Time to head back to the mainland. A quick turn in of the golf cart, jump on our Tropic Air flight to Belize City and pick up our rental car to get the next adventure started. First stop was Cheers, a small restaurant with great food. Kelley and I opted for pig tail and split pea over rice, while Darren and Bonnie chose something they were a little more familiar with. We’ve stopped at Cheers many times in the past, and one thing they do is hang T-shirts from the rafters that people donate and sign. This time I remembered to bring a Big Wave Dave shirt and Darren also brought one of his, so if you happen to stop in there keep an eye out for them.
Our rental house
After a good meal it was off to our AirBnB, the same place we stayed a couple months ago. Maria was there to greet us and get us all checked in. After that it was a quick trip out to the property to see how it was doing.
Everyone keeps asking us how the progress is going on the property. When you are not always there it seems to go slowly, but in fact the stuff we have accomplished since we first acquired it is pretty amazing. As for the power, all 16 poles are in as well as the cross members. We have been trying to contact the guy at the electric company who is in charge of running the wires, and it seems he has been out of the office for awhile. It turns out that he has been in the Caribbean helping to restore power to people that were affected by the hurricanes earlier this year. Obviously they are in need of power more than we are, especially since we are not even quite ready for it yet.
We are having cement retaining walls built around the culvert we put in last year that. The grass is starting to grow good on the road we put in and Ruben is keeping it trimmed down really nice, starting to look manicured. All the pathways into and around the property are staying well trimmed. Some plants, (oregano, basil, black pepper, cocoa, pineapples, philodendrons, etc.) that we planted last time are doing great. Another tree that we just realized were on the property is the Bri Bri tree, also know as the ice cream tree. It gets big long pods that when cracked open contain seeds that are surrounded by a white flesh. The white flesh supposedly taste just like vanilla ice cream. Our ice cream trees are not ready yet, but as soon as they are you know we will be trying them. Ruben is getting ready to do a final clearing on a spot where the first little casita will be going. We met with another home builder who is currently building a clinic in San Antonio and his pricing was good, so hopefully we will start on the first one sometime in February. Water and power lines as well as a septic will also have to be in place for the first build. We also met with an Internet company. We do not have service to our area but they said there is a possibility that they can do something with their antenna and then I will have to put up a tall antenna somewhere on our property. I need to check into that a little more, because we will need an Internet connection. We also met a guy who owns a transport company that will ship a 20′ container for us. And the good thing is he will handle it door to door, from AZ to Belize.
Not much to report on the game cameras this time. One camera had a battery go bad and the other one had a bad SD card. All is fixed now and there is also a new one installed, so that makes three. Hopefully next time we will have more good animal pictures to share. That’s about all there is happening at the property now, but hopefully next year will be big.