We Had Hi-igh Hopes...

Yes, we had hi-igh hopes. High apple pie in the sky-ye hopes

All the Long-Awaited New Parts

That was how it seemed when I started working on the main pool pump right after breakfast. As you can see at the left, all the brand new parts for the main pool pump, including the seal pieces right up front. That was what was holding the whole production up, waiting to get those two little bits in.

But then, as I worked to dismantle the motor from the rest of the pump body, bad news just came rolling in.

Center Bolt Thing Had to be Removed

First off, I had to loosen what looks like a bolt in the image at left. That part should be buried inside the impeller. That is, it should be bonded with the plastic of the impeller so that it is one piece. That was where the impeller sheared off leaving the bolt thing tightly on the shaft. the big round part of the impeller is what freewheeled and began destroying the diffuser. That is when I got involved after hearing the racket.

I had to open the back end of the motor to get a wrench in to hold the shaft still while I hopefully loosened the center bolt thing.

Doing that let me see just how bad the motor really was. Plastic parts making up the electrical bits of the motor were cracked badly and in a couple of cases, as I loosened the screws holding them in place, bits of plastic fell out, allowing the whole component to essentially disintegrate. The white piece of plastic in the photo below should be oriented a bit differently than it is. Of course, it should also be in one piece.

Bad News At the Back End

It soon became apparent that the motor was not going to be working anymore - ever.

Initially, I was afraid I'd have to replace the whole pump, motor and all. It quickly became apparent that I should just have to replace the motor and a few parts in addition to all the parts I already had.

My task now at hand was to remove that pesky bolt thing from the shaft, which would allow me to salvage the seal plate and the motor mounting plate and four bolts. Altogether, about $100.00 US worth of parts.

I finally got that loose, which was no easy task, and managed to salvage the two plates and bolts. So, All I have to do now is buy a new motor and a little rubber part, like a flat washer, called a 'slinger.'

The new motor will run about $210.00 US and the slinger will run $4.00 US. A lot better than what I thought was going to be a complete pump/motor replacement for around $400.00 US.

Of course, those costs will vary, depending on where I can get the motor. If Island Pool has one in stock, that will add about another $100.00 US to the cost. It will be about the same if I have to order the motor from the States. Possibly more, as I would have to add in GST (Goods and Services Tax) Sales Tax, Duty, and Environmental Fees.

What is attractive with Island Pool, is if they have it in stock, I can be up and running in a day or two. No matter how it goes with stateside ordering, it's about a month away from being able to do anything.

And since this is the Saturday before Christmas, Island isn't open today. I have to wait till Wednesday for them. I could order from the states right now, but that delay is daunting.

Nothing for it right now except to have a nice cold Belikin and hopefully watch the pool temp go up with the new addition to the heater.

Have a great weekend, a wonderful Christmas, and a prosperous New Year.

Hey, Did You Ever Wonder...?

You know how sometimes we (collectively, not the imperial) wonder out loud in conversation, or amongst ourselves, just how big a group Gringos are down here in Belize? I have anyway, a time or two.

A couple of days ago, I took it upon myself to try to actually quantify that figure. Here's what I found out.

Roughly (and all these figures are 'roughly' - some more roughly than others), there's about three-thousand (3,000) U.S. Expats living in Belize. I was too lazy to find numbers for Canadians, much less all the other countries that have representation here in Belize. You'll just have to interpret as best you can. Like I said, the figures are 'roughly'. By the way, the three-thousand figure was compiled in July 1999 by the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Not very current, but the it was the best I could find with limited resources, time, and money. 

The Bureau of Consular Affairs is an organ of the U.S. State Department. Folks who have dealt with the State Department at the U.S. Embassy over in Belmopan will note that I didn't even have to make an appointment to get those figures (probably why they're not so current).

A bit more current is the February 2014 population estimate for the U.S., at 317,456,363. That I found on the U.S. Census Bureau's website.

Now, this is where the real magic comes in. I couldn't remember exactly, or even approximately, how to figure percentages. So, I queried Google for a 'percentage calculator' of which there are just oodles to choose from. Some tripped off the line when I plugged in my numbers because it turned out I was working with a result significantly less than one. They wanted to round off to the nearest whole number, I guess, which from the result, probably would have been zero. That was what they proposed I should use as a number. Not acceptable. I kept plugging away till I found one that was able to to go nineteen decimal places. That's close enough for government work, I think.

Here's the final number I came up with: 0.0009450117715863834. How much less than one percent is that number? A lot. In fact, a Hell of a lot less. Like I said, closer to zero than one.

Now you know, roughly, how large a percentage of the U.S. population is living here in Belize. We might become excited because of all the new arrivals during tourist season down here, but, it's all relative.

Our population here is still a drop in the bucket (that's a technical term) compared to the overall population of the U.S. I bet if you added in the Canadian percentage and even threw in all the other country percentages as well, it would still be a drop in the bucket.

Now that we've cleared that up, we can move on to the next item on the agenda. That is, what're the odds of correctly guessing whether the Belikin bottle in your coozie still has a swallow or two left in it or is it empty? Bet you can't tell...

That's Perfect, Print!

It's not every day one runs across an advertisement that damn near brings tears to one's eyes. This one by Belikin (http://youtu.be/lCKviMHOxoo) is one of those - and they didn't even need Sarah McLochlan in the ad.

Belikin - Do Work

The photography and music are simply amazing. It embodies just about everything we love about Belize and living in Belize. Whoever did the ad absolutely captured the essence of Belize. It really is a work of art.

In fact, there's a whole series of ads for Belikin that are just outstanding. Watch this one (the URL takes you directly to the ad on YouTube,) then when it's done, you'll be able to select from the others on the right-hand column.

Only 16 More Days!

Holy s***! I just realized the end of the world is speedily sneaking up on us and we're at ground zero for the big extravaganza! We haven't even gotten our 'for rent' signs out for the pool house. Nor did we do anything else to try and capture some of the 'end of the world' pot-o-gold crapola.

Mayan Calendar

(Regarding the title of this post, to be perfectly accurate, it should be 15 and a wake-up. But that might be putting too fine an edge on it.)

So, it takes place on December 21. I heard on the tube the other day (I was only half awake at the time) that it actually occurs at eleven minutes after eleven... Anyone know if that's AM or PM? Just my luck, I'd pick the wrong one.

You know, it's weird. Here in the heart of the historical Mayan civilization, or at least on the urban edges of it, it seems, at least in our area, that nobody is primed to make a buck off this thing. From what I've seen on the tube, it's folks from all over the world that're all primed for making a pile of bucks.

Geez, we could'a made a fortune just renting the place out. Some meditation exercises on the pool deck, an hour or so in the pool, some gazing at our navels, and before you know it, we'd have enough money that we too could retire to paradise...

Oh. That's right... We're already here. Well, maybe that's why we've been slow to get started. Geez, somebody better send money in a hurry. We've got a lot of catching up to do.

Let's see, what can we do to attract the end of the world tourist dollar? Hmm, We could offer quick and dirty tours of the Santa Rita Mayan ruins. We could drive you up there in our Isuzu and let you run around the place. It's not much really, but it's authentic.

I've heard that the 'powers that be' are thinking of excavating it to have more of the place on display. Really all they need to do is get rid of some of the graffiti and they'll have a winner. Just think. You'd be walking around and looking at it in almost pristine condition.

Afterwards we could take you to the Belikin Distributors - they're just in front of the ruins. A couple of cold ones will get you right into the spirit of things. I'm sure it's been there almost as long as the ruins. They had to drink something while they were building it, right? So, I'm sure the Maya just called up the Temple Beer boys and ordered up a few well-chilled cases.

Just think. You'd be on hand for the end of the world, or at least in the center of all the activity - whatever that might be when the long count calendar runs out.  I dunno. Better stock up on an extra case or two, just to be sure.

One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall

One hundred bottles of... Oh, wait a minute.

It's not bottles of beer on the wall. It's one hundred days in office for Barack Obama. Wow! That anniversary seems to have come really soon. Has it really been 100 days?

I remember when I first heard the name Barack Obama way before the campaign for the presidency - probably when Mr. Obama was running for election to the US Senate in Illinois. I thought at that time that that was a really strange name and that he probably wouldn't go far in politics with a name like that.

Now that he's been our President for 100 days, it seems like the most natural thing in the world to say "President Barack Obama". And, that he's black. What a non-issue that is. I mean, it's cool that he's black and has a non-traditional name, and that he's our President. This alone makes it seem like we as Americans are once again part of the family of man, part of the world community and taking a proactive and forward-looking role in that community.

I like the feeling of unity, of togetherness that I get when reading about what Mr. Obama's administration is doing. There seems to be so many good things happening.

It wasn't unusual with the last administration to read some headline and think - What has America come to? This isn't or shouldn't be us. It always felt like the train was in danger of falling off the tracks, and in many cases had, in fact, fallen off the tracks and was trying to go in reverse.

With Mr. Obama's administration thus far, I feel that not only is the train on the tracks, but there's a momentum building for more and better accomplishments that will continue to make us all proud, once again, to call ourselves Americans.

Congratulations on your first 100 days, Mr. President, and, thank you.

Now, with that, I do happen to have some cold Belikin in the fridge. If you do make it down here to visit Belize and Prime Minister Barrow, and if you happen to make it up to Corozal, feel free to stop in. It'd be my privilege to shake your hand and to share a Belikin with you.

So, how's that for tying in the hundred bottles of beer thing?

Nectar of the Gods - Delivered

You know, there are some benefits to living in the third world (heh, heh). This is definitely one of them.

Messengers of the Gods

Normally, we don't get three cases at a time delivered, but this is after a long 4-day Easter holiday weekend. We were almost getting down to stems and seeds again, as it were.

I had written previously about the Coca Cola delivery (http://winjama.blogspot.com/search/label/Coke%20Delivery), which also is way cool, but this, delivering the nectar of the gods, far exceeds it. The only thing that would be better is if it was already ice-cold when they brought it in from the truck.

Not only do they deliver the beer, but they put it near the fridge so you don't have to work too hard to enjoy it. Such a deal! Is this great or what?

Delivering the Message

Wikipedia says that "Belikin is the leading domestically produced beer brand in Belize." That's quite the understatement, since, as far as I'm aware, it's the only beer produced in Belize. Bowen and Bowen, the owners of Belize Brewing Co., have a legal monopoly on the brewing of beer here.

You can legally buy some other beers, Heineken probably being the main one. Of course, you can usually find a way to get Sol or Modelo, or some other Mexican beer without paying duty (commonly known as smuggling), but it's not recommended. Besides, Belikin is nice enough tasting that few folks who live here will actually go to the trouble to smuggle beer in. Other things maybe, but generally not beer.

Well, we've got to go see Tony and Nelly. We're buying an on-demand water heater they have that didn't work out for them, along with a few pounds of bratwurst, made by Tony in his meat shop, before they close up and head back to Belgium for the summer.

When we get back, it might just be time for a Belikin, then pool time!

Elusive B.E. L. and Others Finally Located

Ah, the wonders of modern navigation and correct directions... It never ceases to amaze me. Finally, after several days searching for the local Corozal Town office of Belize Electric, Ltd. (BEL), I found it - and re-found the local Belikin distributor - Bowen and Bowen, and the local armory? camp? compound? of the Belize Defense Forces (BDF). I say re-found, because when we first arrived here, Greg of Belize North Real Estate, took me up there to get a case of beer. I hadn't been able to find it since.

BEL was a bit more difficult. I didn't notice it on my first trip through there. And this morning, it wasn't any easier. Finally, I stopped adjacent to a really faded sign anging on a fence across from the Belikin bottler. If you really squinted you could almost make out that years ago, it may have said Belize Electric, Ltd.

I needed to find BEL to restart the process of getting a transformer installed near our property so we can actually have juice at the new house. I had a response letter from BEL to Craig and Mae, the previous owners, but it was over a year old, so the prices were out of date. I now have to wait for a Mr. Rosado to rework the numbers and get back to me so we can get that ball re-rolling.

I was also interested in confirming where the Belikin bottler was because we've been saving bottle caps from Coke in the assumption that a program they had some time back either is in effect or might be for the Christmas holidays. That is, for every 6 bottle caps for Coke you turn in along with $1.00BZ, you get a nice heavy Coke glass. We've got enough bottle caps for about a case of glasses. Not that we drink Coke that much, but our grounds keeper, Cody, goes through two or three a day. It mounts up.

I wanted to find the Belize Defense Forces base because eventually, I want to see if I can acquire a BDF t-shirt. I think that'd be cool. I'm also going to try to find one for the British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) (http://www.army.mod.uk/batsub/index.html), located down at Price Barracks in Ladyville, just outside of Belize City. That'd be cool, too.