Monday, November 22, 2010:

Monday, November 22, 2010:

It started out sunny, hot and humid.  Now it’s cloudy, rainy (more like pouring) and humid.  I guess it’s still the rainy season till the end of November…so only another couple of weeks and we should be home free!? (I hope)

Sitting on the deck this morning, lots of workers are going north.  Must be lots of construction up there. Kids going to school are headed south. Either way, there is a lot of traffic on this road at 7am. It’s a noisy spot for sure. I’m glad I’m not on the first floor!

I still don’t feel comfortable in this place.  All the clean stuff is sitting on the kitchen counter because I don’t want to put anything away in these cabinets where the ants are crawling. I’m also thinking about if the high traffic areas are this dirty – how dirty are the non-active areas! (these are the weird things I think about!) But, I don’t think I have much choice, so I guess I’ll go ahead and pick a cabinet, clean it out with bleach and maybe find some type of shelf liner or just use foil to line the cabinet so I can put this stuff away and get it off the counter. Otherwise it feels temporary and a month of temporary is a long time. But now we have to get ready to go.

We take off across the road and catch a boat to Captain Morgan’s Retreat.  It’s north of us. My cousin Machelle loves Captain Morgan Rum…I have to go at least get a souvenir for her. Turns out it’s a timeshare, fractional ownership type thing.  Although they do have a hotel part, and you can own a condo outright.  James Brown (oww…I feeeeellll good…na na na na na na na!) signed us up.  It’s pouring down rain again…but they have yellow rain coats – so we look like the Gorton’s Fisherman! At least we stay relatively dry.

We went ahead and toured the property and went through the program. (it’s only time – which we got right now!) We waited for high pressure sales tactics, but I guess after they hear our story and quest, they pretty much left us alone. They just showed us the resort and gave us the price list.  The resort is privately owned, so I guess that’s why no killer salesmen – that was really nice.  It is a really nice place, and wonderful views. You can walk to the reef!  The rooms were very nice – smelled clean. The condo we saw was absolutely beautiful.  It’s got all the bells and whistles. The owners are the Tombstone Pizza family and are very active in the maintenance and running the place. I remember checking it out when looking for a place here, but it was over my budget. I would recommend anyone go there. You just have to take a short 5 minute boat ride from the airport.  They told us they have a maximum capacity of about 120 people, and they have 100 staff persons. So the staff to guest ratio is great, and we were treated wonderfully.  Doctor Como is the bartender and he is a funny guy! They have a local Belizean Culture Night on Tuesdays and we are going back to experience the buffet of local cuisine and see the band etc.  And the best part? We Got a $100 certificate…that we used for lunch and some souvenirs for Machelle!

 (the most important delivery - BEER!)

Here is a kicker story about our tour! (and further proof of how it’s been going for me lately!) When James Brown signed us up, because we are staying at Reef Village (apparently also a timeshare place) he told us not to say that we are staying there because they are a competitor and it would preclude us from getting the $100 and him from his fee. He told us to say we were from the Bermuda condos, and he gave us a room # to use.  Ok.  Whatever. What do we care? I just want to see the place. Luckily we had looked around the condos as we passed them to catch the boat! (very nice places by the way!) So we give the girl our info, take the tour, and then get ready for the pitch for sales. We’ve been there before. If you don’t seem like you are going to buy, they will hand you off to a more experienced salesman who uses the aggressive tactics. Anyway, we’re sitting in the room and another guy comes in. There is small talk. Naturally, he asks where we are staying…Bermuda (blah blah blah).  Turns out – he owns a condo there! WHAT! OMG! I have a hot flash! He asks us a few questions about the pool and stuff, and like I said, luckily we had snooped around the place before we caught the boat, so we were able to answer the questions. I sort of felt he was grilling us too! So he says maybe we will run into him there! AAAAKKK!!  Hope we don’t see him on the streets! We run down James Brown and let him know that he should pick a different place to use besides the one that the main salesman has a condo!  Thankfully we survive!

(we "stayed" in the middle floor - far right unit!) 

 (salt water pool at Bermuda)

We get done with the tour and get a drink at the bar and wait for the water taxi.  We come back home and they drop us off at the Bermuda condos (…where we are staying right?).  There is a little bar over there called CocoLoco, and we go take a look. (ok…we’re snooping around again!).  But it looks like it’s open to the public, so hey!  It also appears the bar is somehow attached to the last building in that complex, because the little pool has a swim up to the bar with stools. I’m not sure if  all of the buildings are in the same complex though, because they are different colors.  Probably was meant to be a big condo complex with a bar etc, but as the normal course goes, it’s all good in the beginning, but eventually it falls apart, so they just separated them out and the last building got the bar, and the middle two got the saltwater pool! Anyway, it’s a very small place, with signs that have names on it showing how far they are to the bar (ie – Bill and Susan, 14 steps ad 12 stairs; John & Mary 50 feet) and there are tons of shoes stuffed in the palapa roof!  It was cute.  Looks like they don’t sell food though.  We’ll have to check it out, cause there could be potential for fun there!

On our way back, we see lots of iguanas. Pretty good sized ones too (not as big as St. Thomas though). And not too shy either! They love these rock walls that line the properties! I think Judy would not like it here!

We get back to the condo, drop our stuff off and get on the cart to head in to town.  If we want to cross the toll bridge with the cart, we have to pay $2.50 usd each way. That could add up, so we figure once a day for 30 days is $150 and a monthly bridge pass is $75 and you can cross all you want.  So we need to go into town to the Town Council and get a pass.  The ride is bumpy and we pick up a hitchhiker (boy if you have an empty seat! =) But it’s a good way to be nice to the locals and get information! He is very nice and tells us about local stores and stuff. We finally navigate to the Town Council and get our pass. Then off to the big hardware store to check out the price of a coffee pot and drain plug so I don’t drop anything down the gaping hole in the bathroom sink.  The stopper is gone – and I can see myself dropping something important down the sink and having to pay a plumber $300 to fish it out!  After that we need to go to the Greenhouse, which is THE place you have to go for good fruits and veggies.

We get to the hardware store.  These places are funny.  It’s packed in like a Hoods! But some kid helps us out and we get a little strainer, but couldn’t find a plug to fit. I get the list out and we hunt the other things too. We get Clorox wipes, shelf liner, felt pads (to put under the chairs so they won’t make that horrendous noise as you scoot them out), baking soda to clean the shower (it’s a natural abrasive you know, and I’m trying to be as green as I can) and some ant killer (not a spray, it’s liquid drops you put on paper that they take back to the nest). Then we are off to The Greenhouse.  We go in and take a look.  I actually expected a dirt floor veggie stand, but what I find is quite different.  It’s a really nice place, clean and they have lots of GREAT stuff! I’m excited to get avocados!  This place is more than I imagined and we are definitely going back, and the best part is it’s locally owned too!  We complete our purchase and head back home with our treasures!

We put our things away, the sink screen fits perfect and felt pads quiet the noisy chairs. I move all the stuff from the lower shelf of the upper cabinet, clean it out, line it and skillfully pack our things in it. I find other things in the cabinets that I may want to use, so I get them out and put them in the sink to wash.

Ah…some accomplishment - it feels good. I’m hungry now, so I finish my leftover lunch, and Gerald makes a sandwich for his dinner.

I get the Torro ant killer out, read and follow the instructions (I’ve used this stuff at home). I put a couple of pats with the liquid down on the counter where they seem to have a run and one on the floor next to the fridge – there are a lot running around down there!  The ants don’t go for it at first, so they have to be persuaded. I’ve heard that they don’t like to walk on powdery substances, so I get the baking soda out and sprinkle little white levees and berms all over the kitchen counter trying to corral them. It doesn’t really work. So now I have baking soda all over my counter and I have to clean it up! (looks like a cocaine addicts dream!) Eventually one ant gets on the paper and discovers the liquid, and as ants do, they tell their friends (and they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on!) and eventually lots are on the liquid. Must be some sort of sugar water with poison in it. I’m a little freaked out about this, thinking they will tell all the ants in Belize about the sugar water in our condo (and there are A LOT of ants here) and then I will definitely have an infestation! Oh boy! But the instructions say that at first lots will show up, then they will take the poison back to the nest and eventually you won’t see them anymore. It does get worse, and I keep watching them nervously. I watch as a trail of ants goes up and into the locked owner’s cabinet above the fridge.  Wonder what’s in there!?  The ants on the floor are going under the baseboard by the front door.  I check the pats once more before I go to bed and the trails have died down (no pun intended) but I don’t know whether it’s just because it’s night and they are going to bed too or it's actually working?  Oh well, the worst that could happen is they get mad at me and attack me while I’m sleeping. Wouldn’t surprise me - i'm sure my karma aura is black now. But I’m getting tired, so I’ll worry about it later.

I write a little on my blog, but I’m so tired…and it’s just 7pm! Gerald wants to go to the Scary-oke tonight at the bar, but I’m just not in the mood to hear possible rejects from American Idol … so I just stay home, take a shower, relax and hit the hay. Gerald goes and comes back a while later.  It was as I suspected, and I’m not sorry I stayed home. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz