Last month, August, we had eighteen days of rain and sixteen without. The rain started about the 13th of August. That sort of means we've been having near constant rain for, oh, about thirty-three freaking days in a row! Give me a break, will ya?!
Along with that, Dianna and I have been keeping a rough guesstimate of the number of vehicles that have become 'stuck in the muck' - we just got another one as I'm writing this. Conservatively, we think we're over sixty vehicles mired in the goo. Including a Belize Water Service (BWS) truck yesterday afternoon.
I got an email yesterday morning from Dean, a friend of ours from Orchid Bay, over on the Sarteneja peninsula. Here's a brief exerpt:
"...Did you hear our crash on Saturday evening in front of your place? I hit the water at 15 mph and hit the 2 foot hole. Bounced 3 to 4 times, tore off my light plug on my rear bumper, hurt my back, bounced my passengers around. The road all the way to the ferry was bad..."A short time later, this bit from Chuck, who also lives in Orchid Bay. Dean had picked Chuck and his wife Jamie from Chetumal, Mexico, on their return from a cruise over in Europe:
"...We passed by your place last night on our way back from the airport at Belize City via [a friend's] truck - and nearly right in front of your place we hit the Mud Hole from Hell and all four of us hit our heads on the truck ceiling, which explains why they call it a "Head Liner" (On account of it leaves lines on your head). The fact that we made it all the way back home must rank as some sort of a miracle. But nonetheless we did make it home, well after dark.
The road the rest of the way to the ferry is so bad that you couldn't even hold a mud-wrestling match in it without some handicapping for all entrants. Man, I mean to say, that is some serious mud. You guys must have had quite a bit of rain in the last couple of weeks..."Yesterday, I had to get some supplies from in town, but I knew there was no way that I was going to attempt to cross the great muddy of Ferry Road. I called Doug and Twyla, who live just north of us, but away from the muddy patch to see, if they were heading into town for some reason, if I could hitch a ride with them to get my shopping done. They were nice enough to allow me to go with them.
I greased up with bug juice, put my back pack on (I needed some way to haul the groceries on our return) and began the walk up to their house. I avoided the road and the muddy track of vehicles through the vacant lots north of our place, and still I was hiking through about six inches of mud and about three to four inches of water on top of that for most of the trek through the lots.
Once past the muddy patch of the road, I got back on the road up to Doug and Twyla's. Once there, I hosed off my legs and sandals loosing about a good pound of mud in the process.
After we completed our shopping and had returned to their house, I spent several minutes on their porch loading up my pack and a couple extra plastic bags, carrying things that it didn't matter if they got wet or not.
Same thing after I got back. A few minutes with the hose and I was good to go again. At least it didn't rain while I was hiking either direction.
While we were shopping, Doug needed to stop at our mechanic Rick's place about some repairs he needed. I took the opportunity as well, and talked to Rick about my needed brake job for the Isuzu. I mentioned to Rick that I thought I'd be able to bring it up to his shop the following day (that'd be today), if it didn't rain. Hah! Guess it's still going to be a few days before I can get up to Rick's to have him look at the brakes.
So far this morning, we've already had three stuckees in the muck and it's only approaching 7:30 AM. The day is young... and, it's still raining.
