Things about me…
Just in case you want to know a little about me…
My name is Kristi, I’m a 28 year old Sagittarius. I was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon but spent most of my childhood growing up in a little tiny town called Banks in Oregon. So I basically grew up in the country although I continue to be in denial about it. In recent years I’ve started to accept the fact that I’m a country girl at heart. The great thing about my town is that we were only a 40 minute drive to Portland so we had the opportunity to go do the “big city” activities.
I went to college at the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR – this is a fantastic town that everyone should go visit – and got my degree in Economics there. It was during college that I started dating my ex-husband. He was from the same town as me and we were friends before I left for college. He decided to get a degree as well so he moved in with me during my sophmore year. Three years later we got married in Jamaica. Once I graduated from U of O we stayed in Eugene for a couple more years while he finished up his degree and then moved back to the Portland area. I got a job for a financial planning firm and did that for a couple years. It was a pretty “normal” life. I got in to weight lifting and boxing training for a couple years while I was there – both things I love. I felt restless though, my job wasn’t challenging me, I wasn’t sure it was even the career I wanted, I wasn’t happy in my marriage and things had just become too boring.
It was about this time when my parents came to me and asked if we would be interested in helping them start a restaurant in Belize, Central America – what!?! It was way out in left field, but at the same time exactly what I was waiting for. It was a total 180 of where my life had been heading. I did some research on the country and the town they were looking at but it didn’t take long for my husband and I to completely agree on the plan. We basically packed up everything, sold a ton of stuff, quit our jobs and moved to Belize about a year ago. This is where I started seeing major problems in my relationship that I wasn’t willing to let go of or deal with. It was a selfish decision, but also one I had to make for myself. I wasn’t happy with him and in order to change that I had to step away from the marriage. I do not regret it at all and I only hope the best for him. We just weren’t right for each other as far as I’m concerned.
So now, my mother and I live in a house in Corozal and run Scotty’s Bar and Grill – this blog is an attempt to share my story and give myself an outlet for my love of writing. It’s been quite an adventure and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It may not be long term for me – we’ll see, but for now I love living here. It’s not all paradise, but any problems that arise can be dealt with much easier while here.
I will have two blogs running on this site; one will go through the story of moving to Belize chronologically so there is a time delay on that one, the second will detail current events that are going on in my life here in Corozal, Belize.
Cheers!
Hello Ms Kristi,
My name is Jodi, or Ms Jo as I am known in Belize.
We have a bird rehabilitation and release facility in San Ignacio Belize, hosted by our eco lodge Casa del Caballo Blanco LLC (www.casacaballoblanco.com). We will be there in mid August with our team of biologists. Just wanted to say hello. We live in Petaluma, CA and travel back and forth. Lets stay in touch,
Thanks,
Ms Jo
Hi Kristi,
My husband and I met you and your Mom in Feb. We met once at Bill and Jenny’s place. The second time Dean and I stopped by Scotties on our last day in Corozal. Dean works at Intel in Hillsboro. I had planed on keeping in touch but lost your email address. I just stumbled upon your blog and have enjoyed reading it. Please send me an email when you get a chance. Looks like we will be moving to Corozal sooner than we thought! Debbie
Hey Debbie,
I tried to send you an email awhile ago but I’m not sure if the one listed on my comment list was correct. I would definitely like to keep in contact with you – you can send me an email at [email protected]
Hi Kristi,
Just reconnected with your mother on fb. I went to school with your mom and dad back in Roseburg. I am facinated with what I have read about your life in your blog. Good for you. Live your life…it sounds exciting, and it sounds like you are an achiever.
I hope to keep up with your writings. You are living my wildest dreams.
Vernon Herriott
I am an Editor for EscapeArtist.com, one of biggest and long established expat sites out there. I stumbled across your blog while looking for content for one or both of the online publications I head for Escape Artist
If you are interested in providing content for either Escape From America Magazine and/or Expat Daily News please let me know.
We have a subscriber base of 400,000 and many contributors are willing to provide content in exchange for links back to their own blog.
If this is something you would like to do please contact me and I will be happy to provide more information.
Warm regards,
–
Susan Beverley – Editor
Expat Daily News
http://www.escapeartist.com
Hi Kristi:
First, please know that I found your blog via EscapeArtists, where you’re concerned about some people being pretentious. (More on that later.) So it’s working. I’ve read almost half, starting at the beginning, following you (and the fat cat) in your move to Belize.
Second, please forgive me if I erred. I thought hard about mailing this way too long comment privately to your gmail account instead of posting here. But since you opened the door in the first paragraph of your “Things about me,” where you promulgate your religion (“There is no God”), I figured it was okay to step in. And since this might help others, I’m taking the liberty of posting publicly. Too, I appreciated your frankness and honesty in your self assessment as to why you left your former husband (“a selfish decision”). I’m writing to strengthen your faith in your belief because, frankly, your current faith seems weak. You need to be more selfish than you are.
I’m not into psycho-babble, but what tipped me off was your response to Forever Love. I have to wonder, rhetorically quoting Shakespeare, if the woman doth protest too much?
See, F.L. did not “disrespect” – not a real word – your belief and F.L. even acknowledged you can believe whatever you want. I’ll be the first to admit that not everyone who claims to be Christian is a Christian, but like a sign at the beach warning about rip tides, F.L. appears only trying to warn you of perceived danger. You can simply ignore the sign.
But you protested too much, especially for someone who chooses to not believe in the existence of rip tides. May I say you should have ignored F.L.’s comment entirely or perhaps pitied those of us who are foolish enough to believe there is a God? For you can do things we can’t. Fun things, like (ahem) “surf” – big time.
See, if there is no God, then there is no good and evil. There are no consequences in an afterlife later to anything we do now. I know you don’t believe the Bible, but even God says there that if He doesn’t exist, then we should “eat, drink [and be merry], for tomorrow we die.” Very logical.
So be logical. Instead of worrying about people being pretentious toward Belizians, which is a nice, unselfish, almost Christian concern, I encourage you to live your faith to the fullest. Forget about others. Be immoral. There’s only you and there’s only now. Survival of the fittest, and all that. Live as licentiously as possible. (Your mom may remember the old Schlitz beer commercial, “Go for the Gusto!”) You’re still young and in good shape, so, like an animal, “Whatever feels good, do it.” Because, as you know, this is all there is. True?
I have no intention for this blog to be a religious debate or a debate about whether or not a God is needed for good or evil to exist. I had simply entered a sentence which stated what I personally believe – I have since removed that sentence to avoid further comments in response to it. Thanks for the vocabulary lesson and for the assumptions about my view of people who do believe in a God.
ouch…pwned
Do what you will, Kristi. Ups and downs are all part of the big game. You seem to be enjoying it, and thats all that really matter when you get down to the proverbial brass tacks.
I look forward to someday having one of your burgers, and experiencing this paradise myself – warts and all.
Please keep writing, living vicariously through your experiences is helping a lot with the mess I am living in right now
Kristi,
I ran across your blog as I was randomly searching things on Belize and decided to write because we have some things in common. I live in Oregon, and grew up in Manning. I went to Banks grade and jr. high school before moving to Beaverton. My mother still lives out at our house in Manning and I’m there regularly. Both of my younger brothers went to UofO. Currently I live in Tigard. For years my husband and I have been considering moving to Belize after our daughter is settled in college. I’ve been looking for someone to connect, and correspond with, in Belize that could give us a real understanding of what it would be like to make the move. I’d love to chat with you.
Right now it’s freezing here. We had a couple weeks of uncommonly dry and cold weather, followed by a warming trend that also brought rain with it. Now it’s back to being cold but it’s wet now, and if it keeps up, we will have snow.
Hope to hear from you,
~Si
Hello Ms. Krisit,
Thanks for sharing. I was in the Peace Corps in Belize from 1987-1989 in San Roman Rio Hondo in the Orange Walk District. I was 22 year old with a college degree, and the furthest place I vistied was the “State Fair”. The experience was great but plenty of emotional roller coaster rides thrown in. Not a day goes by without having a memory of Belize being jarred loose, (Haiti comes to mind currently). I am hoping to spend more time back in Belize after I get off the “rat race” tread mill.
Once again thanks for sharing,
Greg
Thanks for reading! Yes, I’ve experienced those emotional roller coasters for sure! Did you spend much time in any other parts of the country?
Aloha Kristi,
I got to your blog through EscapeArtist.com. We are leaving Maui Hawaii for Costa Rica and Belize in March. We have friends in Costa Rica and I threw in Belize because I thought it would be interesting, now that I have already purchased the plane tickets I am ‘thinking’ about dropping the Belize part of the trip. I cannot seem to find enough information about where to go, where to stay, where to avoid, and how to get around in the country…this makes me a bit nervous, aside from the 2009 murder capital in the world comments….do you have any insight regarding this dilemma? aloha and mahalo, lesley
Hi Kristi,
What a small world! I found your blog after receiving a google alert on articles mentioning Margay and then continued reading about you. I am a wild cat advocate and enthusiast. My husband and just got back from Belize (caye caulker) and I grew up in Banks as well. And I too am in denial and still refer to where I grew up as Forest Grove but it really was Banks. Anyways, what’s the deal with the Margay? Is it yours? Where was it going?
Kristi!
thanks for the email note….hope to hear from you again soon
aloha,
lesley
Hey Ivy! It is such a small world! The margay was found by someone out in progresso village (or around there) and my friend bought it to take it to the zoo since he didn’t know what would happen to it if it didn’t get to the zoo. It was such a cute little thing! Do you come to Belize often? I really love Caye Caulker and wish I could spend a little more time there. Thanks for writing!