Ceviche!

     Near by is the popular water front bar, Scotty's, where I meet up with friends, have a few beers and often find something to eat.  My first few weeks here I could not get enough ceviche.  It is made with onions, tomatoes, cilantro and most often shrimp marinaded in lime juice.  One day I was cycling past Scotty's where I spied all of the bar's staff on the upper floor, I waved as I went past.  They didn't necessarily know my name but yelled out "Ceviche!" to acknowledge me.  Since that day it has become my Belizian nickname.  Most all Belizians are known by a nickname and I take it as a sign that I'm accepted.  Thankfully, I didn't take a fancy to burritos during my first few weeks.
   

The ground floor will serve as a garage and shop.  The electrical outlets were installed above counter height to accomodate work benches along the walls.  Outlet installation required a brief halt in wall construction.  Above, the window sills and reinforced lintels have been poured.

The crew makes good use of a boulder dug from the lot.  Short reinforcement bar lengths were forced into holes drilled into the rock.  This created a re-bar bending jig used to rapidly create numbers of identical reinforcement shapes.

Forms are in place to pour the reinforced columns on corners and wall mid points.  The crew labors to assemble other reinforcements.

The crew prepares to pour the chain, a reinforced concrete perimeter on the wall's top.  Here the re-bar is set in position before the form is closed up.

There is another construction crew working across the canal from my lot.  The crew building my house politely asked me for permission to fish in the canal.  This permission I happily and immediately granted.  I like the guys on the hard working crew.

There have been some lunch sized fish caught, but this small cat fish was returned to fight another day.  I like to peer into the water to see what can be seen.  I've spied turtles, a wide variety of fish, but have yet to catch sight of the crocodiles known to inhabit the canal.

The crew scrambles to complete the pour of three columns that will support the front deck.  The concrete is placed in precious (hard to come by) five gallon buckets for these pours.  On other house construction sites they carry cement filled buckets on their heads while climbing ladders.

Two interior columns support I beams spanning the shop's width.  These in turn support the beginnings of the living space floor above.

I beams also span the support columns for the front and rear decks.  A careful observer will notice the wall visible through the garage door opening has been "plastered".

This is the rear view of the house after the first scratch coat has been applied inside and out.  A second finer coat will be applied and troweled to a smooth finish.  The ground floor will soon be powered up thanks to an electrician's visit.

I'm about to seek out lunch and it is likely to reinforce my Belizian handle, Ceviche.