Happy New Year everybody!  After a much needed break, I will be attempting to get back to some sort of semblance of normalcy and begin to blog again.  The good news is, both of my businesses are doing great – like really great!  Which means I’m busier and busier all the time.

The bad news is I find myself not having time to do all the things I like to every day.  So, you may notice that my blogs aren’t as regular as they used to be, but when time permits, I will definitely be writing and catching you up on all the happenings in my life, my companies, and the Cayo area.

Today, I thought it would be fun to share with you some photos from Nige’s birthday bash on Christmas Eve, when we gave the presents my grandsons bought for his cousins to everyone (blog post here).  There were an awful lot of smiles to go around that night, and it really warmed my heart. And the party was a major success!

The couch full of presents before the kids tore into it

Jared just loved his new bike!!

Jody and his dad playing with his new truck

Jaeda thanking me for her pretty sandals and princess set

Aunt Noemi looks at the baby’s new clothes

Jace and his hat and shoes

Nige’s birthday present-some “imported” alcohol from Guatemala

Nige’s birthday cake (that’s supposed to be a basketball)

Everyone singing Happy Birthday to Nige

Did you do anything fun over the holiday, or did you take a break as well?

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My apologies for not blogging last Friday, but unfortunately I have been struggling with a really bad flare up of my skin rash.  This time, however, has been worse than ever, and it has spread to my entire face and neck area now too.  I was raspberry red everywhere, and for some reason had an awful lot of swelling, so I looked like the elephant woman.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of these flare ups is I get very, very depressed. It’s hard not to when you don’t know why this is happening to you, and you can’t go out in public without people staring at you.  So I sat down and did some research online, and I think I have figured out what I have once and for all.  It’s called Inverse Psoriasis.  Unlike regular psoriasis where you get dry and scaly patches, inverse psoriasis is more waxy and red looking, like my arm, here.

When I googled Inverse Psoriasis and looked at the associated images of people with it, I was like, “That’s exactly what I have.” I guess the only thing that cheered me up was I don’t have it anywhere near as bad as some people do. But the depressing thing is there’s no cure or treatment for it. All I can do is keep my skin fold areas as dry as possible, stay as cool as possible, and avoid stress at all costs (not an easy thing for me to do, unfortunately).

Because I am getting a lot of dry skin from this latest break out, however, I turned to a natural remedy, because I try not to put chemicals on my skin that can be found in lotions, etc. I have been slathering honey on the affected areas. Almost immediately the dryness started subsiding, and the swelling started diminishing. Apparently honey is not only nature’s moisturizer, but it cleans the pores of bacteria.  You leave it on for ten minutes, rinse off with warm water, and then apply olive oil after (another natural emollient).

I also like using this cocoa butter balm that a friend gave me, especially around my eyes and mouth, where the dryness has been the worst.  Because I couldn’t find this here in Belize, one of our guests coming to stay at Avana Villa tomorrow kindly offered to bring me more. What a nice person!

Since I wasn’t feeling so hot, Nige’s dad has been here chopping our yard, so he’s been doing most of the cooking. He made some pigtail and beans, and his famous fry jacks, one of my favorite Belizean comfort foods.

I guess when I moved from California to Belize I didn’t realize one of the unintended consequences I would have would be dealing with a skin reaction to the humid weather.  I am relieved to finally know what I’m dealing with however, and hope that I can learn to cope.

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Yesterday Nige and I had a few errands to run. First, however, he needed to take his 4Runner in for an oil change, so we dropped the car off at Maddog Motors, our mechanic. Located on Joseph Andrews Drive (or the double road as we locals call it).  Having a trusted mechanic in Belize is priceless, since vehicles take a lot of wear and tear from the roads, and you will find them needing service more than you would just living in a city area.  When it was all said and done, the oil change was $77 bze ($38.50 usd).

After that we headed to the post office, which is located on Hudson Avenue, the street that runs parallel to Burns Avenue, our main street here in San Ignacio.

The letter that I was supposed to pick up hadn’t arrived yet. I’m not surprised – almost nothing every gets here on time, so I’ll go back again to check.

After that, we ran to Central Cable Company, also on Burns Avenue, to set up the cable for a tenant that is moving into one of our rentals next week. Utility set up is a service we offer.  It cost the tenants $90 bze ($45 usd) to get the cable set up, which included a $50 bze installation fee (the other $45 was for their first month of cable – pretty cheap, huh?).

After that, we had to get a key made for a lock at our own personal home.  Keys in Belize are pretty inexpensive to duplicate – $1-2 bze ($.50-$1 usd) per key, depending on what kind of master is needed.

Errands done, it was time to head back home before the weather turned on us. The rains are back, but I hope not for too long. I was really enjoying the nice weather.

Do you like running errands or not?

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Yesterday was Garifuna Settlement Day, a national holiday in Belize celebrating the arrival of the Garifuna to Belize 180 years ago. So Nige and I decided to take advantage of our final day at our house sitting gig and just hang out. Why not, when we have views like this to admire.

As I was relaxing in my lounge chair pool side, and Nige was busying himself skimming leaves out of the pool, we started to hear a loud crackling sound, and then noticed a ton of smoke coming from one of the adjacent lots.

Soon enough, the next door neighbor showed up on his dirt bike, asking if he could go ride to the perimeter of the property (it’s five acres) to make sure the fire wasn’t in danger of spreading.  We said sure, of course, and in a little while he came back and told us that it looked like it was contained – whew!

I still can’t get used to the practice of burning this gorgeous landscape just to control growth. I mean, get a goat or cow or use a lawn mower for crying out loud! But alas, in Belize, this is how it’s done, so I just need to get used to it. Still, the sight of a cohune palm up in flames seems completely unnecessary to me and makes me sad.

I certainly will miss staying here, I must say.  Every morning I had a routine with the clients’ dogs where we would walk the property (a win-win as all of us would get our exercise).  I loved looking at these white birds that would play in the center of the yard. Does anyone know what they are (hopefully my picture gives you enough details)?

Oh well, all good things must come to an end, and it will be nice to get back home to my old routine. 

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When I moved to Belize, I was totally prepared to have to deal with a shift in how I dealt with punctuality, or to be more precise, the lack of it. As most people know, Latin America as a whole is pretty well known for their laid back approach to being on time or getting anything done.  I assumed Belize would be the same.

However, I have been pleasantly surprised by how many people actually are on time. Obviously in my business, we have a lot of appointments with owners (some Belizean, some Expats).  And overall, most people here do try to be on time. And the good news is, we have never been stood up once, although I know people who have.

Now with employees or vendors, that’s a slightly different story.  I had one housekeeper at a vacation rental of ours, for instance, that thought since she did such a good job she could show up a ½ hour late and it shouldn’t bother me. “Miss Sharon,” she would say, “I do my work. Why do you care if I am late?”  I explained to her that first of all, she keeps us waiting when she is late. We show up on time and then she is late. My time is valuable and I don’t appreciate having it wasted.

Secondly, I explained to her that we have guaranteed guests they can check in at a certain time. The time we give her to show up guarantees that will happen. If you show up late, you can put the check in time at risk.   She looked at me like she only half understood (hard to say if she understands why we no longer use her either).

One other house keeper always used the transportation system as an excuse.  The buses are slow on Saturday. Or I was coming from farther away and it took longer. Of course, explaining that if you have farther to travel you should leave earlier may or may not be effective with certain people.

The funniest example of how time is viewed differently in Belize is by the saying they have, which is “Right Now.”  If you ask someone something, and they say “right now,” it probably does not mean right now literally. Instead, it can mean “Give me a second, I’m getting to it.”  Or “I hear you, but I’m not quite ready to attend to it yet.” Or, it can mean “Just be patient and I’ll get to it when I’m good and ready.”

Just like certain words or phrases in the English language, you have to consider the context to understand what exactly they are trying to tell you. The only way you may know for sure is if what you’re asking gets done or not.

Are you prepared to be patient about time when you move to a foreign country?

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The weather right now in Belize has been wonderful!! We have had a major cool down, and everyone is enjoying it – locals, expats, and tourists alike!  Now when I say cool down, I know all of you in the more frigid parts of the world, like Canada and the East Coast of the U.S., probably think “Yeah, right!” So let me start by saying, I get it. But I’m just talking in context to what weather is normally like in Belize.

Usually I am hot and sweaty pretty much 24/7, most days of the year.  We always look forward to the winter, however, because that is when it starts to cool down.  In the Cayo District of Western Belize, it especially cools down at night. This year, it’s started a little early, and lately I have been using a blanket at night, but we still keep one fan going (as opposed to two) for air circulation.

However this morning, I had to get up and turn it off because it was so cold outside (we sleep with all the windows and doors open, so the cold air was getting in the house). I also went to bed in a long-sleeve shirt, and Nige wore socks (he’s a bigger wimp than even this California girl about the cold). 

When I went on my walk today, I had to put on a long-sleeve shirt as well, since it was so cold outside. I don’t have a thermometer, but I’d “guestimate” it’s between 57-62⁰ (this is what the weather websites seem to indicate too).  I typically bring a wet bandana with me to wipe off the sweat while I’m walking, but that was not such a good idea today, as it was making my hand freeze. I literally felt like I almost needed gloves!

Even at around 9:30 a.m. when I had to meet a vendor at one of our rental properties, I was wearing a pull over sweater. And Nige had on his beanie cap.  Everyone is wearing jeans and jackets right now.  However, by about noon time, the cold wore off and it is a pleasant temperature out, and I am sitting in my normal  “uniform” of tank top, shorts, and flip flops.

I don’t know how long this break from the heat and humidty will last.  All I know is I’m loving it. I had quite forgotten what it felt like to be truly cold.  It’s nice to wear some of the clothes that I brought here from the States but rarely pull out, and it’s really nice that Nige and I can cuddle in bed without having to break apart dripping in sweat, lol!

Can you imagine forgetting what it’s like to not be cold? 

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The other day we went light fixture shopping for the Kumquat Cottage, one of our Belize Vacation Rentals.  The cottage is super funky, and the owner’s installed a lot of unique Ikea light fixtures. Unfortunately, one of the lights’ converter went out and we can’t find a replacement here in Belize.  So instead of them shipping a new one here, we went out to show them samples of some different lights we could install instead.  Here’s the choices that we felt went best with the décor.

 The one in the middle cost $247 bze ($123.50). The picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s actually very cool looking in person.

The very top one with four bulbs was another consideration. It’s $214 bze ($107 usd). We would ceiling mount it, not wall as shown here.

We thought any one of these three colorful lights could work. They are $168 bze ($84 usd) each.

And last up, as well as my personal favorite, this one looks like it could be a super cool choice.  $236 bze ($118 usd).

So, which one do you like best? 

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I have been actively involved in the social media world for four years now, routinely promoting my businesses over the years on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and the blog-o-sphere.  Early on, I decided that for my own success as a business person in the world-wide web, there was four topics I would always try to avoid:

1. Sports
2. Sex
3. Religion
4. Politics

 The reason is probably obvious – these are super-heated and mega-charged issues for some.  They tend to invoke very passionate views and responses, and unless you’re in the business of one of these topics, then staying away from the subjects is smart business. Why piss someone off and lose their business forever just because you like the 49ers and they like the N.Y. Giants?

Now, on your personal profiles/feeds/etc., you can go to town, and quite frankly, talk about anything you want. But if you find that a lot of your prospects or clients are friends or followers of yours over there too, then the choice is yours about how much of your personal views you care to share. It would be nice to think that people won’t hold your views against you, but sadly, many of them do.

So why am I bringing all of this up?  Well, some of you may wonder why I remain so quiet on certain topics, and with today being the day of the Presidential election in the United States, you might want me to weigh in. I am, after all, still a U.S. citizen. Well, OK, fine, this one day then I will make an exception to my rule and offer my opinion, and I hope I don’t live to regret it J

First of all, I did not move to Belize with a hatred of the U.S.  Sure, I was disenchanted with a lot of the things that were going on there, especially on the cost of living front, as well as how hard it was to live a calmer, less stressful life.  But I never have been, and I suppose I never will be, an “activist” in the true sense of the word.  I leave causes to others and just try to manage my own life the best way I know how.

I have, however, always thought, and have shared with many, that the U.S. political system is quite broken.  As long as the country remains bi-partisan, in my opinion, very little will change, regardless of who is elected President. And I am not only referring to today’s election, but any election in the future as well. Also, the fact that the highest office in the U.S. can only be obtained by those with gobs of money does not sit well with me. When the candidates are bought and paid for, how can one hope for any substantial and progressive change?

These two facts sadden me, as frankly I don’t see any signs of significant change on the political front in the U.S. any time soon.  Voting is a God-given right as an American, and everyone who wishes to do so should. However, I feel that even if there was a 100% turnout at the polls today, in four-years, nothing much will have changed, and more than likely, things will only have gotten worse – regardless of who wins.

Being a natural born optimist, I can only hope I’m wrong. Time will tell…..

Are you moving to another country because you’ve lost faith in the political system where you currently live (not only the U.S. by the way).

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Finally, we have been having a run of just gorgeous weather. Low to mid 80’s, barely any humidity, slight breezes, and most important to me, no precipitation!  I was really getting tired of all the rains. Having to line dry your clothes on the verandah instead of out under the direct sun is a real pain, as they don’t dry anywhere near as fast or thoroughly.

Feeling energized by the sun, I decided to treat myself to a pedicure yesterday.  Walking five or six days a week does a number on my feet, and at $17.50 usd, it’s relatively cheap pampering!  I decided to kill two birds with one stone while there, however. My gardening company for the Kumquat Cottage had the monthly invoice ready and wanted to know if I could cut them a check. Since the owner lives just minutes from my pedicure place, I told him to meet me there.

So as I’m sitting there getting  my feet done, he comes in with the invoice, I write him a check, we talk about business for a few minutes, and I’ve got an errand done without having to drive anywhere. Sweet! Love multi tasking. He also brought his wife and son with him, whom I’d never met, so that was nice as well.

After my appointment, I had to rush home and have lunch, and then head out to another of our vacation rentals, Avana Villa.  We had guests checking in.  Check-in is any time after 3:00 p.m., and these folks had said between 3:00 and 4:30 p.m. So I pulled up five minutes before 3 and lo and behold, there they were waiting for me.

I have to tell you – it is quite unusual for guests to be early, normally because some of their travel plans are out of their control (like late planes, delays at customs, getting a rental car, getting lost, etc.). But we were ready for them! They were really nice people – from North Carolina – and they’ve been touring Costa Rica for the last three months. Must be nice!! One day, I hope to be able to do the same thing too.

Have you ever toured a country for longer than a couple of weeks?

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Yesterday we had a few errands to run in town. The first one was at the bank to pick up our new check book for Red Roof. As a point of interest, checkbooks with 50 checks cost $5.00 bze ($2.50  usd). In any case, I was standing in the Customer Service line, behind two other people, when a lady walked in. She briefly stood in line behind me (I was last), and I could see on her face she was in a hurry.

Suddenly, she spotted a friend at the counter already being helped, so she got out of line and went up to the counter to talk to her friend.  Of course, by this point, I knew exactly what she was up to, and sure enough, she managed to get the attention of an agent and cut in front of the rest of us in line!

At this point, I was mildly irritated, but since the next person in line had been called, I only had one more person in front of me, and I decided to not get too worked up. But then, amazingly enough, it happened a second time. That’s right – this time, a younger gal walks in, gets in line behind me, and then bypasses me and the guy in front of me and goes to the counter.

Once again, an agent starts helping her. By this time, I’m pissed. I mean here this other guy and I are waiting patiently, being rule abiding citizens, and we’re getting nowhere quick for our good behavior. I’m fairly certain that Belizean children get taught good manners in school too: say please and thank you, don’t chew with your mouth full, and don’t cut in line.

Still, I kept my cool. After all, the guy in front of me barely registered any sign of being upset.  And that’s the thing! When you’re a foreigner in a foreign country, it’s very important to observe how others are reacting to the things around you, especially the things that are irritating you. 

I could have caused a scene. In both cases I could have tapped either gal on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, but you should be waiting in line like the rest of us.” Or, I could have told the agent, “That gal just cut in front of us,” and looked like a 3^rd grader, ha-ha! 

But instead, I contained my frustration and modeled my behavior after everyone else. Because honestly, in a small town, you don’t want everyone looking at you as that crazy white lady. Plus, there are different rules about standing in line in Belize. And while it doesn’t happen to me often, from time to time, someone will line jump, and I find it best to just go with the flow. Especially if I’m not in a hurry, why make a big deal out of it? 

In the end, fate interceded, and the last girl to cut in front of us had to wait a while before the agent she grabbed was ready to help her. In the meantime, the guy in front of me got helped very quickly, and I ended up leaving before her. Small victories are the best kind! 

Could you learn how to not react like you might have in your former country and model your behavior after the locals?

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