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August 04 We've moved blog sites!!!!!The joys of technology have not come our way. For some bizarre reason, we can no longer post pictures on this blog, so we've moved to a different site. We just see this all as part of the adventure, so please come along and find out more about our lives in San Pedro at this link - Exploring Belize Continues. If you know anyone who has enjoyed our blog, please pass on the change. New house, new blog - it all works. July 31 Ladies and Gentleman - The amazing smallest banana in the worldWe've moved house. It has been so busy but even moving home in Belize is fun if you have the right attitude. We're going to tell you how it went for us and then you can compare it to how it is where you live.
Well, we have no furniture to speak of, so this is a necessity before we move. We had two weeks to prepare. Colette had to take a shopping trip and this meant flying over to Belize City. She spent the morning with a lovely guy we know there and hit the furniture shops. There are only three in the city. One of them is Courts, which seems to use it to get rid of all the stuff they can't sell anywhere else in the world. The other one we won't name but lets just say that we will not buy furniture from a shop that smells like an old people's home. That just left the good old Mirab's furniture shop. Impressive place and very professional. As good a range and as well displayed as any good furniture shop. Expensive though because everything is imported. Furniture is weird here. We'll be doing more furniture shopping later so hang on. Anyway, Colette picked the Paradox Cocoa and we've put up a picture here that we've stolen from some online catalogue. Oh my god. It is so nice to be comfortable again.
Well almost. You see, the house is hot. Very hot. It got up to 41degrees celcius one afternoon inside the house. This is a problem. Not only does the house get hot, but the floors, the walls and furniture heat up too. This has made everything a little tricky for us, but we love the place and have a really nice landlady who is trying to help us sort it all out. It makes sure we spend a lot of time outside, which is lovely and we've got a yard here that we and the dogs enjoy.
Anyway, back to moving and furniture. So, we buy the sofa and asked for it to be delivered on a certain date the following week. Sofa was delivered perfectly on time and in great shape. We also had to get a bed. We figured that since we plan to buy a place and live here permanently, that we might as well invest in a really good bed. It just arrived in the middle of writing this blog and it hasn't been put together yet, but we've taken a quick picture of the headboard just so that we can smugly rub in what a beautiful tropical, custom made, mixed hardwood bed we've had made. We could also rub in how much we paid for it, but we'll just let you drool.
So, the bed was made beautifully to our specs, the sofa turns up on time and of course we need some men to move us. So Colette calls a number she has been given by a friend. She tells the guy on the end of the phone to bring two more guys to our address on Friday at 10am. He says fine. By Thursday we decided we didn't want to rush too much - which is the effect life in Belize has on you - and called the guy again. Can we change it to Saturday? No problem at all. They turned up on time and had us moved in within 1 1/2 hours. How is that for service. We also had the cable tv and internet all connected on the same day. Everyone came when they said they would and everything worked.
It's not been all work. We found a little dog on the street. She was so cute. After a couple of days of asking around we put up posters and ads and found her owner. Her name was Angel and she was adorable. Check out the poster and pics. We also managed a fun snorkel trip with our wonderful neighbours and their family. We went with one of our favourite snorkel guides, Tulu. During this trip Maya realised that we didn't have an unfortunate party picture to put up this month, so she has provided the shot.
We have lovely friends and they have been dropping by to see our new pad. One of them brought us a lovely mint plant (thank you Cindy), so it will Mohitos all round before long. We've been spending a lot of time in the garden and it is lovely. We have bananas just about ready to pick. We can't wait. We eat a lot of fruit here, banana, papaya, mango most days. But to grow your own is just great. We did buy some apple bananas recently and check out the smallest banana ever. Maya had to eat it after we shared it by taking snaps.
Well as it is so hot, it is time to put this blog to bed. More will be coming soon as August is going to be a jam packed month for us - both of our birthdays and lots of other exciting things. Stay tuned. July 11 Don't try this at homeBefore we came to live in Belize, many people here warned us that dealing with officials and businesses could be very frustrating and slow. Perhaps those people have never dealt with businesses and officials in London where 'customer service' does not exist in reality. Honestly, customer service doesn't really exist in Belize either, but that is because everyone is treated like an individual here and while it doesn't always help things go smoothly, it makes everything that much more pleasant.
So in a single day we would like to tell you what we managed to achieve. We started off by calling the bank about a problem with our statements. Colette did not identify herself but as soon as she started speaking the lovely lady at the bank said 'Is this Miss Colette?'. For those of you who are not familiar with Belizean custom, using the term Miss or Mr before someone's name is a respectful way to address people here. They sorted out our problem immediately and had a letter ready for us first thing the next morning. Try that with Barclays!
So then we had to go and get insurance for our vehicle. Last weekend, Maya got stopped at a road check to discover much to her horror that our insurance had expired the week previously. She got a 50BZ fine and had to produce documents within 15 days. So we popped down to the insurance company, paid our annual vehicle insurance and then headed off to the town hall to pay the fine. In the town hall we chatted to some of the people we know who worked there, paid our fine and toodled off. Just to put this into perspective, 50BZ dollars equals 25US dollars or 13UK pounds.
We then popped into the post office where the postal workers greet us with a smile and don't even ask our names. Friends and family often find it strange that we have a general delivery address here. Almost everyone receives their mail by general delivery here. There are a small number of postal boxes so some lucky people, but mainly businesses, have a post box. The rest of us are just on general delivery. So the way you collect your post is to go into the post office and they keep everything in alphabetical order in boxes on the wall. When we walk in, the guys smile and immediately look in the right place for our post. They know us well and are always lovely and helpful. There is no postal or zip code here and there are no house numbers. There are barely street names and you won't find many people who actually know any of the streets by name anyway. Locations are usually identified by local landmarks. Local landmarks are usually well known peoples' houses. So someones address could sound like 'Down by the lagoon near the big green Gonzales house'.
We then had some documents to pick up from the police station. We'd called a week ago to ask when the documents would be there. So we turned up to pick them up. As we walked in, one of the police women pointed to a pile of documents and told her colleague that our paperwork was ready. Again, we didn't even say our names. Well that all went simply and without a hitch.
You won't believe this, but all of this had been done in under an hour. Now we had to go and buy a new bed. We visited a number of wood shops and talked to the owners, getting quotes on a bed we wanted to have custom built. They would give the quotes without a picture, just by our description. We checked on the cheapest wood available at the moment. The cheapest wood available right now is mahogany. We settled on one of the wood shops and ordered our bed. We then went to buy a mattress. Colette handled this.
Mattresses are sold in the hardware shops here. So into the hardware shop she went and all the mattresses were stacked on big metal shelves, logically (not) with the biggest ones at the very top right near the ceiling. Colette tells one of the helpers that she wants to try the mattresses before buying them. She gets met with a quizzical look, but female helper goes off in search of a male helper. He just shrugs and climbs the shelves, dragging mattresses down. Then they had to make room so the mattresses could be laid down on the floor. Then they stood by and watched with amusement as Colette laid on each one of them. Colette explained to them that there was a difference in cost between two of the mattresses of 500BZ. She wanted to see what 500BZ felt like and if it was worth the extra money. She decides it isnt worth it and takes the less expensive one.
We then dropped into a local bistro for lunch. Before we could order a friend dropped in. She sat down to join us for lunch and catch us up with what she has been up to. Then another friend dropped by and we had a little chat. The owner of the bistro popped in and out and made time to talk to us about her current projects. One thing about living on a small island, you cannot live a secretive life. For some, after the anonymity of somewhere like London, it can prove a bit of a culture shock. For us, it is exactly the life and community we were hoping to find.
Before the day ended, we had to do one last chore. Contact a JP (Justice of the Peace) who could sign some paperwork for us. We found our JP, had a lovely glass or three of wine with him and his wife and finished our day. Now can you imagine if you had tried to get all of this done in one day where you live now? July 01 Did we miss June?So we had it all planned. We were going to blog more often. What happened? Blogging takes a lot of effort folks and it has been a very busy month. So here goes boys and girls. Hope you like it.
This month Colette took a trip to Belize City to help out with the Belize Humane Society's 'A very shrimpy affair' fundraiser. It was pretty amazing. The food was a low country boil up, which is a style of food from the south of the USA. Shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn all boiled up and served with red rice. The red rice was a bit of an issue. Colette arrived in Belize City and as she walked to her friend's house she got a call. It was her friend Caroline, the one who was organising the event. She asked if Colette could get started with the rice. She said all the ingredients were there and that there was a recipe in the kitchen. Colette arrived to find two helpers working hard. Neither of them spoke English and Colette's Spanish is non existent. Between them they managed to work things out until Caroline came home. As Colette tried to add the chicken stock to the recipe and Caroline told her only to use half. Colette pointed out that the recipe said differently. Caroline said 'Oh Shit' (actually she said a lot more than that). She had cooked up a whole load of rice earlier and only used half the liquid needed for the recipe. They just took the optimistic stance and were particularly lucky as this was a 'ladies only' event and it was highly likely that the vast majority of the women there would be practicing the low carb dieting thing. Lo and behold they were correct and never had to fall back to using the crunchy rice. It was a hit. Colette met some interesting women and was terribly impressed that nearly 70 of the most influential women in Belize were prepared to get together to support the Humane Society. http://www.belizehumanesociety.com/
But this month was full of all sorts of events. The schools graduated their kids this month and the event was full of smiley happy kids and proud parents. Can't resist including cute pictures of the event. We also have some lovely friends who have moved away and we miss them like crazy.
This month we did go fishing but we decided to spare you too many fishing pictures. We've just sneaked in this one of Colette on the infamous tub.
In the midst of this busy month was the Summer Solstice. Maya took up the offer of a friend of ours to go up to the Cerros ruin, north of us on the mainland in Belize. Maya describes it as a ruin for beginners. It is very cute and Maya had a great time. She spent the night at Cerros Beach Inn http://cerrosbeachresort.com/ and says that the food and company were wonderful. She got to know the owners, Bill and Jen and wants us all to go back to visit - dogs included. Maya was hosted by a lovely friend of ours who drove her around in her funky big, white Mercedes. Cerros is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so they had quite an adventure. They managed to all get to the ruin at sunrise and they were the only people there. Maya is turning into Dora the Explorer.
San Pedro held its first every Lobster Fest this month. For those of you who dont know, lobster in Belize is what is known as Rock Lobster. No claws, but very tasty. Funnily enough, while Colette was in Belize City at the fundraiser, she got a phone call asking if she would be willing to participate as Lobster Queen. Laugh. You might. We did. Anyway, she said 'umm no'. So then they asked her if she would be a judge. So she said 'umm yes'. We were already heading off to Lobster Fest as a friend of ours, Sharon, was setting up a Lobster Sushi stall. Yumm. It was a great party. The Lobster King and Queen competition was a bit of a joke though and Colette discovered that if she had agreed to go up for Lobster Queen, she would have had to go up against one of the cutest little girls in town, Alyssa. Alyssa was the only contestant, so won by default. Lobster King was slightly more controversial. In the end, it was won by Sterling. He owns the Island Ferry water taxi service. He did make a big effort with a Didgeridoo introduction, having slathered himself with something red, wearing a paper crown and with a necklace of putrid smelling lobster shells he ranted on about his manifesto. We were all for Walter, but that is because Walter is our favourite Rasta pizza chef. Our friend Steve also went up and we thought he had a good chance because he is naturally very bright red in the face. Unfortunately we couldn't get a flattering picture of him. Another time Steve. JD, a local character, also entered but we reckon he wasn't sure whether he was up for Lobster King or Queen. He didn't seem to care.
While we were all partying in town, the woodshop behind our place burned to the ground. It was pretty spectacular. Fires here take hold really fast and furious. We do have a fire truck and it does its best, but it has to run hoses to the sea to pump water and it isn't very efficient. Neighbours formed a human chain with buckets. But nothing was salvageable and by morning it was just a smoldering pile of ash.
The stupendous Capt Jeff came for a visit. Too short as always. It was so action packed we don't even have any photos for you. Needless to say that the visit involved a lot of fishing, eating and the sharing of bad jokes. We also attended our fab friend Shaz's birthday (of unforutunate party picture fame). It was one of the least surprising, surprise parties we've ever attended but it was an absolute hoot.
To finish the month off properly, our lovely neighbours invited us over for some authentic Indian food. Jamilla is known across the country for her amazing cooking, so were were priveleged to be guests. It has been a long time since we have had Indian food. It was absolutely delicious.
Well that is about it for this month. So much more happened, but if you want to know what goes on, you really have to come here and share it with us.
June 02 GraduationsYesterday Colette went to watch a friend's child graduate from his class at Island Academy. For those of you who don't know about this school, it is run by Dixie Bowen. She is the wife of Barry Bowen, who owns Bowen and Bowen - the makers of Belikin (the only beer you can get in Belize - they also hold all distribution rights for most of the soft drinks here). The school is located on one of the most prestigious pieces of beach on the island. The children go to school in cute little huts all along the beach and have views of palm trees, the Caribbean Sea and the longest barrier reef in the Northern hemisphere. Wow, what a place to be able to attend school.
We have always been impressed with the way the children seem to thrive at this school. It is a private school but not beyond the means of middle class Belizeans. It currently doesn't have a High School, which means that many kids of High School age who attend the school, leave the country when it is time to further their education. This makes graduations very emotional times because often the children will never see eachother again because once they move on to a school abroad, they rarely come back.
Colette was amazed at how many children at the school we already know and it really brought home the sense that we are part of a community. In London, there was never a sense of community. You might know your local shopkeeper, but just to say hello to. Even after years and years. Here, in San Pedro, we get to know the families and watch the kids develop. Now anyone who knows us, knows we are not the most child friendly at times. What with our potty mouths, our disdain for authority and self centred lack of patience with some children's needs - you might be surprised to know that we have baby sat for neighbours children and sent them off to school, we have gotten to know children of our friends and gotten the opportunity grow to love and adore them. It reminds us how we never had the chance to do this with the children of our friends in the UK because no one ever has time. We still have potty mouths, we still have a disdain for authority but we now have so much more patience with children and appreciation for their mothers. We have to say. Mothers rock!
So, Colette arrives at Island Academy in her normal outfit of cargo shorts and a vest. Everyone is getting seated and settled and across the crowd of dressed up, nervous parents comes a shout 'Hey Colette, glad to see you dressed for the ocassion' - followed by laughter. Colette responded 'Hey, I wore shoes'. And you know what - in San Pedro - that is considered dressing up.
We went out with some lovely friends and their kids for lunch at Elvi's Kitchen. For those of you who don't know it - it is nothing to do with Elvis. It is named after Elvi and is the the oldest restaurant in San Pedro. Sand floors, a tree in the middle of the room and good food. For dinner, it is a bit touristy for us, but for lunch is always a treat. Colette did what she does best and worked up the children into a frenzy resembling the sugar high seen after a particularly bountiful Easter chocolate orgy. Everyone laughed a lot, especially when the discussion focused on the concept that Colette should teach Health Ed (read Sex Ed) at the school. She would scare them so much that they probably would never have sex - ever.
Maya, the incredible eating machine, manged to eat three pieces of fried chicken and a key lime pie, before promptly collapsing from heat exhaustion when she got home. |
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