Paradise in a Mud Pit

So, the weather has improved enough that we've been able to use our pool for two days running, and I have high hopes for today as well.

The down side is that the road in front of Casa Winjama and adjacent to here has about eight inches of mud and a good three inches of water on top of that. In addition, the forty to sixty loads of rock that Transport put in has gotten rid of the really deep holes, it's just left an amazingly bumpy and uncomfortable ride. What fun.

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And this from the files of Odysseus or someone like him.

And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses.

How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing.

Sparkling waves are calling you to touch her white laced lips.

-- Cream, Tales of Brave Ulysses, Live Cream, Vol. 2

 I got this message Tuesday from Kyler, Gerhard's wife:

We need your help... Sunday, Gerard was sailing near Orchid Bay when a bad storm hit. He capsized and lost his Hobie to huge waves. He spent fifteen hours in the sea . Monday, he and some guys searched for the boat to no avail.

 Later on Tuesday,  Gerhard reported the errant boat had been found in Sarteneja.

Now, I don't know about you, but fifteen hours bobbing around in the briney, is no slouch activity for anyone, much less someone of slightly advancing years. There was no mention of any hypothermia, injuries, or how Gerhard managed to extricate himself from his predicament.

Gerhard, you've simply got to stop listening to those sirens when you're out on the bounding main.

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Rodney and MiFi

This was a comment from Mr. Pancho (Rodney) about MiFi. Don't know MiFi from WiFi or HiFi? Don't worry, all will be made clear.

"Dave, It dawned on me that you snuck in that you switched from satellite to MiFi. Could you elaborate on that? Amy and I will both have internet jobs if we move to Belize (doing medical coding work) and will need a reliable internet source. I doubt there will be any wires ran up Consejo road for a wired connection. - Rodney"

In the heady days of HiFi - I can remember getting an FM adapter for the AM radio in my 1965 Valiant convertible. This super gizmo allowed me to receive what was then just coming in - FM radio - not even stereo, just plain old mono - the way God intended it - at least in my car.

I could listen to all the non-top 40, album-oriented rock by some really free-wheeling DJs. It was known as 'underground' or 'Free-form' FM, and eventually became known as 'progressive rock' along with the commercials which, at the time were almost unheard of and nothing was played that remotely showed up on top-40 stations or Dick Clark's American Bandstand out of Philadelphia, PA. Anyone remember listening to 'Mother' on some station in San Francisco, say around 1968? Some wonderful sets came over the air

So, enough of Hi-Fi. Just a flash on WiFi. If you've ever gotten on-line in Starbucks or some other joint or even wirelessly at home - That's WiFi. It needs a wireless router, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. You know all about that.

So, along comes MiFi. It's probably been out for a while, I just discovered it a few months ago, when some friends here said they had dumped their cable internet provider, or whatever and gone down to the local Smart Phone Center (here in Belize anyway) and gotten a tiny little MiFi box.

MiFi, at least with Smart (Digicell will soon be offering their version of MiFi, according to a text Dianna got from Digicell), is sold by data in Gigabytes, as opposed to time.increments. Smart's prices are $30-1 GB, $50-2 GB, $70-5 GB, on up to $150-25GB packages. You can purchase either prepaid or postpaid.

We signed up for a 10 GB package. It looks like we're using roughly 3 GB per day (Thanks to David for being so alert to catch this goof - d) Would you believe three days and 1 GB? Me too. So, that should just about equal a month of internet service for us, although I can see us moving up to a 15 GB package just to give us that little bit more.

Right now, we're paying $90 BZD for the 10 GB package. That's less than half what Hughesnet cost us per month. Startup is much less and easier as well. Hughenet cost about $2000 US for the dish, modem, and installation. MiFi cost about $100 BZD. You carry it home in your pocket and then turn it on. What could be simpler?

So far, I've found it visibly faster than Hughesnet satellite, plus there's no Fair Access Policy (FAP) to worry about. That was what finally decided us on switching to MiFi.

MiFi also seems to be almost completely impervious to hiccups due to weather. We've had virtually no service interruptions since signing up (just about a month now).

With the MiFi, you can have up to five devices hooked up simultaneously. The downside is the thing only has a 30-foot range. There is some equipment you can buy that will 1) remove the five device limitation, and 2) significantly extend the range of the thing.

The other downside is that I can't use my Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive. At least, if that's not the case, I haven't found out how to do it yet. I have hopes however.

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The Road

We just completed our third day without significant rain. Wow! For the past few days, our road has been really bumpy, I mean really bumpy. It's also had about eight inches of mud and water still on top, though having the deep holes filled was a definite benefit. Just today, we had the grader come back through and smooth out the road. It looks like there'll be a good chance of having walkies in the morning. First time in weeks if it happens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Stuck in the Muck Again

Yesterday was interesting from a watching cars, trucks, and buses trying to negotiate the flooded road adjacent to our place perspective. Throughout the day and especially the afternoon, people were getting tired of getting stuck in the road. There've been, oh somewhere around a dozen vehicles of all sizes stuck yesterday and three so far this morning.

Last evening, after dark, we had at one time three vehicles simultaneously stuck - a pickup, a sedan and a Bluebird bus. The two smaller ones had swung wide off the road into a vacant lot and had become mired. They thought that driving through grass would avoid the problems of going through the muck of the main roadway. Silly people.

The bus tried to make a go of staying near the center line of the road with a standing room only crowd of passengers and became one with the muck. Only temporarily. He was able to break free after about twenty minutes of miredom.

The evening's festivities started around 7:30 PM, a couple hours after dark. They were attempting to return home after taking part in holiday celebrations in town. There had been a large parade, live music, and all that goes with that, and then attempting to drive and negotiate a tricky bit of mud and about two to three feet of water in the road, and you have a recipe for a slow trip home.

First, the car got stuck out in the grass, which only concealed the muck that was everywhere. It's amazing that folks here think once you get stuck, that revving your vehicle's engine to the redline and beyond is a sure remedy to becoming unstuck. Especially when most are running 'slicks', that is, tires with little or no tread. I'm amazed that none of the engines blew up right then, knowing the general state of repair and maintenance of most Belizean motors.

Second, here came the pickup, following the same track as the car. Sure enough, almost side by side, they both were mired in the muck, and the grass. Once the both decided that revving their engines wasn't going to free them, things got quiet again. Oh sure, we heard voices out in the dark, and the unmistakeable splash of some unlucky soul who decided to make a full-body experience of it and fell into the stuff.

As I'm writing this, you just wouldn't believe, the fourth or fifth vehicle this morning just became mired in the roadway. It's the second time for this one. Yesterday, he was able to work himself out, but from the looks of things, I doubt that's happening today.

Second Time Around

Well, back to last evening's festivities... We spent some time then watching what little we could see in the dark through our window louvers. There wasn't much that we could have done anyway to help. Our Isuzu is barely running. It's having problems keeping the parking or emergency brake from seizing up, and besides, it's only a two-wheel drive and we don't have a hitch. Not much value in mud for extracting folks. I almost got stuck myself yesterday afternoon coming back from the store.

So, on with the story. About 9:00 PM yesterday evening, along comes the bus, and it gets stuck right in the middle of the roadway. As I mentioned, it's packed, standing room only, with revellers from the days holiday celebration festivities in town.

Dianna had already asked me if I was going to call the police about the road. "No," I said. They're not going to do anything anyway.

Dianna, being the kind soul she is, then took it upon herself to try calling the Corozal Police - apparently the phone number we have for the Corozal station has been changed, as she got a recording saying that number was no longer in service.

Next, she tried the Ministry of Works or Transport up in Ranchito. No answer. Finally, she tried the Corozal Fire Department. No answer there either.

We hadn't tried 9-1-1 as we didn't think it was really a life-threatening emergency. Our thinking began to change after the bus became mired. Dianna tried 9-1-1 and got a busy signal. Probably not surprising, as it is the one answering point for the whole country and is in Belize City, and... Did I mention that it was still raining, off and on?

About the time she called 9-1-1, the bus finally managed to work itself free and continue on its way toward the ferry and the Sarteneja Peninsula.

By this time, Dianna is frustrated and somewhat upset with our lack of ability to contact response agencies. Her parting shot was an agitated "Boy, it's a good thing I don't do the blog!", accompanied with exaggerated keystroke thrashings of her hands and fingers.

I laughed, because there have been many times when I'd 'flame-on' over something and write a posting for the blog and she'd tell me, "I want to review your posting before you send it." That, of course, would usually give me a chance to cool down and reconsider what I had penned.

Ain't life grand? It all works out for the best in the end...

Cheers

Next One In Line As Of November 30, 2007

Here's Isael Pesch, the artist who is doing our burglar bars. He came to Corozal to show us his work. It really is a work of art, based on our design. Ain't nothing like it no where - One of a kind!

Isael Pesch Showing His Art

Work is progressing on the house. Most visible is the plastering of the concrete posts and beams, making them nice and smooth.

All the Concrete Works Gets a Good Going Over

All the Concrete Works Gets a Good Going Over

Our canalside fence is up and is being shaped as shown below.

Gate Form

Getting Ready to Shape the Fence

Here's The Fence In The Process of Being shaped

Here's The Fence Ready for Lighting

Shaping It is Dusty Work

Myo Should Be Wearing a Mask

Even Warpy Wood Gets Used

Tiki Is One of the Pooches We're House-Sitting

Every day, Franz's crew travels from Shipyard or Guinea Grass to work here in Corozal. It's about an hour and a half one way... Factor in riding in the bed of a pickup, probably on top of building tools and supplies, and you get the idea of a real fun time - if it doesn't rain, of course.

Jose Camera's Pickup Heading To Guinea Grass

Keeping a vehicle clean here is what you might call a challenge. Below, you can see our Isuzu. This is after only three days of daily town driving. I ain't been four-wheelin' neither, cause it's a 2WD!

Mud and squeaks and rattles are a fact of life

Mud and squeaks and rattles are a fact of life