Tricia is having a palapa (thatched palm leaf roof with no walls) built to store her new, used, 14 foot Chris Craft boat under and also a place for guests to sit under, out of the sun. It measures 15 feet wide by 30 feet long and is on the right side of the beach as you face the water. Watching it go up I thought how much cooler the inside of my trailer would be if I had one built over it. It should lower the interior heat by about 10 degrees. At midnight the other night it was still 87 degrees inside my trailer. (Thank God for fans!) So first I asked Tricia if it would be ok to have one built. Of course that was no problem because it’s another improvement to her property since, if I go somewhere else, it will stay. Second I asked Elvis, who is building the boat palapa for a price. I asked that it extend over the door side of the trailer by about 5 feet so I have some covered space to sit. It’s going to be 25 feet long and 15 feet wide at the front and 10 feet wide at the rear because of the vegetation back there. He quoted BZ$400 for the materials. So I can get shade for my trailer and upper deck storage too for about $200 U.S. Plus it will help keep the sunlight damage down to a minimum and make my home last longer. Construction on Tricia’s is halted because they need 4 dozen more palm leaves for her roof and will cut those, plus all that mine will need, in 1 trip. It’s going up as I write this and both should be done in a few days. As a side note its 12noon and 98 degrees in the trailer. Three more hours until the heat of the day and it’s only the end of April. I can’t imagine what the inside temperature would be like in July and August without my palapa! I did have plans to use large silver tarps to make a cover over the trailer about a foot above the roof. But the palapa will do a better job and stand the winds of summer storms better than the tarps would.
The tourist board was here on Friday with the health inspector. He had some outrageous suggestions for sprucing the place up. He told her to paint the kitchen white. This is the tropics, where mold grows everywhere. The stain that she uses on her walls retards mold and mildew growth but it’s a dark wood color. So that suggestion was thrown out. He didn’t like that she has a veggie waste bucket built under the cutting table to scrape the stuff into. She tried to explain the use to him but he’s dead set against it. These people have no idea about cook preparation and using the remains for the garden mulch. There is absolutely no recycling in Belize. Everything ends up in the garbage dump in 1 huge pile that they burn every couple of days. Anyway, she’ll close up the trap door and remove the bucket when he comes back in 2 weeks to inspect. After that the bucket will be returned to its rightful place. Most of the stuff he dinged her on was sand everywhere. KISMET IS ON THE BEACH! How do you keep sand out? She’s constantly sweeping but with everyone coming off the beach and into the kitchen, and sand being blown by the wind, there is absolutely no way to keep the sand out. Both of the showers here are outdoors and surrounded by fencing that is plant and vine covered for privacy. The one attached to the side of the main building has walls that start about a foot off the ground and extend up 5 feet, with the rest open to the ceiling. It’s very private and to see into it from outside requires walking up and standing on tiptoes to see over the wall. He wants that one entirely closed in because he says it’s not private enough. Closing it in will only promote mold and mildew growth because of the lack of airflow. The other, attached to the back of the separate cabana building, has no roof and is open to the sky. Oddly he has no privacy problem with that one. The other recommendations, actually orders, are more meant to keep Kismet closed I think. They are so off the wall as to be impossible to meet. But that doesn’t really matter because Tricia is busier now then when she was open. People shows up almost every day and stay for a night or 2 or more. And while she doesn’t have a license she doesn’t have to pay the 10% guest tax to the tourist board. More money in her pocket…
Still no news on the trip up river into Guatemala so I renewed my visa in Dangriga on Monday (today). My visa expired on Sunday but since the office was closed I held off a day.
Stay well, keep happy and practice peace!
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