A Trip to Oz

Wishful thinking on how the day was going to progress.

For starters, I envisioned a nice early start with no rain. Zoom down to Belize City and be done by 9:00 - 9:30 AM, at the latest. Quick tour of hardware stores, light lunch - probably at Brodie's. Back on the road and back home by 2:30 PM at the latest. Easy peasy.

Hold on right there. Let's back it up a bit... Like to the very beginning.

The first thing I had to do was to open the hood and add a quart of oil to the engine. I had stopped by Rick Magaña's, the mechanic's place, Monday afternoon for some hints on opening the hood - it had become stuck again.

Without seeing exactly what he had done, he got it open toot-sweet. Then we had checked all the fluids. Everything was fine except the oil was about a quart low. So, I thought I'd pop the hood and add the missing quart. Good to go. Except, I couldn't open the hood (Rick had explained to me then that it wasn't that the hood cable release had stretched, like I thought, but that the rubber bumpers that the hood contacted when closing, were missing, thus allowing the hood to make closer contact with the locking mechanism and by that, preventing the latch from being able to release the hood).

Well, no biggy, I thought. We'll just stop at Rick's on the way and have him pop it so i can add the motor juice.

Departure time had been agreed upon as being 7:30 AM. At the appointed time, I kissed Dianna bye-bye, and jumped into the Isuzu. With a wave to the disappointed doggies, I was on my way, through about 6-inches of mud just outside our gate. Nothing new there.

A quick stop at Doug's to pick him up. He was going to be my co-pilot and navigator for the day. I saw Twyla talking to him about large clay pots and thought - "Oh yeh, there's that new clay pot place down in Belize City that we wanted to stop at. Well, no problem. We'll have plenty of time to see that." Wishful thinking.

Doug and I cinched our seat belts and headed out to the highway. First stop - pick up five gallons of gas at the 'alternative gas station', if you know what I mean. That went fast and we were back on the road. So far so good. Next stop, Rick's and we'll get that pesky hood release taken care of.

Except, when we got there, Rick wasn't there. Oops. Doug and i stood around swatting at mosquitoes for a few minutes. Then, we decided that we would try and open the hood ourselves. Doug tugged on the hood itself while I pulled the under-dash release. Viola! It opened.

Doug told me he had had the same problem with the hood on his Isuzu. He solved it rather creatively with a couple of round rubber door-stops that he purchased at a local hardware store and screwed in place. I'm going to have to try the same thing.

Hood Up! At Rick's

Ah-hah, it was a two-person operation. I hadn't caught onto that fact the day before. Duh! So, we added the quart of oil, Closed the hood and headed back onto the highway. No more than five minutes behind schedule that would be easy to make up.

As we headed south to Belize City, we traversed several speed bumps, and about the time we got to San Joquin Village, we crossed another speed bump. Instantly I realized something was wrong. The engine was still running but the accelerator pedal was flopping loosely and having no effect on the engine. So, I immediately pulled off to the side of the road. Leaving the engine running, we practiced our new-found technique of opening the hood and stood there looking into the engine bay.

I'm not sure what I was looking for - maybe some big engine component to have fallen off and to be hanging by a thread or something, smoking. But, no. nothing like that. The only thing I saw was that it appeared the throttle cable had jumped out of a bracket sort of thing and was then just hanging limply. Almost by a thread.

After a closer examination, it seemed like there should be a way to tighten the cable fitting to this bracket if we only had some tools - which I didn't have with me. It did seem that if we popped the cable back into the bracket, that it would give the accelerator some functionality. Maybe if we gingerly crossed the speed bumps we could get back to Rick's and have him take a look at it. Nothing else for it - we sure weren't going to make it to Belize City in our current state. That early optimism of a quick trip was beginning to fade fast.

Trying A Rubber Grommet

So, we turned around - carefully and retraced our steps back up the highway to Rick's. We popped the hood again (we had become experts in the process now) and waited. Rick's helper showed up and began working on his assigned tasks. After a few minutes, I decided to move things along to try to get us back on the highway expeditiously and called Rick. I explained, more or less, what the problem was. He asked to speak to his helper, so I handed the phone to him.

After a minute, he gave the phone back, saying Rick wanted to talk to me. Rick explained that he had told his helper to fix our problem so we could get back on our journey. If he couldn't fix it, Rick would be back to the shop in half-an-hour, and he would take a look at it then. Great. We might just salvage this journey after all.

The helper began rummaging through a couple spare parts bins, grabbing rubber bushings and washers. Then, he fiddled with a knife blade (no handle), began trimming a bushing down to fit the throttle cable and the bracket. After a couple of minutes, he tightened things up and we were as good as new and ready to go. Wow! Amazing service.

Tightening the Throttle Linkage

I guess whatever bushing had been there in the first place, had rotted and fallen off, leaving the throttle cable resting in the bracket, only to become dislodged when I hit the last speed bump. Who knows how long it had been like that before that happened.

Anyway, we got back on the highway and headed south. it seemed to be holding quite well, as we traversed several other speed bumps without incident.

Just past Carmelita, we came upon the farm where I had stopped on a previous journey when the engine overheated and farms owner had helped by allowing me to park the Isuzu in his equipment yard for a day until I could return and tow it back to Corozal - to Rick's actually. My home away from home.

We wheeled off the highway into the farm and the equipment yard. I wanted to return a triangle-shaped piece of steel he had given me to help set up towing the Isuzu. He had asked that, If I could return it, he would appreciate it. So, about a month or two after the towing incident, I managed to return the triangle.

I asked the worker we found in the equipment yard, if he would give that to the farmer and to please thank him for his assistance. I know the kid though I was nutty as they come. After I got back in the Isuzu, he probably tossed the metal bit onto the ground and promptly forgot all about it. But my conscience was clear. I had returned the metal bit as he had requested.

With all that good karma from fulfilling a promise, we headed on to Belize City without further incident. That is, till we got there.

It turns out that this was not the best of days to be coming to Belize City. Half of the streets downtown seem to be torn up, literally, so that they can be re-paved with concrete. And I do mean torn up. Huge pot holes and dirt mounds, No lessening of traffic. The usual bicycles, vehicles and pedestrians along with the torn up roads, made for an amazing driving experience. And... of course there's more. One of the major bridges in town was closed - half of it anyway, for re-paving. So, detours became necessary. Of course, there's no marking of detours or anything. You just figure your own way through and work out where you can get to, to get through it all. At one point, twice actually, we followed the seawall around the north edge of town just to get back to the round-a-bout on the highway, so we could get pointed in the right direction where we wanted to go.

About 9:00 AM, we found Caribbean Shipping's offices, where I had to pay the shipping charges from Florida to Belize and pick up the shipping documents. That went well and then we were off to the port to meet our customs broker. Did you notice the time slippage that has occurred here? 9:00 AM and we're just getting started.

Outside Caribbean Shipping

More detouring again and we finally pull up outside the Belize Port Authority and the Security gate, where I called our broker. Of course he couldn't meet us there. We had to meet him back up by the bridge that was being re-paved in the Santiago-Castillo parking lot to get the customs forms.

Finally, we pulled  into said parking lot meeting and shaking hands with our broker, Joseph Hamilton. First thing he asks me is, "Do you have the invoices?" Uh, that would be a big "No." No one told be I needed them. I had emailed PDFs of the invoices to Hyde Shipping in Florida (Caribbean Shipping is Hyde's local agent). But they didn't include them in their sheaf of paperwork.

He asked if I could email the invoices to him. I said "No, not without returning to Corozal." H wanted to know if I could have it down and get them emailed down to him. I envisioned trying to explain to Dianna how to create PDFs using software that she's never seen before, doing stuff with it that she's never been exposed to before... "Uh, that would be a big no." We're not emailing them. Well, maybe invoices are attached to each of the boxes. So, only one way to find out. Back to the port to meet with Mr. Hamilton's assistant Jamal.

At long last, and several variations on a theme of new roads for us to travel on, including at least two detours through the 'Tourist Village' part of the port area. This is where the cruise ships drop off their passengers to experience the 'local flavor and mingle with actual natives'. Just such an authentic plastic experience.

Anyway, we made it back to the real port area where we met our assistant broker. He took us both inside the security area, where we traded our driver licenses for snazzy blue visitor tags, and we went over to one of the customs offices where I paid the first of three fees. I absolutely don't remember what this one was for.

Port Authority Security Gate

From there, we went to another building called the Customs Mall, where we sat and waited while the assistant located the two boxes. I forgot to tell you what manner of treasure we had come to Belize City for. it was for a kitty door and a replacement pressure washer wand. A couple of highly-critical items for sure - but that's another story for some other time.

In the Customs 'Mall'

We broke open both boxes only to find no copies of the invoices. "No problem" said the assistant. What did you pay for each item?" I guessed about $30 US for the pressure washer wand and about $50 US for the kitty door.

The Large Customs Mall Warehouse

Armed with that info, we went back to the office area and sat while he and the Customs folks hashed out what the duty and other fees were going to be. Apparently, not having invoices was not going to be the big barrier to completion of the process as it initially sounded.

Everything is Computerized

After paying the duty ($45 BZD) we headed back to the gate to turn in our fancy badges in return for our driver licenses and outside the gate, waited for Jamal to show up with both boxes. Now all we had to do was pay the brokerage fee of $30 BZD and we were good to go.

Well, by now, it was about a quarter to twelve. Lunch time. Doug and I wended our way through the downtown area to the Riverside Tavern for lunch, where we both had burgers and a couple of beers. So, much for a nice early day. Well, at least the burgers are still arguably, the best in Belize.

With full tummies, we once again found ourselves driving through rubble mounds of unpaved downtown roads till we managed to get back onto the Northern Highway where we pointed the Isuzu to Benny's Hardware, where I looked unsuccessfully for replacement ceiling fan capacitors. We always seem to be able to find capacitors for table and floor fans, but ceiling fan ones are another story altogether.

After Benny's, we made a quick stop at Brodie's, so Doug could get a couple of items, then we found the new hardware store - Nationwide Hardware. They didn't have capacitors either. Bummer.

Now, we returned to the highway and headed north to Corozal. It seems that Carmelita is the place where things happen. As we approached the village, I really began to fade... That is, get tired. Time to pass the controls over to Doug and let him drive the rest of the way. I would have hated to have made the rest of the drive by myself. It probably would have become dangerous to me and everyone I passed.

Anyway, we finally made it back to Corozal, uneventfully, about 5:45 PM. A far cry from the early day that I was confident about just a short few hours before. All I wanted was to clean up and hit the sack. What a long, long day.

Ketchup - Part 1

Man, there have just been too many distractions. The two biggest - finishing the guesthouse and the World Cup. I thought it was a big deal last World Cup when I caught four games. This year, I haven't missed a day. Oh sure, I might miss one or two games a day, but that also means I catch one or two (sometimes all three) games a day. What a treat! And then, throw in work on the guesthouse and my one project a day limitation has become, what - almost like work again. Perish the thought.

Last Wednesday, Dianna and I went with Doug and Twyla down to Belize City. We all wanted to look for some things at Benny's Hardware - that was our first stop. Dianna and I needed to find a nice double kitchen sink. We did. It is some sort of fiberglass composite thing in white that will look really cool in the kitchen. We also wanted to find a 24" wide stove vent hood. Tough to find down here. We ended up special ordering one. It'll be here in about 3 to 5 weeks. Doug and Twyla needed several gallons of tile grout sealer.

I forgot to say, that when we got there, we saw the strangest store greeter. This one met us in the parking lot. Now, I know at Benny's location on the Northern Highway, they're not too far from the sea, but what this guy was doing there ambling across their parking lot was a surprise and a mystery to us.

Benny's Greeter

Doug dropped a dollar coin next to him so you can get some idea of his size. He didn't seem to be in any distress, so we left him alone. Doug did retrieve his dollar.

Good thing too, cause our next stops were first to Mirab's Housewares, east of the swingbridge, where we bought a bunch of little things you just can't get up our way without going to Chetumal. It's close enough to the Tourist Village that Dianna was asked by a passing lady if she wanted her hair braided or toenails done up. The two of us were sitting outside waiting for Doug and Twyla to finish up shopping, and to escape the air conditioning - too friggin' cold.

From Mirab's we went down to the Riverside Tavern. It was the girl's first time being there and to experience the excellent food and service. We also tried Bowen and Bowen's new Galaxy beer. It was nice, but I think I prefer plain old Belikin. Of course, I forgot to ask and was served premium. We don't have to ask for regular in Corozal, so I never think about it.

A new item is now in the pool - our Floatron copper ion generator. It's solar-powered too. You can read all about it at (http://www.floatron.com/).

Solar-powered Floatron Copper Ion Generator

Briefly, it floats and it's solar panel converts sunlight into electricity that energizes a specially alloy mineral electrode (mostly copper) below waterline, causing the release of mineral ions into the surrounding water. This ionized water controls algae growth in the pool.

The electrode should last anywhere from one to three years (we have a spare), and it only stays in the pool for a few days out of a week. We're still finding out what that period is. That is, how many days can it stay in the pool to reach the desired ion level in the water. Once we reach that level, we pull the generator, clean it up and store it till the next week or so when we toss it (gently) back into the pool to maintain that ion level.

Remember a while back I shot some pictures of the sailboat Paloma getting a very nice new paint job? Well it's all done now. It took them a while to get her name painted on her bows. Then it took some time for me to get a good close-up of her name plate.

Paloma's Paint Job Is Done

Beneath her name is a nice little island scene with palm trees, etc. Definitely one of the nicer looking sailboats on the bay.

Paloma's Nameplate

News on the canal front - Lots of progress has been made. Here's some shots of the track-hoe doing its thing. The first one is up near Doug and Twyla's house.

Leveling the Canal Bank (Courtesy Doug Bray)

This next shot is across the canal from our place on Lynn and Pete's property. The track-hoe is pulling muck from the canal bottom (it was really, really shallow right in that area). When he got done piling the muck on the bank, then he leveled it out and moved on.

Mucking Out the Canal

Here the track-hoe operator is getting instructions from Pastor Doug - he and Robert have been directing the canal operations. The track-hoe can reach about half-way across the canal.

Other Side of Lynn & Pete's

Alright. Now on to more new stuff with the guesthouse.

So, about the guesthouse - things move fast-fast, as they say here. We got the ceiling fans installed and running. Pretty cool looking too (no pun intended, either) with their banana-leaf paddles. There's one in each bedroom and one in the living room/kitchen.

Guesthouse Ceiling Fans

We ordered the fans online over a year ago and had them in storage in our utility room downstairs for all that time. We didn't really have any idea that they were going to look so fancy. A nice surprise for sure.

We ended up putting a ceiling fan in the bathroom too, but it's just a plain ol' white ceiling fan - nothing fancy.

Here's the latest in the guesthouse utility room - the on demand water heater isn't news. It's still not working because it's waiting for Billy to bring some insulated pipe fittings for me to vent it and our current one in the regular house. I'll be punching holes through both walls to install those vent pipes.

Next to it is the main GH circuit-breaker box and the whole-house surge protector. This thing is really cool as it protects electrical stuff, like ceiling fans and refrigerators and stereos, etc. from spikes and that sort of thing. Easily worth the money (I talk about it in more detail elsewhere on the blog - look it up in the index).

Water Heater, Breaker Box & Whole House Surge Suppressor

In the kitchen and in the bathroom, I needed boxes to hold light fixtures. I couldn't find any and was thinking about cobbling some together when inspiration hit. I had Capital Factory make them up from sheet aluminum and using their sheet metal bending brakes.

Two different times I called on Roger at Capital and asked him to make a box for me, the first was 3'x6"x1.5". About an hour later he called and said it was ready to pick up. Such service.

Over-Sink Kitchen Light

The second box, 2.5'x6"x1.5" was ready in about the same amount of time. The picture below shows how I'm attaching the three fixtures to the cover for the kitchen box.

Applying Fixtures to Cover Panel

One of the things we had done, as long as we had Joe Folgarait, the electrician here working, was to move the pool light and the waterfall pump switch from the pool pumphouse to the guesthouse utility room, making it a little more convenient to use.

This is Joe and his assistant (I've forgotten his name) working on that very issue.

Joe and His Assistant

We also are busy getting our kitchen cabinets made. Kim Longsworth is making those for us. He's not the cheapest, but what nice work.

Kitchen Counter Being Glued Up

Kim's shop, easily the largest cabinet/furniture shop in the area, already has the kitchen cabinets framed up. We went there this last weekend to see how the progress was coming along. We might be getting them installed this next week or the one after.

Kim Describing How the Cabinets Will Hang

Kim had his workers display the cabinets for us. They are really going to look great and they will also make the guesthouse seem like it's a done thing.

Overall View of the Cabinets

Kim's shop also does some really unusual custom work too. Here's a bathtub they're making for a customer in Texas. Can you believe it?

Custom Wood Bathtub

While all this was going on, we had another cabinet shop, David Gomez, build our doors and jambs, or 'frames' as they call them. Not as fancy as things turned out by Kim, they're still custom-made doors and jambs. David, his dad and his brother did work hard to make and install them on time. They definitely add to the character of the guesthouse.

Guesthouse Doors and Jambs

Now, while all that was going on, I also had Cody busy oiling the pool deck. Here's a shot of him just about half-way through. It really makes a difference and was the wood ever thirsty. We found out that new 40 wt. motor oil is thicker and covers better than the 30 wt. we had been using.

Cody Oiling the Deck

As if all that wasn't enough, the landscape around here keeps changing. Not only is Robert working on the canal, but he's trying to get his newly purchased lots, on either side of our and Elsie's places, ready for sale.

Our Bush Keeps Disappearing

Part of that means he wants to clear some of the thick bush out. So, he's had some of his guys and a D7 Caterpillar bulldozer clearing all the scrub and poison wood, leaving most of the good wood behind.

Additionally, in preparation for the final bit of the canal work, he and Pastor Doug bought a small dredge boat for that project. Complete with trailer, it's a cute looking thing. I can't wait to see it in action.

The Canal Dredge

And, the last thing to 'ketchup' on - Tropical Storm Alex. Around here at least, it was a ho-hum event. We had a little bit of rain (for a tropical storm, that is) and some wind, with gusts maybe up around 40-50 Kts. Nothing developed to really even be scared. Well, the doggies did get scared of some lightning and spent part of the night inside with us. We were ready to take action if things got worse.

Doug and Twyla used it as a training exercise. They disconnected and fastened down their solar panels, removed their satellite dish and pretended they were going to evacuate. Of course, that meant Doug missed his Formula 1 races on TV this morning, because he didn't have his dish back up yet. Too bad.

I did offer him the use of ours as I didn't go to that extreme, thus I was able to watch England get reamed by Germany and FIFA in the World Cup. I mean, how blind was that referee's assistant? The ball was in the goal by at least a foot and a half! I sent FIFA an email asking them to join the 20th century (not even the 21st century) and begin using video technology for controversial calls. Give them another twenty or thirty years and they'll have it.

This afternoon, I'm going to watch Argentina and Mexico. Should be a good match (Argentina won 3 - 1).

Here's something to watch if you're not into real football:

Making a cement bag hat...

Thanks, and a tip of our hat to Mayo Perez for that cool demonstration.

Cheers,

Bright Lights, Big City

We finally made it all the way down to Belize City, or just "Belize" as the locals say it.

The day started with a nice breakfast at Mrs. June's, who had been on vacation in the States for the past two or three weeks. She told us about going shopping in the States - not for clothes, but restaurant tools and accessories. It's nice to see her back and in business again. We missed her.

After finishing breakfast, we drove down to Belize on the Northern Highway. It was so nice to run on a paved road with no potholes, just dodging the occasional sugar cane truck and remembering to slow down (and I mean SLOW DOWN) for speed bumps.

As we were approaching Belize, we came up behind a large pickup truck fully laden with cinder blocks and towing a trailer also loaded with blocks. As we passed them, Dianna hollered that it was Franz (our contractor for the Mennonite house) driving the truck. We waved like crazy and kept on going.

We had talked earlier in the week with Franz about meeting him in Belize at Benny's (more later) since he was working on some new office spaces next to the Radisson Fort George Hotel, in Belize.

After a couple of hours, we got into the outskirts of Belize. Our first mission was to stop at Brodie's - the first US-style store we've seen here. Complete with paved and marked parking lot - of course, many people still couldn't quite master the art of parking between the lines, managing a sort of willy-nilly attempt all the way down the line.

Brodie's sells cat litter - one of those every-day products in the States that seem near impossible to find down here. They have it. We bought 75 pounds of dry litter - three huge bags, and two smaller bags of a new (to us anyway) crystal absorption-type litter. The dry litter (Litter Guard) was selling for $7.50BZ for a 25 lb. bag, and the crystal stuff (Fresh Step) was selling for $23.59BZ per bag. The crystals are supposed to last five times as long as the other... We'll see.

Our next task was to find Duke's Marine, which we did, just a little bit further down the highway. We pulled in and one of Duke's employees laughed at us because we pulled so far into their yard that we had to drive back toward the store, that he had pointed out to us.

Of course, we still didn't understand the directions and overshot it the other way. After parking, he pointed up some stairs to get to the actual store. He still found our ineptitude hilarious. It certainly would have been easier if they'd had a bit larger sign pointing up the stairs... but, who's complaining?

Anyway, we stopped at Duke's to get twenty snaps for British Paul for his boat. Turns out, there's single or double snaps - depending on your fabric thickness. We tried calling Paul on the cell phones, but couldn't get through. Oh well, we decided to bag it and try at the hotel to contact him and maybe make the purchase on the way back to Corozal.

So, we headed back out onto the road to Belize. Thank God I've had a few weeks of experience driving in Corozal. I couldn't imagine being a tourist, fresh off the plane and picking up a rental car to head into Belize City. Narrow streets, pot holes, crazy drivers, crazy bicyclists and motorcyclists, crazy pedestrians, crazy dogs, and traffic signs that may or may not indicate anything, all create an interesting driving experience, to say the least. We did see the first stop lights we've seen since moving here - exciting.

After cruising around downtown for a bit - lost, of course (we wanted to be on the west side of the river and we weren't) we finally found a bridge (not the famous Swing Bridge) to get us across and to the Hotel Mopan. The hotel is a nice, quiet, inexpensive hotel in the southwest side of the city. From there, we walked to Bird's Island for lunch.

Sign on the Way to Bird's Island

Bird's Island seems to be sort of a small, island used as a cultural, educational, and recreational center for tourists and schools. We walked into the island area surrounded by a bunch of kids from the State's who were going to the island for something official connected with their visit. Just not sure what that was.

There's an outdoor restaurant there, with cans of Off strategically placed for patrons use. There were a few mosquitoes there. The place was surrounded by several large pools of stagnant
water. But, we had a good lunch anyway.

During lunch, we managed to call Paul and figured out what size snaps he needed. We'd handle that when we left Belize.

After lunch, we strolled into downtown Belize. Approaching the Haulover Creek, which bisects the town, we were struck by the similarity of the downtown waterfront of Belize with the Carenage of St. George's, Grenada.

Colorful Caribbean Colors Show Off the Belize Waterfront

As we walked up the river toward the Swing Bridge, we passed the local fishing fleet, anchored in the creek and making a picturesque view of the waterway.

Belize Fishing Fleet at Anchor

I'm not sure how boats on the inside would get out, maybe it's not an issue if they all leave about the same time.

More of the Fleet

After a few more minutes we came to the Swing Bridge - so-called, because it swivels from the center, to open up the channel to boats. Different that the Northwest, it only opens once or twice a day for boats - no blowing your horn and having the bridge open up to allow your boat to head on its way. You just line up and wait.

The Famous Haulover Creek Swing Bridge

Nothing ever seems crowded when you're right in the middle of it. the picture below with Dianna looks like she's got the entire bridge to herself.

Dianna Dancing on the Swing Bridge

Thursday evening, we strolled into town, near the Radisson Fort George Hotel, to the Smokey Mermaid, located in the Great House, for a delicious supper. On the way there, we were accosted by a persistent street "guide" who called himself "Prince Charles" and for the longest time, refused to take "no thanks" for an answer. We finally managed to dislodge ourselves from the Prince and were able to continue on to the Smokey Mermaid in peace.

When we finished our meal, it was well after dark, so we took a taxi back to our hotel. It is a big city, after all, with the usual night creatures.

Ok, I couldn't resist one more shot of the fishing fleet. These may look like recreational sailboats, but most of them are actual, working boats. These are the boats used for Belize's fishing industry. Might not be large, but boy, does the fish ever taste good (speaking of which, Cody brought us another Barracuda from his fishermen friends right before we headed down to Belize City).

At the Head of the Fleet

Back at the hotel, Friday morning we enjoyed coffee on one of three of the Hotel Mopan's balconies - one for each floor. An added bonus was this old safe used as part of the balcony decorations.

Hotel Mopan Balcony Decorations

Here's a closeup of the safe. I know Don and Owen will enjoy this. I know nothing about it other than the location.

Closeup of the Mopan Safe

Another decorating touch there were several large coffee urns, used as planters. Probably burnt out and re-purposed into serving as planters. Man, they must have gone through some coffee - there were at least four or five coffee urn planters around the hotel.

After an enjoyable breakfast at the hotel, we strolled the opposite direction toward downtown and Benny's - a housewares and building supplies store downtown. We drifted around in their first floor area thinking that this wasn't quite what we had in mind - a few items displayed, but mostly counters for sales staff to write up tickets, and large shelves in the background. Not conducive to figuring out what sinks and tile you wanted in your house.

Finally, we saw a door with a sign above it saying Showroom upstairs. That was what we were looking for. Sinks, toilets, tile, lights, faucets, counters and more on display.

Franz finally found us and we began serious household shopping. We picked out a toilet and bathroom sink - all white, and tile for the shower, bathroom, and laundry room. After about two hours, we were done. It was time to return to the Mopan and check out.

We said goodbye to Franz, checked out of the hotel and then tried to find a Harley dealer that Elsie had remembered seeing on our way in. We wanted to buy Dianna a helmet for the scooter. We never did find the Harley dealer, but we did find a scooter dealer... naturally, with a bunch of helmets, all too large for Dianna. So we headed out of town, stopping at Duke's again to pick up Paul's snaps.

We decided to head over to Orange Walk on our return to Corozal. There was supposed to be a good-sized motorcycle shop located there.

Pulling into Orange Walk, we were hungry. But not as hungry as the mountain of fried rice, shrimp, and veggies we got at a little Chinese restaurant in Orange Walk. It was enough for lunch, supper back home, and a lunch again.

Checking out the motorcycle shop, it turned out they only had one helmet (too large) and that with a messed up face-guard.

We tried Landy's, the big hardware store in town. They sell scooters as well. No go. Why would you sell motorcycles and not helmets?

We decided a last-ditch effort would be to try Courts, kind of a discount appliance and housewares chain throughout Belize, specializing also in financing same - they also sell scooters. Well, low and behold, they had a helmet too! Of course, getting someone to show it to us was hard. We were about ready to leave when one of the sales people finally came to help.

The helmet fit well, but it's face guard had a bit of a scratch on it off to the side. The manager decided we could have it for a 10% discount. So, Dianna finally got a helmet for $50BZ. Half the price of the one I got in Corozal.

After scoring the brain bucket, we zoomed off to home. As we opened the door, Miss Blue was upset with us again... the kitties had run out of food and she was letting us know she was unhappy.