Michael Aguilar sings with a trailed voice. He has been performing for seven years. He also plays keyboard and guitar. Daisy Garay, his wife, sings. Schneider, the couple’s 9-month-old toddler, accompanies them.
Life on Roatan has always had a good quality to it. While things have sometimes been scarce, there has always been a plentitude of simple things that make up for it; plenty of sunshine, abundance, clean water, and helpful, hard working people all around.
The anthropological landscape of the Bay Islands is much changed from the early 19th century. It was then that the first English permanent settlers arrived from Belize, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. The Garifuna were already established at Punta Gorda since the late 18th century.
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.
As Roatan grows in population, so does the number of people dying on the island each week. A few decades ago Roatan island funerals were a family affair where caskets were built at night during the wake and the dead were buried the following morning.
Elmer’s studio is the western edge of his concrete porch overlooking the busy street of the Colonia Policarpo Galindo. Elmer, his wife and three sons live in a handsome, blue concrete house on a steep road leading west into the hills of Sandy Bay.
