As I said in my previous post, Mike is a gringo who reportedly
closed up shop in Florida and moved to Utila. I suspect there may be more to
that story, but we’ll see if it becomes apparent as the week goes on. What I do know, after spending less than 30
minutes with him over the past three days, is that he is a professional
bullshitter. You know the type,
right? Sounds like he knows what he’s
talking about but, when the rubber hits the road, there’s nothing to it. Here’s some supporting evidence:
Monday morning, the power in the house went out at about 9 am. No big deal, we’ve seen this on Roatan, so
are used to it. When we arrived on
Saturday, we had even asked Mike about power outages on Utila. He had assured us that they “hardly ever
happen” and, when they do, there’s a notice on Facebook.
Mike arrived about 9:30 am to fill the water tank for
showering, etc. We tell him that the
power is out, and I thought I saw a flicker of surprise cross his face. True to his bullshitter nature, however, he
quickly recovers with a big smile and says “Yeah, it’s out all over town. There
wasn’t a notice on Facebook, though, so should be a short one. It happens all the time.” Really?
All the time? Yesterday you said
“hardly ever”, but we’ll let that one slide.
We spend the entire day without power, and cancel our plans
to use the day to wander around town and get our bearings. Doesn’t seem to be much point if no one has
any power, right? Instead, we spend a
(admittedly) lovely day at the house, reading and enjoying the view. (Note:
it was too windy Sunday & Monday to do any snorkeling in front of
the house. It’s much better today,
however.)
About 3 pm, hunger forces us to reevaluate our trip to
town. We did get that quick stop at the
grocery with Taxi Hank, but that was mostly for essentials (dish soap, dairy,
etc.), and the snacks we brought in that extra suitcase cannot be formulated in
to anything that could be considered a meal.
We had planned to stock up on real food when we were in town today. We check out the list of numbers hanging by
the phone and make a call to Skid Row, where we ate the first night we
arrived. I say a cheerful hello, and ask
if they have power. The dude slowly
drawls out a confused “Y-ee-ssss?” When
I inquire if it was out at all today I get a similarly confused but opposite
response of “N-ooo-ooo?” Within 30
minutes we’re sitting at Skid Row enjoying a couple of sandwiches (steak for
me; shrimp po’boy for Andrew), fries and two rum & lemonades (for those who
are interested, total was $15 with tip).
We’re also enjoying their free wifi and see that there is, in fact, a
post on Facebook that states the power will be out on our end of the island
only from 9 am – 4 pm. Thanks,
Mike.
Since we’re in town, we decide to walk a bit and pick up a
few more groceries. The supply boat
comes in on Tuesday, so there are slim pickings in the way of produce, but we
find some sandwich fixings and some real cream for coffee (sorry milk fans, it
just doesn’t cut it in our opinion). We
arrive home about 6 pm to power – yay!
The other issue we’ve had, so far, with Mike is the
broadband card. We are not people who
like to be too disconnected from the World Wide Web. I’d like to say otherwise, but I’d be lying. We had inquired with the owners (before
leaving the US) about internet and were assured that, while there was no wifi,
Mike would assist us with a broadband card/stick. Fine.
I asked Mike about the stick on Saturday when he picked us up at the
airport, and he told us he could “definitely have that for you tomorrow.” When he arrived without it on Sunday, I asked
again. Turns out that the store where
the stick gets loaded up isn’t open on Sunday.
He assures me that he can bring it on Monday. Surprisingly, he does. We plug it in to our laptop and…nothing. Mike, who also reports using this very same type
of internet access, seems to be unclear on how it might function. The only thing he does seem to know is that
you have to be careful to disconnect properly or you’ll “burn through your time
really quick.” Andrew suggests that the
power outage (which we thought was island-wide at this point) may be the
issue. Mike happily agrees with that,
and explains to us where we can buy more time for the stick, if needed.
When we arrived home to power, we tried the broadband stick
again. Still nothing. We poke around a bit in the message history
and, despite the fact that it’s all in Spanish, can see that the last time it
was loaded with any time (7 days) was in early January. Sigh.
I am guessing that, if asked, he’d tell us that we did something wrong
and, like he warned, used up that seven days of access he loaded on.
At this point, we’ve given up on Mike as a reliable source
of information. On the upside, the
owner’s parents are staying in the main house next door. Vinnie & LJ are from New York, and they
are everything you’d expect them to be – talkative, assertive, and
opinionated. They are also extremely
helpful in terms of sharing information.
Every time they see me outside, they are offering tips and poking lists
of phone numbers and restaurant recommendations at us through the fence. They’re our own personal Trip Advisor! At least until we get the broadband issue
figured out.
Post script – we have broadband access! We took the stick to a Tigo dealer in town
and, for $28.25, we have 30 days and/or 5.5 GB of data. Thanks, Mike.
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