A week in time...

Monday night while getting ready to watch “Benjamin Button” on DVD Linda discovered another uninvited guest in our bathroom…a 4 inch tarantula! Rick said it wouldn’t eat much, so we decided to leave him be. After the movie I still wasn’t feeling comfortable about the furry critter in the bathroom, so I asked Rick to accompany me to the bathroom with a flashlight. We searched the place where he was previously only to find him missing. Upon further investigation, we found him lingering next to the toilet. Rick caught him in our frying pan and relocated him to the property next store. OK…I think I can sleep now.

Tuesday morning we decided that our time on the Placencia peninsula was coming to an end, so if we were ever going to search real estate we better do it now. We went into town and after breakfast at the local bakery we met with one of the local real estate “professionals”…he realized we weren’t going to buy immediately and sort of brushed us off by just giving us a couple of properties to check out before he promised to be in touch. We spent the next couple of hours looking at his recommendations and got a better idea of pricing for lots and/or houses in this area. The rest of the day was spent in a leisurely fashion with naps, swimming, chatting and internet.

Wednesday morning we awoke early and after breakfast went kayaking across the bay to False Caye, a jaunt of about 2+ miles each way. We had the snorkeling gear with us, but few patches of coral were visible from our perches, so we just took a brief rest break on the island before returning home. We did see some jelly fish and starfish and lots of little fish right from the kayaks. We turned around and headed back to the peninsula, arriving home pooped out!!! We rested for the afternoon and then prepared for our evening out on the town. We started out at the Pickled Parrot for happy hour. Rick tried a new drink, a Belizean iced tea (strong, unsweetened tea with rum and lime juice). Quite refreshing. Linda finally got her strawberry daiquiri…not made with fresh strawberries, but still delicious. Rick has some ideas on how to grow fresh strawberries here to solve this issue. Next stop was Trevor’s Place, the new business started by the guy we met at lunch on our first day on the peninsula. Rick had rum and lime juice and Linda had rum punch, each only $1 US for happy hour! Linda wasn’t thrilled were her concoction, so she switched back to strawberry daiquiris…mmmmmm. While sipping our second drink, we met Etta, a NY’er to Californian who is in town doing the same thing we are, searching for the right fit. We chatted for a while and then she turned us on to a real estate gal she was working with (she seemed to think we would get along with her very well). We moved on to the Tipsy Tuna, the big gringo hang-out, for a continuation of happy hour and dinner. Rick had a jumbo fish burrito and Linda had a jumbo chicken burrito. Delicious and finally affordable. After our second cocktail we turned around and who did we see, but Etta. We invited her to join us, which she did, and spent another hour or so chatting again. We learned that she has already put a down payment on a piece of property, but hadn’t shared that with us previously due to her superstitions. She turned us on to another real estate agent and then we were entertained by the Garifuna drummer/singing. Several kids were dancing on the beach to the tunes and there were even horseshoe pits available for use with night-lighting for tournaments. When the band took a break we decided to return home to prepare to depart in the morning.

Thursday morning after packing we said good-bye to Chuck and the boys and hopped in the car and headed back into the village. We stopped at the bank, but our debit cards had never arrived from Belize City. The customer service agent called BC and found out that they had never been mailed. He requested that they be sent to our future destination, Belmopan, to catch up with us next week. We then returned to De Tatch, a restaurant on the beach that we had eaten at last June, and had a wonderful inexpensive breakfast. Topped off the gas tank and headed to the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the home of the jaguar preserve, on our way to Hopkins Village. We took a quite strenuous 4+ km hike to the waterfall and then chilled in the crystal clear pond of the falls. We hiked back, no jaguars seen despite our keen eyes, and then completed our drive to Hopkins village. We didn’t have any reservations for lodging, so we spent the next hour up and down the beach trying to find a vacancy. We hit paydirt at Jungle Jeanies by the Sea and got a beautiful immersion cabana in the Jungle on the beach. The 20 x 20 cabana had mahogany floors, a loft and front porch. We were pooped, so we stayed in for dinner and their chef prepared chicken and pork chops, peas, salad and rice. It was scrumptious! During dinner we talked real estate with the owners, Jeanie and John, transplants from Canada. They had some interesting ideas/recommendations. Slept that night like babies…no crawling or buzzing creepy crawling.

Friday morning we had breakfast at Iris’s, a little hole-in-the-wall on the main dirt “drag. Rick had a ham and vege omelet with French toast and tea and Linda had pancakes and “sausage” (more like pastrami) and fresh squeezed OJ for $7.50 US. While there we met another couple from Canada who turned us on to a Hopkins area real estate agent, Reva, who lives on the beach on the north side of town. We headed over to Reva’s house and spent the next couple of hours discussing options. She had a couple of listings just down the beach that we checked out, but Linda isn’t convinced that this is the place for her. We returned to Reva’s termite-invested home/office. Reva pointed out the termite dust on the patio and off-handedly mentioned that she wished there was a construction material/method that would solve the issues that affect EVERYONE in Belize. Rick shared the ThermaSave story and website with her and she said she would do some research and get back with us (we left her our e-mail). We left her office and almost went to another real estate office, but decided against it until Linda was convinced. We returned to our cabana and went swimming. While sitting on the beach Rick spotted a manatee about 100 ft off-shore. Linda missed it, but when Rick described what he had seen to Jeanie she confirmed that it probably was just that. After our dip we walked back to Iris’s for lunch (way too far to walk on a hot, humid day) and had burgers and fries. We took the beach route home and Linda flopped into bed for a nap while Rick worked on his stocks. We had a beer happy hour in our room while searching the computer for available real estate in the area, then dinner with Leo and Laura from Canada in the resort dining room. The chef prepared steak, oven-baked potato wedges, green beans and carrots…again it was delicious. We were offered ice cream for dessert and can you believe it…we both declined in order to savor the flavor of the first steak we had had in almost a month. The beef here is grass fed, so it’s more like eating elk or venison and not as tender as home, but it still tasted great. Back to the room for some sleep before heading onto our next destination in the morning.

Saturday morning we arose early and packed up and said our good-byes to Jeanie and John. We returned to Innes restaurant (same place we had lunch 3 wks ago) for breakfast before heading out of town. We planned to go to the Mayflower Bocawina National Park (minor mayan site with multiple waterfalls), but the dirt road was soooo bad we had to turn around and return the way we had come. Our next stop was going to be Mullins River to check out some real estate that we had learned about, but the road to the river was unmarked and we missed it. Our final planned stop for the day before our trek to Belmopan for the night was Gales Point on the southern lagoon to see more manatees. After 20 miles of dirt roads we made it to the location, but no luck on the manatees. Strike 3 for the day. We drove the remainder of the 20 miles of dirt road back to the western highway and made it into Belmopan for lunch. We ate at Penny’s Pizza again and while there met a couple from near the arctic circle who winter in Belize. Had a wonderful chat with them and discussed places to stay in town. On their recommendation, we decided to cover the last 30 miles or so to San Ignacio today and find a room there instead. We had a couple of places in mind for San Ignacio, but no one had any availability in our price range. One of the locals recommended Parrot Nest in Bullet Tree (the next village over), so we called them and booked it. We arrived around 1430 and moved into our mini cabana. Due to it’s limited size, we unpacked everything we had and repacked, keeping out only what we needed. We then went swimming in the Mopan River next to our cabana and saw a 6 ft green iguana swimming along with us. He was no more happy to see us than we were to see him, so he swam to the opposite shore and climbed a tree. That was enough swimming for Linda. We returned to the room and lounged on our patio (with hammock) for the next couple of hours until dinner. While waiting, the electricity went out. Darkness was rapidly approaching, so we went to the dining area and got a coleman lantern to navigate by. When darkness fell, we sat on the patio and watched the fireflies light up and then the stars. Very romantic! The chef at the Parrot prepared fried chicken, salad, rice and lemon meringue pie! Yum. We shared a table with the owner, Theo (pronounced Tay-o) and her mom and the dinner conversation was quite enjoyable. When we went to bed the electricity had still not come back on, so we kept the lantern and flashlight close by in order to make it to the outdoor, shared bathroom during the night. Such an adventure!

Sunday morning we were awakened by dogs and birds again about 0600. We showered, dressed and prepared for the day. We went to Flayeva’s for breakfast and to use the internet (no connection where we are staying). Afterwards we found Sacred Heart Catholic Church. We arrived around 0925 and found that mass had just started! Our “luck” in this aspect continues! Most of mass was in English, but the homily was in Spanish so we didn’t understand but a few words. After mass we drove around San Ignacio and Santa Elena (the twin villages). We looked at real estate, found a park on the convergence of two rivers (beautiful except for the garbage) and shopped in a couple of grocery stores. Prices are much more affordable here than on the coast, but Linda isn’t sure she wants to live so far from the waves. We stopped for lunch at a roadside BBQ/pastry shop for BBQ chicken. Delicious! We chatted with our 28 year-old waitress about San Ignacio. She moved here from Dangriga 1 yr ago to earn some money to help care for her 3 children back in Dangriga with her mom (ages 11, 9 and 2). Their dad is out of the picture and she is able to make more money here in the “big city”, so she is sacrificing for the sake of her kids. She lives several miles away from the shop, but if it’s not too hot or too dark she walks to/from work…otherwise she takes a taxi. The mother/child relationship is pretty similar no matter the locale. We returned to our cabana and napped in the afternoon heat. Sometime during our nap the electricity went out again, but this time only for a couple of hours. Rick researched some possible tours of the area while Linda updated the blog, then back to town for dinner.