Opportunity for CPA!!

I’ve been thinking more and more about expanding my bookkeeping practice to clients outside the businesses I’m currently involved with.  I am also aware that there are hundreds of American ex-pats in Belize (and thousands in Mexico), and to my knowledge there is one retired CPA in San Pedro that is reluctantly willing to do the U.S taxes for ex-pats here, and another CPA in Kansas who does them for ex-pats. I’ve been asked, but really don’t want to develop that expertise.


Because of the latent demand for qualified bookkeeping services, and the unmet demand for U.S. tax services and advice, I would like to find a CPA in the U.S. who would like to move to Belize. If you are one, or if you know one, please have them contact me. The ideal candidate will, in addition to the willingness to move, have or will acquire a working knowledge of the US tax code as it applies to ex-pats, will be comfortable in a diverse cultural environment, will be tolerate of a culture so laid back that little happens on time, and acceptable of stores and banks rounding off to the nearest nickel when making change. Must be expert in use of QuickBooks.


Must also like hanging at the beach, sport fishing, cave tubing, snorkeling and or scuba diving, hiking in mountains, swimming, and/or smiling. Shopoholics or chronic complainers need not respond.

The ORIGINAL tragedy of Haiti

The recent catastrophic earthquake in Haiti has called attention to what many consider the most dysfunctional nation state in the western hemisphere. That is the context within which many are raising money and aid for the people of that devastated country. The people of Belize, including our Rotary club, are also raising money to send for the relief of the people of Haiti.



One benefit of living outside the U.S., and in an English speaking country, is that you are not limited to the unacknowledged bias and slanting by the “balanced” media in the U.S. (I suspect this is also true of Canada and Western Europe.) One of our weekly papers had an article this weekend written by a leader of one of the campuses of the University of the West Indies. He traces the history of Haiti, and the path to its current condition.


Haiti is much admired in the Caribbean region because it was the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. It became an independent democracy (from France) in 1804 as a result of a revolution led by slaves, said by some to be the bloodiest war in modern history. There were 500,000 people, and at the time Haiti had been the most populous and prosperous colony in the Caribbean. Interestingly, colonial economy of the Caribbean was based on slavery, and although there were abolition movements in Britain and France, those movements did not extend to the colonies. Newly independent Haiti welcomed anyone of African descent, immediately granting them citizenship.


For the United States and the colonial powers (France, Britain, Spain, Holland), this would not do. The French refused to recognize their independence, and declared them a pariah state. The United States, which the Haitians looked to as a mentor in independence, also did not recognize them, instead siding with the French. The British had been negotiating with the French to take ownership of Haiti, and so it went with every nation state in the Western world. They were isolated – denied access to world trade and finance, and subject to an embargo.


In 1825, faced with a bankrupt economy, the cabinet decided they had to find a way to be a participant in the world economy. They invited the French to a summit. The French demanded that in exchange for recognition that Haiti would have to pay reparations. With little choice the Haitians accepted the terms, and the French sent appraisers to account for everything, including land, physical assets, the 500,000 citizens who were former slaves, and everything else of value, including the cabinet members themselves.


The sum amounted to 150 million gold francs. (It should be noted that France sold the entire area known as the Louisiana Purchase to the United States for 80 million francs.)


The payments lasted almots 100 years, until 1922, and in some years amounted to as much as 70% of France’s foreign exchange earnings. In bad crop years, they had to borrow from U.S. and French sources, and finally paid off the U.S. debt in 1947, over 140 years following independence. France didn’t defeat the Haitians on the battlefield, but with the support of the U.S., they did on the field of finance.


The U.S occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, and one of the justifications was to assist France in collecting its reparations. During those 19 years the U.S. controlled customs, collected taxes, and ran many government institutions. One wonders how much else was taken out of the economy at the time. From 1956 to 1986 the U.S. propped up the dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who stole millions and ran up debts to the U.S. 40% of Haiti’s current $1.3 Billion external debt is attributable to the Duvaliers.


In 2004, The U.S. again intervened militarily to prevent popularly elected President Aristide from taking office. Haiti is now the third largest market for U.S. rice, and now imports sugar. Agriculture, which had been the basis of the economy, as been near destroyed. Multi-national corporations now pay Haitians $2/day for factory work.

No doubt the Haitians have made mistakes. So much of their economy was devoted to the reparations payments for so many generations that education, upon which a democracy depends, and infrastructure development only occurred on a piecemeal basis. So France and the U.S. bear great responsibility for the continuing failure of Haiti. Will either country accept that responsibility? I tend to doubt it.

I’ve drawn most of the information presented here from two articles in the 1/24/10 Amandala newspaper. One by Sir Hilary Beckles (nationnews.com) and the other by Bill Quigley, a long time Haiti human rights advocate. He suggests for further reading: “The Uses of Haiti” by Paul Farmer, “Damming the Flood” by Peter Hallward, and “An Unbroken Agony” by Randall Robinson.

Responses to comments..

I receive the comments people post on this blog as e-mails, but if they are not sent to me directly by the senders, I can’t reply, except through the blog. That’s what I’m doing here, in part because the responses to the comments or questions will probably be of interest to other readers as well. I should note that I am truly impressed with those that have written and said they have read the entire blog – perhaps I should say honored, because that’s a lot of reading and I am glad it has been interesting enough to read through.

Yesterday I posted detailed information I had gathered about bus transportation from Cancun to Belize. Gary from British Columbia is coming to Belize via Cancun, but I thought the information could be helpful to others as well.

A while back Val wrote, if I can paraphrase, that it must be difficult living in an environment surrounded by poverty. I think poverty can be expressed as a relative state of existence as well as a state of mind, and third world poverty is not as jarring as first world poverty. In Portland, Maine, a fairly affluent city where I moved from, there was a significant homeless population, some of whom spent the night in shelters in the city, and others who camped out in the woods where they could hide or find privacy. We would most often cross paths at the supermarket, where they would bring bottles to return for cash. People here in Belize don’t freeze to death, and I’m not aware of a homeless population, but on the other hand, there is a dramatic discrepancy in the housing stock. I give rides to guys who pick up bottles for cash, and take them home.


If the ex-pats weren’t here, building homes and businesses, there would be less work available, and less money to purchase necessities in this country with a minimal manufacturing base. At least here on the Placencia Peninsula, I don’t sense resentment as much as a sense of acceptance that that is the way things are. Seine Bight is a village where there is a poverty of existence, but not of mind. I used to live on the edge of it, and when I picked up residents who did not know me, they would sometimes ask me if I was from Maya Beach. Maya Beach is an area that was subdivided many years ago, with canals dug, roads built, land filled. Then the developer failed, but what was left was a pattern of land use and ownership dominated by small resorts on the ocean side and ex-pat homes on the lagoon side. There is not an historical Creole, Garifuna or Mestizo village. Now that I live in Maya Beach, at least for the time being, I am a bit embarrassed to admit to those who ask that I do live here. The best strategies for intellectually and/or emotionally dealing with the pervasive poverty of existence are either to build businesses that can then employ locals, or to mentor kids in school and help them learn to read. The educational system teaches people to be employees, and there is not the entrepreneurial dna, or ambition, that exists in the US or Canada. Belizeans who have that dna have moved to the US.


Yesterday I took the fabric I bought in Belize City to a woman in Seine Bight who does sewing. She was an older woman, and her son and granddaughter and a grandson were there, and I’m not sure how many lived in the house, which had no windows, but did have shutters. My focus was on explaining the way I wanted my curtains made, and not on assessing the condition of the house, but it was standard I don’t think I could live at. They did have a TV. What is most important to this discussion is that it was fairly typical housing in the community, although there are homes that are better and worse in the mix. This is because within each ethnic group there are folks at all socio-economic levels. Proportions vary by group, and resentments, or envy, may be directed more toward those higher on the economic ladder than on those of a particular ethnic group. I say “may”, because I don’t see or hear it. People who don’t accept and value people for who they are, and treat others with kindness, don’t get along. But where isn’t that true?

A following question from Bob related to the availability of rental housing such as the place I’m living in. Right now, it would be hard to find places like mine, especially from a distance. When I walk down the beach, I see second homes that are not occupied, and wonder if the owners would rent if they had a local agent who could market and oversee the property. This may change as condominiums get built, and investors seek a return through rentals. The problem will be dealing with the desire of the owners to get maximum short term return with weekly rentals, or if they would be satisfied with longer, more modest return from a single tenant. Before I arranged my current rental, which is a house our company built, which costs me $400 USD per month, I had tentatively been offered a condo for the same price. The deal fell through when they were offered $1200 USD /month for the same place. I’m glad it fell through, because I like my new setup. There are many smaller cabanas and units available for rent, but second homes are rare. You can find lots of accommodations on the Placencia Tourism office website.

Sandy and her husband are building a house here in Maya Beach, but I haven’t noticed any tattooed ladies at the little market. I have a big mustache, so perhaps we will connect! I shop at the new Chinese mini-mart.

Jamie expressed appreciation for the cultural anthropological bent of some of my postings, which I appreciate. It’s one of the elements about Belize that I really like. I have a step-daughter who graduated from U Penn with a degree in Cultural Anthropology, so it is a subject close to my heart, as she is. I should also not that I work for my step-son (from a different marriage), who graduated from UNH with a double major in outdoor recreation and cultural anthropology. His thesis project was a proposal to create an eco-tourism business in Belize. After graduation he came here to see if he could do it. That didn’t work out, but he now employs 19 Belizeans plus me in two enterprises, and that number will grow. I was very fortunate because I knew what skill Bradley needed (as well as the larger community), and I reinvented myself with that skill before coming here. Belize is an entrepreneurs playground – but it is best to be here for a while to determine what skill, service or product is needed in sufficient quantity to generate a living. Cost of living here is less than in the states or provinces, in part because there aren’t many places to spend money. I recall someone asking if they could live on $2000 USD/month. That would work if they had a moderately priced rent. I’m living on a little more than half that.


A final question related to my ability to maintain my spiritual side. In Portland, an urban environment, I met my spiritual needs through my involvement with my local Unitarian-Universalist Church (www.firstparishportland.org) , and through a 22 year membership in my Double Dozen group of AA. There isn’t a church here with a theology anything like mine, and while the AA here isn’t as spiritually sustaining as my old group, it does in a pinch. I do have things I read, particularly the sermons of the inspired late minister of my church in Portland, which he posted on line. Spending a few minutes on the veranda morning and evening looking out over the lagoon at sunrise and sunset are certainly good for my soul. I’m grateful to be in the environment I’m in.

Cancun to Placencia by bus

Getting to Placencia by taking a low cost flight to Cancun can save money, but definately requires an adventuresome spirit and high degree of patience and tolerance.  The folks who own the Danube Restaurant in Seine Bight have done the bus trip several times, primarily to pick up and drop his daughter who visited from Austria.  Here are his observations about the connections:

ADO Airport shuttle US $3.00- (ADO is a Mexican bus line - good buses-Carl)


ADO ( http://www.ado.com.mx/ado/index.jsp )Cancun to Chetumal leaving at 11 pm Arrival at 5am costs US $19.00-

Chetumal to Belize City leaving at 6am arrival at about 8-9am US $15.50 (it’s a small Express bus) (I don't think this is a former school bus)

Belize City arrival at Water Taxi Station – take a taxi to Novelo Bus Station -cost US $3.50

Take the bus to Placencia cost US $5.00- to Dangriga arrival at about 11.15 am, 12.15 pm or 1.15 pm( https://www.hickatee.com/belize_bus_times.html )and there one has to wait for the bus to Placencia which costs US 4.5 and leaves at 2 pm and arrives in Placencia around 3.30 pm.

(You can also take a James bus from Belize City to Independence, and catch a Hokey Pokey water taxi to Placencia for about  US $5.00. They run until 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon.  If tired of ground transportation, go to municipal Airstrip in Belize City and take Tropic Air or Maya Island Air to Placencia  for US $79.50. 1/2 hour flight. - Carl)

 

Leaving from Placencia:

Bus at 5.45 am or 6.30 am from Placencia, changing bus on the way near Dangriga to Belize City, arrival at about 10am.

Premier bus leaves at 11 am, costs US 8.-, there is also the chicken bus (used school bus) which leaves more often and sometimes is not slower, costs US 6.- arrival in Chetumal at about 3.20pm the premier arrives directly at the ADO Bus Terminal, while the chicken bus arrives somewhere else and one has to take a taxi- cost US 2.-, however the bus to Cancun leaves at 3.30 4.30 and then 6.30- depending on if there is time difference between Belize and Mexico it just did not work out to reach the 4.30 bus, so I had to wait till 6.30- right now, I think one can reach the 4.30 bus and one would arrive in Cancun at aroun 10pm, otherwise it would be around midnight..

A cheap but clean hotel right next to the ADO bus station is http://www.hotelalux.com/cancun/index.htm good enough for an overnight stay.

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This is very useful info, so if you plan to come to Belize or Placencia, print it out. There are also flights by Maya Island Air, Cancun to Belize for $213, but may require advance reservation.
Thanks to Herb at the Danube Restaurant, he and Simone specialize in Austrian cuisine!

Cold wave abates, and The Tooth Fairy to the rescue!

What a cold week it was! I thought it was cold when the temp dropped to the low 70s, but then it descended into the mid to low 60s in the early morning hours. With the skies overcast during the day, the temperature didn’t rise much. First I dug out a thin quilt I had brought with me. Then I located a blanket I had brought along. Next was a thick throw, and then I got a good nights sleep. Ex-pats, especially, were commenting about the low temperatures, which lasted for an unusually long time, according to the locals. I felt bad for the tourists who visited this past week, it was too cold for the beach, and certainly not typical Belize weather. People I talked to, however, who had escaped record cold temps in the US, where even Miami dropped to 32 or below, were enjoying the temperate temps.


I had a pleasant dinner Tuesday evening with some readers of this blog who were visiting from Kansas City. I recall they asked me if I have any regrets about moving here, and I have none. In thinking about it later, there are some things I miss, especially tender, flavorful meat of all types. Movies. Bookstores. But I wouldn’t move back for them.

On Wednesday (I think it was) evening at about 6 we experienced a mild earthquake, which I noticed because I was sitting down, but very few others were aware of it. The epicenter was in the vicinity of the last one we had, near Guatemala. Nothing like the devastation that hit Haiti a few days later.

Thursday I went to Belize City with my friend Bob. Early AM temp was high 60s, with forecast of temps in the 80s. Stopped in Belmopan and got a tire for one of the butane trucks, some parts for my truck, some cabinet handles for the house and a stepladder, and a battery for my watch, which turned out not to need it. Belmopan, the capital city, is easy to get around, at least with a vehicle.

Then on to Belize City, with the goal of getting a file cabinet, a queen size box spring for my ex-wife, Patti, and fabric to use for curtains in my house. Before we made our first stop, I was driving over a speed bump and BANG!, a small cloud of brown dust rose from the front right of my truck. Stopped and checked, and I could still steer, it would go without any rubbing or other noise, so I continued on my way. There doesn’t seem to be an office supply store in Belize (add Staples to the list above), and the only place we found file cabinets only carried them in legal size, and they cost about $600 BZD ($300 USD). So I didn’t get one. We were in downtown Belize City, which was crowded with tourists because 5 cruise ships were in town. Most people who have visited Belize on a cruise ship have an unfavorable impression of the country if they limited their visit to a walk around Belize City. It is not at all attractive; there is nothing quaint about it. The last time Bob and I were there and in the vicinity of the “tourist village”, some kids asked us if we wanted to “support” them. We declined.

Got to the fabric store, which had a selection too big to deal with. But I did, with the help of a pleasant clerk. Because of the dark red wall, I got some off-white fabric for the double doors and the windows. Got some vivid blue to block the view into the off-kitchen pantry/office space which I use for storage. Understand there is a lady in Seine Bight who sews, so the next step is to figure out the exact sizes and go see her.

The clerk was reasonably attractive, and Bob asked her why she wasn’t married. She replied that Belize men weren’t very good prospects, and given the level of gang violence in Belize City, I wasn’t surprised. She admitted she had never been to Placencia, and when I suggested jokingly that she could come to Placencia and be my girlfriend, she responded positively with some seriousness. I told her it wouldn’t work because I was an old guy, and she replied that old men know how to treat a woman. It was a fun exchange, and I think we both felt better from it.

From there on to Dave’s Furniture, where I picked up the box spring, and found some simple chairs that were reasonably comfortable, and very inexpensive at $95 BZD each. They had six, and wouldn’t sell just 4, so I bought them all. Now all I need is a dining table, and I’ll have my furniture needs taken care of.

Because we had time, we then went to the Brodies and SaveU supermarkets to get foods unavailable in Placencia. I saw some ½” thick rib eye steaks, so I took a chance and bought them. Also got canned baked beans, canned tomatoes for tomato sauce, apple sauce, wheat germ, frozen peas, graham cracker crusts, and other items one takes for granted when living in the US.

Then we headed back, stopping for a late lunch along the way. It was dark by the time we got to the end of the beautiful Hummingbird Highway, and had turned south on the Southern Highway toward Placencia. As we approached that turn, I received a call from my dentist’s office in Dangriga to set up an appointment to come in to complete some work she had started. She calls her practice , “The Tooth Fairy”, and she is a very attractive woman. Here’s are a couple of pictures I posted once before:

So I continued a few miles south of the junction, and my truck sputtered to a stop. I power my truck with butane, and had filled the tank before leaving. On my last trip to Belize City I had made it there and back on one tank, so this was a surprise, since I was still 45 miles from home. I confidently switched onto the gasoline, confident because the gauge read ¼ full. My confidence vanished when I discovered it was switched to my rear tank, which I can’t draw fuel from, and the front tank turned out to be empty. I managed to get the truck turned around and headed toward Dangriga with just butane fumes, but only made it a few hundred feet. Tried to call the dentist, but my cell phone could not pick up a tower. Fortunately, Bob is also too old and experienced to get too excited about such things. We sat, enjoying the fireflies and reminiscing about catching them in jars as kids. Decided to flag down a passing car, which one of us could take into town to get gas while the other waited with the truck. A pickup stopped, and in the conversation I discovered that my cell phone could pick up a signal if I was 30 feet up the road, outside my cab.

So I called the Tooth Fairy, who had just finished work for the day, and she was kind enough to bring me a gallon of gas so we could get back to Dangriga to get gas. There are no gas stations between Dangriga and Placencia. Between us, Bob and I had $50, and so were able to buy 5 gallons of gas, barely enough to get us home.

Thanks to the The Tooth Fairy, we got home that night, and when I had our mechanic Andy check the truck in the morning, he discovered that not only had the right front coil spring broken, but it had broken some time in the past as well. So now the front left has 9 coils, and the front right 5. The front right sits somewhat lower than the left, and Andy says I shouldn’t take long trips in it. Bummer.  Will deal with it next week.

Tropical Cold Wave!

From the Weather Channel, it looks like the US, Canada and Europe are suffering through some brutal winter weather, with trains stuck in snow, turmoil in the air transportation system, and frozen oranges in Florida.


Well, I find I have adjusted so well to normal day time temperatures in the mid 80s, that our current cool temperatures are frigid! The low temperatures of the day in the early morning hours dip down to the high 60s or low 70s. I put a thermometer out on the veranda at 7 this morning and it read 71 degrees! The inside temperature was 74 degrees. When I think back to last year, when shortly before my departure we were heating our house to a standard 65 degrees, when we turned up the thermostat, it’s hard to imagine living in temperatures that cold.

For months I slept on top of my bed, with overhead and pedestal fans cooling me. Lately I had been sleeping with a sheet over me, no fans. Lately was waking up repeatedly at night, couldn’t understand why, until I put a blanket on, and voila! a good night’s sleep. Have been wearing long pants (LL Bean Tropic Wear) voluntarily for much of the past week. Not yet ready to cave in to shoes, but have been wearing my sandals all day instead of taking them off, because they provide a little warmth. As I write this in mid-day, I’m wearing blue jeans, a tee shirt and I’m barefoot. It’s a cool 78 inside, and 76 outside.

So that’s the winter weather from Belize. Overcast with occasional showers, light winds from the west and north, and a Tropical Cold Wave!

The cultural diversity here brings some real benefits to anyone who enjoys it.  Mayan ladies with their colorful long dresses carrying wares on their heads, setting up shop with their crafts at strategic corners in the village, or going table to table in restaurants.  Mestizo men, dominant in the construction trades, and full of smiles and laughter when they break for 4 days after working for 10 straight.  And Garifuna folks in celebration. 
On a post a while back I posted pictures taken of my TV screen of Garifuna celebrating "Garifuna Settlement Day" in November.  On Christmas Eve I was surprised by the sound of singing much like west African recordings that I have.  I went out on our balcony at the office and looked down into the parking lot to see a group of costumed dancers.

A brief re-telling of the history of the Garifuna:  In the late 17th or early 18th century a group of Africans on a Spanish slave ship overpowered their captors, and unable to navigate the ship, drifted and landed on the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean.  There they comingled with  with the Arawak indians who had originated in northern South Ameica.  In 1796 the, British, fearing their influence on their slave labor, deported the Garifuna to Roatan Island off the coast of Honduras.  They then spread primarily along the coast in the western Caribbean, in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize.  Until the British end of slavery, the Garifuna were limited to their villages in southern Belize so they would not inspire the slaves to flee.

Following the end of slavery, when the slaves then fled, the Brits hired Garifuna to work with them in the mahogany camps.  They didn't get the joke when the Garifuna celebrated at the Christmas/New Years holiday with a dance and costume that mocked the British.  It is known as wanaragua, also known as "john canoe" and other variations.  Theories exist that it, or components of it, can be traced to Jamaica, and to St. Vincent.  Perhaps what is most important is what happens now, 150 years later.

A band of wanaragua dancers originates in Seine Bight village, and on Christmas Eve came to Placencia Village, stopping at various restaurants, and perhaps other places unknown to me.  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me on that day.

They repeated again on New Years day in Seine Bight, going from house to house, and I happened to see them so stopped my truck and went to take a few pictures.

The costume consists of a white shirt, crisscrossed with ribbons, much like British military uniforms of the late 18th century.   The pants are like knickers, and on one leg are rattles made from shells.    Sneakers are the footwear, and the headdress is very colorful, and includes a mask of a white face.  All the dancers were boys or young men, this photo is of the boys, waiting their turn to dance.

The dancers would dance to the beat of Garifuna drums accompanied by women, and some men, singing a seemingly repetitive song in the Garifuna language. Because this is done outside and in front of houses or businesses, there is no stage, and spectators create the circle they dance in.  The dance itself is somewhat jerky - the way the Garifuna viewed the body movements of the Brits.  The dancers would take turns entering the middle of the circle and dancing.  In the picture above a woman in the background is considering trhe dancer's movements, before she joins the dance! 

 r

When she finished, the dancer pulled another woman from the crowd to dance as well.

As mentioned above, the dancers are accompanied by drums, the larger here is called a Segunda, laying down a beat tempo, and the fellow with the gray shirt is playing a Primero, which is more like a tenor drum.

The woman in the yellow shirt is the dominant singer, the Segunda player is also singing.

The woman in the blue and white checkered dress is also singing, and here the dancer is dancing with the woman he pulled from the crowd.  This photo also gives you an idea of the scale of the crowd, which either follows them as they go from one house to another, or gathers from the immediate area.  It is a dance of fun and good will in the holiday season.

There are substantial Garifuna communities in New York and Los Angeles.  You can find more about them on  the internet, and social anthropologists might be interested in a book I just finished called "The Garifuna, A Nation across Borders", essays in social anthropology edited by Joseph Palacio, and published by Cubola Productions, 35 Elizabeth Street, Benque Viejo del Carmen, Belize, C.A.

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We get the weather channel on our cable TV here, and I don't miss the snow and ice and cold for even a minute.

One thing the tropics do have though is bugs and other what some might call "creepy crawlies".  Although I've killed a few, I have not yet been stung by a scorpion.  The local ones are not deadly, but they do give a nasty sting.  My ex-wife Patti, after being here for less than 10 days was stung 3 times in one night. She got a good locally produced treatment ointment for them at the pharmacy the next day.  I am careful to close my doors onto my verandas in the evening, and wish I had screen doors to keep them out.  In the cool weather I think they like to come into warmer spaces.

There are also Tarantula spiders, like this one I exposed under a tarp I had covering some stuff on Bradley's roof.

  

Unlike what my peers told me as a ten year old, they are very shy, and their operative mode is "run away".  This one was caught in the open on the roof, and tried to disguise himself by hiding with the leaf.  My friend Bob, who walks every morning from Placencia to the air strip, says he sees them crushed on the road every morning.

We also have snakes, and this one pictured below was partially crushed when it crossed the road.  There are dangerous snakes here, but they are after mice other small prey, not humans.  The only time I've seen snakes is the few times I've seen them crossing the road. 

When I first visited Belize several years ago, I found the geikos that clung to the walls and ceiling somewhat disconcerting.  However, now I appreciate their presence, because they are a natural insecticide - they catch and eat bugs.

 

There are many varieties of ants here, some so small that they are the size of a period.  You can't see legs or any other feature, just a dot moving across your keyboard,  or counter, or wrist.  It amazes me how tough the human skin is, yet how sensitive it is when I can feel something on my skin but can't see it without really focusing on that spot. Geikos like ants.

In my house with white floors, I know where the geikos have been because as living organisms they leave droppings that look much like mouse droppings.  Not many, and they sweep or clean up easily, and I view them as welcome signs that my bug busters are at work.  The geikos also make a strange chirping sound from time to time, again a welcome sign.

So this is my first post of the new year.  I received one postcard (from Beth in Portland, ME) and one card from Gary (on the left coast) from my request for postcards, a disappointment.  I do appreciate to contavcts from folks who read the blog, and try to respond to the emails I receive.  A little tough right now because I don't have internet at home, and came into the office to write this this morning. 

Hope you have a Happy New Year, and I look forward to hearing from more folks!