We tooled around town…in a golf cart! How big do you think this town is? Exactly…not very. And it’s spread out! We could have walked it I suppose, but I wanted to be able to have a “speedy” get away if we got someplace we didn’t want to be. (I run like a sissy, but like this golf cart would outrun a 2 year old?!) Plus, I’m not in shape, and I worried more about getting back than getting there!
Anyway, it was interesting. As you can imagine, there are a lot of poor people living in box shaped wooden houses – which is pretty much indicative of the tropics/Caribbean. You don’t need much, and who cares when you have this view!? Most are high off the ground (on stilts/piers) and it reminds me of the river cabin we used to have. So if you want to know what it’s like here, go up to Foley in August, make a right at the flashing red light (careful of your speed and make a FULL stop) and head to the little river town at the Mississippi. Then imagine some palm trees, tropical plants, sand (not mud) and beautiful clear water that you can see through and …. LOOK you’re in Belize
Gerald is hungry so we stop off at the Barefoot Beach Bar. Looks like a cute little place and we’ve been told they have music. We stop in to get a bite to eat and a drink. I bet it would be a fun place, and Gerald’s burger was not bad. (Remember, beef in the Caribbean is not like beef at home).
We drive almost all the way up to the airport. It feels strange driving (legally) on a paved road with a golf cart! We head down side roads to look at the “For Sale” properties. (I feel kinda creepy snooping around like this!) Some places need a little work, some need lots of work. Hard to say where the best place is at this point. You could have a multi-million dollar place next to a $2,000 shack or mobile home. And yes, there is an Airstream camper down the street from us. Plus we’ve seen a Winnebago and few mobile homes. A real estate agent was here the other day showing a couple the condo’s at Sunset Pointe to rent long term, and he gave us his business card. Might be worth it to talk to him and have him show us around.
We also figure we would stop at the other grocery stores to see what they have. They are a little bigger than Wallen’s Store, and we are on a quest to find ranch dressing. We had made a salad the other night and could only find French dressing, which is not our favorite and it sucked. I’m going to start carrying Ranch dressing packets in my purse…
We drive by the Post Office and Social Security Office. This is what they all should look like! No wasting government money here!
I’m taking pictures with my water camera and when we get out of the cart to go into the grocery store, I notice that I don’t see the micro-disk adapter that was in the case. I look around and discover I’ve dropped it somewhere! Oh no! We go back a few streets, and give up. I brought another one with me (did you have doubts?)
We want to take a look at the main street we’ve read about here which is by the beach. We park the cart and head in. It’s basically a sidewalk with shops on either side of it with small hotels, hostels, rooms to rent, bars, restaurants and little shops selling local items. It’s pretty vacant because it’s the slow season and most just close down. It should pick up the first of November. There is some neat homemade jewelry (of course you know I spotted that!) and a young man wants to sell me some conch shells. They are actually beautiful, in perfect shape and I would love to buy them, but I don’t think you are supposed to bring them home…so I pass (you know difficult that was for me?). We walk all the way down to the end, then back up to the cart. My hips are killing me and I’m glad we got the cart!
I was looking forward to stopping by the veggie/fruit stand on the way back to pick up some more kiwi, papaya and bananas…but they aren’t there! BUMMER! =(
Gerald wants to stop and get some ice cream before we head home, and some shrimp for fishing. It ain’t Baskin Robbins, but it’s pretty good – made with Soy milk. A little boy picked up his sister at daycare and wants to know if we can give him a ride. I suppose this is one hitchhiker we shouldn’t worry about. Home James…..
I’m up. !! What tha…? Oh well. I did go to bed at 7 last night! =) (couldn’t keep my eyes open!) Gerald and I are going to go grocery shopping this morning before we have to take the golf cart back. Then we are going to take a trip on the Hokey Pokey across the lagoon (you keep your right arm in, you keep your left arm in….) hehe… We have to check out the immigration office over there to get an extension on our visa’s since we will be here more than 30 days. Gotta line the pockets of the bureaucrats you know…just like home!
Gerald is complaining to me that I’m not posting any of the pictures of me that he takes. Really? Well, if he would stop taking awful pictures of me at the most inopportune times…maybe I would! Seriously! I realize those moments are few and far between (if ever actually) but there are a few seconds right after I shower and dress that might be good! Because within about 3 seconds of hitting the humidity and slapping on the skeeter repellent (that rarely works) it’s all out the window!
Speaking of skeeter repellent, I found a container of Cutter Backwoods Mosquito Wipes (…in my purse). I used it yesterday and don’t think I got bothered! They stink awful, although they are supposed to be unscented, but who cares if the bugs are staying off me! They have the highest amount of Deet than the others so I’m on another quest today to find more! Those other nice smelling repellents (Off) just don’t cut the mustard – and in fact, I’m pretty sure they draw them in! Probably got some sort of skeeter pheromones in it! My only other alternative is to not bathe for a week or two and build up a good crust that the bugs can’t penetrate. Bob and Judy, you may want to bring air freshener.
Since Gerald can’t e-mail…he wants me to tell everyone at Pundmann Ford and the guys (& Barb) in the body shop a big HELLO!!
Have pictures to post, but it takes a long time, so I’ll try to get them up tonight.
UPDATE:
Off to the “big” grocery store! Disappointment. It’s not big at all. (except it has full bags of potato chips – my favorite vegetable). In fact, we end up stopping at 4 different stores to get all the stuff we want. Keeping in mind that things are local, so they are sold in plastic bags, not hermetically sealed. It’s something you just have to get used to, or starve I guess. I figure if I fry it, it should kill any germs. And you know I love the fried stuff!
Luckily the veggie/fruit market (van) is there…so we also stop by and pick up some cabbage, a papaya more nanners (6 for .50 cents) and a celery stalk (you can buy just a stalk!!!) so I can make some potato salad. The meat … well…I think we’ll have to live here a little longer to acquire a taste for it. We’re going vegetarian for now! (except the chicken is ok – Gerald hasn’t caught enough fish to try that yet)
We drop our things off and get ready to head to the Hokey Pokey for the trip to Independence Paradise to return the cart and Shelton
We met the neighbors for dinner. The one-man-band (which consisted of 2 guys) was not very good. We just came back home…and Gerald and Bobby went fishing again…it rained on them.
Oh…and in classic Tina style…I’ve had to hide things in the condo, because there is no safe here. Once again, I hid some of it from myself. I know, I know. Call me MAMAW! (I did find it fairly quickly though! – thank gawd!)
I love reading about your days...you need to think about writing a book! I'd buy it! I pull up your blog at nights so Greg can see what your up to! He loves reading it too!
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