Happy birthday to my brother Bill, who passed away a year ago May. His untimely and very unexpected death is one of the reasons for my early retirement. I always intended to retire semi-early and enjoy life as much as I could before my health became an issue and prevented me from doing it. Bill passing told me that it was now or never because you really have no idea how long you truly have. So…thanks Bill! I miss you!
Zeppi is back home in NJ and my friend Ron is home in Nebraska until the end of April and things are quiet here at Kismet.
I drove both Zeppi and Ron to their respective airports (Dangriga and Belize City) in different weeks. While taking Ron to Belize city International I also took Tricia there to meet with the government on her Belize citizenship. She’s been working on it for 6 years and can’t leave the country until it is resolved because she doesn’t have a current Visa stamp in her passport. You are required to submit for a visa renewal every month for the 1st 4 months then every 6 months. To become a citizen you are required to be here at least a year. Since Tricia is “married” to a Belizean man it’s supposed to make the process simpler. Of course you know that never pans out. There have been plenty of paperwork snafus that have held up her nationalization, and plenty of payoffs to government ministers that that either went to the wrong person or never made it to the right one. So now she’s pushing hard to resolve the issues so she can travel. When someone asks where she wants to go she laughingly says, “I want to go to the mall!” She’s been here for 12 years without a break. She has been to southern Mexico but not for years because that, of course, requires crossing back into Belize, and without the required Visa stamps she wouldn’t be allowed back in.
I’ve been enjoying some really OLD movies lately. I downloaded 515 movies before I left the states because I knew I probably wouldn’t have TV access. Along with the movies I also downloaded 25 TV series, such as “The West Wing”, and National Geographic’s “Blue Planet”. Some of the series I downloaded are 7 years, and 130 episodes, long. Right now I’m watching Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne movies, some as early as 1931. I also have a bunch of DVDs, one with 20 Alfred Hitchcock movies and some of them are from the 20’s, and silent. I do get in some current releases too but I love the old black and whites with no cussing and no nudity.
Good news on the licensing issue! Tricia will have here Hotel/Inn license back within 2 weeks. We me with the Minister at the tourist board in Belize City yesterday. While she was operating under the radar, and not having the guests fill out the registration forms that they sell, they really had no other facts that prevented them from having to give her a Hotel/Inn license. But just to prove they had power over her they are making her do minor cosmetic cleaning and will come to inspect Kismet in 2 weeks and are bringing someone from the board of health to inspect as well. At that time they will give her a 3 month probationary license and will re-inspect a couple more times. After that she should have her permanent operating license. Funny thing is she’s still had people come to stay that didn’t care about the closed sign. She’s laughing that she’s been far busier since I got here so I must be her good luck charm.
We did some shopping while in the “big” city too. Brody’s is a food store almost as big as those in North America and carries a lot of the things us expats like to eat. Better cuts of meat, better cheeses, and a larger variety of veggies and fruits. You do have to know your prices though because some of the things are less expensive in the smaller stores. But it’s the convenience I guess. Tricia has been longing for some good cheeses. The local Belizean brands, no matter what the label says, all taste the same. Brody’s carries Cracker Barrel and Kraft so you know the cheese will taste like the cheese that’s described on the label. So she picked up ½ a dozen blocks for her culinary entertainment. She says she’ll be only eating cheese for the next couple of days. Me, I was pining about the last few cigars that were in my fridge. I was down to 8 of the Corona cigars that I brought with me from the states. I like my cigar and book in my beach chair every afternoon and my brother Dave won’t be here until 6/26 (Dave, expect a cigar delivery at your door to bring with you!). Brody’s, I was happily surprised to find, had a selection of cigars that filled my larder for the next 40 days. I also bought a couple of nice looking sirloin steaks and a couple bottles of salsa that I have trouble finding in Dangriga or Hopkins. We also stopped at the Duty Free store where the cruise ships come in. While we didn’t have a ship card (showing that we arrived for the day on a ship) we asked a kind lady if we could use hers to stock up on liquor and she graciously help us out. I’m a fan of Bailey’s Irish Cream in my coffee on those days I make a pot and I was nursing the bottle I had. You can buy a 750ml bottle here for US$50. I was able to buy two 1 liter bottles for US$34 each. Now I can be a bit more generous with my coffee. Tricia is a fan of Vodka and bought 5 quarts of high end brands for US$70, something that would have cost her over US$150. So she has enough for a year she says. We also went to a very nice Chinese/Japanese restaurant that she knew and had a great meal. Between the good news, our purchase, and a good meal, we came home happy!
Enough of my rambling now! Good health and good fortune to all of you! Practice peace.
