FROM A BEVERAGE CART TO A HACIENDA (or how I came to fall in love with Roatan, West Bay, and the amazing people there.)

How do people change their lives? What makes us do the things we do?

I asked Guy St. Louis to tell me how he ended up on Roatan… and much like my story of leaving San Diego, California for something new…

I found it to be one of those “jump off the mountain and put your wings on on the way down” stories… I hope you enjoy it as much as I did… - Keith Miller

Guy and Tina St. Louis

17 years ago, Tina, myself and the 3 boys decided to take our first Cruise together. Went to all the big tourist "hot spots"; Caymans, Cozumel, Belize....the key was to try to break away from the mold and find some true local color.

Very difficult to do. How do you find the “essence” of something…? The “authentic? Everywhere we went it seemed that the corporate types in charge had created commercialized traps, waiting for folks like us!

And on the tour itinerary was this island… A small island off the coast of Honduras (Honduras??!!) called- "Roatan"... never heard of it before… (seriously 17 years later people still don’t know about it and that is part of the charm… but I digress.)

It was totally Intriguing.

The cruise ship docked at "Coxen Hole". and the first thing we noticed was the people… The people on Roatan are genuine and real.... not pushy- a delightful, happy people. Anybody who knows me knows that I believe smiles are the keys to opening doors… and as we strolled around, breathing in this beautiful little island town, my mind went back in time… (an unexpected sided trip…) It reminded me of simpler times… it reminded me of the 50's, as a kid again.

The thing about cruise ship companies is they give you a chance to explore… while trying to switch you to their version of the locale… But that wasn’t for any of us… We like adventure and we were looking for the local color. So we asked a friendly guy to "Get us to the beach"...

Like most of the islanders… he was a fantastic dude, and told us the history of the Island.... about the indigenous inhabitants, the Garifuna, the Pirates, the Spanish, the English. Roatan has an amazing culture and is a true pirate island… The stories are rich and our new friend was proud of his family and his heritage, rightly so.

Thanks to our friend, we end up on West Bay Beach, a truly pristine setting with white sand and turquoise waters. Incredible! We laid on the beach and got drunk, from a rolling "punch-cart", minded by a very nice, pretty, young lady 😁. Our oldest Son, Louis, and his wife Jamie disappeared for the day....they don't drink like we do!

At day's end, as the sun is setting on this magical place, they reappear, we took a family photo of us under the resort sign "Bananarama", close to our lifeline at the punch-cart 😉 What a wonderful day and a beautiful memory of our favorite stop, the people were so friendly we vowed to come back someday! Loved the picture so much, had it framed and put over my desk.

6 months later Louis walks in. Says "Hey Mom n' Dad, wanna' go partners in the Caribbean?". I asked where...he said "The place in the picture over your desk, while you and my Brothers were in severe addiction to that punch-cart we went around and met all the locals. The guy who owns 'Bananarama' will sell and owner finance. Jamie and I will take the first 3 years managing and then you and Mom take the next 3, we'll even train ya'!"

You could have hit me with a Brick and it would have been much less effective. I then thought about where we are at this juncture in our lives. Have we been General Contractors for 20 years or just one year, 20 times...repeat, repeat, repeat?

The word “life” is defined as existence… But “to live” even though similar is much, much more…

To live means to experience… At some point in your life, you come to the realization that you can “exist”… or you can “live”…

Being American from the United States… we have that built-in sense of adventure… game on!

Our lives are a series of memories, by increasing those memories you increase life itself.

If I asked you what you were doing this week a year ago, you'd not remember, speaking only in general terms. If I asked you about your last vacation, you could give me a daily diary of it in detail. Such it is with memories.....increase 'em and increase life to its fullest!

Don’t wait to live… make those memories…

Guy St. Louis 11/29/2020