The Roatan Bruce Show

My first Super Bowl was, to say the least, an incredible experience. It brought back childhood memories when my dad took me to New York Giant football games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Back then, the teams were coached by guys like Allie Sherman. The quarterbacks names were Charley Connerly, Y.A Tittle and Fran Tarkenton. Players like Spider Lockhart, Dick Lynch, Homer Jones and Pete Gogolak were the heroes then. It also meant going for years without world championship, quality teams.

But just how did this Honduran radio host and writer for “Honduras This Week” end up in Phoenix attending the game? It all started when members of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (in Arizona, U.S.A.), one of the largest county sheriff offices in the U.S., came here to help improve and train police on both the mainland and on The Bay Islands. I invited them on my radio show twice to talk about all the good and selfless work they were doing to help the security and safety on our island as part of their international Partnership in Service and Justice Program.

After the shows, they reminded me that the Super Bowl was going to be in their county in 2008 and they were one of the key security organizations for the event. They invited me to visit them in Phoenix and said they would help me arrange press credentials to cover the game. That was less than a year ago. It never left my mind that I might be able to attend my first Super Bowl.

When they returned with a another team of police officers six months later, the second group also asked me if I wanted to go, and of course, I thought about going again. But as it got closer to Super Bowl time, it was looking less and less possible. At the time, I was just getting 106.5 FM on its feet after taking over as manager just weeks before – the timing was not right.

Giants VS Packers

That was about the time I watched the Giants play the Packers on that freezing cold day in Green Bay two weeks before the Super Bowl. I never expected the Giants to win, much less that the Giants would be traveling to Phoenix to play the big game. Even after I saw them win the NFC Championship, it still didn’t fully dawn on me that they were in the big game until minutes later when I heard the announcer say that the Giants were headed to the Super Bowl.

I quickly called my contact in Phoenix to see what had to be done to go. After several calls, I learned the next day that the NFL cleared my press credentials. I decided to take a big leap of faith, call the airlines and make my reservations. Two days earlier when I first called, the tickets were one price. That night, instead of being more expensive, they were $150 less. Almost a no-brainer: I purchased them.

Uh oh!

Five days later and the night before I was to fly, I got a call telling me that although the NFL did clear my credentials, there was a problem getting all the necessary security clearances. Here I was, airline tickets in hand and uncertain whether I would actually get into the game. What should I do - take this chance to do something my dad never got to do in his lifetime, or stay home?

I went to sleep telling my wife I wasn’t going to go. I woke up from my sleep the next morning after dreaming what it would feel like not going to what it felt like if I took a leap of faith. Against all intellectual reasoning, the overwhelming feeling was to just go and give it a shot.

Going to Phoenix

I arrived in Phoenix late Saturday night, mere hours before the Sunday night kick-off. The next day, a friend took me down to see another mutual friend and we were treated to a wonderful party with terrific food. He also whispered in my ear that he would come out at half time to give me his ticket so I could at least see half of the game.

What a relief - and what a guy! My dream came true. I was going to the Super Bowl. It didn’t matter that it was going to be the second half. I was going and couldn’t have been happier!

With our VIP pass, we were escorted through a private entrance to a great restaurant and ate, compliments of the house - some of the largest, best-tasting shrimp I ever had (must have come from Honduran waters) along with sliced tenderloin along and lots of other food I had not tasted in a long, long time.

In the middle of the meal, my friend received a phone call. He said, “Come on…let’s go!”

I looked up with a mouth full of tasty morsels managing to say, “And leave this great food?”

He said, “Yes, right now. We have to go!”

“Oh my God,” I thought to myself. I gobbled up as much as I could and we left. “Where are we going?” I asked.

Going? Going?…Yes, Going!

He told me there was a chance there might be a donated ticket for me to attend the entire game. I tried not to get too excited, but it was difficult. When we arrived, a ticket was put in my hands. I could not believe my eyes. My intuition did not let me down. I was going to my first Super Bowl game!

After a vigorous pat-down, I walked past security guards. Upon entering the new University of Phoenix Stadium, I found my aisle, number 139. I looked down at the ticket for the first time. It said row 20. I looked down at the row I was standing at. It was row 59. I kept walking lower and lower, further and further down until I reached row 20. I looked down at the field and said to myself, the seat I just got five minutes before were for 20 rows from the field!

I found myself sitting in a VIP section behind the goalposts. A lady walked right over to me and slapped a red bracelet on my wrist just as I saw the kickoff. She told me I could drink and eat all I wanted. The restaurant food was just below the stairway. When I finally sat down, the long tables in front of each of the rows of seats in the area was loaded with fresh, buttered popcorn and barrels of candy including M&M’s, both plain and peanut, nuts, and just about any other snack one could ever want. I was feelin’ pretty good!

Experience of a Lifetime

In a section of mostly Giants fans, I was sitting on one of three Super Bowl cushions that eventually came home with me. I was truly in ‘heaven on earth’ and heard San Francisco Hall of fame quarterback Steve Young say the same thing several times over the huge sound system and scoreboard when he described his career during commercial time-outs.

The 7 -3 Patriots lead at halftime was the second lowest halftime score in Super Bowl history, mostly because of the excellent defense by both teams.

Halftime was another memorable experience, but not because of the halftime show. Before I left on the trip, I had sent some e-mails telling fellow football fans where I was headed. My oldest high school friend, Ken Hale, wrote back telling me he was going too, and would be in section 115. So at half time, I took a walk to look for him.

Finding my Long Time High School Friend

When I finally found section 115 located clear across field, I tried to rush by the attendant to look for Kenny. It didn’t work. She stopped me and said I could not go down there without my ticket. I said ‘please?’ She said…’no!’ I told her my ticket cost more than the tickets in that section and said I was looking for an old high school friend who I hadn’t seen in years. I pleaded my case, “You can watch me go up and down the aisle. If I don’t see him, I will be right up.”

She looked at me for a few seconds and said, “Okay.”

I knew if Kenny was there I would find him, because he went prematurely grey at a fairly young age. So I looked for the guy with grey hair. On the way down, I didn’t see anyone that looked like him. Being a little disappointed, I started back up from field level until I saw someone who kind of looked like him. I hadn’t seen him in 15 years, so I was not sure. I yelled Kenny’s name across several people to see if it was him. That person who turned to look at me stared at me for a few seconds and then flashed big smile. I found my friend!

We had a great talk during the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers half time concert. With another near miracle under my belt, I walked back to my seat and watched the second half, wondering if the Giants were going to stay with those Patriots after they woke up and started playing. I was not confident.

Back to the Second Half

The Giants continued to play incredible defense, as they had most of the season. They won the last 10 games in a row away from home without a loss. That was an all-time NFL record. Then, as the “wild card” team, they had to remain on the road for three final tough games against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay to get to the Super Bowl.

In the second half, the Giants scored first with a touchdown to make it 10-7. In the fourth quarter, the Patriots scored to make it 14-10 with just a little over two minutes to go. The Giants needed a miracle, a prayer and a touchdown or they would lose.

The next two football minutes were the most exciting I had ever witnessed. The Giants received the kick-off and seconds later, the receiver was tackled immediately behind the 20 yard line. Eli Manning, the youngest of the quarterback Manning’s, would had to pull every ounce of skill he had to pull this off. Big brother Payton won last year’s Super Bowl against the Chicago Bears. Who would believe that one year later, baby brother Eli had two minutes to match that incredible achievement with one of his own. The Giants would have to go over 80 yards to do it. The Giants’ prospects looked dim.

After an initial terrible desperation pass, the young, inexperienced Giant quarterback took a deep breath and started his attack down field. He threw pass after pass, first down after first down, one miraculous play after another.

A Play Never to be Forgotten in Super Bowl History

The one unforgettable moment in this year’s Super Bowl? It was when Manning came away from a pack of marauding, hungry Patriot attackers, hands grabbing and pulling at his uniform, only to escape and complete an almost impossible pass downfield, the pass that led to an easy touchdown completion to put the Giants in the lead!

The stage was set for another New England Patriot exciting, last second win. They needed a field goal to tie, a touchdown to win. I had seen them do just that several times in the last year or so. I was just waiting for the onslaught to begin. It never happened.

Michael Strahan and gang sacked Brady. One pass after another failed to connect with receivers. Another Patriot miracle was not meant to be.

Giants Win!!

Eli Manning won the game with pinpoint passes to receivers who caught them with fingertip precision. As the clock ticked down, the stadium, filled with well over 40,000 Giant fans, started its celebration. It was an overwhelming experience. Moments later, Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” brought down the house. Tears streaked down faces. Was it true? Yes it was….the New York Giants were the 2008 Super Bowl champs!

Christmas Extravaganza on Saturday, December 22nd at Parrot Tree was a great success!

Another huge success for Helen, Ana and Marion! The event was a great success! Very much the social event of the year. $10,000 alone was raised by the pre-event auction. Delicious food and drink, incredible orchestra from Teguc, wonderful and friendly people. If RECO only did its part and was able to keep the power on.

With everyone in the family happy and healthy, and with business looking as exciting and productive as ever for us, we were able to relax and enjoy the nicest weather in the world this holiday season. Party after party, event after event experienced clear skies and comfortable evening temperatures.

Joel and Anna Celebrate a Birthday and an Anniversary
at Palmetto Bay Plantation

Our Incredible Trip to NYC!
To put this next part in perspective, read the section called Early August 2007 ...first! below

We had an incredible three week vacation in the New York City Metropolitan area. Two of those weeks were supposed to be in Canada. A couple of days with my Canadian family for a reunion in Montreal and then two weeks in Toronto for Joy and Sean's wedding. We worked for almost a year to Kenia's papers, but to no avail.

The bright side was very bright. We loved our time in NYC. It all started with our layover in Atlanta after flying off the island. We planned an overnight layover there to be with our friend Tricia McCannon. She is an international known speaker and author and we always love the time we spend together with her.

It had been five years ago that we saw her last when she came to Los Angeles to attend a convention she spoke at. She took us to an incredible Chinese Restaurant right from the plane. I had something I was craving for months and months. Shrimp and Lobster Sauce and it was incredible! Thank you Tricia for taking us to that place.

Then we stayed up most of the night to make the best of every minute we had with Tricia! When the sun rose, she readied her big heart shaped bathtub for us to take our bubble bath, something we don't have on the island. Were we all in their together? No...Maybe I waited for Tricia to finish her bath with the girls before I stepped in. With all the bubbles coming from the tub...well...it was a lot of fun. What a wonderful home you have. Wow!

We then flew off to La Guardia Airport to the Big Apple. I didn't miss NY at all, but once we got there, we quickly remembered why we loved living there for so long. Thanks goes out to Lorin's brother Keith, his wife Sherry and Kenia's Cousin, 4 year old Brianna,

for letting us share their space with them for the days we did. They live in Queens right off the "E" and "F" subway lines, so we were just 20 to 30 minutes from Manhattan anytime we wanted to be there. We found ourselves staying in Queens the first few days we arrived because there was so much to explore there.

For me, we immediately found a great little sushi bar we ate at three or four times while we were there. It was pizza places, The Family (Italian) Restaurant, Chinese food places. We can't forget the great Italian Ices place down the block. For Lorin is was...shopping. Lot's of stores in that area.

The first friends we saw were Max and Marcie. They live in Bayside and the timing was right to see them because they were both off from their school jobs being that it was August, so they came to see us. Marcie played with Kenia in the local park down the block until they were both exhausted. That was a really nice time. So good to see you two!

Lorin's friend Donna and her mate Phil came in from Port Jefferson to visit. We had such a good time together in a short period of time, we decided to make more plans with them at the end of our tip.

On our first trip to New York City, we stayed at Deborah and Peter's beautiful apartment on Central Park and 71st. It is always a treat to stay there with you Deborah. Thank you. It was also when we saw my sister Joan (Deborah's mom) who was on a summer vacation. She was staying in The Berkshire Mountains and just came back from a two day trip to Montreal to see our relatives. Unfortunately, she did it without us since we were not able to bring Kenia into the country.

On the first weekend there, we went to one of the cities famous street fairs. It was a lot of fun. Both Keith's family and ours spend the day together there. We ended the day at a delicious Japanese restaurant.

We were heartbroken not to be able to attend Joy and Sean's wedding on Sunday, August 19th, but we made the best of it.

Monday was the day we got to spend with my niece, Kenia's Cousin Deborah. We went to Central Park and rode the rides at the amusement park, went to the Zoo and had Good Humor Ice Cream bars. Yum!

On Tuesday, we went to The Museum of Natural History. It was located just a few blocks away, but it was the longest few blocks we had walked in a long time. That was the day it rained and went down on record as being the coldest August day ever. The high was only 55. New York City had never seen a high that …low…ever. It ended up being the tail end of one of the hurricanes that hit Texas earlier in the week.

That night, we saw Ray Solomon, my best friend from high school. It was great to see you and Maria! We all went to one of the finest Chinese restaurants in the city. What a great guy you are Ray! We picked up exactly where we left off...as good friends. Hope to see you down on the island soon!

The next day, we walked around the upper west side. We then went to the One Lincoln Plaza building where my old friend Lanie Richberger was working at Sesame Street for 18 years. On the way up to see her, we asked the doorman downstairs to announce us. He looked at me and said, "You used to live here. I remember you!" Well, I could not believe my ears and eyes. This young fellow remembered me when I lived in that very same building on the 32nd floor in Manhattan 20 years ago. That he was still working that same job was a miracle, but his remembering me made my day!

That night, we met up with Lanie and Katina. I lived with Katina in the One Lincoln Plaza building for a few years, but had not seen her in well over 15 years or more. They both looked great! We had a wonderful dinner at a fun pizza place on the upper West Side.

The next day was kinda special for me in a different kind of way. I was able to apply for and get press credentials to cover the New York Met game at Shea Stadium. I was on the field with the players. I was able to interview several of the visiting team San Diego Padres for a story I was to do later for the Honduras This Week about playing organized little League as a kid and how important it was for them. We are attempting to do whatever we can to get as many kids playing Little League as possible and I am hoping this story will stimulate parents to get their kids involved.

On Friday the 24th, we I met up with Scott Fried, a nationally known speaker who we met when he came to speak to island school kids about HIV and AIDS prevention. He lives in the Village and let us all stay there one night that weekend. Thanks Scott!

That night, we were back in Queens to celebrate Sherry's birthday. Lorin's mom Joan surprised little Kenia by coming to Queens from South Florida for the weekend to join in the celebration.

Saturday night, we had dinner with my college friend Scott Deutchman and his wife Mindy at a trendy restaurant on the lower west side called Central Parc. We enjoyed our time together. Good to see you!

On Sunday, we were to take a bus to Atlantic City for a few days. That was when I called Ralph Portnoy, my best friend from college. He lives about 30 minutes from Atlantic City in Lakewood, NJ. I told him we were going to be just a short distance from him and asked if he would come and see us. He said, why are you going there? Why don't you stay with us? So we did!

We had three incredible days in New Jersey. We hadn't seen each other in 15 years. We picked up exactly where we left off. Food was a nice part of our friendship back then. It didn't hurt that he knew the best pizza places on the east coast and we went to two of them the first night there. One for thin slice, one for Sicilian. Delicious!

Monday night, we had dinner with Ralph and Annie and another college friend of ours from Northeastern, Gary Mach and his wife Amy. We had Lobster dinner at the Lobster House in Point Pleasant. It was the first Maine lobster I had in decades. What a party we had. We had such a great time together, we committed to spending the next day together at Gary's house in Cherry Hill. What an incredible home you have Gary. What a great party we had that day into the night. It was three days we will not forget. We had such a good time with you all, we will be going back again next year.

It didn't stop there. After we took our bus back to Manhattan, we walked around and shopped a bit before seeing two friends I first got to know in the late fifties. Hard to believe, but I have known Jeff Jarow from Camp Winston in Monticello, NY, from 1958 and Richie Turk, who owns one of the most successful and well known

independent record shops in Manhattan, starting a year later in 1959. I have stayed in touch with Richie over the years whenever I was in the city just by coming by his shop. I stayed friends with Jeff when we both lived in Los Angeles. We had a great time the few hours we spent together.

The next day, we took the Long Island Railroad out to Port Jefferson to see Donna and Phil. There were two highlights. Other than the quality time we spent together, feeding the ducks was one, the other was the lobster dinner we had. It may not have been in that order. It was "Lobster Night."I had a 1 ½ pound lobster on a tall bed of steamers complete with a hot cup of broth to dip them into, all for $14. It was the best seafood dinner I have had in years.

After spending the next night with our family in Queens, it was off to La Guardia airport at 4 am to catch a 6 am flight to Atlanta where we got on a 9:30 flight back to Roatan where we arrived by 11 am. Whew! That's all folks!

After months of preperation and waiting for Kenia's final adoption papers, we were finally able to secure Kenia a Honduran Passport. With that in hand, we were then able to get her an American Visa so she could travel anywhere in the world with her new name, Kenia Maya Starr. To get that Passport and Visa was.....exhusting, time and money consuming.

What did we have to do to get Kenia's American Passport and Visa in her name? We had to take a two hour boat ride, a three hour and then a four hour bus trip to the state capital to get her an American passport. It was Lorin and Kenia's fourth trip, my first.

Our initial efforts to get an American passport that day were soundly defeated. The first woman we approached at the passport office was very helpful. She wanted to do whatever she could to make the difficult process possible. After filling out several documents, she asked for pictures showing the three of them from day one. When it was announced that Kenia was adopted, this kind woman turned several shades whiter. She quickly gathered their papers and said, "I cannot help you! That is a totally different matter. You must go over and around the corner," she said.

When I asked if that was going to make that much of a difference and prevent us from getting the passport that day, she said, "please go over there. I can no longer help you."

When we got to the Homeland Security window, we were told that I needed to uproot my family and fly to the United States where we must go to a city with a Homeland Security office. We said, "there had to be some misunderstanding. You don't mean that a hard working family from an island in Western Caribbean was going to have to leave their home and jobs, pay thousands of dollars to fly to the US (airfares for three averaging $700 to $800 per person), pay for a hotel for a week, rent a car to drive to where they needed to go, travel to a place with their child that was in an unfamiliar "downtown" area and possibly unsafe, where they would have to wait in long, slow moving lines, fill out dozens and dozens of more official papers and documents, just to find out that they would need to return again with several more documents that could possibly be unavailable or in a storage room thousands of miles away…to get a passport? Say this could not be so?! Well, it is so!

Well we thought, we already have a Honduras passport with a five year American tourist Visa, now that the final adoption papers were finally in hand, and the American Embassy is there to serve its people, as long as we were here, the American Embassy could certainly change the name on the Visa to the new adopted name?

The answer to what we thought was a simple process was an astounding no! Why? We could not simply change the name on the Visa, we must travel home the way we came, go to the bank, pay $100 dollars to get a new appointment, apply for an appointment that the Embassy was not offering for several months, just to finally return on another 10 hour trip with the three year old child (or/and else pay $500 in airfares), $200 in hotels, taxis and food.

There has to be something wrong with a system that penalizes and punishes good people wanting to adopt children from disadvantaged areas. This process needs to be looked at once to help people with this process, not punish them.

OK..OK...with American Visa in hand and all our papers for Kenia's adoption finalized and every paper the Canadian website requested in order, I flew from Tegucigalpa (where we got the American Visa) to Guatemala City where the closest Canadian Embassy was. Lorin and Kenia took the 4 hour bus ride back to San Pedro Sula where I was to meet them later that day.

We did this so we could attend the wedding of one of our closest friends. Shelly and Bayla Katz had a daughter Joy who we loved. We were invited to their wedding over eight months before. We would not miss her wedding to Sean for anything. We planned a two week vacation in Toronto and one week in New York City.

We bought tickets to NYC months in advance knowing that from there, once we got off the island with good airfares, we could easily make our way to Canada. Well, that was a good thought. .

I traveled to the Canadian Embassy, stood on a line for three hours and was told they could not give me an answer that day. I had to leave and wait for their decision. Days before we were to fly, they informed us that we did not have one paper that they wanted even though papers that we had were more than enough. They rejected Kenia's request to visit their country.

That was how we ended up in New York City for three weeks in August. We still do not have Kenia's Passport.

On March 4th, Kenia and Lorin went to South Florida. A week later, I met up with them. We had an outstanding time. I loved the food...thanks Mitch, and for the hospitality...thanks sister Joan, Scott and Judy. We went to a spring traning game, did lot's of shopping and just had a great time.

On March 1st, we celebrated Kenia's 3rd birthday at the Bay Island Beach Resort in Sandy. It was wonderful to celebrate her birthday with so many good friends and at Cam and Ted's resort.

On February 27th, our lawyer came to the door with papers in his hand. It took a grueling two and one half years, but with the right people helping us, we did the near impossible. Two days before Kenia's third birthday, we received the final adoption papers. We are finally and officially a family. We thank everyone for all their support and patience for others. They just had to take the papers back for final registering.

Happy Holidays and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Years in 2007 to everyone around the world!

The holidays seem so joyous here especially because of the general peaceful and tranquil nature of the island. It doesn't hurt that the rainy season, give or take a few northers over the coming months, is basically over and we have been experiencing late spring like weather here. Temperatures have been in the lower 80's during the day with cooler, comfortable mid to lower 70's at night. In other words, the weather could not be better. What a great way to celebrate the holidays and the New Year!

It is a wonderful feeling to be invited to so many celebrational events. I guess it doesn't hurt to have such a fun and loving child like Kenia who gets invited to so many childrens events. She saw Santa Claus several times this year. Twice, Santa came on a boat!

Kenia temporarily pre-occupied by her candy cane

Our good friends from Toronto, Shelly and Bayla are here. Their family was visiting the week before and we had a great time showing Avi, Marlene, Jen and Dahlia some of the best parts of Roatan. Our snorkeling experience in West Bay Beach left lasting memories for them. A tiny little bite was left for me by one of the little fishes following us along. This after I consoled the girls on my little speech before we got into the water to calm their fears. I said, "I have never even heard of a fish biting anyone in the four years that I have been snorkeling there." Well, there ya go. They still wanted to venture on after I got the little bite.

We saw some incredible fish. One large fish with neon blue strips I never saw before. Weeks before, after going our at West Bay Beach, as I was finishing the snorleing trip and was in four feet of water right before the beach, two five foot baracuda's circled around me investigating. It was interesting to say the least, un-nerving after awhile. I broke the stare down by heading back on the short trip remaining back to the shore.

We lit candles, made potatoe pancakes, they handed out chocolate money and we played the draidle.

Pictured here with our good friend Cam O'Brien with whom we have shared so many wonderful moments this past year.

We look forward to what 2007 will bring us. Wishing you and your family a peaceful, kind, loving, healthy and prosperous New Year!

From September 19th until October 10th, Lorin, Kenia and I went on vacation to Italy. Spending three weeks in one of the most interesting countries in the world with a family was quite an experience. After a long 14 hour flight to Milan, we took a train to one of the most mysterious and spirited locations in the world.

It is hard to describe what we saw there. Let's just say that for the last thirty years, people have been getting together in this community to live life in peace, tranquility and with other like minded people. For the last thirty years, people in the community have been working inside a hollow in a mountainside to build one of the most incredible temples on the face of the earth. We were supposed to spend two days there. We ended up staying four days and loved every minute of it.

An outdoor temple at Damanhur.

What surprised us the most was the quality of the Italian food we ate at what they called Agrotourism restaurants. When I tell you we had the most incredible five course meals we ever experienced. This was one of the appetizers. I was a plate of Octopus marinated in olive oil. o m g!

Everywhere we went, people fell in love with Kenia. She now has more aunts and grandma's than you could shake a stick at. We made many friends there including these girls from Croatia.

The morning we left Damanhur, it was cold and rainy. Brrrrrrrrr. The people working at Damanhur were so helpful to us. Many thanks to Trisha McCannon for her assistance there. They took us into town where we caught a train to Cinca Terra (Five Towns).

We heard so much about it from several people, we had to go and we are glad we did.
It is five small towns along the Italian Riviera. Just beautiful!

We stayed in Monterrosso. The first day there, it rained for the first half of the day. That was the last rain we would see for the entire three weeks. The town in this picture is called Vernazza.

I swore I would not show you any more food on this page, but I just could not resist showing you the pasta bowl we had served to our table. This was just for me. Shall I go into it? Ok...Ok...Seafood pasta with muscles, clams, shrimp and squid. We had this meal in a place called Ciak, a popular restaurant in old Monterrosso.

We made friend with Mischa and Tiki in Damenhur. When got off the train after visiting one of the five towns, there was Mischa and Tike getting off a train from Damanhur.

From there, we left for Tuscany, an area that is as beautiful as we heard it would be. We rented a place for a week along the countryside. From there, we took day trips in a Alpha Romeo that we rented for the week.

Kenia is now a "Pizza Mavin." They had some of the best pizza in a town called Siena.

More than one day is needed to see al that Rome has to offer, but that was all we spent.
From there, we traveled by train to one of the most incredible cities in the world, Venice!

A highlight for us was the Gondola ride we took the very last night we were there.

We made great friends with a newlywed couple who lived just outside of Toronto.
Mario and Lisseth made our stay in Venice more memorable.
I found out it was a better experience to travel with others.

I am really excited about making the change to a new studio. 106.5 FM has done everything they promised me before we officially agreed on the change. They built me a new studio. They have upped the signal from 700 watts to 1000 watts making it the most powerful signal in the area. They just bought a new station in La Ceiba where the show now plays. I am now able to invite anyone on the show I would like. I am much more relaxed and having a lot of fun at the new station.

I can take calls on the air. I was not able to do this before. For the first time, a caller can ask questions of the guests. This will make for a much more spontaneous and exciting show!

For the entire first month starting August 7th, I did not play one single song that has previously aired on Roatan radio while still playing all the bests oldies artists that people all know and love.

People are very excited as I am about the change. Most every sponsor came along with me and there are several more key new sponsors that will soon play a very important role on the show.

On July 28th, I did my last show on Magic 107,7 FM. My special guest that show was the Congressman Jerry Hynds.

The first week from August 7th to the 12th, was"old home" week! Everyone was invited to stop by the studio from 10 am to 1 pm to say hello and spend a few minutes sharing a little about themselves. Many sponsors, supporters, listeners and friends came by.

The new station is located opposite the Roatan airport and behind the smaller rent a car companies.
Feel free to come on by and say hello anytime during those hours!

Easter week 2006, my sister Joan came to Roatan. She is the first relative to visit our island in the over three years that we have been living here. We had an incredible time. There was a full schedule of events for her including eating at several of the best restaurants, swimming with dolphins, snorkeling in West Bay Beach, a world class fireworks display, Semana Santa (Easter) parties and loads of incredible sightseeing opportunities.

The week with my sister Joan could not have been any better. The weather was perfect. We had so much fun. It was great to travel the island with her and introduce her to all our friends. Joan, please come down again soon! You all have an open invitation to vist our island paradise.

Our friends Shelly, Bayla, their daughter Joy and her fiancee Sean from Toronto came down. They built Bayside, a beautiful development at the end of West Bay Beach in the last year or so. We had a great week with them. Sorry to see them go!

Kenia has a new friend in town.
It seems like the owners of a Guatamalian gift shop
have a little girl that appears to be a twin spirit of Kenia's.

At the end of February, Lorin, Kenia and I went to the states for what seems to be an annual visit for me, a semi annual visit for Lorin. We went to celebrate several occasions. It was Kenia's second birthday and second visit to South Florida. The first one you read about before when we told you how difficult it was to get her a US Visa.

This is the first time we all traveled together to Florida.
We traveled to Panama last May for a great trip.
Although Kenia got to meet my sister Joan before and Lorin's mom whose name is also Joan,
my sister Roberta, my niece Rachel (Roberta's daughter)

her husband Tyler all flew in from California for the weekend to meet up with us and to see Kenia for the first time.

March 1st was also Kenia's second birthday! She got to spend it with family at Chuck E. Cheese.

It was also another special occasion as it my Rachel's 30th birthday on February 24th.

My niece Deborah (NY and FL) along with my niece Olivia, (Deborah's daughter)
Lorin's brother Keith flew in from New York to join her brother Scott
and sister Susan who both live in Hollywood, Florida.

Well, it wasn't just to meet Kenia for the first time, it was for a wedding.
Even though we got married a year ago last February 12th here in Roatan,
we decided to get married again for the American families.
Lorin's sister Susan offered to host the wedding ceremony at her home on March 4th.
It was a wonderful event with close to 25 people in attendance.

Many thanks to husband Tyler for coming with Rachel to be a part of the reunion.

We were wondering how Kenia was going to appear to our friends and family in the states. We know what a big hit she is here on the island with friends and strangers as well. Everytime we go to a restaurant,
she entertains everybody there either by dancing or with her fun and positive energy.

Well, one night, our friends Jack and Sheri invited my sister Joan, Lorin, Kenia and I for dinner at one of the top country clubs in Boca Raton. Kenia was one of the only kids there. Everyone else seemed to be 70 or older. I was going to have a great time because it was an all you could eat buffet at a place known for their exceptional food. I did not count on Kenia being able to light up the faces of the normally quiet and conservative bunch at this country club. She was adored by dozens of dinners. They really enjoyed her friendly, open enthusiasm for life. They enjoyed her so much,
I completely forgot this was known to be a stuffy, old school place to be.

The rest of the trip was fun. Everyone got together up in Wellington to see Deborah and Olivia.

It was great to be in South Florida, and just as good to come back home.
Lorin and Kenia stayed almost another week so the two girls could spend more time with Lorin's mom.

The radio show is getting even better and better. There isn't a day that goes by without someone coming up to me and saying they enjoy the show or they hope to soon be a sponsor on the show. They don't always follow through when they hear the rates though. Inexpensive by comparison to the rates charged in smaller cities in the states, it is still the highest advertising spot in Honduras. It is that way because the demographic is a wealthy one who spend their money.

I remember learning in my college marketing classes at Northeastern University in Boston that you will be more in demand if you sell a premium product. It is working for my sponsors who are the top businesses on the island as many of them have either been with me since the beginning or at least for the last year or so. I even have an international sponsor.
My friend Shelly from Toronto sells windows to our booming island builders is now a sponsor

I hope that in the next few weeks, I will be able to upload shows I do the following day to my website. You will be able to hear the shows just 24 hours after they are recorded. All you will have to do is go to my website as you have done today, click on the mic and pick out the date or subject of the show you want to hear.
I look forward to hearing from you to hear your comments.

Lorin and I are again publishing the Bay Island Entertainment Coupon Book 2006. We put out the first book over a year ago and it was quite successful. Most cities in the states have entertainment coupon books. They are proven to be the best way to get customers into your store or attraction for the first time. It is done with a discount coupon. This edition will be out in April and will be better and with more clients coupons. Check it out if you would like by clicking on the "flights" button.

Roatan recently hosted the 4th Annual Bay Islands International Triathlon. It was a great day for the race. I was asked to be the announcer. See the pictures with both the male and female winners of the race.

Lorin was named the official massage therapist for the Triathlon.
Athletes were offered a short massage when they finished the competition.
More than just a few took advantage of the opportunity.

I am now writing columns for Honduras This Week,
Honduras only English speaking weekly newspaper. If you would like to read the columns, just go to:

That's it for now. Please keep in touch and let us hear from you and how you are doing.

Lorin, Kenia and I hope all is well with you. Hard to believe, but Lorin and I moved here three years ago on January 30th. We have both never been happier. And with the addition of having Kenia in our lives, it just keeps getting better and better.

The radio show is growing in popularity. Everyone seems to either know the show or be a loyal, daily listener. It is not only the only place to get information about the community and country in English, but I play great oldies music for three hours when I don't have interviews. Very soon, you will be able to hear nearly every show the night of the show.

The station now has a much more powerful signal and is now heard all across the three Bay Islands (Roatan, Utila and Guanaja) and much deeper into Northern Honduras. As a result, I am now getting the attention of national and international sponsors and advertisers.

Starting this week, I began writing for the one weekly English speaking newspaper called "Honduras This Week." I am writing a column called "Roatan Bruce Interviews." I will take the best of the over 200 hundred interviews I have previously aired with experts in their field of many subjects and write a column that will share this important and vital information with readers across the country and around the world. You will be able to see the newspaper over the Internet anytime at "hondurasthisweek.com."

I was invited along with all the top dignitaries, real estate agents, land developers and press to meet the President and hear about his plan to make…..the Bay Islands a "Free Port." What this means in simple terms is, within a couple of years, this still somewhat sleepy island that is presently changing right before our eyes will become one of the top destinations in the entire Caribbean.

Still a secret until two years ago when cruise ships started coming in, the "Free Port" status will put The Bay Islands and Roatan on the map to stay. It will become the place where buyers around the world will come and spend their money on whatever they want and experience huge savings. They will stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, dive and snorkel, fish and create a gold mine for the islands.

To put it mildly, this inside information will soon start getting out to the rest of the world in the spring of this year. I am good friends with the very person who is the lawyer putting this plan together. He told us about this ambitious plan at a Christmas party at his home.

I may become the person who acts as the English media person representing Honduras when we begin getting the word out to the news world. With the President of Honduras telling us all about this same plan, it becomes concrete. It also gives you and I an incredible opportunity to take advantage of the information now.

It has again been quite awhile since we wrote last. One of the things I have been doing has been working on the website. It has taken hundreds of hours to get the site in good working order. You are now able to hear dozens and dozens of interviews from the show that took place two years ago to as recently as last week. Starting in a week or so, two hours of every show will be uploaded to the website for anyone to hear at anytime from anywhere in the world!
That is why I decided to write the next letter to you this way.

To hear interviews or past shows, just go to the "home page" and click on the "mic" and /or "interviews."

I have dedicated a page on the site to communicating with you. It allows you to stop by anytime you want to see recent updates and new pictures. It allows me to add to the site everytime something important or interesting comes up.
You can always contact me with your comments anytime by emailing me at roatanbruce@yahoo.com....

As we all know, this has been an especially difficult year for weather. The last time this area had a hurricane was back in 1998 when Mitch hit here and caused a lot of havoc for several days.
Before Mitch, I believe it was 25 years since they had another hurricane.

This year, at least 4 hurricanes slid by us. The worst of it was Wilma. It wasn't so much the wind and the rain, but the day after the storm left the area, we had water surges that not only caused flooding and damage,
but it could have taken some lives... mine included.

Check out the button called "PHOTOS." You will find dozens of pictures of the storm both from our immediate community and a town called West End about an 8 minute ride from our house. One picture you will not find there is this one.

What you are looking at are the pants and t-shirt I was wearing when I went out to take a walk in the neighborhood
to see the damage the storm may have caused.
What is seen here is the t-shirt soaked as high as my upper chest after
I took them off when I got home.

While out walking with my camera, a water surge surprised me. A five foot water surge slammed me against a wall and the water went up as high as my chest. I had my digital camera in my hand and to protect it, I held it high above my head hoping the surge would not go any further up my body than my upper chest. At the last moment, I snapped some pictures.

At the moment, it seemed like an adventure, but soon after, I realized what a difficult situation I had managed to get through.

Other than that, all is very well. The island recovered quickly from the storms.
There are still signs of large trees down with roots showing.
There are no municipal systems in place to remove these big objects.
Many remain where they were weeks ago. I am happy to say we are now out of the rainy season.
The weather is mostly sunny and warm with highs in the middle 80's and low's are in the middle 70's.

Speaking of weather, would you believe I am the only English speaking...."weatherman" in the entire region?
There is simply no one else on the air to do it, so I am the only person giving weather reports.
I hope to connect with the national Hurricane Center and TV stations in south Florida over the coming months to get a relationship going with them for the next hurricane season.

The radio show is going very well.

In June, the show expanded one hour. The show is now on the air Monday to Friday from 9 am to 1 pm. We have just received a new and improved transmitter with a more powerful signal and are now reaching a much larger area of people. The show can be heard not only on Roatan and two other islands, but much more of the northern coast of Honduras. There are simply no other English speaking radio stations for people to receive information. Sounds crazy, but it is true.

On October 6th, the show celebrated a "Two Year Anniversary!" Hard to believe we have been doing the radio show for two years. Pictures from the party and other radio people can be found by clicking on the "ISLAND PHOTOS" button to the left. There were two parties. Two sponsors of the show offered their restaurants in two different parts of the island to help celebrate the occasion.

Here is the t-shirt given out to everyone that night.

Kenia is doing just great! She just celebrated her 22nd month. She is progressing emotionally, spiritually and physically in great strides. We all have a wonderful relationship together and it is getting deeper and mature on many levels.
Our communication is more sophisticated and clearer everyday.

We recently taught her how to feed herself.

She loves spaghetti.

We give her as much as she wants.

One very happy occasion was when Kenia was able to secure a US Visa so she could travel to the states to see her US families. After more than six months of trying and three refusals, we finally received it. We are now very good friends with the General Counsel of the US Embassy who rejected Lorin before. We won't have problems again.

Lorin and Kenia had a great time this summer in Florida and New York.
They were in NY during the worst heat wave in a few years.

Here is the picture of Kenia we took for the passport.

Just last week, the island had its first true cultural event.
Please click on the "COMMUNITY" button to learn more about it.

Lorin and I attended. I had to go very deep into the closet to find my suit, tie and dress shirt.
It was the first time I used them since we came to the island nearly three years ago.

Back in May of this year, he went to Panama. What a beautiful country. We all really enjoyed it.
There were two choices of locations we could have gone to. One was a beach area just like ours.
Another was the city. We chose the city because we both missed being in a city.
Here is what Panama City looked like from our window.

I will add to this everyday as thoughts and ideas come to me. Please stop by anytime to learn about whatever else is going on in our lives. Save us in "your favorite places." Would love to hear from you anytime.