Belize Journal, September 11, 2016

I went to Immigration in Belmopan on Monday, August 29, and arrived about 8:30 AM. I was given number 59—the last number to be handed out. After sitting in the heat until 4:30 PM (the office closes @ 4 PM), I was told to return the next day and to come about 6:30 AM (Sunrise is about that time). Everyone always agrees that there should be a better way to get our visas renewed. As a matter of fact, I think that Central Americans can get visas for 90 days. Not even the commonwealth nations get any preference—the Canadians also have to renew every 30 days.

I did return the next day, arriving about 7:30 AM. I got number 40. My visa renewal was processed about 2:30 PM, but I waited until 3:30 PM for Nadia, a German citizen, who lives in Arenal, a village on the Guatemalan border. It is on a dirt road off another dirt road. I gave her a ride home. Otherwise, she would have had to take a bus and then a taxi from Benque Viejo to her village. Arenal is one of those villages that straddle the border between Belize and Guatemala, places where people can move freely without going through immigration. This is apparently the situation in the south with the Maya. No one here seems really interested in monitoring the comings and goings of the Maya.

One month down and eleven to go until I can apply for residency.

I found cotton batting for the futons at the Farmer’s Trading Center run by the Mennonites in Spanish Lookout. The bridge from the main highway was underwater, so my friend and I had to take the back way in by coming back through San Ignacio and heading out Bullet Tree Rd and then down a dirt road. That was another interesting trip. That is also when I found out that Hurricane Earl took out the wooden bridge into San Ignacio. At the moment, all traffic crosses a one-lane bridge. It does keep people employed directing traffic. Apparently, another bridge has been started somewhere down the river.

I finally did get both futons completed. I will look for some nice Maya cloth to make covers for them. Later in the month, I will begin buying lumber to make the frames.

I had a birthday in August and got myself a little rabbit. He was wee thing—very young I think. We are still working on just using the litter box, but he’s getting better. He has grown, of course. I made him a little obstacle course in the living room so that he can climb and jump from things. Also, I have taken to playing with him on the floor in the mornings. He always wakes up happy and tears through the house, leaping and climbing. Sometimes when I am writing in the living room, he lies down next to my feet just to keep me company. When I go to the kitchen, he watches to see if I am going to give him some food. He eats alfalfa pellets and cabbage, but he really likes cucumbers. When I have it, I give him a quarter of an apple although rabbits, like people, don’t do well with too much sugar. When he starts chewing on his foam climbing tube, I generally give him some nice hard almonds—better for his teeth and tummy.

I have found a pool where I can do my aqua jogging. It is down the hill at a resort. It is $15BZ a day ($7.50 US). I can bike down there and back. Not only is it great exercise, but I come home cooled off.

I start teaching online on Monday, and I have volunteered to do 4 Saturday workshops entitled “Children as Authors”—we’ll learn a bit about the parts of a book, read a story, and make our own books. Actually, I am making the blank books for the first go around. I have also been editing books for my brother and trying to convert his first book to Kindle.

Here in San Ignacio, people are getting ready for the September celebrations that culminate with Independence Day on September 21.