Bananas By the Bay - Part Two

Awwright!!!!!!! I found it. I got to log a "First-to-Find" on my "First Find" as a Geocacher.

GeoCache Hidden in a Palapa

If you don't know what that is, it's a hobby or really a past-time where you get to use a 20-billion dollar satellite system with a 400-dollar GPS unit and go thrashing around looking for messages in a bottle and the occasional trinket (see http://www.geocaching.com/) for more info.

Gas is Expensive - or Not

Gas down here costs about $5US a gallon. That is, if you buy from official dealers. Why would you do that, you might ask? Well, why would you, when there's a thriving market for steeply discounted gas, if you get my drift. We've been put in touch with someone else who deals with cheap gas - which you can purchase with the cheap money you've already obtained.

I'm sure there'll be other "discounts and discounters" as we get into the construction process of the house. Stay tuned.

Money Changers at the Temple

But wait! There's more! You want to change greenbacks to Belize dollars? Not a problem. The official exchange rate is $2.00BZ to $1.00US. Banks will give you, usually about $1.97 or .98BZ to $1.00US (there was no discount at all in my transaction above. Go figure). The Dutchman we'll be renting from took me and personally introduced me to a person in Corozal who will exchange my US dollar checks for $2.05BZ for $1.00US. Dollar to dollar, that's no big deal. Better than the banks though, and if you do $1000US, we're talking $50BZ additional.

The introduction was right out of the movies. I was introduced to him and his wife. I then showed him the check I wanted to cash. He took it, went over to a small desk in the corner and examined it. After all, I'm an unknown quantity at this stage. He looks up and motions for me to come over to his desk and sit on this little stool and endorse the check. He then hands the check to his wife, who promptly disappears into the dark back of the store for a few minutes. She reappears with $1050BZ in a neatly folded bundle. She hands it to him. He very formally, counts it out for me and softly orders me to also count it out. It's right. We both stand up, shake hands, and big smiles all around. He treats me like a long-lost friend and says he's done business with the Dutchman for years and is very pleased to make my acquaintance and looks forward to a long relationship with me as well.

So, am I now in league with the Belize underworld? Again, who knows! All I know, is that just about everyone has a similar arrangement with someone to take care of cashing US checks. Is it the same person? I have no idea. But, we're here for the long haul, so, if it maximizes my dollar with no harm, why not? This is such a fun land, I love it!

Contractors or Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him...

Oh, wait. That was Firesign Theatre... But it is about contractors and electricians.

Now that we're landed gentry, so to speak, everyone knows someone else who's a contractor. So far, we have three "contractors" who we need to talk to about our construction project. One is a American with personal problems, one is a Belizian electrician who is also a contractor?!, and the other one is probably the best, but he's semi-retired and needs to be coaxed into doing the job. He's also a Gringo, but I think he's married to a Belizian gal. I'm not sure what she has to do with the equation, but hey, What the heck. Is this a fun country or what?

Transferring Money Via Debit Card

More on the vehicle. I have possession of it now, but what a rigmarole getting to that point.

Jesus and I met at about 0900 yesterday. Of course, I was there at 0830 as we had agreed - silly of me. We went to Scotiabank, Jesus's bank, and waited in line to make the money transfer. I was planning to use my debit card and just transfer $9000BZ to his account. Wrong. It seems dear old Uncle Sam only allows a $500US daily transfer limit.

Well, that kinda put a damper on things right away. Doing it that way would take nine days to make up$9000BZ. And we needed a vehicle right away.

So, Jesus and I went outside the bank and talked for a bit. We eventually agreed that I'd transfer the $500US and cash in some traveler's checks. That'd get us to about half of the amount. And we'd figure out how to do the rest of it later.

We went back in the bank, got in line again, and waited our turn. When we got to the teller, I gave him my card and my driver's license. He said something to the effect, "Just a minute. I'll check and see if we can do something". I had no idea what. So we waited...

He came back after about 5 minutes (nothing happens speedily, or the way you'd think it should) he came back and said because of their long-standing business relationship with Mr. Alcoser (Jesus), the bank was willing to hit my card for two days worth of transfers of $2500BZ each, that day, and we could do it again on Tuesday...

Huh? I thought they had just told me I could do a max of $500US per day. But we could now do $2500BZ twice in one day? I'm pretty sure that's $5000BZ, which equates, if I'm right, to about $2500US. Granted, that's two days transactions - Saturday's and Monday's, hence, doing it again on Tuesday.

Ummm, OK. Yeah, let's do it that way. So we did, and I gave Jesus $5000BZ. I got the SUV, as Jesus said I "owned more of the car than he did, now". We'll meet again at 0830 Tuesday morning, go to the bank, and do exactly the same thing again. I'll pay Jesus the remaining $4000BZ, and take the remainder and open an account with Scotiabank.

So, what ever happened to the rule of $500US per day? I haven't a clue. Apparenly, it's only a rule that doesn't apply in every situation - or something.

Anyway, it'll be a done-deal Tuesday. After the bank, Jesus and I will go to the Transport Department, transfer title, I'll get new Belize plates (it currently has a Texas plate on the front, nothing on the back), then go to the insurance agent and buy a year's worth of insurance. Then I'll fully own the rig.

Where'd the back plate go? I have no idea. If I drove it to the states I'd probably go to jail for grand theft auto. I've wondered why I don't need to use headlights at night here...

Gamboling and Gambling in the Corozal Free Zone

Hey, we went to the "Free Zone" last night. That's an economic area north of Corozal, right on the border with Mexico. There's several large casinos and all kinds of stores to entice Mexicans to come to Belize and spend copious amounts of money.

Ten of us went to the biggest casino, the Las Vegas, via their free van, had a nice dinner and gamboled (well, we gamboled a bit, but we also gambled).

It costs $37.50BZ to exit the country, but the casino reimburses you that as long as you plan to gamble. They don't care if you gambol or not, but they'll only reimburse you if you gamble.

Coming back to Corozal, there is no cost, and the free van hauled us back to the hotel.

Once we get our residency, then there is a much smaller fee to exit the country (I think like about $5.50BZ).

One Key or Ten

Owen and Don again - No one has their house single-keyed... Everyone (apparently throughout the country) has multiple keys for their houses, cause each lock is its own entity. A couple of people said they desperately need a locksmith to re-key houses to cut down on the number of keys. Apparently, this also applies to Chetumal, Mexico, which is a big modern city! Opportunity knocks!

Ferry Work

Our new property is located on South A Street. That's it's official name.

Sign Advising of the Ferry Rules

All the locals call it the Ferry Road. Here's a couple of pictures of the ferry. Hand-cranked, no less.

Two Workers Crank the Ferry Each Way

The common courtesy is to once in a while, give them a beer and take over cranking for your trip across, or to just take over the cranking without the beer.

Doesn't have to be done every time. But, they do appreciate it.

There It Is In All Its Glory

It's not hard work, necessarily, but sweaty and I imagine, after a whole shift (the ferry operates 24/7) pretty tiring.

Coming Back Across About Sunset

Change Three and Buying A Car

We're not going to bring a vehicle down here. We're going to ship everything down, ship the kitties, and fly ourselves down.

I was going to write "After we get here, we'll buy a new Toyota HiLux 4x4, which will cost less than buying a vehicle stateside, driving or shipping it, and paying duty on it". Change #1 - We bought a vehicle yesterday, a Isuzu Rodeo. It's a 1996 four-cylinder, 4x4, black, and seems to be in pretty good condition. I bought it from a Belizian here in Corozal. He runs a new business here in town, a restaurant/ice cream parlor (why do they call them "parlors"?). His name is Jesus (Spanish pronunciation).

Jesus In His Ice Cream Shop

I'm meeting him this morning (Saturday, April 21) at 0830 to go to his bank to transfer the funds ($9000BZ or $4500US) from my debit card to his account. Then I will have to get insurance and on Monday morning, Jesus and I both have to go to the local Dept. of Transport office to transfer title.

QRP vs Residence

Talking with Greg yesterday, we've decided to scratch the Qualified Retired Person program (too many restrictions, etc.) and go with becoming a resident. Which means we live here for a year, without exiting the country for more than 14 days total, otherwise the clock starts all over again, then, after a year, applying for residence.

The Heavens Open Up

The stars. How bright they shine down here. It's simply amazing the number of stars you can see at night when they're not drowned out with urban light. Sure, there's a few street lights, but overall, it's pretty dark at night here, which only goes to seemingly intensify the stars. It's really nice to look up and be overwhelmed with oodles and oodles (whatever an "oodle" is) of stars.

Solar Power - Reality or Just a Dream?

This is Bill and Jennie (sorry, I don't remember their last names). They own a resort on the Cerros Peninsula (Cerros Beach Resort - http://www.cerrosbeachresort.com/amenities.htm).

Jennie and Bill, Showing Antique Bottle

Bill is showing a bottle from his collection of bottles that they've found while digging foundations, water runs, etc., for their resort. Some of his bottles date from the 14 and 1500s! Very impressive.

They, like everyone here are very nice. Their resort is 100% solar-powered. I'll share pictures of their solar setup, etc., on down the page.

Bill was a professional chef in a previous life, so the food at their place is outstanding and the beer is always cold. Not bad for solar-power. They power all the resort refrigeration needs including a full-service bar and restaurant, 5 or 6 guest cabanas, and other outbuildings. How cool is that?

Here's some more shots of Bill and Jennie's photovoltaic setup:
First up, their photovoltaic collectors - there's four of 'em. The satellite dish takes care of TV and Internet.

Bill and Jennie's Solar Array

Next, a shot of the bumper sticker on a tool box for the vendor of the equipment:

Free Advertising

Then comes the inverter setup and control panel:

Control Panel

Battery Bank

The battery farm. It's made up of marine deep-cycle batteries.

Then comes the water collection system. First shot is the rainwater catchment cistern, under construction:

Rotoplas Cistern

Then the hot water heater and pressure reservoir. Water is pumped up to the roof into this tank for pressure. It's black and in the tropical sun all day for heat:

Another Cistern

Say Hello to my Little Fren...

Well, this is proof-positive that we have wildlife in our neighborhood. This is the smaller of two resident crocodiles in the canal.

Six Feet of Crocodile in the Canal

I snapped his pic the other day. He's about 6 feet long - the other croc is probably on the order of 8 - 10 feet long. No swimming in the canal!

You'll notice no doubt, that I said "our neighborhood". We're now the proud owners of a piece of property here in Belize. Well, there's still some minor details to take care of - paying for it, etc. But, the owners Craig and Mae Timmons, accepted our offer. They're really a nice couple from Oregon. They just completed the residency program here in Belize.

Not only beer to go, but beer delivery - PDQ and property too!

Hey, you wouldn't believe it, but I bought a case of Belikin Beer this morning... but, here's the cool part - they deliver! It cost $48.50BZ (about $24.25US). And, from the time we called to delivery was less than 30 minutes! How cool is that?

We talked to Connie and Greg this morning. Wow! Life be good. We are more stoked, pumped, whatever. Moving here will be so easy. We can buy property (we're looking as we speak), rent something while we build, and have truly, the house of our dreams for much, much less than we could ever afford stateside. In fact, we looked at a couple of lots this morning - right on the canal with boat slips. Wow!

First Glimpes of the Canal Properties - North One

First Glimpes of the Canal Properties - South One

The Photos are left and right sides of the two adjacent lots. Each are in South Corozal, and are about 62.5' x 235'.You just have to imagine the castle of your dreams there.

Lockpicking, Going Public, Geocaching, Monopoly

This post was pretty much a grab bag of whatever entered my mind this morning.

I keep mentioning Belikin beer - which is not a bad brew. I always like local better anyway. Here's their label. The bottles are very thick glass - recyclable with a $0.35 deposit. They also offer several different styles of beer - lagers, ales, porter, and stout. The brewery is also a licensed brewer of Guiness - good for you. Cheers.

The Local Swill - Belikin

Hey Owen and Don - I was perusing the phone book yesterday. It covers the whole country (imagine, one phone book for the whole country - about half as thick as the Olympia phone book!) and found only one locksmith listed and they're in Belize City. Now, I would assume there are other locksmiths around and probably don't advertize in the yellow pages because of expense, but... if they're not advertising - well, you know, they ain't doing business either. Just thought I'd mention that.

Let's see, what else? Oh, yes. I stand corrected. Ben really is a boy kitty. He's just been "tutored". I apologized to him for defaming his character to the whole world and hereby issue an official apology and correction.

I don't know if you saw a picture of the Corozal town seawall from the Corozal website I mentioned in the first couple of posts in this blog, but I rode by it yesterday. What a popular place for Sunday parties! People swimming in the bay, BBQing alongside the seawall, salsa and reggae blaring from car speakers, everyone looking like they were having a great time. Of course I forgot my camera on that ride. I'll try not to forget it again.

I'm going to go ahead and make the blog public, so that anyone can view it. Up to this point, it had just been private. That is, the only way you could view it was if I sent you the URL, or if someone else who had the URL forwarded it to you. By making it public, if someone does a search on Google for Belize, chances are pretty good that it will show up in the results.

Connie (hotel owner) came by last night. She's going to help me find the cache this morning. Stay tuned for a "first to find, first find" on the geocaching site. Assuming it's still there. It should be no one here really knows anything about geocaching or even GPS.

Of course, now that I'm ready to post some stuff, BTL is keeping its usual high-quality service up - or should I say, down. I can't connect right now. I'll keep trying... Monopolies be good for you, uh huh.

New Friends from Here and There

Just wanted to introduce you to some new friends we met yesterday here at Copa Banana. Barb and Jeff Wean who are from, would you believe it - Blaine, Washington.

Barb, Bill, and Tony

 If you're not from Washington, that probably doesn't mean much. Just imagine, we're about 2,700+ miles from home, and we meet a couple who're from about 150 miles away from us! We're all escaping the rain.

The other gentleman is Tony from Menzies Transportation Services here in Corozal. He has been their driver/guide for the past 3 or 4 days. We're going to try to hire him to do the same thing for us.

The Weans are an entrepreneurial and adventurous couple basically looking for the same things we are, including moving down here. They're curious about Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua in this case is pronounced just the way it's spelled instead of the island pronunciation of leaving the "u" out. So, we might go there and check that out as well. We're flexible.

We splurged and had pizza tonight. Marcelo's Pizza. Mmmmmm good! It was only $25BZ for a large pepperoni, cheese, and shroom pizza - delivered.

We found a good way to get beer to the hotel. Greg, one of the owners said he will call the beer truck in the morning and will give us a case of empties to swap with the driver for a full case of Belikin. Since there's a $0.35BZ deposit per bottle. That's a good deal. Plus delivery to our door! It just don't get no better!

I rode a bike into Corozal this afternoon and went to the New World Grocery on Santa Rita Road. Small Chinese-run operation, reminded me a lot of the stores we used to find in the islands, mon. Not a huge quantity of any one thing, but a lot of things nonetheless. I bought 8 bottles of Belikin, a block of cheddar, a big box of corn flakes, a box of soy milk, chocolate cookies, can of peanuts, and a can of Pringles. All this for only $56BZ. I threw the beer into the front basket of the bike and everything else into my day pack and pedaled back to the hotel. My first shopping experience in Belize.

Of course, I forgot I was dealing with Belize dollars and the shopkeeper was trying to tell me I was going to write too much in traveler's checks. At about the time I caught what he was trying to say, an expat who came in line behind me said, "remember where you are". Good advice. Thankfully the shopkeeper was honest, cause I completely forgot about two BZ for one greenback. Not quite a resident...

We're meeting tomorrow with Connie and Greg the owners, to talk to them about the process of moving here, etc., etc., etc. Connie did say that about half of what you read on the Internet about Belize is BS. So, it will really be interesting to get their perspective on things.

Dianna's still sore, but feeling much better. Beer and aspirin - the miracle drug! I think she's going to wait for Tony and his van to explore Corozal. We'll keep you posted.

Benjamin - in One of His/Her Favorite Roosts

I think I mentioned Ben, the Copa Banana informal House Cat elsewhere in the blog. The shot above is a candid one of him resting after a night of carousing... er, I mean, "working". He's a cool kitty. I shot this through the dining room window of the Copa.

Dianna's Day Two

Okay, visiting foreign countries may be hazardous to your health! I know I shared with you about going ass over tea kettle.....but today was a little more embarrassing and scary! We decided to take out the bicycles and I knew the one I had (no choice actually) was too big but what the hey....well, needless to say at the first intersection (which means a car or two) and I went "Ass over tea kettle" again! Dave, who was in front of me, did not know this until a truck went by and having witnessed by graceful dismount hollered "somebody fall!!!" and he turned around! After another truck stopped and I assured them and the family of 7 witnessing the "fat, white lady who cannot ride a bike" that I was okay, we limped back to the hotel. I may have either bruised or cracked a rib as it is difficult to laugh, sneeze or any lung function thereof. I have taken aspirin and am feeling better so I don't think it is serious. But at this rate of "fun" in Belize.....I will have to keep a positive attitude! More later I am sure........

Ben, Our New Friend

This is Ben, and Ben is a she. Ben is the official house cat for Copa Banana.

Ben - the Official Copa Banana House Cat

She's looking at her reflection in the oven door.

Ben is really friendly with all the guests. She never understands why they always decide to leave.

And now the real story by Dianna

Okay, what the photo doesn't show is the hour it took me to cool down from the sauna like heat, manage to get into the hammock (did go ass over tea kettle later) pose like I was nice and cool and try to look like a vacation photo op! Have not seen much of Dave since he is on the computer the whole time we have been here. If he is white when we get back you will know what great time I had sharing this experience with him. More later if he survives.! dianna

Hi, for the second time today. We're getting into the groove down here as Dianna can attest.

Dianna Relaxing and Reading

A couple more pictures are in order. So we'll provide them for you now.
The first is a little guy, Elvin (we called him Elvis) who is the younger brother of one of the groundskeepers here at Copa Banana.

Elvin, Steven's Little Brother

He's also a A-No. 1 guide. He rode with me on bikes to a little mercado in the village near the hotel (no name as far as I could tell.) Lots of chickens and roosters. The store was a little alcove in someone's house, but they have a pretty good selection of stuff - sort of a mini-Seven-Eleven. I bought a dozen Belikin Beers, and bought Elvin a Coke in a bag... Something I'd never heard of before. The shopkeeper took a bottle of Coke and poured it into a plastic bag and stuck a straw in it. Kind of a neat idea. Why didn't we have anything like that when we were kids, instead of trying to ride with a glass bottle in hand.

When we got back to the hotel, I tipped Elvin $1.00 BZ (about fifty cents, US). He was happy.

The next photo is of Elsie, our housekeeper here. And she does an excellent job too.

Elsie, the Housekeeper

Well, I'm done for now. Now it's Dianna's turn.

Howdy from Corozal Town, Belize

Well, Hi everyone. We made it! And, let me tell you, it wasn't easy. Started off with our trip to Seatac Airport. The airline said we needed to arrive at Seatac three hours prior to our flight since it was an international flight. Which meant that we would have to be there at 3:00 am for our 6:00 am flight.

Aeroporter would have had to pick us up at 1:00 am to get there by 3. That would have cost $115, since it would have been a special run just for us. So, we picked their last regular run of the day before for $45. Much better price.

They picked us up at 9:15 pm Thursday evening. We got to Seatac at 10:00. Checked in with American Airlines and got our boarding passes.

Here's where it begins to get weird.

They couldn't/wouldn't allow us to check our baggage since they closed completely at midnight. And, they opened at 4:00 am, when we could then check in. What happened to three a.m.? Who knows... That's probably a TSA requirement.

So, we got to spend the night, with our baggage, at the airport. The only thing opened outside of the security area was Starbucks. We couldn't cross the security boundary with our baggage, cause of the 3 oz. container rule, etc., etc.

Ok, Then come 4 am, we checked in with American. We were waiting at the counter, and were brusquely told by the counter bitch that she only called if we were behind the line... That was her first words to us.

Well, once we got through that with the female Hitler, we had our baggage checked in, boarding pass in hand, made it through security uneventfully, got to the gate, and waited till 5:30 or so and boarded the plane. All set for a 6 am liftoff, right?

Guess again. 6 am comes and goes, no go. Seems they had to replace the oil filter on one of the engines. Oh, and the O-ring that went with it. Excuse me, but isn't that considered standard preventive maintenance? What happened to the night shift doing that so we could take off on time???
Anyway, that done, we finally were able to get airborne at 7:30. Panic! We're going to miss our flight from Dallas to Belize! That's what we thought almost till we landed in Dallas when we found that flight had been delayed from some other airport and it was now scheduled to leave at 1:00 pm. So, if we figured things right, we had about 10-15 minutes for a mad dash to the flight.

We landed and found in the terminal, that the flight to Belize was delayed again till 1:15.

No, make that 1:30 - another change. No plane yet. Seems it's airborne from somewhere but is late getting to Dallas for some mysterious reason.

Ok, 1:30 comes and goes... Still no airplane. Airport folks were unsure where it was coming from and were being really vague. Maybe a secret CIA/Air America mission or something that we weren't cleared for, who knows?

So, several other delays, 1:45, 2:00, 2:15, and, wait a minute. It shows up, disgorges a bunch of passengers and we get to load - at 2:30.

We finally get off the ground at about 2:45.

(We had called the Copa Banana to let them and the shuttle service (Mendez Transportation Service) know we would be late and to not leave without us).

Ok, uneventful flight into Belize. The only thing was that the closer we got to Belize the rowdier a bunch of divers, who were planning to stay at ambergris Caye (key), started to get louder and more excited, talking loudly about partay, partay when they arrived. I'm glad they were staying there and we were staying in Corozal.

Anyhoo, upshot, we were up almost 40 hours and got checked in fine. Nice quarters. Crash and burn till this morning. We're going to have breakfast now, and will fill in some gaps - like dinner last night (grouper - yummmm). More later.

Just a matter of hours now

Well, here we are, getting closer to departure. It's a quarter to six Thursday morning. The airport shuttle will be here in 14.5 hours or so - but who's counting?

Dianna's almost completely packed. Has been since yesterday. I've got some stuff piled on my desk and have my pack out and ready to be loaded. I'll get that done throughout the day today.

We gave Nick and Kristin (Thanks, you two) an overly full sheet of info and instructions for babysitting our kids - I mean, cats. We've got tons of kitty food laid up for the duration. I know Midas and Blue will miss us while we're gone ("Hurry up and go already... You're interrupting my 22 hours of nap time." - Midas).

Assuming we have connectivity at the airport, we'll officially start the blog at Seatac tonight. Who knows, maybe even a picture or two.

I know we're both pretty excited about this trip. Surprisingly, I slept well last night. I haven't been for the past few however. I keep running through the trip - mostly after the trip really - When we move to Belize - Trying out scenarios of getting the cats down to Belize with minimal stress. Well, it's been stressing me out. I need the sleep! So, I am thankful I was able to get some good zz's last night.

Hey, how about those Mariners! Kicked some Boston booty last night. Felix is awesome!!! It was fun watching the game. I'm going to miss watching the M's down in Belize. So, as a result of my not being able to watch, I'm sure this guarantees the M's will have a winning season this year. Oh, well, I'll figure out a way...

And in other news, I saw on the Net that Kurt Vonnegut passed on. I enjoyed his books. In his own words - "And so it goes".

Getting nearer to departure and lists

Whooeeee! We're getting closer to departure day. Dianna's already packing (why am I not surprised?).

I've compiled a packing list for myself, to make the actual job of packing easier and so that I don't forget anything important. And yes, my list is longer than:
1. Teeshirts
2. Shorts

I've been experimenting with a new toy - a Garmin GPS unit (I know, I know, more high tech toys). But, of course!

I've been lightly bitten by the Geocaching bug (see http://www.geocaching.com/ for more info on this captivating activity). The reason I fell for it and got a GPS (well, the excuse, anyway) is that right at the hotel we'll be staying at for our first week in Belize is a geocache, called "Bananas by the Bay". Right now, there's only 15 caches in the whole country.

Speaking of high tech toys, here's a list of the stuff I'm taking with me besides the comprehensive list above:
3. GPS Unit
4. Laptop
5. Sony eBook
6. iPod
7. Digital camera
8. Electronic blood pressure cuff (we are getting older you know)
9. Related stuff - iGo power cord and some adapter units for recharging the toys; extra SD card for camera; extra batteries; Microphone equipped headset (for laptop and using Net2Phone for free calling computer to computer between Belize and CONUS).

As you can see, my list is down to just the bare essentials...

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Cheers,
Dave

From Dianna

Happy Easter everyone! Can't wait to enjoy the sunshine even though today in Olympia isn't too bad. Have started packing even though going very light this time....why is it we seem to wear only half of what we take....so does that mean if I only take half I will still only wear half? This is so hard!!! Anyway, will keep you posted as to our journey! Hope I don't get lost....

Short Time

I just looked at my calendar (on the computer, of course) and it finally hit me. SIX AND A WAKEUP! That is, six days and a wakeup till we depart for our Belize trip!