, Laney is such a trooper.

Some food for thought, we eat mostly chicken, rice, beans, tortillas and eggs. Tonight we went to the fish market and bought fresh red snapper off the boat, this has been our best meal yet. Well, not if you count the homemade empenadas that lady makes on the street by our house. She cooks for all the taxi and bus drivers on cruise days. Today, her husband actually delivered some to our house. He pulled up on his little moped with his helmet on and honked the horn, there he was with his shiny boots and a cooler full of chicken empenadas. They are so incredible, we plan to get the recipe somehow. They run about $.70 each and are worth every cent. She also makes this dish with shaved cabbage and some sort of red hot sauce that the kids just love.

American foods are available but they cost twice as much as they do in the states. A can of Pringles is $2 and peanut butter of all things is $6. There is almost zero red meat on this island. When you do find it, it is frozen solid and way too expensive for the quality. Also, cheese is a hot commodity, it is pricey but tastes really good. What they label as cheddar kind of tastes like a creamy American cheese. There are almost no vegetables at the fruit stands or in the markets, some welted broccoli and green beans, but nothing like at HEB. We do miss the veggies. There is an abundance of banana and mango, these grow wild here, they have to ship all the other fruits in. We get grapes, tomatoes, onions and jalapenos. We make a pot of home made salsa every other day and a batch of home made tortillas almost every day. The kids really enjoy helping with the cooking.

Hope this gives everyone some idea of the little changes that we have learned to live with and never thought we could in some cases. The kids don't really miss TV and we don't miss our cell phones. We have had fun talking on Skype, it you get a chance you should register for it. It is free Internet video phone calling. So much fun for the kids to actually see who they are talking to. They take the lap top and show people the house and the view outside. Look us up and give us a call, it is a very simple set up.

Take Care and God bless.