If it’s not too confusing I’ll start this entry as my first “real time” post. So I continue to go through my divorce from Will. It’s not pleasant of course but last weekend and this week it’s been even more unpleasant. I finally got my paperwork taken care of over last weekend and had them signed by a justice of the peace/photographer – I love how things work here – and they got sent certified to Will. Of course I was expecting a phone call from the states whenever he happened to receive the paperwork. Ours won’t be a difficult divorce, there weren’t a lot of assets to split – actually mostly debt – but there area few sticking points so I expected the call. In the meantime there have been some other emotional roller coaster type events lately. I really thought that Corozal would be the best location for me to go through the ending of a long relationship, for one main reason; this is a small town and there really aren’t a lot of single people here my age so I assumed that there wouldn’t be the distraction of meeting someone new while I’m still healing. On the other hand I hadn’t been in love with Will for awhile in our relationship so part of me was already moving on long before we actually split. Well, as it happened I did meet someone else and for the sake of his privacy I won’t go in to too many details – I’ll call him February since that is the month relationships changed for me – but we immediately and unexpectedly connected. It took me very much by surprise and I am sure he felt the same way. There was a nagging voice in my head to ignore all the emotions and everything irrational that was going on in my head – just simply do not fall for this guy – my head lost. I fell for him hard and fast. Recently, for reasons completely out of my control I lost him and it’s hit me hard. Maybe he was the cliché “rebound” relationship but I have a hard time describing him as such. I felt passion with him that I knew was there for the years it was being suppressed by being in the wrong relationship that was so intense I can hardly put it in the rebound category. So that made two emotional slugs to me over the holiday weekend, and the third came in the form of my Dad’s trip here coming to an end. My mom and I drove him to the airport on Friday and saw him off after he had been visiting for about three weeks. Even though I love it in Belize, it is always hard to see family or friends go home after visiting – especially my dad. I have a very close relationship with him which I feel so incredibly lucky for. So there it was the third hit, it was like a one – two punch and being finished off with a hard left hook. I am down for the count.

Right now that is the hardest part about living away from my friends and family, there are limited shoulders to cry on here so because of that my mom and I are building a much closer relationship since we are each other’s sounding board. We have also met some outstanding and supportive people here and I hope that I will have some friends for life from Corozal Belize. The week has continued to be gloomy because of these circumstances. I finally got the call from Will last night and he was not happy. I also have a lot of pent up anger towards him which almost always comes out when I talk to him on the phone. It’s not fair to him and I try to control it but between the two of us we weren’t able to have a rational conversation last night so he hung up on me and I sent him an email trying to resolve what we had attempted to talk about. I also continue to be very sad about losing February and think about him constantly. Today I made phone calls trying to talk to him even though I agreed I wouldn’t – it was totally out of my control when I picked up the phone and rang him. Drunk dialing without the excuse of being drunk – sad.

I am determined that my day will not end in a funk though – I am in the Caribbean and have a totally fresh start to my life. Yes, there are issues I’m dealing with but nothing too hard to handle. We have had a positive couple weeks at the bar (after a major summer slow down). It’s just one of those days where the “blues” are getting the best of me but the battle is not over yet and I am determined to prevail. I have a friend coming to visit next week which will help things tremendously. Mom and I also have a trip back to Oregon planned in early August so it will be a breath of fresh air to see the people I have been missing – funny enough my 10 year high school reunion will fall during the time I am visiting home so that should be interesting.

I would very much appreciate any feedback about inserting these real time entries in along side of the continuing story I have been telling. Here’s hoping for sunshine tomorrow!

About ten days after our arrival to Belize the three of us were finally starting to get comfortable in our surroundings.  Despite hearing horror story after horror story from the expats here we were feeling safe and sound that night.  Will and I were watching the Portland Trailblazer game on TV – a small, but appreciated taste from home – mom was reading in her bedroom.  All of a sudden there are loud blasts close to the house.  Keep in mind we had been hearing all sorts of bad things about our neighborhood, in fact we had just found out that the previous owner had been attacked in the house and shot by the intruder – funny the little details people omit when trying to sell something.  She survived the attack, but the bullet grazed her head and caused vision trouble in one eye.  We were trying really hard to keep this new information off our mind and had been doing a great job of it until those blasts started to sound.  I just froze, my mom and Will have the same reaction.  No one said a word, I’m not sure any of us took a breath for about a minute while this was happening.  All that was going through my mind was that the noises sounded a lot like gunfire.  Will finally turns to me and asks if that sounds like gunfire to me.  I just nodded my head slowly.  At that point my mom comes out of the bedroom with hesitation, eyes wide and asking us what we thought the noise was.  A few minutes later Will looked out the window reluctantly to see if anything was visible – nothing.  The noise started up again so I went over to the window, heart pounding.  We had only been here for a little over a week and already we were going to be killed by random gunfire – outstanding.  I’m straining to see anything out the window and suddenly to the left of the house I see colorful bursts in the air – fireworks!  A wave of relief came over me and I yelled out “fireworks!”  We all immediately fell back laughing at ourselves.  We were all able to sleep easy that night and a little amused at our reaction to the whole thing.  Apparently in Belize fireworks are the standard practice for any holiday celebration.  We didn’t expect them that night because we weren’t aware of any holidays during that time, but there are a lot more holidays in Belize than at home so obviously something was being celebrated. 

The next day we were all happy to be alive and our task was to deal with the required liquor license for our business.  We had been procrastinating a little on this important detail because everything else had been going so efficiently.  We took the walk in to town and went to town hall to start the process.  We learned that we had to track down one woman who headed up the committee that issues these licenses.  We were given a phone number and vague directions to her residence.  The phone number was useless; we called about thirty times with no answer so we went on a quest to find her house.  After about an hour of searching and asking other people for directions we found a house that seemed to match the description.  In Corozal no one goes to the front door to knock – the typical method of operation is to pull up to the house and honk or yell at the house until someone comes out.  This is a little difficult to get used to, but we must follow procedure.  So we stood outside of her gate and yelled for awhile until finally someone came out of the house.  I asked him if Cathy was there and he said yes, disappeared back in to the house; finally a woman emerged.  I told Cathy we were opening up a bar in town and needed to get a liquor license.  She informed me that the committee had already had their final meeting for the year and that they wouldn’t meet again until January.  This meant that we would not be able to get our license for two months.  Well, we wanted to open in two weeks and without a liquor license it would be hard to call the place a bar.  I asked her, very politely, if there was anything we could do.  This would turn in to our first introduction of “buying” our desired result.  She simply said that we could pay $100 BZ for the committee to have a special meeting in order to grant the license early.  We didn’t have much choice so we said no problem.  We paid the money and Cathy said that she would be around to the business in the next week with the chief of police, fire chief and health inspector to check the place out.  At this point we were keeping our fingers crossed that this process wouldn’t take too long because we wanted to be open in two weeks. 

Everything else was in place for our Grand Opening on November 15^th, but we wanted to have a soft open a week before that date.  We would have to sit back and wait on the liquor license but everything else was coming in to place.  We had found a local bakery, Popular Bakery in Orange Walk town, to make our hamburger buns.  They were even going to make us slightly larger buns for our “Big Bay” burger.  We had several leads on stores to get most of our supplies (alcohol, condiments, meat, cheese, etc) in Belize City so we had a trip to Belize City planned for the next week.  Belize City was formally the capital of Belize but after most of the infrastructure was wiped out in a hurricane the capital city was moved to Belmopan.  Despite that Belize City (referred to as Belize by the locals) is a larger city with a much larger variety of our restaurant/bar requirements.  Solomon was going to be our taxi again for that trip and we were eager to make that trip.

Our new gym

Yes, it was in fact a gym.  Leroy was the trainer there and ran the place himself.  He is a very nice and very encouraging man. The gym may not be much to look at but he tries to make it encouraging by pasting motivational posters and quotes all over the place.  We talked with him for a little while and he explained the different membership packages he offered.  We could either be a member of the gym and just use the equipment on our own, or we could hire him as a trainer and come in three times a week to do workouts with his instruction.  I was a little hesitant to hire him as a trainer because I have quite a bit of experience with weight lifting and wasn’t sure if he would help or hinder my workouts.  My mom, on the other hand, doesn’t have much experience with weight lifting so in the end we decided to hire him as a trainer and we would meet three times a week at 8am.  We agreed that the focus would be weight lifting with some cardio pumped in there too.  I also opted against the simple membership plan because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to easily operate any of the machines that were in there.  They were all very close together and looked like they were new about 50 years ago.  I am aware that you don’t have to have snazzy workout equipment to get a great workout in, but it would be helpful to at least know how the machines function.

As our workouts started the first obstacle to get through was convincing Leroy that I can actually lift weight.  He had a hard time understanding that a 5lb dumbbell wouldn’t be adequate for my workout.  There aren’t many women here who go beyond the 5 – 10 lb range in weights.  Eventually he saw that I needed more weight to lift and we got to the appropriate level.  It was so comical working out there because he utilized those three machines that he had to the max.  He would take a piece out of one section and put it in another to create a whole new machine – it was a talent.  He could take one machine and turn it into six different lifts.  At this point I was happy we went for the trainer option because it was clear I would have been aimlessly roaming this small building for a workout since I didn’t have the key to unlocking the puzzle of these machines.  The second obstacle that I would never get over was the heat of working out in a Caribbean atmosphere.  I happen to be an individual who sweats profusely – that may be an understatement.  This gets really bad when you combine it with heat and humidity and no air conditioner.  So throughout the hour long workout I probably lost about a gallon of water in the form of sweat – okay that may be an overstatement, but not by much.  Of course I am still able to work out in these conditions but I have a hard time trying not to slip off all the machines because of the constant stream of sweat running off me.  My mom does not have this problem so I can place full, 100% blame on my dad.  In fact my mom doesn’t sweat at all so instead of looking like a constant reflective device, she actually looks like a normal person when she works out here.

Mom, Leroy and Kristi at the gym

So despite it all I finally had a new workout routine going.  The sad thing is that I had taken quite a few steps backwards with all the sweet bread we had been eating (almost all the bread made here is sweet), but I guess that’s life.  It is so amazing to me how much of a stress reliever working out can really be.  I may hate to do it sometimes but it never fails that I am so happy I did once the workout is over.  Living in a small town in a small country has also reminded me that there is no excuse for getting a good workout in.  If you don’t have the equipment you can always do a few push-ups and run around the neighborhood.  My mind likes to make all sorts of excuses to not put my running shoes on, none of them are good. 

This really wasn’t a big deal until a few weeks in because the problem isn’t just the restaurant’s menu selection, but combined with the fact that that all the grocery stores sell the same items it becomes a bit boring.  My meals all start to look and taste the same.  I suppose this could be a good thing if I was a person who didn’t care much about food, but that is not me – I LOVE food.  Even my cats miss the various treats I used to give them from the take-out food I brought home, so their diet has been dramatically changed as well. 

For the first few weeks of being in Belize we did not have a stove or a grill and no propane to power either so even if we did have them we could not use them.  So we ate out for every meal.  Our first pick was a cute little place called RD’s – a family restaurant on one of the main roads in town.  It was close to our house and easy to walk to which was essential if we wanted to cut down on the blisters that were showing up on our feet from the miles and miles of walking we were getting in due to the lack of a vehicle.  Dinner was the first meal that we had at RD’s when we headed over there it was dark and rainy, on the walk over our legs were being speckled with mud but by now we were getting used to this look so it didn’t bother us too much.  We finally got there, ducked under the overhang to get out of the rain and sat down; it is a very nice, clean and inviting establishment so we were looking forward to dinner.  The owner, Rick came out to greet us and hand us our menus.  We put our umbrellas down and introduced ourselves.  He was very friendly and very willing to give us advice about where to go to get certain supplies, who to call for propane and just gave us some general advice about doing business in the area.  He is a Belizean but not originally from Corozal, he moved to Corozal from Belize City.  As we looked at the menu little did we know that these would be the same 12 food items on every menu so for that particular dining experience we weren’t yet jaded and we enthusiastically picked something off the menu to enjoy. 

I chose the chicken quesadilla, which was absolutely delicious.  Unfortunately another truth about food in Corozal is that you will never get the same taste as the last time you ordered that particular item.  People told me this and I didn’t really believe them at first but it was soon evident when that delicious chicken quesadilla was never ever quite as good again.  So from that moment on I typically don’t even try to find something unique; I take a quick look at the menu just in case, but then go for rice and beans, the dish of Belize.  There are some stars out there in town, but when there’s only two or three even they get old after awhile.  One of the nice places right on the bay, Vamp’s, has a fantastic pan fried fish and chicken fajitas.  If you ever find yourself in Corozal, Belize make sure you stop in there.  So because of the fact that there is no real selection of food in this town we were slightly optimistic that our restaurant would do well – we would be serving something totally different and without the main staples of the typical Belizean diet.  We chose to be optimistic, but in reality this could mean we do really well or completely sink.  This was still to be seen.  We had two main reactions from people when we told them what we planned on serving.  The first was, “You’re not going to serve rice and beans?!?  You have to serve rice and beans!”  The second went something like, “Oh!  That’s fantastic!  We need a good burger place in Corozal.  Something new!”

On the bright side of this whole situation is that the food supplies we need to get for the construction of our hamburgers is all organic, hormone free and totally green.  The produce is all local and pesticide free and the meat is also local beef that is grass fed and hormone free.  It is a little sad that it costs so much more to eat like this at home but here it’s pretty much the only option.  So I have found a bright side to the state of food in Corozal.  In fact, I’ve noticed that due to lack of infrastructure here, green living is a common side effect.  Many people grow their own produce, all coke/beer bottles are glass and recycled, alternate energy in the form of solar and wind are commonly used and buses/bicycles are the main mode of transportation. 

So as we struggle to appreciate a more simple way of eating we also continue to work on getting our restaurant set up.  The walls are freshly painted, the sign is completed, the tables and chairs are polished, the grill is in and it almost resembles an actual restaurant.  Scotty’s Bar and Grill would be up and running in a couple of weeks. 

The Bar - Before Cleaning

The Bar After Cleaning

The Sign is up

We were able to get a lot accomplished in the span of a few weeks.  We essentially had our business ready to go, all the legal tasks were worked out and the three of us had the place looking brand new.  The building we purchased had already been set up to be a restaurant so really we only had clean-up and touch-up work to do.  We did have to find a grill and some other various kitchen items but nothing too daunting.  The house we were now living in is right next door to the business so we have a very short commute to work.  There were only a couple things that were dragging out at this point; the first was our internet access and the second, our liquor license.  Finding a grill had also proven to be a little difficult.  Everyone in town cooks on gas burners – no one really sells a grill top to cook hamburgers on.  This was our first major obstacle.  We started the search by asking around town and we quickly found that this would be a challenge because most people we asked didn’t even know what we were talking about.  The kitchen already had a three burner grill set up but what we needed was a top to stretch over the three burners creating a grill.  We were pointed in a few different directions and so the wild goose chase started; “the woman who owns this hotel is selling one.” “There’s a steel place down the main road that can provide the steel.”  “So and so welds – he lives by the white house down the second street off the bay – he can structure it for you if you provide the steel.”  “There’s a place in Spanish Lookout that can make you one.”  The advice went on and on and we entertained every single option with absolutely no luck.  Needless to say we were disappointed, the grill was essential and it seemed like we may have to cook the burgers on frying pans over a burner.  Then we met Solomon, aka King Solomon. 

Solomon is a border taxi driver.  We were actually referred to him from a man back home in Oregon; it’s such a small world.  This guy who worked with my mom’s best friend’s husband actually owned property in Corozal and had a bunch of extended family there by marriage.  He had met Will before we left for Belize and given him Solomon’s business card – he told us that this guy would help us out if we needed it and was a big teddy bear – just watch out for him when he gets drunk because the religion starts to pour out.  Well, we needed to get to Mexico because that was our last option for a grill.  Chetumal is a Mexican city right outside of the Belize border and about 20 miles from Corozal.  The entire city has approximately the same population as the whole country of Belize so if we need anything then we can go to Chetumal to get it.  The only problem was our lack of reliable transportation.  This is where Solomon comes in to play.  So we tracked him down – everyone knows everyone in this small town and it’s never hard to find anyone around here.  The plan was that Solomon would stop by our house so we could meet him and then we’ll schedule the trip.  It is a complete understatement to say that this guy demands attention.  He is a big guy, which is sort of rare here, he’s loud and he loves to talk.  He comes in to our house and his stories start; for the next few hours they do not stop.  The three of us are just sitting there speechless – because we actually couldn’t get a word in and because none of us had ever met a person quite like him.  As he continued to tell us stories he was drinking beer and eventually we found out that he used to be addicted to crack and his life was on a fast spiral down, he was at the brink of death one night and God spoke to him.  God told him he had to stop with the drugs and from that day forward he has not taken any drugs.  He totally turned his life around and has frequent conversations with God.  He told us that he is not religious because religions are just out to steal money so he is spiritual.  From that moment forward he would not stop talking about God so I just kept my mouth shut and listened to him, at this point I did not think it wise to reveal that I don’t believe in God.  I knew that religion and God were very important here and I didn’t really want to start making enemies already.  It was a fairly comical situation.  He also told us, as he moved on to his 6^th beer, that he didn’t drink anymore either.  Hmm.

After spending a few hours at our house he had decided he liked us and wanted us to go with him to see his property and meet his family.  We were a little tired from all the listening but we decided to go along with him so we piled in to his SUV – we weren’t entirely sure where he was taking us but at this point it was all an adventure.  After about 20 minutes of riding and listening to very loud religious reggae we arrived at a beautiful piece of property in the village of San Antonio.  This was the farm that Solomon spent a lot of his free time maintaining.  It was full of fruit trees and beautiful flowers – he wants to put a little resort there at some point but for now is slowly building a house on the property.  We looked around there for awhile and then headed over to the house he lives in with his wife and small daughter.  Solo’s wife Consuelo is a lovely woman and very friendly.  She welcomed the three of us in to her home and we all sat around talking for awhile.  His daughter is one of the cutest little girls I’ve ever seen, she is named Solome, after her dad. 

At this point we had spent half a day with Solomon and we were exhausted, it was dark so we told him that we needed to get home.  Once we arrived back at the house we had a drink or two to unwind from all the excitement and went to bed watching TV.  We had a trip planned with him to get our grill in Mexico a couple days later. 

I immediately started doing some online research about this place.  I quickly found out that it was in Central America bordering Mexico and Guatemala.  It was the only English speaking country in that area and it was very small.  The population of the entire country is just over 300,000.  Specifically the town where this property is located is called Corozal and it is in the northern region of Belize.  It is one of the largest towns in Belize but is more like the small town of Banks, Oregon where I grew up.  There is a large ex-pat population in Corozal and that concerned me slightly since I am young I wasn’t sure if I was ready to move to a retirement town.  Being married at the time I thought it would be fine since my husband and I would go together and that way we had each other to lean on.  This was a huge decision– it would totally uproot my entire life.  The deal would be that my husband, Will, and I would go to Belize with my mother, help set up the restaurant since it wasn’t running currently and then run it for at least one year.  After a year the situation would be re-evaluated.  I didn’t have any experience with setting up, operating or running a restaurant so this would be totally strange for me.  My degree was in Economics so I would be the natural choice to run the books and finances for the business.  I knew I could do it so I wasn’t too horribly concerned about the industry.  Will had been working in a small tavern for the past year as an assistant manager and had been learning the ins and outs of the business so he would be the main contributor to actually putting the food together.