Noise, Noise, Noise and More Noise

Here it is about five after three AM, Sunday morning. No special holiday or anything, and the noise is blasting away from Hailey's Bar up on the Northern Highway - better than half-a-mile from here as the crow flies.

I've just gotten off the phone with Sergeant George of the Belize Police Department, Corozal Station. I had called him on his personal cell phone number, waking him up. I told him I thought I had been quite patient and that this was the first time I had called him to complain. He agreed that I had been patient. I even held the phone out from my ear so he could also enjoy the music, which he heard through my phone with no problem. Of course, it was the music of the Gilharry 7, so that made the racket at least understandable.

Sergeant George told me he had called the station and sent some officers down to Hailey's, so, now I guess it's just a matter of wait and listen.

For the life of me, I don't understand how all of the hotels and guest houses on the south end of Corozal can attract (and keep) paying customers. For myself, if I was a paying customer, I would be furious. Also, I have heard that several of the hotels (especially some closer to Hailey's) have not even registered a complaint with the police about this situation. I guess their customers just don't mind their ears being blasted all night long.

If I was a tourist, I think seriously that I would be looking for somewhere else to spend my vacation dollars than to spend them only to have sleepless nights because of some two-bit (an Americanism for cheap or low-life) bar is able to set up a bank of speakers outside and just blast away with impunity as they see fit. At the lease, I would inquire about the noise situation at their hotel or guesthouse.

I would think that this situation would be intolerable among ALL of the hoteliers on the south end. Maybe I'm wrong... maybe not.

Ahhh, it's now 3:17 AM and the racket has finally stopped, but who's complaining? Me for one. I'm sure there's at least one other household doing the same. It's just too bad that the businesses on the south end, especially the hotels and guesthouses, don't seem to care about their customers or their businesses enough to talk to the Town Council, the Police, and the local Liquor License Board with a unified voice.

I keep reading how occupancy rates are barely forty-percent in Belize. With nights like this being more common than you'd think, I would guess the rates will continue to decline.

And if the hoteliers are scratching their heads trying to figure out why... why maybe they should take the cotton out of their ears and wake up!

- - Just a little addendum. This morning, on my daily walk with the girls, as I passed Tony's Inn & Beach Resort, the closest place to Hailey's, I passed one of Tony's employees just getting off work from the night shift. I paused and asked him if any of their customer's had complained about the noise from Hailey's. His answer - "Oh yes, mon. They were all complaining, but what can I do"? Kind of makes my point, I think.

More Christmas Stuffing

Don't be misled by the title. I meant, not the dish, but us, stuffing ourselves. Yesterday evening, we went over to Elsie's, along with Doug (his wife Twyla is currently freezing in Canada at her folks) and Denis and Vivien for a very nice turkey dinner. Of course, I had to have two full helpings - it was so good. I just got absolutely stuffed. Not only was the food good, but we all shared some very nice red wine, which was a welcome treat. Nice conversation, nice food, nice people. Thanks Elsie.

Christmas Dinner At Elsie's

Elsie was nice enough to let me use the photo above (Thanks, Elsie). Mine came out, but was way too dark to use,.

Also, yesterday, again while walking the doggies, we came into downtown to visit the market. The only vendor open was a couple of Rastafarians who had pulled up with their car, unloaded several crates of fruit and veggies and, of course, had some vintage reggae just blasting from their vehicle stereo system - the proverbial 'jukebox on wheels'. Anyway, I needed to get some bananas, so I stopped and chatted for a bit and bought the 'nanners' from them. After putting them into Secret's pack we headed out from downtown up 6th Avenue, which is a bona fide street, although to look at it, you'd swear it's just an alley way.

A couple of blocks up 6th, we were passing a small wooden house. I glanced over and saw a touching Christmas display. I had to rein in the girls and snap a photo of the scene.

Christmas in Corozal

Their tree and decorations took up half of their entry stoop. They even had a table still set up from their Christmas dinner the previous evening. I just thought it was a very nice shot of local Christmas. The conch shells lend a particular flair to the scene.

Well, everyone now will be gearing up for New Year's Eve, once they've slept off last night's celebrations. The band or DJ that played last night at the Swing Bar, also known as the Jam Rock (we call it Corozal's only Irish pub - Jam Rock... Shamrock...), played till 4:00 AM. No wonder things were moving slow downtown this morning. The music had to have been deafening - Jam Rock is over a mile from our house as the crow flies, and we could hear it with no problem. Thank goodness we have a white noise machine in the bedroom. We'd have never gotten to sleep without it.

I forgot to mention that Wendy came over and brought us the nicest bag of stuff for a Christmas present. Some pistachio nuts, a couple of little Christmas tree ornaments, a hot pad, and the cutest wine bottle - skirt I guess you'd call it. Looks pretty cool. Thanks Wendy.

Wendy's Cool Present

And, of course, I can't quit without one shot of Dianna hard at work in the kitchen making Christmas chocolate chip cookies.

Dianna, Baking Cookies

And, not that I'd say anything, but if you know how Dianna cooks, well, let's just say that sometimes the kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off in it when she's done. Although you can't tell from the picture, the kitchen was something like that description. She convinced me to wash the dishes - a small price to pay for some good cookies.