Paget's Belize Journal - 2001
Spring in Belize-
A princess arrives |
Finding a place to stayIn contrast to the last time I went househunting in Belize, things fell into place rapidly this round. Mike S., a former Oregonian who has been farming in Belize for the last 25 years (and whom I met on my last trip to Belize) had found a house in San Ignacio that sounded great (safe neighborhood, fairly new, kitchen and laundry, etc for US $150/mo) so I was prepared to just move in. In true Belizean fashion, however, it turned out to be not quite finished according to Mike and non-existent according to the folks at Martha's Cafe where Mike had told me to inquire about it. Probably they just didn't like my looks. Anyway. I had come to San Ignacio on Thursday with Therese who taking photos of the facilities of a new client. (Remember Tony and Therese own Naturalight Productions, a company that does probably 75% of the non-government web site work in the country. You could check them out at http://www.naturalightproductions.com.) Also on the trip was Mike C. from Carrie Bow Caye, a Smithsonian marine research site just offshore from Dangriga. Carrie Bow Caye is named for Therese's grandmother and belongs to her family still. Mike lives nine months of the year in Washington DC and the other three on the caye doing fieldwork. He was furniture-shopping for the facility's dining room and verandahs. (Although I didn't go there this trip, here is a link to information about their research on Carrie Bow Caye.) At our very first stop, Aguanda Hotel in San Ignacio, the owner sat me down and said, "Now, you are looking for a small house to rent?" "I said, "Yes, or a possibly a room," because Therese had told me they rented rooms by the month and it was a nice place, although pretty far from the center of town. "Done!" he shouted, "I have just the place!" Then he told me it was in a house of a German woman who was doing some volunteer work in San Ignacio and he was sure it would be perfect. "Um, what kind of volunteer work?" Because most of the volunteers in this part of the country are church-affiliated which could be difficult to live with. But he said it had something to do with computer literacy, so that seemed okay. It's a fine house and the upshot was I took the room after looking at several other far less desirable options. Jana has everything set up and ready -- all furnished including a bed for me and access to a whole kitchenful of things. We have a refrigerator that actually makes ice and a two-burner stove top and dishes and pots and pans and so forth. No hot water though. Oh, well. Jana also has made herself pretty modern-world comfortable with a television, cable, CD player, etc. AND an Internet connection that I can rent a piece of. So, I have lots of reservations about living with someone even as a room-renter and I'm unhappy about the television and the almost-constant music (competing, of course, with all the other constant music in the neighborhood). But we'll see. Jana told me that she would be working 3 or 4 mornings and
3 or 4 evenings a week at the computer center, so I thought it
would be tolerable. But now, she has talked to someone who has
made her apprehensive about getting deported if she works on
her tourist visa instead of waiting for the "volunteer"
visa. Which, of course, is for Peace Corps and Mormons and so
forth, so I don't know if her boss/sponsor really knows if he
can get one or not. I'm sure things will eventually work out
for her, but probably not in the 6 weeks that I'm going to be
here. Well, nothing is predictable on these journeys, so we all
may have a very middle class experience this time. Next I'll
tell you a little about San Ignacio. |
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