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!

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. 

We arrived in Corozal about 2 hours later.  I couldn’t believe we were actually in Belize.  We were picked up by a taxi service at the airport and had a nice air-conditioned van to travel in.  It was nice to have some space to stretch our legs a little.  There is already no room cramped in those airplane seats – no we did not ride first class – so then to have a cat carrier stuffed in the only space you actually get in front of you is not good for the legs.  So it was a huge relief to stretch out.  The cats were pretty quiet during the ride to Corozal – still in shock.  It was around 6pm when we arrived at our new house and it was already starting to get dark.  Early nights would be one of the adjustments for me; it starts to get dark here at about the same time every night, 6pm, and that never changes throughout the year.  Back home in Oregon one of the things I absolutely love about summer are the very long days.  In any case we dropped off our bags and let the cats out of their carriers when we got to the house.  It was a very strange feeling and a little unwelcoming because we basically arrived in this new place that was made of concrete which had absolutely no furniture in it.  That’s about when it hit me that my life had just taken a radical turn. 

Oh, and did I mention it was raining?  We knew it was the rainy season here so we weren’t too shocked to arrive to rain but when you are inside a totally cement house the sound of the tropical rain is deafening.  This wasn’t a nice little 10 minute shower either, it was relentless.  This would be day one of what I’ll call the never-ending, flood causing, mud-creating, why won’t this unrelenting wetness ever go away, introduction to Belize. 

After our day of traveling we were pretty hungry.  My mom was the only one out of the three of us who had ever been to this town so we were going to rely on her to lead us to food.  We had a room booked at a hotel called the Hok’ol K’in for the night since we didn’t have any furniture to sleep on at the house; they have a restaurant so that’s where we headed.  Mom had the card of a taxi driver she used on her last trip to Corozal so we called him.  Quick interjection here, the names of any business owners here in Belize are, in fact, their real names – I will make the assumption that they will appreciate that in most cases.  Mandy, the taxi driver came to pick us up a few minutes after we called him.  It costs $5 BZ ($1 US = $2 BZ) to travel via taxi anywhere in the town of Corozal.  Mandy is a fabulous man, very friendly, very reliable and was a great representation of the people of Belize in general.  We arrived at the hotel around 7pm and had our fingers crossed that food was still being served.  Aaron was there to greet us at the Hok’ol K’in and thankfully told us he would serve us some food.  We were happy to eat.

We were also happy to go to sleep.  If only it were that easy.  There was no sleep to be had by any of us that night.  With the combination of nerves, anticipation, really loud rain, a new bed, dogs barking and the very large garbage truck that passed by at 4am, I did not get more than an hour of actual sleep.  I guess it was to be expected but still very frustrating.  That morning my mom went down to the lobby and got us some tea and coffee, it was still raining so I went out on our porch to get my first, gloomy view in the daylight of my new home.  It was grey and wet and the thoughts of doubt crept slowly in my head – I tried as best I could to push them out and think positive because we had a lot to do and a negative state of mind wouldn’t help anything. 

That day was filled with a million tasks; we met up with Jill, the woman who sold us the property, and started with some breakfast.  Then it was a whirlwind – switching over utilities, un-blocked my cell phone for use in this country, bought beds, bought a TV, bought groceries, met new people at a “gringo” social hour (more about these activities later) and just getting a general tour.  “Gringo” was the first new word I learned here, this was everyone’s description of any person coming to Belize from North America or Europe.  It is used very frequently and by everyone.  It took a little getting used to and I didn’t like the word but was eventually forced to use it on almost a daily basis.  By the time we had everything done it was dark and time to eat.  We stopped in at this little Chinese restaurant called Bumpers for some fried rice and took that over to another bar, Jamrock (also referred to as the swing bar due to the swings that encircle the bar) to meet some more new people.  Jill was trying to introduce us to everyone she possibly could.  I had taken in so much new information on this day that I thought my head may actually explode.  We ended up at Tony’s Inn by the end of the night to drop Jill off, we had a drink with her there first and by this time we were already very familiar with the beer in Belize.  There is a monopoly on many things here and one of them directly affects the alcohol that is imported into the country.  Belize has 4 main beers readily available which are brewed and distributed within the country.  These include, Beer (a lager type beer which most people drink but I think tastes absolutely awful – when you ask for a beer this is what you will be served), Stout (sort of describes itself and in my opinion a much better choice although that’s not saying much), Lighthouse (a light beer which most people refer to as a woman’s beer, most men who drink this beer are promptly made fun of, I am not a big fan of this one either) and finally Guinness (this is the beer I drink if/when I am drinking beer).  With the exception of a couple others any other beer is considered contraband here and must be smuggled in from Mexico. 

By the end of the night we were exhausted.  We now had beds in the house so we were going to spend our first night in the new house.  We had put the beds in the living room with the TV placed on top of the TV box in front of us.  It was like a little slumber party except without all the good food.  The rain still had not let up.  Roads were muddy and flooding, the sound of the rain was still echoing throughout the house and there was thunder and lightning.  The cats were trying to find anywhere they could hide and due to lack of choice, ended up in the various suitcases strewn across the house.  Those suitcases became their makeshift homes for a few months.  I got slightly more sleep this night but not by much and the next morning woke up to even more rain.  I was beginning to think the sun didn’t shine here in Belize.