The Pewter Sky (The CoastWatcher: Caribbean West)
News from the Honduras Bay Islands and North Coast
21 April 2001
By Pierre Renaldo, The Coastwatcher©

Late March will be remembered as the first really hot weather of the year 2001. We are usually in anticipation of this annual phenomena during the Easter holidays which by some natural tradition seems to occur with regularity in this part of the Caribbean.

I could probably attribute the hot humid climate to the influx of tourists, the tradition of many Hondurans travel to beaches for the holy week; crowded places always seem to be hotter to me. I do not dislike people or this time of year, but these factors come into play every Easter Season and it is impossible not to notice.

The first clue that hot weather is about to settle over Roatan is when the early morning sky is the color of pewter, matching the sea; the dry haze gives familiar distant scenes a ghostly countenance, like they are an illusion, a part of an impressionist painting that has no real definition, just a suggestion of something real. I cannot define a horizon; the sky and sea blend into one, the mist-like aura hiding the colors and contrasts of La Costa Cascada, a familiar tabloid now mysterious, different, quiet.

The air is still, not even a breeze along the ironshore, the sea flat, hardly undulating, a still life. The symphony of the sea is missing too, the tumble of the surf absent; silence is like a shroud, the seagrape leaves mute, unmoving, their frequent contribution to the morning song, missing.

The people of Honduras come to Roatan as tourists at Eastertide; why shouldn't they enjoy our beautiful paradise just like we do. After all it's their country. It has somehow become a great annual migration among these people; a venture to the shore, any shore, for the celebration of Easter.

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Felix likes Cool Aide. Felix is my big gray cat. The flavor in my plastic tumbler today is Strawberry Kiwi, really quite tangy and it makes me pucker. Felix is undaunted; the tartness of the beverage is not enough to make him shy away. He will like it just because I do.

He uses a paw to tip the tumbler slightly, so that the liquid is moved toward the rim of the tumbler and more easily reached by his tongue. I do have to assist in this process to keep the tumbler from tipping over; any cat with enough resourcefulness to figure out how to get the liquid from deep in the glass by tipping it slightly deserves a little help.

What ingenuity and imagination. Nobody has ever even shown him this trick; he just figured it our by himself. Just like he figured out how to open an out swinging screen door without any help. He likes the cherry flavored Cool Aide too.

I keep forgetting about his unusual tastes, and it isn't until I hear some strange slurping noise that I realize Felix is drinking my Cool Aide; the noise made by his drinking process magnified by the tumbler. He and Buddy just came storming through here in a mad scramble; the first scrum of their daily Rugby game is now in progress. It sounds like a stampede. The big fellas like to play rough.

Felix is a Roatan cat, a stray we found pestering the guests in one of our favorite restaurants over in west end one night about three years ago. On that occasion he astounded us by eating green beans, but hunger undoubtedly played a role in that episode. A small starving kitten was apt to eat almost anything. Little did we know.

Now our mature feline is further surprising us by showing a good appetite for cantaloupe, watermelon, papaya, peanuts, strawberry shortcake, greenbeans of course and almost anything else that we may be snacking on at the time he invites himself to our party. He keeps our lives filled with laughter. So do the others but Felix is the originator of ideas; the others just follow. He loves to play the clown and tease.

Buddy is Felix's side kick, his childhood companion whom he brought home to diner one night, politely opening the screen door for his guest, then cordially showing his company the layout of the premises, and afterward the two of them just sauntered out the door. "Good ol' Bud" was given a few lessons in screen door opening 101 and became a household member at Felix's invitation. They had so much fun together we just couldn't turn Bud away. Now Felix had his own cat.

Buddy is our big white cat with a raccoon's tail and similar ears. The tail is bent from abuse he received from a former owner who was reputed to have thrown him out of a second story window without the slightest provocation. She thought he was ugly and wanted to get rid of him she told our neighbor.

There are a goodly number of stray dogs that know just how ugly he can get when they are foolish enough to intrude into anything Buddy considers his space. He is a ferocious fighter, rarely backing down from a singular canine. If there are two or more he just hops up into the nearest tree and watches them until they are tired of trying to lure him to the ground.

He learned his lesson while trying to take on two dogs one day, and one of them sunk a fang into buddy's chest, causing him considerable pain and us very great concern. We thought we were going to lose him that time. One at a time is enough. Even the cats here are macho.

You will find some other interesting stories about our group of felines, and their fearless leader Felix in the book I wrote on the subject. Click on http://www.eroatan.com/pierre/books.html

"Felix Prince of Cats and Mitch the Great Storm of the Century"

It is a book for pet lovers of all ages.

For those of you who may be considering coming to Roatan to live, be sure to see the April issue of Roatan Insights for some information on how to get ready for the transition in you life. It will outline the exhibits that you will need to gather in order to fulfill your residency requirements for Honduras.

You can review excerpts from the first part of "How to Survive in Third World Retirement: The Handbook". Just click www.eroatan.com and you're there.

I'm always happy to answer your questions with honest and timely answers. Just drop me a line at: elouis@globalnet.hn.

Ciao, Pierre

By Pierre Renaldo, Mountain Coastal S.A,. General Contractors, Construction Management and Construction Consultants.