Shelby Mac and David

Utila has a plant nursery run by a man named Shelly McNab (but he goes by Shelby Mac), who also hosts the "Utila Tonight" type show called HQTV. When John introduced us Shelby greeted me with a Welcome-To-Utila Papaya from his farm. He said if he gave it to me I would instantly realize it was the best I'd ever had. So he did, and I did, and we've since become friends.

At first I was visiting Shelby to buy plants for the house. He knows almost everything there is about local flora, tidbits I'd never considered like which plants can withstand sea spray. There's not a lot of that in Chicago, see.

But Shelby is so warm and--being a native Utilian (born in the house where he now lives) and media man specializing in the local beat--full of helpful information for a newcomer, that I was soon stopping by just to visit with him and his long-time friend David. Shelby and David know each other from Florida where they met almost 40 years ago when Shelby was in college. David (originally from Ohio) ran a gym and Shelby taught yoga. Sometime around 10 years back they decided to sell everything and move back here. David has become very ill with diabetes, losing both legs and most of his sight, so now Shelby is his caretaker as well as best friend. I've gone over to their house to watch HQTV with David, but we spend the whole time talking and tend to catch little of the program. (He tells Shelby that the best part of watching his show is that he can turn him off. Apparently David gives Shelby regular grief for being a motormouth.) David has more stories than the Bible, with fewer begets.

Shelby comes from a large family with so many siblings I can't remember the number. ("My father was very powerful sexually," he told me.) He goes back to one of the original European sailors on the islands, one of a pack of Scottish brothers. I'll have to pick his brain for further information on that.

Last week he gave John and me a tour of his farm where he grows limes, papayas, bananas, all kinds of herbs, mangoes, plantains, and loads of other things like a mystical fruit named mata-sabor, which in Spanish means "kills flavor" because eating it makes a lemon tastes like an orange, chili peppers lose their heat, etc. I'm so curious, John and I are on a waiting list for one.

Here are a few pictures of Shelby showing us around.

Shelby with star fruit, or carambola. Better free samples than at Trader Joe's.

Tables full of papayas ready to be sold at the local fruit stands.

A bit more about HQTV because it is *incredible*. About as home-grown as one can imagine, think cable access with VHS equipment. We're talking old-school live programming, none of those blue screens or "over-the-shoulders". Sometimes Shelby even has to ask the viewers to hold on a minute while they change the tape to pre-recorded footage. They take calls during the program, and Shelby said that in the early days if he didn't know a word in Spanish (he had to brush up in order to make the program bilingual) he would just ask and people would ring in to help out. "For example, I didn't know how to say speed bump," he told me.

John had discontinued the cable recently so we haven't been able to watch. I know that when his parents come each February they are HQTV devotees but I'm lobbying to re-activate before then. One must become familiar with one's surroundings, says I.

In the meantime Shelby said he'll take me on a historical tour of the island, along with Miss Utila (who just came in 3rd place at the Miss Honduras pageant). That, along with David's stories of people and places on the island, is a good start.