So this year we had to carry on the New Years Eve tradition and throw a beach side pool party, except, this year we ordered a pig and after having 3 of our friends offer to cook it, Carlos won out and became the New Years chef.

He prepped the pig the night before and slow roasted it in a China Box for most of the 31rst, the result was amazing.   We had wonderful guests staying with us, our friends joined us bearing side dishes and even some new friends joined the party.   It was an amazing night at the Diving Pelican Inn topped off with sipping champagne and watching the Palma Real fireworks from our beach side sundeck.   Thanks you so much to everyone who attended and specially Carlos the master chef.

See you all New Years Eve next year.
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Fernando and Carlos worked late into the night Saturday to ensure we would have a temporary wall to hold out some of the rain and it worked, in was nice and dry in the new Barefoot Saloon and the Diving Pelican Champa.

Lots of friends, chipped in to help serve up the free appetizers we offered throughout the day including old neighbors and friends from Canada, Larry and Linda Forsythe . Linda was the wonderful hostess as she always is and Larry spent loads of time behind the camera gathering feedback for us.   They too own a beautiful resort in Trujillo, Tranquility Bay.  Some of our other friends from Canada, (and guests at the time), also helped out immensely in the kitchen, Lesly was a pro at lasanga preparation and Corry cooked up a boat;load of chicken wings and Jerk Chicken.

Thank you to everyone who attended despite the rain and wind, make sure to return on a Sunny day to really enjoy the Barefoot Saloon.  We will be open 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm everyday except Thursday, (weather permitting during the wet season).

Hondurans in general are not in a rush and they don’t expect anyone else to be in one either. If you’ve been keeping up with the posts you’ll see that the pool took a little longer than expected, the Barefoot Saloon was supposed to open in September, not going to happen!

The Saloon will open soon we are planning the Grand Opening for October 16.  We are pretty well ready to go, we have the bar, the menus, the staff all we are waiting for is the furniture and the beer coolers.

Poolside at the Barefoot Saloon

I have no doubt the furniture will arrive in plenty of time, as Oscar has not let us down before, Oscar is a local wood worker who had done all of the new wood work in some of the rooms, the front gate and in the bar.  He is meticulous in the work he does and that’s why everything takes time.

Now the Cervesa guys that is another story.  When we first ordered the fridges, they arrived within days, however both refrigerators looked like they’d fallen off the truck a couple times not to mention the rust inside.  I’m sorry but, when you’ve put as much effort into building a quality pool, bar and inn as we have, putting used appliances in is just not an option, we want the best for all of our guests. That was about 4 weeks ago and we’ve been waiting for the new replacements ever since.  Every time Donal (our bilingual employee calls, he gets the same answer…, Manana, we promise it will be there Manana. So I’ll keep my fingers crossed that today is Manana and that we can successfully open in 2 weeks time.

The way I see it, the laid back, no rush attitude, is probably what a lot of us have been looking for or should possibly adopt, especially if you move to Honduras

We had some amazing dinners and spend some time with great people and didn’t lose too much at the blackjack tables, so over all it was a great Vegas trip.  However, I soon came to realize how spoiled we are living in Honduras.  While lounging at the pool one afternoon we ordered a couple of margaritas, nothing fancy just a regular margarita, not a double, just a regular.  I just about died when they brought us the bill,  $33 for 2 drinks (including tax and tip) $33!!

Wow, has it been that long since I’ve been in Vegas?  Nope it’s just that the cost of living in Honduras has spoiled me and I really can’t fathom how USA businesses can get away with charging so much money for things that we can get down here at a fraction of the cost (taxes perhaps?)   Just using the 2 cocktails as an example, those 2 same Margaritas, at our beach bar, The Barefoot Saloon would cost under $10 for both, including tax and tip!  Yet just another answer to the question we so frequently get, “Why Honduras?” $5 Margaritas, that’s why

So if you’re looking for an inexpensive beach vacation in paradise, come and visit us at the Diving Pelican Inn, on the beach at Sambo Creek, Honduras.

Happy Travels,

Michelle

Our beach bar “The Barefoot Saloon” will be complete and open to the public in September.  Enjoy the pictures below of our new swimming pool, we have planted some grass and tropical plants will be delivered this week to give the patio a much more tropical feel.  If you like what you see please share it with all your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Make sure to fill out your information in the form to the right to be invited to our grand opening of the Barefoot Saloon and be the first to receive special discounts and promotions.

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With only 2 weeks left it took 3 truckloads of water and 3 more days running our hose to fill up the 15,000 gallon pool.  The waterfall is almost complete, and the pumps are working fine.  The only change we need to make is the faux finish under the waterfall, as you’ll see from the pictures, the sand color finish we put on, turned out to be Arizona sand color and really doesn’t match anything else. No worries though, as I type this, the guys are busy applying brown acid stain to the concrete to make every thing blend better.

The Barefoot Saloon Appetizer Bar is on schedule to be open for mid August.  Even though the bar is not officially in place you can still get a mean margarita or anything else you heat desires while staying with us.

Make sure to enter your information in the form to the right to receive updates, discounts and news about our special promotions.

*Click on any image to enlarge and start the slideshow*

I had no idea all that building a concrete pool entailed, specially in the ever shifting Caribbean sand.  Half way through the week when the re-bar had been laid and most of it tied, the unthinkable happened…, all of a sudden and with no warning the East wall just gave way and started to collapse into the pool.

This crew of 10 had been here until after 8:00 the previous night trying to get the pool ready for the pour today.  Unfortunately with the collapse of the wall it was going to be another long day for the crew.  The great thing about these guys is, they do everything with a great spirit, they may not always work fast but they work hard and always with a smile and jokes flying around, (granted I don’t have a clue what they are saying but they say it with a smile) They all arrive outside the gate every morning by 6:50 am and are ready to start promptly at 7:00 and leave no earlier than 4:00 pm.  Most days these past 2 weeks they have stayed to work late as things needed to get done. Twice they stayed past dark, the day before the pour they stayed until midnight, arriving the next morning at 5:30 am to get ready for the pour and the other 10 workers that would be arriving.

At this rate it looks like we will be able to start accepting guests the beginning of July, make sure to fill out the form on the right to receive updates and be informed about special promotions and events.

First thing that we needed to do was remove the razor wire and repaint the fence, we also felt that seeing the beach from inside the walls was a must so not only are we adding a 350 square foot view deck but also we have removed the beach wall and replaced it with a fence instead.  Here are some before and after shots midway through construction.

At the end of construction we will have a 32 X 16 foot oval pool with waterfall and jacuzzi jets surrounded by a stamped concrete deck and the Barefoot Saloon will be moved to the beach side and become a fully operational beach bar serving unique and delicious appetizers and a variety of tropical drinks with a fully stocked bar.

On the East side of the property will be a stamped concrete patio with built in fire pit and grill, surrounded with grass and lush tropical plants.  Instead of being greeted with a rusted gate and razor wire in the front, the new entrance will have a hand carved wooden door that will give guests sitting in the breezeway, complete privacy from the street.

We are also redoing the rooms, both the mountain and ocean room have fresh light paint that opens up the rooms and makes them feel more spacious.  We also replaced the old furniture in the Mountain Room with made to order hand carved furniture.  Our intention is for our guests to have the BEST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE when visiting Honduras.

Make sure to enter your name and email to be kept informed of the progress as well as our special Grand New Opening Specials.

Recently we saw two parrots in a local feed store that were a bonded pair and only seven months old, Jay had fallen in love with the parrots at Tranquility Bay so we had decided that we would also have a pair of parrots when the time was right, well I guess this is as good a time as any.

So that day we bought the parrots and an extra large cage (that cost more than both birds combined (we definitely got “Gringoed” there) “Getting Gringoed is a common term for they saw you coming, many people will charge one price for Hondurans and a second price for Gringos”

So we’ve had the birds “Peanut and Jose” for almost a month now, they are very sweet to watch as they cuddle and preen each other daily.  We’ve gone through a few training bumps.  For example, Jose thought it was hysterical to charge me and bite my feet when I got too close to his girlfriend, he’d bite me then run away laughing.  You haven’t seen anything till you’ve seen a charging parrot.

Recently though we’ve discovered that they become very cuddly at night.  So in the evenings when we settle down to watch a show or a DVD we’ll bring both parrots out for an evening cuddle.  Sometimes they will both lie on one of us or we’ll end up with one each and watch them fall asleep as we pet them.  I never thought parrots lay down, but Jose gets himself cuddled right into me and no kidding will fall asleep laying down.

In a million years I would never have thought parrots would be a cuddly addition to the family but they are more so then even our cats or dogs.

So when you come to visit us at the Diving Pelican Beachfront Inn make sure to spend some time with Peanut and Jose, they’ll be hanging our at the Barefoot Saloon beside the pool.