Say What?

I had to go into Corozal this morning and I had to look for a grout saw (used to gnaw the grout out between tiles before trying to remove them) and the usual assortment of pharmaceuticals, and a whole slew of groceries.

I thought I'd be a nice guy and ask Denis or Vivien if they wanted to ride along since their vehicle is in the shop up at Rick's getting some new shocks. I picked up Vivien and we tootled off into town.

Our first stop was at Lano's Hardware Store. I needed to get that grout saw I had mentioned. While I was waiting for the crowd to diminish, I got into a conversation with one of the girls who works there about water pumps. I mentioned to her that I didn't see any 1/4-horsepower pumps in their selection. She said "quarter inch"?. I said no, "horsepower'. This prompted her to say "No, we don't have that size. We only have half-inch, one-and-a-half-inch, and two-inch pumps, no quarter-inch pumps".

This led me into a discussion with her about horsepower, what it was, what it meant and that it had nothing to do with 'inches'. It was plain that the further we got into the discussion, the less impact I was having on that stone wall, if you get my drift.

I gave up, just in time to have Mr. Lan's nephew, Kim come to my rescue and asked me about the grout saw. He knew what it was and told me they didn't have any, but suggested I try Villa's Imports - "They have strange stuff like that there".

By now, my head was reeling from the inches vs. horsepower incident. Vivien was done with her purchases, and I with mine, so we beat a rapid retreat to the sanity of the Isuzu. As we headed off to go look at grout saws at Villa's Imports, I tried to tell Vivien about my discussion. She had heard part of it and couldn't make heads or tails out of what we were talking about. Just as well. I couldn't either.

We got to Villa's a few minutes later. After talking to Mr. Villa's son, he found a smaller version of of the saw than I wanted, but I went ahead and purchased it anyway, just in case.

The Grout Saws

After Villa's, we went over to National Hardware and inquired as to grout saws. They had one, more in the line of what I was looking for, with a blade about 2-inches (not horsepower) long, so, long story short, I bought it as well.

Our next stop was at Caribbean Chicken, where I needed to get some boneless chicken breasts and three-dozen eggs. I also had three empty styrofoam egg cartons to trade back in. Something I had done previously several times with no problem. You trade in an empty and they knock a shilling ($0.25 BZD) off the price of a full carton. So, $3.35 down to $3.10 a carton.

Remember I mentioned "long story short"? Forget that.

Of course, it was crowded in Caribbean Chicken. And, as it got to be my turn I passed over my two packs of chicken breasts and the three full cartons of eggs that I had picked up off the table. I also started to hand over the three empty cartons to justify my shilling discount on the full ones.

Whoa right there partner! You'd have thought I was trying to wreck the Belize economy or something. The three folks behind the counter all started telling me they couldn't do that, that I had to be charged the full price of the cartons. Of course two or three shoppers on this side of the counter, chimed in and seconded the storekeepers. I was flummoxed at this point, not sure what to do.

The lady who ran the cash register (and ergo, who I would assume was in charge) jumped up and said they would gladly fill my empty's and give me the discount, but there was no way they could discount already-filled cartons and take the empties.

"Ok", I said. Let's do it that way. I handed the young man behind the counter my three empty cartons. He authoritatively took them and went over to another counter where there was a stack of trays filled with eggs and proceeded to fill each of my empty cartons. Remember I said the place was crowded? Didn't matter. He was out of the flow of customers and cashiers while he filled my cartons. Vivien could attest to this as she was behind me in line.

While he finished filling the cartons, I settled up with the cashier, including the discount. Oh, yes. I also put the previously filled cartons back on the table so there would be no confusion about how many cartons I wanted.

Where Did I Go Wrong?

Once he was done filling them, he re-bagged the now filled cartons in the same plastic bag I had brought them into the store with, and rather insistently offered to carry them out to my car. Obviously, he felt since I was such a dunderhead about empty egg cartons, I couldn't be trusted to accomplish something as complex as carrying them ten feet to the car.

By now, I was becoming embarrassed by the whole thing. I thanked him for his trouble and took control of the egg cartons and the chicken breasts and promptly made my own way, safely, to the Isuzu. I even managed to unlock the doors and sit down, where I waited for Vivien to come out and join me.

As we left Caribbean Chicken to go to our last stop of the morning over at New World Supermarket, we shook our heads and had a chuckle about the cultural differences inherent in speaking English and getting a grip on inches, horsepower, and discounts.

After an uneventful visit to New World where we completed all of the items on our respective shopping lists, we beat a retreat for our homes. It's lucky we're allowed to roam free. It must be the sun or something. Nelson has the right idea.

I Need A Nap!

Local Stores and Businesses We Patronize

Dianna had a good suggestion. That we post pictures of the stores we go to and use here in Corozal, so that you can see a bit of what shopping is like here. so, with that in mind, we'll be posting pics of the various places.

You've already read about Mrs. June's Kitchen elsewhere on the blog.

Next up is Frank's Meat Products.

Frank's Meat Products

Frank's is located at #2 Park Street North, just north of the central square. His place is a good supplier of fresh beef, hamburger, sausages, special orders, Chilean salmon, and other seafoods when in season.

Our friend Elsie King, on the eve of her departure to Guatamala, cooked up some bodacious salmon steaks for us at our place. She had cleaned out her fridge and cupboard and gave us all her leftover homesteading supplies, including the salmon. Was it ever good. Thanks Elsie!

Now for the Car Wash

This place is unreal. It doesn't seem to have a business name. It appears to be a used car sales place, auto and appliance parts, as well as a car wash.

Car Wash

Completely hand wash process. Very meticulous. Rinsed the the dust off the SUV, washed it down with auto detergent and water, water rinse, rag-dried, windows washed with Windex and newspaper inside and out. Dash and other inside surfaces Armour-All'd, inside completely vacuumed, mats beat and vacuumed, and tires dressed. I've never had that from a car wash before, ever! All this for $20.00BZ. A deal.

Course, two days later, the dust is beginning to accumulate again all over the rig. But for a while it looked sharp.

I asked him if he got a lot of business due to the road dust.

"No", was his answer. "Most people wait till rainy season and come in to get the mud off of their vehicles... (implying only crazy Gringos do it at this time of year?) Naw, I've seen lots of cars in there over the past few days.

Caribbean Chicken

Caribbean Chicken

This is the source for fresh and frozen chicken and eggs. They keep their eggs refrigerated where most other places don't. They also sell other grocery-related items. Easy access in and out from the highway.

General Discount and Drug Store

Clean looking operation. The proprietor (not sure if he was a doctor or pharmacist) had to get back to us on one of Dianna's meds. We'll check back with him on Monday to see if he can get it for her. No info yet on prices of prescription items. We'll let you know.

General Discount and Drug Store

They carry other drugstore related stuff, cough meds, etc. Behind the counter. You have to ask for it. Seems to be the way most stores do business here. Very customer-service oriented. Which is nice and a real change from some pimple-faced teen, chomping his/her gum and looking at you like you interrupted their bored routine for something even more boring, like waiting on you.

Justice of the Peace and Shoe Store

Interesting place. We went there to get some property papers signed and notarized. Senora Marzan, the proprietor, told Dianna and me that we need to have the other two folks involved in the transaction here to sign as well. I started to get PO'd, but quickly realized she was right. So we went over to Craig and Mae's place to get them. They were busy eating breakfast and designing a stairway to their loft.

Justice of the Peace, Shoes, Photo Studio

After a while we made it back to Senora Marzan's, signed the papers, and she duly notarized them. Then didn't charge us anything at all! She just said she wanted to see things filled out properly and done right. Too cool!

Also, her store seems to carry a wide variety of sandals and shoes for the whole family. We will certainly check out her goods when we need zapos.

New World Store

This is the first store I shopped at here in Belize. We've been making to them about every three or four days since, for various and sundry.

New World Grocery Store

They carry a wide variety of foods and household products, all crammed into a tiny establishment. They also carry some excellent imported hard cheeses, kept at or behind the counter. You have to know to ask for them, or you'll miss them entirely!

Cinty's

Cinty's has Three Locations Within Half a Block of Each Other!

Cinty's is one of those stores that seem to have everything. If they don't have it, it probably doesn't exist - sort of place.

Cinty's Middle Store

You always know when they are open. Merchandise spills out of the doorways and over the sidewalk at each location.

Stuff is everywhere. Piled on top of other things or hung by the dozen from overhead. It's hard to describe.

And the staff... Incredible! They not only know where everything is, but they know how many they have of any one thing.

Like I said, they have three locations, all within a half-block of the other. Each carries slightly different items, but all just a jumble with goods.

Their prices are very reasonable. Everyone shops there. Example: Dianna and I were talking to Connie of Copa Banana the other day when she brought over some real estate papers we needed to sign. In the course of the conversation, she mentioned that the door to one of the refrigerators in the guest house had fallen off, and that she had gotten a new fridge.

Dianna asked her where she had gotten it, thinking Connie would say some store over in Chetumal (she's well known locally for frequent shopping there).

Connie piped up and said, "Cinty's". "Where else"?

Like it was the most natural thing in the world to go there to purchase a major appliance. And, she got a good deal on it too!