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| Caribbean Property Magazine Home / August 2007 / 'Honduran Living - An Education in Friendship' | SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND  |
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CARIBBEAN PROPERTY MAGAZINE Living, Working and Investing in the Caribbean 
Honduran Living - An Education in Friendship Ask anyone who has re-located to the Caribbean why they uprooted their lives, and often their families too, and you’ll get a variety of answers. I did exactly that recently on the island of Roatan in the Western Caribbean. The answers I got were remarkably similar, with some words and phrases pervasive above others.
So says Webster’s New World Dictionary. And so say those of us who live in this region of natural beauty.
Think Jimmy Buffett…..think Richard Branson……and you have the picture. But you don’t have to be either famous or wealthy to live the lifestyle in the Western Caribbean. Honduras is becoming the Caribbean Riviera, with more and more people opting for a lifestyle which embodies the terms above with a cost of living that most people can afford. But...in order to attain the laid-back lifestyle, with a strong sense of community among the locals and the imports, to follow your passion and live in a more relaxed manner, you have to give up some things:
Can you do it? Are you cut out for this lifestyle? Terry B. did in 1991. Born in New Jersey and educated at one of the nation’s oldest Catholic universities, Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, Terry told her friends and family that she wanted to be a dolphin trainer when she was 10 years old!  Her family spent summers on the Jersey shore where her passion for marine animals grew and deepened. It’s difficult to think of a 10 year old this driven, but this girl followed her dream and after graduating with a degree in Biology (Marine Biology was a relatively new field in the early 1980s had very little marine animal content) her zoology professor, Dr. John Dropp, recognized her determination to pursue her passion and got her interested in an internship at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. AND SO TERRY SPENT HER COLLEGE SUMMERS FEEDING FISH, CLEANING TANKS AND LEARNING.. AND LEARNING And so Terry spent her college summers feeding fish, cleaning tanks, and learning. During her breaks and after her work hours, she convinced the trainers to let her watch training videos and dolphin tapes so she could learn how to work with her beloved dolphins. She got scuba certified so she could get in the water with them. Terry continued her quest. She met the right people to help her make the next step. She got in touch with Mike Wood, who was the Director of Training at Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Mississippi (which was tragically destroyed in hurricane Katrina) and had her first post as assistant dolphin trainer the summer of her junior/senior year, with her own team of dolphins who were transported every summer to King’s Dominium Theme Park in Virginia….the dream continues and the passion deepens. After graduating, Terry was quickly signed up for a permanent position by Marine Life Oceanarium, and shortly after she arrived, a new Director of Training came on board and into Terry’s life. Terry and her team traveled to Virginia each summer for the next three years, and as her love for her dolphins grew, so did her new love, and in 1988, Terry was engaged. At the same time, her new fiancé was dispatched to Roatan to pursue a swim with the dolphins program. The site was ideal, and in 1989 the first dolphins were introduced to the new facility at Anthony’s Key Resort on Roatan.  As the dolphins settled into their new home and the swim with the dolphin program was being created, so was the Roatan Institute for Marine Science. RIMS was created with the primary objective of preserving Roatan’s natural resources through education and research.See www.anthonyskey.com. The institute is widely renowned as one of the leading places for college and high school students to study marine animals and tropical marine ecosystems, with groups coming year round. The dolphins are an integral part of the study program and in the last decade have produced several healthy calves. Two of them are pregnant right now, with one due any day, so the excitement level is high; a baby dolphin being born creates anticipation among the other dolphins and the trainers just as it does in any family. Terry and her beau were married in 1990 and moved to Roatan permanently in 1991, with Terry 5 months pregnant. You might think that starting a new life in a place where you know no-one, starting a new family and pursuing a career thousands of miles from home and family would be too daunting. Not for Terry! The lure of her dolphins kept her directed and focused on the goal, and her husband has the same passion and direction. But what about the family left behind? Good question….a move like this doesn’t only affect the people who move, in fact, it may even be easier for them than the ones who haven’t seen the country. Terry came from a large family, with a mother who loves to travel and a father who loves the ocean – they embraced her new life and decisions, but she did go home to have the baby….returning only 3 weeks later to resume her life.
A scant year later a second child blessed their family and Terry needed help! All her time was consumed with her family and her dolphins, so no time to make many friends. Still knowing only one other couple who arrived on the island at the same time, Terry found local girls to help with the babies, girls who have now become her extended family and friends for life. The other couple also has a business on Roatan and started their family too, so the children have grown up together. ANYONE WHO WAS ON ROATAN AT THE END OF 1998 REMEMBERS HURRICANE MITCH Anyone who was on Roatan at the end of 1998 remembers hurricane Mitch. One of the strongest storms on record, this category 5 hurricane devastated the infrastructure of Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. It sat on the island of Guanaja, to the east of Roatan, for 3 days and did severe damage to that island. Roatan did not suffer too much; docks were lost, trees and some local houses, but not as much as a severe hurricane would be expected to destroy. The dolphin facilities at Anthony’s Key were torn apart and the dolphins were released for their own safety. Most of them returned within days after the hurricane. Hurricanes are rare in Honduras; mostly they head north into the Gulf of Mexico or directly west to the Yucatan peninsula, so all the islands and north mainland coast feel are the outer bands of wind and rain. But Mother Nature does not always follow the rules. You have to look back 19 years to find the previous hurricane to hit this area. Now with 3 children, the next challenge for Terry was schooling. At the time, the options were limited, but there was a bi-lingual school in the town of Coxon Hole, so her older children started there. SEEING THE NEED TO UNCOMPLICATE HER LIFE, TERRY AND HER FRIEND DECIDED TO DO HOME SCHOOLING Seeing the need to uncomplicate her life, Terry and her friend decided to do home schooling. So they researched the possibilities, bought an American curriculum and hired a teacher. The children blossomed and received the kind of education they need to keep abreast of their American peers, with the bonus of an environment which allows them to learn about nature and preservation of the earth’s natural assets as well. Field trips here take on a different meaning!
There is a museum in the learning center at Anthony’s Key as well as a botanical garden, and there are camps available for children to study the environment and the sea. Children here can name many different types of coral and fish, and they grow up in a culturally diverse environment. The older children are now 15 and 14. Last year they tested for and were accepted into a high school with an excellent academic track record. This school is on the Honduras mainland in the town of La Ceiba, a short flight from the island, so the children live with a friend’s family there while going to school. Needless to say, they are bi-lingual and the older of the two is on the international honor roll, having just received the highest score in the school’s history on the PSAT test. They will graduate with a US diploma as well as a Honduran diploma. The small home schooling forum that Terry and her friend created just for their own children has grown and expanded, so several families on Roatan now have their children receiving home schooling in a group setting. There are several bi-lingual schools on Roatan, which cater to all grades, including pre-school. All the schools here have classes in religious studies – the culture is very focused on church and family, as most Latin cultures are. One size doesn’t fit all with education, and here there are options for all children, but still, it could be that your child is the one that it won’t work for, so if you’re contemplating bringing children to a Caribbean lifestyle, make sure they are prepared adequately…bring them to visit first if possible. Islands aren’t for everyone, but you’ll know very quickly if you’re one of those few people who can’t live in this tropical paradise. Terry’s plans for the future haven’t waivered; she plans to take the dolphin program as far as it will go. She and her family are happy on Roatan and plan to stay here. Her children will go to college, probably back in the US, and her attitude is “love what you do and love where you do it”. They came to Roatan because of a job opportunity and made their life here.
When you’re far from your immediate family, keep your friends close – they become part of your family. She’s living her dream…..and so can you.
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 Nestled in the tropical rainforest along the meandering banks of the Cangrejal River that borders the Pico Bonito National Park on the north coast of Honduras. Las Cascadas Lodge - designed by award winning architect David Sellon - is the most luxurious and elegant private retreat in Central America today. Las Cascadas Lodge  |
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Only twenty Nevisian style villas to be built in a community with restaurant and health spa. The detached homes will enjoy individual pools with views out towards St. Kitts and magnificent sunsets to the West, against the imposing backdrop of Mount Nevis. These investment properties are just a two minutes from the quiet white sand beaches of Nevis. |
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"How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa" was written by Scott Oliver with the help of dozens of Costa Rica real estate experts and attorneys.
This is not a book about living in Costa Rica; it is a 140 page comprehensive English-language guide to buying Costa Rica real estate. |
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Dominican Republic information about real estate, retirement, residency, relocation, banking, investments The Dominican Republic Report - The Complete Report On The Dominican Republic. There are many places you can go to in the Caribbean, but there is only one spot that has been called "The Best Kept Secret". That place is the Dominican Republic, and the time to find out about this investors paradise is sooner, not later! You can find out about basic statistics from any book-store travel guide, but not the honest kind of perspective you are looking for. What is it really like to live there? What is the cost of living? How do I find the real estate or apartment bargains? Can I find good Internet access? What is the shopping like? How about banking rates? Ask most Americans about the Dominican Republic, many have not heard of it. For those that have discovered it while on vacation, many have decided to call it home. Whether you are looking for something different ~ like Santo Domingo's 500 year old Zona Colonial ~ The Left Bank of the Caribbean, or just a great Caribbean escape at an affordable price - The Dominican Republic is the Place. Offshore Investors are also starting to discover the country. Many are calling it the best investment opportunity of the new millennium. We could not agree more.Easy and instant download of this report in pdf. |
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