saltydogtales

Ahhhh, February!

2010-02-23T16:30:00.000-06:00

All month long I've been thinking about how wonderful February has been, especially when compared to February in Maine when we were sick of winter, and aware we had at least two more months of it. February here started with seasonably low temperatures in the low 70s in early morning, with some overcast days mixed in with sunny days. The sky has not been as spectacular as in past months, making those skies even more enjoyable. Now, as we are in the last week of the month, I am enjoying sleeping on top of the bed again, with the ceiling fan going, and really appreciate the heat. There was a wonderful thunderhead the other day, here are a couple of photos:

On another subject, I received a new low in customer service today, something that puts even Time Warner cable to shame. I signed up for cable in January, paying a pro-rated amount, which started on the day I signed up, not the day they actually strung the wires and connected me. I signed up to get my bills by e-mail. I don't get all the channels, which they want to blame on me, although I was getting them all when I was at Bradley's house. But today took the cake.

I had been enjoying the Olympics, but last Friday night I had no cable. Yesterday I stopped at the cable office to find out what the problem was, and was told to call the office across the lagoon in Mango Creek. No conversation in our Placencia office is easy, because the girl who works there sits in a low chair while responding to your questions, while you talk through a hole in the glass barrier that is at mouth level for someone 5 feet tall. I called Mango Creek and they said to go into the Placencia office and pay my January bill. They said the office was open until 5. At 4:30 it was closed.

Today on the way to work I stopped and learned that they had turned off my cable for lack of payment for January, although I have never received a bill, don't know what the amount should be, and don't know what I paid for initially. So I had to pay $40.70 for January, plus a $25 reconnection fee. When I suggested that they had a responsibility to provide me with a bill, or notice of their intention to disconnect, I was met with a blank stare. Of course the manager of the company was not available at the Mango Creek office today, but I'll call her tomorrow.

I really shouldn't be surprised because customer service in Belize is not part of the DNA. But Southern Cable Company, which is reselling a satellite based service, has taken the concept to a new low. I've been taking advantage of the lack of TV by listening to the blues channel on Sirius radio, and spending more time reading. But I have missed the olympics...

Another transportation threshhold crossed....

2010-02-22T08:47:00.000-06:00

In my life I’ve operated a wide variety of modes of transportation. I was a student pilot, and took that as far as my solo flight from Maine to Burlington, VT, to Keene, NH, and then back to Maine. Ran out of time & money, and had a dislike of the rotund instructor who replaced my original one. Cessna 172s are tight quarters. Was an engineer of the diesel locomotive of the narrow gauge railroad in Portland for a few years. As one of the trainees on the square rigged tall ship HMS Rose sailing from Antigua to Martinique I spent my share of time at the helm of the ship (as well as going aloft to deploy or take in sail).

The ship was later sold to a movie company for the movie Master and Commander, and is now at the San Diego Marine Museum. Had a power boat for a few years. And of course have ridden assorted bicycles and driven assorted trucks and cars over the years.

Until this week I had never operated a motorcycle. Now I own one, pictured below. I live about 8-1/2 miles from the office, so every round trip is 17 miles. I converted my truck to butane, which I can buy at a discount because we sell it in one of our businesses, but my monthly fuel cost is still approximately $400 BZD. Too much, considering my income and other expenses.

So I bought the pictured Honda at the local hardware store for $4400 BZD, or $2200 USD, which includes the 10% sales tax. At 125 CCs, it is a small bike, and I use it for my local commute, and the truck for longer trips. I suspect many readers of this blog, especially in North America, have never driven a motorcycle, and it takes some getting used to.

The throttle is operated with the right hand, but twists counterclockwise toward you, which is not intuitive. The lever for the front brake is on the handle bar like a bicycle lever. The rear brake is operated with the right foot. The lever on the left handle bar is actually the clutch. The transmission is operated with the left foot, pushing down with your toe to shift up, and down with your heel to shift down. I have not yet found the “sweet spot” on the clutch for smooth transitions between gears. And with all the speed bumps, there are lots of opportunities to shift. Going less than 5 MPH is tricky, especially when the speedometer is measured in kilometers.

Registering vehicles doesn’t seem to be an issue here, so next week I hope to get to Dangriga to get a plate. I’ll tell them my Maine driver’s license covers motorcycles. I can’t get a Belize drivers license until I’ve established residency, a process that takes time, and doesn’t start until I’ve been in-country for a year, which will be about a month from now. Also have to get to Belize City to get a helmet.

This particular bike is not sold in North America. When I looked it up on the internet using the product number all the sites were in Spanish, and using the platename “Storm” brought up South African sites. There are a lot of cheap Chinese bikes sold here, but I’ve had good experiences with Honda equipment in the past, and they have parts in Belize City.

I’ll end this post on another note- I had the pleasure this week of meeting a reader of the blog who hails from near Vancouver, and who started reading it when I first started it. He came to Belize via Cancun, and has spent time in several places in country near the coast so he could pursue his interest in diving. We had several meals together, and a good time. I encourage any readers who come to Placencia to get in touch – I work in the Century 21 office over Wendy’s Restaurant.

That’s it for now..

Another Vancouver winner!

2010-02-15T09:22:00.000-06:00

On Saturday night following our very successful auction at the Sidewalk Arts festival, our rotary club held the drawing for the two week all expense trip to Belize that we have been raffling, both on line and via ticket sales. All the raffle tickets were the same type and size, and were folded up. The winner was Michael Porter of Vancouver, British Columbia, who bought his ticket on line. Our member Sandi, under whose presidency the raffle was started, has or will call Michael to tell him of his success.
I am curious to know how he learned about it, and whether it was the result of a search engine or whether he reads this blog. So Michael - if you read this, how did you learn about the raffle?

On another subject, Wilma posted a comment in my posting titled ' "Free range" chicken' about gibnut, a local delicacy. It is a large rodent, and I'm not sure if someone is raising them for sale or if they are being caught, but gibnut stew appears on local "special" menues when it is available, and is tender and better than the Belize raised beef. It's too bad Tapirs are a protected species, because they might yield better meat than the beef as well....Never heard of one? Google: "tapir in belize".... Want to read a really fun and interesting book about a young woman's experience living in a Myan village back in the 60s? I thiink you can get "How to Cook a Tapir" at amazon.com. You won't regret it...

"Free Range" chicken

2010-02-11T08:45:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I decided not to cook on Friday night, and went across the road to the restaurant at the Singing Sands Inn. Feeling frugal, I ordered the cheapest item on the menu, the half Free Range Chicken, flattened and grilled for $36 BZD. I’ve eaten there several times before, and have liked what I’ve had. The wife of the couple that own it is Korean, and usually the menu includes items directly or indirectly influenced by that cuisine – but I digress. The chicken was generously seasoned, and also typically tough and dry.

The only kind of chicken available in Belize is true “free range”. Chicken in the U.S. is produced in large barns with highly controlled food, water and temperature. The chickens have been bred and fed to be plump. I recall seeing a report about so called “free range” chickens that were in barns that had a very small door that would allow the chickens to get out of the barn, if they found the door.

The chickens here are small and lean. I don’t know if they ever see the inside of an enclosed barn. I do know that they are tough. I’ve been disappointed when I’ve tried grilling some chicken with my favorite herb BBQ sauce, and still having tough and stringy chicken. But then, voila!

Last Friday I bought a crock pot and a whole chicken. On Saturday I cooked the chicken in water with celery, onion, carrots, garlic and lots of herbs – for TEN hours. It was falling off the bone finger lickin’ good. I used some of the liquid to make rice to accompany it - also very tasty. So now I have to find the sweet spot – how long do I need to cook it to be tender, and be able to remove it to cook with some other method. If any of the readers of this blog cook home grown yard raised chickens this way and want to offer suggestions, I’m all ears.

This issue raises the issue about the meats and vegetables available here. The beef is tough, and doesn’t taste very good. I like beef, but would guess that I now have it once or twice a month, only to be disappointed each time. There is probably no food I miss more than a really good rib-eye steak. I’ve heard that the type of cattle that are raised in North American can’t be raised here, and of course the cattle there are fed in feed lots and don’t get much exercise. Cattle here are raised on big farms, no barns, outdoors. All the meat sold here is frozen. Stores have big chest freezers that they keep it in. Pork products are also available, and are reputedly good, but I haven’t been impressed. Shrimp (frozen) is readily available because there are big shrimp farms in Belize to serve North American and European markets.

Although the markets (the word “super” really isn’t appropriate) have veggies, the best bet is to stop at a veggie store, or buy from the truck that parks in the lower village 3 days a week. Last night on my way home I stopped at David Perez’ Vegetable Market in Seine Bight and bought two small tomatoes, a cucumber and six bananas for $2.50 BZD. The day before I bought 15 juice oranges for $2 BZD from some folks on the side of the road in Placencia Village.

When I moved here last spring there were two grocery stores in Placencia, Wallen’s and the Everyday Market. Now there are five, with the three new ones (plus the Everyday) being owned by Chinese. The newest one has been trying to stock different foods – so has become a source of frozen veggies. One week he had frozen peas, another week he had fozen peas and carrots, and today he had frozen broccoli spears.

Today we are turning off the raffle page on our Rotary website. If the winner is someone from Portland, or someone else I know, I’ll send you an e-mail on Saturday night or Sunday morning.

My appeal for a CPA on this blog has been productive. Mary from Washington State has the type of experience I need, and owns property here, and is able to move, so we are in discussions by e-mail about what might be. It is quite exciting, and the prospect of starting this new enterprise stirs my entrepreneurial soul.

I’m also thinking about buying a 125CC Honda motorcycle. A round trip between my house and the office is 17 miles. I get about 9 MPG burning butane, which I get at a near wholesale price because we are in that business. So I spend $350 to $375 BZD a month for fuel, and considerably more when I leave the peninsula. (Gasoline is currently at $9.75 BZD per gallon). And my old truck is showing its age. The big issue at this point is my residency. I can’t get a Belize Drivers license until I am a resident, which is a few months away, I hope. I’m not sure they’ll let me drive one with my Maine license. I’ll keep you posted….

Been watching the news about the big winter storms hitting the East Coast in the U.S., and am really enjoying being here…..

Last chance for raffle entries!

2010-02-09T16:48:00.000-06:00

I'm the "webmaster" in our Rotary club, and have been instructed to "take down" the raffle page on our website on Thursday, Feb 11th, so we can be fully prepared for the drawing on the 13th at the sidewalk art festival. So if you've been lingering - enter now! If you win, it is a fabulous prize, and if you don't. your money will go far in helping us with our good works here in the village. Recent studies indicated that 43% of the population of Belize is living in poverty, so the needs are substantial.

Good luck to all who have entered - and thank you!

Still seeking CPA ready for adventure!

2010-02-08T10:33:00.000-06:00

On Jan 29th I posted that I was looking for a CPA who would like to join me in a new enterprise built on a foundation I already have here in Belize. Mary from Washington posted a comment indicating her interest, and she even has property just across the lagoon from Placencia.
I should note that comments you post here come to me as e-mails, but I cannot reply to them other than posting a comment in reply. I believe in posting a comment that you can send it as an e-mail, which I think will provide me with your e-mail address that I can reply to. The bottom line here? Mary has not replied to my comment, and has not sent me an e-mail directly. I want to send her a substantive reply that is not appropriate for this blog, but can't, because I don't know her e-mail address. So I don't know if she is serious.
I am serious, and hope she will contact me, and/or other CPAs will consider this opportunity. Remember, on the journey through life you accumulate and get rid of lots of "stuff'', and in the end the most valuable thing you have are the stories of the adventures in your life!

Last chance!

2010-02-03T16:57:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, especially those who have read this entire blog, our local Rotary Club has had a rafflle with an exceptional prize - a ten day all expense paid vacation in Belize. The prize includes flights from Miami or Houston to Belize, and several nights at a resort on Ambergris Caye, then transportation to and several nights at a resort in the western mountains, and finally transportation and several nights at a resort here in Placencia. Includes a $100/day allowance for food, and more and more. There are no blackout dates, and we would like the winner to take the trip within a year.

Here's the deal: Tickets are $50 and can be purchased on line. We originally were going to sell 1000 tickets, then have the raffle. Ticket sales have not been very brisk, so we lowered it to 500 tickets. Because the raffle is almost 2 years old, and we have now passed the break even point, we've lowered it again and are going to draw the name of the winner on Saturday, February 13th. We are doing it at a local arts festival where we will be holding an auction to raise money.

That means the chances of winning are substantially higher than they were originally. Those who have read this blog, and the comments thereto, may have read the comments of someone who said they had not received an acknowledgement of their ticket purchase. In fact, we had acknowledged it at the time of purchase, but she had missed the e-mail, or it had gone into her junk mail folder. The program is working fine, and the winner is going to have a wonderful trip!

So go to www.rotaryclubofplacencia.com/raffle, and buy a ticket before it's too late!

Opportunity for CPA!!

2010-01-29T10:19:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-24T14:05:00.000-06:00

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..

2010-01-19T09:56:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-18T14:07:00.000-06:00

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.

******
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!

2010-01-17T11:18:00.000-06:00

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!

2010-01-09T15:40:00.000-06:00

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!

2010-01-02T12:47:00.000-06:00

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!

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.

***********************************************

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!

Christmas in Belize

2009-12-27T16:19:00.000-06:00

Imagine Christmas without external pressure. No store aisles with Christmas decorations on or before Halloween. No constant messages to buy, buy, buy! No conflict between religious and secular celebrations. Christmas without guilt that you haven’t met someone else’s expectations – which have been generated in part by rampant commercialism. It is possible in Placencia to celebrate Christmas as much, or as little, as you wish, and however you wish to do it..

And what a nice holiday I’ve had! My focus for the last several weeks has been on the move into my new abode, packing and moving my stuff, purchasing fixtures, appliances and furniture, and then waiting for the fixtures to be installed, and the great room to be painted off-white and dark red to replace the pink. Here are some photos of the inside, taken from various vantage points:

The owner bought a wonderful stove with my assistance, a gas stove with a gas convection oven. It was finally installed on Saturday the 18th. Since then, I’ve made two batches of cookies, buttermilk biscuits, two apple pies and a sour cream coffee cake. So nice to have a good oven!

Although I have three totes of Christmas decorations I brought with me from the states, I only got out my reindeer, pictured here, and a moose that sings jingle bells when you squeeze its paw. Next year I’ll probably do more, but it has been nice spreading the gift of fine baked goods instead of store bought stuff.

So my celebration started several days ago with my baking. On Wednesday eve I maintained my personal tradition of watching a video that was first shown on PBS some years ago; a wonderful adaptation of Dylan’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales. In addition to the text, it is a visual and audible treat. The afternoon of Christmas Eve I baked two apple pies and the biscuits, and took a pie and the biscuits to Bradley’s house for Christmas dinner. It didn’t turn out to be a sit-down type dinner, but was more a serve yourself deal, in part because there were several other people who had been invited over, and there was a lot of drinking going on.

Here's a photo of the operations manager of our butane biusiness
:

I left at about 9 PM, and went home to wrap gifts until midnight. I chose to wrap everything twice because the only gift wrap left when I finally got around to buying it was transparent. So I had to pre-wrap to hide contents, and then wrap for decorative effect.

Christmas morning I rose early and made a sour cream coffee cake (thank you Georgia’s friend Jill!) and took it to Bradley’s. I enjoyed having Christmas in a house dominated by three small kids. Here are some photos:

(The adults in these pictures are Rilda, Bradley's wife, and Patti, my ex-wife.)

By 10:30 or so all the gifts had been distributed and opened, and it was time to head home. It was nice to return to a quiet space. Christmas afternoon I joined a small group of ex-pats in Placencia for a fine Christmas dinner, punctuated with my other apple pie. Then home again at 5 or 6, and another enjoyable evening at home with my new books, A Ship of Fools from my good friends Mikki and David, and The Hemingses of Monticello from stepdaughter (?) Kevan.

Most of my time at home has been accompanied by music- as I mentioned in my last post the acoustics are wonderful, and I’ve been enjoying my wide-ranging Christmas music collection.

Today, Saturday, I have finished arranging stuff in my abode, finding places to put stuff. It’s nice to have it near done. This afternoon a flock of pink flamingos landed in my yard, and I had a chance to snap a photo:

So that’s been my Christmas. Wonderfully mellow. I haven’t missed the snow, or the disappointment at the lack of snow, that marked the first 63 years of my life.

I've moved!

2009-12-22T14:16:00.000-06:00

What a wild few weeks! We’ve been very busy at work, cash flow has been a bit weak, requiring extra effort to bill clients for work done, and we have multiple projects in progress. And that’s the least of it. Won’t have internet at home for another month or more, a real inconvenience, especially when it comes to posting here.

Moving into an unfinished, unfurnished house has been its own challenge. Took one two day trip to Belmopan, Orange Walk and Belize City to buy all the lighting fixtures and fans, three mirrors, and paint to replace the pink in the great room, in Belmopan, then on to Orange Walk to a furniture manufacturer called New River Enterprises where I happened to be there at the start of an as yet unpublicized sale, and while I spent more than I had intended, I acquired some really nice furniture, including a coffee table with a Myan relief carved surface.

Then on to Belize City to spend the night at an inn owned by a Belgian ex-pat, and the next day to select a refridgerator, washing machine and stove, and get another gallon of red paint for the south wall of the great room. Also bought a box spring for my bed to be.

Hit a few grocery stores, bought 10 boxes of chocolate pudding mix (the kind you cook) and all the jars Bertolli Alfredo with Mushrooms sauce the store had displayed (about 8), and assorted other sundries not available in Placencia. My friend Bob accompanied me, helping greatly in navigating in Belize City, and providing good company. Ran out of butane to power the truck while there, and discovered I also had only drops of gasoline. As luck would have it, just enough to get into a gas station, when it died as I was making a turn to line up with a pump. Had to push it backwards to line up with a pump, which took extra effort because it was fully loaded with fixtures and furniture.

When I got home from that trip I had an email from a person telling me that a group order for quality mattresses had fallen through. Very irritating, because I had just been in Belize City, and could have shopped for one. It all turned out ok, because I was able to buy one direct from the factory, and pick it up on a return trip to get the box spring the following week. The mattress is top end – a firm mattress with “pillow top” on both sides – good for my back and my circulation. Paid $786 BZD, or $393 USD. Same thing factory direct in Portland would have been $800 or $900 USD. Now having slept on it for a few nights, I’m very pleased.

On that return trip selected a stove because the one selected earlier was not available. Did some additional shopping, and got a piece of plate glass for the coffee table, but the highlight of the trip was going to the Belize Zoo. It is a remarkable place. I’ll devote more to it in a future post.

We are a few days from Christmas, and with the stove finally installed two days ago, I baked rolled Christmas cookies tonight. Listening to a wide variety of Christmas music, and I must say, the acoustics of the great room are outstanding. The combination of being so busy, and being in a tropical climate, and moving, and the lack of commercialism pounding the holiday into my psyche, a left me dealing with it on a last minute basis, and not really worrying about it.

Must close this now, but will try to get back into the habit now that I’ve settled into my new abode in Maya Beach.

Be well, stay warm, and have a happy holiday!

Moving in 6 days!

2009-12-07T21:36:00.000-06:00

I suppose most people in cultures that celebrate festivals of one sort or another at this time of year are quite busy at this point, and I am no exception, but for a different reason. I've been living in my ex-wife's apartment, and she committed last week to coming to Belize a week from tomorrow, or on Tuesday, December 15th. That means I have to move to my new abode, which at this point has no lights, fans or appliances. So I spent two days last weekend going to the major (for Belize) towns of Belmopan, Orange Walk and Belize City getting fixtures, furniture and appliances. Had to get a two burner counter top stove because the really wonderful stove the owner has ordered won't be here for 4 to 6 weeks. That means I can't do my Christmas baking, unless I am offered a kitchen elsewhere.

I have been very busy packing up and moving stuff every day. The first two loads were primarily containers I had not unpacked because there was not enough room in the apartment. Now I have to really pack. Also have to prepare multiple govt reports which are due early next week, because i'll be moving over the weekend.

Not sure how often I'll be able to post in this process, but wanted to note how peculiar it is for this northern New Englander to be celebrating Christmas in a tropical climate. Christmas and snow related music like Jingle Bells, gold snowflakes hanging in the bank, and other elements of Christmas just don't seem to fit. Belize City was full of it, but Placencia, which is a very laid back place, has it on a very subdued level.

Time to pack. Will keep you posted.

Thanksgiving in Belize

2009-11-27T22:40:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is a distinctly American holiday, probably in part because it is not connected to a religion. I believe it was created by Abraham Lincoln, and at some point FDR moved it from the fourth Thursday in November to the third, in response to retailers who wanted a longer shopping season (even back then). The holiday rubbed off on the Canadians, who celebrate Thanksgiving on the second weekend in October, which is much closer to harvest time in northern states. Some years ago our family went to New Brunswick, Canada, on Columbus Day weekend, and discovered it was Thanksgiving in Canada. We had a good time.

So what about Belize? Here in Belize it was business as usual, except for a bunch of ex-pats, including yours truly.. My friend Bob invited me to a gathering he hosts and prepares dinner for. He had hosted it for several years at his small abode, but for the last couple of years it has been at a neighbor's much larger home.

Bob goes all out - two turkeys, 15 lbs of mashed potatoes, candied yams, waldorf salad, green salad, excellent stuffing, and other things I did not sample. I think he had to special order the turkey - I'll have to find out. I added a chocolate cake and an apple pie I made using Granny Smith apples. Baking here is a challenge, the oven does not have a thermostat, and the heat is very uneven. I forgot to bring my pastry cloth, so had to roll out the pastry on my kitchen table because the counters are all 4" tile, not suitable for rolling pastry. I will have a much better stove at my new place, so I'm anxious to move so I can do my Chistmas baking.

There were about 20 of us, and it was nice meeting others in the ex-pat community who were not connected with Rotary, the VFD or AA, my other methods of connection. Because the meat here tends to be tough unless it is stewed, the turkey was really satisfying.

I should also mention in passing how nice it is to be in a culture that is not obsessed with Christmas shopping. The cable televison stations from the US are in high contrast with the life in the slow lane here. There are TV stations in Belize City that we get here, and although they have ads that relate to Christmas, they haven't the high production values of US ads. Got the newspapers today, one is weekly and the other is twice a week. One had an insert. Both had a few ads relating to Christmas. People here don't have a lot of "walking around" money, and the vast majority of people do not have credit cards, so the economy is not based on local people spending money, the way the US economy is. Decidedly low key. I like it.

Had an inquiry about the availablity of places like I'm going into, as rentals. Will address that whole issue of accomodations in my next post because I think many are wondering that.

be well

Going Postal, Belize Style

2009-11-24T22:05:00.000-06:00

That's a fun title for this posting, which is decidedly non-violent in content (for those in the U.S. who know another meaning for the term). There are many ways in which Belize is decidedly "First World", and others in which it is "Second' or "Third World". I'll let you, the reader, decide which world you think the Belize Postal System falls in.
Here in Placencia, which has a fairly substantial ex-pat population, some who have been here up to 35 years, we have one of the 13 Post Offices in the country - that's right, in the whole nation of 280,000 people. Just judging from the people who go to the PO when I'm there, I think ex-pats and tourists represent a big part of the business. There are hundreds of villages scattered over the country that have no postal service. Residents wanting to receive something by mail have it addressed to them at General Delivery, then get to the PO by bus, or ferry, or bicycle etc. and pick it up during business hours. Banks hold statements and hand them to you when you come in to the bank. Other businesses hand deliver statements. I'm not aware of any Belizean magazines. There is no junk mail. There are no zip codes. My guess is that there are no mailing lists or demographic lists. Not many businesses give credit, and those that do, like our butane business, collect payment personally. A Belize City supplier to our construction company recently sent us copies of a lot of invoices. They addressed the envelope, "Placencia Properties". That was all. We received it.
You can pick up your mail at the Post Office or have it delivered. I've only seen one mailbox in the village, because they generally hand the mail to the recipient. Since the mail only comes to the PO on Tuesday and Fridays, I only stop for mail every week or two. If you get past all the pictures to the bottom of this post, maybe that will change. So with only 13 POs in the whole country, they must be pretty substantial, right? Pictures? Sure - let's take a look:

This is our post office, which is in what might be called a "strip mall' if I didn't know better. The Social Security office is on one side, open Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Businesses occupy the other two slots. The Postal Service doesn't have a logo that I've noticed, but I like their sign. Those are not chimneys - it is very common for one story concrete buildings to have stub columns that extend up in case another story is added later. Step inside:

This is it. And although I'm sure there is an organization to it, I have no idea what it is. The alphabet does not enter into it. When I go in to get my mail the clerk will take the mail out of two boxes on the left and sort through it looking for my mail - that's if she knows I have some. I've been here long enough that she just shakes her head if I go in and there is no mail. If I go to the Social Security office next door, she'll bring it to me. Packages are on the shelf toward the back. When her boss is on duty, he sits at the table. If packages aren't labelled for contents, they'll open them to see the contents and determine what the duty should be. There are three other fees as well, although I don't know what they are. There are lot of forms involved with packages, and you end up with a receipt with four codes followed by $ amounts that total what you just paid to get your package. It all takes a lot of stamping, something bank tellers and postal workers are trained to do with great vigor. The have a stamp, they stamp hard on a pad, then BAM! they stamp the document. You can tell they get great pleasure from the action, and you wish you could do it too.

This photo is too dark, but I wanted to show you the counter and the clerk, who is on the phone here. That is a fax in the background, and what appears to be a heavy duty kitchen scale to weigh packages. She doesn't wear an uniform, but her boss has a shirt with the postal service embroidered on it as I recall. The space is about 10 feet wide and 30 or 40 feet deep. There is no barrier to prevent postal patrons from going into the back portion. But why would they, only the staff knows where your mail is, there are no mail boxes. You hand your outgoing mail to the clerk.
But Belize has pretty stamps that promote various features of the country. I spent about $5 BZD to buy the following stamps so I could photograph them. Enjoy, and please read my comment at the end....

and the Placencia stamp...

What does it cost to mail a postcard or a letter? To the US a postcard I think the postage is 20 cents, and a letter 30 cents for the first half once, and in-country mail is 25 cents. In US currency the postage is half of that, but you don't get paid in USD.

You have probably noticed the map at the heading of this blog that shows what countries visitors to the blog have come from. What I would really enjoy, and would be a small benefit for the time I put into writing it, is for visitors to the blog to send me a postcard from their location. If and when I get them, I will mention what country, state or province they come from if I'm able to tell. Send them to

Carl Laws,

General Delivery,

Placencia Village,

Stann Creek District,

Belize, C.A.

Hope you've enjoyed this! Be well!

2009-11-22T21:31:00.000-06:00

I have a few photos and more information to accompany my post about transportation a few days ago..Here's a picture I took one day as I was driving into Placencia Village. If there had been another car approaching I would not have the camera in one hand as I drove. Pedestrians will move to the side for the most part, dogs will look at you while they decide which side to go to,

and you can see the street is not terribly wide.

These next pictures were taken at the "temporary" bridge over Kendall Stream. I had my good camera with me on this trip to Gangriga, so stopped and took the following:

Here's a dump truck crossing it. The flatbed combo unit in the background is parked - the drivers of that one and another that you can't see in the photo are bathing in the stream just downstream of the bridge on the far side.

Yes, Crude Oil. There is an oil well in Spanish Lookout, and the crude is trucked to the port at Big Creek and loaded onto tankers, which I assume go to the U.S. The trucks are the best trucks on the road here in Belize. I'm not sure how many there are per day, but they go over two temporary bridges.

This is a picture looking downstream from the bridge. Frequently I'll see Mayan women from a nearby village doing laundry along the shore.

An update about ground travel from Cancun, which is a cheap place to fly into:

Coming to Belize, best to take the 11PM bus from Cancun to Chetumal, arriving there at about 4 AM. From there take a bus to Belize city. If you take the express it will be a more comfortable bus, but also will probably have a high percentage of tourists, meaning a prolonged experience going through immigration, but the comfort may be worth it. Or, you can take the "chicken bus" sans chickens, which will get through quicker but make lots of stops en route. In Belize City take a taxi to the other bus station to get a bus to Dangriga. From there take a "chicken bus" to Placencia, or an express or "chicken bus" to Mango Creek/Independence, and then the Hokey Pokey water taxi across the lagoon. You'll get here in mid-afternoon. If you need more details, drop me a line...

Well, that's it for now. If anyone following this has things they would like me to write about that would be of general interest, please let me know!

be well...

my next abode and Garifuna Settlement Day

2009-11-20T22:55:00.000-06:00

Found some pictures of the house I'll be renting starting next month. Here are three views of the exterior. This one is the south side..

This next is from the west..

And finally the north side...

There is one room, with a bath, on the lower level, but the real living space is on the second floor. Large room with a kitchen area defined in part with an island, and a bedroom off that. Verandas north and south. When I move in I'll take photos of the interior. Truck can be parked undercover on the lower level, keeping it cooler than being in the sun. For now I have to focus on getting furniture since it is unfurnished. I was going to have to get some anyway, so now is as good a time as any. I'm really quite excited!

Yesterday was a national holiday here in Belize, Garifuna Settlement Day. Nov 19th has been recognized as the day Garifuna people stepped ashore to settle on the Belize coast 186 years ago. They came in canoes from Honduras. While the Garifuna represent only about 8% of the population, their cultural influence is much greater. A musician named Andy Pallacio made a CD called Watima a few years ago that hit the top of the World Music charts. Excellent music for anyone who likes African music. Unfortunately, he died soon after making it, but if you like it, try to get: "Umalali-The Garifuna Women's Project" . Also produced by Stonetree Records here in Belize.

I didn't go to Dangriga or Belize City for the festivities, but one of the TV stations was there, and I took pictures of what they broadcast. So thousands of words in the form of pictures follow (I hope). Enjoy!

A drum band and majorettes that stood in place and played and moved...

Well , the photo function is working, tomorrow I'll post some more, it's 11 pm, so time for bed.

The Tooth Fairy

2009-11-18T21:16:00.001-06:00

So much to write about! However, tonight I'll let some pictures do the talking. I went to Dangriga Town yesterday to have a crown installed by the Tooth Fairy. Yes, you read that correctly. Here's a picture of her sign:

Before I go on, notice the PVC pipe along the beam. Except in higher end buildings here, it is very common for fresh and waste water piping to run along outside walls and beams, since the temperatures never come close to freezing. It still surprises me. Now, here's a photo of the Tooth Fairy and her assistant:

She's the taller one, and is a very attractive young woman. In fact, she was Miss Belize World in 2003, after earning a doctorate degree in dental surgery in Mexico City at age 22 in 2000. I had had a crown fall out - and the cost of the crown prep, the temporary crown, and the permanent crown, all inclusive, was $380 Belize dollars, which is $190 USD. She does very good work, the ex-pat community raves about her, with men raving about her appearance as well. If you google Dalila Vanzie you can read more about her.

I had more pictures, but the google blog software is acting up and not letting me load them, so I'll ramble on a bit more with some really good news for me...I may have mentioned at some point in this blog that I am currently living in an apartment in my stepson's (?) house - the apartment owned by my ex-wife. We are on excellent terms, so that's not an issue, but just the same, when she comes for Christmas and the winter, she would like me out. That's fine with me - the place is a bit small, the oven has no thermostat, and there are a few other issues. As the day approaches that she comes, I have been ratcheting up my search for an alternative that I can live in for 6 to 12 months - while I wait to build my own place. Have seen some really marginal or below marginal places - too small, too run down, etc etc. However, today I located a place - a place our company built - still needs some fixtures, which I can buy with my rent money, and furniture, which I have to buy anyway. But plenty of space, even place for visitors if I can afford to buy another bed. It is really quite exciting - and I'll post photos by and by. It is a huge relief to have that issue settled. Well, that's it for now!

Transportation, Belize style

2009-11-15T18:35:00.000-06:00

There are three ways to get to Belize: by air, by road and by ferry. The ferry runs from Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, which has its own access challenges. Amazingly, with an area the size of New Jersey the country only has two entrances by road, one via Guatemala Rt. 13 which arrives at the border near San Ignacio (Cayo), Belize, roughly central in the western border. The other entrance is at the extreme northern border near Chetumal, Mexico. That’s where I entered when I came here.

Most people come to Belize to visit, and come by air. There are international flights that arrive at the international airport near Belize City from Miami, Texas, Newark and possibly Charlotte, North Carolina. Continental and American Airlines are most active, Delta and US Air may also have flights, but as I write this (with Word) the internet is so slow I can’t check easily. Taca Airlines, a Central American airline, also has connections with Flores, Guatemala, near the Tikal Myan ruin, and possibly Miami.

An alternative way to fly, especially from points outside of North America, is to take a flight to Cancun. There is a lot of rate competition going there, but a connecting flight to Belize via Maya Island Air might offset those savings. Or, from Cancun you can take a comfortable bus to Chetumal, where you enter Belize. But enough of getting here, I wanted to write about in-country transportation.

In another year I expect the international airport that is being built on the mainland just west of the head of the Placencia Peninsula will be in use, and the game will change.

Air – Amazingly, there are two competing airlines that serve the air strips in the country. Both Tropic Air and Mayan Island Air fly aircraft with capacities of 6 to 20 passengers. They only fly in daylight, and although they have scheduled service, they don’t bother to stop at an airstrip if there are no passengers to drop off of pick up. If you Google them, you can see where they go and what their rates are.

Rail – There are no railroads in Belize, although there were once several short lines that served the banana or logging industries, taking those products to ports on the coast. There are still signs of the banana line, which was shut down in 1937. Although the rails were taken up, bridges over major steams and rivers were converted to use on the roads that replaced the railroads. Some of those are still in use. They are one, narrow lane wide, I would guess about 8-1/2 feet, with three or four foot high sidewalls. If a pedestrian or bicyclist is crossing one, vehicles have to wait because there is not enough room for both.

Buses – I think buses are the major means of intertown transportation in the country, and it is a very politicized system. To be allowed to provide service between towns, the owner has to apply to the government for a “concession”. They are awarded to loyalists of the party in power. Some of the buses in use are comfortable ones like Greyhound or Trailways, and those are often used for express runs. Most of the buses are former school busses brought to Belize from the U.S. Most are the long ones with “flat’ fronts. I think they are popularly known as “chicken busses” by young travelers from the U.S. That name might be appropriate in other areas of Central America, but I don’t think buses are used widely to haul produce or livestock to market in Belize. They aren’t particularly comfortable, especially on unpaved roads. But there are lots of them. The non-express busses have designated stops, but will also drop off or pick people up elsewhere when flagged down.

Unfortunately, and unlike Guatemala, where there are lots of the shorter type of school busses, the busses in Belize are painted in the colors of the bus company, with no frills. I recall the busses in Guatemala were quite colorful, but also were operated much more dangerously, which has to do with the landscape there.

Auto – Belize has a very low rate of vehicle ownership in relation to the population. I’ve had a series of dental appointments (with the Tooth Fairy – no kidding!) in Dangriga, about 2 hours away on the sole north-south highway in the last month or so. I don’t think I’ve ever passed more than two dozen vehicles going in the opposite direction, outside of Dangriga. The landscape in Guatemala is very hilly, with very curvy two lane roads and lots of traffic. Drivers there use a left directional signal to indicate to following drivers that it is safe to pass. Belize, on the other hand, has long, straight roads, with lots of visibility, and drivers tend to go too fast. That Belize is English speaking is also convenient for English speakers – signs are in English, although there aren’t many of them.

When I drive into Placencia village, about 5 miles south from where I live, there might be one or two vehicles coming in the opposite direction. In Placencia Village, the pavement narrows so that it is a little more than 2 vehicles wide in most places, and lots of vehicles there. When you add to that the great number of bicycles and lots of pedestrians, and lack of sidewalks, and cars parked along the edge of the road, driving in the village is tricky. I’ve wanted to take a photo of what a driver faces to post here, but I can’t do so in safety. Often two vehicles can’t pass, but have to take turns threading through this mix of pedestrians, bikes and parked cars. Buses and large trucks face their own challenges.

Many vehicles are Izuzu or Mitsubishi pickups, or older Toyotas and other mini-pickups used by vendors bringing fruit into town. Wide trucks, like my Ford F-150, are the exception. It takes skill to drive in the village, and knowledge of the physical limits of what you are driving. Gasoline costs $9.78/gallon in Belize dollars, which is why I converted my truck to butane.

No mention of the roads should leave out the speed bumps. On the main north-south road there are raised pedestrian crossings at villages along the way, preceded by raised rumble strips. These were built some years ago, so in some cases the warning signs are missing. At night, they can come up with some surprise, and you really don’t want to cross them going faster than 10 mph. Here on the peninsula with the new paved road, there are lots of the raised pedestrian crossings, generally 6” high, and you don’t want to cross them faster than 5 mph. There are signs, but no warning rumble strips. In Placencia Village the speed bumps are short and high, not to be taken faster than 2 or 3 mph. Because I drive the route frequently, I know where they are, and slow down even when I can’t see them.

Taxis – Really a sub-category of Autos. There are lots of taxis of varying ages and qualities. Frequently they are mini-vans like Toyotas. There are no meters, the rates are point to point, and should be agreed upon before the trip starts. You can take a taxi from the international airport near Belize City to anywhere in the country. Many of the higher end resorts also have vans or mini-busses to shuttle their patrons.

ATVs – There is also a variety of ATVs in use, either by homeowners, or local wholesale businesses, or by tourists who rent them from a vendor near the airstrip. Some have roofs and/or even windshields.

Bicycles – Everyone rides bikes. Standard heavy framed basic bikes with no fenders or gears, but occasionally with baskets or child seats. You see people riding bikes carrying infants, or lumber, or butane (propane) tanks, or 5 gallon plastic pails hanging from the handle bars, or friends. Lots of skill shown there. No helmets. Locals ride ‘em, ex-pats ride ‘em, tourists ride’em.

Legs - Some folks walk. People in Seine Bight Village walk to work at resorts a half mile or more down the road. Others who go into Placencia Village and miss the shuttle bus or do not get picked up by helpful drivers, walk the five miles along the road into the village. Although it has not happened here (yet), I read in the papers every now and then of pedestrians on other roads in the country being killed by cars while walking along highways.

So that’s the long story about travel in Belize. I’m glad I have my truck because of the flexibility it gives me to get around the country.

life interrupted

2009-11-10T20:09:00.005-06:00

When I wrote about the coldspell some time back, I thought it was the door between the summer/fall wet season and the winter/spring dry season. After several days of relatively cool weather and west winds, it was warm and dry. (75F = cool, 85F=warm) The big puddles dried up, lots of sun with showers in the night. I was already to write about it, and then the wet season returned. The wet season features spectacular thunder and lightning storms, mostly at night, and windy rain squalls that blast through in the course of the day. Typically the storms drive the temperature from the mid 80s to the mid 70s for a couple of hours, and are really nice. Last weekend "hurricane" Ida stayed well west of us, but since there hadn't been any threatening storms this year, there was lots of talk and hyping of it on the Belize media, keeping it in conversation.

Lately we've had erratic electrical service. The Sunday paper carried the news that Mexico is backing out of its commitment to sell power to Belize because one of tgheir plants is down and hydro is weak because of dry conditions. Belize is making do with its own hydro capacity and power it is buying from an aquaculture (shrimp) company that has a generator. The utility claims the interruptions are due to improvements they are making in the distribution systems, but others claim they are due to defects is the system. I'm sure the storms play a role as well.

There isn't a whole lot of redundancy in the systems here. There is one paved north-south road in the country. Between here and the capitol, Belmopan, there are two bridges that washed out many months ago, with temporary one lane bridges carrying the traffic. Whenever there are major rainstorms in the headwaters a few miles inland, the temporary bridges are underwater, and the southern half of the country is cut off from the north.

I tried to post this last night, but we had no telephone or internet. The telco provides the backbone to the cell phone systems and the internet, and last night we had neither, and actually we weren't back in business until 8 this morning. So I prepared this in Word with the hopes of copy and pasting it, but that isn't working, so I'm retyping it. Last night no phone or internet. The night before the power went out at about 10 for 15 or 20 minutes, a relatively short spell. I have all my sensitive electronics like stereo stuff, TV, printer, etc, on battery backup surge protectors. Almost everything else that plugs into an outlet goes through low end surge protectors. This is to protect everything from surges caused by lightning or the utility. The only thing I have to remember is to unplug the cable from the back of the TV during electrical storms.

On a completely different topic, i've picked up two new clients. One is a condo developer that we built a three story reception center for, and is finally putting together the financing to build two 6 story condo buildings. They are in between construction phases, and I'll be handling the bookkeeping during this caretaker phase for a few months, and then who knows? The other is a more complex situation being the business manager for a guy who has an excavating business, with two bulldozers, three excavators and four dump trucks. Does somewhere between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in business annually, but can't read or write. Has to give his checkbook to vendors to write themselves a check, and you know what kind of mischief that can mean. After doing business on handshakes for years, people are now taking advantage of his illiteracy and good nature. What is really neat is that he is the uncle of the young man who led me through Mexico when I drove here last March. I hope the work i do for Jake is as valuable to him as David's guidance was to me last spring.

Well, that's it for now. Have do some work for Jake.

Be well.

Win a fabulous trip to Belize for two!

2009-10-22T20:39:00.005-06:00

I am a member of the Rotary Club of Placencia, and we are running a raffle, the winner of which will win an amazing trip to Belize! We’ll pay for your round trip air fare from Miami or Houston, and once in Belize, you’ll stay first at a resort on Ambergris Caye (Key), the most developed resort area in the country. Your stay there will include First Class accommodations, golf cart rental, and a snorkeling trip out to the barrier reef. The biggest barrier reef in the western hemisphere is off the coast of Belize, and should not be missed!
From there you’ll go to a resort in the Cayo District, in a jungle setting in the Maya Mountains. You’ll enjoy a side trip to the important Myan ruin at Xunantunich, and have a full spa treatment at the resort.
After several nights there you’ll come to our home village of Placencia, where the laid back atmosphere and friendly people might make you cancel your trip home! You’ll have a trip to the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a Jaguar Preserve, where at the end of a hike through the jungle you can take a dip in a pool of cool, crystal clear water at the foot of a waterfall. Or, you may have enjoyed that snorkeling trip the week before, and want to do it again, but this time from Placencia. We would love to have you join us at our weekly meeting at Yoli's Restaurant over the water on Tuesday at noon!
You’ll receive a $100 USD food allowance so that you can eat at the wonderful restaurants we have – and here in Placencia that includes Austrian, Italian, French and Belgian cuisine!
The prize does not include souvenirs, your departure fee at the airport, and your other minor expenses. It does include transportation in the country, your accommodations at three First Class Resorts, and a real chance to visit what is called The Jewel for ten days. The prize is for two people, and there are no blackout dates!
How do you get in the game? What are the resorts? How does it work? Go to our Rotary Club’s website at www.rotaryclubofplacencia.org and click on the raffle tab. We are only selling 500 tickets, and they are $50 each. We will hold the raffle when 500 tickets are sold.
The proceeds that are not used for your trip will be of great help to us in furthering our goals!
Questions? Use the comment section here and I'll be sure to respond!

Big shift in weather!

2009-10-20T22:10:00.003-06:00

One of the reasons I moved to Belize was because I was tired of being cold. Never thought that would happen, always thought I needed 4 distinct seasons, but have learned that not only can I get along without New England weather, but can enjoy the subtle changes that take place in a tropical climate. I arrived here last March, having stopped outside Mobile, Alabama, to ship my winter coat back to Maine.
The average daily temperature here seems to be about 85 degrees Farenheit, or about 29 Celsius. In direct sun it is hotter, so you see more folks with umbrellas (even on bicycles!) using them to provide shade than you see them for rain. One of the delights about being on the coast is that there is usually a breeze, which provides a cooling effect. If you don't have that breeze, ever-prsesent ceiling fans and pedestal fans do the trick. Or you turn on the AC.
I expected substantially higher temperatures in the summer months, but it didn't really happen. We had more days when the temperature would creep up to 89 or 90, causing even the locals to comment about the heat, but summer brings the rain. So rainstorms during the day or night cools the air, although when the sun comes out again the humidity rises.
So what has been the "lifestyle effect" of this weather? I always wear shorts. I always wear sandals, unless I'm barefoot, which I am, most of the time. I wear shirts designed to be cool in hot temps. I drink lots of cold fruit based beverages.
And then yesterday it changed. A front passed through, the wind came from the west, from the Maya Mountains. The temperature plunged to 74 F, 23C. Today I had a dentist appointment in Dangriga, and I wore long pants, a first. It has been overcast now for two days, with occasional drizzle. I slept under a sheet last night, instead on top of the bed. 74 feels cool! I guess my blood is getting thinner, which is OK by me.
I saw the highlights of the Patriots game on Sunday, when they frolicked in the snow, and saw that nighttime temps are in the low 30s in Portland. After being here for seven months, I don't think I could face going into a Maine winter, with cold lasting for eight months, especially after suffering through a cold wet start to summer as my many friends in Portland did.
So I don't complain about the heat here; I enjoy it, adapt to it, and stay sensitive to the changes that take place, although they are considerably less dramatic than they were for the first six plus decades of my life.
Be well, my friends, stay warm.

Crime and Punishment II - Good news

2009-10-12T08:51:00.003-06:00

Also on a more positive note are the actions being taken by the Government’s Police Chief, who took office last April. As part of a week long examination of the crime and violence issues, a local television station interviewed him. He has six officers in the U.S. being trained by the FBI in evidence gathering and analysis, more at a facility in Roswell, N.M. being trained in police work, and still more in Guatemala in training. In all, over 100 officers are being trained outside of the country. He is very aware of the problem and seems quite capable.

What is also important is that the Belize “community” is talking about it – people do not accept that “this is the way it is, and always will be” - the crime and violence are unacceptable. So they will find the skills, mechanisms and will to turn the problem around.

An article in Sunday’s paper reports that the prison has 1500 inmates, reportedly making Belize have the highest incarceration rate in Central America, and one of the highest in the Caribbean, and in the top 10 internationally. As I recall, the United States heads that list. The good news is that none of those 1500 is a political prisoner, Belize is a functioning democracy.

The other interesting thing I learned as a result of reading today’s paper is that the prison system is managed by a non-profit organization called the Kolbe Foundation. Apparently, in 2002 the prisons were so bad the government sought outside help. Members of the Rotary Club in Belize City formed a separate organization, a received the contract to manage the prison system. Included is the only drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in the country – entirely within the prison’s walls. Because drugs and alcohol account for so much of the crime, and that includes the U.S. as well, it is a huge benefit to have a 90 day rehab in the prison, staffed by ex-cons who are in recovery. It’s too bad that enlightened course of incarceration and treatment isn’t used in the U.S. You can read more about the facility at www.kolbe.bz, although the site hasn’t been updated for a while.

So there is a high level of crime, especially in the inner city of Belize City, but the government, the media and the public are taking steps to correct it that could be a model for other communities in the world, and that includes the U.S.

The last word: Anyone considering visiting, moving to or investing in Belize should not be dissuaded by crime statistics. My experience has been very positive.

Crime and Punishment (revised)

2009-09-28T20:23:00.005-06:00

I've been meaning to write about the crime in Belize, and was stirred to do so by an e-mail I received recently from someone who has been reading my blog and is planning to visit. I understand that The Economist magazine recently labeled Belize the murder capital of the world, based on the number of murders relative to the country's population. The label is similar to the label Mexico got when it was called on the border of being a failed state because of the ongoing struggle between the drug gangs and police/army.

There is no question about it, Belize does have a crime problem, particularly murders, in Belize City. Many of them are in Belize City, but occasionally it will spill out of that community into the communities west of it. I think there are several causes. The country of Belize has a small population, and Belize City is the only even moderately large city, so the crime there skews the numbers for the country as a whole.

First, there is a big community of Belizeans in Los Angeles, California, and another in New York.There are people who travel between those cities and Belize, bringing elements of culture of those cities. As I read about the senseless killings in the paper, I occasionally see references to gangs, specifically the Bloods and the Crips (?), which are notorious gangs in LA. There are a lot of young men in Belize City who are un(der)educated, un(der)employed and are fodder for gangs. So I think there are gang against gang killings, and there may be initiation killings.

There is a growing sense of frustration in Belize City about it, even this weekend there was a “peace march” there to protest the violence. In the meanwhile, although the police frequently catch the perpetrators, they rely heavily on eye witnesses. But Belize is small country (see below), and it’s said everyone knows everyone, and witnesses often fail to appear at the trials, presumably because they have been threatened or just intimidated, so the murderers go free.
Although, I my view, alcoholism is rampant in the whole country (except, I believe, among the Mayans), Belize City is also the center of hard drugs. So armed robberies are not uncommon, frequently drug related, but if there is anything different about Belize from the western world, it seems to be a willingness to shoot.
Belize has a very small military, unlike other Central American countries, and they don't get involved in law enforcement. (Having traveled in Mexico and Guatemala, I don’t mind not having trucks with mounted machine guns patrolling the roads.) Belize is not a wealthy country by a long shot, and outside of the “cities”, the police are hired and trained, and answer to, the national government. There are not nearly enough of them to deal with the problem, nor are they given the resources they need. The Judiciary seems competent, but they can't do much without evidence or eye witnesses.

(A word about the population of Belize and the impact on national resources. Belize is the size of New Jersey, which is the most densely populated state in the US at 452 persons per square mile. Belize, on the other hand, ranks 170 in a list of population density of 192 countries, with a density of 31 persons per sq. mile. For comparison, neighboring Honduras has 161 p/sq/mi, Guatemala has 348 p/sq/mi, and Mexico 139 p/sq/mi. This means there is a small population base to provide taxes to support the government. Although wages in Belize tend to be higher than surrounding countries, they are still low. We attract and keep good workers on our construction crews because we pay well – masons earn $75/day. With a generally poor local population, there is not a strong base to support the government, so programs like police protection are not supported as much as they need to be. In fact, we had a spate of boat motor thefts here in Placencia, and the local police came to our Rotary club asking for funds to fix their boat so they could patrol and pursue.

20% of the country’s population lives in Belize City. The most significant crime belt is from Belize City west through Belmopan, Cayo and Benque Viejo del Carmen. Those four communities have 35% of the population and probably in excess of 50% of the violent crime.

Before I came to Belize, people who had come here would tell me they didn't like it. I would ask them if they had come on a cruise ship, and they would answer yes, which is all I needed to hear. The cruise ships stopped at Belize City, and people who did not take excursions by bus to attractions in the country, but stayed and wandered around in Belize City, saw the worst of Belize. People here in Placencia express fear that when the road is paved all the way to the Southern Highway that thugs will come down from B.C. I tend to doubt it - it is a 3 hour drive, but the improved road will make a difference.

I should also note that the violence tends to be among people in certain neighborhoods, and you rarely hear of any tourists or expats being targeted. In fact, there is a division of the police called the Tourism Police, and they not only look out for tourists, but also insure that tour operators are qualified and licensed to provide the services they offer. So tourists and expats are safe provided they don’t walk around bad areas of Belize City at night – and that can be said for many, many cities around the world.

The most rampant crime in our area is petty theft of opportunity. I always lock my truck, even if I'm going into the bank or a store for a minute, but I did that in Maine, too. Most people with items of value in their homes will have bars that go over windows, and metal gates at their doors, to prevent break-ins. People leaving their Belize homes for extended periods will often find someone they trust to stay at their house.

Fraud is so common it is almost taken for granted. The previous national government left office in disgrace, with millions of dollars missing or unaccounted for. The current mayor of Belize City, as well as other local officials, has been arraigned on charges related to $275,000 missing as a result of a practice they called “underdepositing of funds”. This stuff is in the news constantly, and it doesn’t seem that anyone goes to jail for it, and I think it filters down the food chain so to speak. It is not unusual for tradesmen to request full payment for a job before completion, and then disappear. Would you go along with that wherever you are now? Probably not, and there is no reason to do so here.

I've recently read some good stuff about the prison at Hattieville. Seems that they have a good program for training inmates in making crafts that are in demand, and so the recidivism among that group is very low. When Bob and I went to Belize City to go shopping, we stopped at the prison store. There was very little there, but there were some amazing carved doors and other large carvings.

If you have read this blog from the beginning, including my drive through Mexico, you know I don't speak Spanish, and that I was led through that country by a Mennonite driving a truck that attracted the attention of the police. They would pull him over, and I would pull in behind him. He would speak/argue with them in Spanish, and usually one or two would come speak to me. I led off the conversation with, "No habla espanol." End of converstation. If I had gotten into trouble requiring police protection or assistance, the language barrier would have been a real problem. Belize is an English speaking country, but Spanish is also spoken widely. So English and Spanish speakers have a definite advantage in any contact with the police.

Finally, I don't mean to create a negative impression of Belize, but the reality is that crime exists here as it does everywhere. I live in a resort area, adjacent to a village marked by poverty. On almost every trip to and from Placencia village there are people looking for a ride. I have no hesitation to offer rides, and if there is room, they ride in the cab of my truck with me. I know several by name. I feel perfectly safe, but I do lock the doors to my apartment and truck when I am not in them, but that was true in Maine as well.

So if you come to Belize to visit, don't go to Belize City, there is very little to see. You are safe if you take the same precautions you would take anywhere you travel.

Entertainment options

2009-09-27T14:06:00.001-06:00

This post probably falls under the category of “lifestyle”. Visitors come to Belize for the many recreational opportunities it offers. Where I am, that includes hanging out on the beach, snorkeling or diving at the barrier reef just off-shore, or sport fishing. In the evening there are many fine restaurants (although most are closed as I write this during the rainy season), and multiple watering holes. You can also take day trips to Mayan ruins or jungle preserves. For someone coming for a week or two, there is plenty to do.
For longer trips, Guatemala and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula border Belize.

For those of us who live here, and who have limited budgets, and especially for those who work, entertainment options are more limited. There are no movie theaters, no lectures, no bookstores. The only nightlife is the bars, which I do not frequent. That leaves internet, TV, or early to bed.

Internet here is high speed DSL, which means not nearly as fast as broadband cable. It can also be somewhat problematic – my connection here at the house has been erratic for several days – so erratic I am composing this post in Word, and will copy and paste it into the blog when I can get on line.

TV is via the local cable company (which has been promising internet for a long time). I think their cable signal is from a Direct TV satellite(s), and the channel lineup can be pretty “interesting”. My biggest disappointment is that it does not include a U.S. PBS link, since most of my limited viewing in the US was of PBS news and documentaries. What do we get? Well we have about 10 kids channels, and then standard ones like Discovery, History, Food, Travel, HGTV, TV Land, ESPN and ESPN2. There are channels for each of the broadcast networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. There are the cable news channels: CNN, HLN, C-SPAN, MSNBC and CNBC. Lots of movie channels, you know what they all are, so I won’t list them. The oddities to me are channels like GSN – the Game Show Network, which is nothing but game shows. And SOAP, nothing but soap operas. The 4 local channels all have their slots, but aren’t necessarily on the air at any given time. As I’ve mentioned before, the English version of Al Jezeera is a good source of international news, much less sensational in its approach than the US networks.
There is a channel called RFD, which has shows like “Cattleman to Cattleman” dealing with livestock issues. There is an International Soccer channel, followed by GOLTV, which is also soccer 24/7. MTV, VH1 and CMT are all there, as well as several channels that actually show music videos. There is a fitness channel. Then we climb into the regional channels and beyond. There are Mexican, Guatemalan, and Honduran channels (all in Spanish, of course), including music video channels, and CNN Espanol, which has different stories from the US CNN. There is also Fox Sports Latino, and movie channels with Spanish language films. Then there is CCTV4, a channel from China that is programmed for Chinese living in other parts of the world. There is also a channel from Taiwan, as well as two from India. The Indian channels have movies with lavish sets and weeping women.

One of these 115 channels is the local cable’s channel, which lists local coming events, death notices, and what the channels are. There is no channel telling the viewer what programs are being broadcast. No way to know what movie is coming up. No way to know who the soccer teams are that are playing or will be. The Spanish channels seem to have more attractive women wearing sexy clothes than the US channels.

I am glad I brought a variety of DVDs, my music collection, and a lot of books. I did not catch on to The Office or 30 Rock until the last weeks I was in Maine, so I brought with me one season of each on DVDs, and have since gotten more. I’ve really been enjoying them, and haven’t yet resorted to seeing what DVDs local vendors are offering.

They do offer the kids programs from PBS during the day, and when I first got here they had the PBS News Hour. However, they lost the signal so frequently that I gave up watching it, and now it is no longer offered. As I write this, the cable system has dropped the signals from about 15 stations across the spectrum.

A last option I should mention is Sirius satellite radio. I have it hooked into my stereo system, and it has a couple of NPR talk stations, so I can listen to Prairie Home Companion and other programming I enjoy.

I’ve linked into the community through my membership in the local Rotary Club, and the Volunteer Fire Dept. I’ve also started a “dinner group” to go to the local restaurants every month, although we have yet to do so.

So that’s the entertainment side of “lifestyle” here in Placencia – questions?

A free press

2009-09-20T16:33:00.002-06:00

During this long spell of infrequent posts, I’ve been thinking about this blog, and topics I could write about. So although I posted yesterday (Saturday), here’s another. This time it is about the print and television news media here in Belize.

I’ll start by noting that I have a subscription to the online version of the New York Times, which includes every page of the newspaper, 7 days a week. Over my morning coffee I read what interests me on the front page, and follow those stories on the inside, check the highlighted stories on the next couple of pages, and then read the op-ed page. That’s my source of U.S. and international news.

Here in Belize there are no daily papers, and the best paper, Amandala, comes out Tuesdays and Fridays. It is the most widely circulated paper, and was started in 1969 by a local Creole when he returned after graduating from Dartmouth College. From his editorials, I’ve learned he was a black power advocate, although he has tempered with age. That said, everything he writes ends with the phrase, “All power to the people.” The paper has no reservations about ferreting out corruption, regardless of the political affiliation of the culprit. The last government made some secret deals with a British Lord who has extensive business interests in the country, notably with the telephone company, which he owned. They promised him a guaranteed rate of return, and permission to block VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). The then Attorney General signed the documents. The new government uncovered these shenanigans, and the former A.G. claimed he knew nothing about them. So Amandala published the documents, with his signature.

Here’s a scan of the top of the front page of the current issue, with a headline about $275,000 in unaccounted for funds from the Belize City City Council (CitCo). This type of wrong doing is exposed constantly, but there are times I feel like it pervades all levels of society, so it is not unexpected, and as a result the culprits don’t slink away, but defend themselves with explanations like the mayor’s in this case – that the supporting documents to prove the legitimacy of the expenses are in a file that was stolen from the office occupied by the auditors, although it was the only thing stolen and the theft was not reported. There is a certain entertainment value to reading these stories.

Amadala has also published books as serials about the history of the Cuban revolution, and about the influence of the Guatemalan military on the government and culture there, among others. The current issue has an article reprinted from the Miami Herald about Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, who recently served a term as President of the U.N. General Assembly. He is a devoted Sandinista. While the paper is not necessarily anti-US, it will point up inconsistencies in US policies as they relate to Belize.

There are also several other papers, one independent, and one each affiliated with the two political parties. When I can I buy the other independent paper, The Reporter, because they sometimes have local news the Amandala doesn’t.

The papers are all produced in Belize City, and getting them in Placencia can be hard. Amandala used to be sold at a small insurance office I pass on my way to work, but they discontinued it because they did not sell enough of them. So now the only source is to get them from Mr. Brown, who rides his bike through the village selling them. It took some doing, but now he remembers to bring them up to our office. He charges $1.65 for the $1.35 paper, but it is well worth it. I spend more time reading one Amandala than seven New York Times.

The closest printed matter to a news source in Placencia is the monthly Placencia Breeze put out by the local tourism bureau. Other local news is more on the order of announcements that the TV cable company puts on the channel they use to show which cable channels are at which numbers, and their shut off date for late pays.

Belize national news is also available from the three Belize TV channels. One was recently purchased by that British Lord mentioned above in relationship to the phone company, another I also don’t watch, and the third, Channel 7, has a fairly good presentation of the news. It is an hour long, and stories tend to go on and on when they have done on site reporting. Reports are broken by death notices, during which funereal music is played while a photo of the deceased is on the screen, and many of the relatives, both in Belize and in the US are listed. Sometimes, the deceased, and almost all the relatives, are in the U.S., primarily in Los Angeles or New York. When they end their newscast, which is only broadcast Monday through Friday, they switch on NBC national news. They replay their broadcast later in the evening.

There are links to the online versions of print media and radio and TV news at www.belizenews.com. I referred to those links for several years before moving here.

I started this post with a reference to a free press. I wonder if the press in other countries in this region are as free to expose wrongdoing by government officials and business interests as the press here in Belize. I would guess not, and for that I’m grateful to be in Belize.

A trip to Spanish Lookout

2009-09-19T17:38:00.009-06:00

I took Thursday off, and my friend Bob and I drove up to Spanish Lookout, a settlement about 2-1/2 hours north of us. I went with several objectives, the most important to get new tires for the back of my truck, and to get a kit and tank to convert my truck to burn butane instead of gasoline. My existing rear tires were 9 years old, and had developed cracks on the sidewalls and between the treads. Not too much of an issue in my local driving where I rarely go over 40 MPH, but could be a problem on trips to Dangriga or further. So I but the bullet, and went where they have a modern facility and also can balance them, which is unheard of locally. In fact, it was the most pleasant tire buying experience I’ve had – I pulled up and was waved into an open bay (they had 8). An attendant asked what I wanted, I told him the brand and type , we went and looked at the options and prices, I selected what I wanted and they went to work. Chatted for a while with the attendant, who had never seen snow. Process took about 30 minutes, went into the showroom and paid the cashier. Tires were Hankook brand, which from the internet and conversations with locals, seems to be a good brand, and the tires, balancing etc cost $262.75 ea., plus 10% GST (General Sales Tax) Those are Belize dollars – US would be half of that.

I should note before rambling on that Spanish Lookout is a Mennonite community. It is very prosperous, clean, and largely agricultural. There is one oil well in Belize, and it’s in
Spanish Lookout. We saw a few horsedrawn buckboards, so there is even diversity within the Mennonites, since we saw just as many all terrain vehicles being driven on the roads. Many women store clerks wear a black headpiece on the backs of their heads. It is probably the greatest concentration of white people in the country, although there were many Mestizos and a lesser number of Creoles mixed in.

We left there and went to a business that supplies equipment to the butane gas industry. Bought some valves for our butane distributorship, and a kit to convert my truck. Why convert? The price of gasoline here is $8.73 BZD a gallon, so the 260 mile round trip cost slightly more than $150 for gas. If I paid retail for butane, it would cost me $5.75/gal., but it actually costs me less because one of our businesses is a butane distributorship. I’ll get about 20% less miles per gallon, and the setup will allow me to burn butane or gasoline with the flip of a switch. It will be installed by the mechanic for the butane business. It’s also cleaner burning than gasoline. I also got a 30 gallon used tank, and with our company discount, the whole rig cost a little less than $1000 BZD. I’ll save that in the first year.

We then went to the local “Farmers Trading Post”, which is the best supermarket in the community. Was still a disappointment compared to Brodies in Belize City. Just the same, they had the kind of chocolate pudding that has to be cooked, so I bought 8 boxes. Had not found that kind anywhere else in the country, so it was a great find. From there we went to a health food store Bob had heard about – he takes lots of supplements. In addition to hundreds of supplements, they had maple syrup from Canada, Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, and Arrowhead Mills Rye flour. I had brought a supply of maple syrup with me, but bought the latter two. When we left I took a picture of their store:

And then took pictures of the landscape looking east

South...

And west toward the hills in Guatemala...

From there we went to lunch at the Golden Corral restaurant, which contained a microcosm of Belizean ethnic groups. Then on the Western Dairies ice cream stand. They are the supplier of dairy products in the country, and I got a 2 scoop cup of butter crunch with chocolate sauce for $3 BZD. A good deal! Met our employee Keila there, with her baby, baby sitter, and boyfriend’s mother. Then followed her back to their house, where the mother has a pet spider monkey. That’s another story.

Then we headed back home, with an errand stop in the capitol “city”, Belmopan. The drive from Belmopan south along what is called the Hummingbird Highway is really quite beautiful, although there are no turnouts to stop and take pictures. You pass through mountainous jungle country, with steep sided hills with dense growth falling down to the road

.

In all, a good trip through some beautiful country. Of course, I can't end without mentioning the sky - clouds here tend to be the big cumulous clouds, and on the way north at 6:30 AM they were backlit by the rising sun. Later on an otherwise sunny day we saw a partial rainbow formed below a cloud in the distance. The late afternoon light in the mountains made them even more spectacular.

Made my first box of chocolate pudding that night.

Still alive...and well.

2009-09-08T20:06:00.002-06:00

Geeeeeeez! It's been too long since I've posted here, and it has reached a point of embarrasment...it's not that I've been especially busy - although in fact I have been with end of the month stuff and bus company issues, all of which I'll write about within a few days. Most notable perhaps is in the last week we have had over 9" of rain on two separate nights, and this wasn't whole nights of rain - it was very heavy rain for an hour or two. Last one was 2 nights ago, and there is still standing water in lots of places, even though the local soil is basically sand.

Tonight I have to use a tutorial disk to learn the program that the local Rotary website has now been converted into. It is supposed to be easy to use so we'll see.

Tomorrow morning I'll be helping to present dictionaries to kids in the Seine Bight School. for many it will be the first book they've owned. I'll be photo documenting it, and will post here within the next night or two. Now, the tutorial...

sky and schools

2009-08-23T21:41:00.004-06:00

Within a day after I posted last week I received an e-mail from a college buddy I had not heard from in years, a response to the blog from a person I don’t know in Alaska, but who is hoping to move to Placencia next year, and an email from one of my best friends in Portland, whose moniker on this site is FloydMonet. Among other things, he asked me what I like most about Belize.

( I will note at this point that last week, I spent an evening responding to that query as well writing a long missive about the food here, and then it evaporated in cyberspace or in my computer’s innards. It was frustrating after spending a evening on it, I am just now getting back to it. And this one I have created in Word, and will transfer to the site.)

What I like most about Belize is the sky. It is really incredible. We are in the rainy season, which means more clouds than usual, usually bringing rain sometime between midnight and 5 AM. I go up on the roof every night to watch distant lightning, or after my eyes have adjusted, to look up at the milky way, and millions of stars. This morning I woke up at about 5:30 and the sunrise was so spectacular I grabbed my camera and went up on the roof and shot this picture of the sunrise.

Then I looked west, and took this picture of a cloud in the west that was catching the sun.

This evening I took this picture of the sunset.

I know, I know, I’ve posted lots of sunsets and clouds on this site. And the pictures I post, while pretty, don’t really do justice when you consider that I’m only taking a picture of a small slice, although a relatively big one with the lens I’m using, but still a small part of this astonishingly beautiful scene from horizon to horizon.

About the local schools – The schools in Belize are a church-state partnership, which means no one really takes responsibility for the results. The church is either the Anglican Church or the Catholic Church, depending on the local school. But these aren’t schools connected to a local parish, they are connected to the national church in some way. The “state” is the national government.. But it gets worse.

The schools generally sit on land owned by the church. The school buildings are built by the state. The teachers are hired by the church, but are paid by the state. The teachers have to belong to the church, in part because they teach religion in the schools. The state is currently trying to start a commission to review teacher qualifications and get involved in the hiring process, but the Catholic Bishop is very resistant.

I’m not sure if the principal is hired by the church or the state. Our Rotary Club painted all sixteen classrooms in the Seine Bight school this weekend, which how I learned this info. In my discussion with the principal, I asked him if they taught evolution in science, and he replied that they encourage teachers to keep their opinions out of the classroom, which tells me that he is hired by the church.

Here is a picture of the school.

Belize is a third world country, and the primary taxes are a 10% sales tax on most things, business taxes based on gross receipts and duties on imports that can be as much as 34%.
The government struggles to build the infrastructure the country needs, and support a population, many of whom live in poverty, which includes many residents of Seine Bight. There is no such thing as local property taxes, so there is no local financial support that isn’t voluntary.

I say this because the state pays the teacher salaries, but not much else. It is up to the principal and teachers to raise funds for classroom materials. I looked at textbooks in two rooms, both were textbooks about the United States, both dated from the late 70s. The school is concrete, the rooms are boxes without anything to baffle sound, and I am sure are extremely noisy when occupied. The floors are unfinished concrete.

On the other hand, one of our clients is a family from Edmonton, Alberta, a major city in Canada. They have a daughter in the Seine Bight School, and are pleased with the education she received last year, and felt it compared favorably with Edmonton schools in many, though not all, ways.

Keila, our autoCad technician, came up through the Belizean school system, and has done well by it. I will try to remember to relate it on the near future post. And I’ll (re)write about food!

I become a fireman...

2009-08-13T20:07:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday I joined the Placencia Fire Department, which will be setting up a substation in my village of Seine Bight. This all sounds impressive, but you may not remember the picture of the fire truck, so here it is again -

This is actually a very practical rig, especially in Placencia village, where a major fire destroyed several businesses and homes several years ago. It was fought with a bucket brigade. This machine can travel on road or beach, basically to get the pump to the water's edge, where it can be set up, and we carry enough hose to go about 200' . That's not far enough where the peninsula is wide. We need some form of a tanker truck, as well as a lot of other equipment. So you may be asking yourself - why doesn't the town have a fire dept?

Well, the issue goes back to Belize being a backwater British colony. Large tracks of land were granted to the English elite when the colony was primarily a source of mahogany. Property taxes were kept very low for these absentee owners, and the primary support for the colony came from import duties. That tax structure remains the same today. The national government is the only taxing authority. I've priced out having my restaurant directory printed in the states, where it can be done much cheaper than here, but when you add the 10% General Sales Tax plus the 34.795% import duty, the playing field levels out. The duties help support the government, and also stimulate manufacturing in the country.

Although there are village councils, they are dependent on the national government for funds. And there aren't many - it is a poor country, and they only support fire departments in the bigger towns. For us, that's Dangriga. It took their truck an hour to get to the big fire here a couple of years ago. That's when the Placencia Rotary Club sprang into action, and formed the VFD, and remains its primary means of support.

Back to last Sunday. We trained, which meant about 6 of us, set up the pump, ran out the hose, and pumped a little water. It was useful to me to learn how it was all supposed to be set up. But it wasn't useful on Monday.

I started home from work at 5 or so, and as I was passing through the village, dodging pedestrians, bicycles, dogs, kids, and the occasional car or truck, I heard someone yell, FIRE! I looked at the source of the holler, and a member of the dept called out that there was a fire about 2 miles north of town. I got through the village as quickly as possible in the described conditions, and headed north - which is the way home. A few minutes later I found a woods fire on both sides of the road - the woods being palms and scrub growth. There were 3 or 4 people fighting it with shovels and a five gallon bucket, and the truck wasn't there. Since I was wearing sandals and shorts - not ideal for fighting fires, I rushed the mile home, changed into jeans and my most protective footwear - sneakers, grabbed the only implement we had, a pitchfork, and headed back. Met the truck, which was trying to find access to the beach. The effort proved futile, the fire was out of range of our hose. Fortunately, on the ocean side of the road there was a lot of standing water because it is the rainy season, and the wind died at about 6:30, so we were able to snuff it out. We thought another crew had snuffed the fire on the lagoon side, but as I headed home at 8 or so, there was still active fire, so I and another guy put out what we could see.

So I joined and trained on Sunday, and fought a fire on Monday. Now I'm working to see if I can locate used equipment in the states that can be shipped. We didn't even have axes or saws to cut down the palms that had fire in them. No Indian pumps. This certainly is a land of opportunity!

We lose a good man..

2009-08-13T19:49:00.003-06:00

Those of you following this blog as I relate this adventure may have clicked on the onedayisle blog that I have followed for the last year and a half. It was one of several written by the minister of the First Parish Church of Portland, Maine, Unitarian-Universalist, started when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was an extraordinary man, and a good friend. He was a remarkable combination of high intellect, humor and playfulness, and emotional presence. He had a wonderful vision of what the church could be in the life of Portland, and had he remained healthy, I suspect it would have come about.

But the cancer took him. He returned to his roots in the west earlier this summer, and on Monday I received an e-mail that he had passed away last Sunday morning. It was a shock - he had remained so positive about his prognosis, and you don't want to believe that someone who had as much life in him as Tim did could go before he had finished doing what he wanted to do.

I should note that he came up with the name for this blog. I wanted to use saltydog, but it was taken, or saltydogchronicles, but that's been done, and it is a bit of his humor that brought out saltydogtales. Thanks Tim, wherever you are!

Feet X 2 + $ X2

2009-08-04T22:47:00.002-06:00

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.

I couldn't help myself...

2009-07-30T20:53:00.005-06:00

Once again a delay in posting here, this time because I am starting two businesses I had not expected to start. Last Wednesday, following my 5PM AA meeting, I wanted to stop someplace to eat. However, I wasn't feeling adventurous, and didn't want to go to my reliable place, Wendy's, and have the fabulous sauted fish with lime sauce. What I wanted was a menu guide. So over the next three days I created Placencia Marketing Insights to produce a menu guide, and Food to Go, a delivery service formed in partnership with a couple that own a local wine bar/restaurant. By Monday I had a mockup of the guide and am getting quotes for printing it. By this coming Monday I'll have established the prices for inclusion of menus and listings, and will start hustling it to the restaurants.

It is a much needed publication because there is no regular media restaurants can advertise in, and those out of the village, particularly, need a way to reach the tourists who pass through in the heart of the season. Expats I have talked to love the idea - some nights you don't want to cook, or go out, and to have a menu, and then have the dinner delivered, has great appeal. This is a service available all over the U.S., if it is available in Portland (Maine) it is not been promoted properly. So my time has been consumed putting that together.

Life has gone on - perhaps not the best choice of words to use in talking about the local cemetery. Our Rotary club spent Saturday cleaning and raking the cemetery, cleaning the fence etc. It is very small, but remarkably sustainable. Back in Maine, the temperature of the ground deeper than 4 feet is 54 degrees (F), but here it is much warmer. That means that bodies tend to decompose faster. In the following photograph you can see sand (the ambient soil) mounds for graves, as well as concrete coffins or covers, I'm not sure which. The small blue one you see is for a baby who was either still born or died at birth. As you can well imagine, the sand mounds have a tendency flatten over time, and because there are no plans or maps of the cemetery showing where people are buried, it is not unheard of for a grave to be dug, with pieces of bone in the diggings.

As you can see in this picture, even the concrete ones can be swallowed by the earth.

One of the Rotarians helped with a burial - they hit the water table 1-1/2 feet down, and with some difficulty dug a grave 4 feet deep. When they put the wooden coffin in, it floated, so they had to pile sand on top of it to sink it.

What I find very interesting is how death is referred to - people's birth dates and death dates are given - it is their sunrsie and sunset. So my sunrise is April 20, 1945. Unless there is some catastrophy that befalls me, it'll be a while before my sunset, and who knows where that will be.

Enough about death - or sunsets. Here's a picture of two people with interesting stories. The gentleman is Harald, the current president of our Rotary Club. She is Sandi, the immediate past President. Fifteen or so years ago she was hitchhiking around Central America, stopped in Belize, and never left. She manages a local airline terminal at the airstrip, and sells quality shrimp on the side. Harald came to Belize, or should I say British Honduras, 35 years ago. At that time

none of the roads in the country were paved, and in the rainy season it was quite possible to get trapped between rivers when rains in the mountains caused the rivers to submerge bridges. At that time there was a narrow gauge railroad that served the banana plantations. The railroad is no more, but the bridges are still in use as part of the highway - and are one lane wide, probably not much more than 8.5 feet, if that. Harald came because he wanted to be a bush pilot. That didn't happen, but somehow he ended up in Placencia, which at the time was a remote fishing village accessible by boat or a foot trail. Four wheel drive was required, and every week he would buy fish from the fishermen, truck it through the brush up the peninsula, and take it to other towns in the country and sell it. The "road" started in Maya Beach, about 10 miles north of Placencia, and he had a trailer there and would use it as well, bringing back fruit and vegetables and other goods to Placencia. He would have to unhitch the trailer in Maya Beach, and then shuttle back and forth to get the stuff to Placencia. Now he has Placencia's answer to WalMart - his store sells groceries, alcohol, hardware, lumber, appliances, furniture, housewares - and his daughter runs the pharmacy upstairs. They are good people. (Harald and Sandi are not a couple.)

A word about sleeping - For most of my life I've cuddled under a pile of quilts and blankets, warding off the cold. Exceptions in the short Maine summer, though it was only a handful of nights each summer when a sheet would do, or not. Now I go to sleep on top of the bed in my shorts, ceiling fans and a pedestal fan creating a caressing breeze. Occasionally I wake up and have to get under the sheet if it has gotten so cool that the fans are uncomfortable. This time of year I have to keep the east widows closed because thunderstorms can blow through in the night. As I write this the wind is blowing 19 knots with gusts to near 30. In a few minutes when I finish this I will go up on the roof and enjoy the wind, and watching distant flashes of lightning. Then to bed - a truly sensual experience.

Belize's diversity (continued)

2009-07-19T23:03:00.003-06:00

I’m sort of astonished that back on June 22nd I started a description about the ethnic groups that make up the wonderfully diverse population of Belize. Since then I’ve been interrupted by Honduran politics, the office flood, Lobsterfest and the failure of our wireless router. So if you missed that 6/22 post, and want a little background to what follows here, check it out. On this post I want to talk about the Garifuna, and on the other end of the spectrum, the ex-pats.
The Garifuna were brought to the “New World” from Africa on two Spanish slave ships in 1635. The ships were wrecked and the Africans were able to escape and settled on the nearby British held island of St. Vincent. Successive generations intermingled with the Black Caribs, who were themselves Arawaks and Caribs from South America. Certain elements of the African culture, such as drum based music, have carried through to the present day. In 1797 the British drove the entire population of Garifuna from St. Vincent, depositing them on what is now Honduras. From there they spread along the coast, with settlements in that country, Guatemala, and in southern British Honduras (Belize). Women are dominant in the culture, historically they were the heads of household, raising food while the men fished. The villages were only accessible by water until recent times.
The biggest Garifuna settlements are Punta Gorda in the south, Dangriga to our north, and Seine Bight, where I am located. British colonial policy had much to do with keeping the Garifuna isolated in their fishing villages, although they are now connected by road with the rest of the country and world, the culture persists.
Several years ago a musician named Andy Palacio was instrumental (no pun intended) in promoting a resurgence of the language and culture. I don’t know if I mentioned it in an earlier post, but when my step grandson Peter graduated from pre-school here at the Seine Bight school, part of the program was having the kids recite various things. They recited the days of the week in English, the official language of Belize, to modest applause, then in Spanish to cheers, and finally in Garifuna, to enthusiastic cheers. It was neat to be there.
Yesterday Bradley and Rilda had a party here at the house, and one of the participants was from the village, in part because he comes over to play volleyball. At 9:30 or 10 he disappeared, then reappeared with a friend and two drums. They were both homemade, but typical in construction. Hollowed out logs with a deerskin drum head on one end, and 3 cords across the head to give a snare effect. One drum was bigger, and was played for a drone effect, while the melody was played on the smaller one. Here’s a photo.

They sang, first in Garifuna, and later in Creol. Several of the Garifuna songs were call and response, either between the two of them, or between them and the rest of us. It was surprising how the melodies were more than coaxed out of the smaller drum. I should note that the smaller drum was played with a higher intensity than the larger one, and they traded drums from time to time.

About ex-pats...
Ambergris Caye, in the northern part of the country, is more highly developed than Placencia, and probably has the greatest concentration of ex-pats, but not having been there, I can’t speak to it. Here on the 15 mile long Placencia Peninsula, there is a growing population some who have been here for a long time, such as my step son Bradley. There are probably as many, if not more, Canadians as Americans, with many from the western prairie provinces. Bradley says I’m learning Creol (aka Kriol) with a Canadian accent. They have either retired here because of the favorable arrangements the government has, or they have come and purchased or started businesses. A young couple I’ve gotten to know have a wine bar/restaurant in Placencia village – they are from California, but will be on an annual vacation in Maine next month. At the end of our driveway is an Austrian restaurant created by a young Austrian couple – here’s her picture from last night’s party:

Their story? He is a trained Marine Biologist, she has a business management background. They were well paid but bored in Vienna, and after some research moved to Australia, where they were involved in the diving industry. However, housing costs were extremely high, and the costs of starting or acquiring a business were prohibitive. So they did more research and decided to visit Belize, which allows a non-citizen to own 100% of a business and the land it sits on, unlike other neighboring countries that limit a non-citizen’s stake to 49%. Ambergris Caye was too busy, and expensive, so they came to Placencia, which is growing fast. They were also attracted to the largest reef in the western hemisphere, just off the coast of Belize. They bought land, built a combination restaurant and home, and opened “The Danube”. So I can walk down the driveway and have “wiener schnitzel”.

The ex-pats tend to be the drivers of the local economy – the ones who have the combination of creative ideas and the courage, capital and business acumen to convert them into reality. I was quite surprised at a semi-annual meeting of the local tourism organization that white people represented at least 80 percent of the (50?) people there.
Although there is poverty here, it is not so pervasive or dominant that it has led to micro-financing NGOs establishing programs to lift people out of poverty. One of the things that drives Bradley is the desire to start businesses that will employee local people and pay them as generously as possible.

That’s it for this post – for more information about the Garifuna, Google the term. To learn more about ex-pats, move to Belize and you’ll be one! It is a land of opportunity for entrepreneurs!

I'm back!

2009-07-15T21:07:00.002-06:00

Took a while to get internet connectivity back here at home, but at last I'm back on line. My normal routine is to read the New York Times on line when I have my morning coffee, and I've missed it. It's been so busy at work I haven't really had the time to post from there. In spite of the busy-ness, I took last Friday off and, with a friend from my local Rotary Club, drove to Belize City to do a little shopping. It's a 2 to 3-1/2 hr drive, so not something you do too often with gasoline costing $9.50 BZD/gal - which is $4.25 USD. Got a salad spinner, a new rolling pin, some real charcoal, and foods I can't get locally, like all beef hot dogs, peanut oil, white tuna in water, alfredo sauce, blue cheese salad dressing, seedless grapes and egg noodles. The biggest "supermarket" in Belize, Brodies, was originally established in the 1880's, and is true to its history of featuring foods from "away", because they are supposedly better. I took note that a large box of Kelloggs Corn Flakes was from the US, and cost $14 BZD, while I buy the same product and size, but made in Guatemala, costs me $8.60 BZD in Placencia. It was no longer possible to buy that large size in Portland (Me), before I left. I was also able to buy a copy of "Home Cooking in the Global Village - Belizean Food from Buccaneers to Ecotourists" at the publisher's bookstore. It is a wonderful book - I recently read a borrowed copy and wanted my own, in part because it includes a very good history of Belize, and by extension, the British Empire.
The sky continues to be quite wonderful. Although we are in the rainy season, today was sunny, but tonight some rain squalls have passed through. Many nights I've gone up on the roof before going to bed, and watched the heat lightning jump between the puffy clouds in the night sky, with patches of stars as well. Really quite wonderful.
That's it for tonight, more to come!

Quick post from office

2009-07-09T08:10:00.004-06:00

Have to be brief this morning - I'm posting from work because our wireless router at home died, and getting a functional replacement is a challenge. Most interesting thing from the last couple of days is that we're in the rainy season, and yesterday morning woke up to overcast skies and a drizzle rain. I've been here almost four months, and that was a first! By afternoon the sun was out again. Very windy thunderstorms last night gave way to clear skies this morning, so clear it was easy to see the Maya Mountains in the west, and the mountains of Honduras in the south.

One unusual impact of the recent rain has been in our office. There was no sill on our doorway, which leads from an exterior roofed hallway that is exposed on the east side. All the floors are tile. For two nights in a row the rain blew into the hallway, flowed under our door, with the result being a half inch of water in the far end of our office. Here's a picture of the space:

The landlord installed a sill yesterday, and drilled a hole in the wall in the exterior hallway so water would drain off instead of building up. The whole issue goes back to the earthquake - the whole building tilted slightly, about 3" from front to back, not enough to notice, until water flows under the door!

That's it for now - hopefully we'll be up and running at home again soon so I can do a longer post.

Honduras

2009-07-01T08:53:00.003-06:00

I am quite aware that the U.S. press gives a limited version of events, especially international. Honduras is a neighbor of Belize, and also much bigger, with 7.2 million people vs Belize's 275,000. The recent coup there has been in our papers as well, but I thought the following perspective was the most comprehensive I've read. It comes from a newsletter of the Adelante Foundation (adelantefoundation.org/), which is a microfinance agency operating in Honduras. If you are not familiar with microfinance, check out their website, and/or google the term.

With all the civil wars and role of the military in our neighbors, Belize, as a member of the British Commonwealth, has remained a island (figuratively) of stability in the region. The army, known as the Belize Defense Force, has a facility next to the international airport, but I don't recall ever seeing them anywhere else. Police presence is barely adequate. The contrast between Mexico and Guatemala, and Belize, is quite striking. All that said, here is a piece about Honduras that tells a little more about what is going on than you have probably heard about. I've had trouble posting the title and author of this piece, so here it is in the body of this paragraph: What's Going On - An Insider's Account of the Recent Events in Honduras, by Sophia Anderson.

Honduran President, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, known as "Mel" to most Hondurans, was ousted from power this past Sunday, June 28. In the early hours of the morning, he was woken up by military officers, forcibly taken from his home in pajamas, and placed on a plane headed for San Jose, Costa Rica, where he was placed in exile. Later that morning, the Honduran Congress held an emergency session in which they read and approved a letter of resignation written by Zelaya (although he categorically denies having written it). In the afternoon, according to the succession of power outlined in the Constitution, the President of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, was appointed as interim president until the next election is held in November.

In order to fully understand what is being presented by much of the international press as a gross violation of democracy, one must examine the events leading up to Sunday. Honduras' Constitution currently states a presidential limit of one term. Zelaya has been trying for months to gain support of a referendum vote to modify the Constitution. The desired outcome of this modification includes a re-election and potential indefinite presidential stay in power - similar to dictators such as Hugo Chavez, Zelaya's close political ally, and Fidel Castro.

Furthermore, Zelaya has been widely criticized for his blatant abuse of power and obsession with winning the upcoming referendum vote at the expense of his other responsibilities. Without an approved federal budget in place, Zelaya has been spending government funds at will. Most notably, government workers who had not received a salary in several months due to supposed lack of funds were paid 300-500 Lempiras ($15-25) in exchange for marching in a pro-referendum demonstration. Meanwhile, hundreds of Hondurans severely affected by the May 28 earthquake and thousands more in subsequent danger of flooding from destroyed levees of Ulúa River were completely ignored.

In the weeks before the referendum vote, it became clear that Zelaya did not have legal grounds to hold an election. Although the Constitution can be modified, the Supreme Court declared Zelaya's referendum illegal because the President does not have authority to propose such modifications and, even if he did, it must be approved by Congress. In addition, the Attorney General supported the Supreme Court's decision and declared that he would prosecute anyone involved in carrying out the illegal vote.

Just a few days before the referendum vote, the Head of the Armed Forces, Romeo Vasquez, declared that he would not participate in the logistics of making an illegal election take place (a role traditionally carried out by the military). Zelaya responded by firing him and refused to reinstate Vasquez on the Supreme Court's order. Shortly thereafter, the Defense Minister and Heads of the Navy and Air Force also resigned.

On Friday, June 26, in a desperate attempt to carry out his illegal referendum vote despite widespread opposition, Zelaya led a crowd of supporters to a military compound near the airport in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. They successfully took possession of the country's ballot boxes and distributed them, along with thousands of illegal ballots that had been sent from Venezuela by Hugo Chavez, throughout Honduras for Sunday's illegal vote.
The international community, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union, has been quick to condemn what they are calling a military coup, while the new administration insists it was not a coup because Zelaya was clearly warned beforehand about the potential consequences if he carried out his illegal referendum vote. Furthermore, the military is not ruling the country. Rather, an interim president has been appointed to govern until the next election in November. The OAS has called for Zelaya to be returned to the Presidency and will hold a meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss the crisis.

The United States, while condemning Sunday's actions as illegal, has stopped short of officially declaring a coup, which would require the U.S. to cut off millions of dollars of aid to Honduras, where over half the population lives in extreme poverty. The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, indicated U.S. reluctance to returning Zelaya to the Presidency when she said, "We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on, because we're working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives." President of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington D.C., Peter Hakim, summarized the international community's predicament by saying that Zelaya had been "fighting with all institutions in the country" and that "he's in no condition to really govern. At the same time to stand by and allow him to be pushed out by the military reverses a course of 20 years."

In Honduras, there is a sense of tense anticipation over what is to come. Monday, while Micheletti was naming his new cabinet, an estimated 1,500 pro-Zelaya demonstrators were sprayed with tear gas by soldiers attempting to control the protests outside the Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa. A nationwide 48-hour curfew was imposed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting Sunday evening and is likely to be extended. Meanwhile citizens throughout the country have been lining up at grocery stores and gas stations to stock up on fuel and supplies as they wait to see what will happen next. As these events unfold, Adelante will continue to support our clients and work to improve the standard of living of the extreme poor.

Lobsterfest!

2009-06-28T21:34:00.015-06:00

My discussion of the ethnic groups here in Belize will have to be continued on my next post because this weekend was the Placencia Lobsterfest! So this post will be primarily photos, unless my brain and fingers decide they want me to enter lots of words! Before that though, I find the little map to the right that indicates the location of visitors to this site quite fascinating, since I don't know anyone in Sri Lanka, Scotland, Germany or South Africa, to my knowledge. I suspect those folks found this site the same way I see others, by clicking the "next" blog button at the top of this page. What I've found interesting, and exciting, is that there seem to be considerably more blogs originating outside the U.S. than in. Of course, this search tool doesn't include blogs that are not google based. Back to Lobsterfest.

This is an event put on every year at the end of June by the local tourist board. It used to be held on the point, but I think it has grown, and is now on the beach. There are big tents set up as well as smaller ones by smaller vendors.

As I mentioned in my last post (I think) the lobsters here do not have the big claws the way they do in Maine, and they are caught by divers who break the tails off and discard the bodies when they catch them. I've never seen any signs indicating that they are prepared by boiling or steaming. Today I had a grilled lobster tail for lunch, with rice and beans, and cole slaw. The lobster tail wasn't nearly as tender as I had been used to.

I had a shrimp kabob yesterday. There are huge shrimp farms here, I think the biggest one in the country is just inland from the peninsula. (The farms are in man made ponds.)

I was there as part the Rotary booth, and we were teamed up with the Volunteer Fire Dept, which our club started several years ago. Here's a picture looking from our booth, past a vendor selling wood carvings toward the water.

And here's a photo looking down the beach, showing folks sitting in the shade of the palms.

Our Rotary club raised over $1000 for the Fire Dept. by having a duck race. We have 396 plastic ducks, all numbered, and people buy tickets with corresponding numbers for $5 ea. We dump the ducks in the water

and the first 5 to reach a rope we extend along the beach win cash prizes, starting with a top prise of $250. The Fire Dept is supported entirely by fundraising and donations it is a major and important source of revenue. Here's a picture of the fire truck for Placencia:

It carries a high volume pump, suction hose, and about 150 feet of 2" canvas fire hose. A major portion of Placencia Village is wooden structures on the beach with no road access, so this "truck" allows the VFD to get the pump to the water, and then run the hose out to the fire. At this time there is not enough hose to reach everywhere, so that is a priority. Another issue is that it is appropriate for Placencia Village, but can take a while to get the Seine Bight, the next village 5-6 miles up the peninsula. So there is effort to have a station there as well, and I will be getting involved in that. Here's a picture of the fire chief, having a good laugh.

I'm told she is a good fire fighter and a good leader. The Fire Dept has a thing people can stick their heads through to have their picture taken, so here's a picture of Jim taking a picture:

Jim is a Rotarian as well as a volunteer fire fighter. I think he is a retired doctor who took advantage of Belize's liberal arrangement for retirees. Here's one of the pictures I took:

Our booth was at the end of a tent, and next to the entertainment tent. That was OK when the steel band was playing :

but when the band wasn't playing, the DJ was playing Caribbean rock very loud, and six hours of it, I really liked the quiet of home. My last photo here is of my grand daughter Maddie, who was especially photogenic today when I got home.

So that's it for tonight. It is always a pleasure hearing from those of you following this! Those contacts help me justify spending an evening working on it.

Be well...

Who are Belizeans?

2009-06-22T21:09:00.006-06:00

Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, has a very ethnically diverse population, in large part because of its history as part of the British Empire. Current ethnic and/or cultural groups include: Creoles, Mestizos, Garifuna, East Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Mennonite (German), Hispanics, Mayan, and a mixture I'll call Ex-Pats. I'll write about each group here, which will necessarily include a bit of history. I'm not going to do it all at once, because it will take to much time and space to do it in one posting.

I'll start by saying how nice it is to live in a society where race is a non-issue. At the same time, there is cultural pride with some of the populations, and a desire to maintain cultural identity. This desire manifests itself in music, land ownership policy, settlements, and food. Before discussing these groups, I should mention that there are more Belizeans living in Los Angeles than in the country's biggest city, Belize City. There are also significant populations in Chicago, New York and Texas. Like other peoples of Cental America, they go to the U.S. in search of greater opportunity, and the money they send back to Belize is an important part of the nation's economic picture.

I want talk first about East Indians, because although only 3 or 4% of the 300,000 population of the country, they are close to home for me in the form of Bradley's wife Rilda. Before I load the pictures, a little history. Africans were brought to the Caribbean as slaves by successive dominant European powers, ending with the British, who abolished slavery in 1838. A result was a shortage of labor, and between 1838 and 1917 the Brits brought over 500,000 people from India as "indentured servants" - under contract to provide labor in exchange for passage+. Especially early in this period there was a drought and extreme hardship in India, making this a method of escape from those conditions. They were referred to as "Coolies". Early in that migration they were not allowed to intermarry with other groups by the British administrators, causing some friction with the African cultural community.

In 1857, 3000 East Indians migrated from Jamaica to Belize due to the expiration of their contracts. This group included 382 who had been born in India. This group is responsible for the East Indian population in Belize now. What follows are pictures of Rilda and family members, taken at the wedding when she and Bradley married in 2005.

This is a cute picture of Rilda. She and her sisters wore saris (sp?) for the wedding.

This one of Rilda's brothers. All her siblings are attractive.

I think this is one of Rilda's nieces. I've taken thousands of pictures - this one is a favorite!

Another picture from this generation - Bradley and Rilda's son and my grandson Peter.

I'll stop here - it's 10:30 and time for bed!

trucks, food and clouds

2009-06-15T20:26:00.010-06:00

For those of you who are regular visitors to the blog, please accept my apologies! I think is the longest I've gone without posting - and hopefully I'll get back to writing here more often. Part of the reason for my lack of posts is that my life has settled into a bit of a routine, and it doesn't seem like there is much to talk about. Hopefully what follows here isn't too mundane!

I invested a lot of $ in getting my 17 yr old truck ready for the trip to Belize, and was grateful the truck and I made it without too many problems. A few weeks ago when I left work it would not start because the battery would not turn it over, and someone gave me a boost. Got home, and decided that my battery needed to be replaced. Got a battery, installed it, drove to work, and at the end of the day it barely turned the engine over. Hmmmm. Spent the next week or two disconnecting the battery every time I parked, and charging it with the battery charger I fortunately kept and brought with me. Finally took it to the local mechanic who specializes in electrical issues. He has no garage, but has a frame with tarp, a palm tree, and a small container (truck type) to hold tools and supplies. Told me he could fix it in a giffy. This was a Friday afternoon. When he took it apart it was clear my alternator was causing a short circuit and needed work. He replaced some elements - a surprise to me that he even had them, put it back in the truck and it still wasn't generating enough. This all took two to three hours, and during the last hour he revealed his role as a preacher of literal interpretation of the bible. A little hard for me to take, especially when he would stop working on the truck to make a point.

Since it didn't work right, we agreed I would take it home for the weekend, and bring it back Monday, and leave it with him for the day. I did, and he put another alternator in, and now it works fine. Why I've told you all this? The charge? $100 Belize, which is $50 US.

When I lived out in the country in Maine, especially before chain auto parts stores moved in, mechanics would take things like alternators apart and repair them. If this had happened in Portland (Maine), the mechanic would have replaced the alternator with a new or rebuilt one, probably for several hundred dollars, plus the labor cost for an hour @ $90. This is not an affluent culture here, and one of the results is a willingness to use things, particularly vehicles, until they are "used up". Re-use is the purest form of recycling, and things get re-used. You can't buy a can of soda or beer. Beer is only in refillable bottles, and although soda is available in plastic bottles, I think the vast majority is sold in refillable bottles. I buy soda water by the case (@ $2BZD/bottle), and mix it with a very small amount of lime, pineapple or grapefruit "squash". This is a concentrate sweetened with sucrose, produced here in Belize.

As a baker, I've been a bit frustrated that the small gas stove here in the apartment has an oven, and the control has numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. It has no thermostat. I was able to order one from the local grocery/hardware/homegoods store and measured the temps tonight. The dial doesn't go lower than 1 - which is 375 degrees! 2 is 400, 3 is 475 and 4 is 550 - so baking is going to be challenge. I'm very glad I brought my bread maker, because I've been making individual loaves of wheat or amadama bread for myself that are much better than the breads that are baked and sold locally. Speaking of food, I currently reading a fascinating book called "Home Cooking in the Global Village, Belizean food from Buccaneers to Ecotourists." It is a scholarly work that is a history of Belize and by extension a history of the British Empire and the Caribbean, with a focus on food.

When I sat down to write tonight what I really wanted to write about is the sky. We are moving into the rainy season, and if it remains like it has been for the last week or so, it is going to be wonderful. Unlike Portland (Maine) where a rainy spell means an overcast sky with no real definition of the clouds, here there are big cumulous clouds that boil up thousands of feet, and perhaps other clouds at lower levels. There is enough open blue sky that you can see them, and watch them change and grow. We had thunderstorms last night, and one passed nearby today, giving us the gift of a full double rainbow. These clouds give us some spectacular sunsets, which I've posted here before. It is especially neat to go to the roof of our house, where you are above the treeline, and can see the whole sky. It is almost as if you are in a huge puffy sculpture. Although photos only capture a small segment - I can't help myself, and take pictures almost daily. So I'll end this posting today with a selection of my cloud pictures.

earthquake III

2009-06-04T19:27:00.004-06:00

Kaboom! I think I levitated a foot off the bed, realizing at the height of levitation that it was not another earthquake, but was a close and massive clap of thunder. Looked at the clock, and it was 11:30. It seemed as though the lightning and thunder continued throughout the night, with lightning jumping from cloud to cloud and filling the sky. Rain finally came at 5:30 or so, and lasted for a few hours. Even the night sky is wonderful, either clear and full of stars, or when there are broken clouds back lit by the moon. Working on developing an ability to photograph the wonder of that sky.
People still talk about the quake - and in Placencia Village the water problems continue. Some time ago I posted pictures of Placencia's sidewalk "street". It is amazing to see breaks in the sidewalk with two parts an inch or more apart, or T joints that now have a substantial gap where there was none before. Apparently in the village of Monkey River, just south of us, which sustained the most damage in Belize due to homes on posts sinking into the ground, the saturated ground turned liquid, and water and mud boiled out of the ground. It must have been frightening for those folks - seeing it by flashlight at 2:30 in the morning.
On other subjects...
I don't think I've ever mentioned how polite folks are here. You are known by your first name - so I'm Mr. Carl. Since I live on the outskirts of the village of Seine Bight, about 7 or 8 miles north of Placencia Village, I usually give rides to folks standing beside the road wanting a ride in either direction. Because I have a cap on the truck, and it is very dirty (from the dust) and very hot under the cap, I let people ride up front with me. They are always appreciative - tonight an old man I gave a ride to would not stop talking, and what I could understand of his creole was that if I ever had any problem he would be there for me. From my perspective, not quite sure what he could do, but a nice sentiment. When I have to move from my present circumstances, I'll probably be living in Seine Bight, so for my own personal security it will probably be helpful to have a cadre of folks I've given rides to looking out for my well being. Bradley routinely gives rides, and is known and well liked by everyone I pick up.

( I originally had comments here about my work, but have removed them to avoid disclosure issues locally. Send me an email if you are interested in my work.)

Well, time to stop writing here and get on with other interests!

earthquake II

2009-05-30T18:03:00.005-06:00

No, not another earthquake, although news reports claim there have been aftershocks. It lasted longer and did more damage here than I had realized. It actually lasted more than a minute - confirming my feeling that it went on "forever", although I assumed my feeling were an exageration or reality. Bradley thinks the house was moving back and forth one or two feet - I don't think it was that much, but think it was up to a foot. I've been in California during earthquakes that did not do damage, and this was multiple magnitudes above those. The house wasn't bouncing, it was moving. And it was very frightening.

In Placencia, primary damage was to the water system, not only to the tower, but breaks in underground pipes in 5 or 6 places. Here are a couple of pictures of the tower.

In Independence, across the lagoon, the water tower collapsed, and reportedly 7 or more houses were damaged or destroyed. About 10 miles down the coast in Monkey River Village, 27 houses met a similar fate. Earthquakes make the ground very fluid, and most of the houses there are on stilts (as are many along the coast). The stilts sank into the ground, in some cases 7 or 8 feet.

We're finally getting some wind again, which drives away the bugs, and creates some natural cooling.

Finally, last weekend Bradley went fishing with a couple of other guys on two different days (I didn't go because I don't fish and wanted to work on my boat) and came back with a lot of fish, primarily barracuda and grouper. This is a cropped photo of the catch that is practically abstract, at least to me.

Learned how to set the clock on this blog so it reflected the actual time I post, and your comments now post here as well as arrive in my e-mail - good to hear from you, Tim (Beth&Phil), Val and David!

earthquake!

2009-05-28T09:55:00.001-06:00

2:30 AM. It was scary. I woke, in the dark, to my bed shaking, wondering why it was shaking, and then who(!) was shaking it. I then became aware that the whole room was shaking, and leapt out of bed and stood in a doorway in the little hall by the bathroom, figuring it was the safest place. The shaking continued, with some very strong motion, for what seemed like a long time, but was in fact probably 10 to 15 seconds. Rattles of glassware and then a crash in the kitchen. Too dangerous to go look, and what could I see in the dark? Suddenly the power went out, so what little light there was, was no more, and there was no moon. I was in a concrete house. Would there be a trembler so strong it would collapse the building onto Bradley’s family downstairs? If it collapsed would I survive the collapse. But all I’m wearing are my sleeping shorts! Damn, I wish I had saved my computer, and my musical instruments. When will this shaking stop?

And then it did. Very tentatively I moved into my kitchen area and felt around for my flashlights. Found them. What fell in the kitchen? My round pizza stone, which was on the floor on its edge between the fridge and the counter, had rolled out onto the floor, and fallen flat. No problem. I looked around for cracks in the ceilings and walls, there were none. Will there be another trembler? I went back to the bedroom and put on my shorts. Went up on the roof to see how widespread the blackout was. I could see lights in Big Creek, Placencia Village, and Maya Beach, so the blackout was primarily in the Seine Bight area.

I could hear Bradley and Rilda talking downstairs, and Maddie crying. I went downstairs and joined them for a few minutes on the front veranda. Rilda’s cousin Rob arrived on foot. I decided to go back upstairs, and went and got a shirt, my sandals, and sat in a chair out in the central area where the breeze would keep me cool. With no power for the fans, it was getting hot in the bedroom. All the dogs in Seine Bight were barking. Lots of people were calling to each other in the dark. The many fireflies reminded me of my youth.

No more tremblers. I decided to go back to bed, but left my shorts on, and my shirt and sandals in a doorframe by the bathroom. I put on my watch and glasses. I went to sleep.

4:15 AM. I woke to the sounds of the fans starting up, and saw all the little lights on my various electronics glowing blue, red and green. Went to my computer, turned it on and went to the CNN site to find out what had happened. Quake was centered under the Caribbean 25 miles north of the island of Roaton off the Honduras coast. (Later I plotted the epicenter at about 100 miles north-northeast of us.) 7.1 on the Richter scale, there was a tsunami advisory out for Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Then the power went out again. My radio required 8 “D” batteries, I had 7. I went back to bed.

Woke again at 5;30, and 6:00, and 6:30, or so, with power coming on in fits and starts. I was hot and sticky, and wanted to take a shower before coming to work. At 7:15 the power came on again and stayed on. I got up, showered, and came to work, where I am writing this. Here in the village a water main had broken, and there were cracks in the walls to the building where our office is. Amazingly, cracks in the dirt in the parking lot. Word is that in the village of Independence across the water tower collapsed. The Placencia water tower, a concrete structure which has no triangular bracing, has broken at the joints.

So we’re all safe, but a bit shaken. When I go to bed tonight, I’ll leave clothes in the doorway in case I have to make a nighttime hasty retreat.

2009-05-26T21:20:00.000-06:00

Those of you who read my blog may have clicked on Tom Barnett's blog link here on the right side of this page. I first heard Tom give a presentation at the Poptech conference in Camden, and was really blown away by his analysis of the US role on the planet, and much more. You can see his 40 minute presentation several years later at PopTech in 2006 if you go to http://www.poptech.org/ and drill through to the popcast archives. If you go to his blog at www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog you can click on a link to his presentation at the TED conference on the left coast. I say all this because I just finished reading his most recent book, Great Powers, America and the World After Bush. I agree with his assessment of how the U.S. should conduct itself for the good of the planet, and the dangers associated with some common world views, and urge you to read it.

I finished it, and then in about 8 hours over our holiday* weekend read a delightful book called How to Cook a Tapir. It is by a woman named Joan Fry who right out of college in 1962 married a cultural anthropologist, and headed into the forests of Belize on their honeymoon so he could study the Mayans. She was in way over her head, and her recently written recounting of the year spent there is really a delightful read. So if you go to Amazon.com, get her book too, I guarantee you won't regret it!

Then I started another book in my collection, The Black Swan. I'm far enough into it that I expect it to be a good read as well, though more in line with Barnett. I bought the Fry book from a weekend neighbor who is involved with the national museum of Belize, and since it cost me $30 USD( you can get it for $16 US on Amazon) I think she might have felt bad that I blasted through it so quickly. Yesterday she sent over an interesting book from her library called Home Cooking in the Global Village - Belizean Food from Buccaneers to Ecotourists by Richard Wilk. It is about the globalization of the food supply, which has been going on for hundreds of years, using Belize as an example.

A friend asked a while back why I chose to leave the US and move to Belize, and although I am still formulating my thoughts about it, there was a really good paragraph in the first chapter of the book that I quote here in full:

"To be honest, Belize initially attracted me not because it was typical of anything, but because it seemed such an unusual place - an English-speaking country in the middle of Central America, a melange of multiple ethnic groups who somehow peacefully co-exist. But as I have learned more about Belize, I have learned that underneath a unique local flavor and unusual history, it is connected to the world in exactly the same ways as all the other Latin American and Caribbean countries that surround it. Belize is therefore the perfect place to see the contradictions of globalization, to study the general and widespread processes that produce uniqueness. Even within the country, we can see the same paradox, since Belizean ethnic groups and subcultures always seem to be completely distinct and unique, while at the same time they are always connected to each other and thoroughly mixed. Somehow the traffic between groups, just like the constant globalizing traffic between countries, does not eliminate or destroy the boundaries and borders that keep the cultures apart and maintain their unique character. Distinction and commonality revolve around one another."

So aside from coming here because I had a family connection, it is a wonderfully diverse community, especially here in Placencia where there is a large community of ex-pats also in the mix of Garifuna, Caribes, Maya, Chinese, and others. Had dinner with a woman tonight who was originally from Vancouver, and was hitchhiking around Central America 16 years ago, stopped in Belize, and never left. Current president of the Rotary Club.

On an entirely different subject, we have definitely had a change in the weather. After several months of nearly unceasing winds of 10 to 20 knots, it is much quieter now. That has two effects: there are more bugs around, making the geckos quite happy, and it is hotter without the cooling wind. I finally got a remote control to operate the AC in my bedroom, but haven't used it and don't know if I will. It is nice to lie on top of the sheets and sleep unencumbered. Current temp is 86 degrees. That's it for now - time to lie on the bed and listen to music...

*Belize has lots of holidays. Yesterday (Monday) was Commonwealth Day, which I believe is celebrated throughout the British Commonwealth.

Life in the slow lane, and in the clouds...

2009-05-19T21:04:00.000-06:00

I hope I haven't frustrated those who have been checking this blog to see if I've posted again, and I certainly had expected to post again before now. Problem is....I'm in the slow lane....

I first noticed the phenomenon with waitresses, who are attentive enough, it's just that they glide through space without appearing too rushed. To the observant, this extends out to include most people who are going from one place to another, but generally without undue haste. This does not include the cadre of ex-pats who are out getting exercise by walking on the road in the morning, North American style, or the bus drivers who drive like bats out of hell. There are other drivers who also drive too fast, although once in the village, the combination of speed bumps, bicyclists and pedestrians in the road keeps everyone quite slow. I heard the other day that only one in six Belizians has a car, which does not surprise me, many who don't have cars have bikes.

At any rate, I find that I rarely exceed 40 MPH on my drive into town, although the newly paved road would allow it. I'm walking more slowly as well, and enjoying the more leisurely pace. With all the things I plan to do here, well, some of those are progressing slowly, if at all. I plan to start painting again after a hiatus of 43 years, and b(r)ought everything I needed, but haven't gotten to it yet. I certainly went to a lot of trouble getting the boat here, but am just getting started on the work I have to do to finish preparing it to put in the water. I've done a little on the keyboard with my lesson program, and am probably more driven to get going on that than the others because I've been listening to my entire CD collection for the first time in 6 or 7 years, and really enjoying it. At this moment I'm listening to Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain album. The bottom line is that I am enjoying myself, so why feel I need to pursue all my interests at the same time?

Work is going well - although I am finding I have to accept, or at least learn to work with, the local rather casual way of handling money. I was thinking tonight that it is a subtle culture of casual fraud, in a way. The top government officials get caught in major shenanigans every now and then. We're dealing with a local (Ricky) in setting up a new bus service between Placencia and Dangriga, and although I've designed an easy-to-use trip reporting form to track riders and cash flow, he hasn't used it fully. In this case we have an outside investor who has put $40K into the business, so tomorrow morning we'll have a sit down with Ricky to have him do what he says he is going to do. He seems to be like the Mexicans in that respect, he'll agree wholeheartedly to do whatever you want, and then neglect that agreement and do what he wants to do. Some (new) friends bought a restaurant (actually they bought the rights to operate a new restaurant in a space where there had not been one before) from head of a local bookkeeping service, and part of the deal was that she was going to set up their books and train them to use it. It's done in QuickBooks, and what I saw does not allow them to produce the critical reports necessary in running a business, like P&Ls and Balance Sheets. I'm sure I'll be talking about all this in the future, so now I'll let go of it and talk about....

clouds!

When I first got here it was the dry season, which lasts from November through May, or so. Hot, sunny days, hardly a cloud in the sky. We are now on the cusp, clouds rolling through, with occasional cloudbursts - and that is a fitting word for it. What is really wonderful is the clouds, big cumulus clouds - all kinds of clouds - I'm going to have to take a refresher on cloud identification. Being able to go to the roof of the house, and to see horizon to horizon, gives a great opportunity to see them, and to photograph them. So I'm developing a folder of cloud/sunset photos, and end this post with some of them. Yes, I've used filters, camera settings and software to enhance the colors. Many of this group were taken today to illustrate this posting. Enjoy!

Carl

Keila

2009-05-11T19:25:00.000-06:00

Been battling "technology" for the last week, and it is improved, but still ongoing. Did not have internet connection at home over the weekend until last night, although I did do some photo management, moving my nearly 10,000 photos onto a portable hard drive so they wouldn't clog the laptop, and loaded the latest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements. I use that program to edit and manage photos, including reducing them in pixel size so I can post them here.

This photo is of Keila, the young woman who works for us converting the architect's designs into "bills of quantities", or lists of everything, and I mean everything, that is needed to build the designs. At least, that is one of the things she does, and probably more.

She has a two year degree from a college in Belize City in architecture, and would like to go to architectural school in the U.S. or Canada. Interesting background - her grandparents migrated to Belize from Honduras, and she lives in the village of Cowpens 7 or 8 miles off the Southern Highway on the mainland. ( It is almost due west of Seine Bight, and google maps doesn't show the road, and the village is under clouds in the satellite picture) It is an old village of people of Honduran ancestry. There is no electricity or running water. To get to work she catches a ride or walks to the main road, then catches a bus to Mango Creek where she takes the Hokey Pokey water taxi across rhe lagoon to Placencia. She has a baby boy that is several months old, while at work her parents take care of him. Her husband works at a chicken processing plant in Spanish Lookout in the northern part of the country.

She has ten siblings, eight are in the U.S., most on visas, which allows the bearer to work and are good for 10 years. I think the rule is that they have to come back to Belize, or at least leave the U.S., every now and then. One of her sisters went to great effort to get her parents green cards, which require that the holder stay in the U.S. for 6 (?) months every year. Unfortunately, her folks don't like the U.S., but because of the daughter's efforts, feel they must go to the U.S. and comply with the requirement, because the green card will be voided if they don't. Keila applied for a visa before she was married or pregnant, and was turned down. She thinks they were afraid she would stay in the U.S. We are very fortunate she works for us, she is smart, has a good sense of humor, and is a lot more attractive than Bradley or I!

Still struggling to get my magicJack internet based phone to work, and to get my computer to talk to the printer at the office. Must sign off now to work on that.

my temporary abode

2009-05-05T20:28:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of my current housing. It is an apartment in my stepson's house, with a separate entrance so I don't have to intrude on their lives, and vice versa. "Current" because by fall I have to find an alternative as Patti may be coming for an extended stay. The apartment has two primary rooms, a kitchenette/living area and a bedroom/office, connected by a short hall that has a storage area on one side and the bathroom on the other. The "inside" door opens onto the central area, and the "outside" door is to the exterior stair that leads to the ground or the roof. This first picture, that I took last year, is of the west side of the house; the apartment is on the left on the second floor, with the open central area that is such a delightful place to be. That door you see is the open door into the apartment.

When you enter that door, after a short hall that has a shallow closet with shelves, you enter the kichenette/living area. I stood on a stool to take this photo over the 45" high counter. You're looking toward the back door, the fridge has lots of magnets, a microwave and my laptop or on the folding table I brought with me. I use the laptop there in the morning to read the NY Times online. I'm glad I brought the little oriental type rug because it helps define the space.

This next picture was taken from the left corner not seen in the previous picture. My kitchenaid mixer, breadmaker and juicer are on top of the fridge. You don't see the little stove, which to my chagrin has no way of regulating the temperature of the oven. It is a butane fueled stove, and it's hard to slow cook on it. You have to turn off the fans when cooking, a definite disadvantage. The stools are too low for the high counter, so just take of space, unless used for plops.

Here's a photo taken from the back door looking back, you can see the little stove, with my dishtowels hanging on the oven handle. There is less space than I need for storage, so my cookbooks and knife track are on the top, my spices are under the lip of the counter, everything is fit in. I have a clip-on light for light on the stove and another at the sink. On the far right you can see a table I bought locally with a small bookcase holding my coming reading.

Going down the short hall mentioned above, you enter the bedroom/office. Those are the two windows that face east, and the road, and that gathered lots of dust until they paved on Saturday. On the right is the foot of the bed, in the center the keyboard I'm learning to play, and a pedestal fan I bought during the last heat spell.

This is a picture of the king size bed, which is too big for the space. There are closets on the right, and a little stand with a funny lamp on the left, the side I sleep on. The temperature on most nights is in the 80s, so I sleep on top of the bed, or with just a sheet, and just shorts, with ceiling fans going and sometimes the pedestal fan. Until I put the curtains up last weekend, I would usually wake with the sun at 5:30 - this morning it was 6:30! There is a bus to Dangriga that arrives in Seine Bight, the adjacent village, blowing his loud horn for an extended period, at 6 AM, so that's when I wake for sure.

This next one is take from the side with the funny lamp looking back toward my folding table desk. On the left is my stereo cabinet with the CD player, amplifier, DVD player, and topped with the small flat screen TV I brought and my Sirius radio. Behind it are a couple of CD cases. I look out the window, and watch iguanas climb into the tree. The off center painting on the wall covers an electric panel.

So that's about it - the grand tour. I now have to set about looking for an alternative place to live, hopefully with more of a kitchen, although I think Bradley's vision is for me to live in an apartment he would build as part of a facility to house several businesses he has in the works. That would provide security for him and give me a place to live. But that won't happen before Patti comes, so I have to find an alternative. That's it for tonight, and Beth, I'm glad you liked the road series!

Lots of photos..

2009-05-04T19:57:00.000-06:00

Let's try this again, and I hope I don't bore you - if you don't like the road stuff, scroll further down....

Like I was saying last night, the road has been paved, which has greatly reduced if not eliminated the dust which permeated everything. Today I left my windows open, and unlike the past, there was no layer of fine dust covering all surfaces when I got home from work - a good thing because yesterday I cleaned all the screens and windows, and did a thorough cleaning inside. But about the road construction methods....

After initial grading, they put down a layer of brown gravel with lots of fines (dust) in it, as well as fist size rocks. Here's a photo and a closeup:

This photo of the dust being raised by a vehicle doesn't really show the true impact of this type of surface...

Then they cover that with a gray layer of crushed stone with the fines left in it, and this was the surface in front of the house for weeks...

There is usually a stiff breeze coming off the Carribbean that carries the dust long distances. I'm not sure how people tolerate walking along the road or riding bikes in the face of this, but they do, probably of necessity.

When it is time to pave, they put down a layer of sandy gravel, water it liberally, and roll it to a hard surface. They then put down a thick layer of liquid tar, and cover it with a uniform size of crushed stone, and roll it. (All this happens without interrupting traffic flow). Cars, trucks and busses then continue to use it for several days, further compacting the stone into the tar. Here's what it looks like, and a close-up:

After several days they come back and sweep away the excess stone that hasn't been embedded in the surface. As it is driven on, the surface gets harder and harder, here it is after a few more days, and a close-up:

And a couple of more photos as it gets more and more compact from use..

They pave about 1/10 of a mile a day, with day to day traffic doing most of the compacting. Bradley says they will be putting another layer on some time in the future, painting lines, installing reflectors, and 40 (that's forty) speed bumps. Speed bumps here are not your Stevens Ave raised humps. They are bumps that can't be taken at more than 5 mph. Will keep you posted.

The road hasn't been paved for a half mile stretch closer to town, and by the airport.

If you got this far in this post, here's the fun stuff:

The road gets to the airstrip, which goes from lagoon to ocean, and goes down to the end of the runway and around it. I neglected to heed this sign, and was buzzed twice by airplanes taking off just as I rounded the corner. I look now. What's amazing is that Belize has two competing airplines; Maya Island Air and Tropic Air. The former is more capitalized, and is building a new planning to build a new airstrip at the northern end of the peninsula and offer small jet service to Cancun and Guatemala City, among other destinations. For now, here are the terminals:

And here's a closeup of a typical aircraft in use. If the 12-20 passenger seats are full, a passenger can sit in the co-pilots seat. Done it!

A neighbor, Kathy, across the street from us in Portland had a bumper sticker on her car that said:"What if the Hokey Pokey is what it's all about?" (or something like that). The Hokey Pokey water taxi here is a scheduled service connecting Placencia with the village of Mango Creek on the other side of the lagoon. The 15 minute boat ride saves an hour long drive up the peninsula and down the mainland. It's a small boat that probably holds 20 or so at most. High School kids use it to go to school, and others commute to work here in town.

Here's a photo of the Post Office, taken on Sunday morning, when it was closed. There are no boxes, you just ask the clerk if you have any mail, and he looks through one or two stacks of 50 or so envelopes and pulls out yours, if you have any. I got a birthday card from my sister today, and because she had tucked in the flap instead of sealing it, the PO in Belize City had deemed it damaged, put it in a manila envelope, and I had to sign a form saying it was ok. This PO is a big step up from the former location, a very small room above the fish market.

The police station is a new facility as well... some times they have a sign in the middle of the street saying STOP, but no one does unless they come out of the station and stand in the road to check insurance or whatever..

I took all these on my way to my AA meeting on Sunday morning - more about that later. I'll end this post with a picture I took from the roof at the end of the day. Tomorrow, pics of the apartment!

the road is paved!

2009-05-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

It is hard to dscribe what a big deal it is that they finally paved the road in front of our house (by several hundred yards) on Saturday. The road reconstruction is multi-layered process. When I visited in the past the road was dirt, and characterized by lots and lots of pot holes. It's been re-graded for the entire 20 mile length, and a layer of what I would call boney, or rocky, gravel has been applied and graded.

I have a lot of photos of the road, as well as photos from the village, but there are some blog issues tonight preventing me from loading them, so I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm back - in the groove...

2009-04-26T21:29:00.000-06:00

Haven’t posted here for a week, in large part because I had a stomach bug that knocked me down this past week right after my birthday. Had to stay close to a bathroom, not much fun, but I’m recovered, and will try to make it up to those of you who have been following this, and been disappointed by the lack of posts.

I’ll start with today, and go backwards in time or ..... Got up this morning at 4:40 AM to get ready to join my fellow Rotarians and others at 6 at the airstrip, to walk from there to Placencia point to raise money for Rotary’s effort to eradicate polio from the planet. The decision was to start at 6 to avoid the heat of the day, and because many people are up by then. I’m usually awake by 6, but still in bed. I’m not usually awake, and certainly not out of bed at 4:40.

Speaking of my Rotary club, the fabulous online raffle for the two week, all expense paid trip to Belize is still going on. Originally they/we planned to sell 1000 tickets @ $50 ea. At this point they have sold less than 200, which is the break even point, and I know they won’t try for 1000. That means your chance of winning is greatly enhanced! Check it out at www.rotaryclubofplacencia.org!

But I digress…the goal was to raise $1000, and all the Rotary clubs in our district, which includes Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, were also walking to raise that minimum today as well. Our sponsor, the Turtle Inn, donated $1000, because it’s owner, the director Francis Ford Coppola, is a polio survivor. Here’s a photo of the entrance:

I, and other members, didn’t think the publicity was very good, so weren’t expecting many more than our dozen or so members. We were wrong – there were nearly 70 people, out for a walk at 6 AM! I walked with a fellow Rotarian (Bob) I recently sold a MagicJack to, and since there was a sign at the entrance, I asked him about the village cemetery that Rotary had cleaned up. Here’s a picture:

And another:

It looks much better than it used to, but is no Evergreen Cemetery! Bob told me he had helped bury two people there in the 5 years he has lived here. They were sub-surface burials in wooden coffins, which presented problems. They bury folks 4 feet deep, it really isn’t possible to go deeper because the water table is at two feet, and because the soil is sand, they have to use plywood to keep the sides from caving in. Then the coffins float, so they pile sand on them until they sink and they can fill in the holes. That’s why some folks are in above ground concrete coffins. And as you can see, there’s no problem with mowing!

Yesterday, Carlos, Bradley’s highly skilled foreman, came by the house to do some minor projects, since Placencia Properties is between jobs.

He installed the boards above the windows in my bedroom so I can mount the curtains Patti sent down with me. As much as I want to, I’m going hold off until the road out front is paved. Otherwise they will be embedded with a fine brown dust. The good news is that paving in the road project is getting closer and closer, and we may be paved within the next 10 days. He also drilled holes in the concrete walls so I could hang pictures. At any rate, he said I could scrounge their waste pile of wood (which is primarily mahogany!) for material to support my weather monitoring system. Don’t know if I’ve written about it here before, but here is a photo, with the village of Seine Bight in the background.

This rig measures:
Wind speed – 11.2 knots
Wind direction - ENE
Barometric pressure - 30.10 and falling
Temperature (indoor & outdoor) – 83.1 F & 81.1 F
Relative humidity indoors – 72%
Relative Humidity outdoors– 80%
Dew point – 74.4
Wind chill – 78.1
24 hr rain - .04 in.
1 hr rain – 0.00 in.
total rain – 2.01 in.

It’ll also tell me maximums and minimums, and has an alarm function. I had to reinforce it because the other night the wind was so strong it blew it over. There is a steady wind from the east of 10 to 15 knots most of the time, but one night it got much stronger when a front passed through. Right now it just reports all that stuff on a device here on my desk, but in time I’ll get it hooked up to my old laptop, and the internet, so you can see what the weather is here, and perhaps will be encouraged to enter that Rotary raffle mentioned above!

When I headed up to the roof to work on it, I startled an iguana by my back door, and she startled me as well. She took off into the vine, and after watching for a minute or two, I resumed climbing the stairs, only to be startled by another, larger one at the upper stair level. She leaped into the tree, which caused two others in the tree to scurry down. So now I know there are at least four, and I don’t think I’ll be quite as casual about leaving my back door open as I have been. At least they’re herbivores, but I wish they didn’t prefer the stair landings as their bathrooms!

In addition to selling my first MagicJack, I also sold my first photos last weekend. In this case it was photos of a building that Bradley (actually Carlos) built, and the owner wanted good photos to take to the bank to show what they had done, and to get a line of credit extended. Here’s one of the photos:

See more about this place at www.palmettobayresort.com. If you click this link, then click “palmetto bay”, and then click “resort”, it is the central building (#6), but the view from the road instead of the beach.

The owner, Carlton, who is a former stunt man (his specialty was falling out of buildings), as well as many other things, is from Vancouver, and is in Edmonton, Alberta, where he is sharing a booth with Bradley (Century 21) at a consumer Recreational Facilty Show. There are lots of Canadians here, and lots from Edmonton area. We’re hoping the trip generates good leads.

I was going to include in this post a description of the local cable TV offerings, and my other video entertainment, but I think I’ll save it for another post.

When I'm 64....

2009-04-20T21:07:00.000-06:00

It's my birthday, so thought I should post something.........Made myself a cake, which got much more complicated than I had expected. My favorite recipe uses baking soda, and I didn't have any when I had assembled ingredients part way last night, and Rilda didn't have any either, so I put what I had already prepared in the fridge. Figured I would restart today. Turned out that baking soda is so popular that stores were sold out, or is so little used, compared to baking powder, that they don't keep it in stock. I eventually found a small box.
At any rate, I took the stuff out of the fridge to bring it back to room temp (85 +/-degrees) before going to work this morning. Got home for lunch, put it together and bake it - came out a bit flat, and don't know if that was because of the heat, the fact that I had held some overnight, or ? The recipe called sweet butter, which isn't available here. In fact, the only butter you can get comes from New Zealand and is packed in cans, and includes water as an ingedient, which I didn't account for. That may be why the buttercream icing turned out a bit runny as well. Will have to work on the recipe for these conditions and see if I can make it better.....

Road Kill Tire Shop

2009-04-17T20:53:00.000-06:00

Last posting was all text, so this one is primarily photos. Yesterday I mentioned my tire problem, perhaps I should have gone to the "Road Kill Tire Shop" shown here. It's a little hard to read the painted signs, but the left post says, "ONE STOP", the right post says "NO CREDIT" and the back left says, "ONE LOVE". Doesn't appear that he has power, so not sure how he inflates tires. Maybe he has a device like mine that you plug into a cigarette lighter.

If I had gone to the "Tree of Wisdom" first perhaps I would have made a better decision re tire care....

I got my haircut today, here's the sign for the Z-Touch shop that does hair, nails, massage, and sells jewelry, ladies swimwear and clothing, etc etc. The shop is just before the Tipsy Tuna bar.

To get there from the main road, you walk down this narrow street, which joins "the narrowest street in the world" according to the Guinness Book of Records, from what I understand.

This street/sidewalk goes for more than a mile up the beach, parallel to the paved road but 100 feet or so east of it. Houses and businesses front on it, so it is like a street.

This is the view from the street looking east...

Got my much needed haircut, and had to encourage her to shorten it. Took about 45 minutes, which is twice as long as my former barber, but after all, she did trim my eyebrows, after asking permission. Here's a photo of me and my new barber, post haircut. It's still wet here, and will look better after a day or two.

Then back to the office, shown here

and a quick stop at the Chinese Everyday Market on the way home.

A final note: When I post these it is 3 hours later than the clock on the post shows. Not sure if I can change that, or if it based on the location of Google's servers.

Comments, anyone?

Another step in the move

2009-04-16T20:07:00.000-06:00

Went to the "District Seat" , sort of like a county seat, called Dangriga today and extended my tourist visa for two months at cost of $12.50 USD /month, and went to the Motor Vehicle Office here called the Transport Office, and registered my truck for Belize. So now it's wearing Belize plates, another step in the move. I could have registered it for a month, or 3, or 6, but in a rush of optimism that it would last, I signed up for a year, which cost $117.50 USD. I've been surprised it has held up as well as it has, given the pounding it takes from the boney dirt road.

Have had a slow leak in my front left tire, and had to change the spare tire - replacing the tire on that rim with an extra I had because the former had a big gouge in the sidewall that happened when the wheel fell off coming through Mexico. Bradley introduced me to the local tire man who works on tires in his yard -which is the way much tire work happens in this part of the world, and he took the truck while I was at work and tried to fix the leak, changed over the spare tire, and straightened out the sheet metal and rear bumper that had been bent when the wheel mishap happened. Total charge $15 USD, although he gave me back $5 in exchange for the gouged tire, which he said he could use. Unfortunately, this morning that front left tire had lost 10 lbs again, so I'll take it off this weekend and see if I can find the leak with water.

One observation I made when passing through Mexico, and had forgotten to relate, and didn't photograph, was the generous use of white paint. All bridges are painted white, and as I recall the guardrails on the bridges are painted blue. Not only are bridges painted white, but the entire supporting structure is also white. There are crews of 2 or 3 men that paint them with ladders and long handled rollers. You can tell which have been painted most recently by the white spots on the roadway below the bridge. They also paint the concrete gutters, where present. Trees and posts and poles are painted white up to about 4 feet above the ground.

Mexico continues to get bad press in the US, I think in part because many news media organizations have closed their foreign bureaus, and so just repeat the same stuff, or mis-information from the US state dept. I've started reading a blog called "burro hall", written by an expat in Mexico who used to work for 60 minutes. He is quite irreverent. He wrote a good analysis some time in the last couple of months that pointed out that you're less safe in Houston than in Mexico, unless you decide to join a drug cartel or the Mexican army or police.

I bought a pineapple the other day, and it hit perfection today - meaning it was yellow, indicating that it was ripe and sweet. Pineapples sold in the US are not ripe yet. Opened it tonight - and mmmmmmmmm.

Mattmc13 had made a request several posts ago that I will try to answer. He asked about the closed resort where I had taken the picture of the girl with her dog out at the end of a pier. That resort is closed, but has been sold, and will be replaced with something much bigger and more modern that will extend across the peninsula from the sea to the lagoon, and will border where I am now. The distance from the sea to the lagoon at this point is probably 200 yards. In a few places (elsewhere) it is so narrow there is water on both sides of the road. There were a number of resorts built in the 70s and 80s, if not earlier, and they are worn out. They are being replaced with much more upscale accomodations. That said, there is a wide range of accomodations, from cottages in the village and backpacker lodging, to the high end. A respondent to my last post is a Mainer who has cabanas just north of where I am. His site is www.themainestay.com. Or go to www.placencia.com, and you'll find places that start at under $30 a night. Google "placencia belize" and you'll discover this is a happenin' place!

Tomorrow I get a haircut from a different barber than the one I've used for the past 10 - 20 years. Not only that, but my hairstyle, such as it is (or was), is much too long for this climate. So I''ll probably get it cut somewhat short. Of course, I may not have much control over it. Will try to photo document the hairy adventure!

Time to retire (bed).

Sunday afternoon

2009-04-12T17:11:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of last week we had a cold spell - which means the temperatures got down to the low 70s at night and early morning. It was pleasant having moderate temps, and sleeping with a sheet instead of on top of the bed. By the end of the week we were back to normal - with temps in the low 80's at night and rising to the mid to upper 80's during the day. Those temps would be uncomfortable, but the breeze, either natural or fan induced, makes it quite pleasant, and also makes the options of no shoes, no shirt and shorts, my preferred outfit, very reasonable. Spent most of yesterday doing office work at home, and today finished my most recent book, and then cleaned my windows and screens on the side facing the road. Bradley thinks they'll be paving it within 30 days, and I hope so. I thought I would wait until they did before I cleaned the windows, but they were so dirty from the road dust that I had to clean them today. I also setup my Sirius radio so I could attach it to my audio system, allowing me to listen to NPR here at home.

I continue to work on my food options. I understood the beef here wasn't very good, but couldn't resist, and last week bought two T-bone steaks. Keep in mind that all meat here of any type is frozen. The only meat that is fresh, and that's because they are caught locally and sold by the fisherman. Well, last night I thought I would grill a steak and have mashed potatoes with tomato and cucumber. I understood that charcoal was readily available, so when I opened the bag ( a brown plastic bag) I bought last week, I discovered that it is locally made chunks of wood that have been made into charcoal. I've found that type to be hard to light, and it doesn't give off much heat. So after trying to cook my steak on the grill for a while, I transferred it to a stove top grill and cooked it. When I finally sat down to eat it, I found it to be the toughest piece of meat I've ever eaten. Not sure what 'm going to do with the other one. Was very glad I had an abundance of mashed potatoes! I'm going to have to concentrate on beans and rice, and variations of chicken.

Below is a picture of the ship that my two pallets came on. It is kind of amazing to see, because the access to the pier is not very wide or deep, and the ship is so much bigger than anything else man made here. I think the primary cargo coming into the country here at Big Creek is building materials, With bananas being the big export item. I learned that tankers also come here, because the crude oil produced in Spanish Lookout is brought here in trucks for shipment.

On the drive home, I stopped and took a photo of a house in the village of Santa Rosa that had been painted in a colorful way. It is unusual in that respect, the following photo of a house complex with thatched roofs is more typical in Santa Rosa. There are some houses here in Seine Bight and Placencia with thatched roofs, but metal roofs are more common, except on concrete homes. Thatch is a low cost roof, but Francis Ford Coppola's local resort, the Turtle Inn, has thatch.

It's now 6 PM, 87 degrees, and time for me to figure out what to have for dinner. Til next time..

Yaaayyy!

2009-04-10T15:12:00.000-06:00

Picked up my two pallets of "stuff" last Monday and brought them back to my two room abode. Since they completely filled the back of my truck, and I had already integrated a truckload into my space, I wondered how it was going to fit. Well, it has taken a few days, and there are a few things that I'll store in the construction container in the yard, but for the most part, I'm in, and almost completely nested. What's best of all at this moment is that among all the stuff I brought with me I included a spare wireless router I had, and a wireless signal booster I had purchased. Bradley's wireless router had been fried by a power surge, so today we setup the replacement, and then the booster, a necessary device in concrete construction. So I am writing this from my space at home - I now have internet at home, so can read the NYTimes, New Yorker, post to this blog, etc etc. After being without a convenient connection for a month, it is very nice to have it.

Zabeth69 noted in her comment to my last post that Easter week in Central America is beach week (if I recall her comment correctly). Here in Placencia, and perhaps Belize as a whole, it is a vacation that started yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, and will extend through Monday. This is not a religious culture as near as I can see, but it certainly is one that wants to party. Grocery stores are closed (except for the Chinese owned stores, like the "Everyday Market"), construction stopped on the road, and everyone is on break, even Bradley and I.

Another benefit of getting my pallets was getting other parts of my audio setup, including the audio cabinet and sub-woofer. So I now have much better sound quality, and my DVD collection so I can watch an occasional favorite movie. I've learned that the heat and humidity here will destroy CDs, and probably DVDs, so I've started listening to all my CDs, flagging the occasional one I don't want to convert to a MP3 format to store electronically. Then I'll start that process. It is interesting, and fun, listening to music I haven't heard in, in some cases, years. At this moment I'm listening to Deep Forest, which will be followed by Diana Krall.

Once I've finished nesting, I take some photos of my living space and post them. Posts will be much more frequent now!

2009-04-07T13:43:00.000-06:00

(Written on Sunday, 4/5)

Good day Saturday, although I got a later start than I had intended. It really baffles me, but back in my drinking days I would occasionally have attacks of gout. Technically, it is a buildup of uric acid in the bloodstream that forms crystals, that in turn can’t pass through capillaries far from the heart. Physically, it is concentrated at one's big toe, on either foot, and can be extremely painful if it is not addressed when it starts coming on. On a past trip to Belize I had the start of an attack, and had a couple of meds with me, which I took. Went to the local pharmacy got more.

Woke early Saturday morning with the characteristic pain in my toe, but no meds. (Really don’t know why this happens here, because I’m not eating rich foods, and don’t drink alcohol. I do drink a lot of citrus/seltzer drinks, so they could be the culprit.) Well, got up, checked my Pharmaceuticals Alternatives book, which did not address the issue. So back to the Pharmacy. Got there a few minutes before she opened. Here’s a photo of the sign above the door…..

She wouldn’t give me the real stuff without a prescription, or a prescription container, or even knowledge of what the prescription was, but she did give me an anti-inflammatory drug, that over 24 hours relieved the pain. So I got started to San Ignacio (aka Cayo) at 8:30 instead of 7am.

The road north passes through many citrus groves and banana plantations. The photo below shows the characteristic blue bags they put over the bunches of bananas, I once knew why, and when I do again I’ll let you know!

Continued on, up the Hummingbird Highway, and then a short trip north to an area called Spanish Lookout. It is a large Mennonite settlement area, with a landscape unlike any other I have seen in Belize. Large prosperous farms (which account for the big combines I see on the highways in the area), and businesses that serve them. I think this district is the source of milk, cheese and chicken in the country. Other similar areas provide the beef and pork. To add to that, there were several oil wells, a recent discovery in the area. There was a small plant that processed the oil prior to it being trucked out for parts unknown. My map showed one road to the area – when I got there I found many roads and turns, so not wanting to get lost after making several, I returned the way I came in.

Then onto San Ignacio. This is a town, I would guess with a population of 8 to 10,000. There are two bridges over the river, each one lane wide, so one bridge is for traffic going west, the other for eastbound. What I didn’t know, as I approached, was that Saturday was a big Easter holiday weekend festival and the festival grounds and stadium were at the western end of the westbound bridge. After a long wait, traffic crept forward, and I finally crossed the bridge. I might have stopped, or even taken a photo, but there wasn’t much to see from the truck, and no, nada, place to park. The craft stalls, that I could see, were all clothing, which did not interest me, so I passed through town, continuing west.

The last town before the Guatemala border is Benque Viejo del Carmen. Not much to see there, so turned back, and stopped at the Myan ruin Xunatunich. In truth, I didn’t stop at the ruin, I stopped at the ferry that takes you across the stream so you can drive the mile or so up the hill to the ruin. Interesting ferry – a small barge, with a cable arrangement with a drum on the barge. The operator turns a crank which winds the cable on the drum in the direction you’re going , unwinding toward where you’ve been. Didn’t have time to take a photo on the way, but here’s one while I wait for him to pick me up on the way back.

Xunatunich is not a large site, at least not much has been exposed, compared to other sites in Belize, and there are many. Some day I will learn more about the Myan story, but for now I can only say it was a sophisticated culture that declined prior to exploration of the Americas by Europeans. The sites I’ve seen have all been high points in the landscape, made higher by the structures built by the Myans. The photo below was taken looking toward the Major structure on this site, followed by a photo looking back from point about halfway up. He view from the top, on a clear day, must be incredible. I spent an hour or so sitting there – it is a very quiet place save for the breeze in the trees below, and you can feel the spirituality that emanates from it.
I could have spent the rest of the afternoon absorbing the place, but headed back down the road, the next stop the San Ignacio Hotel – the fanciest place in town – but they also have a “medicinal jungle trail and iguana exhibit.” I was there 45 minutes before the next tour, and they were too far from the center of town for me to get to the festival, so I had lunch there on the veranda overlooking the pool. Here’s a photo:

When it was time they asked me which tour I wanted – so I said iguana, which was fortunate, because the other three also wanted that one, and it had started while I was getting my camera! So I joined them and learned lots about iguanas. (I posted a photo of one here recently.) What I did not know is that they are hunted, both for their meat and the delicacy of their eggs. A female lays 20 to 30 eggs, and without human predation, less than 10% are expected to survive to a year. So they harvest eggs and incubate them in a protected area, and then grow them to a point where they stand a better chance of survival in the wild. Here’s a photo of an eight year old male that they have kept so people can see what males look like when they get bigger - and they get much bigger than this. The guide/keeper kept handing them to us – as you can see from the man’s expression, he wasn’t too happy about being handed this one.

Here's one a month old on the back of my wrist:

Iguanas eat leaves, and prefer to be in trees. I/m not sure why they like to get on the top landing of my steps and shit there, but let’s just say I have to use a flashlight when going to the roof at night. A close look at the tree outside my window revealed two. I think I’ll leave the screen door closed…..

From there I headed home, and when crossing the eastbound bridge saw the following downstream:

Some Mennonites are of a conservative sect, much like the Amish, and in fact, related to them in a religious sense. They have wagons drawn by two horses, but with rubber tires. I saw a cluster of them at one point getting grain, but could not stop.

I continued on, stopping at a craft/art gallery along the way. Purchased a locally carved slate coaster ($11 USD), 5 bars of Rubba Dub soap, a locally handmade soap I like that is worth the $6 USD I had to pay for it (each). And a cook book with Belizian recipes. Continued home, and found myself willing to go faster on the last 23 miles of rough dirt road than I had been on the trip out in the morning. The dirt is what is called "boney", which is to say that rocks are imbedded in it, so it's like driving over a poorly made cobblestone street at 20 or 30 mph.

Got into Placencia Village at about 8 PM, and went to La Dolce Vita, the local Italian restaurant next door to the pharmacy. Slow service, but good dinner, headed home and was so tired I hit the hay early.

Got up Sunday morning, and went to the local AA meeting. First went last week, there were six of us, two of which were visitors. This week there were six again, one new one (to me) had been in Mexico last week, and another one is from an area about 2 hours away. He was extremely grateful to be at a meeting, had recently lived through a bad accident in Mexico where he lost control of his truck/camper and after rolling over several times ended up in a swamp off the edge of the toll way. Made me grateful I had survived my trip intact. It’s a good little group, my only disappointment is that after reading “How It Works”. Everyone shares, or not, the promises are read, and the meeting ends. So today’s meeting was 35 minutes long, which is not enough for me, once a week.

Tomorrow, Monday, I get my pallets, which include all my AA materials, and lots of stuff I really need. Don’t know if I’ll get into the office, which is when I’ll post this. Hopefully next post will include a photo of the port.

Hot!

2009-04-03T16:10:00.000-06:00

It's been hot this week, with little breeze, making it a bit harder. I know, I know, you folks in Maine wonder why I'm complaining about 80+ degree weather...The coolest place at home is the central area on the second floor, where the breeze funnels through and because of the shade, it's always the coolest spot. So I try to hang out there, reading my book, sipping a tall glass of "lime squash" and Fanta seltzer water on ice. When I leave work today I'm going to pick up an 18" pedestal fan at the local home goods store. It will help keep me cool at night. The AC remote doesn't work, and besides, electricity is very expensive here. Bradley's last bill, which was for the period before I got here, was over $500 ($250 US) for one month.

The ship with my pallets finally arrives tomorrow, Saturday, but I have to wait until Monday to get them because they have to clear customs. I am sooo anxious, because they include all sorts of items, like most of my cookware, that I need for general living. I've been eating my major meals at noon at the restaurant downstairs here at work, and I want to start doing my own serious cooking in the evening. Also on one of the pallets is a wireless router. I've been responding to some e-mail and posting to this blog at work, but would rather be doing it at home in the evening. The wireless router should make that possible.

Tomorrow I'm going on a "field trip" to the Cayo District up in the mountains. Supposede to be a lovely area, so I look forward to it. Will take photos and post them here next week. Well, back to work!

The watchdog

2009-04-01T15:26:00.000-06:00

Took the photo above yesterday in late afternoon when I was taking my step-grandson Peter for a walk on the beach. This girl came onto the beach with her dog and walked out to the end of the dock of a closed (but for sale) resort to get some alone time, I suspect . Thought it was a good photo so I took it. Seems like "the watchdog" is an appropriate title.

Below are photos of Peter, taken at the same time, and of Jamie and Mattie, taken this morning. Peter loves to have his picture taken, and always has. It's hard to get a photo of Jamie without a serious expression on his face, and Mattie is curious about the whole enterprise.

We were without power again this morning - and annoyance, especially when it means no fans. My laptop battery is good for about 2 1/2 hrs of work before I have to quit. Bradley and Rilda had friends over yesterday for a BBQ, one of whom I met at the last BBQ and who is very interested in the Logix ICF system. That may turn into some sweet extra income.

Before coming down here a number of folks asked what the cost of living is. I'm going to start keeping track of what I spend for groceries etc., and will post that information here. There are a couple of dozen people who check this blog from time to time, but only a handful who have left comments. I encourage you to leave comments or ask questions that I will try to answer, if not truthfully, then whimsically!

dust settles

2009-03-28T18:13:00.000-06:00

In my last post I showed photos of the house, and the photo of the back shows the exterior stair, although it is hidden by the vine. The other day this iguana was on the stair outside my back door. Seemed quite friendly, my presence did not seem to spook him/her. Their tails are as long as their torsos, so this one was about 2 feet long.

As I think I have mentioned before, the last 23 miles to Placencia is a dirt road, but after years of saying they would do it, the government is finally paving it. That means they are rebuilding it, with a series of mysterious levels of different types and mixes of gravel, before they finally put down liquid tar and a final coating of gravel. Different section are at different levels, and there doesn't seem to be a logical sequence to them. These mixes of gravel have a lot of fine materials in them, and in spite of the trucks that water the road, great clouds of dust, more than ever before, rise from the road with every passing vehicle. Although we are quite a distance from the road, the prevailing wind carries rhe dust to us, where it settles over everthing. I keep my computer closed when not in use, a cover on my printer, and a cover on my stereo equipment.

Today, Saturday, the power was out for about 8 hours through the heat of the day, I suspect because they had to reset some poles. I've lazed around, practiced my piano, finished one book and started another, and generally tried to stay cool by finding the breeze in the shadows.

It will be WONDERFUL when they finish paving the road!

catching up

2009-03-24T14:00:00.000-06:00

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!

Settling In...

2009-03-21T08:59:00.000-06:00

For those of you following this adventure, I've just posted the rest of the trip through Mexico. I encourage you to read from Day 19 onward to get the full flavor. If I remember other things that happened, or observations, I'll record them here in my daily musings.

Little time to write now, I've emptied the truck and unpacked most things, but am concerned where I'll put the stuff that is on the two pallets I shipped to myself, and that will arrive next week, I hope. They contain some critical items I'm anxious to have. I'll be taking photos of my living environment, and will share the adventure of starting life anew.

I now have a Belize cell phone - 501-670-1255!

Day 22 - The journey ends!

2009-03-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

Got up early, went back to the truck yard and retrieved our trucks, and headed to the border. I had to wait to connect with my broker’s man, because I had had to make a 4000 pesos ($285) deposit before entering Mexico, and he was to refund it to me. He did. I was topped by Mexican customs, and had to wait for an official to come look at my load to see if matched the manifest that the broker had prepared for me to enter Mexico. They want to be sure as a ‘transmigrante” you don’t sell or leave behind what you have taken into Mexico duty free. (I suppose I could have sold the TV!) Finally got through Mexican customs, crossed the bridge into Belize and stopped to buy Belize auto insurance. Continued on past the Princess Hotel/Casino and the free trade zone to the cargo entrance and the agricultural spray man. That had happened in Mexico as well – they spray the lower and underside of your vehicle for insects. Then to the parking booth attendant – trucks entering and waiting for their loads to be inspected have to pay a parking fee. I had turned off the engine while I did the transaction. Got back in the truck, and it didn’t start. I was blocking trucks wanting to enter, and blocking trucks that had dropped trailers, and wanted to exit.
Seemed like a battery connection issue, so I got out my bag of tools, cleaned the battery connections and was back in business. Proceeded to the parking lot and connected with my Belize broker. He went and saw an official. Then I showed the list, including the truck, trailer and boat, and contents therein to another official. He assigned a total value, for which I would pay 32% duty. Then he took me to see another official in the building up the hill by the tourist entrance. I passed through the immigration folks, entering as a tourist. Went upstairs to see another official, and appealed the decision of the first official. The truck is not worth the blue book value, the right rear fender is bent in and the bumper is bent up as a result of the tire falling off. He adjusted the value down. I thanked him, went back to the cargo entrance building, and took some stuff out of the truck so it could be inspected/verified, and waited for an official to come take a look. And waited. And waited. Eventually she came, took a quick look and I loaded the stuff back in the truck and waited. And waited. While the broker did his job. Finally got a final number, which, including assorted fees, including the brokers, and an “inspection” fee, which came to a total of $4100 BZD, which is $2050 USD. Had to be paid in BZD. I did not have that much with me, can they take a check? Customs couldn’t, but my broker knew an Indian (Asian) in Corozal, the nearby Belizian town, who could, so off we went. I wrote him a blank check for $2050, and he gave me $4100. Went back to the cargo customs center, and the broker paid who needed to be paid for whatever reason. (Take liberties to read between the lines here.)
Meanwhile, I went to the chainlink fence outside the customs building, and traded through the fence my extra pesos for BZD. It was at the going exchange rate, so I’m not sure how the several vendors there make money.
By then the broker had done his part, it was 1:30 PM, and I was on the road! Soon after, I took a wrong turn in Libertad, but soon found my way back to the proper route, and was on my way. Passed big sugar cane fields, and a sugar plant spewing great quantities of black smoke that seemed incongruous. Passed big orange groves in bloom, and smelling wonderful. The road through the mountains south of Belmopan is quite beautiful, an appreciation hampered only by my dwindling fuel supply. I stopped opposite the gate at an orange processing plant, and a worker told me (in English!) that the next gas was 6 miles further. I was home free! Gassed up, and by this time it was getting dark, but I continued on my way, because I knew the roads.
Although the last 23 miles to Placencia are dirt, they are working on it, and it isn’t at its worst. So with a slightly better surface, and a high level of impatience for the journey to end, I traveled at about 20 MPH down the dusty road, having to stop when the 4 or 5 vehicles approaching me passed, to allow the dust to settle enough to be able to see where I was going. Arrived in the dooryard, 4272 miles from the start, at about 9 PM, and daughter-in-law Rilda had a fine dinner of local fish ready for me. I was home!

Day 21 - Day 3 in Mexico

2009-03-21T08:42:00.000-06:00

In the morning David headed off to find studs for the wheel, and I had a chance to see where I was in daylight. Beautiful fields with cattle grazing on my side of the road. I got out my good camera and took a few photos, shown here:

People (probably a dozen in all) came out of nowhere to take buses into town. Several came down the road to the bus stop, others crossed over from the village. I took the pictures above and below from the pedestrian walkway. There were cowboys in a far field, too distant to photograph.

A dog came sauntering down the side of the road, crossed over and walked along the barrier in the middle. I was sure she would be killed and couldn’t look, but she wasn’t. Don’t know where she went. Farm tractor came down the road, and turned at an opening in the median half a mile or so down. Meanwhile, traffic barrels past at 60 MPH +.

David got back with the studs at about 10, repaired the truck, and we were off again. As stated earlier, I was blessed, my worst fears were not realized. We pushed hard for the border, which closes for cargo traffic at 4, but did not make the 350 miles by then. The 350 miles were a mix of expressway and 3-lane, with quite a bit of construction thrown into the mix. There was very little traffic – the Guatemala traffic had turned of in Villahermosa, and the traffic for the upper Yucatan peninsula headed north there as well, or at Escarcega. From there onward it was traffic either for Belize, or Chetumal, Mexico.

We arrived at the border entrance at about 6 PM, parked our trucks in a yard that a private individual has where trucks park while waiting for the border to open. It’s fenced and watched over at night. Took a cab a short ride to a hotel a little closer to the border, took showers, and not finding a good restaurant David knew open nearby, took a cab into Chetumal and had dinner in a restaurant that caters to tourists. Cab ride was 9 miles, was 60 pesos, or about $4.35 US. David was still wearing his tee shirt from the night before, but we couldn’t find a tee shirt vendor, so hailed a cab back to the hotel, and got a good nights sleep.

Day 20 - An eventful one in Mexico

2009-03-21T08:40:00.000-06:00

Got up and got going, I was glad my milk and OJ hadn’t soured, so I had some Wheat Chex I had brought for breakfast because nothing was open when we got started. In a about 100 miles we got onto an expressway, and for the rest of the day we were on those good toll roads. The road passed through some lowlands south of Veracruz where I saw some horses and cattle grazing – and standing in water up to their knees. It was disconcerting. We stopped outside Villahermosa to eat and decide if to push late and try to get to Escarcega, the next town with good hotels. I was glad we stopped and ate.

We were back on the road at about 8 PM, and at about 8:30, BAM! The left tire on my trailer blew out. Very fortunately I was on an expressway which has a shoulder, and I was able to pull off so the wheel wasn’t in a travel lane. I was glad that after the trailer axle broke in Mass. I had purchased a reflective triangle and some road flares. David did not see my flashing headlights in his rear view mirror, and was through the toll booth about a kilometer away, and over a rise, before he noticed I wasn’t there. I was glad I had multiple mounted spares for the trailer, and put one on the trailer without being killed by the traffic rushing past. Got going, and met up with David again just past the tollbooth. We were off again.

Half an hour later BANG! The right had side of my truck dropped down and I quickly pulled to the side of the highway while flashing my headlights madly in hopes David would see me. Got out and looked with my flashlight, since by now it was 9:30, and my tire and rim were gone. Wheel had dropped to the pavement, and the brake assembly had been torn away. I thought; “Oh, shit,” . This was a big problem, beyond David’s ability to help. I faced a day or more of dealing with a mechanic I would have to find, struggling to communicate. Was my truck dead? What about the boat? What to do, what to do.
David had seen my signal early, pulled over and walked back to see what the issue was. He recognized right away that the studs in the wheel had sheared off. So the solution was to replace them. Using his 8 ton hydraulic jack and my truck jack we got it jacked up out of the gravel.
Again, I was grateful that in my truck, and accessible, I had wrenches, hammers and punches, and even a can of washers and screws. I even had a big spotlight in the boat to provide good light. We (David) needed them all. He punched out the stud studs, and now had a sample for sizing. By now it was 10;30 or later. He went back to his truck and headed off to see if he could find a mechanic or shop open that had studs.
I then went looking for my rim & tire, and pieces of my brake assembly. The tire had rolled across the highway and was up against the center barrier, with part of it in the passing lane. I retrieved it, grateful once again that it was not in the middle of the road where a truck or car would have swerved to avoid it and crashed in to me or the boat. I noticed I was right at a pedestrian overpass over the highway, and that there was a bus waiting shelter 100 yards behind me. There were a few lights in a village on the other side of the highway, but no signs of life. Best to stay put. I set out the reflective triangle, got in the cab of my truck and waited.
David got back about midnight, no luck. We spent the night sleeping in our trucks. The passenger side of his cab was as full of stuff as mine. This was definitely a step down from the hotel the night before. I was grateful I had brought my pillow, and it was accessible in the back of the truck. The boat was too full of stuff to sleep in. Trucks roared by through the night, one of them so close it destroyed the triangle I had set out on the white line on the edge of the road. Again, got an estimated 4 hours of interrupted sleep. Was glad I was so tired from the night before.

Day 19 - day 2 in Mexico

2009-03-21T08:32:00.000-06:00

Sunday was a pleasant day without tire or mechanical problems. I really liked the countryside we passed through, it reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of the savannah in Africa. When we had first entered Mexico there were very big truck farms like I had seen in Texas, and gradually they gave way to ranches with cattle – a sight I saw for the rest of the trip. The ranches are managed by Mexican cowboys – the real thing. I saw no ATVs on the ranches, but many men on horses working the cattle. Because I was following David, and did not want to lose him, I tried taking photos with my little point and shoot camera through my windshield, but none of the photos do the scale of the landscape, or the ranching activity, justice. We covered about 450 miles, quite an accomplishment because much of it was over primary highways that went through villages, and not expressways.
Every village had at least two speed bumps, which have to be taken very slowly. In every case there would be enterprising people standing in the middle of the road offering peeled oranges, or bottles of orange drink, or some fruit I did not recognize to those passing through. Interestingly, I see none of that in Belize, although the villages the roads pass through aren’t as densely settled as they are in Mexico.
In some towns there were many, many fruit stands selling big bags of oranges or other fruit. What was odd was that it appeared everyone was selling the same thing, so I’m not sure how they fared with so much competition. We’re talking 40 +/- stands. Here’s a photo of one out in the country as I drove by.
We travelled over three basic types of roads. The best were the toll roads, which were two lanes in each direction, with fairly limited access. For the most part these roads had comparatively (to other Mexican roads) smooth surfaces. Here’s a picture of one.

The next step down were roads that were about 3 lanes wide. In each direction there were 1-½ lanes, and if a car or truck wanted to pass you, or if there was a car passing another and approaching you, you just move over into the ½ outside lane. These roads were less smooth than the expressways, which are toll roads, and better than the local highways. Here’s a picture of one:

The roads that were the harriest to drive on were what I will call here the local highways. These roads are major intertown highways, but were one lane in each direction, and narrow to boot. They have no shoulders, and are built so that they are 15 to 25 feet above the surrounding landscape in the towns they pass through, and less so in less settled areas. I could not take a picture, I had to steer with both hands to avoid falling off the road. In settled areas where they were at the surrounding grade, they had speed bumps that make the Stevens Ave bumps wimpy. We drove until 9 or 10 that night, and passed one bad car accident and one overturned 18 wheeler on that type of road after dark.

I think Mexico has variations of paving machines that create bumps in the roads. When you are towing a trailer, you are very aware of bumps because of the effect on the ride, and these local roads were very bumpy. We travelled over some fairly recently paved roads, and they had bumps. I nearly lost control more than once, the remedy being to brake moderately to stop the swinging motion. We only travelled on the main roads, there were many paved and dirt roads leading off our route.

We finally stopped at a hotel in Monte Gordo, which is about 40 miles south of Poza Rica. The village was full of trucks that had stopped for the night, but I think the drivers were sleeping in their trucks because I think we were the only occupants of the hotel besides the owner, whose room was 3 doors from ours. Like the other hotels we stayed at, the beds were actually like low concrete tables with mattresses on them. But the room was clean, and we had a bathroom/shower. At that hotel there was no lip to contain the shower water in the shower area, and because the drain did not work faster than the shower, it resulted in a major puddle in the bathroom.

It was hard sleeping there that night because there was a speed bump right in front of the hotel. Trucks that did not stop for the night would use their engines to break through multiple gears as they approached the bump, and then power up again through multiple gears. The rooms were basic concrete, there was no sound deadening material anywhere, so the sound seemed amplified. I might have gotten 4 hours of good sleep.

A lifetime of living in Maine and only receiving information about the Mexican people from the US media did not prepare me for what I observed. The media makes you think that everyone on Mexico is in abject poverty, and wants to come to the US, if they haven’t already. Lately, the media has given the impression of open warfare along the border. Both are wrong. The presence of soldiers, and even the roadblocks, was reassuring, we never paid any bribes or received indications we were expected to. Almost all the cars I saw on the highways were late model cars, primarily Japanese brands, although it was fun seeing the VW beetles that are still being made in Mexico. My truck was probably one of the oldest on the road, which may mean the bumpy Mexican roads are a way to wear out vehicles faster. I saw lots of people working. I understand Mexico has the 12th largest economy in the world, and like the US, it has its poor and indigent, who look to the US for opportunity. But I saw happy people working and enjoying various levels of prosperity.
And so went day 19 – day 2 in Mexico.

Day 18 - first day in Mexico

2009-03-20T11:30:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed that there are two Day 17s on this blog – I didn’t realize that the Saturday I entered Mexico was the 18th day of the trip. Although I posted that day, it was a hurried posting at a computer in the lobby of the hotel we stayed at. You may have noticed some punctuation issues in that posting – the keyboard was a Spanish keyboard, and the punctuation keys were different!
As related earlier, it was a fairly frustrating experience getting to the border because of issues I didn’t fully understand because my broker didn’t speak very fluent English and/or wasn’t very communicative. I just know that all of a sudden he said I had to get to the border right away to get in line, and even led me there. Said they would bring the final paperwork to me in line. It turned out that the US officials only work at the cargo entrance until noon on Saturday.
The line itself was fascinating. It was almost entirely made up of vehicles pulling other vehicles. In many cases they were the worse for wear, cars especially appeared to have been in accidents. I have since learned that folks from throughout Central America will come to the US to buy these cars and trucks, and when they take them back to their home countries the duties are less because they are wrecks. They repair/rebuild them for resale. This is less true of the larger trucks, although they are still well used. Here are photos of small pickups towing small pickups, big dumptrucks towing big dumptrucks, with cars in the beds of both trucks, and a truck cab hauling 4 additional truck cabs.

I’ve heard that there have been some issues in the US about Mexican trucks and drivers. I found that their trucks appeared to be as new as trucks generally are in the US, and I believe the drivers are perhaps more skilled because they have to drive on primary roads that are quite narrow in some cases. There are double bottom trucks as well, but in Mexico they are two long trailers, not two short ones as in the US. Here’s a photo of one in the yard at Belize customs. I watched the driver back these trailers into that spot and it was amazing. At any rate, as related earlier, I met David as we both went through the process of having US customs make sure our vehicles weren’t stolen, and the Mexican customs making sure we did not take contraband into Mexico. Although I had multiple items that might not pass muster, the only thing that interested them was my LCD flat screen TV, which I had to pay them the equivalent of $30 for duty. Even that was frustrating – first the customs official was not at his post, and after he finally showed up, I then had to go to the cashier, in another building. The cashier wasn’t there, and after a while I went back to the customs official and he took my money, stamped the papers, and sent me back to the official at the gate who had other papers I would need to show elsewhere, especially when I exited.
There were probably 30 to 40 soldiers at this border point. They had pickup with machine guns mounted on the tops of the cabs, and many were carrying automatic weapons. They were checking the autos and smaller trucks entering through the tourist entrance, primarily for guns.
We finally got through customs and on our way at about 2 PM. We had not gotten 20 miles before being stopped by local police, who were concerned about the chemical David was hauling. Here is a photo of his rig, and another of David, standing in front of my truck.

The chemical was a dark green color, and fairly thick. It is used to make a foam to fill tires so they do not go flat, and carries toxic warnings. Because he knows Spanish, he talked with them, and after half an hour, they let us go. This happened several times over the first couple of days. Because I always pulled up behind him, when they came to me I would say, “No habla espanol”. They would check my passport and truck title, and that would be it. (Later in the trip David started pretending to not know Spanish, and the police stops became much quicker.)
An hour or so later we had our first flats (in Mexico). David had had a flat on his trailer in Texas, so had no spare. Now the rear passenger side tire on his truck blew out. We mounted his spare, and fortunately my tire wrench fit his lug nuts, because the wrench in his truck didn’t. After replacing it with his spare we went a few miles and pulled into a place that we thought might have tires. They didn’t, but while David was making the inquiry, the right rear tire on my truck went flat. So we replaced it with my spare. At this point neither of us had spares, although I had spare tires that were not mounted. Where we stopped had no tires, but continuing down the road we came to a restaurant + where they brought out a tire that would fit David’s rim. The mechanic was working on the engine of someone’s car, and did not have time to mount it. Further down the road we saw a welcome tire mounted in the dirt so it would stand up, with the word “VULCAN” painted on it. Mexico does not allow people to bring more than one spare tire in to the country (although I did), and there is a cottage industry of individuals along the highway who will mount tires. They usually have a pile of used tires in the yard. We stopped at the first one we came to, and at the direction of the wife with a truck horn we called her husband in from a wooded field where he had been watering his burro. Husband and son hustled back, and using very rudimentary had tools like hammers and bars, changed both our tires. David’s did not hold air, so had to be dismounted, patched and remounted. No such thing as wheel balancing. Below is a photo of the tire man working on a tire, with his pile of tires in the foreground. Total charge: 50 pesos, which is the equivalent of $3.58 US.

Because David had only slept two hours the previous night, we stopped at a hotel he knew in San Fernando de Presas, had dinner, and went to bed. That’s when I posted the Day 17 below, relating how I had met him. I ended that posting with “I feel blessed”, and I can tell you with great certainty that I was blessed. That’s enough for this posting, Day 19 next.

Day 23 - from Placencia, Belize!

2009-03-19T09:23:00.000-06:00

Whew! Arrived last night at 8 PM! Much to write about the adventure of driving the length of Mexico. That country is not at all what the US media presents it as - it is not like Iraq! My Mennonite friend, David, was of invaluable assistance to me getting through Mexico, and fortunately, I was of assistance to him. He is one of 17 kids in his family, has 8 brothers and 8 sisters. Now 32, he started working at age 14, is extremely resourceful, and you could not meet a nicer person.

I write this sitting at a desk in Bradley's office. For those reading this that don't know the name, Bradley is a step-son who has been in Belize for 15 or so years, and is involved in property management, development and sales. Although we haven't talked details yet, I will probably be doing bookkeeping for him and who knows what else.

Last night I went up on the roof to view the millions of stars visible in the clear night sky. Then to bed on top of the bed, the ceiling fans creating a cooling breeze. Woke first at 4:30 to the dogs barking in the nearby village, and then at 6:00 to the sounds of the world waking up and getting started. I will have to adjust my sleeping schedule to this new reality! Still, better than the night spent sleeping in the cab of my truck on the side of the freeway in Mexico!

There is much to write about the adventure following Brownsville, and what I propose to do is create postings for each day of the trip, accompanied by general observations about various aspects of the country, and photos. I would really like to go back, without the boat in tow, with a working knowledge of Spanish, and with my camera. Someday I will.

That's it for this posting, thank you all for your prayers and best wishes. And remember, to win an all expense paid trip to Belize, enter the raffle at http://www.rotaryclubofplacencia.org/. If you win, you won't regret it, and if you lose, you will support some very worthy efforts.

More postings to come....

Day 17- ' Mexico' day 1

2009-03-14T18:47:00.000-06:00

The most amazing thing happened. After a frustrating morning waiting for the broker, and then waiting for the paperwork to be right and god knows what else, since no one spoke fluent English besides myself, they finally rushed me off to the border entrance I was to use. I learned later that they rushed me there without the correct paperwork because the US was going to close the exit I was to use at noon. I{ll write more about the details of that experience, complete with photos, later. What is amazing is that at one of the final stops on the Mexican side, a young fellow driving a big pickup with two large containeers of a chemical in the back, and hauling a trailer with a hay baler and more on the back, came up to me and asked me if I was from Belize. He had seen the Placencia, Belize on the back of my boat. HIs driving situation is nearly the same as mine. Turns out he is from the Mennonite community in Blue Creek, Belize, and is hauling that stuff back. He has done this run a number of times, and didnt mind at all if I followed him. And he speaks Spanish. And he knows where the speed bumps are. And he knows the secure hotels-motels. And the decent food. So Im following him, we are splitting the cost of the room, and I,m learning all about his community. Such good fortune. I type this on a computer in the hotel lobby, so must be brief. I got up at 630 AM, David slept 2 hours last night. So we called it quits early , I had Fajitas con Pollo for dinner, and well get an early start in the morning. I feel blessed.

Brownsville - Day 17

2009-03-13T12:07:00.000-06:00

I know many of my friends who are following this story are concerned about my safety in Mexico, and even I am slightly concerned. However, I read the local paper here every day, and if Americans were being assaulted in Mexico, I'm sure it would be well publicized. Today's Brownsville Herald carried an AP story I'll quote in part:

"Washington - The Homeland Security Deparment's attache to Mexico says the violence in Mexico is not as dangerous to tourists as has been portrayed. Speaking to a House Subcommittee on Thursday, Alonzo Pena said the violence is in isolated areas of the country and only affects the people involved in criminal activity. He said the violence is not affecting U.S. citizens visiting Mexico...In February, the State Department advised travelers to avoid areas of prostitution and drug dealing in Mexico."
I suspect the State Department would not advise travelers to visit such areas in any country!

What seems to be going on is that it has become harder for the drug cartels to get drugs into the U.S., demand is down in the U.S. but up in Europe, but the Columbian cartels are working through the mafia and not the Mexicans in that market. So the Mexican cartels are fighting with each other for the shrinking market, and with the increased presence of the Army.

Sometimes it is useful to look for the money - in this case, if politicians make noise about an issue, perhaps more money will flow to an area to fix it. The local politicians here don't see a need for it.

I haven't posted any pictures for a few days, but there really isn't much to see here in the sprawling community. I had expected a Texas version of Portland, but the landscvape is dominated by malls of various sizes and types and chain stores of every type. Here is a photo taken from my door at the Best Western, looking across the parking lot with my truck in the foreground and the boat in the back. Every night there are a few vehicles pulling trailers that park along that central barrier.

The main highway into Brownsville is state Rt 77 and 83. As it comes into the heart of the city it is elevated to cross over major cross streets, and then drops down in between them for exits and entrances. There are one way frontage roads on each side that serve the business the line them. The elevated sections have some graphics in relief that make them more interesting than they might otherwise be. Here's a photo taken from the entrance of the motel, and a closeup.

Tomorrow is the big day. Not sure if I'll have internet service where I stop for the night, but will try to take some photos and will post

Brownsville - day 16

2009-03-12T21:37:00.000-06:00

When I went to bed last night I left the AC running in the room, and when I got up this morning it was colder outside than in the room! Mid 50s, with a little off and on drizzle for much of the day.

Spent the morning before the drizzle started reloading the truck - I've lost track of how many times I've done it! Most of the rest of the day was spent working with my GPS Mexican map software trying to locate hotels in urban areas I'll be passing through, and trying to locate those hotels. Not nearly as user friendly as the Delorme software I used on my trip south through the US.

At about 8 PM Alejando Roberts, the broker I am using, came by and we discussed the route I'll take. He offered the services of a rider to accompany me, but said he didn't think I would need it. Said many people drive to Belize over this route, and that I can probably convoy with others. Also suggested using motels in some of the smaller cities/towns along the way to avoid getting tangled in urban traffic, especially with the boat. I'll play it by ear, depending in part on the convoy situation.

In the morning he will take me to Mexico to get my USD converted to Pesos. I will make a 4000 Peso deposit, $272 at the current exchange rate, which will be returned to me when I get to border with Belize. Can expect to pay taxes of $40 -50 USD on the stuff in the truck. He'll give me multiple phone numbers in case of problems, but says he doesn't expect there to be any.

I'm feeling more and more confident that the trip will go smoothly.

In final analysis, I wasted a lot of time working on my route etc that would have been better spent learning Spanish, but am ending the day with greater peace of mind than I when I woke.