Feet X 2 + $ X2

A few random thoughts and observations....

Belize is the former British Honduras, but little remains of that culture, like the metric system, which is not used here. I suspect because of the preponderance of Canadians temperatures are referred to in Celsius rather than Farenheit at least in conversations I've been in. But I'm in the construction business, among others, and measurements are in feet and inches.

And speaking of feet, for many years I have taken off my shoes in my office and been in my stocking feet. Now that I wear sandles all day, I take them off as well, and work barefoot. Must say I really like it. My feet are getting tougher, so walking in the driveway the pebbles are barely noticable. The most prominent barefoot person in the village is the owner of Wassen's Store, which sells groceries, housewares etc etc as described in the last posting. He's also the president of our Rotary Club. I have never seen him with shoes on. There seem to be no rules about being barefoot or shirtless in stores, restaurants or anywhere else. It does surprise me to see so many Creoles wearing sneakers or boots. Of couse many are barefoot, as well. Most ex-pats seem to wear flip flops. Although I shower every morning, I think I'm going to have to soak my feet at some point to truly clean them.

The exchange rate between Belize money and US is 2 to 1, 2 Belize dollars to 1 USD. Belize does not have a $1 bill, instead having a $1 coin that is brass in color and is an octogon. They also have pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and half dollars. That said, you rarely see pennies, dimes or half dollars. I say this based on some experience, because I have to process the receipts of the butane business and the bus line, so a lot of currency passes through my hands. People have so little use for pennies that storekeepers rarely give them in change - they round off to a nickel. Change in my pockets illustrates this - I have 6 $1 coins, 3 quarters, 23 nickles and 3 pennies. Belize has $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills in regular circulation. All the money has the queen on it. The paper currency has lots of security features to prevent counterfeiting, but on the other hand, it is made from a soft paper and I think it deteriorates quickly. Tomorrow morning I'll deposit about $3000 BZD and I'm sure several bills will be pulled and taken out of circulation. The bank will take US dollars as well, but if they are ripped or damaged, the bank won't accept them. So I guess they remain in circulation like musical chairs - at some point it is so worn out it can't be used by the last person who gets it. US bills are in circulation here, but coins are not accepted. It is easy for folks who use US currency to visit here because it is so easy to calculate the local cost if you have a pocket full of USD. Other Central American countries are a whole different ballgame.

In fact, Belize is very easy to visit for English speakers, because English is the official language is is spoken my most people. That said, Spanish is also widely known and spoken, so Spanish speakers would have it easy too.

Well, so much for feet and money. Time for bed.