My Dad has been visiting us in Belize for the past five weeks and his trip is quickly coming to an end.  Since he had not yet had the experience of deep sea fishing in Belize we needed to get a trip to San Pedro in before he left.  That trip happened last Sunday through Wednesday and we had high hopes.  Maybe we were a tad bit optimistic because the weather has been unseasonable chilly for awhile now.  Sunday morning we all woke up to a cold and breezy morning – typically a boat ride over to San Pedro, which takes about two hours, is an awesome experience, but this time over was pretty cold.  We had layers, jackets, hats and blankets but we were determined to have fun and go fishing.

When we got to San Pedro the sun was actually out.  Since we had left Corozal in some drizzling rain we were pretty happy about seeing the sun.  This was promising.  So we tied Capt. J’s boat to the dock and started to unload our stuff.  The plan was to stay three nights so we checked in at the Princess Maya which has been our lodging of choice in San Pedro lately.  After we got settled in we all decided that we would just take Sunday and lounge around San Pedro since the sea past the reef looked a little rough with the wind whipping from the North.  Capt. J and my parents hung out on our balcony while my guy and I went down the beach to the Crazy Canuck’s bar to meet one of his friends Lara, who just launched her luxury bikini line Lemon Crush (http://www.lemoncrushbelize.com/), and have a few drinks.  It turned out that the day just kept getting nicer so we sat out on the dock with our drinks and enjoyed the sun – we had all been missing it.  When you walk around the town and people are wearing parkas and ski caps in Belize there is something very wrong with the picture.

That night we all took the boat over to the Palapa Bar to have some drinks; by then it was dark and getting cold again.  It was back to the hotel pretty early that night to try and warm up.  Our attempt at fishing would happen Monday.  Monday morning was beautiful when we all woke up but the plan was to eat breakfast and go out on the boat around 10am.  We were all headed to the boat around 10:30 and at almost the exact time that our feet hit the dock the wind kicked up and the clouds rolled in.  We were determined to catch a fish though so we all piled in to the boat and took off for the reef crossing.

As soon as we got outside the reef it was very clear that this would not be a warm ride.  I had put my bikini on in the hopes that the weather would get better but it never happened.  So we all made a mutual decision to troll close to Caye Caulker and then pull the lines in and hang out on Caye Caulker for awhile if we didn’t catch anything.  Nothing even came close to hitting our lines on the way over so that was a bust.  We crossed the reef again to get on the island, beached the boat and went on the hunt for something warm.  We found a little place to eat soup which we all ordered along with hot tea.  I was a site in men’s sweat pants, a swimsuit cover-up and my fleece jacket all over my bikini, but I was cold.  We didn’t stay on Caye Caulker too long; it was about two hours later that we were back on the boat to get back to San Pedro.  I stayed in the cabin for the ride back since my teeth were actually chattering out in the wind and I was happy that it was a quick ride back.  That night we went out to Fido’s for dinner and listened to live music for awhile.

After our hour long fishing experience this time we all decided there would be no more attempts at fishing outside the reef – it would have to wait for a warmer day.  So my guy and I flew back to Corozal on Tuesday afternoon while the rest of the crew stayed one more night.  The tiny little plane we flew back in was the smallest plane I have ever flown in – it only had four seats which included the captain’s seat.  It was a great ride back though and it was actually sunny when we got back to Corozal.

A few days in to the New Year, I would like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2010! Check out http://www.expatdailynews.com/2010/01/racy-calendar-girl-pictures-cause.html for a brief summary of my New Year’s Eve experience here.

I would also like to make a note that any new entries of my experiences here will not include “real time entry.” Now, since most of my entries are of my current experiences, I will only distinguish the past experiences of setting up my restaurant with, “Scotty’s Story” at the heading of each of those entries.

Thanks for reading!

This Christmas was a fun one – besides the missing my family part – we had a great day.  The holiday really started for us on Christmas Eve.  My mom cooked a dinner for the girls who work for us and we had some small gifts to give them so it was our version of the staff party.  We also invited a few friends to join us for dinner.  Mom fried a whole hogfish (caught in Belize) for our appetizer and then the main dinner was baked chicken along with a few typical holiday side dishes and it all turned out fantastic.  We closed the bar early so the girls were out the door before 8pm and since we would be closed for Christmas day and Boxing Day they had the next two days off.  One of our waitresses had brought over a sampling of the rumpopo her mom had made for the holidays.  Rumpopo is a traditional eggnog type drink in Belize that is made with eggs, cream, nutmeg, cinnamon and overproof rum and is delicious.  After we ate and opened gifts we all took a few pictures by the tree (fake).

A very typical sound in Corozal during the Christmas season – especially on Christmas Eve to bring in Christmas day – are the blasts of various fireworks and firecrackers that are let off all day long.  As the night continued on, more and more blasts are heard and we all knew that we would not be falling asleep before midnight so I grabbed a book and knew exactly when midnight hit by the obvious finale happening all around town.  In Corozal that night it sounded like New Year’s Eve sounds in the states.  After midnight I did fall asleep easily and was woken up by a 7:30am phone call so I drug myself out of bed and spent the next few hours hanging out with my parents and getting ready for the party later that day.

At 11am we were in the truck headed to Ken’s house for a ride on his boat to Progresso Lagoon.  My friend Matt and I were going to ride in the boat with Ken and then my parents were going to take a truck to the same party so that they would have a way to get back home.  It was a perfect day for a boat ride – the bay was calm and the sky was mostly sunny – we zipped over there pretty quickly with just one pit stop in the Copper Bank lagoon to catch Rod on his way over too.  Rod had his own boat and he zoomed off ahead of us, long gone by the time we even hit the Progresso Lagoon.  We got to the party around noon and the food was already out.  We were among the first to arrive and my parents got there almost exactly the same time we did.  Bruce and his wife Nicole already had the place ready for guests.  They had put a pig in the ground the night before and it had cooked all night long, there was also an abundance of Indian food purchased from one of the local men in town along with the various side dishes and desserts other people brought with them.  We all grabbed a drink and a seat to start in on conversation.  Slowly, more and more people started to arrive and by the end of it all there were about 40 people there.

The boat ride was already a far cry from the typical holiday activities when I was living in Oregon but it was about to get even better.  After dinner the water toys started to come out.  Water skis, tubes, a wakeboard, boats and kayaks; I knew that I wanted to water ski so I put on my swimsuit and headed out to the boat.  Matt hadn’t been waterskiing since he was a kid so he wanted a go at it too.  So Matt and I got on Rod’s boat with Rod as captain.  It was a ton of fun on two skis but I did take a nice fall to end my first trip around the lagoon.  It sort of stunned me so I passed the skis off to Matt and he got right up and made a nice spin around the lagoon before he fell.  I got back up on the skis and we made our way back to the dock were I made a much more graceful landing.  While all this was going on there was a big group of Belizean kids who were very excited to go on a boat so they piled on Ken’s small boat and from the dock it looked like an accident waiting to happen.  Luckily all the kids were wearing life jackets and the lagoon is very shallow, but sure enough, as Ken’s boat was coming back in to dock the kids were getting nervous because the front of the boat started to take on a little water due to the amount of weight on board.  Suddenly some of the kids panicked and went to the bow of the boat; well this was the very last thing that should have happened because as all their weight shifted to the front the boat took on more and more water.  Rod saw what was happening and ran his boat over to the scene to help as Bruce did a quasi dive in to the lagoon as the kids (most of whom have never been on a boat before) were insanely screaming in terror.  In the end everyone was okay but a few of the kids were very upset – I knew one of the little girls from other trips and I grabbed her hand as she was crying hysterically by herself on her way to the house.  We found her mom and eventually she calmed down, but it was quite an experience for them.

After everything had calmed down I went back out on the boat to try my luck at getting up on one ski.  I had done it before a few years ago during an Oregon skiing trip but it had been awhile, so I fell on the first attempt and the next 10 or so attempts.  At one point I did get up but did not stay up for any amount of time, but on my last try my hip popped and my leg went numb so I figured that was enough for the day.

Most of the guests left soon after that and there were just a few of us (who were spending the night) visiting before everyone made their way to bed.  As you may have already guessed I was extremely sore from my slalom experience but the worst part was that I actually injured the right side of my neck so for the last four days I’ve been nursing that.  We also attempted Corozal’s first annual Christmas Boat parade which I will write a separate entry on.   Happy New Year everyone!

It is the holiday season again and this will mark my second Thanksgiving and Christmas in Belize. Thanksgiving went by a few weeks ago and my mom and I did celebrate with friends here in Belize. Thanksgiving is, for me, easily the hardest holiday to be in Belize and away from family. It is almost surreal – the weather really doesn’t change here, and it is extremely hard to even realize that Thanksgiving and Christmas are here. I am so used to seasons; in my mind those two holidays mean cold, snow, rain and real pine trees to put up in the house. Here in Corozal I’m still sweating and the trees are plastic. So this year we had two turkey dinners with two different sets of friends. The first came the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and since Scotty’s was closed that day we were able to go out to our friend’s house for a potluck style turkey dinner – my mom made the pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes. Since we are not surrounded by our family it is common to create a pseudo family comprised of close friends we meet here – not quite the same but the practice does take away some of the loneliness I feel when the holiday season arrives.

Mom and I picked up our manager, Vanessa and her family and headed out to the party. The event was even more fun for me because my very tired boyfriend (yes, this is a fairly new development) had just arrived the night before from a long trip back to Belize and was going with us to the event. We arrived with a truck full and ended up being unintentionally, fashionably late. The night was fun; good friends, good food and good conversation.

The second Thanksgiving event was at Scotty’s. My mom had planned to prepare a turkey dinner and we were selling each plate (turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, stuffing, bread, salad and pie) for $20 BZD. Our main group in that day was a totally different set of friends here and it went off without a hitch. There were a few other options around town for turkey dinners so it is common for some Belizeans to go out and eat a Thanksgiving dinner on this occasion. Our dinner was a hit although that night I got really sick with some sort of stomach ailment; my mom was terrified that she had poisoned everyone but luckily that was not the case and I just had the stomach flu. Sadly for me this meant I missed out on all the leftovers since I was not eating for a couple days. We did sell a handful of dinners the next day as well so all the food was consumed and enjoyed.

After Thanksgiving I was going to get a dose of Christmas in the cold on a week-long trip to CT with my boyfriend. His family has an annual Christmas party during the first weekend in December and I was going along with him this year. I was understandably (in my opinion) nervous having never met any of his family but the trip was outstanding. I got my dose of cold holiday weather which put everything in perspective for me; I got to participate in a snowball fight, wear sweaters, worry about icy roads, go to a Christmas tree farm and drink lots of red wine (not abundantly available in Belize). Since a trip to the States also involves a list of items to bring back to friends in Belize, for the first time in my life I made two trips to Wal-Mart in one day. Even though I do appreciate the cold weather it was very nice to fly in to Cancun and enjoy a day on the beach in the warm, sunny conditions. The day we flew back was a 60 degree temperature swing for us.

Next comes Christmas. My dad flew in to Cancun yesterday and will be in Belize tomorrow evening so he will be here with my mom and me for Christmas and to bring in the New Year. It is tremendously exciting to have him here for awhile; I can’t wait to see him tomorrow. The plan for Christmas day is to go to a big party at our friend’s place at Progresso Shores. There will be no real Christmas tree or traditional gift giving, no snow on the ground, stockings on a mantle or any other family but there will be a carefully selected group of good friends who are all in the same boat as me, laughter, good food and conversation. A new experience is created which is certainly different than the one I am used to during this time of year but nonetheless very special in the sense that we are lucky to still be surrounded by love and friendship when we are missing everyone at home.

My mom and I have just celebrated our one year anniversary of moving to Belize.  In a lot of ways it feels as though we’ve been here for much longer than one year – that could just be the fact that so much has happened within that year.  Recently I’ve been really contemplating what I will do in the upcoming year.  Will it be another year in Belize?  Back to the states to resume a “normal” life?  Somewhere else altogether?  I really don’t know and once I quit worrying about it I realize that it’s sort of fun to not know what will come next.  That’s what bored me with my life in Oregon; I always knew what was coming next.  As I’m writing this I’m ‘borrowing’ a friend’s house to get away from the bustling town of Corozal and just look out on the bay surrounded only by the sounds of the wind’s affect on nature.  It makes me wonder what the pros and cons are of living in a town here versus being isolated on the water.  My mom and I are lucky enough to have friends here who have the isolated properties and don’t mind sharing every now and then so we really get to experience both while we’re here because our house is very much in town and about a 5 minute walk from the bay.  After a year I’ve experienced a lot of the pros and cons of these options. 

I’ll start with my friends in Progresso, they have essentially built a small compound which is called Progresso Shores.  Progresso is a small village across the Corozal bay and located on a lagoon named Progresso Lagoon.  It’s either accessible by boat or by vehicle crossing over a hand-cranked ferry.  Progresso Shores is outside of the village and located right on the shores of the lagoon.  It is completely isolated and absolutely beautiful.  As you may imagine the lagoon holds much calmer water than the bay so you only hear the water when there is a breeze blowing which is fairly often there.  The water seems to change colors frequently; one day, or even hour, it’s a deep blue color while the next it gives off a green hue.  I’ve been out on the lagoon in a boat, kayak, water-skis and simply swimming and it really feels as though the entire body of water is your own playground – it is rare to see any other boat or person out there playing.  In the early morning the parrots fly over the compound, chatting away amongst themselves, and then you’ll hear them again fly by around 5pm going back wherever they came from.  The nights and the mornings are my very favorite time of day here and that is simply due to the silence.  When I wake up there in the morning I hear birds and wind blowing through the palms and when evening hits it’s the very same thing – if I could use a place to define peace this would be it.  It truly is a perfect place to be but with this complete paradise comes a few drawbacks. 

Of course each ‘drawback’ is based completely on each person’s personality so I mention these as potential drawbacks only.  You simply cannot easily obtain food supplies (unless they are growing in your garden) and this forces you to be organized and efficient anytime a trip in to town is planned.  Going in to town should really happen on a minimal basis because it’s always an ordeal – the roads are not well maintained by the government so going in to town means at least a 40 minute ride on a very bumpy and dusty road and quite often over a ferry which is hand-cranked, adding another chunk of time on to the entire trip.  So if you are the person who loves to just hop in the car and stop off at the corner store, it won’t happen here.   The next potential drawbacks are the critters you may encounter.  Since there aren’t as many people around there are more creatures.  This can include crocodiles, iguanas, snakes, scorpions, lizards, geckos, spiders among others.  You will see them but the good news is that they typically won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.  Having a big dog that eats all these things can also come in handy – although I’m not sure there’s a lot you can do about the croc besides leave him alone.  Lastly, a possible drawback here is the effect it may have on your social life.  It’s a long drive back home which means you may not be going out much at night to have a few with your friends, this means it becomes a big deal to go out and most often what will occur is your social life will come to you.  Friends you find in the village or who live around you are a different story but there just aren’t a lot of people around you.  I will say that the parties I’ve been to at Progresso Shores are some of the best times I’ve had in this country – when you’re isolated parties are that much more fun. 

The next living option here would be a house in town such as ours.  We live within walking or biking distance to almost anything within the town.  All the utility companies are close, the stores are easy to get to and we may find ourselves going there twice in a day because we forgot something, any town events are easy to get to and experience because we live 5 minutes away, internet is fast and we have reliable neighbors who watch out for us.  The bay is within a 5 minute walk from the house and you can jump in anywhere you want along the water front.  The drawbacks are many in this situation though, there are dogs barking at night (this is a sound you get used to), cars going by the house, people walking and talking at all times of the day and night and occasionally a house party that gets pretty loud – basically you have the sounds of any typical town.  For us it’s easy because our bar is right next door so we have zero commute to work and we get reliable and frequent deliveries to our business.  Any sunset or sunrise that we experience is shielded in part by a power line or neighboring house and we don’t get to see the water at night from our windows.  It’s trading convenience for tranquility. 

The last living option which I have experienced is in town but on the outskirts and on the water.  You get the bay right in your backyard with this option and it’s phenomenal.  As I’ve sat here not one boat has raced by so even though you can see the town offshore you still get almost free reign of the bay when you want to go play.  There are a few cars and trucks you hear throughout the day on the quiet dirt road off the house which makes you aware of the outside world as opposed to Progresso Shores where you can actually forget about the rest of the world.  Here you are still close enough to town that most things are convenient and accessible.  With a breeze blowing it is absolutely relaxing.  The drawbacks here are really based on what will happen in the future.  Everything seems perfect now but there are still lots on either side that will be filled, the town will expand in to these outskirts and the isolation that is so appealing now will slowly fade away.  Yes, this may happen in a place like Progresso but it will be way down the line rather than in town where it could potentially happen within the next two years. 

After thinking about these options I would conclude that for me, if I were to stay in Belize, I would choose isolation.  It is absolutely amazing how close to nature you feel and how powerful that really is.  I can always drive my car in to town to get my dose of the real world but then when I went back home I would remain in a truly inspiring place that is worth a few sacrifices. 

Back to the Scotty’s story…

With the new year also came some bad news about the gym I was working out at with Leroy (trainer). Leroy didn’t renew the lease on his building which meant the gym was closing. This was horrible news because it had taken a lot of time just to find him and get in a regular routine. Mom and I had been doing great at our three workouts a week with him and now we would have to figure something else out entirely. Leroy did offer to come train us at the house, but I was really paying a membership for the equipment so we decided against that. There are two other gyms in town so we went out on a mission to find another one. One of these gyms was actually pretty nice with some fairly new equipment and a lot of space, the fee was reasonable too so we thought we were set with a new workout facility. After taking an initial look we decided to go in for our first workout the next morning. They had posted hours until 9am in the morning and then closed until 5pm so we decided on 7am – early but doable. We got all our gear on and made our way to the gym. Still a little groggy since we are now on “bar” hours, we pulled up to the gym and it was closed – we were pretty irritated after getting up earlier than usual but there wasn’t a lot we could do about it. Later we learned that those posted hours weren’t the real hours (of course) and they actually only opened from 5am to 7am so this gym was out too – I was not going to wake up at 5am to workout. So we were going to have to figure out an at-home workout – this would prove to be a difficult habit to get in to. My first step was to purchase a punching bag in Chet – I already had my boxing gloves here and since I was missing my training from back in Oregon it seemed like a natural workout transition. The key was actually holding myself accountable to stick to a schedule.

Back at the bar January brought in our first profitable week which was very exciting. It wasn’t an enormous profit but still a profit and poker night was proving to be one of more beneficial days. Each week we seemed to get a few more people in as well as keeping customers who had been in before. Things were looking positive.

We were starting to become pretty good friends with Dave as a result of all the time we were spending with him through poker nights and he also was coming in to the bar on a regular basis outside of poker so he invited us to ride along with him to Spanish Lookout (a Mennonite community in Belize), he was taking a couple clients there to look at window and roofing materials. Will didn’t want to go but mom and I decided to take him up on the offer since we really hadn’t seen any other parts of Belize besides Corozal. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive each way so we had to leave early in order to get back in time for poker night.  So we woke up around 5am to get ready to leave at 6am.  Dave was early of course and I wasn’t quite ready so he had to wait but we still left 5 minutes before we were supposed to. I thought for sure I would sleep on the way there but I did not so I was happy about that since I wanted to see the scenery on the way there.

We stopped about half way there for coffee and by that time I was ready for some breakfast…we weren’t eating until we got to Spanish Lookout though so I had to hold on for a little while longer.  Spanish Lookout is a town that is very spread out and agricultural.  Mennonites are very predominant there so you see a lot of horse and buggies out.  The Mennonites are pretty much self sufficient there, and they keep things very tidy.  There isn’t any garbage on the streets like there is in Corozal and everything is so green.  It actually reminded me a lot of Oregon except for the palm trees, there are even hills!

Because things are so spread out we had to get directions for each stop that we needed to make (which was only two).  First we stopped off at the restaurant to find that they weren’t open yet but would be in a half hour so we decided to make our first stop the window place and then go back to eat.  We finally made it back to the restaurant and I was really looking forward to breakfast but when we got inside we found that it was set up as a lunch buffet.  I guess this makes sense when the community wakes up at the crack of dawn. I was a little disappointed but I got over it quickly because the food was outstanding.

Our last stop was at the local dairy (Western Dairies) which has a little ice cream shop as well.  We wanted to try the ice cream and it was exceptional.  I had coconut, very delicious.  In Corozal the Western Dairy ice cream isn’t as good because it melts on the delivery truck up there and then when it re-freezes the consistency isn’t the greatest. So it was a great way to end the trip – as you may imagine ice cream is a hot commodity in Belize.

We had planned to stop off in Orange Walk on the way back which was great for Mom and me because we needed to buy a few things at a grocery store there which is much larger than anything in Corozal.  They have a little better selection of items in Orange Walk and our car is not trustworthy enough to get us there safely so we don’t get there very often.  We all stopped at a little bar first and had a drink each.  Everyone was a little tired at this point.  Orange Walk is an interesting town; it is very cluttered and hard to get around.  You don’t get the beautiful bay there so it gets a lot hotter and you don’t get to see the water like you do in Corozal.  The New River does run through Orange Walk but I would prefer the bay any day. Despite this there is a lot more available in Orange Walk.  After the beer and grocery store we really were on our way home to host another night of poker.

We have had some big news at Scotty’s Bar and Grill recently.  All summer long we’ve been trying to get either dominos or darts in Scotty’s for small tournament stuff maybe once a month or so and it seemed as if it wasn’t going to happen.  Then suddenly, late last week, we got notice that a Corozal domino tournament was going to happen last Sunday and it was possibly going to happen at our bar.  Mom and I were very excited about this because it would bring new people in and hopefully we would make a good first impression.  Saturday rolled around and we still weren’t 100% sure that the tournament was going to be taking place at our bar so we started to get a little nervous about what was going to happen and what we would possibly need such as extra tables and chairs.  Also, one of our newest waitresses had stopped showing up to work so we were down one employee.  There were two girls who we could possibly try out but that would mean that Sunday would be their first day.  Finally late Saturday we got a phone call that the tournament was on for the next day.  It was scheduled to start at 10am and our friend Adam – who was going to be in charge of the tournament – said he’d be at our place at 10 the next day.  So right away my mom called one of the girls to come in and try the job out – we planned on having all three employees there for the entire day since we didn’t really know what to expect. 

The next day no one had shown up by 10am and we were starting to wonder if this was really going to happen.  Adam called a little after 10 and asked if anyone was there yet and we told him no.  He said that he would be over in about a half hour.  At 11am still no one.  I was beginning to think that maybe it was being held somewhere else.  Our new employee had shown up on time and seemed to be doing fine but with no one to actually wait tables for it seemed sort of pointless.  Around 11 Adam showed up and told us that no one really knew that the tournament was on so he would start making some calls to get teams to our place.  We had been told that this kind of tournament can go late even if it starts around 9 or 10 in the morning so I was starting to get nervous now that we would be up all night hosting this tournament. 

12pm came around and still no start, but now we actually had some people in the bar waiting around for it to start so that was a good sign.  There was just one problem now, the new girl stopped doing any work suddenly and just started sitting behind the bar.  We asked her to do things here and there and she would say, “right now” and then nothing.  Finally she told my mom that she had to leave because some of her ex-husband’s friends were here and she wasn’t comfortable waiting on them.  About 10 minutes earlier our other waitress Sherie told us that she was sick and needed to go home.  So here we stood with no waitresses at all, only Vanessa was left and we knew we would be getting busy soon.  So we called up the second girl who had asked about a job and luckily she was immediately available so she showed up right as the other two had left.  Vanessa started right in on training her for the day and she picked everything up right away. 

Finally around 2pm the tournament started.  There were only three teams for Corozal so we knew it wouldn’t run too late.  The bar was packed – there were three tables set up for the first two teams to start, each team had 6 players actually playing at a time.  Then another couple tables were occupied on the other side of the bar where people not in play were practicing.  I’ve never witnessed a domino tournament so this was pretty cool to see, not to mention the sight of our bar being full.  I was designated official scorekeeper so I was occupied the entire time and it was cool being part of the action.  The first game went to 50 wins and took about 2 hours.  As the game grew closer to the end the excitement level in the bar rose.  Scores were being yelled out, cheers escaped with every win that brought the leader closer to the finish and dominos were being slammed on to the table.  You would never know that one of the official rules was no talking amongst the players because the spectators surrounding each table made up for any lack of sound coming from the actual players. 

As that game ended they all took about a 20 minute break and then the final game started up.  This time the game went to the first team to 100 wins.  Everyone had been drinking and it was getting later so the excitement level rose along with the noise.  I expected dominos to start breaking based on the force of those pieces being slammed down on the table.  The winner was to receive 20 cases of Belikin beer and the second place team would get 5 cases.  The winner would also get a spot in the final tournament happening October 11^th for cash prizes.  As the tournament was happening my mom and I were introduced to the men in charge and they had told us that they were going to try and push for the final to happen at Scotty’s on the 11^th.  As the head of the tournament left the bar he told us that it was a 99% chance that we would host the finals but he would call later to confirm.  We didn’t want to get our hopes up too high because this was a big deal.  It would include radio and television coverage across Belize as well as introduce our bar to people coming from all over the country to watch or participate in the tournament.  As the final game ended and the winners were celebrating we got the call that it was official – the final tournament would be held at Scotty’s!  So at this point everyone was celebrating – this could be the break we’ve been waiting for.  We snapped a few pictures – the whole thing was over around 7:30pm and as everyone left we sat back and relaxed.  It had been a very successful day. 

For new readers who may not have read how the timeline on this blog works I want to avoid any confusion.  I have two storylines going simultaneously here; the first is the story of my experience moving here to Corozal from the beginning and that story is delayed about 9 months at this point, the second is a chronicle of my experiences currently.  To determine which is which, the entries that recount my current experience include, “Real Time Entry” in the title.  Any other entry is back to the delayed story.  Hopefully that helps a little. 

After my Dad left my mom and I got to experience visitor withdrawal.  It’s a horrible condition that occurs when you have moved away from friends and family to a totally foreign place and have begun to settle in when suddenly someone from back home comes to visit and reminds you of the people you love and the place you are familiar with.  Then that person leaves and the feeling is homesickness and loneliness.  We did get to spend New Year’s Eve with my Dad which was really nice – we had a very small party at Scotty’s with some of the regular customers we have and also some friends we had made up until then.  It was a fun night and there was a blast of fireworks at midnight – we had the TV on to watch a countdown to the New Year.  Little did I know then how much my life would change in 2009. 

Everything at the bar was moving along smoothly.  Because it was a new year we had to renew all our licenses.  For the most part this was no big deal – just a bit of paperwork and money.  The trade license was easy, a simple renewal.  The liquor license was the most complicated of them all – we had a slight issue with Cathy (the liquor license queen) during the month of December that we felt may curtail our ability to get a renewal on the license.  It was a pretty funny story actually and one that opened our eyes to how things would start to work around here.  Most of the businesses around town host office Christmas parties and the government offices were no exception.  Well, apparently Cathy was in charge of obtaining a venue for the mayor’s party and one night just before closing time she walks in to our bar.  She comes right up to the bar and tells us that the mayor’s office will need to reserve our bar for that Wednesday evening for a group of about 30 town counsel people so they can celebrate at their annual Christmas party.  Oh, and they wouldn’t be paying anything or buying food or beverage from us, and naturally they would need the place closed to the public since there would be so many of them.  What?  At this point we are a brand new business and can’t afford to just give our space out for nothing, especially with less than a 24 hour notice.  So we start questioning her about the whole issue and she throws back subtlety threatening questions about our employees’ food handler’s permits – in effect trying to establish some sort of dominance over us by implying that she had the power to shut us down if we didn’t cooperate. 

Well, this did not sit well with any of us.  My mom tell her that we will discuss this and call her in the morning to see if something can be worked out that is fair for everyone.  We ultimately decide that we don’t want to play that game with her so the next morning when my mom calls her and tells her that we can’t just give up the space during business hours for free, Cathy starts in on an additional fee associated with our liquor license that they forgot to charge us.  Now we’re pretty upset at being so clearly pushed around.  So Will and Salvador decide to get this all straightened out by going to talk to the mayor himself.  Salvador happened to know him and where he lives so they made a trip over there before we talked with Cathy any further.  Will runs the entire situation by him and the mayor tells Will that Cathy had told him that she had our place confirmed for their party a week ago.  He told Will not to worry about any additional fees either – he said he would be giving Cathy a call to straighten this whole thing out.  Before Will even got back to the house Cathy had called us back and she had done a complete 180 in her attitude towards us – suddenly she was overly sweet on the phone and asking how much it would cost to rent out place for the party.  We quoted her $100 off our regular rate because we did want to be fair and in the end she declined, “Maybe next year” she retorted with a cynical laugh. 

We felt good about how this had all gone – we learned a very valuable lesson that day – it was good that we didn’t take her at face value and let her use us as a doormat.  The problem now became that she still headed up the committee which decides who gets their liquor license renewed for the new year and who doesn’t.  So we were a little nervous that she would be holding a grudge.  The first step of the renewal process was to go to the town hall and pay $10 for 5 photo copied “applications” to fill out.  If you would like them to complete the three entry spaces they gladly will for a fee of $50, but we chose to take the 10 minutes to complete them ourselves.  Then we had to go to a committee meeting in which all other business owners attend and it is announced by the committee one application at a time if that business is granted their license. 

So on a Monday my mom and I attended the meeting not really knowing what to expect.  It was a bit of a circus.  We were hoping that this meeting wouldn’t take up the entire day because we had poker later that night and Monday morning/afternoon was really our only down time during our regular operations.  We got up early to get ready for this meeting, and we decided to walk there since we thought that parking would be a bear considering anyone selling liquor in the town would be present at this meeting.  We show up about 15 minutes early and we shouldn’t have been surprised that we were the first to arrive, so we had our pick of a seat and sat down to wait.  A couple of officials showed up, including our friend Cathy, and slowly a few more people started to show up.  We were expecting quite a crowd but by 15 after 9 there were only about 10 people there.  We were the only North Americans there (we were expecting a few more based on who owns businesses around town) there were only about 5 Belizeans and then all the Chinese business owners started to show up.  The room consisted mostly of Chinese business owners by the time we got started. 

So Cathy started the meeting about 20 after 9 and we quickly figured out that it was essentially pointless to be present since about 3/4 of the business people weren’t even there.  They already had the approved licenses printed out and they started calling individual names out to pay for their renewal.  They started with a beer license, then wine and malt and then we got to the restaurant licenses.  This is where all the chaos started.  Most of the Chinese business people present were here for the restaurant license and Cathy started to call out their names.  No one responded after the first few names and then one of the men who spoke a little English came up to start talking with Cathy.  She asked him to translate for her, but it really didn’t get much better.  They all started looking at each other and talking over Cathy and the translator…finally a few minutes passed and Cathy told the translator to inform all the people here for a restaurant license to come forward, at this point half the people stood up and went to the front, they couldn’t figure out the names or what was required so after a few more minutes she had the translator tell all the Chinese restaurant and shop owners that they were all approved and they could come to pay later…at that point they all stood up and left the room at once, all laughing. 

Well, that left about 10 of us again and after a few names they finally called Nancy Rifenbark and we went up front.  She says that our license is approved and we can pay at the cashier.  We asked her if we had to pay right away and they tell us, no, we have until the end of the month to pay for the renewal.  So we left after about 50 minutes of chaos.  There was absolutely no need for us to be there, we could have simply gone to town hall on Tuesday, asked if we were approved and paid the fee.  Oh well, we are slowly learning and it didn’t turn out to take too much time, plus the experience was worth the wait. 

So the New Year was here and we had all our licenses under control again – now we would see how business would be this year.  Poker was moving along well and giving us some exposure to people who weren’t coming to our place before so that was encouraging. 

This past weekend in Belize was full of celebration and excitement.  As you walked, drove or biked through the streets of Corozal you saw a splash of blue, red and white on businesses, houses and blowing in the wind.  The Belizeans are flying their flag proudly this month in order to celebrate the 28^th anniversary of their country’s independence.  Yesterday, September 21^st, was their actual independence day but there were festivities happening all weekend. 

The main events happened Sunday all day and went right into Monday to bring in the morning.  A parade was scheduled for 1pm on Sunday and we really didn’t know what to expect since this would be our first experience with this holiday.  Around 2pm my friend and I took some bikes out to ride over to the bay front and catch the parade.  It was really hot riding around on those bikes since we have had very little rain to cool anything off so I brought some water along and we had our swimsuits on to take a dip in the bay.  We got over to the water in no time and ran in to some friends who had already staked out a place under the shade of a large tree – with Belikin beer in hand they were waiting patiently for the parade to pass by.  We couldn’t hear any music at all so we guessed that they still must be quite a ways off.  It was a long parade route so our new plan was to swim for a bit in the bay and then ride to the beginning instead of waiting.  So we hopped off our bikes and jumped in the water – despite the water being warm it was a cool contrast to the sticky heat that day.  We played in the water along with everyone else who had the same idea, bobbing up and down with the waves that were coming in.  I had my bikini on but I chose to jump in with my shorts Corozal style because I thought it would keep me a little cooler after I was out too.  After the swim break we grabbed our bikes and kept on moving. 

The parade must have started a little later than planned because they weren’t very far off the starting point by the time we arrived around 3pm.  The streets were jam packed along the main road in town – the entire town must have been out there lining the roads.  The music was blaring and the colors were brilliant.  The main focus of this parade was to showcase the various dance groups who had been practicing for the last month to compete for the 1^st place honor.  There were also a few floats decorated by various businesses around town (next year we’ll decorate a Scotty’s float) and each float had a massive stereo system as their main focus so there was absolutely no shortage of music to dance along to.  The overall vibe of the day was exuberance and it was hard not to have a big smile on your face.  The parade lasted for about an hour and once we got to the end we were hot, sweaty and dehydrated so we headed back to the house to get some nourishment and a cold shower. 

Later that day after the parade the festivities would move to the Civic Center which is located about a block from our house and bar so we planned on making our way over there to watch the judging and join in on the celebrations there.  We ended up over there around 6pm and it was in full swing.  Everyone in town had moved to the Civic and the dance groups were just about to start competitions to be judged.  We got to see the first couple of groups before we had to get back to the bar to close up and do payroll for the end of the week.  The fun wasn’t over though, after we closed up the bar we headed back to the Civic where activities would be taking place all night long culminating with a grand fireworks display at midnight and dance to bring in Monday. 

There was a carnival set up on the Civic Center grounds that held about 7 rides – some for the kids and some for the adults.  I ended up on one of the rides which was far less scarier than the Ferris wheel a couple weeks ago – a quick side note on that Ferris wheel though, the rumor is that it was taken down because a man had been rocking back and forth in the bucket and his safety latch gave out and he fell to his death!  I have not been able to confirm this but it’s a little disturbing to say the least.  In any case, there were no problems with the rides Sunday night.  One thing about a carnival in Belize; safety measures are not as important as in the states.  One of the spinning rides brought the ride goers’ shoes flying about 10 feet from the overhanging power lines.  Next the wait for midnight began – I wanted to see the fireworks but there was still about three hours to kill before they would begin.  There was entertainment happening outside the Civic Center so I ended up watching that to pass time. 

Around 11:30 there was an official ceremony that included speeches from various political figures in town, followed by a 21 gun salute by the Belize Defense Force and then the show started.  They had really gone all out with this display of fireworks – it was about a 30 minute show and it was brilliant.  Again, safety not the main concern as the fireworks were shot off in a small field next to houses, parked cars and another field full of people.  I have never been so close to the lighting point of a major fireworks show like that.  The show ended with an uninterrupted onslaught of colorful explosions that overwhelmed the senses and left the audience agape.

After the show I opted out of the dance that would follow and continue in to the morning.  I headed back to the house in a mass of traffic (probably the closest thing to a traffic jam that Corozal will see).  It was definitely time for my bed. 

When I woke up later that morning on Monday there were still events happening around town.  An official parade would take place that afternoon but the day began with rain and grey skies so I stayed in the house and planned on going out later if the rain cleared up.  I was still pretty exhausted from the night before (next year I’ll have to train for this nonstop weekend).  Later that night there was another dance in one of the public parks along the bay.  The rain had seemed to let up so we headed out around 8:30 to check it out.  It was the place to be, the music was loud, and vendors were out on the street, people were dancing, laughing and drinking – it was a party.  We stayed out there enjoying the people for a few hours and then headed back to the house with one quick stop at the Cactus Plaza for some late night tacos.  It was a fun couple of days and really a fantastic experience to get to celebrate with the people of Belize. 

Dad arrived in Belize right after my uncle left – it was really unfortunate that their trips didn’t overlap a little but that’s how it goes.  My mom and I were extremely happy to see Dad on the day he arrived.  He would be staying just shy of two weeks.  He had originally planned on being here for two weeks but it turned out that a business trip would cut his trip to Belize short by a few days.  At the beginning of any trip you just don’t think about those things so we would worry about it later.  My dad and I have a very close relationship which I feel extremely lucky about; before I moved to Belize we were working out together three times a week so we saw each other a lot.  In Belize I had missed not seeing him so I knew this trip would be really great and very hard when it ended.  This would also be the first time he and my mom would be seeing each other since the move to Belize in October.  They hired a taxi service to bring him home from the airport in Belize City since we didn’t have a reliable vehicle to pick him up and because that taxi service was based in Corozal my mom hitched a ride to the airport with them so she could ride back with him.  Will and I stayed at the house to await their arrival. 

It was a tearful reunion when they did finally arrive – the two of us exchanged big hugs and we all sat down to catch up.  He had brought a considerable amount of luggage with him bearing gifts from home – items that we cannot get here in Corozal – so close to Christmas I guess it was fitting.  It’s amazing how exciting it can be to get even the simplest things after being in Belize for just a few months.  After Dad got settled in a bit he went out to the bar and said hi to everyone else.  Everyone was excited to meet him after hearing so much about Mr. Scott. 

Dad was on vacation here, and that’s exactly how he and my mom were going to treat it.  Will’s anxiety and stress levels were already at a high and it was my dad’s visit here that seemed to throw him in a complete tailspin.  Sadly, that is what overshadowed the fact that my dad was here visiting and we wouldn’t be able to see him again for another few months.  At first things were okay, everyone was getting along, but it wasn’t long before the air was filled with a thick tension.  Things became uncomfortable and really even I wasn’t sure what was going on.  Will was acting strange, quiet and visibly perturbed.  We took several trips with my dad as we had done with my uncle, some I went on, and some just my mom and he went on.  Will stayed at the bar for the trips because he wasn’t comfortable leaving the bar in the hands of the staff at this point; I had assumed that this was acceptable since we were entertaining guests.  According to Will I had made an incorrect assumption.  He felt that my dad should have been here working in the bar and became extremely resentful that he was not doing that.  It was my opinion that my Dad’s role with all of this was financial – he was still in Oregon making money to fund the business here in Belize – that was his responsibility.  I didn’t feel like he needed to learn all the ins and outs of the bar’s operations since this was his vacation from work.  Of course he was interested in the daily operations and how things were being run, and he asked plenty of questions about that, as well as observed how things were done in general.  So Will became more and more bitter as my dad’s trip progressed.  I would constantly hear about it from Will because he refused to actually confront my dad about how he felt so I started to get very tired of being the middle man, and since I completely disagreed with Will I became very irritated about the whole situation. 

After the first week of the trip Will was hardly saying two words to my dad and it was becoming exceptionally rude, everyone was uncomfortable.  I knew that if the tables were turned and one of Will’s friends or family members was here visiting he would be showing them around town as well.  He certainly wasn’t seeing it that way and whenever I made that point to him he simply stated that this situation was reality and making comparisons to someone visiting him wasn’t the scenario at this point.  Obviously I have a bias here toward my own opinion and all I can say about this is that I disagreed strongly.

It all came to a head the day before my dad was scheduled to leave.  My mom and dad had a trip planned for that last day.  Originally I hadn’t planned on going because I knew how upset Will was about the whole situation, but on second thought I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to spend some more time with my dad before he left Belize.  My dad wanted me to go too, so very soon before they were leaving I approached Will to see if he would mind if I went.  When I asked him he gave me a real “eat shit” look that kind of surprised me to be honest.  He barked some sarcastic remark at me that immediately upset me.  I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Here it is my dad’s last day in the country and I want to spend time with him and then there’s my husband who is very obviously upset about the whole situation.  In hindsight I shouldn’t have even asked about it; time with my dad is way too important to me than that and Will knows me well enough to understand that.  From Will’s reaction I knew it wasn’t okay with him so at first I told my parents that I would be staying home; I was visibly upset and my dad basically told me to just do what I wanted to do so I decided to go with my gut and spend the time with my dad. 

Later, once we had returned, Will and I got in to a major fight.  Things got more heated than they ever had and I was extremely close to calling it quits right then and there.  I could not comprehend that he wasn’t able to understand my desire to spend as much time as possible with my dad.  Family is extremely important to me and that is no secret to people who know me well.  I already had my doubts about our relationship as a married couple and this did not help things at all.  It would be very hard to forgive Will for making my dad feel unwelcome and uncomfortable.  At the same time Will couldn’t understand why I couldn’t see his point of view about the whole situation.  I knew at this point I had a lot of thinking to do about the future of my marriage.