It has been an eventful year with the establishment of a new home and a new circle of great friends. I even took an unneeded, St. Patrick's Day, vacation to Caye Caulker with nine of these friends. The stated vacation goals were to get a tattoo, get an STD and spend a night in jail. One member of this all male troupe was sternly warned by his girlfriend not to come home with a tattoo. No one managed to achieve any of the goals, maybe we'll do better next year.
For some reason, there is an unusual amount of amount of drama within the expat (immigrant) community. Altering the apprentice president's words; I would say the US is not sending their best and brightest to Belize. A neighbor is unhappy that I did not invite her to my "block party" (see Raging Success episode). On three separate encounters she bitched me out and vowed to take vengeance on me. What she doesn't know is that the "block party" was a gathering of only my friends and that within five minutes of meeting her husband I sincerely told him he was an ass. I remain happy and evermore comfortable in the fact that an invitation was not extended to the nearby wackos.
As previously mentioned, shopping in Belize is like an Easter egg hunt and you are unlikely to come home with the golden egg. I'd hoped to find a crew cab Japanese pickup, but these vehicles are popular here and are not common on the used market. I've taken a gamble on a 1997 Chevrolet S10 extended cab pickup with an automatic transmission.
It was just imported from California with 72,000 miles and it runs well. It is very basic without electric windows or electric door locks, but does have an operating air conditioner and radio. It features some kind of rubbed out logo on the doors. Later I learned that it is need of a steering idler arm that I will soon acquire and install. There is some issue with the horn, dome light and cigarette lighter circuit that causes the fuse to blow. Vehicle electrical problems can be more difficult to locate and correct than mechanical issues. In my former stateside life I was accustom to automobiles intended for driving with great enthusiasm. Driving here requires a dreary appliance that will surely disintegrate given the pounding issued by many unpaved potholed roads.
The title of this episode may give some the impression that I've adopted a dog. I may never get past the talking stage on this matter as I prefer to keep my life simple and unencumbered by obligations to another creature. The careful observer will notice that front is Cheverolet and the tailgate is GMC so I could have something of a mutt on my hands. Many vehicles imported here are from the salvage market and I'm reasonably certain that is the case here. I paid $6,000 US and, from my limited search, this is about what these pickups are going for with more miles in the U.S. It has good tires all around so I may have done an OK deal.
Should I ever have more than one visitor at a time some will be pleasured with a ride in the jump seats. The alternative is a ride in the pickup bed as is often seen in Belize, but it is said to be illegal. It is about 80 miles South to the airport from Corozal and about an hour ride to interesting points West of the airport. I'm sure my intrepid visitors will manage. At this point I've only taken it nine miles out of town. I need to burn a few more miles to convince myself it is a reliable vehicle for extending my explorations.
Future visitors will now have a place to sit and sleep with the addition of a new sleeper couch. Six footers will drape over the edges if they tend to sleep in the fully extended mode. Prior to this addition, the alternates were a single plastic chair and a leaky air bed that gently lowers a person to the floor overnight.
For $25 US I've purchased a used ugly table and three chairs. I will get the third chair later in the week as well as two small used end tables, both acquired for $15 US.
The roadway in front of the house has been torn up to replace the water main. The upside is that the potholes were more or less eliminated before the rain started. The newly churned earth has turned the road into a rutted slippery muddy mess. Snow driving skills are useful in these conditions. It is rumored this work is in preparation for paving. The downside to this rumor is that I will no longer be able to fix the potholes that are sure to develop. I will have to find an alternative home for all the rocks I've been harvesting from my lot leveling work.
On night after an evening of beers from the night before, a friend produced a receipt and stated I had been sold to him. He planned to sell me to a local girl for a red bicycle and two packs of cigarettes. Another friend offered to sweeten the deal by throwing in three blue pills so she could try me out before closing the deal the following day. If the bicycle prove to be unacceptable, I would then be sold to the glue factory if the Mennonites wouldn't offer a better deal. I'm not glue yet so something must be working out with the Mennonites. Life in a straw hat and suspenders can't be all bad.
