Business and Pleasure - The Important Stuff and Return Home

For the rest of the journey, you'll have to trust me. Remember, the camera is really out of it due to an untimely bath while we were canoing.

After getting done canoing, we got back to Midas Resort. Mae, the only smart one in the bunch, had previously made an appointment for a massage with a lady in town, so she took off for that.

The rest of us were going to meet Mae along with her masseuse and her husband for a late dinner at an Indian restaurant in San Ignacio. Which we did, and it was good food too. A nice evening all in all.

Back to the resort and to bed.

Friday dawns as usual. We all get up, pack, and settle our accounts at the front office and head into town for breakfast. Again Mae took off - to the French bakery where she had reserved several loaves of bread and rolls to take back to Corozal.

After breakfast we hit the road for Belmopan and - are you ready for it - the business part of the trip. I bet you thought I either forgot about it or just was never going to get around to it. Well, here it is.

When we got to Belmopan, Craig dropped Mae off at the Business and Corporations Department (or something like that) and dropped us off at the Immigration Department.

We wanted to find out the straight skinny on all the rumors we had heard regarding the residency program Belize offers, and we wanted to get an up-to-date checklist and application packet for the same.

As luck would have it, we got inside the Immigration building and there were a few people waiting to be taken care of. The Receptionist asked if she could help us, and wonder of wonders, she really did. She dispelled the rumor of applying for residency now taking two years and that you had to hire an expediter to push you application through. She said it sounded to her like someone wanted us to spend our money.

She said the process, once you submit your application, should take anywhere from three to six months, as long as there's no adverse police report, etc.

She very kindly gave us the application packet and checklist, and explained both parts to us.

We were done inside of five minutes!

Dianna and I waited on the front steps of Immigration for Mae and Craig to return from their stuff at the other department. When they showed up, we stopped at Brodies (http://www.brodiesbelize.com/) (a department store here that has a couple stores in Belize City and one in Belmopan. I'm not sure if they have other outlets - none near us anyway. After buying some snacks and water (and not finding what we were looking for), we headed home to Corozal.

We did stop at Brodies in Belize City to look for what we wanted (silverware, etc.). While we were getting our goodies stashed into the car so we could head home, a car pulled up behind us and the guy driving motioned like he wanted us to move so he could get the parking place.

My initial reaction was, Wow! What nerve, especially with parking spaces open all around us. It was like he was saying, this is my lucky parking space and you're in it, so move.

Then we recognized the woman in the vehicle with him... Lola - it was Jonathon and Lola from Punta Gorda, way down south. They used to live in Corozal, and for some reason, wanted to move down there. Anyway, it was great to see them. So we all stood in the parking lot, gabbing for a few minutes.

Then we took off for the last leg of the journey home.

Just so you don't think we're totally devoid of pictures now, we're not. Dianna has an identical camera to my ruined one, so I'll be using that till I can replace it. I'm thinking of a waterproof, compact digital. I'll have to shop around a bit and see what's available.

Anyway, here's a few miscellaneous shots showing what's been going on at home.

Dianna decided to paint the utility or laundry room. Here's a shot of it in progress. Quite an improvement too, I might add.

Laundry/Utility Room Undergoing Renovation

We also got some of the burglar bars and doors that we had ordered from Isaiel. Here he is installing four of the six burglar bars for the windows and a steel door for the generator room.

Isaiel Installing Burglar Bars and

Generator Room Door

We're still waiting for him to bring the two burglar bar doors for the main downstairs area and the two fancy burglar bars for the driveway side windows downstairs as well.

We thought he was going to be here this last Saturday, but forgot this is a holiday weekend (Soverign's Day was Saturday), so it probably won't happen till next weekend. We're keen to get all that in, cause then we can finally unload the rest of our goodies from the truck, and put the truck up for sale. Yea!!!

We are also expecting to take delivery of our office built-in desk, bookcases, and cabinets. Maybe Tuesday. We'll see. This is Belize after all. Things happen here when they happen and not a minute too soon. If you get my drift.

Our friends, Doug and Twyla are building a house on the corner of our road and the cross street. They will be our closest neighbors (roadwise). There place is projected to be completed by the end of July (see paragraph above for reality check on that).

Doug and Twyla

Doug and Twyla's House

We had Christmas in May as our shipments from the states via Clifford Marage finally showed up.

We got locks from Owen and Sandy (they're all installed and work really well). One key for the whole house!!! Modern technology at work!

We got blankets, books and toys for Cindy from Don and Brenda. Books are like gold down here. I didn't believe it when we first got here, but it's true. They really become valuable commodities. The blanket will be greatly appreciated this winter when it gets back down to the low 60's... I know, I know. 60 degrees. But believe me, when you acclimate, that's bloody cold!

Thank you Owen and Sandy, and Don and Brenda. We really do appreciate all of the goodies - a lot.

And finally, we got a new HP 5-in-1 printer from Amazon.com. It works great. We can make copies and print and scan and - well, we can't fax. We don't have a land line for the phone. But everything else works great.

Dianna Unwrapping Christmas Presents

Dianna Unwrapping More Christmas Presents

Just so you stay aware, here a couple of shots of our ongoing landscaping. So far, we've brought in about 6 loads of black dirt (top soil), and still need to have more brought in.

Landscaping Move Ahead

Landscaping Houseside

We are tending to use the palapa more and more. I just got an additional six chairs from Cinty's for the palapa. This next month, I'll be hosting our Corozal Men's Group meeting on the first Saturday of June. We'll be meeting under the palapa.

New Furniture for the Palapa

And, finally. For all those who may have thought we'd never get our pool - You were wrong. Here it is.

Well, maybe not in its final form. But, this will work temporarily till we get the real one built. We've been using this one daily since we got it put up.

Dianna had to go for a doctor's appointment over to Chetumal, Mexico, so I went along. My first trip there. Craig drove us. Mae also came along as she wanted to see the doctor too, and we all wanted to shop at Chedraui (http://www.chedraui.com.mx/chui/). A big department store in Chetumal. That was where we got the pool.

Our Pool

Ok, so now everything is up-to-date, till the next entry. Sorry it's taken so long, but our days down here are just so full there's little time to do things, y'know?