We drove up from Puerto Peñasco, Mexico and met up with our friends Jim & Mary Ann who drove up from San Carlos, Mexico for an early morning flight out of Phoenix. Smooth flights all the way down. Once there we grabbed our luggage, hit the duty free store, got our rental car and we were on our way. We did get a call in Houston from Ruben saying that it had been raining and we should have a 4×4 to get to the property. A quick call to the rental company for an upgrade and we were all set. It is about a 2 hour drive up to the place we were staying this time.

About half way there the dash lights on the Jeep say that one of the tires is low. We pull into a gas station (which are few and far between) with a tire shop next door, just as the doors go down at the tire shop. So we ask the guy at the gas station if there is a place we can get some air. He points at what seemed to be across the street. I’m looking, but all I see is a store that sells chickens.

So I say “At the chicken store?” He says no, no, no, over there. And on the small wall at the end of the station is an air hose sticking out. I guess I was just hungry and had chicken on my brain. Anyway we put some air in the tire and we were on our way.

We arrived at our destination to find beautiful accommodations on a 5 acre piece of river front property. 2 bedroom, 2 bath, cold ac in a beautiful tropical setting, what else did we need. It was late so we unpacked the car and headed to town for a quick bite and a cold bucket of beer. We decided to call it an early night since we had all been up since 3:00 am.

After a good nights rest we headed out to our property.  It is nearing the end of the rainy season, and everything was very, very green.  Once we arrived we got our first glimpse of our new power poles, but that’s all it was, just poles no wires.  After a few phone calls and a visit to BEL we found out that the install truck got stuck once and they were waiting for it to dry out a little.  So at this point it is scheduled for next week, but that depends on the weather.

We gave Jim & Mary Ann a tour of the property and told them what our plans are. I don’t know if they thought we were crazy or not, but then again sometimes we think we might be.  We checked on some plants that we put in on a prior trip and replaced the camera card in the trail cam.  Also talked to Ruben for awhile and gave him his new shirts that we had done for his block company.

As we were leaving the property the Jeep said that a different tire was now going low. We pulled into the village of San Antonio (about a mile from the property) to see if we could find some air.  After asking around we found what we think is the only air compressor in the village.  The mechanic was not there but his wife said that we could use the air. Great, except that I could not find the piece that would allow us to fill up the tire. His wife helped me look around his shop for ten minutes or so with no luck. She finally called her husband and he told her where it was. We filled up the tire and asked what we owed them and of course the answer was nothing. Of course I gave her something, but that’s just the way people are in Belize, very friendly and giving.

After that we went back to the house where Jim & Mary Ann stayed to relax for a little, while Kelley and I went out to do some errands and get the tire fixed.

After all of that it was down to Burns street for some happy hour beers, people watching and to plan tomorrows adventures.

I guess you could say it was a tire-ing  day.