I just booked a flight to Orlando to straighten out my finances. I was able to use airline miles on Continental so it only cost me about $110 in taxes but saved me about $600. I booked a 2 week stay so I have plenty of time to do everything I need to, mostly see my kids. I’ll be closing out my credit union account. Too much hassle to be dealing with long distance. I’m assuming that the mail to Belize has taken a turn for the worst because my 2nd attempt at having checks mailed hasn’t worked. You’ll remember that I was having problems with the credit union wire transferring my cash so now I’ll just do it in person and at least have that off my plate so I can relax a little. The trip home will also allow me to stock up on the fishing essentials that are so darned expensive here too. So, there are a number of good reasons to make the trip.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Hmmm...
I am ashamed that I didn’t remember what day it was when I posted my last blog (Friday July 16th). I tend to forget what day and what date it is but that was a date I should have been aware of. I want to wish a belated Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter Carrie. I hope that she had a great one. I did call on Saturday but could only leave a voice mail. Peter has been appointed by the Hopkins town council as the guardian of the lagoon and local off-shore waters. It pays a small salary and may even provide him with a small boat. He is responsible for making sure that the drift nets being set are the right net diameter (4 inches or more), fish studies, lagoon health, etc. He recommended his friend Tonic as his deputy and the council approved him too. Peter is very excited!
Next, before I get into the news and events of the week, I want to clear something up. Based on emails I’ve received I may have given a lot of you all the wrong impression about my 1 night jail stay. I wasn’t arrested and do not have a criminal record in Belize. I was merely detained. As I’ve mentioned before this is a pretty backward country. When a foreigner does something wrong, even a non-criminal offence, they deal with it differently. They don’t tell you to come back in the morning, or call and make an appointment; they take your passport and put you where they know they can keep an eye on you. And that is in jail. It’s what happened even in a traffic accident until they investigate it and find who is at fault. So, no harm no foul. I don’t have to check the box on any forms that ask if you’ve ever been arrested. It won’t even be an issue if and when I apply for residency here. There is no record of me even being held. I hope that relieves those of you who were worried about me. Thanks for caring though!
Since my car is being held prisoner by Customs in Belize City I boarded the Hopkins bus for my 1st ever bus ride, bound for Dangriga and Belize City, at 7am on Monday morning. It took 2 buses just to get out of Hopkins! I didn’t realize how busy that bus was so early in the morning. Actually I never considered how many people took the bus to work in various parts of the country. One of the nicest things was that almost everyone who got on said; “Good morning!” out loud as they started down the aisle to find a seat. It was very refreshing. Have you ever ridden a bus in the states and heard anyone do that? Normally everyone stays quiet and ignores the other riders. I guess though that part of it is because Hopkins is a small village and if you aren’t related to almost ½ of the population you grew up with the other ½. Still it was refreshing. Anyway, once the bus passed through town from the north end to the south end people were standing in the aisles. Here in Belize it’s against the law and I’ve actually seen bus drivers being ticketed for it. So before leaving the main part of town and out to Hopkins Road the driver made a cell call and another bus appeared. Those of us that were headed west and north to either Belmopan or Belize City were transferred to the new bus. Once that was accomplished we headed out of town. Hopkins Road is, as my brother Dave can tell you, 4 miles of very bad road and stops at the Southern Highway where you either turn north to head to the Hummingbird Highway or south to Placencia and Punta Gorda (the southernmost city in Belize and a major port) where the road ends. After travelling 10 miles you hit the Hummingbird Highway and you either turn right (east) to Dangriga or left (west) to Belmopan and the Northern Highway and Belize City and Corozal and the border to Mexico. Our bus turned right and headed toward the bus depot in Dangriga where buses lead to everywhere. Before we’d gone too far the Belmopan/Belize City bus pulled into our lane and stopped. Before going on let me tell you how you know where a bus is going. You look directly in front of the driver and there is a wooden placard 3 feet by 1 foot with the destination city written on it. Pretty simple. And…all the busses are manufactured in the states by Bluebird, the same company that builds school buses. Belize buses all look like school buses but with different paint schemes. Anyway I got off and boarded the Belmopan/Belize City bus and settled in for the 2 hour ride. It seemed to stop every 100 feet or so to let new passengers on or old ones off, thus the 2 hours to drive 55 miles. There was a 10 minute stop in Belmopan and then it turned into an express bus to Belize City and the 55 miles took only an hour. Total bus fare? US$7.00.
I went to Customs to pay my fine and learn the amount of tariff I need to pay. It wasn’t pretty! The tariff on my car is 67.5% of the blue book value which is about US$20,000. That’s roughly US$13,500!!! No way can I pay that. But it never came to that anyway. (The tariff on the trailer, canoe and generator is US$332.) I was told by the valuator that, because I didn’t own the car outright and didn’t have the title I couldn’t legally import it without documentation from the owner (the loan company). That stopped everything. When I got back to the Customs office, after he took a 90 minute lunch break, I asked why I wasn’t told that when all this 1st took place. I had told him then that I didn’t have the title and that I was making payments on the car. All I got was a shrug. By now I’m pissed! What are my options I asked? Pay off the car and get the title or take the vehicle out of the country and sell it and buy one in Belize. What??? I told him if I could pay it off I would have and that the Belize government website didn’t say that you had to have the title to bring a car into the country if you plan to stay. His response? You could have asked at the border and they would tell you. Now I was ready to pull him over the desk and ??? My response was; “Drive the 3500 miles from Florida, through Mexico, and ask at the border? Obviously they don’t know because they told me I had a 6 month visa on my car and that’s how I got into this trouble in the 1st place!” So anyway, if I want to leave Belize, trailer and all, and live in Mexico I have to come back to Belize City and pick up my car, along with a Customs agent, drive back to Hopkins, hook up, and drive to the border, all with the Customs agent in the car. He’d get out on the Belize side of the border. I asked for my passport and where to pay the fine and was told that I needed to go to Immigration to pay. He did give me my 2 passports back though. I looked in my old passport and saw that I was stamped in so I don’t think I’ll have a problem leaving the country because they gave me a new 1 month visa. And, since all of the Immigration offices and border checkpoints aren’t linked in a single computer system that I’ll have a problem. So maybe they gave me a pass on the US$1000 fine. I spent the extra money and flew back to Dangriga because I didn’t want to spend the night in Belize City and I had missed the last bus back anyway. Tricia picked me up and we started talking about options. She said that one of her former husbands (she’s had several) went to Mexico without a title and sold his car without a problem. Personally, even though it sounds, and seems to me at times, that I’ve been put through the ringer, I want to stay here. So that may be the best option. I have no problem paying the US$332 for all my other stuff so I’ll do that and at least keep my place to live. The downside, and one of my chief worries, is that the electronic braking control for the trailer is in my Jeep. Ron said that he could install it in anything I bought without a problem. That eliminates that problem. So I’ll have to think long and hard about my next step…
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Next, before I get into the news and events of the week, I want to clear something up. Based on emails I’ve received I may have given a lot of you all the wrong impression about my 1 night jail stay. I wasn’t arrested and do not have a criminal record in Belize. I was merely detained. As I’ve mentioned before this is a pretty backward country. When a foreigner does something wrong, even a non-criminal offence, they deal with it differently. They don’t tell you to come back in the morning, or call and make an appointment; they take your passport and put you where they know they can keep an eye on you. And that is in jail. It’s what happened even in a traffic accident until they investigate it and find who is at fault. So, no harm no foul. I don’t have to check the box on any forms that ask if you’ve ever been arrested. It won’t even be an issue if and when I apply for residency here. There is no record of me even being held. I hope that relieves those of you who were worried about me. Thanks for caring though!
Since my car is being held prisoner by Customs in Belize City I boarded the Hopkins bus for my 1st ever bus ride, bound for Dangriga and Belize City, at 7am on Monday morning. It took 2 buses just to get out of Hopkins! I didn’t realize how busy that bus was so early in the morning. Actually I never considered how many people took the bus to work in various parts of the country. One of the nicest things was that almost everyone who got on said; “Good morning!” out loud as they started down the aisle to find a seat. It was very refreshing. Have you ever ridden a bus in the states and heard anyone do that? Normally everyone stays quiet and ignores the other riders. I guess though that part of it is because Hopkins is a small village and if you aren’t related to almost ½ of the population you grew up with the other ½. Still it was refreshing. Anyway, once the bus passed through town from the north end to the south end people were standing in the aisles. Here in Belize it’s against the law and I’ve actually seen bus drivers being ticketed for it. So before leaving the main part of town and out to Hopkins Road the driver made a cell call and another bus appeared. Those of us that were headed west and north to either Belmopan or Belize City were transferred to the new bus. Once that was accomplished we headed out of town. Hopkins Road is, as my brother Dave can tell you, 4 miles of very bad road and stops at the Southern Highway where you either turn north to head to the Hummingbird Highway or south to Placencia and Punta Gorda (the southernmost city in Belize and a major port) where the road ends. After travelling 10 miles you hit the Hummingbird Highway and you either turn right (east) to Dangriga or left (west) to Belmopan and the Northern Highway and Belize City and Corozal and the border to Mexico. Our bus turned right and headed toward the bus depot in Dangriga where buses lead to everywhere. Before we’d gone too far the Belmopan/Belize City bus pulled into our lane and stopped. Before going on let me tell you how you know where a bus is going. You look directly in front of the driver and there is a wooden placard 3 feet by 1 foot with the destination city written on it. Pretty simple. And…all the busses are manufactured in the states by Bluebird, the same company that builds school buses. Belize buses all look like school buses but with different paint schemes. Anyway I got off and boarded the Belmopan/Belize City bus and settled in for the 2 hour ride. It seemed to stop every 100 feet or so to let new passengers on or old ones off, thus the 2 hours to drive 55 miles. There was a 10 minute stop in Belmopan and then it turned into an express bus to Belize City and the 55 miles took only an hour. Total bus fare? US$7.00.
I went to Customs to pay my fine and learn the amount of tariff I need to pay. It wasn’t pretty! The tariff on my car is 67.5% of the blue book value which is about US$20,000. That’s roughly US$13,500!!! No way can I pay that. But it never came to that anyway. (The tariff on the trailer, canoe and generator is US$332.) I was told by the valuator that, because I didn’t own the car outright and didn’t have the title I couldn’t legally import it without documentation from the owner (the loan company). That stopped everything. When I got back to the Customs office, after he took a 90 minute lunch break, I asked why I wasn’t told that when all this 1st took place. I had told him then that I didn’t have the title and that I was making payments on the car. All I got was a shrug. By now I’m pissed! What are my options I asked? Pay off the car and get the title or take the vehicle out of the country and sell it and buy one in Belize. What??? I told him if I could pay it off I would have and that the Belize government website didn’t say that you had to have the title to bring a car into the country if you plan to stay. His response? You could have asked at the border and they would tell you. Now I was ready to pull him over the desk and ??? My response was; “Drive the 3500 miles from Florida, through Mexico, and ask at the border? Obviously they don’t know because they told me I had a 6 month visa on my car and that’s how I got into this trouble in the 1st place!” So anyway, if I want to leave Belize, trailer and all, and live in Mexico I have to come back to Belize City and pick up my car, along with a Customs agent, drive back to Hopkins, hook up, and drive to the border, all with the Customs agent in the car. He’d get out on the Belize side of the border. I asked for my passport and where to pay the fine and was told that I needed to go to Immigration to pay. He did give me my 2 passports back though. I looked in my old passport and saw that I was stamped in so I don’t think I’ll have a problem leaving the country because they gave me a new 1 month visa. And, since all of the Immigration offices and border checkpoints aren’t linked in a single computer system that I’ll have a problem. So maybe they gave me a pass on the US$1000 fine. I spent the extra money and flew back to Dangriga because I didn’t want to spend the night in Belize City and I had missed the last bus back anyway. Tricia picked me up and we started talking about options. She said that one of her former husbands (she’s had several) went to Mexico without a title and sold his car without a problem. Personally, even though it sounds, and seems to me at times, that I’ve been put through the ringer, I want to stay here. So that may be the best option. I have no problem paying the US$332 for all my other stuff so I’ll do that and at least keep my place to live. The downside, and one of my chief worries, is that the electronic braking control for the trailer is in my Jeep. Ron said that he could install it in anything I bought without a problem. That eliminates that problem. So I’ll have to think long and hard about my next step…
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
5 Star accommodations in Corozal plus other stuff…
This is probably going to take a while so you may want to hit the bathroom, get something to eat and drink, and get comfy. I’ll wait…
The trip from Playa Del Carmen to the border was problem free and we enjoyed it. But Tricia, Ron and I all share something in common now. We’ve all spent time in jail…
When I got back to the border it was after 5pm, they recognized me right away, and the treasury was closed so I couldn’t pay my fine. Because of that I got to spend the night in an 8x8 concrete room with 5 other guys in the Corozal police station. The customs guys told me I wasn’t under arrest but that this was the normal procedure when the fine couldn’t be paid. I did have the BZ$500 with me though and asked if they could take it and just write a receipt and I’d come back for it in the morning. No deal. Before I went to the border I left Dave and all of our luggage at one of the casinos in the free zone so he wouldn’t be involved in anything if I had a problem. Lucky thing! Because our cell phones weren’t working I had told him that if I wasn’t back in 45 minutes to find a hotel because I was in trouble. He got a cab back to the Holiday Inn in Chetumal and spent 2 nights there. The description of the cell that I gave when Ron was sent to jail was accurate for this place too. On the way to the cells I watched 3 cops beat the living crap out of a guy in front of me for politely asking why the guy he was fighting with wasn’t arrested too. For some reason they took offence to his question and all 3 started slapping and punching him. Luckily all he got were a few cuts and bruises. In the morning they took him to the hospital and did an x-ray to make sure he didn’t suffer any head injury but he was OK. Anyway…did you ever try sleeping on a concrete floor with 5 other people in a small area? It ain’t easy! At least there was a breeze and the temperature wasn’t too high so it was relatively comfortable, or as comfortable as concrete can get. Morning comes and we were allowed out for 30 minutes to use the bathroom and take a shower one at a time. Then breakfast was served through the slot, 3 slices of bread with a slice of bologna and mayo between the top and middle slices and a sweet salsa between the middle and bottom slice. More sitting around until 11am, when the guard came and got me, and brought me to the office. He said that Customs was coming to get me in a few minutes, which turned out to be 3 hours, to being me to Customs headquarters in Belize City for a hearing. All in all my jail experience wasn’t as bad as I imagined jail would be. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not some place I ever want to go again, but not as scary as I thought it would be. My companions were nice guys and even shared their water with me because I had mone. If I smoked I could have had some of their cigarettes too. Anyway, when I saw the Customs truck pull up outside the station I also saw my car right behind it. It was driven to Belize City as well and I was told that I would have my hearing that day and if I paid the fine I could be on my way. Well it turned out that the car was no longer an issue but that having 2 passports was. Anyway, after a 2-1/2 hour drive I met with the senior Customs agent and between him and a legal officer, and my side of the story, I was now being fined US$1,000 but was told that it should be US$5,000. Dang! I really screwed the pooch on this one! Treasury was closed by now and I was afraid I was going to spend another night in jail, this time in Belize City. But the Customs guy told me that they were on my side (I guess the $1,000 fine helped ease their consciences!). I was told that I was free to go and to return on Tuesday morning when I could get my car back after paying the fine. I was also told that someone from Customs in Dangriga would be out on Monday to assess my trailer, bike, canoe, and gas generator and report back to Belize City and BC would value my car and give me the total tariff then. I asked about the 10% bond and was told that we would discuss it then too. I asked what would happen if I couldn’t pay the assessment would I be allowed to leave the country after paying the fine and without paying the tax. He said he didn’t want to see that happen so that left me somewhat hopeful. But, with my rather limited resources, my immediate thought was that I could move to Mexico where it’s cheaper to live anyway. My trailer is already registered for 10 years and my car visa would be less than US$60 a year if I lived there. Plus food is cheaper and a much better variety. I might find somewhere on the Gulf that I like just as much as Hopkins. But I would rather remain in Hopkins at Kismet with my friends. Meanwhile, I‘d been in contact with Dave since noon and he said he was looking for a bus from Chetumal to BC because there weren’t any flights open that day. By the time he and his wife Deanne, who had been relaying messages to me from Dave (he still couldn’t place any calls) got the info it was too late in the day. So Dave made plans to take the 1st bus (10:45am) and decided I’d meet him at the bus station at 1:45pm. I asked the Customs guy for the name of a good hotel, which he gave me, and got a ride to the hotel district from them, but I hit 3 hotels before I found one with an available room. I checked in, went out to a pizza joint around the corner and ordered a 12” and headed back to the hotel for a shower with soap (there wasn’t any at the jail) and a good night’s sleep on a mattress. I slept in and then headed out to find the fishing tackle store that Peter had told me about so I could buy cheaper hooks and weights. He also asked me to see if they would replace a pair of sunglasses that he had gotten a month before but were turning opaque for some reason. I found it pretty easily and got everything I needed plus a new pair of glasses for Peter (which started having the same problem a day later. It must be a bad lot of glasses. A block from the store a torrential downpour started so I stood under cover until it eased. I was looking for a DVD of “Toy Story 3” for Ron to replace the one he bought in Guatemala that turned out to be in Spanish. No luck. I was also looking for a good bottle of wine for Tricia because she called everyone in the world she thought could help me out. One of her contacts was the Tourist board and it seems it was he that got the fine reduced to the lowest amount. The best I could find, and the wine selection in Belize is dismal and expensive, was a bottle of Turning Leaf Merlot for US$17.50. Then it was time to meet Dave at the bus depot. His bus got in 40 minutes late after leaving over an hour late. Dave said that he watched the driver pour rum into his Coke bottle while he was driving. Anyway, I already had seats on Maya Island Air from the municipal airport to Dangriga on the last flight at 4:30pm. We had a little over an hour’s wait so I had Dave start typing his blog entry about his thoughts on his travels, living in Belize, and our tribulations and bought us each a sandwich and a bottle of water. (When someone comes to visit me I’m going to have them write about their experience and post it on a linked blog called boundforbelize.guestblog so you get more than my side of the story.) Tricia picked us up at the airport at 5pm and we were back home by 6pm. Thank God!!! It’s not an ordeal I want to repeat any time soon, actually…EVER! Dave was jokingly telling everyone that the next time he comes down we were going to meet in Mexico and avoid the hassle! Too funny!!! So Dave finished his blog around 9pm, during which we had another sandwich for dinner (he said my breakfast bologna sandwich sounded good), and got a good night’s sleep. We left for Dangriga airport at about 8:30am for Dave’s trip home. I sure will miss that boy!!! We did have a great time together although I think his wife may be a bit ticked at me for leaving Dave hanging. But I figure better he hang somewhere he can’t get involved by association and not be stuck somewhere he didn’t know anything about. Leaving him in the free zone worked out rather well and he had a quiet 2 days to relax while I did my hard time. I’ve been thinking about the tariff and what to do if it’s too much for my savings account. My thoughts turned to paying on the trailer, generator and canoe and maybe forfeit the Jeep. I can always buy a cheaper car here and still be living here comfortably instead of moving to Mexico. We’ll just have to wait and see…
On Tuesday, not Monday as I was told, 2 Customs inspectors from Dangriga did the evaluation of my trailer. I was sitting inside reading when I got the urge to pack up my laptop and move my tools, solar panels, chain saw, and TV/DVD/VCR into one of the empty Kismet rooms. I guess my psychic side kicked in because my phone rang just as I was exiting the trailer with the 1st load. It was Customs telling me that they were on their way! The reason for hiding that stuff is that, if it wasn’t bought in Belize, and isn’t something I need to stay alive (like pots & pans, silverware, clothing, etc) it could be taxed. I REALLY don’t want to pay any more than I have to (it’s the same with all of us when it comes to paying income tax). When they came I gave the head guy a copy of the trailer title and the canoe receipt and when asked what didn’t work I told him that my A/C and hot water heater didn’t (well maybe the A/C will work if I turn the breaker back on and the hot water heater if I lit the gas pilot…little white lies to keep the tariff down on the trailer since its 16 years old but in remarkably good shape). He also asked if the roof leaked and I said it did until I used some silicone caulk on it a couple of weeks ago (which was sort of true. The guys popped a couple of holes in the roof while building the palapa when dropping tools but I fixed them the next day). The gas generator didn’t start (maybe I should have primed it first?) so that was a good thing too. Plus they already knew my bike had been stolen because they talked to the town cop when they got into Hopkins. I certainly wasn’t going to argue with them about the bike. Plus he said he it didn’t matter because it was a low cost item. Hey if I can save a few bucks… Now I have an appointment in Belize City for Monday July 19th to pay the fine and find out what the damages will be on all my car. On Wednesday I got a call from Customs in Dangriga and was told the tariff on my trailer, canoe and generator is US$275.
I started fishing again and I caught a nice snook Monday night and gave it to Peter. It wasn’t picture worthy though since it wasn’t bigger than the 8 pounder I already posted. Tuesday and Wednesday fishing was a bust because of the bad currents and many manatees in the lagoon so I’ve stopped fishing until things settle down. It was fun getting back into my normal routine again of fishing, reading, and watching movies. While we were in Mexico I downloaded 15 new movies and updated a couple TV series with new episodes too. Ah the benefits of 24X7 internet!!! I did get kind of hooked on watching TV on our adventure. Since it’s less that US$25 a month for basic cable maybe I can talk to Tricia about splitting it.
While Dave and I were in Mexico on our adventure Almond, one of the 4 Kismet dogs, had an adventure of her own. She had 7 puppies, 2 males and 5 females. She is actually owned by a friend of Tricia named Steve but will soon be her dog because he is tired of Belize and going back home to California. He is one of those “rich Americans” who is always handing out BZ$50 bills to everyone he meets. If he’s not giving them cash he is buying them beer or rum. That only perpetuates the local’s belief that all Americans are rich, which is a bad thing for those of us who aren’t. Because of his not having any money handy on Saturday July 10th one of the local bad boys put a Guinness beer bottle through the passenger side window of his pickup truck here at Kismet. Not to say he deserves it but he brings bad fortune on himself. So he is abandoning a 40 acre farm that he owns and has a group of Mayan boys clearing. Too bad it’s not near the coast or I might be tempted to buy it from him. It’s about 15 miles inland. Enough said about Steve…
Tricia and Peter left this morning (Friday 7/16) for a trip to Corozal to pick up a dory that she bought. She will lend it to Elvis to keep her freezer stocked with fish and lobster and rent it as well. They plan on spending the night and heading into the Free Zone. This will be Tricia’s 1st trip out of the country in 5 years and I know she is really looking forward to paying her BZ$37.50 to pass through the border check point and shop in stores that have more than the bare necessities. It will be interesting to see what she comes back with. I know she will stock up on chocolate because, like me, she is a chocoholic and that is very expensive here.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
The trip from Playa Del Carmen to the border was problem free and we enjoyed it. But Tricia, Ron and I all share something in common now. We’ve all spent time in jail…
When I got back to the border it was after 5pm, they recognized me right away, and the treasury was closed so I couldn’t pay my fine. Because of that I got to spend the night in an 8x8 concrete room with 5 other guys in the Corozal police station. The customs guys told me I wasn’t under arrest but that this was the normal procedure when the fine couldn’t be paid. I did have the BZ$500 with me though and asked if they could take it and just write a receipt and I’d come back for it in the morning. No deal. Before I went to the border I left Dave and all of our luggage at one of the casinos in the free zone so he wouldn’t be involved in anything if I had a problem. Lucky thing! Because our cell phones weren’t working I had told him that if I wasn’t back in 45 minutes to find a hotel because I was in trouble. He got a cab back to the Holiday Inn in Chetumal and spent 2 nights there. The description of the cell that I gave when Ron was sent to jail was accurate for this place too. On the way to the cells I watched 3 cops beat the living crap out of a guy in front of me for politely asking why the guy he was fighting with wasn’t arrested too. For some reason they took offence to his question and all 3 started slapping and punching him. Luckily all he got were a few cuts and bruises. In the morning they took him to the hospital and did an x-ray to make sure he didn’t suffer any head injury but he was OK. Anyway…did you ever try sleeping on a concrete floor with 5 other people in a small area? It ain’t easy! At least there was a breeze and the temperature wasn’t too high so it was relatively comfortable, or as comfortable as concrete can get. Morning comes and we were allowed out for 30 minutes to use the bathroom and take a shower one at a time. Then breakfast was served through the slot, 3 slices of bread with a slice of bologna and mayo between the top and middle slices and a sweet salsa between the middle and bottom slice. More sitting around until 11am, when the guard came and got me, and brought me to the office. He said that Customs was coming to get me in a few minutes, which turned out to be 3 hours, to being me to Customs headquarters in Belize City for a hearing. All in all my jail experience wasn’t as bad as I imagined jail would be. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not some place I ever want to go again, but not as scary as I thought it would be. My companions were nice guys and even shared their water with me because I had mone. If I smoked I could have had some of their cigarettes too. Anyway, when I saw the Customs truck pull up outside the station I also saw my car right behind it. It was driven to Belize City as well and I was told that I would have my hearing that day and if I paid the fine I could be on my way. Well it turned out that the car was no longer an issue but that having 2 passports was. Anyway, after a 2-1/2 hour drive I met with the senior Customs agent and between him and a legal officer, and my side of the story, I was now being fined US$1,000 but was told that it should be US$5,000. Dang! I really screwed the pooch on this one! Treasury was closed by now and I was afraid I was going to spend another night in jail, this time in Belize City. But the Customs guy told me that they were on my side (I guess the $1,000 fine helped ease their consciences!). I was told that I was free to go and to return on Tuesday morning when I could get my car back after paying the fine. I was also told that someone from Customs in Dangriga would be out on Monday to assess my trailer, bike, canoe, and gas generator and report back to Belize City and BC would value my car and give me the total tariff then. I asked about the 10% bond and was told that we would discuss it then too. I asked what would happen if I couldn’t pay the assessment would I be allowed to leave the country after paying the fine and without paying the tax. He said he didn’t want to see that happen so that left me somewhat hopeful. But, with my rather limited resources, my immediate thought was that I could move to Mexico where it’s cheaper to live anyway. My trailer is already registered for 10 years and my car visa would be less than US$60 a year if I lived there. Plus food is cheaper and a much better variety. I might find somewhere on the Gulf that I like just as much as Hopkins. But I would rather remain in Hopkins at Kismet with my friends. Meanwhile, I‘d been in contact with Dave since noon and he said he was looking for a bus from Chetumal to BC because there weren’t any flights open that day. By the time he and his wife Deanne, who had been relaying messages to me from Dave (he still couldn’t place any calls) got the info it was too late in the day. So Dave made plans to take the 1st bus (10:45am) and decided I’d meet him at the bus station at 1:45pm. I asked the Customs guy for the name of a good hotel, which he gave me, and got a ride to the hotel district from them, but I hit 3 hotels before I found one with an available room. I checked in, went out to a pizza joint around the corner and ordered a 12” and headed back to the hotel for a shower with soap (there wasn’t any at the jail) and a good night’s sleep on a mattress. I slept in and then headed out to find the fishing tackle store that Peter had told me about so I could buy cheaper hooks and weights. He also asked me to see if they would replace a pair of sunglasses that he had gotten a month before but were turning opaque for some reason. I found it pretty easily and got everything I needed plus a new pair of glasses for Peter (which started having the same problem a day later. It must be a bad lot of glasses. A block from the store a torrential downpour started so I stood under cover until it eased. I was looking for a DVD of “Toy Story 3” for Ron to replace the one he bought in Guatemala that turned out to be in Spanish. No luck. I was also looking for a good bottle of wine for Tricia because she called everyone in the world she thought could help me out. One of her contacts was the Tourist board and it seems it was he that got the fine reduced to the lowest amount. The best I could find, and the wine selection in Belize is dismal and expensive, was a bottle of Turning Leaf Merlot for US$17.50. Then it was time to meet Dave at the bus depot. His bus got in 40 minutes late after leaving over an hour late. Dave said that he watched the driver pour rum into his Coke bottle while he was driving. Anyway, I already had seats on Maya Island Air from the municipal airport to Dangriga on the last flight at 4:30pm. We had a little over an hour’s wait so I had Dave start typing his blog entry about his thoughts on his travels, living in Belize, and our tribulations and bought us each a sandwich and a bottle of water. (When someone comes to visit me I’m going to have them write about their experience and post it on a linked blog called boundforbelize.guestblog so you get more than my side of the story.) Tricia picked us up at the airport at 5pm and we were back home by 6pm. Thank God!!! It’s not an ordeal I want to repeat any time soon, actually…EVER! Dave was jokingly telling everyone that the next time he comes down we were going to meet in Mexico and avoid the hassle! Too funny!!! So Dave finished his blog around 9pm, during which we had another sandwich for dinner (he said my breakfast bologna sandwich sounded good), and got a good night’s sleep. We left for Dangriga airport at about 8:30am for Dave’s trip home. I sure will miss that boy!!! We did have a great time together although I think his wife may be a bit ticked at me for leaving Dave hanging. But I figure better he hang somewhere he can’t get involved by association and not be stuck somewhere he didn’t know anything about. Leaving him in the free zone worked out rather well and he had a quiet 2 days to relax while I did my hard time. I’ve been thinking about the tariff and what to do if it’s too much for my savings account. My thoughts turned to paying on the trailer, generator and canoe and maybe forfeit the Jeep. I can always buy a cheaper car here and still be living here comfortably instead of moving to Mexico. We’ll just have to wait and see…
On Tuesday, not Monday as I was told, 2 Customs inspectors from Dangriga did the evaluation of my trailer. I was sitting inside reading when I got the urge to pack up my laptop and move my tools, solar panels, chain saw, and TV/DVD/VCR into one of the empty Kismet rooms. I guess my psychic side kicked in because my phone rang just as I was exiting the trailer with the 1st load. It was Customs telling me that they were on their way! The reason for hiding that stuff is that, if it wasn’t bought in Belize, and isn’t something I need to stay alive (like pots & pans, silverware, clothing, etc) it could be taxed. I REALLY don’t want to pay any more than I have to (it’s the same with all of us when it comes to paying income tax). When they came I gave the head guy a copy of the trailer title and the canoe receipt and when asked what didn’t work I told him that my A/C and hot water heater didn’t (well maybe the A/C will work if I turn the breaker back on and the hot water heater if I lit the gas pilot…little white lies to keep the tariff down on the trailer since its 16 years old but in remarkably good shape). He also asked if the roof leaked and I said it did until I used some silicone caulk on it a couple of weeks ago (which was sort of true. The guys popped a couple of holes in the roof while building the palapa when dropping tools but I fixed them the next day). The gas generator didn’t start (maybe I should have primed it first?) so that was a good thing too. Plus they already knew my bike had been stolen because they talked to the town cop when they got into Hopkins. I certainly wasn’t going to argue with them about the bike. Plus he said he it didn’t matter because it was a low cost item. Hey if I can save a few bucks… Now I have an appointment in Belize City for Monday July 19th to pay the fine and find out what the damages will be on all my car. On Wednesday I got a call from Customs in Dangriga and was told the tariff on my trailer, canoe and generator is US$275.
I started fishing again and I caught a nice snook Monday night and gave it to Peter. It wasn’t picture worthy though since it wasn’t bigger than the 8 pounder I already posted. Tuesday and Wednesday fishing was a bust because of the bad currents and many manatees in the lagoon so I’ve stopped fishing until things settle down. It was fun getting back into my normal routine again of fishing, reading, and watching movies. While we were in Mexico I downloaded 15 new movies and updated a couple TV series with new episodes too. Ah the benefits of 24X7 internet!!! I did get kind of hooked on watching TV on our adventure. Since it’s less that US$25 a month for basic cable maybe I can talk to Tricia about splitting it.
While Dave and I were in Mexico on our adventure Almond, one of the 4 Kismet dogs, had an adventure of her own. She had 7 puppies, 2 males and 5 females. She is actually owned by a friend of Tricia named Steve but will soon be her dog because he is tired of Belize and going back home to California. He is one of those “rich Americans” who is always handing out BZ$50 bills to everyone he meets. If he’s not giving them cash he is buying them beer or rum. That only perpetuates the local’s belief that all Americans are rich, which is a bad thing for those of us who aren’t. Because of his not having any money handy on Saturday July 10th one of the local bad boys put a Guinness beer bottle through the passenger side window of his pickup truck here at Kismet. Not to say he deserves it but he brings bad fortune on himself. So he is abandoning a 40 acre farm that he owns and has a group of Mayan boys clearing. Too bad it’s not near the coast or I might be tempted to buy it from him. It’s about 15 miles inland. Enough said about Steve…
Tricia and Peter left this morning (Friday 7/16) for a trip to Corozal to pick up a dory that she bought. She will lend it to Elvis to keep her freezer stocked with fish and lobster and rent it as well. They plan on spending the night and heading into the Free Zone. This will be Tricia’s 1st trip out of the country in 5 years and I know she is really looking forward to paying her BZ$37.50 to pass through the border check point and shop in stores that have more than the bare necessities. It will be interesting to see what she comes back with. I know she will stock up on chocolate because, like me, she is a chocoholic and that is very expensive here.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Still in Mexico...
We’re in Playa Del Carmen where I booked a really nice boutique hotel for a very reasonable price. A very large room with 2 queen beds, a 32” flat screen TV and a balcony overlooking the pool. We ate dinner at a Brazilian Steak House which was a 1st for Dave. I’ve been to them in Atlanta and Orlando and really enjoy them. They have a salad bar and dinner is all kinds of differently spiced meats (beef of course, pork, chicken, and lamb) brought to your table on skewers and sliced before you. Each table has a set of tongs to hold the meat as its cut. There were several kinds of sauces for dipping and an herb butter and liver pate for the bread sticks. Needless to say we were in heaven and stuffed to the gills when we left. Next was a walk along 5ht Ave which is a pedestrian shopping street of all types of boutique shops and restaurants. I was looking for reading glasses because I left mine back on my table in the trailer so I was working with a pair that had no ear arms and were hard to use. I asked someone outside a store where I could buy a pair and he said, “Turn left and go 2 blocks to…WalMart.” So off we went! It turned out to be a super center but not nearly as large as the ones in the states. Dave bought some calamine lotion for a rash he has and I got 2 pair of glasses. They didn’t have any fishing equipment though, which is high on my shopping list. We went back to the hotel for the night and more movie downloading. One of the bad features of this hotel is that you place the room key card in a slot and it powers up the electrical outlets in the room so I couldn’t leave my laptop plugged in and downloading while we were gone. After a good night’s sleep we are spending the day chilling. I walked around the corner to Starbucks for a couple of bagels for breakfast. And we sat on the balcony with coffee (me with amoretto in mine), cigars, and books and watched the people coming and going in the hotel and the pool. I did solve my electrical problem by unplugging the small fridge behind the TV and plugged my laptop into that so we can leave if we want to. The other failure in the hotel is that the wireless network drops connection every minute so it’s taking a long time to download movies and we can’t access email or Facebook while downloading. But worse things could be happening and we’re dealing with it. We’ll walk the streets tonight and decide what dinner will be. It ended up being BBQ chicken, fires, and corn on the cob in honor of the 4th. Monday was Mexican food and more relaxing after a walk, twice, the length of 5th Ave and some shopping.
We went to the U.S. Consulate today and I applied for my new passport. The lady working there was really nice, and REALLY cute. She’s the only one working this office. She advised me that I will have to go to The U.S. Embassy in Belize City within 3 months because I’ll only be issued a temporary passport good for that amount of time. My temporary pass will be here tomorrow or Thursday. Then it’s off to Chetumal for another night and then on to Belize City for shopping and then to Hopkins. Dave leaves on Sunday so most of his trip will have been spent in Mexico. Oh well, it’s be a nice vacation for me too. Now I just have to worry about the guys recognizing me at the border. I guess I’ll tell them that it was my twin brother that was having the problem and I’m coming to help out. Whether they believe me or not is another question. I may still end up having my car impounded and paying the thousands in fees and fines…
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Friday, July 2, 2010
What next???
Well another adventure ahead of us. When trying to cross into Belize I was told by the customs agent that my car visa had expired on March 1st and that I would have to pay a US$250 fine. Not only that but because I didn’t have the original car visa they were going to impound my car! Plus I would have to pay the US$6000 tax on my car! How do I get to the ATM machine to get the cash I asked? Walk he said. It was about 2 miles and I complained so he kept my passport and let us drive. Now remember I said something earlier about losing my passport so I could start all over and delay paying the taxes on my car and trailer? Guess what I’m doing? After a couple of useless calls to the U.S. Consulate in Playa del Carmen (You have to go into either Belize or Mexico to get a new passport. How do I get into either country without a passport because I’m in a free trade zone between the 2 counties? I don’t know she says. Thanks a lot!) So I headed back to the MX border and found out that all I needed was the 6 month visa that I already had. All I needed to do was pay the temporary car visa money again. Too cool! So we’re back in the Holiday Inn in Chetumal until tomorrow and then driving to Playa to the Consulate for a new passport. Its about a 5 hour drive. Two conundrums though… Monday is a holiday (election day) so we have to wait until Tuesday for the Consulate. And the other is that I need to get back to my trailer to get the original paperwork just in case the same agents are in the office when I get back there. I really want to make it look like I’m registering the car for the 1st time though so I’ll send Dave In 1st to check it out. So, I may have to fly to Dangriga from Chetumal and back on Tuesday or Wednesday. At least Dave is enjoying his non-Belize trip so far! LOL At least we’ll have a/c. TV, hot water, and internet until Tuesday.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Fishing & Chetumal MX
Dave caught his 1st fish in Belize on Monday 6/28! It was a small snook of about 1-1/2 pounds. No picture though because he says he’s saving that for the “big one”. Tuesday morning we took my canoe into the lagoon and he caught a really nice catfish and I caught a 5 pound black snapper that was part of dinner for Dave, Tricia, Ron, Elvis and me. That will be the last of our fishing until after we get back from Mexico. Sitting on the beach in our chairs he said, “This is the life! Fishing in the morning, reading and sleeping on the beach in the afternoon, and good food!” The only things he is suffering are the biting bugs and the humidity at night when he’s trying to sleep (although it certainly doesn’t sound like it from his almost instant snoring as soon as he hits the pillow). I told him how to set the fans up to make it a bit cooler where he’s sleeping. Tonight he said it was much better. So maybe he’s only suffering one thing now. I’m really glad he’s enjoying himself!
We hit the road for Chetumal Mexico at around 7:30am and were holed up in the Holiday Inn by 1:30pm. It’s a nice place except it has no American TV that isn’t Spanish dubbed. Oh well. It’s the 1st a/c and hot water I’ve had since the 1st night that Kevin and I stayed in the Pelican Beach Resort in Dangriga our 2nd day in Belize February 4th. To tell you the truth I really don’t miss either…well a/c maybe on the really hot nights but my fan makes things bearable. But I really enjoy the cool showers at night before I go to bed. We went to the Sam’s Club already but it wasn’t quite the same as those in the states. It didn’t have as large a food selection and we didn’t buy anything. We did however have a hotdog and soda for the same price as those in the Sam’s at home. One of the reasons we didn’t buy anything is that there is a 37% duty on things brought back into Belize. We’re taking the rest of the day off now and Dave’s already showered and is knocked out. Me I’m downloading movies like a madman! Might as well get a few of the new ones out since I left the states. We went to the Chetumal free zone today and I bought a bottle of Di Saronno Amoretto, 25 Macanudo cigars, and a bunch of chocolate that I can’t get in Belize. I’ll sneak that stuff into Belize in my backpack. We’re leaving about 10am tomorrow and will stop in Belize City at the tackle store for hooks and weights that are REALLY expensive in Dangriga. They charge BZ$1 each! I stopped at a tackle store in the free zone and they were expensive too. I hate losing $2.50 (including the wire leader I use) each time I get snagged in the lagoon. Hopefully I’ll get cheaper tackle tomorrow… We are having a good time here none the less.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
We hit the road for Chetumal Mexico at around 7:30am and were holed up in the Holiday Inn by 1:30pm. It’s a nice place except it has no American TV that isn’t Spanish dubbed. Oh well. It’s the 1st a/c and hot water I’ve had since the 1st night that Kevin and I stayed in the Pelican Beach Resort in Dangriga our 2nd day in Belize February 4th. To tell you the truth I really don’t miss either…well a/c maybe on the really hot nights but my fan makes things bearable. But I really enjoy the cool showers at night before I go to bed. We went to the Sam’s Club already but it wasn’t quite the same as those in the states. It didn’t have as large a food selection and we didn’t buy anything. We did however have a hotdog and soda for the same price as those in the Sam’s at home. One of the reasons we didn’t buy anything is that there is a 37% duty on things brought back into Belize. We’re taking the rest of the day off now and Dave’s already showered and is knocked out. Me I’m downloading movies like a madman! Might as well get a few of the new ones out since I left the states. We went to the Chetumal free zone today and I bought a bottle of Di Saronno Amoretto, 25 Macanudo cigars, and a bunch of chocolate that I can’t get in Belize. I’ll sneak that stuff into Belize in my backpack. We’re leaving about 10am tomorrow and will stop in Belize City at the tackle store for hooks and weights that are REALLY expensive in Dangriga. They charge BZ$1 each! I stopped at a tackle store in the free zone and they were expensive too. I hate losing $2.50 (including the wire leader I use) each time I get snagged in the lagoon. Hopefully I’ll get cheaper tackle tomorrow… We are having a good time here none the less.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Dave & Alex - one good & one bad visitor
Day 1, Saturday 6/26 – I had 2 visitors arrive today, my brother Dave who I welcomed with open arms, and my new friend Alex who was an unexpected and unwanted surprise. Alex delayed Dave’s flight from Belize City to Dangriga for over an hour because the commuter airlines servicing the rest of Belize and the Cayes were being used to evacuate people from Cayes Ambergris and Caulker before the tropical storm’s arrival. Alex may not have been unexpected by those of you served by the Weather Channel but here in Belize he came without much warning. It had been raining here for over 24 hours but I wasn’t aware of the storm until I reached Dangriga Airport to pick Dave up. I was right on time but there was no plane on the tarmac at either Tropic Air, which Dave was flying, or Maya Island Air. That was unusual because there is almost always a plane with people deplaning or boarding. Today there were none. When I asked the service agent she informed me that Tropical Storm Alex was the reason that Dave’s flight was delayed. So I did the shopping that needed to be done, and that I planned to use to introduce my brother to the differences between shopping in the U.S. and Belize. We’ll have to save that for another day. When I got back to the airport (it’s actually 2 small buildings on the side of the road) he was sitting inside staying dry. The rain was changing intensity almost every 5 minutes, going from a drizzle to a tropical deluge. We stopped for lunch and had fried chicken, which is a fare popular in every restaurant in Belize, and had a semi-leisurely lunch with my brother enjoying his first Belikan Beer, sitting outside under cover, and actually quite dry. We finished our meal and headed for Hopkins Village and home with a brief stop at Ron’s house to restock my supply of fresh mangos from his tree and to introduce the 2 of them. By the time we got to Kismet water was starting to creep around my trailer. This gave me a chill because I’d heard tales of thigh deep water on the property in years gone by. It wasn’t rising fast and actually seemed to recede some while I introduced Dave to Tricia. Then we went back down to my home and he unpacked all the goodies he’d brought down for me. My favorite was the 2 bags of almond M&Ms! After unpacking we put on a movie to pass the time while the rains came and went but mostly came. Around 5pm Peter made a surprise visit (yes, a day full of surprises!) and said he was headed for the lagoon to throw net and asked if we wanted to come. Well what better time to introduce Dave to Peter and the lagoon?! We only had 45 minutes until dinner but I figured that would be enough time for both. Peter rode off on his bike, with his net in his basket, and Dave and I drove. The Kismet driveway had a foot of water in several places and there were deep puddles in the pathway to the lagoon. Peter said that an old fisherman taught him that just before a storm was a good time because the fish would be on the move out of the lagoon and into deeper water. It proved to be true. Soon he was catching barassee and small stone bass with every throw. At 6pm Dave and I headed back to Kismet and a very enjoyable dinner. I supplied the fish from my catch the night before (6 red and black snappers) and the salad, with Tricia supplied the rice and fresh baked bread, and Ron a nice merlot. Oh don’t give me that! I know you are thinking that you are supposed to drink white wine with fish but we 3 are of the mind that you drink what you like best. Anyway…it rained all through dinner and our after dinner game of no score Scrabble. Peter stopped by on his way back home from the lagoon and reported that Alex would make landfall between Belize City and Corozal at 3am. Oh joy! By the time we got back down to the trailer the water had risen to 2 inches in places, with the wind strengthening, as we waded to the door. We finished watching more of our movie but by 9pm Dave was ready for bed. He had started his travels at Milwaukee Airport at 4am central (3am Belize) and was ready to call it a day. I turned on a DVD and watched it in bed while Dave snored away. It’s now midnight and the water is close to 4 inches deep around my home and the trees are singing the song of stronger winds. That means I can sit here through another 8 inches of water before I have to drag my home to higher ground. So it will be a sleepless night for me as I monitor the water level in case we have to make the move before daybreak. I have a spot picked out just across from Kismet where there is a relatively unused side road that is 4 feet higher than I am right now. It’s a good spot to park myself and start up my gas powered electric generator and wait out the storm. More later!
Day 2, Sunday 6/27 6am – After all that worrying the storm was actually over by 2:30am. It stopped raining then and the wind died. I looked outside a minute ago and the water has receded from the door side of my trailer and my door mat outside is dry again. The drive still has approximately 10 inches of water in one section but for me the threat of having to move to higher ground has passed. Dave and I are actually talking about going to the lagoon to fish.
We went fishing but the current out of the lagoon was too strong for the weights that we had on our lines so we were back, fishless, by 8am. Instead of coming in I got Dave back into the car and drove him around Hopkins and Sittee River villages so he could see where I live. Today was the last day of Lobster Fest 2010 in Placencia so we decided to take the 1 hour drive to see what it was all about. On the way back home and to breakfast we stopped at Ron’s to get a few mangos and to ask him if he wanted to join us. He jumped at the offer so we made plans to head over around 11:30. Breakfast was egg and cheese on a blueberry bagel, coffee, and mangos. Eleven thirty rolled around and we headed off. The Lobster Fest was sort of a bust. The lobster dishes were going for between US$12.50-17.50. We ended up with BBQ chicken, red beans and rice, and potato salad for US$4 as our main dish with a Belikan Beer. We did sample lobster wedgies though for US$2.50 and they were quite good. They consisted of a triangular stack of 5 flour tortillas with lobster, cilantro, celery, and onion between each layer and a nice salsa on the side. The live band was pretty good and we sat and people watched for a couple of hours. We also treated ourselves to root beer floats (Ron and I) and mint chocolate chip ice cream (Dave). We talked to the American who owned the shop and he told us it was soy milk based ice cream. Now I always made faces when my daughter Carrie talked about eating and drinking soy anything because I always thought those products were fake. I like the “real” thing. I’m publicly apologizing to Carrie right now because the ice cream was very good. That’s not to say that I’m going to dive into eating/drinking all things soy. I still like the real stuff. On the way home I asked Ron what movie he was showing that night on the yard screen (remember I told you that he shows movies in his yard every night at 7pm for the locals?) and he said Pulp Fiction. That decided the rest of our night. It’s 9:30pm now and we just got home. Our next plan is to try fishing in the lagoon at 5am so it’s off to bed. Actually Dave is already snoring away…
Our Mexico plan now is to go on Wednesday and return either Friday or Saturday. We’ll shop the Free Zones (kind of a duty free area of shops only for foreigners) in both Chetumal MX and Corozal BZ and WalMart in Chetumal plus reclaim my US$990 temporary vehicle tax, which is the main reason for going in the 1st place. Plus we’ll get in some sightseeing. Sometime next week we’re planning a fishing/snorkel trip to the reef.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
Day 2, Sunday 6/27 6am – After all that worrying the storm was actually over by 2:30am. It stopped raining then and the wind died. I looked outside a minute ago and the water has receded from the door side of my trailer and my door mat outside is dry again. The drive still has approximately 10 inches of water in one section but for me the threat of having to move to higher ground has passed. Dave and I are actually talking about going to the lagoon to fish.
We went fishing but the current out of the lagoon was too strong for the weights that we had on our lines so we were back, fishless, by 8am. Instead of coming in I got Dave back into the car and drove him around Hopkins and Sittee River villages so he could see where I live. Today was the last day of Lobster Fest 2010 in Placencia so we decided to take the 1 hour drive to see what it was all about. On the way back home and to breakfast we stopped at Ron’s to get a few mangos and to ask him if he wanted to join us. He jumped at the offer so we made plans to head over around 11:30. Breakfast was egg and cheese on a blueberry bagel, coffee, and mangos. Eleven thirty rolled around and we headed off. The Lobster Fest was sort of a bust. The lobster dishes were going for between US$12.50-17.50. We ended up with BBQ chicken, red beans and rice, and potato salad for US$4 as our main dish with a Belikan Beer. We did sample lobster wedgies though for US$2.50 and they were quite good. They consisted of a triangular stack of 5 flour tortillas with lobster, cilantro, celery, and onion between each layer and a nice salsa on the side. The live band was pretty good and we sat and people watched for a couple of hours. We also treated ourselves to root beer floats (Ron and I) and mint chocolate chip ice cream (Dave). We talked to the American who owned the shop and he told us it was soy milk based ice cream. Now I always made faces when my daughter Carrie talked about eating and drinking soy anything because I always thought those products were fake. I like the “real” thing. I’m publicly apologizing to Carrie right now because the ice cream was very good. That’s not to say that I’m going to dive into eating/drinking all things soy. I still like the real stuff. On the way home I asked Ron what movie he was showing that night on the yard screen (remember I told you that he shows movies in his yard every night at 7pm for the locals?) and he said Pulp Fiction. That decided the rest of our night. It’s 9:30pm now and we just got home. Our next plan is to try fishing in the lagoon at 5am so it’s off to bed. Actually Dave is already snoring away…
Our Mexico plan now is to go on Wednesday and return either Friday or Saturday. We’ll shop the Free Zones (kind of a duty free area of shops only for foreigners) in both Chetumal MX and Corozal BZ and WalMart in Chetumal plus reclaim my US$990 temporary vehicle tax, which is the main reason for going in the 1st place. Plus we’ll get in some sightseeing. Sometime next week we’re planning a fishing/snorkel trip to the reef.
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!