I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I last updated this until I saw the last posting date. How fast these 3 weeks have gone! My life has settled into a quiet routine that I am enjoying very much. It’s too boring to go into, and I said in my 1st blog that I wouldn’t bore you to death with trivial information so I won’t go into my routine. Suffice it to say though that I am very comfortable and rested and thoroughly enjoying my new life here in Belize.
I’m still learning how to cast the throw net for bait. I was down the lagoon with Peter (you remember him, he’s the local fisherman and frequent visitor to Kismet) and he was showing me, again, how to throw while he was fishing. He was getting some nice eating size fish in his net when I was there, which is how he makes his catch. Anyway, while I didn’t bring my net to try it out because I didn’t want to get in the way of his work, I think I may have it done now. I’m planning on practicing it again today…
I never made my trip to Chetumal 2 weeks ago. If you remember I posted about taking a couple of days off (gee aren’t I always off???) and heading to MX to collect my vehicle tax that I wasn’t able to collect when I crossed the border because the bank had already closed. Another of my reasons for going was to renew my Belize visa, which has to be done every month for the 1st 4 months at a cost of US$50, and to renew my vehicle visa which is free at the moment. Instead Tricia and I took a ride to Independence, which is about 40 miles south and did all that. It also gave me a chance to get information on becoming a retiree citizen and a rough estimate on the import tax on my car. That wasn’t as big a shock as I thought it would be. I was thinking US$8000 but the tax man gave me a rough estimate of US$3000 id I remove the 4X4 and engine size emblems from my car. Yes he actually told me that! He said that since they don’t do an under the hood inspection of the car I can tell them that I have a 6 cylinder engine and no 4 wheel drive and that will significantly reduce the tariff and as long as nothing on the outside refers to hidden features I’ll be taxed at a lower rate. I love government officials that help ease the financial pain of doing business in a country! Anyway, after renewing my visas monthly for the 1st 4 months I can get a 6 month visa. After a year I can apply for my Belize citizenship and passport and be a dual citizen.
I got to visit the capital of Belmopan last week where Tricia had an appointment for her citizenship. She’s had some personal and paperwork problems that have prevented her from obtaining it and now she’s going to the top. Anyway, the Belize capital is nothing like you would expect of a nation’s capital. It’s small and has no impressive buildings. Even the U.S. and Great Britain Embassies are very plain looking. I thought that very odd as I’ve seen government buildings in other countries and they are quite impressive. We had a guest with us too. A lady named Raydine (Ray dine) asked for a ride to one of the teaching farms on the way to Belmopan. So we took her and stopped to talk to the people there. It seems she had gotten some bad info about the farm, which was no longer a teaching farm but a fully functioning agricultural station. It’s a good thing that we stayed with her until she found that out. Otherwise she would have had to take a bus back to Hopkins with her luggage. Anyway she came to Belmopan with us and bought our lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Since she is also looking for 500-1000 acres of rain forest land she decided to visit the Land Ministry and ask some questions. She was told that the best, and cheapest, place would be in Placencia, which is at the southern end of the country. This was also a shopping trip for things that can’t be obtained in Hopkins or Dangriga too. One of the things I was able to find at the meat market was spare ribs…one of my favorites! Anyway it was a successful trip and we finally made it home around 7pm.
I want to start visiting some of the other towns and villages around Belize that I heard might be interesting, some near, some far, so I’ll have to start planning my trips so I can see more of this beautiful country.
Until later… vaya con dios!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Now I'm alone now, except of course for Tricia and Elvis...
First off I gave you all the wrong area code for Belize. It’s 501 and not 502. So my cell number is 011-501-651-3091.
Well Kismet has lost 3 of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Bruce left for his home in Maine on Friday 2/26 and Brent and Jan were safely home in Edmonton late Thursday night (2/25). Boy is Fatboy In Belize ever lonely now! While Tricia will always be here, and there will be guests checking in and out, and Ron and Peter dropping by almost every day, that will keep me occupied. It’s just not the same without the 3 of them because we all became such fast friends. I claimed Bruce as my 4th brother. We poked fun at each other constantly and had an even better time when happy hour rolled around and Brent and Jan joined in. This place rocked with laughter! And, the 2 times that we forced Brent to drag over his borrowed guitar, we had the air resounding with all kinds of half remembered songs. Actually Brent knew the songs but none of us could remember all the lyrics. In any case we had a great, great time. All 3 left with promises to come back. Bruce maybe at Christmas (he was here for the 1st time last Christmas) and the Canucks about this same time next year. Kismet is so quiet now…
We all (Tricia, Brent & Jan, Ron, Bruce, and I) went on a snorkeling and fishing trip on Tuesday 2/24. On our way out to the reef a pod of dolphin played around the boat and one made a beautiful 6 foot jump into the air as if he was performing at Sea World. Our 1st stop was to Bread & Butter Caye which is right on the reef and home to a single small resort owned by a guy named King. It’s a really nice place, rustic as many of them are around here, but a nice place to stay none the less. King met us at the dock, and of course, when we heard his name, several of us introduced ourselves as royalty too. Bruce was 1st with Prince and me last with Emperor. King busted out laughing over it so we knew he was our kind of guy. Some sat and had a beer, or beers, and talked and some of us snorkeled and fished. Snorkeling was great as the water was calm and warm and the sun bright. After snorkeling I caught an inedible garbage fish, but a nice fight, and had a few small hits. We left King after about an hour and headed out in the direction of the more populated Cayes and began our fishing day in earnest. Brent was the big kahoona with a double catch of barracuda. The 1st was about 4 feet long and the 2nd a 3 footer. Both gave up the fight very unwillingly and had Brent sort of roaming the bow of the boat while he fought them. Bruce had a couple of fish on, including a barracuda, but failed to boat them and I had a couple of good strikes, one a barracuda that danced across the water before throwing the hook, but brought nothing to the boat. So our dinner was provided by Brent 2 nights in a row. Needless to say we all came home redder than we left. Tricia fed us wonderful egg salad and salsa with chips (she forgot the bread). Rum and OJ filled many a glass along with cold Belikan Beer. We actually had beer left when we got back to the dock. That was a shocker. But it didn’t last long as we went from partying on the boat to partying on the Kismet deck.
I’m planning a trip next week to Chetumal MX to reclaim my tourist vehicle tax of US$450. I’ll probably spend a few days there doing some major grocery shopping for Tricia and me, getting things that aren’t readily available here in Hopkins or Dangriga. My buddy Ron will take the ride up but will stay in Belize at Corozal and visit friends. One of the reasons for my trip to MX is to restart the clock on paying the duty on my car. It may amount to about US$4,000 because of its value. I want to put that off for a long as possible but not sure how long I can keep doing that. It’s the price of living in paradise though I guess.
Ron came over Thursday afternoon to shoot the breeze and asked if I’d be interested in a 3 day canoe outing from San Ignacio, which is in the Mayan Mountains near the Guatemalan coast, to Belize City which is right on the coast. He thinks it’s a daytime race but we sure as shootin’ wouldn’t be involved in that. It would just be a nice couple of days on the water. He wasn’t sure what the sleeping arrangements would be, hotels or tents or something, so he’ll check into it. If we decide to do it we’ll lock the canoe to the top on my car before we head north to MX and take the detour to San Ignacio on the way back. I’ll keep you informed of our plans…
For Bruce’s last meal request Tricia made him a wonderful rosemary roasted chicken and baked an Italian bread. Dinner was attended by Bruce, Elvis (Tricia’s helper), Tricia and me. And, since Saturday 2/27 is Bruce’s 61st birthday, I couldn’t let it go by without some sort of celebration. So, while I was in Dangriga Thursday I stopped at Norman’s Bakery and bought 3 delicious carrot cupcakes for his birthday. Sadly Bruce said it would be the only birthday cake he’d have. But having one here made him feel special and us so glad that we could celebrate it with him. Tricia had also booked a couple of the local girls to come and perform some Belizean dances at 7pm but for some reason they didn’t show. A nice time was had by all anyway.
Fishing in the lagoon has been a challenge. Bruce and I went out twice in my canoe but Tricia’s 5 Labrador Retrievers swam along, around, and sometimes almost over us both times and chased the fish away. They can swim for hours. Wednesday morning Bruce locked the dogs on the porch so that I could try to venture out without them and possibly catch some fish. No such luck though because, about 10 minutes after I left, Bruce went down to get the dog bowls to feed them and 4 of them charged off in my direction. So I came home with no fish once again. Even Peter has been complaining about how bad the fishing has been so I didn’t feel so bad coming home empty handed. At least the exercise that I get paddling is a good thing. I was forced to buy some filleted fish in the Dangriga fish market on Thursday to fill my freezer. I split a box of shrimp with Ron so I have 4 shrimp dinners reserved too. I’m looking forward to eating seafood gumbo, a shrimp boil, shrimp Jambalaya, and shrimp and Caribbean rice. If nothing else I’ve been eating well here. Plus I’ve been eating healthier with lots of fresh veggies and fruit. (Bobbie Jean I’m not sure if you remember the email that you sent several months ago about eating fruit on an empty stomach to get all the nutritional value from the fruit but I’ve been doing that and it helps with my weight loss. Thanks for that!) I’ve dropped about 10 pounds already. One of my missions in life is to drop some tonnage (gee will I have to change my name to “normal size guy in Belize” when I’ve dropped the weight?) and be more healthy and get off my blood pressure medicine.
Till later!
Well Kismet has lost 3 of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Bruce left for his home in Maine on Friday 2/26 and Brent and Jan were safely home in Edmonton late Thursday night (2/25). Boy is Fatboy In Belize ever lonely now! While Tricia will always be here, and there will be guests checking in and out, and Ron and Peter dropping by almost every day, that will keep me occupied. It’s just not the same without the 3 of them because we all became such fast friends. I claimed Bruce as my 4th brother. We poked fun at each other constantly and had an even better time when happy hour rolled around and Brent and Jan joined in. This place rocked with laughter! And, the 2 times that we forced Brent to drag over his borrowed guitar, we had the air resounding with all kinds of half remembered songs. Actually Brent knew the songs but none of us could remember all the lyrics. In any case we had a great, great time. All 3 left with promises to come back. Bruce maybe at Christmas (he was here for the 1st time last Christmas) and the Canucks about this same time next year. Kismet is so quiet now…
We all (Tricia, Brent & Jan, Ron, Bruce, and I) went on a snorkeling and fishing trip on Tuesday 2/24. On our way out to the reef a pod of dolphin played around the boat and one made a beautiful 6 foot jump into the air as if he was performing at Sea World. Our 1st stop was to Bread & Butter Caye which is right on the reef and home to a single small resort owned by a guy named King. It’s a really nice place, rustic as many of them are around here, but a nice place to stay none the less. King met us at the dock, and of course, when we heard his name, several of us introduced ourselves as royalty too. Bruce was 1st with Prince and me last with Emperor. King busted out laughing over it so we knew he was our kind of guy. Some sat and had a beer, or beers, and talked and some of us snorkeled and fished. Snorkeling was great as the water was calm and warm and the sun bright. After snorkeling I caught an inedible garbage fish, but a nice fight, and had a few small hits. We left King after about an hour and headed out in the direction of the more populated Cayes and began our fishing day in earnest. Brent was the big kahoona with a double catch of barracuda. The 1st was about 4 feet long and the 2nd a 3 footer. Both gave up the fight very unwillingly and had Brent sort of roaming the bow of the boat while he fought them. Bruce had a couple of fish on, including a barracuda, but failed to boat them and I had a couple of good strikes, one a barracuda that danced across the water before throwing the hook, but brought nothing to the boat. So our dinner was provided by Brent 2 nights in a row. Needless to say we all came home redder than we left. Tricia fed us wonderful egg salad and salsa with chips (she forgot the bread). Rum and OJ filled many a glass along with cold Belikan Beer. We actually had beer left when we got back to the dock. That was a shocker. But it didn’t last long as we went from partying on the boat to partying on the Kismet deck.
I’m planning a trip next week to Chetumal MX to reclaim my tourist vehicle tax of US$450. I’ll probably spend a few days there doing some major grocery shopping for Tricia and me, getting things that aren’t readily available here in Hopkins or Dangriga. My buddy Ron will take the ride up but will stay in Belize at Corozal and visit friends. One of the reasons for my trip to MX is to restart the clock on paying the duty on my car. It may amount to about US$4,000 because of its value. I want to put that off for a long as possible but not sure how long I can keep doing that. It’s the price of living in paradise though I guess.
Ron came over Thursday afternoon to shoot the breeze and asked if I’d be interested in a 3 day canoe outing from San Ignacio, which is in the Mayan Mountains near the Guatemalan coast, to Belize City which is right on the coast. He thinks it’s a daytime race but we sure as shootin’ wouldn’t be involved in that. It would just be a nice couple of days on the water. He wasn’t sure what the sleeping arrangements would be, hotels or tents or something, so he’ll check into it. If we decide to do it we’ll lock the canoe to the top on my car before we head north to MX and take the detour to San Ignacio on the way back. I’ll keep you informed of our plans…
For Bruce’s last meal request Tricia made him a wonderful rosemary roasted chicken and baked an Italian bread. Dinner was attended by Bruce, Elvis (Tricia’s helper), Tricia and me. And, since Saturday 2/27 is Bruce’s 61st birthday, I couldn’t let it go by without some sort of celebration. So, while I was in Dangriga Thursday I stopped at Norman’s Bakery and bought 3 delicious carrot cupcakes for his birthday. Sadly Bruce said it would be the only birthday cake he’d have. But having one here made him feel special and us so glad that we could celebrate it with him. Tricia had also booked a couple of the local girls to come and perform some Belizean dances at 7pm but for some reason they didn’t show. A nice time was had by all anyway.
Fishing in the lagoon has been a challenge. Bruce and I went out twice in my canoe but Tricia’s 5 Labrador Retrievers swam along, around, and sometimes almost over us both times and chased the fish away. They can swim for hours. Wednesday morning Bruce locked the dogs on the porch so that I could try to venture out without them and possibly catch some fish. No such luck though because, about 10 minutes after I left, Bruce went down to get the dog bowls to feed them and 4 of them charged off in my direction. So I came home with no fish once again. Even Peter has been complaining about how bad the fishing has been so I didn’t feel so bad coming home empty handed. At least the exercise that I get paddling is a good thing. I was forced to buy some filleted fish in the Dangriga fish market on Thursday to fill my freezer. I split a box of shrimp with Ron so I have 4 shrimp dinners reserved too. I’m looking forward to eating seafood gumbo, a shrimp boil, shrimp Jambalaya, and shrimp and Caribbean rice. If nothing else I’ve been eating well here. Plus I’ve been eating healthier with lots of fresh veggies and fruit. (Bobbie Jean I’m not sure if you remember the email that you sent several months ago about eating fruit on an empty stomach to get all the nutritional value from the fruit but I’ve been doing that and it helps with my weight loss. Thanks for that!) I’ve dropped about 10 pounds already. One of my missions in life is to drop some tonnage (gee will I have to change my name to “normal size guy in Belize” when I’ve dropped the weight?) and be more healthy and get off my blood pressure medicine.
Till later!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Hiking & fishing and orher things...
What a day to be young! Thursday (2/18) a few of us decided that a nice hike up into the mountains to visit 2 of the local waterfalls would be a nice way to spend the day. Tricia, Bruce (from Maine) and Isabella and Paul (from Austria) climbed into my car and headed west over some of the worst roads I’ve ever seen, through orange and banana orchards, and finally to Mama Woots which is the jumping off point for both trails and the falls. We paid our BZ$10 (remember that the exchange rate is always 2BZ to 1U.S.) each at the ranger station and hiked off to Antelope Falls. Well you had to be more of a mountain goat to get to this place! Now Bruce and I are left and right of 60. Tricia is 55 and Isabella and Paul are 25. Bruce and I found it a very hard climb, huffing and puffing the entire way, and must have sweated of 10 pounds each. I even landed on my butt once because of the slippery mud all along the route. Tricia seemed to be running the trail, with the youngsters right behind her. They would take a break, waiting for Brice and I to catch up, and be all rested and ready to go when we got to them. Of course we took our break and had to catch up once again. The trail seemed like to rise straight up in the air, with several points seeming equally as steeply pitched downward, and one spot where there was even a rope to help pull yourself up. After about an hour of hiking we reached Antelope Falls. I’d like to say that the hike was worth it but Bruce and I were pretty beat up. Between us we don’t have even 1 good knee when we started and had less now. Actually though it was very pretty. Thank God it wasn’t sunny, with the temp around 70, and a nice breeze blowing, otherwise I think the other 3 of our group would have had to carry us 2 old timers back to the trail head. Well we got back in about 35 minutes because the return was mostly downhill. Lunch was provided by Tricia and was delicious egg salad sandwiches on homemade pumpernickel bread. We had hoped to find Mama Woots open so we could buy a well needed Belikan but no such luck. So after about a 30 minute lunch rest we headed up the Bocaweena Trail for Bocaweena Falls. This hike was a bit flatter which made for a more enjoyable hike of about 30 minutes each way. There was some climbing but nothing like Antelope Trail. Bruce and I were still playing tail-end-Charlie and doing a bit more huffing and puffing, but nothing like Antelope Trail. We finally arrived at the falls. I was the only one adventurous enough to take off my shoes and wade in the stream. It sure was soothing to my barking dogs! We wandered about taking pictures and sitting on rocks for a good 30 minutes, putting the thought of the hike back out of our minds. I think by this time the young whippersnappers were a bit pooped too. Finally we summoned up our courage and headed back. Actually the hike back wasn’t too bad. About ½ way back I stopped at a couple of coconut palms and grabbed 2 thinking I’d enjoy them tomorrow (Friday and I still haven’t machete’d them open yet and its Saturday now). I got them back to the car and we all climbed in for the return trip. On the way back we stopped at one of the orange groves and picked a couple dozen. I cut 2 and shared fresh orange wedges with everyone. Boy were they good! Nice and juicy and sweet and a source of well needed energy for all of us. We arrived back at Kismet about 4-1/2 hours after we started out. Bruce and I started popping Advil by the handful because our knees were telling us what old fools we were and that we were going to pay for our foolishness tomorrow. But a couple of drinks later, he drinking Belikan and me iced tea, and with the Advil kicking in, weren’t feeling too bad. Gee I wonder what our next adventure will be?! (It’s Friday now and neither of us is suffering at all).
Friday brought with it a new challenge. I decided that it was time to learn to use my throw net and start fishing. For those of you who don’t know, a throw net is a large (6-10 feet) circular net with weights at the bottom and a draw string that closes the net once it hits bottom and you pull it back in. Bait fish, and sometimes, as in Peter’s case, larger fish as well. I’ll take anything I can get but it’s mainly for catching live bait. Well there is a knack to throwing the net and having it open to its full circumference before it hits the water. Mine is 8 feet in diameter so it’s a medium size net. I’ve never thrown one before but I’ve watched many a time, bit never really paid attention. I was just waiting for the end result. It didn’t look too hard though. Well…guess again! My buddy Bruce and I took the canoe down to the lagoon where Peter fishes. Might as well start in a spot known for producing eh? (Dang! I’m hanging with the Canadians too much!) We pulled the brand new, never been used (or even taken out of the box) net from its handy plastic storage box and, as guys, and tossed the instructions back inside, confident that we’d be throwing like champs in a short time. You know what’s coming now don’t you? You’re right. Our throws were awful. They were anything but the fluid motion throws we’d both witnessed other fisherman using to catch bait. When we threw the net didn’t open at all, or the net tangled, or it partially opened, snagged on our ears, or pulled our hats from our head as it went by. Anything but the circle that it should be. God only knows what we must have looked like! Probably something like the Special Olympics… It was pretty humiliating! Thankfully there was no one around to see. So, after much frustration, we gave up and walked the net into the water where we saw baitfish jumping. After a couple of minutes we gave that up too. We thought we heard the fish laughing at us a few feet further than we could get the net. As we dragged it in though Bruce looked into the new and low and behold it held a single silver fish about 1-1/2 inches long. I said the fish must have felt sorry for our miserable efforts and decided one of them should surrender itself. But hey, we’ll take it. Of course I’d forgotten my bait bucket so Bruce added some water to a discarded soda bottle and in the poor unfortunate fish went for use later. I’d promised Bruce a trip to the “Oh my God” tower so off we paddled into the lagoon. Nice trip and Bruce was thoroughly impressed with the view from the top deck. He took a bunch of pictures so he would have the 30 view when they are put together back in Maine. So back in the canoe we went. I decided to try my hand at trolling while Bruce paddled. A few minutes later something hit the bait bit didn’t take the hook. One of the problems I had trolling was that 4 of the dogs had come with us and were swimming all around the canoe. I didn’t want to snag any of them so I was constantly reeling the line in to clear the way. When we got into the main channel of the lagoon we headed west for a bit more sightseeing. A couple minutes later success! I had a fish on the line and a nice fight on my hands. I finally got it to the canoe and saw that it was a medium sized mangrove snapper. Really nice eating too. I’ve eaten plenty during the 12 years of Belize holidays. And…my bait was still in tacked. Cool! The possibility of another fish on the grill. But that was soon a wash when, after a few casts, my line snagged on my reel and the prized bait went flying off into the distance. Well, back to Kismet. I used my catch to make ceviche which we will enjoy Saturday night with a couple of Belikans. I sure am looking forward to it because I sampled it during the night and it’s delicious!
Friday brought with it a new challenge. I decided that it was time to learn to use my throw net and start fishing. For those of you who don’t know, a throw net is a large (6-10 feet) circular net with weights at the bottom and a draw string that closes the net once it hits bottom and you pull it back in. Bait fish, and sometimes, as in Peter’s case, larger fish as well. I’ll take anything I can get but it’s mainly for catching live bait. Well there is a knack to throwing the net and having it open to its full circumference before it hits the water. Mine is 8 feet in diameter so it’s a medium size net. I’ve never thrown one before but I’ve watched many a time, bit never really paid attention. I was just waiting for the end result. It didn’t look too hard though. Well…guess again! My buddy Bruce and I took the canoe down to the lagoon where Peter fishes. Might as well start in a spot known for producing eh? (Dang! I’m hanging with the Canadians too much!) We pulled the brand new, never been used (or even taken out of the box) net from its handy plastic storage box and, as guys, and tossed the instructions back inside, confident that we’d be throwing like champs in a short time. You know what’s coming now don’t you? You’re right. Our throws were awful. They were anything but the fluid motion throws we’d both witnessed other fisherman using to catch bait. When we threw the net didn’t open at all, or the net tangled, or it partially opened, snagged on our ears, or pulled our hats from our head as it went by. Anything but the circle that it should be. God only knows what we must have looked like! Probably something like the Special Olympics… It was pretty humiliating! Thankfully there was no one around to see. So, after much frustration, we gave up and walked the net into the water where we saw baitfish jumping. After a couple of minutes we gave that up too. We thought we heard the fish laughing at us a few feet further than we could get the net. As we dragged it in though Bruce looked into the new and low and behold it held a single silver fish about 1-1/2 inches long. I said the fish must have felt sorry for our miserable efforts and decided one of them should surrender itself. But hey, we’ll take it. Of course I’d forgotten my bait bucket so Bruce added some water to a discarded soda bottle and in the poor unfortunate fish went for use later. I’d promised Bruce a trip to the “Oh my God” tower so off we paddled into the lagoon. Nice trip and Bruce was thoroughly impressed with the view from the top deck. He took a bunch of pictures so he would have the 30 view when they are put together back in Maine. So back in the canoe we went. I decided to try my hand at trolling while Bruce paddled. A few minutes later something hit the bait bit didn’t take the hook. One of the problems I had trolling was that 4 of the dogs had come with us and were swimming all around the canoe. I didn’t want to snag any of them so I was constantly reeling the line in to clear the way. When we got into the main channel of the lagoon we headed west for a bit more sightseeing. A couple minutes later success! I had a fish on the line and a nice fight on my hands. I finally got it to the canoe and saw that it was a medium sized mangrove snapper. Really nice eating too. I’ve eaten plenty during the 12 years of Belize holidays. And…my bait was still in tacked. Cool! The possibility of another fish on the grill. But that was soon a wash when, after a few casts, my line snagged on my reel and the prized bait went flying off into the distance. Well, back to Kismet. I used my catch to make ceviche which we will enjoy Saturday night with a couple of Belikans. I sure am looking forward to it because I sampled it during the night and it’s delicious!
Success and other things!
Success on February 17th! I finally got my bank account open at Scotiabank. What an ordeal! The process is nothing as easy as it is opening one in a stateside bank. You can’t walk in, show a driver’s license, and walk out with a new account. Here you are required to provide 2 forms of picture id (drivers license and passport sufficed), a letter of reference from a non-family member (actually provided by my cousin Patrick Coyle as my former employer…and he made me write it!), one from your bank stating that you don’t bounce checks all over the place, a bill or receipt from either the telephone or electric company that has your Belizean address, AND since I’m a non-resident, something that shows the source of your money. My only real issues were the bill and the source of income. Because I don’t have a phone or electric hookup I had to provide a copy of a bill my trailer lot rental and a bill from the person billing you that had their address on it. So I had Tricia write up my 1st months land rental and she provided me with a copy of her BLT (telephone) bill. My source of income was the American Express Check receipts that I received when I purchased them, which I had already turned into cash by the way. Now that doesn’t really sound too hard but here’s the rub. On my very 1st visit to the bank I stepped up to the service counter and asked for the specific requirements for opening an account. We are talking about a fluent English speaking country here so there is absolutely no language barrier. I also told them exactly how much money I would be depositing. The customer service person told me of the 2 forms of id and the 2 reference letters and that was all I would need. Wrong answer! The 2nd visit brought the news of the billing/address verification. The 3rd was the money trail. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the bank wasn’t a 50 mile round trip journey each time and the one way drive is about 30-40 minutes. Another hiccup is that the bank hours are 8am to 2pm every day except Friday when they close at 3pm. Saturday is 9 to noon. Plus the only person responsible for new accounts takes lunch from noon to 1. Now lately I’m not generally known for being an early riser lately. Maybe 9-9:30. Breakfast, coffee and daily personals add another hour and figure another ½ hour for the drive. Now we’re talking 11am. So my window of opportunity each day is basically 1 hour. The real kicker is that all the businesses close from noon until 2:30 every day for siesta. That means that if you have any other chores to do in town you better get there early, what with the long ride and funky business hours. Maybe once I’m truly finally rested from the planning, driving, and unpacking my normal daily routine will find me rising with the sun again as I did the 1st few days in Belize. Or maybe not!
I do have another reason for sleeping in. You have no idea how much fun it is living here at Kismet. Besides Tricia and her, and now my, friends Ron (the hippy), Peter (the fisherman), and others who drop by every day (well they may miss a day once in a while), there are her guests from all over the world. The afternoon and evenings are spent talking, laughing, drinking, smoking and generally having a great time. It seems most of her clientele hail from Western Europe, with possibly a quarter (at least so far) from the U.S. and Canada. I’ve even had a chance to converse a time or 2 in my halting German that I still remember from high school. How cool is that?! There is another benefit (?) to her guests being from across the pond, at least for us guys, and until now I’ve only told Pat this, but the ladies can usually be found sunbathing topless. Oh my and with me being all alone! It’s really hard to not take advantage of the show! But I have to at least appear to be the world traveler that I am, and not pay attention, acting like it has been an everyday occurrence my entire life. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. More from necessity though but you know us guys…and sunglasses help! Really I’m not that much of a voyeur but I do love the look of a pretty lady.
I’ve rented by canoe twice this week already and have driven Ron into town twice. While my town trips were more for my benefit he throws gas money into my cup holder. I’ve told him not to the 1st times but he insists. No business from the guests yet though. But if this keeps up I stand to lessen my living costs substantially. I do kick back a few canoe rental dollars to Tricia though because they aren’t renting her kayak for their lagoon trips. One hand washes the other! So this month is turning out to be profitable. I’ve made about BZ$90 so far.
I’m going to really miss 3 of her frequent afternoon visitors when their holiday is over. Brent and Janet are a lovely couple from Edmonton Ontario and are staying at the “rich peoples resort” (as they call it) next door but hate the place. The only reason is that one of their relatives is a timeshare owner and they are using their weeks. Everyone is stuck up is their reasoning. They are staying there only because the owner is a member of their family and their holiday stay is free. But as Brent says, “Is anything ever free?”. They met Tricia their very 1st day in Hopkins and have become a fixture here. He’s a professional musician (guitar) and she a “traffic controller” for an oil company. Both are amazingly friendly and very funny. He brought his borrowed guitar over one afternoon and serenaded us with a few songs.
Bruce is a gentleman from Old Orchard Beach, Maine and is turning 61 the day he departs. He been here before and is already planning a trip back so his moving on won’t be as traumatic because I’ll see him in a few months. But still in all we’ve bonded closely. I tell everyone it’s because he looks so much like Santa and I still believe in him. And he does! Short and round with white hair and beard. He’s energetic and fun loving and we are constantly poking fun at each other. The foreigner guests don’t understand much of what we are laughing at and we try our best to translate. Some of it translates well and others not so well but they know that we are having fun and that’s all that counts. As a matter of fact Paul is even trying his hand at it and doing quite well. Brent and Jan leave l February 25th and Brice leaves February 26th.
Fat Tuesday arrived right on time. On Monday I asked the gang if they knew when Fat Tuesday was because I knew it was coming up but wasn’t sure when. No one knew. Then Tuesday morning, while having coffee and a piece of Tricia’s wonderful breakfast bread, a guy walked up with some flyers announcing a Mardi Gras party at the local pizza joint for that night. Too funny! Tricia’s dinner offering that day was shrimp or fish Creole in honor of the day. Delicious! I don’t generally eat at her table, saving room in here small kitchen eating area for her guests, but I made an exception because I didn’t have any seafood in my fridge to make my normal Fat Tuesday Crawfish Ettufee or Jambalaya. Being the gourmet chef that she is Tricia’s meals are always to die for. She bakes fresh bread every day which she serves at all the meals. You never know what kind of bread will come out of her oven. The breakfast offerings always contain some form of local fruit and often has nuts. Lunch and dinner breads are what you would find in any bakery, and better tasting.
That night found a group of us venturing off to Turtle Cove Restaurant and Inn to hear a pickup jazz band. The drummer is a local who ran into a bass guitarist from Edmonton 5 days before and they began practicing together. Two days later they met a guy from Amsterdam who plays trumpet and they started drawing a crowd when they practiced. Since Belize is a cultural backwater the news spread fast that there was entertainment available. Tricia, being a former jazz club/restaurant owner from NYC, jumped at the chance to hear some of her favorite music. They were quite good in fact. During a break between sets Brent and the bassist met and it turns out that he had seen Brent perform on a Canadian stage and told him that his teacher thought he was “God’s gift to the guitar”. We had all been talking recently about just how small a world it is and here was proof. Anyway they Brent him to sit in with them whenever he wanted. He hasn’t had the chance, or the desire to do it because he doesn’t have his guitar. The borrowed one is in pretty rough shape.
Poor Peter, who supports his wife and 5 children by fishing and selling his catch to the local restaurants, has been skunked lately. He says that it’s caused by the several close running cold fronts that have passed through these last couple of days. I haven’t had the chance to try my hand yet but know that I would have suffered a similar fate. Fishing here is a bit different from what I’ve enjoyed the past 12 years of visiting the Cays in Belize. The reef is much further off shore and instead of a 15 minute paddle it’s a 40 minute bat ride. But here the lagoon is the local fishing hole and everything running the shore can be caught there and to enormous size too. I’m looking forward to venturing out with him soon. Until then I’m still living off the larder I put up before leaving the states with the addition of fresh veggies and fruit from the local farmers market and a bit of meat from the grocers. I still haven’t had the time to plant my garden. Tricia is going to have one of her people clear a plot for me sometime in the next couple of days and all I’ll have to do is turn over the soil and plant the seeds.
One of the worst problems here is Belize is the lack of fresh water. While the bigger cities have a plentiful and clean supply the smaller villages either have none, and rely on captured rain water, or get the water from small water companies with very poor pumping and filtration methods. For us non-locals that makes the water undrinkable and we rely on bottled water for both drinking and non-boiled cooking. An additional problem in Hopkins though is the low water pressure. Since Kismet is at the very northern end of the pipeline there is nothing but a trickle at times and the pressure isn’t enough to get water to the 2nd floor. The other day Tricia had 13 guests checking in. Because of the lack of pressure one of the guests, Bruce and I spent a few hours filling 2 five gallon Crystal water jugs and hauling them up to the rooftop water cistern so that showers could be taken and toilets flushed without the new quests having to be told of the local situation. Hmmm, guests actually working to help the Inn owner. That is exactly the feel you get when you spend time here. You do anything you can to help that gracious lady! She makes you feel so at home and part of her family. Those of us who are friends can often be found lending a hand in the kitchen or serving beer and drinks from the fridge. For me this place truly is kismet (it means “meant to be”).
I have to mention a funny experience that Brent, Jan and I had on our way back from Dangriga today. We were on the Hummingbird Hwy headed back to Hopkins. Jan was in the front passenger seat and happened to look between the seat and console and saw a scorpion. I didn’t know what she was reacting so violently to until I looked down too and saw it crawl back under the seat. Of course I immediately pulled over and Jan could hardly wait for the car to stop to bail out! Brent of course was laughing hysterically when he heard what we had seen. But the scorpion had probably been afraid of Jan as she was of it and was nowhere to be found. We were right across the street from the gas station where I was headed to fill up so in we pulled. While the attendant was filling the tank Brent and I tried finding it but I figured that it had crawled back up into the seat. A few minutes later, while Jan and I were standing by the right side of the car I happened to look in and saw the scorpion on the move toward the door frame. I jerked the door open but he started toward the front door. I jerked that one open too and he dropped to the ground and sped away. He was pretty small but we were oh so glad to be ride of the unexpected hitch hiker. Brent kept jokingly poking fun at Jan all the way back. It’s just one of the things you have to watch for whenever you live in any warm climate. I know we have them in Orlando. But it was the 1st time I’ve ever found one of my very own.
Oh, by the way, I got my new cell phone today. It was the easiest thing I’ve done so far here and was in and out of the office in 10 minutes. My new number is 011-502-651-3091.
I think that I’m babbling now and don’t want you to be afraid of having to sit though a long diatribe on my new life experiences when I update my blog next so I’ll end for now. It’s just that my life has taken such a marvelous turn and I’m enjoying it so and want to share it with you. I guess the best I can hope for is that these new adventures slow down a bit so that I can spread the tale out over a longer period of time instead of dumping 3200 word essays on life on you every time I post…
Life’s a party and I’m here to dance!
I do have another reason for sleeping in. You have no idea how much fun it is living here at Kismet. Besides Tricia and her, and now my, friends Ron (the hippy), Peter (the fisherman), and others who drop by every day (well they may miss a day once in a while), there are her guests from all over the world. The afternoon and evenings are spent talking, laughing, drinking, smoking and generally having a great time. It seems most of her clientele hail from Western Europe, with possibly a quarter (at least so far) from the U.S. and Canada. I’ve even had a chance to converse a time or 2 in my halting German that I still remember from high school. How cool is that?! There is another benefit (?) to her guests being from across the pond, at least for us guys, and until now I’ve only told Pat this, but the ladies can usually be found sunbathing topless. Oh my and with me being all alone! It’s really hard to not take advantage of the show! But I have to at least appear to be the world traveler that I am, and not pay attention, acting like it has been an everyday occurrence my entire life. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. More from necessity though but you know us guys…and sunglasses help! Really I’m not that much of a voyeur but I do love the look of a pretty lady.
I’ve rented by canoe twice this week already and have driven Ron into town twice. While my town trips were more for my benefit he throws gas money into my cup holder. I’ve told him not to the 1st times but he insists. No business from the guests yet though. But if this keeps up I stand to lessen my living costs substantially. I do kick back a few canoe rental dollars to Tricia though because they aren’t renting her kayak for their lagoon trips. One hand washes the other! So this month is turning out to be profitable. I’ve made about BZ$90 so far.
I’m going to really miss 3 of her frequent afternoon visitors when their holiday is over. Brent and Janet are a lovely couple from Edmonton Ontario and are staying at the “rich peoples resort” (as they call it) next door but hate the place. The only reason is that one of their relatives is a timeshare owner and they are using their weeks. Everyone is stuck up is their reasoning. They are staying there only because the owner is a member of their family and their holiday stay is free. But as Brent says, “Is anything ever free?”. They met Tricia their very 1st day in Hopkins and have become a fixture here. He’s a professional musician (guitar) and she a “traffic controller” for an oil company. Both are amazingly friendly and very funny. He brought his borrowed guitar over one afternoon and serenaded us with a few songs.
Bruce is a gentleman from Old Orchard Beach, Maine and is turning 61 the day he departs. He been here before and is already planning a trip back so his moving on won’t be as traumatic because I’ll see him in a few months. But still in all we’ve bonded closely. I tell everyone it’s because he looks so much like Santa and I still believe in him. And he does! Short and round with white hair and beard. He’s energetic and fun loving and we are constantly poking fun at each other. The foreigner guests don’t understand much of what we are laughing at and we try our best to translate. Some of it translates well and others not so well but they know that we are having fun and that’s all that counts. As a matter of fact Paul is even trying his hand at it and doing quite well. Brent and Jan leave l February 25th and Brice leaves February 26th.
Fat Tuesday arrived right on time. On Monday I asked the gang if they knew when Fat Tuesday was because I knew it was coming up but wasn’t sure when. No one knew. Then Tuesday morning, while having coffee and a piece of Tricia’s wonderful breakfast bread, a guy walked up with some flyers announcing a Mardi Gras party at the local pizza joint for that night. Too funny! Tricia’s dinner offering that day was shrimp or fish Creole in honor of the day. Delicious! I don’t generally eat at her table, saving room in here small kitchen eating area for her guests, but I made an exception because I didn’t have any seafood in my fridge to make my normal Fat Tuesday Crawfish Ettufee or Jambalaya. Being the gourmet chef that she is Tricia’s meals are always to die for. She bakes fresh bread every day which she serves at all the meals. You never know what kind of bread will come out of her oven. The breakfast offerings always contain some form of local fruit and often has nuts. Lunch and dinner breads are what you would find in any bakery, and better tasting.
That night found a group of us venturing off to Turtle Cove Restaurant and Inn to hear a pickup jazz band. The drummer is a local who ran into a bass guitarist from Edmonton 5 days before and they began practicing together. Two days later they met a guy from Amsterdam who plays trumpet and they started drawing a crowd when they practiced. Since Belize is a cultural backwater the news spread fast that there was entertainment available. Tricia, being a former jazz club/restaurant owner from NYC, jumped at the chance to hear some of her favorite music. They were quite good in fact. During a break between sets Brent and the bassist met and it turns out that he had seen Brent perform on a Canadian stage and told him that his teacher thought he was “God’s gift to the guitar”. We had all been talking recently about just how small a world it is and here was proof. Anyway they Brent him to sit in with them whenever he wanted. He hasn’t had the chance, or the desire to do it because he doesn’t have his guitar. The borrowed one is in pretty rough shape.
Poor Peter, who supports his wife and 5 children by fishing and selling his catch to the local restaurants, has been skunked lately. He says that it’s caused by the several close running cold fronts that have passed through these last couple of days. I haven’t had the chance to try my hand yet but know that I would have suffered a similar fate. Fishing here is a bit different from what I’ve enjoyed the past 12 years of visiting the Cays in Belize. The reef is much further off shore and instead of a 15 minute paddle it’s a 40 minute bat ride. But here the lagoon is the local fishing hole and everything running the shore can be caught there and to enormous size too. I’m looking forward to venturing out with him soon. Until then I’m still living off the larder I put up before leaving the states with the addition of fresh veggies and fruit from the local farmers market and a bit of meat from the grocers. I still haven’t had the time to plant my garden. Tricia is going to have one of her people clear a plot for me sometime in the next couple of days and all I’ll have to do is turn over the soil and plant the seeds.
One of the worst problems here is Belize is the lack of fresh water. While the bigger cities have a plentiful and clean supply the smaller villages either have none, and rely on captured rain water, or get the water from small water companies with very poor pumping and filtration methods. For us non-locals that makes the water undrinkable and we rely on bottled water for both drinking and non-boiled cooking. An additional problem in Hopkins though is the low water pressure. Since Kismet is at the very northern end of the pipeline there is nothing but a trickle at times and the pressure isn’t enough to get water to the 2nd floor. The other day Tricia had 13 guests checking in. Because of the lack of pressure one of the guests, Bruce and I spent a few hours filling 2 five gallon Crystal water jugs and hauling them up to the rooftop water cistern so that showers could be taken and toilets flushed without the new quests having to be told of the local situation. Hmmm, guests actually working to help the Inn owner. That is exactly the feel you get when you spend time here. You do anything you can to help that gracious lady! She makes you feel so at home and part of her family. Those of us who are friends can often be found lending a hand in the kitchen or serving beer and drinks from the fridge. For me this place truly is kismet (it means “meant to be”).
I have to mention a funny experience that Brent, Jan and I had on our way back from Dangriga today. We were on the Hummingbird Hwy headed back to Hopkins. Jan was in the front passenger seat and happened to look between the seat and console and saw a scorpion. I didn’t know what she was reacting so violently to until I looked down too and saw it crawl back under the seat. Of course I immediately pulled over and Jan could hardly wait for the car to stop to bail out! Brent of course was laughing hysterically when he heard what we had seen. But the scorpion had probably been afraid of Jan as she was of it and was nowhere to be found. We were right across the street from the gas station where I was headed to fill up so in we pulled. While the attendant was filling the tank Brent and I tried finding it but I figured that it had crawled back up into the seat. A few minutes later, while Jan and I were standing by the right side of the car I happened to look in and saw the scorpion on the move toward the door frame. I jerked the door open but he started toward the front door. I jerked that one open too and he dropped to the ground and sped away. He was pretty small but we were oh so glad to be ride of the unexpected hitch hiker. Brent kept jokingly poking fun at Jan all the way back. It’s just one of the things you have to watch for whenever you live in any warm climate. I know we have them in Orlando. But it was the 1st time I’ve ever found one of my very own.
Oh, by the way, I got my new cell phone today. It was the easiest thing I’ve done so far here and was in and out of the office in 10 minutes. My new number is 011-502-651-3091.
I think that I’m babbling now and don’t want you to be afraid of having to sit though a long diatribe on my new life experiences when I update my blog next so I’ll end for now. It’s just that my life has taken such a marvelous turn and I’m enjoying it so and want to share it with you. I guess the best I can hope for is that these new adventures slow down a bit so that I can spread the tale out over a longer period of time instead of dumping 3200 word essays on life on you every time I post…
Life’s a party and I’m here to dance!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Finally settling in
Well I’m settling in quite nicely. Today I finally finished repacking and moving the unnecessary items from my trailer to the 2 storage sheds. It’s amazing how much room I have to knock about in now! And moving some of the stuff has opened the place up so that the breeze flows more easily throughout and it’s now much cooler in here. I actually took a nap on my couch today. One of the things that I’m having a time with is trying to keep sand outside where it belongs. No matter how well you wash and/or wipe your feet there is always the feel of grit as I walk about. I’ve taken to leaving a towel at the end of the bed to do a final wipe before crawling in at night. But that is the penalty (if that’s a penalty!) for living on the beach. I think I can live with it.
I’ve met quite a few of the “locals” as well as all the paying guests that stay at Kismet. It’s an eclectic bunch all around and very interesting conversations erupt constantly as one or more passes through. I’ve learned so much about the tribulations of dealing with the local and national Belizean government offices when one owns a business. I sure am glad that I didn’t come down here for that!
I took my first canoe ride yesterday to the “Oh God” tower in the lagoon. From the top of this tower, approximately 60 feet that they built in the middle of nowhere and had to float all the lumber in, you can see quite a distance. Across the lagoon and to the west are the beautiful Mayan Mountains. To the northeast is Dangriga. To the south is a small resort, Kismet and Hopkins Town. And 180 degrees north, east, and south the Caribbean Sea. I could have spent all day up there but alas I forgot my sun block and got a minor burn to prove it. I was smart enough to bring a beach towel with me so that went around my shoulders as I paddled back to Kismet. Now the sun block and my Repel bug spray is on my counter just inside the door and ready for use at a moment’s notice. I started growing my hair back now as a partial sunburn prevention. It will never be as long as it was a year ago though. Probably only an inch or so long. Just enough to cover my head. As for the bug spray. It’s necessary in the late afternoon and evening here because the mango trees are blooming. When that happens there is a serious “doctor fly” problem. And boy do they bite! My legs below my knees look terrible I’ll be writing home for someone to send me Skin So Soft which everyone here swears by. I’m already looking for light weight pants and shirts to put on but haven’t found any. I asked my cousin Jodi if she could find me something to wear to stop the biting and end this darn itching. I have a list of things that I didn’t think of when planning my move and will need to find a way to procure the new necessities of life.
I’ll start taking pictures of my new home soon and will post them to Facebook. I wanted to wait until I had the place all situated as I had stuff store all over outside and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Monday will be bank day. I finally have all the paperwork necessary to open an account here. There are 2 banks in Belize. Belize Bank, Caribbean Bank, and Scotiabank (yes that’s how it’s spelled). I chose Scotiabank because it’s actually a Canadian bank and I can split my account so that I have savings in both American and Belize dollars. I can do my online bill pay just as I do now through my FL credit Union and my money is more readily available through ATM machines in the states for those times when I come back to visit. Scotia is opening branches in Florida and already has several in the Miami area with plans for the Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville areas.
I will be opening a new Digicell cell phone account next week too. Its pay per use but the rate to call the U.S. is only 50 cents a minute as opposed to the $4.50 a minute that my current U.S. company is charging me. I probably spent a couple hundred dollars last week finalizing my personal business in the states and talking to my kids. But at 50 cents a minute I can call them more often. My greatest sadness is not being able to see my 4 kids and my granddaughter or to just be able to pick up the phone and talk to them. I’m also going to ask one of them to send me a computer camera so that we might be able to schedule some video chats and make life a bit more normal. I’m going to miss Kayla’s 3rd birthday on February 22. Not sure what to send he but I have an idea. I’ll let you know what I send. I’m headed to the internet café in a few minutes to post this, check my email, and birthday shop. So…more later!
I’ve met quite a few of the “locals” as well as all the paying guests that stay at Kismet. It’s an eclectic bunch all around and very interesting conversations erupt constantly as one or more passes through. I’ve learned so much about the tribulations of dealing with the local and national Belizean government offices when one owns a business. I sure am glad that I didn’t come down here for that!
I took my first canoe ride yesterday to the “Oh God” tower in the lagoon. From the top of this tower, approximately 60 feet that they built in the middle of nowhere and had to float all the lumber in, you can see quite a distance. Across the lagoon and to the west are the beautiful Mayan Mountains. To the northeast is Dangriga. To the south is a small resort, Kismet and Hopkins Town. And 180 degrees north, east, and south the Caribbean Sea. I could have spent all day up there but alas I forgot my sun block and got a minor burn to prove it. I was smart enough to bring a beach towel with me so that went around my shoulders as I paddled back to Kismet. Now the sun block and my Repel bug spray is on my counter just inside the door and ready for use at a moment’s notice. I started growing my hair back now as a partial sunburn prevention. It will never be as long as it was a year ago though. Probably only an inch or so long. Just enough to cover my head. As for the bug spray. It’s necessary in the late afternoon and evening here because the mango trees are blooming. When that happens there is a serious “doctor fly” problem. And boy do they bite! My legs below my knees look terrible I’ll be writing home for someone to send me Skin So Soft which everyone here swears by. I’m already looking for light weight pants and shirts to put on but haven’t found any. I asked my cousin Jodi if she could find me something to wear to stop the biting and end this darn itching. I have a list of things that I didn’t think of when planning my move and will need to find a way to procure the new necessities of life.
I’ll start taking pictures of my new home soon and will post them to Facebook. I wanted to wait until I had the place all situated as I had stuff store all over outside and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Monday will be bank day. I finally have all the paperwork necessary to open an account here. There are 2 banks in Belize. Belize Bank, Caribbean Bank, and Scotiabank (yes that’s how it’s spelled). I chose Scotiabank because it’s actually a Canadian bank and I can split my account so that I have savings in both American and Belize dollars. I can do my online bill pay just as I do now through my FL credit Union and my money is more readily available through ATM machines in the states for those times when I come back to visit. Scotia is opening branches in Florida and already has several in the Miami area with plans for the Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville areas.
I will be opening a new Digicell cell phone account next week too. Its pay per use but the rate to call the U.S. is only 50 cents a minute as opposed to the $4.50 a minute that my current U.S. company is charging me. I probably spent a couple hundred dollars last week finalizing my personal business in the states and talking to my kids. But at 50 cents a minute I can call them more often. My greatest sadness is not being able to see my 4 kids and my granddaughter or to just be able to pick up the phone and talk to them. I’m also going to ask one of them to send me a computer camera so that we might be able to schedule some video chats and make life a bit more normal. I’m going to miss Kayla’s 3rd birthday on February 22. Not sure what to send he but I have an idea. I’ll let you know what I send. I’m headed to the internet café in a few minutes to post this, check my email, and birthday shop. So…more later!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Moved in and settling in...
I was packed up and on my way by 10:30am Tuesday 02/09/10. The drive was an easy one, giving me no indication of the problems I would have backing down the long semi-twisty driveway and into the spot Tricia and I picked. It took me, with the help on a German guest, about 45 minutes to finally get me into place. We did have to hack away at some vegetation so that I could fit into the spot and it’s a nice fit. Sadly no shade though but that will come later when I add my palapa roof. The day was calm and hot so I didn’t get much accomplished. All that I did was level my home, hang no-see’um/mosquito net screen on my windows, and drag a few plastic storage buckets out onto the ground so that I had some room to move about in the trailer.
Wednesday found me very sick with an intestinal virus. I spent the day in bed fighting a fever and suffering the other symptoms of the bug. I have a course of heavy duty antibiotics that are always a part of my traveling meds so I started taking them. Needless to say I got absolutely nothing done!
Thursday morning finds me feeling oh so much better! I checked in with Tricia to let her know that I was still alive. She said that she had come down a few times to check on me and “make sure I was still breathing”. One of the German guests asked if she could hire my car today to go into town. My 1st paying gig! Good timing too because I need to check with the bank to see if they got the fax from my stateside bank. That’s the last piece of documentation that I need to open my account.
We had a heavy down pour during the night. I haven’t gotten my water catch and storage system set up (a 40 gallon plastic garbage can that Pat and I added PVC hose connections to) yet so I missed all that. It’s one of the things on my to-do list today without fail. I got a lot of the stuff out of the trailer and into the various storage sheds that Tricia has graciously given me access to so at least now I can sit at my kitchen table. Because of the load balancing that you have to do inside of the trailer when you are traveling things are stored everywhere and it’s not a pretty sight. So if I can get my butt in gear today I’ll have the nice spacious trailer that I saw when I bought it.
Wednesday found me very sick with an intestinal virus. I spent the day in bed fighting a fever and suffering the other symptoms of the bug. I have a course of heavy duty antibiotics that are always a part of my traveling meds so I started taking them. Needless to say I got absolutely nothing done!
Thursday morning finds me feeling oh so much better! I checked in with Tricia to let her know that I was still alive. She said that she had come down a few times to check on me and “make sure I was still breathing”. One of the German guests asked if she could hire my car today to go into town. My 1st paying gig! Good timing too because I need to check with the bank to see if they got the fax from my stateside bank. That’s the last piece of documentation that I need to open my account.
We had a heavy down pour during the night. I haven’t gotten my water catch and storage system set up (a 40 gallon plastic garbage can that Pat and I added PVC hose connections to) yet so I missed all that. It’s one of the things on my to-do list today without fail. I got a lot of the stuff out of the trailer and into the various storage sheds that Tricia has graciously given me access to so at least now I can sit at my kitchen table. Because of the load balancing that you have to do inside of the trailer when you are traveling things are stored everywhere and it’s not a pretty sight. So if I can get my butt in gear today I’ll have the nice spacious trailer that I saw when I bought it.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Finding a home - Day 5
I woke up at my normal 6:30am “up with the sun” time and after cleaning myself up a bit, wandered over to the Pelican Resort for breakfast and the internet. Hopefully today will be my last day in Dangriga. I’m waiting for a letter of reference from my Credit Union in Orlando so I can open my Belizean bank account at Scotiabank (a Canadian bank) here. If my mission is completed today I’ll move out to my new home at Kismet in Hopkins tomorrow around noon.
It will be nice to finally be able to off load some of the stuff I have packed in the front of my trailer to a spot outside, or in Tricia’s storage/garage, so that I reclaim the living space that I’ve had to give up due to traveling. Actually the only area that I can’t use is the kitchen seating area because that area is located both near, and over, the tow hitch I have a couple hundred pounds of books, canopies, and other essentials stored there to put weight on the hitch and keep the trailer attached to the car and load balanced. Now that I know that I won’t be living off the grid some of the items I brought with me won’t be necessary. But, had I not brought them, I’d need them. Maybe there is a market for some of it. Until I am comfortably situated and I know for a fact that Kismet is the place for me I’ll hold on to it. Like a marriage, until you are living together full time you never really know how compatible you are with someone. I don’t foresee any problems though.
After I move I'll have to change my blog subject to "Settling into my Belizean life" or something similar. Any suggestions?
More later!
It will be nice to finally be able to off load some of the stuff I have packed in the front of my trailer to a spot outside, or in Tricia’s storage/garage, so that I reclaim the living space that I’ve had to give up due to traveling. Actually the only area that I can’t use is the kitchen seating area because that area is located both near, and over, the tow hitch I have a couple hundred pounds of books, canopies, and other essentials stored there to put weight on the hitch and keep the trailer attached to the car and load balanced. Now that I know that I won’t be living off the grid some of the items I brought with me won’t be necessary. But, had I not brought them, I’d need them. Maybe there is a market for some of it. Until I am comfortably situated and I know for a fact that Kismet is the place for me I’ll hold on to it. Like a marriage, until you are living together full time you never really know how compatible you are with someone. I don’t foresee any problems though.
After I move I'll have to change my blog subject to "Settling into my Belizean life" or something similar. Any suggestions?
More later!