About Utila

Utila is one of those places that exist in their own dimension, not fitting in any category. One of the three islands off the Honduran northern coast, surrounded by the breath-taking beauty of coral reefs, it has been popular among diving enthusiasts for quite some time. It is a tropical paradise, green and lush, surrounded by dazzlingly blue sea. It is also a place lost in time, stuck somewhere in the 50's , with its wooden houses with peeling paint and rusted roofs and overgrown bougainvilleas.

Utila’s native population is blond and white, or black and tall, or combination thereof, these two groups — former pirates and former slaves — mixing for generations, both groups speaking English. Fresh blood, and the Spanish language, came from the Honduran mainland in the form of laborers who arrived looking for better jobs, liked it in Utila, brought their families and now compose more than 50 percent of Utila’s population. A small but interesting group are foreigners who made Utila their home. Each has a story, but it takes a few beers to get it.

Although local environmentalists fret, the reefs are still healthy and teeming with life, but that might change quickly if nothing is done to prevent degradation which is often the result of increased tourism or population growth combined with poor education and a general lack of care. Responsibility lays with each one of us, visitors and locals.

There is more to do in Utila than just dive: snorkeling is wonderful as the reefs are very close to the coast, hiking through the jungle can take you to one of many deserted beaches, kayaking in the lagoon will enable you to see the world of mangroves which covers most of Utila.

Night life, and often part of the day life, goes on in the many picturesque bars which line Utila’s main drag, or are hanging over the water on wooden decks. The music is a mix that reflects the diversity of the inhabitants — there is something for everyone: from Reggae and techno, to popular Latin songs, and to the surprise of many foreigners, country and Western. Of course, the music can be listened to only at profoundly high decibel levels.

Utila, like all Bay Islands, have taken a beating with the unstable political situation in Honduras. The foreigners living permanently on the island made a huge effort to pass a word to the outside world that the island was completely out of the Honduran politics, enjoying peace and harmony when the rest of the country suffered unrest and riots. The diversity of population taught local people the value of respect for other people’s beliefs and opinions, and whatever differences exit could easily be resolved over a shared bottle of beer.

You will fall in love with Utila and will not be able to say why. It goes under your skin. Whether it’s the slow pace of life, the friendliness, originality and warmth of its people, or a rustic charm hard to find in popular tourist destinations, does not matter. You will come back, almost everyone does, and you will be surprised how little has changed since your last visit, as though time passes less quickly in Utila.

Speaking in tongues

I was looking forward to learning Spanish in Honduras. Little did I know that, in Utila, most people speak English. Well, sort of English, and also a sort of Spanish. But, they do understand each other, and that should be what language is for. So, does it really matter that their grammar is poor, that they cannot spell if their lives depended on it, and that their vocabulary consists of large number of four-letter words?

This disregard for the language rules and for the beauty of well-constructed sentences, which surely makes poor Shakespeare turn in his grave, is a global phenomenon. We now mostly communicate using internet, and internet is an international playground. It is evidently creating its own language, some sort of retarded Esperanto ( an artificial language created in hope that it would replace all languages), vaguely based on English. Most of the web content is created by non-native English speakers, who produce the content in writing sweatshop factories for ridiculously small amounts of money. I know, I compete against them for freelance writing jobs. I am not a language snob. I worked all over the world, and learned many languages to a very poor level, just so that I would be able to communicate. So, I am willing to give allowances for the benefit of global communication and sharing information. But, things are getting out of control. Try this, for example, it is an excerpt from a blog on home security: "The first reason that this system is established in your mind to create. Once you know your> House is safe, so you will feel safe inside or outside your home. Do not worry about unwanted threats because you are at home protection." Are we communicating, or what? I am not blaming poor writers in Pakistan or India, who are trying to make a few bucks. I blame employers, who are willing to accept this appallingly poor level of writing in order to save money. There are people who write well, even in India or Pakistan, but they value their knowledge and would not work for peanuts. The consequences are far reaching. Our kids do not read books any more, they read blogs. They will learn this miserable English, thinking that it is fine. It is not fine. It is very unfine. Or maybe I am an intellectual snob, and what is happening to the language is the future and, very soon, while I am bitching from my jungle, people will start using emoticons instead of words to communicate.
Until next bitching session,
Your Marina
Ecohouseutila

How to do nothing and do it well - move to Utila and learn from experts

Doing nothing is a sin. In Christianity it is called ‘slothfulness’ and it is seriously frowned upon. Doing nothing means that you are not being a productive and successful member of the society. Operative word being ‘successful’, not happy. To be respected and admired, you have to be successful. You have to work and not waste too much time on idle pastime like sleeping, walking, reading, or just doing nothing.

Why do we feel guilty when we do nothing, when we are just sitting in the garden watching leaves rustle? We feel like we should be doing something. Our entire civilization is based on work. When we are on vacation, we cannot relax because we are not used to doing nothing.

Of course, this is not universal. This is mostly North American invention, and the disease spread to some circles of societies in other parts of the word. Otherwise, other cultures are doing much better. Italians and French have two hour-lunches, sipping their espressos for hours while watching beautiful girls or boys pass by. Latinos invented siesta – they take two hours break during the hottest part of the day and do nothing. Asians, especially Taoist and Buddhist, meditate and in general spend large amount of time contemplating things like their navels, or cherry blossoms and rock gardens. Africans will watch white mountaintops, or wildebeest migration, for hours.

So, what is wrong with us? Why do we have to travel around the world to learn from other cultures that doing nothing is, well, not doing nothing. It is part of normal spiritual life to contemplate, reflex, let senses do the work without the mind interfering. All we have to do is accept that we need spiritual life. It is not as easy as you think. Spiritual life brings to mind spirits and flaky aunt Thelma and her crystals. Spiritual is not part of Western culture. But, it better become soon, because we are burning out.

What kind of life this is: we work 35 hours a week (if we are not lawyers) mostly to make money. Then we use that money to buy cars, clothes, makeup, computer, Blackberry, briefcase - and who knows what else – in order to work. We spend so much time preparing for work and resting from work and thinking about work that we do not have any time to live. And then we die. So, we better learn to be idle from time to time, as a sort of interim period. Come to Utila and learn from the best.

Yours, slothfully,

Marina Ecohouseutila

How to make money from your hammock in Utila, or freelancing rocks

This is not the advice on how to make a lot of money, or how to become rich. I would not know a first thing about it. It is about how to make just enough money so that you do not have to worry about the price of baleadas, or how to pay your last tab at Tranquila. I have to thank my friend Nicole for discovering the delights of freelancing and for infecting Utila with it. There is a lot of talent on the island, we just did not know how to cash it. What can you do with the Masters Degree in Sustainable Development on the island? We also have architects, accountants, professors of various sciences, former Microsoft staff, engineers, and many other highly trained people who left their diplomas with their winter clothes in the storage wherever they came from.
So, what is required to become a money-earning freelancer? First, you have to actually have some skills. Preferably computer-related skills. Translations, writing, blogging, web design, graphic design, programming, and everything related to those, are easily done via internet, anywhere.
I have to warn you that it pays peanuts. Indians and Pakistanis are destroying the market by accepting ridiculous prices for their skills. They probably can live on $1 a day, so they accept to be paid $1 for a four-page essay, but we cannot. Not even in Utila. Fortunately, we can compete with quality, and there are still some, although not many, employers who demand quality (and can recognize it when they see it). Check out Freelancer.com, Elance. com and Guru.com, they do not require any advance payment. They charge percentage from your earnings, once you have some.
You realize now that you also have to have a computer, and internet connection is useful, but not vital. You can always order a cup of coffee and sit at the Driftwood and write your stuff. You might have to pay them a percentage one day, but by then you will probably be able to afford Frankie's $60 per month for the internet connection.
The best part of freelancing is that you can accept as many or as few assignments as you like. There are many jobs advertised as 'full time online help', requiring you to sit at the computer 8 hours a day and be someone's virtual secretary. If I wanted 9-5 job, I would have stayed in Canada and used my expensive education. The goal is to work on your terms, when you feel for it. There are days when I work whole day, or night, and others when I just want to play with my new kitten, or drink with Alabama or with Shane and Kirstin. We come back to what brought us to Utila: freedom to choose our way of life.
How much money can you make freelancing? Probably as much as you want, depending on how much you want to work. I am happy if I make $120 a week, that covers all the dog and cat food, my food, rum, coke, Belmont and occasional visit to Babaloo, my favorite watering hole, where my friend Dado bitches about the state of affairs in the world in general and serves decent Cuba Libre, which is posh name for rum and coke. You can have beer too if you insist.
Talk to you again soon
Your Marina, Ecohouseutila

Hit by a scorpion at 4 am on a small island - what to do?

Waking up at 4 am from a sharp pain is no way to wake up. It messes with our head. And that head, for some inexplicable reason, was sure that the pain was from a scorpion bite. I turned the light on, shook the sheets, and, sure enough, a plump, yellowish scorpion wiggled out. Until it met my slipper. Mind you,I am an environmentalist and do not kill any bugs unless in danger, but scorpions have really bad rep. I took the photo of the offender, or what was left of it, in case I had to choose a right anti-venom. Yeah, right. I live in Utila, off the northern coast of Honduras. Quite off the northern coast. About an hour off. Even looking for a doctor in Utila, at 4 am, was not an option. Waking up Dr. John at that time might be more dangerous than a scorpion bite. So I did what any reasonable Utilian would do: I made myself a drink and sat on the porch to watch the sunrise. Poured some rum on the bite, just in case. I also did what any technology-addicted Westerner would do: I turned the computer on and Googled Honduran scorpions. I found out that they can kill chihuahua, what was bad for chihuahuas, but not my immediate problem. I also learned that one does not die from the scorpion venom in Honduras, what was actually all I needed to know. But, curiosity won, and rum was doing its thing, I was feeling much more relaxed, so I also learned that the pain and swelling on the bite site disappears in few hours. In some extreme cases people feel numbness in limbs, tingling, and in extreme cases, eyes rolling and respiratory problems. None of which I felt, so I went to sleep. Lesson learned: 1.When in the tropics, check for scorpions under your sheets, in your shoes, under the towel and in all other dark places; 2. turn the light on when you go to the bathroom at night, so that you do not step on them by accident; 3. Never, ever be without rum.

Home sweet jungle home

After six months in Costa Rica, I am back where I belong: on Utila, my crazy little island, in my house with no walls. I am so happy, I go around smiling like an idiot. I am at peace with the world again.
Costa Rica adventure was a disappointment. I accepted a job with an environmental organization working on conservation of squirrel monkeys. Great job, charismatic little primates, new country, it all sounded great. I forgot a tiny detail: lifestyle. The town in which I lived, Manuel Antonio, is a tourist heaven, luxurious, beautiful, with no community spirit whatsoever. Hell, it did not even have a community. I spent six months there without making a single friend. Well, maybe two, my two lovely colleagues Juan Pablo and Isaias. After my son came to visit and found me watching day TV, I realized that I was miserable and that the monkeys will have to cope without me. I feel guilty about leaving Juan Pablo and Isaias to cope alone, we started several great projects and things were just picking up. On top of that, they have to cope with a Mickey Mouse Board of Directors, who are treating the organization as their own pet project. Sorry guys, I promised myself I will not put up with anything any more. Part of my alternative lifestyle. Too old for that. I am going to enjoy every day as it comes, as there are not too many left.So, I am back in my garden, moving soil, replanting heliconias,cleaning leaves and smiling at the world. My dogs and cats are content too and follow me around to make sure I am not doing anything interesting without them.

The dream of a child

When I was a little girl, my dream was to live on a little island in the tropics and run a library. I would have a garden full of flowers, dogs and cats would sleep in the sun and people would drop by to pick up a book, have a chat or a cup of tea.


Many, many years later, many jobs, countries, carriers, marriages and dreams later, I find myself on a little island in the Caribbean, in a little house in the lush tropical garden. Two dogs and one cat sleep in the sun, and friends stop by to pick up a book or have a cup of tea.

The dream turned into a reality. Not all at once, not even completely deliberately. We do forget our childhood dreams. Sometimes we believe that they are not possible, often that we cannot make them happen, or other things become more important. Life gets in the way of dreams.

Getting old does not have too many perks, but doing what you wanted your whole life is one of them. There is no more carrier we care about. We found out that success is relative. Things do not fill life, only space. Possessions are anchors around our necks. Money does not matter since we need so little. People we love are scattered all over the world and often the only way we know what they are doing is by checking the Facebook.

What we do need is peace. We need life to be simple and we need every day to be filled with what we love. We do not have to put up with anything.

We do need a bit of money. Even the simplest life has its material limitations. Having an internet connection is expensive. Dog food is expensive. On the island, electricity is expensive. Making a money while living simple life on a small island behind god's back is not easy, but it is possible. More about that later.