Date: December 2004

Location: Roatan Island, Honduras

We spent Christmas of 2003 on the island of Roatan. We rented a couple of cottages. Roatan is off the coast of Honduras. It is famous for its scuba diving. Devin got his scuba diving license there. As you can see by the above picture, he was dedicating himself to his lessons.

Honduras is a tough country. Children are kidnapped and beaten up regularly. Roatan Island is split into two sections, one English and developed to a certain extent. The other half is Spanish and totally undeveloped. People travel by public transportation, or whatever other means they have to get to work, and then home. We gave a lift to a bunch of people and gained some insight into their life style.

The poem below was written with this in mind.

Roatan

waiting for the bus
waiting for anyone to stop
waiting for a ride to town
waiting all the time

looking for the bus
looking for anyone to stop
looking for a ride to town
looking all the time

how to pay the bills
how to get to work
how to put food on the table
how to survive

no bus in sight
no cars are stopping
no time to wait
no work in sight

time is standing still
time is fleeting by
time is not important
time is all we have

how long we wait
how we hope despair think
how to get to work
how to get home

pickup stops
clamber in the back
huddle in the cold
hang on for dear life

bang on the roof
pickup stops
clamber out
go to work

waiting for the bus
waiting for anyone to stop
waiting for a ride to town
waiting all the time

looking for the bus
looking for anyone to stop
looking for a ride to town
looking all the time

how to get home
how to pay the bills
how to put food on the table
how to survive