Conan and Tricia had to go back to court this morning (Wednesday 11/9) to plead and get a court date set. Of course Tricia had them leaving an hour late and all we could think of was they would be charged with contempt of court for not appearing on time. So…off they went. Around 1pm my cell phone rang and I tried to get outside my trailer to answer it before it timed out bit didn’t make it. A few seconds later I got a voicemail chime and tried to call that. Of course the call wouldn’t go through.. While I was waiting I heard another phone ring and Mark answering it. Next thing I’m hearing is, “They did what? They got contempt of court? They’re going to be in jail for how long?” So I stood by while he took the call and listened to the one sided story. Well the story is that they were arrested for taking pictures in court and the caller said they got a week and 7 days in jail. What the heck is a week and 7 days? Is that 2 weeks or was it a mis-statement and they got 7 days. It turns out that it was Norman the baker calling and he was going to bring Conan’s van and their stuff to Kismet at around 3:30p. Mark told him he would cook him shark for dinner and hung up. We’ll Mark and I got upset about what we thought was another Trish fiasco that Conan was being penalized for because he was with her. By this time it was 1:20pm and I said I would take the 2pm bus to town, get Tricia’s ATM card and get money for her, a carton of cigarettes for Conan (Tricia paid out about US$30 for cigarettes for Conan and he only got some of them), snack foods, and I’d go to Uncle Harry’s Hardware and buy another bilge pump (the new one crapped out again during the night). Mark talked me out of it though by saying we’d use Conan’s van to do all of that tomorrow (Thursday). I said that rather than dropping all of that stuff off at the jail, figuring the cops would steal most of it anyway, we could hire Norman to make a visit every morning with their daily ration. So we sat in the kitchen and talked the situation over, getting more and more upset by the minute. I said I know that Tricia knows you can’t use answer a cell phone in court so why would she think they would let her take pictures. And even if she tried to hide it someone would see. Mark said, “The flash probably went off.” Good point because Tricia doesn’t know how to change the setting on her camera. More talk about what we should do took up another hour. “Do you think the American Embassy would contact the jail and tell them that Tricia and Conan were not married so that her actions didn’t affect Conan?”, said I? “No they won’t help.”, said Mark? I knew that but was hoping anyway because we all know the American Embassy isn’t in the business of actually helping U.S. citizens with any problem other than losing their passport of making arrangements to transport dead bodies back to the states. Oh well, it was a thought. We talked about guests arriving today and having to make meals for them, Matt and Angie coming to visit next week and how much of it would Conan miss because he was in jail? If it was a week he’d miss a couple of days but if it was a week and 7 days they wouldn’t see each other at all. High season is about to start and neither Mark nor I cherished running Kismet because we came to do retired stuff but agreeing we’d do what we had to do for friends. A little while later Conan’s van pulled into the lot and Mark yelled out, “You’re home!” I saw Conan in the driver’s seat but not Tricia so I thought maybe they kept her. No such luck because she soon climbed out. I know your wondering why I was hoping she was still in jail but for those of you that know Tricia you know she can cause a lot of trouble, and often does. We won’t let her go into Immigration or any other government office with us because she tend to cause trouble and we suffer the penalties. I mean she is a lovely woman but she goes off pretty regularly on any official. After 12 years in Belize she still thinks and acts too much like an American in America and not in the 3rd world country that Belize is. They are backward in a lot of things and you have to accept that and go on. Anyway, I yelled down to Conan, “Don’t pass go and collect $200 at your room get your ass up here!” We wanted the straight scoop since we only heard it 3rd person though Norman. They came up laughing and Tricia looked right at me and said, “GOTCHYA!!!. Since I’m normally the practical joker (Who me??? Not me!!!) they figured that it was my turn to be the subject. Mark isn’t one that goes in for practical joke though and while he laughed about it he wasn’t pleased at all. Me, I was ecstatic. I loved it and told them so! “Damn you guys got me!” and “Man that was good!” I even shook Conan’s hand and gave Tricia a hug I told then that it was blog worthy so here I am telling you the tale.
Anyhow their next court date is January 9, 2012 and that is just for discovery. I had told Conan they wouldn’t get a date this year because of the coming holidays. So the story continues next year, unless something else happens. And you know that anything is possible here in Belize!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
What's new in the life of the Fatboy???
We’ve had a pretty interesting time here in Belize since my last post. Trips to the reef, overnight stays on new Cayes (for us anyway), and the arrest of Tricia and Conan on November 3rd for shoplifting. I’m going to save that story for later though…
Conan’s boat continues to suffer problems but we’ve managed to make several reef trips as well and a 2 night stay on Tobacco Caye. His troubles include the throttle. bad bilge pumps, difficulties with the throttle, and bad gas. Often the gas that we buy has water in it and you know how engines hate that! The gas stations here really don’t go through any sort of inspection process so who know what condition the tanks and connecting pipes are in. The throttle cables and connections are managed by elves. The elves will crawl into the throttle assembly, under the floor, and into the engine itself to tamper with that system. One day it works fine and the next it doesn’t work at all. The next time it works fine and the next you can’t adjust the engine idle and/or speed. So you never know really whether you are going out or not until you add power and even then it’s iffy. Bilge pumps in boats are a very important item when you are anchoring it offshore with generally 3-4 foot swells. Water manages to find its way into the boat through small crakes in the hull and waves breaking over the transom (back of the boat by the engine). Conan may have some hairline cracks in areas under the sealed floor. Because it seeps into the area that we use as the live well. Anyway, if the bilge pump doesn’t turn on and empty the water the back of the boat sinks lower into the water. If enough gets in the weight of the engine adds to the tilt and eventually it’s sitting on the bottom…again. He’s had to replace the pump and/or the switch several times, and at some expense just to keep it floating.
We’ve made a few trips to the reef to snorkel and fish and have had a great time. Conan has been hired by 3 sets of guest to take them out. He really isn’t in it for the money, although that would be nice, but he does get free gas out of it and everyone is happy. Tina and Tobi, a German couple, wanted to snorkel and got their wish. They’d never fished so that wasn’t high in their agenda. But you know me, I talked them into trying it and they loved it. Tina caught 2 fish and Tobi 1. I’m still waiting for the pictures so I can add them to the Hopkins Fishing Club page on Facebook. The next 2 guests were an older couple from the states (their names escape me) who dove all over the world. Now they were here to dive the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world (next to Australia). We took them first to Bread&Butter Caye but it was too rough to snorkel and the water was murky, making visibility an issue. Since the wind and waves were from the west we figured that outside the reef would be OK and it was. The problem out there was that there was a lot floating patches of seaweed and garbage. As you were swimming you sometimes had to push a path through it. But they did enjoy it. We hit a couple of spots that day. Guess what I was doing??? (Hint: we had free dinner). The last group was a couple, he from NC and she from PA (and I’ve forgotten their names too) who had reservations on Tobacco Caye for 2 nights. They asked Conan if he would take them out there. We’d never been there but heard that it was nice so we figured we’d spend the night out there too. He suggested snorkeling before we got there and they were up for it. Here’s the story of that trip:
Since Conan and I planned to camp on the island I searched for Caye info on the internet. I found that all of the inns were all-inclusive and that there was only a small store that sold snacks and a bar with no food service. So Conan and I packed our usual camping fare of beef raviolis in a can and some other junk food, along with a couple gallons of drinking water and my tent. We usually bring 2 tents but the guests had quite a bit of luggage to haul so to save weight in the boat we decided to being just mine since it’s bigger.
The day dawned sunny and windy and, after 2 or 3 days of flat seas, 2-3 foot waves. Well that was near shore. Anyway, we left about 9am for what should have been a 1 hour trip. Not more than half way to the 1st set of Cayes the waves turned into 4-5 footers and coming from the left rear. It was hard to get the boat over or between the waves very easily so it was a pretty rough trip. Then the throttle elves made a visit. Conan couldn’t adjust the throttles from idle after changing out a fuel tank. That left us drifting and rolling in the waves. Thankfully none of us are prone to seasickness. He was able to add enough speed to get us into the quiet water near a Caye and do a quick repair. He wasn’t able to locate the elves though so we had to stop a few more times for adjustments to the havoc they were still reeking. Part of his repair meant taking off the engine cover and manually moving the throttle adjustment to gain speed. So our 1 hour trip took 2. As we pulled into Tobacco Caye one of the staff (Eric) noticed we were having problems and asked if he could help. In the true Belizean manner he and Conan jury-rigged a throttle control mechanism using 200 pound test fishing line. Conan gouged a small hole in the engine cover and was able to adjust power. While Conan and Eric worked on fixing the boat the couple moved into their room and I explored the Caye, all 5 acres of it. That was the 1st good news we’d had in a while. They finished and Conan and I took a walk so he could see the place while the guests were doing whatever they were doing in their room. We found one of the restaurants and I asked the owner if she served meals to non-guest. Not usually said she but offered to take us on if we ordered a meal early enough. So we booked dinner and breakfast, Another problem solved! The next question I asked Eric was where the good snorkeling places were. He asked if we had room in the boat and I told him to jump aboard. Nothing like have a local guide! Tobacco Caye sits on the northwestern edge of the Marine Sanctuary so fishing is catch and release but that’s where the better snorkeling is. Yeah…sure…catch and release!!! We found out that we could legally keep fish if we went a mile north. So, if we got stopped by Fisheries and they asked if we had fish, our story would be, everything was caught north of the buoy marker. So off we went with Eric pointing the way. He had is stop just south of the reef split. He and Conan were taking lobster hooks and spears in the water, both illegal in the sanctuary too. He told me to look for any fast moving boats coming toward us and to warn them if I could. So over the side all 4 of them went and into the water went my bait. Oh, anther bit of luck was that they had free bait at the inn. They swam, speared, lobster hooked, and I was catching some of the biggest Blue Stripped Grunts I had ever seen! I threw the 1st 2 fish back because they were a bit on the small side (before I started catching the big ones) and at least made it look like I was releasing fish if anyone was watching. I caught a few small Spotted Grouper and 2 Yellowtail Snappers as well. So we spent the day outside the reef, moving a couple of times for the snorkeling. Eric ended up hooking 5 nice lobsters and Conan speared 3 fish, one being a Filefish, which are totally illegal to take as they are considered reef foragers. Not like it was the 1st time he’d speared something illegally After they tired of snorkeling everyone came back on board and we all fished for about 30 minutes before heading back. Dinner that night was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and lemonade. It was served family style and we met a really nice Scottish couple, Ian and Sarah, who are on the road for a year now, celebrating their honeymoon. .After dinner Conan and I went to the bar and bought Eric a drink for all of his help. The night was uneventful, with Conan deciding to sleep in one of the hammocks at the inn, since it was a nice breezy night. I woke around 5am and headed for one of the docks and caught a nice Cero Mackerel (my Facebook profile picture). Breakfast at 8, with Ian and Sarah, followed by snorkeling (Conan) and fishing (both of us). We did head outside the Reserve so some of our fish were now legal. We left the fish cooler by my tent so that if Fisheries came around we’d have less fish onboard. We had planned on leaving that day but decided to stay because the waves were too bad and we didn’t want to chance having throttle problems. It wasn’t a hard decision because we really didn’t want to leave! We got back in around 4pm and I headed for the dock again, with Conan following soon after. I already had a couple nice Mutton Snapper and a couple Porgies and Conan caught a small Barracuda. We were called to dinner by the owner and were served beef cubes, veggie rice, grape-aid, and the Scotts. And the rest of the night (early as it was) was spent in the bar. During the night it started raining and my tent decided to leak. I guess the waterproofing had worn off so I decided to use a bed in the vacant room we were using as our bathroom. Five o’clock came pretty early and I was back on the dock catching more Mutton Snapper before heading out to the reef. We fished right at the channel and were soon visited by the Fisheries Department. It turned out to be 2 really nice guys and the told us that we were fishing illegally and needed to be either 1 mile off the reef or 1 mile north We asked them questions about fishing the Reserve and they were really knowledgeable without being authoritative, as most officials seem to be here. So we decided to head back to Reef’s End and pack to head home. The trip home was uneventful.
Now the story you’ve been waiting patiently for (or skipped down to). Conan had been having bilge pump problems and, with the wave action increasing, wanted to have a good pump on board. So we boated over to the Sittee River Marina instead of driving to Dangriga. He HATES going to Dangriga! Everything there comes with a premium price (US$68), which he was glad to pay. We pulled away from the dock and he installed it. It worked for about 4 hours then decided to quite. So the next day we headed to Uncle Harry’s Hardware in Dangriga and he bought a much better pump for a third less. The next day we headed to the marina for a refund. He explained the problem at the counter but they said the manager would have to make the decision and would call him. No phone call in the next day or 2 so he called them. Manager not around. Next was a visit and still no manager. This went on for almost 2 weeks. He was told that he could talk to the accountant but that did no good either. It seems only the manager could make the refund decision. He finally got hold of the manager by phone (the marina manager sure wasn’t going to call Conan!) who hemmed and hawed about it and then offered to have it fixed. It’s a sealed unit and can’t be easily fixed, and not by anyone in the marina, and Conan said that. But it was the only option. So back to the marina we went. Conan talked to the manager and told him that he wasn’t looking for money but a credit instead since he bought a lot of boat gas there. The manager said that he would have someone bring the pump to the distributer, who would make the refund decision, Conan’s take on it, and he told the manager in no uncertain terms, was that he bought the pump from the marina and didn’t care what the distributer’s decision would be but would wait to hear from him. That obviously didn’t sit well with the manager. Refunds in Belize aren’t as easy to get as in the states, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Anyway, the call never came but the police did. They ( the village constable and 3 Tourist policemen) arrived at 5pm on Thursday November 3rd to arrest both he and Tricia for shoplifting in the marina. He was charged with stealing 1 quart of 2 cycle motor oil (US$7.25) and Tricia with stealing a bag of potato chips (75 cents U.S.)!!! We know it was because he made the stink about getting his pump refund. The big bad marina was going to show the rich American that they couldn’t be threatened. Tricia was dragged into it because they assumed she was his wife…because she’s white. That’s a common assumption here when 2 white people are seen together. I’ve been accused of being married to her too. My reply is that she has better taste than me and that puts a laughing end to it. They were piled into the back of a pickup truck for the ride to Dangriga. Along the way they picked up 2 more people (non-felons) and a stalk of plantains. Conan said he drove like a “bat out of hell”. During the trip Conan warned the driver that he thought there was a bubble in the tire because of the bumping and that they were in jeopardy of blowing said tire. The driver ignored him and sure enough it blew a short time later. It seems like none of the cops knew how to position a jack and it took them 4 tries to finally get the tire in the air and changed. They finally made the Dangriga jail (it’s called the piss house because of the smell in the cells. Not having a bathroom in them the people pee in the corners) and were told the charges again and finger printed. No one was available to decide whether they could go home for the night because the powers that be were at a local soccer game. Several of the constables thought that they never should have been arrested and that it should have been worked out between the marina and Conan because of the insignificant amount of money (Really??? No kidding!!! But that isn’t what the marina wanted). So Conan was put in a cell (8x10 concrete room with no bed, toilet, or running water) with another jailbird and he spent a sleepless night. He did find out about the Belize legal and prison system from someone in the next cell who’d been arrested 4 times. Good information for what may come later. Tricia also spent a sleepless night but in an office room that the returning officers turned into a party room until very late into the night (actually early morning). The next morning they were allowed to make phone calls to find someone who would sign a US$300 bond so they could come home for the weekend because they wouldn’t be seen my the magistrate that day. If they couldn’t find someone to sign for them they would have to spend the weekend in jail. Several calls later Norman the baker showed up and signed them out. He even gave them a ride back to Kismet. We always like Norman, and loved his US$2 pizzas. We often preorder them on the way into Dangriga and are suckers for his baked goods. They were told to report to the court on Monday November 9th at 9am to be arraigned and have their court date set as they, of course, were pleading not guilty. Monday arrives, they arrive at court, but the magistrate decides to take the day off so they were told to return on Wednesday and sent home. That’s the story as it stands for now. We don’t know if they will be found innocent, guilty and pay a fine and make restitution and/or jail time, or be made an example of, with sentencing to the prison. All are options and you never know which way the wind will blow here in Belize. The standard sentence for stealing a bicycle is one year in the Hattieville Prison! And, if they really want to do Conan wrong they can deport him after any jail time. Tricia is a Belize citizen so they can’t deport her. So now it’s a waiting game. More as events unfold…
And so, life goes on for the Fatboy in Belize and his friends… As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Conan’s boat continues to suffer problems but we’ve managed to make several reef trips as well and a 2 night stay on Tobacco Caye. His troubles include the throttle. bad bilge pumps, difficulties with the throttle, and bad gas. Often the gas that we buy has water in it and you know how engines hate that! The gas stations here really don’t go through any sort of inspection process so who know what condition the tanks and connecting pipes are in. The throttle cables and connections are managed by elves. The elves will crawl into the throttle assembly, under the floor, and into the engine itself to tamper with that system. One day it works fine and the next it doesn’t work at all. The next time it works fine and the next you can’t adjust the engine idle and/or speed. So you never know really whether you are going out or not until you add power and even then it’s iffy. Bilge pumps in boats are a very important item when you are anchoring it offshore with generally 3-4 foot swells. Water manages to find its way into the boat through small crakes in the hull and waves breaking over the transom (back of the boat by the engine). Conan may have some hairline cracks in areas under the sealed floor. Because it seeps into the area that we use as the live well. Anyway, if the bilge pump doesn’t turn on and empty the water the back of the boat sinks lower into the water. If enough gets in the weight of the engine adds to the tilt and eventually it’s sitting on the bottom…again. He’s had to replace the pump and/or the switch several times, and at some expense just to keep it floating.
We’ve made a few trips to the reef to snorkel and fish and have had a great time. Conan has been hired by 3 sets of guest to take them out. He really isn’t in it for the money, although that would be nice, but he does get free gas out of it and everyone is happy. Tina and Tobi, a German couple, wanted to snorkel and got their wish. They’d never fished so that wasn’t high in their agenda. But you know me, I talked them into trying it and they loved it. Tina caught 2 fish and Tobi 1. I’m still waiting for the pictures so I can add them to the Hopkins Fishing Club page on Facebook. The next 2 guests were an older couple from the states (their names escape me) who dove all over the world. Now they were here to dive the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world (next to Australia). We took them first to Bread&Butter Caye but it was too rough to snorkel and the water was murky, making visibility an issue. Since the wind and waves were from the west we figured that outside the reef would be OK and it was. The problem out there was that there was a lot floating patches of seaweed and garbage. As you were swimming you sometimes had to push a path through it. But they did enjoy it. We hit a couple of spots that day. Guess what I was doing??? (Hint: we had free dinner). The last group was a couple, he from NC and she from PA (and I’ve forgotten their names too) who had reservations on Tobacco Caye for 2 nights. They asked Conan if he would take them out there. We’d never been there but heard that it was nice so we figured we’d spend the night out there too. He suggested snorkeling before we got there and they were up for it. Here’s the story of that trip:
Since Conan and I planned to camp on the island I searched for Caye info on the internet. I found that all of the inns were all-inclusive and that there was only a small store that sold snacks and a bar with no food service. So Conan and I packed our usual camping fare of beef raviolis in a can and some other junk food, along with a couple gallons of drinking water and my tent. We usually bring 2 tents but the guests had quite a bit of luggage to haul so to save weight in the boat we decided to being just mine since it’s bigger.
The day dawned sunny and windy and, after 2 or 3 days of flat seas, 2-3 foot waves. Well that was near shore. Anyway, we left about 9am for what should have been a 1 hour trip. Not more than half way to the 1st set of Cayes the waves turned into 4-5 footers and coming from the left rear. It was hard to get the boat over or between the waves very easily so it was a pretty rough trip. Then the throttle elves made a visit. Conan couldn’t adjust the throttles from idle after changing out a fuel tank. That left us drifting and rolling in the waves. Thankfully none of us are prone to seasickness. He was able to add enough speed to get us into the quiet water near a Caye and do a quick repair. He wasn’t able to locate the elves though so we had to stop a few more times for adjustments to the havoc they were still reeking. Part of his repair meant taking off the engine cover and manually moving the throttle adjustment to gain speed. So our 1 hour trip took 2. As we pulled into Tobacco Caye one of the staff (Eric) noticed we were having problems and asked if he could help. In the true Belizean manner he and Conan jury-rigged a throttle control mechanism using 200 pound test fishing line. Conan gouged a small hole in the engine cover and was able to adjust power. While Conan and Eric worked on fixing the boat the couple moved into their room and I explored the Caye, all 5 acres of it. That was the 1st good news we’d had in a while. They finished and Conan and I took a walk so he could see the place while the guests were doing whatever they were doing in their room. We found one of the restaurants and I asked the owner if she served meals to non-guest. Not usually said she but offered to take us on if we ordered a meal early enough. So we booked dinner and breakfast, Another problem solved! The next question I asked Eric was where the good snorkeling places were. He asked if we had room in the boat and I told him to jump aboard. Nothing like have a local guide! Tobacco Caye sits on the northwestern edge of the Marine Sanctuary so fishing is catch and release but that’s where the better snorkeling is. Yeah…sure…catch and release!!! We found out that we could legally keep fish if we went a mile north. So, if we got stopped by Fisheries and they asked if we had fish, our story would be, everything was caught north of the buoy marker. So off we went with Eric pointing the way. He had is stop just south of the reef split. He and Conan were taking lobster hooks and spears in the water, both illegal in the sanctuary too. He told me to look for any fast moving boats coming toward us and to warn them if I could. So over the side all 4 of them went and into the water went my bait. Oh, anther bit of luck was that they had free bait at the inn. They swam, speared, lobster hooked, and I was catching some of the biggest Blue Stripped Grunts I had ever seen! I threw the 1st 2 fish back because they were a bit on the small side (before I started catching the big ones) and at least made it look like I was releasing fish if anyone was watching. I caught a few small Spotted Grouper and 2 Yellowtail Snappers as well. So we spent the day outside the reef, moving a couple of times for the snorkeling. Eric ended up hooking 5 nice lobsters and Conan speared 3 fish, one being a Filefish, which are totally illegal to take as they are considered reef foragers. Not like it was the 1st time he’d speared something illegally After they tired of snorkeling everyone came back on board and we all fished for about 30 minutes before heading back. Dinner that night was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and lemonade. It was served family style and we met a really nice Scottish couple, Ian and Sarah, who are on the road for a year now, celebrating their honeymoon. .After dinner Conan and I went to the bar and bought Eric a drink for all of his help. The night was uneventful, with Conan deciding to sleep in one of the hammocks at the inn, since it was a nice breezy night. I woke around 5am and headed for one of the docks and caught a nice Cero Mackerel (my Facebook profile picture). Breakfast at 8, with Ian and Sarah, followed by snorkeling (Conan) and fishing (both of us). We did head outside the Reserve so some of our fish were now legal. We left the fish cooler by my tent so that if Fisheries came around we’d have less fish onboard. We had planned on leaving that day but decided to stay because the waves were too bad and we didn’t want to chance having throttle problems. It wasn’t a hard decision because we really didn’t want to leave! We got back in around 4pm and I headed for the dock again, with Conan following soon after. I already had a couple nice Mutton Snapper and a couple Porgies and Conan caught a small Barracuda. We were called to dinner by the owner and were served beef cubes, veggie rice, grape-aid, and the Scotts. And the rest of the night (early as it was) was spent in the bar. During the night it started raining and my tent decided to leak. I guess the waterproofing had worn off so I decided to use a bed in the vacant room we were using as our bathroom. Five o’clock came pretty early and I was back on the dock catching more Mutton Snapper before heading out to the reef. We fished right at the channel and were soon visited by the Fisheries Department. It turned out to be 2 really nice guys and the told us that we were fishing illegally and needed to be either 1 mile off the reef or 1 mile north We asked them questions about fishing the Reserve and they were really knowledgeable without being authoritative, as most officials seem to be here. So we decided to head back to Reef’s End and pack to head home. The trip home was uneventful.
Now the story you’ve been waiting patiently for (or skipped down to). Conan had been having bilge pump problems and, with the wave action increasing, wanted to have a good pump on board. So we boated over to the Sittee River Marina instead of driving to Dangriga. He HATES going to Dangriga! Everything there comes with a premium price (US$68), which he was glad to pay. We pulled away from the dock and he installed it. It worked for about 4 hours then decided to quite. So the next day we headed to Uncle Harry’s Hardware in Dangriga and he bought a much better pump for a third less. The next day we headed to the marina for a refund. He explained the problem at the counter but they said the manager would have to make the decision and would call him. No phone call in the next day or 2 so he called them. Manager not around. Next was a visit and still no manager. This went on for almost 2 weeks. He was told that he could talk to the accountant but that did no good either. It seems only the manager could make the refund decision. He finally got hold of the manager by phone (the marina manager sure wasn’t going to call Conan!) who hemmed and hawed about it and then offered to have it fixed. It’s a sealed unit and can’t be easily fixed, and not by anyone in the marina, and Conan said that. But it was the only option. So back to the marina we went. Conan talked to the manager and told him that he wasn’t looking for money but a credit instead since he bought a lot of boat gas there. The manager said that he would have someone bring the pump to the distributer, who would make the refund decision, Conan’s take on it, and he told the manager in no uncertain terms, was that he bought the pump from the marina and didn’t care what the distributer’s decision would be but would wait to hear from him. That obviously didn’t sit well with the manager. Refunds in Belize aren’t as easy to get as in the states, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Anyway, the call never came but the police did. They ( the village constable and 3 Tourist policemen) arrived at 5pm on Thursday November 3rd to arrest both he and Tricia for shoplifting in the marina. He was charged with stealing 1 quart of 2 cycle motor oil (US$7.25) and Tricia with stealing a bag of potato chips (75 cents U.S.)!!! We know it was because he made the stink about getting his pump refund. The big bad marina was going to show the rich American that they couldn’t be threatened. Tricia was dragged into it because they assumed she was his wife…because she’s white. That’s a common assumption here when 2 white people are seen together. I’ve been accused of being married to her too. My reply is that she has better taste than me and that puts a laughing end to it. They were piled into the back of a pickup truck for the ride to Dangriga. Along the way they picked up 2 more people (non-felons) and a stalk of plantains. Conan said he drove like a “bat out of hell”. During the trip Conan warned the driver that he thought there was a bubble in the tire because of the bumping and that they were in jeopardy of blowing said tire. The driver ignored him and sure enough it blew a short time later. It seems like none of the cops knew how to position a jack and it took them 4 tries to finally get the tire in the air and changed. They finally made the Dangriga jail (it’s called the piss house because of the smell in the cells. Not having a bathroom in them the people pee in the corners) and were told the charges again and finger printed. No one was available to decide whether they could go home for the night because the powers that be were at a local soccer game. Several of the constables thought that they never should have been arrested and that it should have been worked out between the marina and Conan because of the insignificant amount of money (Really??? No kidding!!! But that isn’t what the marina wanted). So Conan was put in a cell (8x10 concrete room with no bed, toilet, or running water) with another jailbird and he spent a sleepless night. He did find out about the Belize legal and prison system from someone in the next cell who’d been arrested 4 times. Good information for what may come later. Tricia also spent a sleepless night but in an office room that the returning officers turned into a party room until very late into the night (actually early morning). The next morning they were allowed to make phone calls to find someone who would sign a US$300 bond so they could come home for the weekend because they wouldn’t be seen my the magistrate that day. If they couldn’t find someone to sign for them they would have to spend the weekend in jail. Several calls later Norman the baker showed up and signed them out. He even gave them a ride back to Kismet. We always like Norman, and loved his US$2 pizzas. We often preorder them on the way into Dangriga and are suckers for his baked goods. They were told to report to the court on Monday November 9th at 9am to be arraigned and have their court date set as they, of course, were pleading not guilty. Monday arrives, they arrive at court, but the magistrate decides to take the day off so they were told to return on Wednesday and sent home. That’s the story as it stands for now. We don’t know if they will be found innocent, guilty and pay a fine and make restitution and/or jail time, or be made an example of, with sentencing to the prison. All are options and you never know which way the wind will blow here in Belize. The standard sentence for stealing a bicycle is one year in the Hattieville Prison! And, if they really want to do Conan wrong they can deport him after any jail time. Tricia is a Belize citizen so they can’t deport her. So now it’s a waiting game. More as events unfold…
And so, life goes on for the Fatboy in Belize and his friends… As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!