Getting things done

Today was kind of an errand day for us.  There has been one item nagging at us that we needed to take care of before leaving Roatan.  Today, Lonny drove us out to Coxen Hole to get Rob's backpack fixed.  Part of the waist belt was ripping and with more travel ahead of us, we have been pretty worried about it.  We started at a sewing shop but they quickly pointed us in the direction of a shoe repair guy setup on the sidewalk outside.  It was just the guy with a table, an umbrella, tools and a pile of shoes.  One of my favorite things about Central America is that without walmart and target and all of the other big franchises, small business operations are everywhere. Dealing with small businesses is a nice change of pace.  They are almost completely gone in the states and as much as I love Target and Walmart, it is sad.  Everything at home has become so disposable.  Stuff doesnt need to last for ever because it can be easily and cheaply replaced.

Rob handed the guy the belt, he took a look at it and told us that it would be a few minutes so we decided to take Rob for his second Honduran haircut.  It was entertaining as usual.  The young barber had a great sense of humor and the little, one chair shop was decorated with silly haircut pictures which had been printed out on someone's home computer printer.  There was a picture of a guy with a cowboy hat and boot shaped sideburns and goofy celebrities with weird hair-dos.  I'm not sure how much of a jokester you want your barber to be when he is shaving your face with a bent razor blade contraption that he obviously fashioned himself.  But anyway, he did a fine job on Rob's hair and some fancy work on Rob's goatee which he will now need to grow out.

To all of Rob's friends:  sorry, no pictures of Rob's fancy goatee.

After the haircut, we went back to check on the belt and we were happy to find that the guy did an excellent job repairing it.  It is now sewn better than it was originally and should hold up longer than the rest of the backpack.  The whole repair cost $2.50.

We move on a week from today.  We are sad to even think about leaving Roatan.  We have already made some nice friends and have been enjoying the peaceful island life.  We are ready to get moving though and are very excited about Nicaragua.