In the 1950s, Larry’s father moved his family to Tampa, Florida. The move provided better educational opportunities than those available in Roatan at the time. Larry graduated from the University of South Florida and went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base and also served in Alaska. After completing his service, Larry had many career paths open to him. In the end, his love for his native Roatan was stronger than any opportunity abroad, and he chose to return home.

Shortly after returning, Larry met an American named Paul Adams, who purchased land and developed Anthony’s Key Resort. Larry helped build the hotel and served as the resort’s manager for several years. He played a key role in helping many foreign investors who came to Roatan develop tourism-related projects. Larry also became a founding member of the Rotary Club.

In 1980, Larry opened McLaughlin Lumber and Supplies, a hardware store and lumberyard in Coxen Hole. His store became a well-known local business and operated successfully until 2010.

Larry also was deeply involved in politics. He was a proud member of the National Political Party and eventually became president of the National Party in the Bay Islands from 1993 to 2018. He was respected by government officials from both parties.

Larry also served as head of customs for four years and was a personal friend of President Rafael Callejas. On one of our campaign trips to Utila in the spring of 1992, at about 7 p.m. that night, on the return trip to Roatan, we broke down halfway between the two islands. We were adrift sideways in choppy seas with 6- to 8-foot waves. We could see the lighthouse on West End Point, and I took a bearing on the compass using that position. We were radioing for help on emergency Channel 16 when someone unidentified came on the radio and told us to get off that channel because it was for emergencies only.

Julio Galindo was advised that we were radioing for help, and he was on his radio when he heard this remark. Julio told the unidentified person that if this was not an emergency, he didn’t know what else would be: a boat that had broken down at sea with five of the leading men from French Harbour, plus the vice president and acting president of Honduras at the time, Jacobo Hernández. Using the bearing that I took on the compass from the lighthouse, I could tell John McNab, Carl McNab and Jerry Hynds exactly where we were, and they came to render assistance and towed us back to Roatan.

In 1989, when Fantasy Island Beach Resort launched its annual fishing tournament, Larry served as the principal judge. He was assisted by Bobby Gough and Clint Bodden. Larry helped organize and judge 10 tournaments from 1989 to 1999, contributing greatly to their success.

Personal friend of President Rafael Callejas.

Larry was a lifelong bachelor and very popular with the ladies. His next-door neighbor, who had watched him grow up, often teased him about finding a wife, getting married and having children to take care of him in his old age. Larry would laugh and reply that there would be no wife for him, but that he was “working on the children” and hoped to save enough money so they could take care of him later in life.

In the end, his wish came true. When Larry became too ill to manage his affairs, his brother, Luey, stepped in to handle his finances. His daughter, Lakisha Wood, took responsibility for his care and hired a wonderful woman, Corina Martínez, who treated him with kindness and dedication. Larry was lovingly cared for by his family and had the means to live comfortably in his later years.

I have many fond memories of my friend Larry: campaigning, fishing and partying across the three main Bay Islands. One weekend stands out clearly in my mind. We started partying at Fantasy Island on Friday, then traveled on to Bonacca and Utila, finally returning home late Sunday night.

That weekend, Ole Lar had a beautiful lady with him. The following Tuesday morning, I went to Coxen Hole with my friend Blanco, who needed to conduct business at the bank. Afterward, Blanco said, “We can’t come to Coxen Hole without stopping to see Ole Lar.” I admit I was curious to see the beautiful woman again — this time sober — to find out whether she was as beautiful as I remembered.

Ole Lar came downstairs dressed in white shorts and a blue shirt, looking as bright as a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. I asked him, “Ole Lar, where is the beautiful lady you had with you over the weekend?” He smiled and replied, “She’s gone. I don’t want any woman around me for more than three days.”

Whenever Ole Lar left his house to go partying, he was always well-prepared. He carried a bag with a couple of bottles of his favorite drink — but just as important, he carried another bag filled with toiletries. Before getting out of his truck, he would “freshen up,” as he called it. He always said he never knew whom he might meet, and he wanted to look good and smell even better.

Larry spent his last years of life with family and friends at home in Coxen Hole. He died on December 22, 2025, in La Ceiba. He was buried in the family grave at the Sandy Bay Cemetery.

Her parents were Itilia Stewart and Godwin Stewart, a farmer. Both of her parents were active in Baptist Church and had a large family. Etland was the fifth child of a thirteen.

Mrs. Etland went to school in Coxen Hole, finishing sixth grade. The days were spent playing with friends, and helping parents with chores around the house and in the field. “We were poor. We had to work hard,” she remembers.

As a 10-year-old girl she remembers a hurricane that hit Flowers Bay with a brutal force and without. “We sheltered under the trees,” remembers the late September evening Mrs. Etland. “That was the strongest hurricane I remember.”

You have to be patient to your parents.

She started her family life early. She married a young man she met at school. The wedding was a simple affair. She was 20 and her husband was a neighbor from Flowers Bay – Lindberg Pinnace. The couple moved into their own house.

In her early 90s, Mrs. Etland spends her time watching to going-ons in her neighborhood. She lives in a pink, wooden house with a front porch facing the thoroughfare of Flowers Bay. She spends her time resting on a bed with a bible next to her head.

For a few years now her youngest daughter Carla takes care of her. “You have to be patient to your parents,” says Mrs. Etland on how to reach a long life. “I am proud to be here, be a member of church.”

Coming Home at Last

Michael is the oldest of nine children of Vindel Elizabeth Collins, from Thatch Point, and Isaac Abraham Thomas, a carpenter born on the island of Montserrat. Isaac Thomas left Montserrat in 1914 for Cuba to work at a sugar plantation. He eventually made his way to Trujillo, Honduras, and at some point in the 1930s, arrived on Roatan.

In 1961, the judge in Coxen Hole wanted to deport Isaac, who still held only a British Passport.
His entire family presented themselves in support, and things settled down. Isaac died on Roatan, and was buried in a cemetery in Coxen Hole.

Michael’s first memory is from when he was 11 years old and used a machete to cut down bananas. He was taught six grades of English and math in a Coxen Hole private school by teacher Elfrida Brooks.

Michael remembers 1950s Thatch Point and Coconut Garden as filled with thousands of coconut trees. Coxen Hole still had coconut storage houses filled with coconuts waiting to be picked up by boats heading for La Ceiba or Tampa. Those small houses were built in the water to make easy access for the boats and keep rats away.

A life of adventure and the wide open world tempted Michael in his early years. When he was 18, he travelled to Tampa where he found work on boats moving cargo around the Caribbean, earning him $50 a month. He soon found a better-paying position as ship’s assistant cook for $100 a month. Eventually, he learned to be a cook, and his salary increased still. “That was the best job you could get,” says Michael.

He moved all over the US, but never acquired proper residency papers. He lived in Miami, Los Angeles, and the far off Glacier Bay, Alaska . Every year, he would visit Roatan and stay for a month or two.

Michael fathered 14 children, but remained an eternal bachelor. Seven of his children live on Roatan, with 36 of his grandchildren. A saying goes that a seaman has a girlfriend in every port – “or more than that, I tell you that,” said Michael.

After suffering a stroke in 2010, Michael finally came back to Roatan for good. He settled in a small wooden house at the Punta of Coxen Hole, once called Black Creek and full of mangroves.

Michael’s ankles are swollen, and he likes to sit on a blue plastic chair facing a tamarind tree. He can see and hear the airplanes landing just 100 feet away. He is tall and soft spoken, and his eyes have a tint of blue in them.

He can see airplanes landing just 100 feet away.

Now he plays dominoes with friends, and reminisces on the old good times. He also visits his aunt, who is 94 and lives just a few meters away. “The family learns to live with what they have and they also share it with each other,” says Michel.

Michael never received any pensions from his american employers, so life is sometimes a struggle. He attends the Methodist Church in Coxen Hole. “Regrets, I had a few. I don’t like to even talk about it,” says Michael.

A smaller group stayed behind in Punta Gorda, where they remain to this day a thriving, dynamic community.

Gradually, the Garifuna diaspora spread all over the Central American coast of the western Caribbean, from Livingston in Guatemala to Puerto Limón in Costa Rica. Here on Roatan, Punta Gorda remains a compelling place to visit with unique foods, dancing and their unique language, which contains some French and English words. Until recently, most houses in PG, as it is popularly known, were wattle and daub with palmetto thatch. The Garifuna culture revolves around fishing using handmade dugout canoes with a small amount of subsistence agriculture, but with the recent influx of visitors, most of the economy revolves more around tourism.

The second most important permanent settlements were of enslaved people and slave owners who originated mostly from Cayman and Belize, beginning in the 1830s, mainly after 1834, when slavery officially ended in the Cayman Islands. The Bay Islands population rose exponentially every year and peaked in 1844.

In 1838, with the overwhelming influx of English-speaking settlers, the Spanish authorities declared that all settlers should apply for residence with the authorities in Trujillo. This created some dissatisfaction, at which the settlers appealed to the Superintendent of British Honduras (Belize), Col. Alexander McDonald.

Bay Islands were a center for agriculture in the western Caribbean.

Claiming harassment by the Spaniards, McDonald, a fervent patriot itching for a chance to mix it up with the Spaniards, preceded to Roatan, where at Port Royal, he landed and proceeded to lower the Central American flag and raise the Union Jack. No sooner had he sailed away than the Spanish Commandant, Juan Bautista Loustrelet, lowered the Union Flag and hoisted the Central American flag again. This act so infuriated McDonald that he returned, clapped the Spaniards in irons and sailed them to Trujillo, where he abandoned them on the beach and warned them never to return.

The English settlers enjoyed this protection and were helped in part by the fact that the newly independent Honduras had its own problems of nation-building on the mainland. The islands flourished and even had their own local government set up by the English authorities from Belize. Settlements were formed coastwise around the islands in Utila and Guanaja and on Roatan in Flowers Bay, West End and Jobs Bight, with the main center of population gradually becoming Coxen’s Hole, while Port Royal became less popular and eventually abandoned until the 1960s with the arrival of the first group of expatriate Americans and English.

In 1852, the Bay Islands were recognized as a Crown Colony, and the population under British protection thrived with communities popping up everywhere. By 1858, their numbers reached nearly 2,000. The Bay Islands were a center for agriculture in the western Caribbean and the mainland; boat building began as a Bay Island industry. Sadly, or tragically if you ask a modern-day Bay Islander, pressure was mounting from the U.S. Congress, who claimed that Britain’s incorporation of the Bay Islands as a Crown Colony was in direct infringement of the Monroe Doctrine and by default the Clayton-Bulwer non-colonization treaty.

Britain was forced to cede the Bay Islands back to the Republic of Honduras, an island whose languages and culture were English and Garifuna, not Spanish. Although disappointing, this didn’t really impact the Bay Islanders, who kept flourishing with little interference from an indifferent, incapable central Honduran government.

The island economy diversified from agriculture to shipbuilding and commercial fishing. Growing up around the sea, islanders were excellent seafarers, and beginning in the 1930s, many “shipped out,” taking well-paying jobs on merchant ships, later oil field supply vessels and river-going tugs around the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Some of these adventurous seamen stayed off on the Gulf Coast and learned about shrimping and came back in the 1960s to start up what was to be the largest fishing fleet in the Caribbean. This initiative and tenacity eventually led to the beginning of the dive industry in the Bay Islands.

This later led to the construction of the first cruise ship terminals, which became the catalyst for the development boom in the late 1990s, bringing with it newfound opportunities, industries and prosperity. Many of the descendants of those English and Scottish immigrants or freed slaves with names like McNab, Elwin or Bodden are building your houses or checking you in for your flight back; maybe a smiling young Garifuna lady is taking your order at a seafood restaurant. This is where they have come from.

And what of the old nemesis, the mainland Spaniard, once the foe of the English? They are now here to stay, completely integrated into our melting pot of a community.

With the beginning of development in the 1990s and demand for skilled labor, mainlanders came to the islands in droves and planted roots, much like the 1830s settlers. They thrived, and the second generation of these settlers are now born islanders who speak English and make up around 60 percent of the population.

His first memory as a child was a church celebration. As Methodist’ Church in Coxen Hole celebrated its harvest festival, children were carrying gifts. “I had my offering, and when they came to get it, I didn’t want to give it. They said: ‘He’s going to be a mean fellow,’” said Mr. Sam.

When his mother begun working at Vincente D’Antoni Hospital in La Ceiba, the young Sam followed her there in 1947. “All the doctors came from the States, so they couldn’t speak Spanish. They would hire young ladies from the islands who could speak English,” remembers Mr. Sam. While on Roatan, he received tutoring classes. He had four years of schooling at Methodist School in La Ceiba.

In 1952, he went out to sea as an OS (Ordinary Sailor) and graduated to AB (Able Sailor). Then he went to work in the pump room. In 1955, he had saved enough money to enroll in a technical course in diesel, at a technical school in Chicago. “I always was yearning to further my education,” remembers Mr. Sam.

He saved for three years to afford a course that offered opportunities for advancement. He went to a school in Chicago that offered six months intensive courses in “diesel” technology.

After the course, Mr. Sam came back to Roatan and began working at Casa Warren, Coxen Hole’s biggest supermarket. In 1961, he met his wife, Myrel Anderson from Sandy Bay through work. “I had been running for a long time,” says Mr. Sam. The couple tied the knot and began their long life together.

He was a personable, intelligent young man, and some people were surprised to see him living on a small island. A casual acquaintance – an American doctor visiting from Oklahoma – helped Mr. Sam secure a work visa in the United States. “That is why it’s good to have a little diploma,” remembers Mr. Sam.

When he arrived in the US, he immediately applied for a job at Ford Motor Company in New Jersey. Before long, he was working in Manhattan. Mr. Sam sent for his wife to join him, and before long he was enjoying what was one of the greatest boom decades in US history – 1961-1964 – in New York City.

Eventually, island life called, and Mr. Sam came back to Roatan. “I promised him I would come back,” said Mr. Sam. He worked at Casa Warren in Coxen Hole, the island’s biggest grocery store.

The island was small, but growing, and opportunities were all around. The airline industry was connecting major locations around Honduras, and Roatan was one of them. When an airline came calling to open a regular connection with Roatan, Mr. Sam was there.

The first airline that came to the island with a connection to La Ceiba, in 1947, was Transportes Aéreos Nacionales. Soon after, LANSA came in with their service between Roatan and the coast, and Mr. Sam became its Roatan agent.

Mr. Sam remembers Bill Earle, the owner of LANSA who knew a man named Robert Webster, a licensed pilot from Guanaja, and the two went into business together. “They buckled up together and became partners,” said Mr. Grant.

He saved for three years to afford a course.

The airline needed at least one passenger to stay profitable on the Roatan route, and Mr. Sam made sure there was always someone wanting to visit la Ceiba. He worked out of his desk at Casa Warren selling the Roatan-La Ceiba tickets for 12 Lempiras (82 cents). “Within six months, we had five planes,” remembers Mr. Grant.

Mr. Sam recalls the original landing strip located on the side of the road just east of Coxen Hole. “On one side, there were coconuts, on the other, there was a road. (…) The cows, the cats, and the dogs were all running,” remembers Mr. Grant. Eventually, the nearby “Church hill” – part of the Methodist Mission – and graveyard were both leveled in order to enlarge the landing strip. “The terminal was out of thatched roof,” remembers Mr. Sam.

There were some setbacks with the airlines as well. There was an accident with a 10-seater plane coming from Cayman Islands, stopping over on Roatan on its way to Tegucigalpa. It dropped to the sea in Dixon Cove. “They just ran out of fuel. It was an error by the pilots,” remembers Mr. Sam. Two pilots and two passengers died in the crash.

Mr. Grant knew three Americans that saw Roatan’s potential and invested their money in land and projects that benefited the island. “The government didn’t start tourism here, the foreigners did,” remembers Mr. Sam. In 1960 there were three Americans that were pioneers. There was Mr. Roy Anderson on the east side of Roatan, Paul Adams on the west end of the island, and John Henley, from Birmingham, Alabama, who focused his efforts on the middle of Roatan. “He went into leasing instead of buying, and the government changed the law and foreigners couldn’t [invest any longer],” remembers Mr. Grant.

The first tourist hotels appeared on the island soon thereafter – Spyglass Hill in Punta Gorda was the first, AKR the second, and CocoView the third. As the island grew, it also found itself in the path of three powerful Hurricanes in less than a decade: Francelia in 1969, Fifi in 1974, and Greta in 1978.

The terminal was out of the thatched roof.

In 1990 Mr. Sam began working at the Roatan Municipality with Mayor Allan Hyde as his “number two man, [that] now it is called vice-alcalde… or ‘official mayor’,” remembers Mr. Sam. “I would work for him under one condition: I would work under one boss – Allan Hyde,” said Mr. Sam. “I didn’t take ‘mordida,’ I didn’t want any handout.”

The Roatan municipal budget was small, but sufficient to finance some badly needed construction projects. Mr. Sam helped to build a Coxen Hole municipal market and new City hall building. “The last one didn’t even have a good bathroom, no conference table,” said Mr. Sam.

The Roatan municipal budget was small, but sufficient to finance some badly needed construction projects. Mr. Sam helped to build a Coxen Hole municipal market and new City hall building. “The last one didn’t even have a good bathroom, no conference table,” said Mr. Sam.

He continued to preach on the island and look after his five children. Looking back, Mr. Sam sees that the biggest difference he made was that of following the true and narrow path of life. “’Let the people remember you for good, not walls, not statues,’ this is what my mother told me, and now I understand it,” says Mr. Grant.

Roatan is Used Clothes Giant Mega Important Location

Megapaca has brought dignity to discarded, donated, and used clothing. The store has also brought excitement and self esteem to shoppers who browse the aisles looking for inexpensive but attractive items that are sold at a fraction of what they would cost in nearby Carrion or Lady Lee. The stigma of shopping at a used clothing store has been practically eliminated.
Megapaca is the ultimate recycler. The company not only recycles donated and sometimes discarded clothes from the US, it also repairs, washes, and returns bicycles to their best shape before putting them up on display. “We give value to all our products. Our shoes, our toy all have value,”

said Julio Orozco, El Progreso based Megapaca regional supervisor. “You can find something here that you cannot find anywhere else.”
The employees at Megapaca are instructed to say “Welcome to Megapaca” every time they interact with a customer, and they do so with conviction. The company, a large used clothing and home items chain retailer, trains its employees to provide the best shopping experience possible. “We want to have a
client to have good experience. [to know] they were taken care of well, said hello, took me to the changing rooms,” says Orozco who is
responsible for Megapaca’s two Roatan stores. “We display our clothes as if they were never used.”

Megapaca brings the islanders together. At Roatan stores, you can find the island’s poorest population scanning the store’s 90-percent-off section, and right next to them are the island’s affluent with their Prados and Toyota Tundras parked right outside. Some wealthy island residents still might not like to be noticed there, but by now everyone is used to this and is no longer surprised to see them looking for bargains in nice, designer quality clothes.

Megapaca traces its roots to 2001, when eight friends from Guatemala City decided to create a car import business. One had $8,000 and the other had $10,000. It is a classic rags to riches story, literally. The Megapaca story will make a great script for a movie one day.

They are rubbing shoulders with people who cut their grass.

Over the years, Megapaca became a family business. From the eight original founders, only two remain – brothers Mario and Gustavo Peña. Megapaca’s CEO is Mario Peña. Gustavo Peña, his brother, is the director of production. The brothers trace their roots to service in Guatemalan Military. “We need to deliver what we promise” is their motto.

The company has been different from other used clothing stores since the beginning. They hired a tailor that fixed some tears and reattached buttons of the clothes that were slightly damaged. They began introducing other features that other used clothes importers in Guatemala did not. “No one put used clothes on hangers,” said Orozco. “Until then, everyone placed the used clothes in bins.” These were the first innovations that were setting Megapaca apart from the crowd.

In Honduras, the story was not much different. Catrachos called their used clothing businesses “bulto” and treated it with disdain. Once Megapaca came to Honduras, their presence also changed people’s attitude towards used clothes. In 2015, Megapaca opened a store in El Progreso and Roatan.

Now, after 24 years and not without irony, Megapaca has an online store for Americans in the United States selling them clothes donated by their compatriots.
The company even has plans to open a physical Megapaca store in the USA.

The company operates 145 stores across Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Its expansion further south has been tricky, as Nicaragua has been difficult for the used clothing retailer to enter due to its policies. Megapaca wishes to come to Costa Rica and Panama. In all three countries, used clothes are imported from the USA tax free, obviously a much better deal that new cloth importers have. Nonetheless, Megapaca is proud to say that it is a sizable contributor in sales, municipal, and other taxes in places it operates.

It is a classic rags to riches story, literally.

Megapaca’s economic footprint covers Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, consisting of 33 million people with an annual GDP of $122 billion. That is similar in size to Texas’s population of 31 million people, but is just 8 percent of the Texas’s $1.8 trillion GDP.

In Mexico, Megapaca works a bit differently. It sells unsold clothes from manufacturers in the country. “Mexico is a complicated market, because it protects its manufacturers,” says Orozco.

Megapaca is a large importer, bringing in 2,650 containers a year to ports in Guatamala and Honduras. In all, Megapaca imported 84 million pounds in 2022, which translates to 840,000 pairs of shoes a month. It’s a sizeable portion of the 33 million Central Americans who dress in hand-me-downs imported from the United States.

The store has several innovative practices other than how they sell, There is also a hierarchical structure to Megapaca staff; at each store there are cashiers, second assistants, assistants, and a store manager. There are also supervisors that overlook 7-8 stores, visiting them every three-four weeks. Orozco is one of 13 supervisors in Central America and knows the used clothing business in and out.

Megapaca also has a department for employee well being. The company took on the responsibility of teaching its employees how to conduct themselves and be healthy. “Our culture is based in human values: respect, honesty, discipline, commitment,” said Orozco. “We train our employees from the moment they set foot in our stores.”

The tradition of all the 124 Megapacas stores is that every Saturday of the year, they open their shipped-from distribution center bundles, which in Spanish are called “Pacas”. “We open without exception. This is a law for us,” says Orozco. For example, Roatan’s French Harbour store typically has 60-80 clients waiting at 8am on a Saturday – some of which have been waiting since 4 am. “For us, this Roatan store is one of our best stores,” says Orozco.

You just never know what you will find.

Some people are lining up at Megapaca at 5am on Saturday to take advantage of the opening of the paca. It is a weekly ritual, and it’s not only clothes. Their retailer has books, children’s toys, cookware, and sport items. There are children toys from the 1980s that look like they have never used. In the miscellaneous section, you can find a used badminton racket, an English porcelain figurine, and a 1960s pop-up children’s book about Paddington bear.

Some Megapaca items are in oversupply. Long sleeve shirts and knot shirts that are popular in the US have few aficionados in Honduras. The store has way too many clothes in XXL and XXXL sizes.

Megapaca relies on self promotion. The company does not buy advertising on the radio or TV. It relies on word of mouth and on its high visibility, distinctly colored stores that are always in malls and other premium locations. There are however advertisement announced over the store’s loudspeaker about job vacancies all over the country. Latin dance and romantic music beam across a good sound system, and on occasion alerts interrupt shoppers with announcements about upcoming sales or staff educational programs.

The used items store has provided a badly needed retail service across Central America. “In 21 years we have been a part of millions of people’s lives, providing them an alternative of how to dress well,” says Megapaca’s general manager Mario Peña in an online promotional video.

Megapaca distribution centers amass themed items over the calendar year and then strategically ship them to the stores. That is why at all Megapaca stores you can find bundles of Halloween items in September and Christmas decorations in late November. When Megapaca distribution center ships pillows to a particular store, it doesn’t just ship one or two, it ships all 20 or 30. The strategy works.

Another valuable group to the company and consumers are the resellers. These are entrepreneurial buyers who wake up at 3am on Saturday to be at Megapaca at 4am and have a look at the best selection of clothes available. “There are many clients that buy us to resell, because our prices are low,” says Orozco. There is a name for this type of Megapaca customer -“Mayorista” – someone who buys in bulk.

Many of these Mayoristas supply communities and people that are far way from big towns and retail stores. Some of the mayoristas have clients and know their needs, others travel to villages that are inaccessible by public transport.

You just never know what you will find when you come to a Megapaca store on any given day. “We had a blazer that came into our premium store and we didn’t know what brand it was,” says about a recent item Orozco. The Megapaca employees googled it and found it was sold for $400 in the US. As the “chumpa” was with tags and brand new, it was listed at 10,000 Lps. and sold right away.

Indeed some Megapaca sold items have original store tags and have never been used. But a vast majority of others have signs that the items had a prior owner. Some clothing items have children’s names written on them, books have written-in dedications and puzzles are missing pieces.

The Honduran items arrive from the US in a container to Puerto Cortés, and from there are brought by Megapaca trucks to an evaluation center in El Progreso. The center’s employees sort the clothes by type, size, and damage. Some are repaired, and others, like shoes and stuffed baby toys, are washed. Each item is inspected for issues and damages. In case of bicycles, the mechanics change each bicycle seat, pedals, and tires. The idea is that a client can ride off on the bicycle after purchasing.

We affect their sales, but they don’t see us as competitor.

There are strategies in which clothes are shipped to specific parts of Honduras. “Cold weather clothing is sent to the western part of Honduras,” said Orozco. “The larger shoe sizes we send to La Ceiba and Roatan.” The company uses a system of QR codes to track its shipments, and each individual item is accessible in its database.

Each week an item is discounted more and more. It starts with 15% discount after one week, then 30% off after the second week, and 50% on the third week. It goes like that all the way to 90% discount at week seven. If no one buys an item after eight weeks the Roatan items are returned to El Progreso. “Don’t sell to people something that they did not want to buy,” says Orozco.

Every year on the third week on November, the Megapaca items receive an additional 25% off for the entire week. That is a sure to get an extra bargain. Another way to spot bargains is to perform a quick, on the spot Google search to see what a particular item costs on eBay or Amazon.

You just never know what you will find.

There is also a group of customers who buy some of the unsold clothes in bulk. The clothes that are not bought are processed for mulch at a Megapaca subsidiary company that cuts them and makes them into floor mats and sleeping mattresses. These items are original, they are recycled and sold at Megapaca stores.

The used clothing store has a growing impact on the retail market on the island. There are several national retail stores that are selling new clothes and home items on the island, and both Carrion and Lady Lee have been hit by Megapaca’s presence. “We affect their sales, but they don’t see us as competitor because they bring in new clothes and we don’t,” says Orozco.

In fact, all Honduran cities with a population of 60,000 or more now have Megapacas. There are stores in Catacamas, Olancho, and La Entrada, Copán. La Ceiba has a store nearly as large as the one in Roatán. It is located on the national road that traverses the city, right next to the City Mall of La Ceiba, and it is two stories tall.

San Pedro is dotted with Megapacas – there are six of them. One of them is the Megapaca premium, a store that receives articles with higher quality brands and does not offer discounts.

Megapaca always tries to secure a location that has good visibility and good access. Outside of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the stores occupy prime locations in malls. In smaller towns, they are in malls and places with good access and good parking.

There are two Megapaca premiums in Honduras – one in San Pedro Sula and the other one in Tegucigalpa. There the items sold without discounts. Fifteen percent of the items coming to Roatan are those that did not sell at one of the two Honduran premium stores.

The company operates 24 stores in Honduras, including the 2,200-square-meter Megapaca in Roatan’s Megaplaza Mall, which is a significant revenue generator for the Guatemalan brand. The store with the highest sales volume is in Zona 17, Guatemala City, followed by the Zona 11 Miraflores location. In 2018 and 2019, Roatan ranked third in sales, but the opening of two Megapaca Premium stores has since moved it down a notch. Nevertheless, the French Harbour store on Roatan remains a key pillar in the Megapaca empire.

Megapaca has 47 employees in its French Harbour store and over 2,000 employees in Honduras. To keep up with the growing market, Megapaca opened a second store on the island in September 2024. The two story building is owned by the company and located in Coxen Hole, right on the main road and right across from Serrano’s Hardware store. Megapaca strives to have good visibility and ample parking for their customers.

The Coxen Hole Megapaca has 3,200 square meters – some of the largest Megapaca stores in Honduras. According to Orozco, 25% of the Megapaca stores in Honduras operate out of facilities owned by the company.

Many islanders were impressed with how quickly Megapaca built their second store on the island. “They did Megapaca in just a couple months, why couldn’t we finish the [Dixon Cove] hospital just as quickly?” said prof. Miguel Angel Mathis, a schoolteacher from Dixon Cove.

High inflation and a sometimes faltering economy has forced an average Honduran family to look for ways to save money. Megapaca has provided a way to do that. With rising food costs, transportation expenses, and increasing rent, the budget for clothing and children’s toys has become much smaller. The purchasing power of the average islander has dwindled, and eaten away at Honduras’ middle class in general. Perhaps not without irony, in the first decade of the XXI century the most popular store on the island of Roatan is the used clothing store.

Challenging Road Project Cuts across the Heart of Coxen Hole

The PO-35 passing across Coxen Hole is not just a national highway, it is a road that has the highest commercial use on the island and has to be integrated into the city walkways and drainage. “You need to make it [Coxen Hole] more of a city than a town,” said Ing. Castillo, infrastructure chief of the Roatan Municipality.

The road itself will be 15 meter wide with a 1.5 meter sidewalks, two meter wide cycling lanes. And finally a 10 meter wide motor vehicle road. The construction of the six month contract began in June and its goal is to be finished by Christmas 2024.

It is a road that has the highest commercial use on the island.

The new road will benefit drivers, business owners, increase land prices, create additional commercial lots, and provide a more first glance of the island four tourists arriving at the Juan Manuel Galvéz international airport. “In the end, everyone is benefiting because they have more roads and more urban spaces they can use,” said Ing. Castillo.

Whereas in other parts of the paving projects Roatan Municipality would do the groundwork and preparation for the road, and would bid out only the road paving portion of the project. This time the roadwork was too complex and coordination between the preparation and paving as well. “Given the complexity of this contract, we decided to give the entire contract to one company,” said Ing. Castillo. Elite, a construction company based in French Harbour, who won the bid for the project.

The cost of the contract is Lps. 59.9 million [$2.4 million] and the 1.5 kilometer road project is the most complex and expensive per kilometer the Bay Islands have ever seen. Part of the expense is because of the retention walls needed to be constructed at the site. “Half the road has a need for retention walls,” said Ing Castillo. Whereas prior only in French Harbour and in Los Fuertes the retention walls had to be built. Yet another expense paid by Roatan taxpayers via Roatan municipality was the supervision contract of Lps. 2.5 million awarded to Consultores en Ingeniería [CINSA].

The road rises from just a few meters above sea level at the airport to around 50 meters at its crest at Monkey hill road. The design of the new road attempts to lessen the hills and avoid blind hills. “We are trying to improve the vertical curvatures of the road,” said Ing. Castillo. “We are filling it in some spots and cutting it off in others. It is all about creating a win-win.”

The project is not just a national road construction, but building an urban road and with urban spaces that integrate the road with surrounding businesses and lots. Water and sewer systems have to be moved, and bridge boxes are being constructed instead of culverts.

Urban road project created several very happy land owners.

The urban road project created several very happy land owners. Elite has been filling in acres of land with earth that was shaved of the road. From what were some inaccessible and of little value lots, there are now very valuable commercial lots. “They get the benefit of the dirt and we get the benefit of decreasing the cost of hauling the materials to specific spots,” said Ing. Castillo. Several islanders have become millionaires

With rains and heavy construction taking place at the new municipal dump, there were changes as far as the road paving schedule. “We had an emerging situation from Kix to mud hole with the deterioration of the road,” said Ing Castillo. The Roatan municipality has begun the dirt work on the 2.3 kilometers between Kix and the dump. That is the last portion of the PO-35 that has not been bid out for paving.

Some other road projects were also delayed. One of them is the paving of the 4.3 kilometer road from Palmetto to Crawfish rock that is now planned for construction in early 2025. 750 meters from Próspera to Colonia Smith diversion has been paved and 620 meter in total from the Mall up towards Crawfish Rock.

At the Forefront of Casa Warren’s Legacy

Ivy’s siblings were Timothy, Cheryl, Kirby, and Esther. Mrs. Ivy’s first memory is drinking from an oat meal glass on the kitchen table that usually contained peppers, mutton peppers and onions. The glass had only had vinegar, and the young Ivy, maybe three years old, drunk the vinegar form the glass.

She did her ABCs to sixth grade using Royal Readers English textbooks. “As small children, we had to do both Spanish [public] school and English school,” remembers Mrs. Ivy. At eight, she begun taking music lessons from her aunt, married to Paul Ebanks.

The 15th of September was a very important date in Roatan’s calendar. School children from all over Roatan would gather in the island’s capital to march and celebrate Honduras’ Independence Day. “Our teacher taught us: ‘Honduras es mi patria,’” remembers Mrs. Ivy. At seven o’clock in the morning the children would await a boat send by the municipality.

In order to go to a store or attend church service Mrs. Ivy walked from West End to Coxen Hole. “That was a little, narrow road, that you buckled your ankles if you didn’t watch it,” remembers Mrs. Ivy, The foot and horse path that runs between West End across the hills to Flowers Bay. “We had ticks, uuuuu, loads of ticks,” remembers Mrs. Ivy. The walk to Coxen Hole would take two hours and some rode horses to save time, but Mrs. Ivy was afraid of horses.

The last day of the week was a special time for the entire family. “We went to West Bay almost every Sunday afternoon. We ate a lot of coco plums and grapes, they were wild. Jim Díaz, Foster Díaz’s grandfather, used to live in a little house in West Bay.” These were bucolic days for Roatan and for many children that grew up on the island. “There were a lot of crabs. They were clean,” remembers Mrs. Ivy. “We would pick them by the sack, take them home and boil them. We still love the crabs.”

In 1952 the Warren family moved from West End to La Ceiba so children could receive more formal education. The family was there for four years to take advantage the city’s schools and colleges.

In 1950s there was only one municipality on the island, and Coxen Hole was its capital. It was a busy town and it had thriving general store. Mr. Warren had an opportunity to buy a building that became Casa Warren, Warren’s Supermarket and now is Eldon’s Supermarket in Coxen Hole.

Warren Hotel with its seven rooms was the first hotel in the Bay Islands.

In January of 1955 the Warren family traveled on “Colonel Cruz” boat leaving La Ceiba banana company dock at midnight at arriving at the Coxen Hole municipal dock at 6am. “It was always a pretty rough ride.”

Mrs. Ivy’s father purchased a two story wooden building that also had a few rooms to rent and a space that could be used for a store. In fact Casa Warren Hotel with its seven rooms was the first hotel in the Bay Islands. “Judges and governors were the staying there, renting the month, and “lot’s of gringos,” said Mrs. Ivy. John C. Henley III from Alabama and his sister Edmunia Henley were guests and early investors on Roatan leasing land from locals.

At first it was Mrs. Ivy’s mother who runs the business as her father stayed behind in La Ceiba. “She run the kitchen, dining room area while the children run the store area,” says Mrs. Ivy. At 16 Mrs. Ivy was already working at the family store. Her parents lived upstairs and the children worked in the store downstairs. Her sister Janet helped out as well. The business depended on help from everyone. “My dad was off for two years and then he run the business with us,” says Mrs. Ivy.

There were just a few places on the island that one could call proper stores. “We had a store, McNabs had a store and Mr. Oswald had a store,” says Mrs. Ivy. While Roatan in 1950s and 60s had three large stores there were also many scattered through the island “Truchitas,” small stores selling sugar and a few high demand items.

Back then Roatan was a peaceful, quiet place, but the law always looked for some bad apples. “They would put you in jail for just about anything, especially stealing,” remembers Mrs. Ivy. There was not much crime on Roatan in 1950s. Most people left their doors open and there were few things a thief could steel. “In those days there was no much stealing going on. Not like today,” says Mrs. Ivy. “If you go onto someone’s plantation and steal their coconuts, they would walk you down the street with it on your back – shame you.”

Many people in jail ended up there because they would make their own moonshine. “People would make chicha; brew it down with corn. They would make strong alcohol,” said Mrs. Ivy. “They would take the cashew and make wine, they made berry wine, they make rice wine.”

Mrs. Ivy married at 18 to Walter Cooper. His father, Dr. Loyd Cooper, was the only dentist on Roatan for many years and young Walter helped his father at the clinic. The couple had two children and stayed married for 45 years. “You need to take care of yourself, eat right, lead a good clean life,” says Mrs. Ivy. As a Christian you learn how to do that.”

In 1970s her father decided to expand the store. The old wooden, two story building has outlived its usefulness and it was time for an upgrade. “I’m gonn’a make a supermarket,’ said my dad,” remembers Mrs. Ivy. “My dad was very visionary.” That is when Casa Warren went from being a wooden building to a cement building.

Casa Warren had a prime location in Roatan’s hub town. It was just a few meters west of the municipal dock and down the hill from Governor’s hill where the telegram office, a jail and a clock tower were. “Every 15 minutes it would sound off,” remembers the municipal clock Mrs. Ivy. “If you didn’t sleep well that keep you awake.” When sometime in 1980s Mr. Sam Welcome, the clock keeper died, no one took over the task of maintaining the clock. The clock Municipal clock stopped and people depended on their own time.

In 1984 Mrs. Ivy’s father died and the Casa Warren was left to Mrs. Ivy’s mother and children. “My dad was very strict. I had a good dad. He took care of us,” remembers her father with fondness Mrs. Ivy. “One thing our dad taught us is to share with one another. He taught us to take care of one another. We worked through differences, we worked through tough times.”

In 2010 Casa Warren was rented to Eldon Hyde, owner of Eldon’s Supermarket. In her 80s Mrs. Ivy lives on ground floor in a large cement home adjacent to old Casa Warren. She has the radio from morning until the early afternoon. Every Sunday she goes to the First Baptist Church where she plays the organ, or the piano. “That was my life: the store and the church,” says Mrs. Ivy. Now her life is mostly centered around the church and her family. Her two grandchildren live with her and look after her. “I had a good life,” she says.

After a Fire, Three Hospitals are being Built on the Island

Roatan has found itself in a health crisis. On April 19, around 9pm, Roatan Public Hospital in Coxen Hole burned down in a spectacular fire. The fire destroyed 95% of the 33 year old building except for a portion of the office annex.
No one was killed or gravely injured in the fire and 60 interned patients were transferred to two nearby private island hospitals. Wood Medical Center in Coxen Hole received most of the patients and the private Hospital Centro Medico Sampedrano (CEMESA) received another dozen. “All the emergencies were attended until May 10 [for] free,” said Dr. Jackie Wood, owner of the Wood Medical Center who also helped to build the original public hospital in 1991. “My heart was broken and I cried all night. You do not imagine what I feel to see all that work [turn to] ashes.”
The firemen concluded that faulty electric wiring was the reason for the fire. “A couple years back we had a fire in a maternity room for the same reason,” said Dr. Wood.
The spring of 2024 has been full of fires breaking out all over Roatan. There has been very little rain since the rainy season ended on the island in March. Dry as bone trees and cohunes became prone to catching fire and strong winds made things especially difficult to handle.

While the fire was a disaster, it also became an opportunity to quickly and efficiently upgrade the islands hospital facilities. While the public hospital building was gone there were plenty of doctors, underutilized private clinics, a network of community clinics, a semi finished hospital in Dixon Cove, and there was an 18,000 square foot Adventist center.

Instead of quickly finishing the new public hospital in Dixon Cove, the central government decided to build a “temporary” hospital in Coxen Hole. Instead of using facilities that are available, the government set up tents in hot weather at Julio Galindo stadium in Coxen Hole.

“My heart was broken and I cried all night.”

Another site in Loma Linda area of Coxen Hole was chosen by the central government as a site for an emergency, provisional 40 bed hospital and is estimated to cost 100-150 Million Lps. It has been planned to be finished in 90 days, but due to a complicated, heavily sloped site, that is unlikely to happen.

The Loma Linda hospital site is adorned with a huge poster “Xiomara Sí Cumple,” – “Xiomara does deliver.” In fact after the fire and presidential visit the island was dotted with “Xiomara Sí Cumple” signs. There is one such poster at the Roatan international airport, one in Dixon Cove, one in Loma Linda and one at Coxen Hole stadium. A kilometer away, while central government authorities were erecting those signs, Roatan Municipality completely demolished the burned out hospital and practically flattened the old hospital site.

All in all, the facility that was closest to being able to function as a temporary hospital was the Adventist center in French Harbour. Little Friends Foundation along with Roatan Municipality operated the COVID center at the Adventist center back in 2020. While the second story of the large building was used for consultations and beds, the first story is being readied to function as an emergency center for the emergency temporary hospital before the provisional hospital is finished and before the new hospital in Dixon Cove is completed.

Six weeks after the fire things are far for clear for many islanders in need of medical attention and confusion still persisted. “The ambulances take you from the street and don’t even know where to take you,” said Steven Guillen, president of Little Friends Foundation, a NGO that was in charge of building the Dixon Cove hospital facility. “If you are dying, you have to go to CEMESA.”

In May a woman in labor was asked for money from treatment at Woods Medical Center, she didn’t have the funds, so she was transferred to CEMESA designated as an emergency care center. The transport she was using broke down and she was transferred to another vehicle. By the time she arrived at CEMESA it was too late and she died.

That could have been avoided. The Adventist center was ready to operate two weeks after the hospital fire. The current construction work on the hospital is being paid by the Roatan Municipality and donations. There is a blood testing center for TB and HIV being built as well.

For the time being, nurses and doctors are allocated to several centers around the island. While Roatan Municipality is financially and technically capable of building, even equipping a public hospital, it does not feel capable of running the hospital with accredited and paid staff – that is a step too far.

The history of the 20,000 square foot Roatan Public hospital goes back to 1991. According to Dr. Jackie Wood, it cost the government $7 million to build. It could have been much more, but many good willed people helped it along. “Equipment was donated from the United Kingdom government (…) donations from Roatan people and private companies from Roatan and La Ceiba and the central government,” said Dr. Wood.

The island outgrew the medical facility within a couple decades, but the road to the new public hospital has had been fret with hopes, mistakes, delays, and wishful thinking.

In 2006, after 15 years of the Roatan Hospital serving the public, then Mayor Dale Jackson decided that it was time to build a new hospital. Land in Dixon Cove was purchased as “an emergency purchase.” Eighteen years later that emergency still hasn’t been resolved.

The one million dollar land cost paid was an extremely high cost for the municipality. It took the next administration of Mayor Julio Galindo to pay off the purchase completely. There was nothing done during the Mayor Dorn Ebanks tenure.

While the fire was a disaster, it also became an opportunity.

When Jerry Hynds became mayor in 2018, he was able to secure a $2 million donation from Kelcy Warren, US billionaire and owner of RECO, for the construction of the hospital in Dixon Cove. “When the funds ran out the Municipality started using some of their own funds to complete the gray work. “The original discussions were that the Municipality would do the gray work and they would finish the hospital,” says Guillen. Windows, doors, some of the sewage and water infrastructure was also finished. Roatan municipality spent $500,000 and within a couple of years there was a large, 75,000 square foot two story building sitting on a hill in Dixon Cove.

In Honduras many things are accomplished when local and central government belong to the same political party, that was not the case with National Party in Tegus and Liberal party on Roatan. “ [Mayor] Jerry [Hynds] said: ‘If they [central government] are not going to join, we are going to finish it,” said Guillen. “He had it in his mind that he was going to finish it one way or another.”

In fact the construction of the new public hospital was a joint effort and not only Kelcy Warren’s donation and municipal tax dollars funded it. “May people donated freight, equipment time and helped to reduce costs,” said Guillen. While these donations were not enumerated by Little Friends Foundation, they likely run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In 2022 the 75,000 square foot Dixon Cove hospital building has been finished in raw state with windows and doors placed. The building sits on 8.3 acres site and there is a basement. Electric, sewer and gas lines could be installed as per requirement.

“There were verbal agreements, but never any written agreements with any administration,” said Guillen. Several visits by central government contracted engineers and architects took place. Recommendations were made, fulfilled, but nothing was put on paper and signed. “Every time the central government sent a crew of engineers they came up with a list of changes. Moving and creating walls, doors,” said Guillen.

The reality was that Roatan’s politicians were working with best intentions in a constantly evolving political climate back in Tegucigalpa. “The idea was to pass the facility into the hands of the Honduran health ministry in a raw state, and for them to finish it up to their standards,” said Guillen. According to Guillen the land title has been transferred to the national government years ago.

After Ximara Castro’s Libre Party won the national elections in November 2021 the relationship between Roatan Municipality and José Manuel Matheu, Honduran Health Minister under President Xiomara Castro, was going well. “We had a very good relationship with him. He brought in IDB [International Development Bank],” said Guillen. That all ended when in December 2023 Matheu was replaced with Carlos Aguilar. Since nothing was written down and agreed, Municipality was left holding the bag.

After the public hospital burned down a political turf war for credit as far as who is building what with whom’s money on Roatan intensified. It seems that Honduran president’s Libre Party was not willing to give credit to local authorities who are affiliated with the Liberal Party.

Then there was the bigger issue. If the new Roatan hospital was to be finishing with locally done contractors and donated equipment there would no way for big players to make money and make themselves seem indispensable. If local authorities would solve their own infrastructure and health problems, like Roatan has attempted, there would be no need for dependency on international loan institutions. That would mean 2000 bankers and bureaucrats in IDB Washington DC headquarters would lose their salaries, and that cannot be.

According to Honduran authorities $47 million dollars is now needed to finish the new hospital and equip it. The around $2.5 million spent on the building by Warren and Municipality is a rounding error of the estimated remaining costs. Now plenty of companies will have an opportunity to skim off the very high top and make money in the bonanza.

Roatan Municipality is financially and technically capable of building, even equipping a public hospital.

Local authorities say, that the building could be finished and equipped and ready to open for a fraction of that sum. “We could get all the equipment in very good condition donated,” said Guillen.

That is unlikely to happen. Since 2010 IDB has allocated 35% of its annual loan approval to “small and vulnerable” members and Honduras is qualified as one of them. IDB constantly needs new projects to allocate millions, and tens of millions of loans. Finding donors for a new public hospital is good business for IDB and good for its bottom line.

For average islanders worried about their health, the money, the funding and technical matters are too complicated to contemplate. Yet, the fact is there is money to be made loaning out money. There is plenty of money to be made in the construction of a new hospital and plenty of entities are eyeing the Roatan project.

It is the central government that decides what the municipalities need, often with a faulty understanding of population dynamics and local idiosyncrasies. This is how Roatan Island ended up with a Coxen Hole desalination plant and José Santos Guardiola with a garbage dump in Punta Blanca that never opened. These white elephants were paid from loans and grants by IDF and Inter American Development Bank. These projects are expensive and justify the existence of large international lending institutions.

The sad part is not only about the debt that is unnecessarily created, it is also that Honduras does need government investment in other parts of the country and is not getting it. One such example is the rebuilding of Canal Maya (In the Sula Valley, Mainland Honduras) that was destroyed in the 2020 Hurricane season, yet there are no funds and no one to rebuild it.

Other than IDB, another winner in this situation and all this chaos could be CEMESA. They have secured an agreement with government for treatment of patients. What is not known is how much CEMESA charges the government for these services. CEMESA prices are high, an appendix surgery can cost Lps.50,000 or more.

After the fire, a fund was set up out of which CEMESA is paid by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finances. “CEMESA don’t have 11 million Lps. This in an insurance fund,” said Doctor Lastenia Cruz, Roatan Hospital Director, on May 29. “We are in front of CEMESA, we are meeting them constantly.”

There is a great contrast with how government and private business deal with a fire, and efficient restructuring. For example Waldina’s Tapestry shop, a private business that burned to the ground in French Harbour in February 29, 2024. With very few resources, but with much motivation, the owner was able to rebuild and reopen her upholstery and sail repair business within weeks of the fire. A great contrast to the paralysis and confusion of the central government after the Roatan hospital fire.

At the end of June there was no agreement what to call the French Harbour Adventist hospital facility. Some islanders still call it the Adventist Center, some call it Adventist Hospital, and some still call it the COVID Center.

Still the Adventist Center has been receiving plenty of non emergency patients. On May 27, Aldin Ebanks, a patient from Coxen Hole, went to Wood Clinic in Coxen Hole where he was told to go CEMESA. At CEMESA he was told to go to the Adventist center. All this took time, money, and transport expense. He was diagnosed with water in his lungs, and treated at the Adventist Center.

Roatan’s politicians were working with best intentions in a constantly evolving political climate.

The Adventist center is now open 24 hours a day and the number of specialists working at the Adventist center has been gradually increasing. “The Adventist center opening will cover all the services required by the population,” said Guillen. “They have greater capacity than the original public hospital.”

There is a plan to use both the downstairs and upstairs of the Adventist Center. The Municipal is making plans to turn the two story building into a fully functional hospital. The facility is actually larger than the original public hospital in Coxen Hole.“We are trying to centralize everything here,” said Guillen.

While the Adventist organization is letting the Honduran ministry of health use the facility without a written contract. Again, this could lead to misunderstandings and conflicts. Who pays for electricity costs, for maintenance costs, or for damages is not 100% clear. “They [central government] should work with the Municipality to set up this [Adventist Center],” said Guillen. “We don’t know how long they will be on temporary basis.”

Some consultation services were decentralized from the public hospital to community clinics outside of big towns. The recently opened clinic in Flowers Bay is picking up plenty of work.

The island’s medical situation will clear itself out in a matter of a year, or two. There is one question that remains and that is whether perhaps the central government and some international organizations, despite what they say and want you to believe, are not there to help you in the most sensible and efficient way, but to exploit your problems to the advantage on interest groups.

Many of us agree to pretend that police, health, education and emigration services are here to help. We are afraid to admit how inefficient, malevolent and expensive these government entities are. The cost of realizing that would be we would have to do something about it. It is easier just to go on pretending.

$47 million dollars is now needed to finish the new hospital.

The Melancholic Oak Ridge Cay has almost Two centuries of History

Indeed, Oak Ridge Cay is unlike any other place on Roatan. Here, people don’t lock their front doors. It is a sizable cay with around 40 houses and no bridge connecting it to the main island. Most people like it that way. “Here it’s quiet. I have the loveliest neighbors,” says Debra Sellers, one of the cays half a dozen foreign residents.

Most everyone here understands the intricacies of living on a flat, limited space, exposed to the elements. As the sea tide comes up, things get tricky, and people typically don’t mind if someone uses their dock to access their property.

“September tides” are the year’s highest tides, which periodically flood the cay, especially its eastern portion. Once called Curtis Point, this area is now referred to as Mission Point by the locals. “Now, in October and November, you still get the tides,” says Mr. Miguel. The end of the year is when the eastern wind brings in plenty of heavy logs, plastics, and other floating debris, depositing them all over the cay.

Across from the canal, the increasingly busy Pandy Town is intersected by a road frequented by vehicles navigating its dead-end street. Many people from Oak Ridge Cay prefer to keep things quiet and simple. It’s Roatan’s most populated cay, but it doesn’t have a bridge connecting it to the main island. The cay acts as a natural barrier, which has turned the cay into a sort of time capsule.

The history of Oak Ridge Cay began with the first settlers around 170 years ago. The first inhabitant was Thomas Alexander Cooper, born in Belize in 1834. “He had his home on the cay and all his descendants lived on the Cay,” says Keila Thompson, native islander and history researcher.

Cooper’s older brother John purchased 354 Acres from the British Crown sometime in 1850s -a surviving document refers to having the property re-measured in 1859. Thompson said that John Cooper most likely gave Oak Ridge Cay, the Point, and Pandy Town to his younger brother as a gift.

Over the last 170 years, properties on the cay have been sold and resold numerous times. Today, approximately 40 houses stand on the cay. There are about half a dozen Americans living there, and the presence of fences is increasing, with many being tall, chain-link, and strong. “Everybody didn’t used have fences,” said Keila Thompson Gaugh. “Everybody was family.” Wooden and chain-link fences divide the cay into increasingly smaller portions – the largest open area is just north of the Reef House. On the cay, everything is private property, except for the road, which is a common asset used by all cay residents.

The cay once had a population of agoutis but Mr. Miguel suspects they were hunted to extinction by the locals… Now, there are none. However, there are quite a few domesticated animals: dogs, cats, and some cay residents keep chickens and pigs for food. The cay never had any cows, sheep, or goats. There were also iguanas and Roatan island agoutis. “The dogs learned how to live with them. The people got them,” said Mr. Miguel.

First inhabitant was Thomas Alexander Cooper.

The Cay is dotted with old, wooden homes, weathered by time, wind, and use. Several of these older homes date back to the 1960s and 70s. The stilts of these old homes are made out of sunwood, dogwood, iron dogwood, and craboo wood. “They last a long time,” says Mr. Miguel.

A few years back, a public wharf at the east end of the cay served the community, but it has since weathered and disintegrated over time. Now, the only public spaces accessible to and shared by all are the road and the sea. Couple bicycles can be spotted on what the Caytons refer to as “the road,” but motorcycles are not welcome. The cay features many boats and plenty of private docks. There are two concrete wharfs jetting south, built over shallow coral, projecting into the sea.

Oak Ridge Cay is not as bustling and full of life as it was just a couple of decades ago. There were a couple of stores on the island in the 1980s and 90s, and maybe a school or two. “The last store that operated on the Cay was the Unicorn… but that burned down,” said Mr. De la Cruz. His mother, America Bodden de la Cruz, had the last small store on the Cay until it closed 2005.

Two “old heads” reside on the island: Mr. Miguel De La Cruz, 100, and Mrs. Lita Bodden, 84. De La Cruz was born in Mexico and has lived in Roatan since 1958. He is the Cay’s oldest resident, and lives in a modest wooden house on the far eastern side of the Cay, where he is taken care of by his son and daughter-in-law. Bodden is the Cay’s second oldest resident and came to Oak Ridge Cay form Guanaja when she was 12.

In 1960s and 70s, Oak Ridge Cay was a hive of activity. The heart of the Cay centered around the sand volleyball court, complete with two bleachers. “A lot of tournaments went on here,” remembers Mr. Miguel. The volleyball court, also the highest point of the cay, is located on Oak Ridge Cay’s western end.

In late 1960s, several Americans moved to the Cay. Gene Isbel, from Tampa, founded the Oak Ridge Chapel sometime in the late 1960s. “She was in the process of building a school when [hurricane] Francelia came and knocked it down,” says Mr. Miguel.

Several houses were swept across the channel to Pandy Town. A category 3 hurricane, Francelia passed south of Bay Islands in the early days of September 1969. A majority of the houses in Oak Ridge, French Harbour, and Coxen Hole were damaged and destroyed by the high tide. Several hundred families were made homeless.

Reef House dive resort has been catering to visitors on the cay since late 1960s. Bill Kepper came to the island in 1968 and built the resort as a fishing and diving destination. Kepper was Reef House’s original owner. Today, Reef House has a 10 rooms. Expats from the east of the island gather there for drinks and live music on Fridays.

Ms. Sissy James arrived with a Christian Pentecostal mission and built a school. Another American named Mrs. Gale Hutton started a health clinic that provided services in the late 1960s and 70s. Writer and map maker Ann Jennings lived on the Cay in 1970s as well.

For a very long time, Oak Ridge Cay was home to a busy school called Joseph L. Gough school, until 1978. “It served both Cay and Pandy Town,” says Mr. Miguel. The María Aurelio Soto School in Pandy town replaced it.

Is dotted with old, wooden homes, weathered by time.

“When Francelia hit in September 1969, a two story school building was swept across to the other side [Pandy Town],” says Miguel de la Cruz. Hurricane Greta in 1978 was also not kind to the cay. In nine years, Roatan and Oak Ridge Cay suffered three major hurricanes.

The hurricanes had a dramatic impact not only on the way people lived, but also on the flora of the cay. “This place used to have a lot of sage bush when I was a kid,” remembered Mr. Miguel. “Hurricanes took them out.”

Until the 1990s, the Cay was dotted with coconut trees until the lethal yellowing disease reached Roatan. More than 90 percent of Roatan’s coconut palms (Cocos nucifera L.) were affected and died gradually. This saddened the local community a great deal. Affected trees would prematurely lose their coconuts, followed by yellowing leaves and, eventually, the death of the palm.

The original coconut palms were tall, skinny, and often bent with plenty of personality. These palms also produced a superior coconut, characterized by more white meat, which made them ideal for producing coconut oil. Only a few of the original big coconut trees survived. They are much taller than the coconuts that are now grown on the cay and around the island. “I’m talking about tall, real tall,” says Mr. Miguel. They are much better to use in making coconut oil.

As coconut palms and sage disappeared over the last thirty years, the Oak Ridge Cay also eroded into the sea. The erosion was worse on the southern side, where the cay lost about 1/3 acre, and on its eastern side, where it lost a quarter acre. The cay is now a bit lower, making it more susceptible to flooding and exposed to strong eastern winds and tides. With the decline of the king coconuts, wind-borne seedlings of the Australian Pine (Casuarina) took root and are now prolific on the Cay. This tree species is invasive and often destructive, but according to Helen Murphy, island expat and professional gardener, it does help with soil stabilization.

In 1960s and 70s, Oak Ridge Cay was a hive of activity.

In the salty air and poor sandy soil of the Cay, not many trees thrive. Still, there are many new coconuts, almond trees, sea grape tree, and cocoplums. The cay also hosts a mango tree and, incredibly, two date palms situated right on the water’s edge on its southern side. According to Mr. Miguel, the date palm seedlings were brought by one of the islanders who worked on boats in the Middle East.

Physical remnants – or at least lingering memories – of buildings and businesses that thrived on Oak Ridge Cay decades ago still remain. One such establishment was the Unicorn store, run by Mrs. Lurlene Cooper de McNab from the early 1970s until 1993, when it caught fire and burned down. More recently, the San José Motel, located on the channel facing Pandy Town, was demolished. This motel, with six rooms, served as lodging for salespeople coming to Oak Ridge. It was knocked down in 2022.