Brownsville!!!

I’m in Brownsville TX!!! The ride today was nowhere as adventurous as yesterday and Mexico has done a lot of road work since Kevin and I started driving me down to Belize In January. They were a lot better and a lot smoother. I did have my car search at another military checkpoint though. And when I got the U.S. border I pulled into the “Century” lane. I didn’t realize it when I pulled in and as soon as I did I knew I was in trouble. The Immigration officer asked for my Century card. Of course I don’t have one. It’s the one for frequent travelers who pay $125 a year for the ability to bypass the long immigration check in lines. So…my car got searched again and drug and explosives sniffed. It took about 20 minutes to complete. Now I’m sitting in a McDonalds, using their free internet, to look for a hotel for the night. I’m way too tired to drive any more.

My car needs a good washing. Besides road dust I found where all the dragonflies, butterflies and bugs come for the winter. I’ve never seen so many of the 1st 2 in all of my life. Mostly monarch and yellow butterflies and dragonflies in huge swarms. While it looked pretty it wasn’t a pretty sight as they were crushed by the front of my car and all over the windshield. No matter how many times the windshield got washed I still can’t see. Five minutes after leaving the gas stations it was covered again. And using the windshield blades/washer just smeared them more and turned my vision into a haze. Now that I’m in the states it probably won’t be so bad.

I emailed Bruce on Wednesday night (9/8) to see if Tricia had arrived yet and he responded back quickly with the bad news that Tricia was arrested in Miami Airport for an unknown reason and was being shipped up to NYC. I have no other details. That poor lady cannot get a break to save her life. If it wasn’t for bad luck she’d have no luck! God only knows when I’ll see her back at Kismet… The news from Bruce today was that he hasn’t heard any more from Tricia so he doesn’t know where she is right now.

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!

1/2 way to the TX/MX border and oh what an adventure!

There was a bit of a mix up over our travel plans. Tricia thought her flight was on Thursday but I thought Wednesday. Sure enough it is Wednesday. It all started when I mentioned that I wanted to leave between 5 and 6am on Tuesday, not knowing how long it would take to pay my trailer duty and for Customs to provide a rider to the border. Since Cancun is a 6 hour drive from Belize City I wanted enough daylight to get there, knowing how bad the Mexican road signage is. But that is too early for Steve to get up so we left late Monday and stopped for dinner and sleep in Belmopan and we left at 7am for Belize City and Customs. Customs was not a happy adventure, although I finally got my car after a 3-1/2 hour wait. The tariff paperwork for my trailer, which was supposed to be ready at 8:30am, wasn’t finished until 11am, at which time I paid it. The next adventure was getting someone to ride with me to the border in a timely manner (like the 5 minutes I was promised). Tricia was driving Steve’s truck with him as a drunken passenger. Bad thing was that he stopped everywhere along the way to greet friends and buy more liquor. How much good do you think rehab is going to be, if he even makes it there? Tricia was pretty upset by that too. In Orange Walk he stopped again and I told Tricia I was going to head to the border because I had no idea that kind of a hassle I’d get there so being there 1st would hopefully eliminate their sitting around waiting for me (and it was a hassle but nothing like Belize City). Steve walked back up while she and I were talking and said he was stopping in Corozol for “an hour tops” too. I told them I would meet them in the Princess Casino in the Free Zone. Guess what??? They never showed! I waited 3 hours for them. Of course our cells don’t work outside of Belize because they are pre-pay so we had no way of communicating. I won a couple bucks on the slots while I waited. Finally I decided it was time to be on my way. Tricia had already moved her luggage to Steve’s truck or we’d have had a bigger problem. So my trip to Houston finally started around 6pm. I drove until 2am at which time I was in Escarcega, about 250 miles from the Free Zone. Pretty good distance to drive in that amount of time in the dark and on crummy roads. I pulled into a PEMEX gas station and slept for an hour and drove then to and Villahermosa, getting there at 5:30am and sleeping one of the state border check points until 7:30am. Between Chetumal MX and Villahermosa I was stopped at 3 military check points. At 2 of them they searched the entire car, even under the floor mats, and all of my belongings. They were nice about it and I was soon on my way. Now I’m in Veracruz which is about ½ way to the TX/MX border. That drive was an adventure too. When I got to Alvarado (near Veracruz) the entire town and 5 miles of the road northwest was flooded. Hundreds of homes were flooded, some to their roofs. That took over 3 hours just for that 5 mile stretch. I watched Police and private boats were rescuing people from their homes while we very slowly drove the flooded road. I know it sound crazy but I drove in up to 2 feet of water and was scared stiff! I was too far into it before I wised up and thought about turning around. So I figured I’d play the waiting game and keep driving and if it got any deeper than what I’d already driven through, or the water start flowing, I’d turn around and see what other direction I could go. I REALLY didn’t relish the thought of driving to Mexico City! Anyway, Tractor/trailers and buses were plowing through the water, making huge waves that washed up onto the hoods of us traveling in the opposite direction and shook our vehicles as they passed. I prayed for safe passage through the watery streets and was granted it, and said a prayer of thanks once I was on dry road again. I finally got to Veracruz around 3pm and I’m going to spend the night here, getting some much needed rest and an early start in the morning. I’m not sure that I’ll make it to Brownsville though because the worst of the roads is coming up. More as I make my way toward Pat’s home in Stagecoach TX!

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!

New Fishing Buddies!!!

Two new guests arrived yesterday (Saturday 9/4) afternoon, James and his father Joe and became my newest fishing buddies. James is from Phoenix and is an actor. Perhaps you’ve seen him on Desperate Housewives. His dad is a carpenter and lives in Sierra Vista near the AZ/MX border. This trip is a Father’s Day gift from James and they are staying for 5 days. Both are really nice guys and former Navy sailors like me. Joe and I have visited some of the same bars in the Philippines, but 12 years apart.

Today we went on a fishing excursion to the Cayes and caught a dozen nice sized barracuda. Grilled fish is on the menu for dinner tonight. We laughed about throwing James overboard because every time he picked up a rod he had a fish in what seemed to be 10-20 seconds…literally. His dad joked, “Why do I get the rod for 20 minutes and you only have it for seconds?” It was pretty funny. I caught a barracuda and a triggerfish from the boat and one when we stopped at Bread & Butter Caye. I think James and Joe caught 6 barracuda between them and James also caught a yellowtail snapper. Patrick, our boat captain caught 3 barracuda in rapid succession on a hand line. Tricia came as well bit didn’t fish. She was our designated photographer. The other thing I got was a pretty good sunburn on my face and the top of my head. I brought a hat but didn’t wear it. That will learn me. Now the 3 of us are waiting for Peter to show so we can go fishing in the lagoon. We’ll be back there in the morning too. The 3 of us are fishing diehards!

Tricia, Steve, Peter and I plan to leave at 5am Tuesday for our trips. Steve to rehab, Tricia to her long awaited trip to Maine to see Bruce and San Francisco to see another friend plus a stop on Long Island NY to see her 99 year old adopted father. I know she is REALLY looking forward to the trip and to leave Belize for 2 weeks to shop in real stores and eat real food. Me, I hope to be in Houston by Friday. A really big steak is on my radar! Steve is headed to a rehab clinic in Mexico somewhere south of San Diego and then plans to go home to LA for a visit following his treatment. Prayers for a safe journey for all of us are greatly appreciated!

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!

Ready for my trip to Houston

I’m ready for my trip to Houston to drop off my car now. Yesterday, Wednesday 9/1, I went to the U.S. Embassy in Belmopan and applied for my permanent passport, which will come in 7-10 business days, and back to Customs in Belize City to arrange to pay the import tax on my trailer and to pick up my car on Tuesday 9/6 to drive Tricia to Cancun airport for the start of her 1st U.S. trip in 8 years and then drive to Houston. She’s going up to Maine to visit Bruce (see my blogs from January) and then on her way back she’s traveling via San Francisco to visit one of her old friends. Me, from Cancun I’ll head west and then north and cross over into the U.S. through Matamoros MX, where I left the country to come to Belize. This time the trip will be easier and quicker, a total of 3 days or less instead of the 6 it took Kevin and I to get here because I won’t be dragging the trailer. But then I won’t have Kevin as a traveling companion either. That’s what I’ll miss most. He at least spoke some Spanish so we were able to order food and get a room plus he was great company. I did add a couple of driving days to the trip for Murphy’s Law… My return flight is from Houston to Cancun, where l’ll take a bus to Belize City for about US$30. The fare difference is close to US$500. My Cancun ticket cost me US$182 but to fly to Belize City from Houston the fare was over US$700…one way! So even with a night or 2 in hotels (I may take my tome coming back and make a holiday of it) I’ll be saving a ton of money. I looked for a flight through Miami thinking I could have an open ticket with a couple of days in between so I could drive up to see my kids in Orlando but the fares were out of sight. So, I’ll have to wait until Christmas to see them. My flight back is on Wednesday 9/15. Plus I’ll get to see Pat and family and eat some good food before heading south. I know I’ll miss my fishing though!

Lots of medical problems in my extended family… Surgeries mostly so prayers for my sister Eileen, my brother Tom and brother-in-law Jerry are greatly appreciated! The economic down turn has severely impacted a couple of my cousins too so add them to your prayer lists as well. Living where I do, and as cheaply as I do, I feel blessed by not having that pressure.

We haven’t heard anything from our friend Ron since he traveled off to his home in Omaha on August 8th to settle some personal affairs. No idea when he’s coming back. Hopefully everything is ok.

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!

Nothing much going on...

Friday 8/20 was a very unsettling day with lots of stress to go around. Steve was the cause of it and that’s all I’ll say about that. When it all started up in the kitchen I retreated to my sanctuary and stayed there, coming out only to take a shower. Needless to say we didn’t have the fish I caught this morning for dinner tonight. I ended up having fish but it was the canned tuna variety. Tricia came out to see if I was coming up for dinner and when I said no she started telling me all that had happened. I turned her away because I’d heard it all and didn’t need a replay and I was trying to have a calm night. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Peter said that Steve told him that he (Steve) was checking himself into rehab in MX the beginning of September. Not soon enough as far as I’m concerned and it’s more likely that his plans will change as time goes by. Sad to say I can’t wait until he leaves and Kismet gets back to its normal, peaceful self. Tricia is over him too but is not ready to throw him out because he owes her too much money. It’s a good thing that there is no one staying here because they would be gone in a heartbeat with nothing good to say about this place. An update: yesterday, Wednesday the 25th, it was discovered that one of the cops that Steve has been paying is playing one side against the middle. Someone undesirable would show up and the cop would immediately appear and “save” Steve. I could see the light go on in Steve’s head when he figured it out. Let’s see what changes here now. It’s been rather calm since last Friday so that’s a good thing.

Fishing has been great lately. I’ve been going by myself, although a few of the regulars have been throwing net while I’ve been there. Steve has “hired” Peter as his body guard so Peter hasn’t been doing any fishing in almost a week, although he went last night (Wednesday) but did poorly. Me, I’ve been catching quite a lot of snapper of all sizes and have been sharing my catch with a couple of people. Blackened Snapper Cesar salad is on my dinner menu for tonight…

I’ve decided to make it easy on myself and drive my car to Houston and drop it off at the Carmax there. My loan is through them and they’ve been balking at my selling it out of the country. So they are letting me come there and will buy it from me to close the loan. I’ll fly back here and buy something capable of towing my trailer and that won’t cost me any import tax. Tricia is headed for Maine to visit Bruce on 9/8 and is leaving from Cancun so I’ll drive her there and then head west and north with the jeep. I’ll hate getting rid of it because I really like it but it will be one less hassle I have to deal with. Since I’m not towing anything the trip should only be 3 days max to Houston. I haven’t said anything to my cousin Pat yet but I’d like to see him and his family while I’m in town. Pat are you up for a day or 2 of me??? I’ll give you a call when my plans are firmed up.

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!

Back in Belize and safe...without any jail time!

I want to apologize to all of you who were concerned about not hearing that I’d gotten back safely. I’ve even forced 2 of you to write to Tricia to see if I was still alive. To tell you the truth I’ve been lazy since I got back… Sorry!

Since I’ve been home from Orlando for 10 days now I thought it best that I find my way to the internet to assure you all that I was actually home and not put in jail when I entered Belize again. You would have heard of any catastrophic airline event when I traveled home so jail was my next thought. No such luck so the rest of this may be pretty boring…

I flew back to Hopkins on Wednesday Aug 10th and my trip through the Customs and Immigration queues was a non-event. I still wasn’t sure whether or not I would be snagged to pay the US$1000 fine that I had been told I would have to pay but I was quickly stamped through Immigration with a new 1 month visa. I brought 100 pounds of food and fishing equipment in 2 suitcases but passed through the “nothing to declare” lane after answering a few questions about what I was bringing into the country. I did tell a white lie about the number of cigars I brought with me though. You are only allowed to bring in 25 and I brought in 50. But hey, I’m going to be here a while and cigars are very hard to come by. I had a 50 minute wait for my 15 minute flight to Dangriga. That sure beats a 3 hour car ride. Before I checked in for my Maya Island flight I opened my 2 food/fishing suitcases and found that the luggage gorillas had had a lot of fun with my can goods. Almost every can was dented, some badly, but nothing ruptured. Steve, a long time resident of Kismet, met me at the airport and helped me get my ton of luggage into his pick up. I paid for my ride by buying dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. He had shrimp egg foo yung and I had a pretty good curry shrimp dish and fried rice. Steve was pretty well wasted when he picked me up so I did the driving. We reached Kismet about 7pm and Tricia was already sleeping. My trailer welcomed me home with the smell of mildew. I’d forgotten to leave a fan running to keep the air moving when I left. I got everything inside and in 30 minutes, with a bunch of Lysol Antiseptic wipe, my problem was taken care of. I left my suitcases packed and headed for bed because I was wiped out. I’d been up since 5am eastern and the stress of the trip had beaten me up. I mean I wasn’t sure what would happen in Immigration so I was pretty wound up. My kids are taking my being out of the country harder than they let on and I’m finding that hard to deal with. Plus, the worst case scenario I was imagining was having to pay the visa fine and having to spend another night in jail if the Treasury office wasn’t open again so I could pay it. I did bring the thousand with me just in case though. But anyway… It was a bit of a hot night. The temp was still over 90 and I found that I had lost my former non-air conditioned mind set. Rich keeps his apartment at 77 degrees at night and I’d gotten used to it, which made my fan not quite cool enough. I know I’ll be back to “normal” in a few days though. I spent Thursday morning unpacking and stowing my food and piling up my dirty clothes for the laundry. Around 10:30 I heard Tricia talking so I went up and said hello. She was glad to see me back and I was glad to see her too. We caught each other up on the last 2 weeks and then back to unpacking for me. Peter stopped by early (2pm) and said the fishing has been iffy. That’s the one thing that I really missed while being in Orlando. Peter said fishing was better earlier in the day now because of the tide. I wasn’t ready to go though because I hadn’t unpacked my new fishing reels nor put new line on them. So I spent the day watching videos and resting up. My 1st meal back was chicken and Stove Top Stuffing at 4pm followed by coconut cookies for desert. I’m drinking a lot of water to get myself hydrated again because I can feel the effects of not drinking during my traveling. Tomorrow (Friday) I’ll get back to my normal daily “retired” routine after a trip to the local food store and veggie market to refill my fridge.

Friday evening (8/13) was my 1st fishing trip to the lagoon since I returned was hopefully a harbinger of fishing to come! In the hour I spent there I caught a small barracuda, a nice black snapper, and a nice snook plus lost a few fish as well. Peter did pretty well netting snook too so we both went home happy. Net fishing is so-so and rod/reel is the pits the last 2 times out. So I guess the lagoon was just saying hello welcome back. Oh well you can’t catch fish every time out. That’s what makes it interesting.

The picture is of a 5-3/4 pound snapper that I caught this morning and which Tricia will be cooking for our dinner tonight. I also got a smaller one plus a small snook and decent size catfish last night.

Steve’s “rich American” persona has gotten the best of him again. About a month ago a local named Kenny got mad at him because he didn’t have whatever he, Kenny, came begging for so he broke Steve’s passenger side window with a Guinness bottle. Kenny is jail now awaiting trial. He can’t pay the bail so there he’ll sit until then. The penalty for damaging private property is 5 years in the Ladysville prison so we won’t be seeing him for a while. Anyway, because EVERYONE in Hopkins and Dangriga knows that Steve is rich they prey on him. Friday night while he was drinking in a Dangriga bar someone broke his driver’s side window and stole his laptop. Me, I’ve left my laptop unlocked in my car or Ron’s van many a day in Hopkins and Dangriga and never had a problem. Everyone knows I’m poor and I don’t flash a lot of money or personal effects around where people can see like Steve. The good thing though is that the Dangriga police found his laptop, probably because Steve’s laptop security is his finger print and they couldn’t bypass it (even the “PC techs” here are pretty unskilled). But, needless to say, Steve brings a lot, if not all, his misfortune on himself because of the way people see him. He’s always handing out BZ$50 bills, alcohol, and/or drugs to everyone he meets. I just wish he’d hand some of the money to me! LOL

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!

Headed back home to Hopkins

I’m in the Orlando airport right now and on my way back to Belize. My flight leaves here at 9am, with a 2 hour layover in Houston, and I should be in Belize City International by 3pm if both flights are on time. It will feel good to sleep in my own bed tonight. But I did have a bit of a problem at the ticket counter. Because I didn’t have a return ticket to the U.S., or a resident card for Belize, I had to buy a refundable return ticket. Once I get back to Belize I have to get my permanent passport and start the resident process so I can travel back and forth with my starting point being Belize and get the refund for the ticket I had to buy. Or, leave from Mexico with my 6 month visa. One day I’ll get all this figured out!

My visit to Orlando was all I expected it to be and I loved it. Every day I ate something from my “gotta have while I’m here” food list. Pizza, burgers, Cajun, seafood, pastries, you name it I ate it! Hopefully I didn’t gain too much weight back. (While I was in Orlando I went to my doctor for a check-up and to get new prescriptions for the meds I take. At the weigh-in, which I always dreaded, I found that I am 32 pounds lighter than when I left the states. So all that fresh food, and smaller portions, is helping. Another 25 pounds or so and I may be able to stop my blood pressure meds.) Richard and I hit some of the gourmet stores he’s wanted to visit and we bought a lot of good cheeses, veggies, and other goodies to eat. Matt and I pigged out at Texas De Brazil and rolled home. (For those of you who don’t know about Brazilian Steakhouses they slice and serve various meats right at your table and it’s all you can eat. My brother Dave can attest to the amount of food because I introduced him to one in Playa Del Carmen.)

Carrie and I visited Universal Studios Orlando and spent the 1st part of the day in the new Harry Potter/Hogwarts section. Lots to see and do and ride and I loved it. We went to both side sides of the part (Islands of Adventure and the Studio) and did as much as we could in the 1 day I had. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I’m roller coastered out for a while…

I did a major food shop the day before I had to leave and filled up my extra suitcases with goodies that I can’t get in Belize or that are very expensive. Since I carried along an extra suitcase and a duffle bag, and can check 2 for free on Continental, I get to bring back 100 pounds of extra baggage and I’m using every bit of it! Besides fishing equipment I bought foods like chili, baked beans (they are REALLY expensive in Dangriga), chocolates, tomato and clam sauce for my pasta. So I’m a happy boy!

As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!