construction begins!

Thursday and Friday we spent ironing out the details on the house and playing dominos and cards. On Saturday we received some troubling news about the people selling us the land and building the house (Ed and Dee). After hours of investigation and an in-depth discussion, we determined that the news was incorrect and we decided to proceed with the plans.

For Easter Sunday we were invited to a party at the home of the vice prime ministers brother, just down the road. When we arrived we discovered the main party had been on Saturday, but today the "left-over" party continued. We were welcomed with open arms and spent the next two hours talking with the brothers/family and eating (tamales)/drinking (corona). People here are soooo friendly! When we left their house we found out that they would still be at this weekend home tomorrow, so we invited them to come see our new piece of heaven! Afterwards, we spent the evening playing dominos (Mexican Train).

On Monday the first bull-dozer was delivered and then Rick and Ed drove Jim (the owner and operator) back to his home in Copper Bank. He will return tomorrow morning to start construction. When the guys arrived back home, who arrived by boat but the brothers and more family that we had invited over yesterday (with their cooler). They had already been drinking most of the day and were feeling no pain, except for sunburn! They loved our property and spent a couple of hours laughing and sharing with us again. When they left we had dinner and shared our DVD of Jeff Dunham with Ed and Dee. They really liked Walter!

Tuesday construction began and proceeded quickly. The land was cleared for the guest house and main house and the plans were finalized. Ed was so tired he fell asleep right after dinner, so we made an early night of it too.

Wednesday we drove to Belize City to start the process of applying for the QRP (Qualified Retired Persons Incentive Program) and to have the long-awaited car part exchanged in our car. The explanation meeting for the QRP didn’t take as long as we had anticipated and our car would take longer than anticipated, so we walked around downtown for a little while, had a breakfast sandwich in a little café, caught up on the internet and then took a cab to our favorite Belize City restaurant (Riverside Tavern) for lunch. From there we walked back to the Toyota dealership and waited for the service to be completed. From there we did a little grocery shopping before returning home to Progresso Shores. Whew…long day (we left at 0630 and got home around 4p). Will probably be an early evening tonight too!

Thursday was a quiet day for Linda spent around the house. Rick drove back to Belize City to pick up Scott (Ed’s business partner) at the airport. The rest of the day was uneventful.

Friday we drove into Orange Walk to meet with our new Dr, Ricardo Fabro. He did a routine check up and some labs so that he could certify our health for the QRP program. We went to the internet store to see if we could figure out what was wrong with our connection (she said she fixed it), then to get our passports copied for the QRP application, did some window shopping for furniture and appliances and finally some groceries before heading home for lunch. Quiet afternoon and then a game of Mexican train dominoes with Ed, Dee, Scott and his girlfriend, Chrissy before bed.

Saturday was another quiet day in preparation for the big poker game on Sunday. Boy is it hot and humid today! One thing we did determine was that the Smart gal didn’t really fix the internet connection, she simply convinced Linda that she had done so. We’ll have to check with Ed and Scott about what to do…

Sunday the poker game started around noon and we played through the day until about 7:30p. There were ten of us at the peak of the game (Rick and I, Dee and Ed, Scott and Chrissy, Chrissy’s mom, Nancy and Paul, Joe and Janelle (from Corozal). We only lost about $20 between Rick and me…not too bad for my first official poker game! Everyone got along great and immediately made us feel like part of the group. Fun times and good food/drink! What could be better?

Monday morning construction resumed early…they poured the slab for the guest house and started on the well construction! Things sure do move quickly with Ed in charge! We're keeping a day to day photo update of the progress, so check out the pix if you're interested!