Waking up this morning, without Kevin here, seemed normal. I guess his only being with me for 10 days may have had something to do with it. More like he was visiting me on holiday. Not that I don’t miss him but it more had the feeling of normal daily life. True I still have a lot to do to find that perfect spot but I feel so at home here that it’s almost scary. One of the things I’ve learned is that Dangriga is known by the locals as Griga. See I’m learning the local stuff!
Today will be the Post Office for a PO Box and the bank to get some local money in an account that I can draw through an ATM without the 3% foreign fee. Those steps too will help me to settle in to a normal life. I keep talking about “normal life” and what I mean by that is just back to life sort of as I knew it in the U.S. Normal daily activities versus what I’ve experienced over the past 6 months getting ready for this move.
Last night I went to sleep not long after the sun set, and after watching 3 episodes of “Two & a Half Men” (I have all 7 years downloaded and started with the pilot a few days ago). This morning I was up with the sun. That will probably be my daily routine from now on. Getting things done early before the heat sets in. It’s been in the high 80’s (sorry to you all in cold climates but that’s one of the reasons I’m here!) with humidity to match. The almost constant 20mph onshore wind tempers it a lot though unless you are in town and trapped by the buildings. That’s a bit oppressive as Kevin and I found out yesterday on his picture taking walkabout.
Today I’m waiting for the electrician to arrive around 9am to see why my batteries are draining so quickly, although the spare I hooked up last night seems to be working fine. As long as my fridge stays cold though I don’t need a lot of electricity. As I said earlier my life will revolve around the sun’s cycle. I do have battery and hand crank lights that I can use should I need them. My hand crank radio will also recharge my iPod and cell phone so that’s a plus.
In speaking with more of the locals my question is, “Where do the Americans live and hang out?” It seems they are south of here about 20 miles in a town called Hopkinsville. While researching possible places to plop myself I’d read that there is a pretty large (maybe as many as 200) retiree population but it didn’t mention the town. Only that it was near Dangriga. So tomorrow I’ll be taking a ride down that way to see what’s up. Today is laundry day though. I need to get rid of the pile of clothes that I wore while we were still in the road and from the few days here. I promised I would try to stay away from boring, mundane writing but while I’m still acclimating myself to life in Belize laundry day may be a big thing. You never know who you may meet and it could happen in the bizarrest of places.
It’s time to unlock my bicycle from the back of the trailer and become mobile. With Kevin here, and only 1 bike, it wasn’t possible until now. EVERYBODY says to carry a lock and never leave it even for a second without using it. It seems bike theft is a very big thing in all of Belize.
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