catching up

Now that I've posted the full travel adventure, it's time to show you where I am and what I am doing, at least for the time being. I am living in a two-room apartment in my step-son's house, a space that is a mixed blessing, as I shall relate. But first, let's look at some photos. This first one was taken looking out his driveway from a point about 80 feet in front of the house.

Here I turned around and took a picture of the front of the house. On the first floor the windows starting on the left are for a bathroom, then a bedroom, then a window and double doors that open into a living and kitchen area with a bar that separates them, then another window to that area, a kitchen window, and a laundry room window.

On the second floor, the two windows on the left are for a bedroom, the glass blocks provide light for a circular stair between the floors, and then the opening is for an open patio through the house, which is one of the primary features from my perspective. Finally the two windows on the right are for my bedroom/office space.

This photo below is of the back of the house. To the far left is a stair case that gives me a private entrance, and also leads up to the roof, which has a 4 foot wall around the perimeter. It is a wonderful place to go at night when the sky is clear, the number of stars you can see is incredible! On the first floor the window on the left is to a dining area, in the middle there is a patio with a lattice over it that vines have grown onto and on the right the windows are to the master bedroom. Double doors open onto the patio, so when the doors on both sides are open, a breeze sweeps through the first level.

On the second floor the window on the left is to my living/kitchen area, followed by the roofed patio, which is the coolest place to be with the near constant breeze off the Caribbean, and then another bedroom. I should note that the vine(s) growing up the stair case are about 3 years old!

Just to the north of the property is Seine Bight village, which is a Garifuna (google it) settlement marked by poverty. Not so much poverty that someone nearby has a very loud stereo set and a favorite CD that he plays so loud that there is no point playing music oneself. He also hasn't played it before 7 AM or after 10PM, so far. And it isn't all the time, but when it is, it's LOUD. The first night a dog saw something that spooked it, and started barking at about 4:30 AM, which got all the other dogs barking, and in my dazed state, it seemed to go on forever. However, a lot has changed there in the last few years, and there is now a wonderful vegetable market, the best on the peninsula.

This photo below includes the Austrian Restaurant that was built in the last year on the edge of Seine Bight. It's owned by a young couple who live on the second floor. The bus in the picture is on the main road which has always been dirt except in the villages, but the government is rebuilding it and will pave it soon. In the meanwhile great clouds of dust (you can see some behind the bus) rise off the road and blow toward out house. When not in use, I cover my electronics to protect them from the dust.

These last two pictures are from the roof, looking first own the driveway, so you can see the relationship to the restaurant, and second from the back of the house toward the basin that was created, and then the Placencia lagoon beyond the mangroves. Spectacular sunsets are the norm. Placencia Peninsula is a 15 mile long peninsula that runs parallel to the coast, so there is a long lagoon.

That' all for today, next I'll tell you about what I've been up to! When I get my pallets that I shipped to myself, and am more settled, I'll take some inside photos as well!