Rome wasn’t built in a day. (Not with that attitude, Buster.)

Reports filtering in are that there may be a usable vehicle crossing at Kendall soon.
With all at stake, you knew the major players were not going to sit back and wait. There is citrus to be moved, crude oil just sitting there, condo projects at a standstill. All because of one lousy bridge? So the big money behind all this is bustin ass to get in a bridge. Don’t get me started.

Our stranded guests finally arrived yesterday. They came by the bus/canoe method.
A bit of adventure they were not expecting. Said the canoe ride across the Sittee was free tho. And kinda fun.

Speaking of crude oil. I see the world price has risen again. We will no doubt take it up the ass here in Belize real soon.
Let’s see, Beer is 48.50 BZ per case, 2.02 per bottle which contains 10oz.
16 oz to a quart. 4 quarts per gallon. Gives you 2.02x16x4 divided by 10 ...equals 12.92BZ per gallon of beer!






All those construction projects I mentioned that are slowing down or stopped because of the bridge,, why is it that all of them have to be bigger, fancy-schmancier, swankier, more gawdy than the last?
Each one uses the words “gated, exclusive, premier, luxuriously appointed, private, blah blah blah to describe their newest offering. What ever happened to the small, quaint little mom and pop type places that Placencia was known for? Long gone, to be replaced by gated and luxurious. Drives me nuts.
I would like to see this chain open a branch in the area!

Hell yea! Now that's what I'm talkin about!
Let me share with you what the Pope had to say about the place. "This joint kicks more ass than a ninja with 20 legs fighting a guy with 10 asses." The Pope actually said that. True story. Now theres a review the swanky places will never receive!

"Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail."

Blood-suckin Vampires!

Good Gurdy the Skeeters are horrendous! Long pants and bug spray is the uniform of the day. We had a nice few months without the little bastards but look out now!
A couple nights ago, after the current disappeared, we both were swatting at a mozzie buzzin our heads. We also laughed when we realized the noise we were hearing was Fuzznutts snoring! That louver he sleeps in is right above Mz Barns head and he was sawing logs!

No news on the bridge predicament worth reporting. They are canoeing folks across and using a ferry of some sorts for supplies but I have not much more than that.
They are estimating the total damage at 77 millionBZ$. Ouch!

In town AGAIN yesterday and the stores are still looking good. No beer tho. “Maybe tomorrow”.

Thought for the day: “A married man should just forget his mistakes.
No sense two people remembering them.
(more on that later)

Grits ain't groceries,,,

We have 2 sets of guests arriving today and we promised them some groceries and beer.
The stores are actually very well stocked. As we were at the one veggie market in town, it was being cleaned out by Robert’s Grove. Two cab loads of stuff went north. We fully expected the swanky joints to ace everyone out of stuff, but just about an hour later, a truck showed up and replenished the store!
We hear Greg’s truck is stuck on this side of the river and he is making plans to fill it from the other side.
We bought the next to the last of the only beer left. The trailer was MT. I hear Harold has a plan for today that involves a bardge from big creek.
Now we also hear our very own Mennonite, Albert is spearheading the drive to get supplies across. That is good as he has the equipment and connections. I give the man credit! JESUS IS LORD Albert is the man!
They will no doubt have something going soon as he also has a HUGE business interest in getting that bridge open. We have not heard a single dump truck since this all began!
That's one of the many negatives with this. Not only can people not buy goods they need, but other people can't sell the goods they have! Everybody gets hosed.

We heard there was a big meeting to decide whether or not to postpone the lobsterfest till there was a bridge. Ruling,, no,, lobsterfest goes as planned.


Every season we end up with a shit-load of empty beer cases. Guests buy cases and leave us their empties. Good for us, but they seem to pile up after a few months.
Today was the day to cash them in. I loaded up 18 beer cases and away we went. With a load on the truck it rides much better. If I have nothing, I will pick up all the Seine Bight women for weight. They can smoooooth out the ride real nice.
And yes, in case you are wondering the road is pure shit!


Looks like Crystal is going to rent out the cars stuck in my parking area. And at this rate they may be back at their home port before too long.

Like a bridge over troubled waters,,,

Not much new to report, 'cept that the U.S. is apparently donating a 'Bailey Bridge' for a temporary fix. Suppose to be here in around 8 weeks. Meanwhile, them rascal-y Mennonites are trying to gather up a barge thingy.
Here is an example of a 'Bailey Bridge'.









Awhile back i mentioned trying to get some video on here, but it has all but throughly kicked my ass. Now, i know where i was going wrong but BTL is not allowing some critical emails to get thru so i am still hooped on that front.
Soon tho,, or as they say in Belize,,"Right Now"!

Boom Boom,, out go the lights,,,

Yep, it’s been an eventful last couple days. With guests needing help making alternate travel plans, the road being total shit, more rain and humidity, computer blowin up, power outages, it’s been a real slice!

Here’s what I have heard about the country’s situation.

Stann Creek and parts up north have been declared a disaster area. 5 people confirmed dead and 2 missing. And water still at critical levels and in some sites, still rising!

Dangriga is cut off at Sarawee village, the hummingbird is still flooded, Sittee and Hopkins are still flooded. The bridges in San Iggy were not spared either. One is closed and the other, I am hearing, should be. Spanish lookout seems cutoff as well.

I hear it rained and blew so hard in San Pedro that 65 boats went under!

Tropical storm Arthur dumped an entire ass-load of rain to the west of Belize and it is now running downhill!

We hear it may be 2 weeks before any vehicle traffic can cross the river at Kendall. People may be ferried across soon along with some small supplies.

Local stores are still looking good but for how long is another thing. I hear Harold is making plans that include a barge of some sort. Fuel is coming from Independence so we should be OK there for awhile.

The news say it may take 6 months before a ‘proper’ bridge can be constructed. The Kendall Bridge was built in ’85. It was constructed 15 feet ABOVE the known highest recorded flood level!! Photos here ,,and here

So, with the guests needing rides to the airstrip, emergency grocery runs, emergency computer parts runs, and daily routines, I/we have spent more time on this road than we want to!

I find myself saying ‘it’s been worse, I just can’t remember when”. One trip just about wears me right out.

Then, the power has been going off like crazy! I can’t say for sure it blew the power supply in the computer but it blew right up. (2 trips to the airstrip right there)

When Fortis threatened rolling blackouts, they need to point them out so as to differentiate from every other day around here. “You seen those 6 blackouts last night right,, well number 4 was us doing it intentionally. So there.”

I don’t understand their threats. When they shut down the current the meters do not spin so no revenue is collected, but people get pissed! And it is already the most expensive power in the region with the worst reliability record!!?!?!

The GOB has expressed an intrest in buying it back, I think it would be a smart move. It should be done AFTER they put Musa and Fonseca in jail!

Here is a photo of Adriane and I having a beer last night just after the current went Bye Bye, again.
That's me on the left.

I’ll post any updates worthy as I get them, if the power stays on.

It’s like living in a third world country fer crissakes!

Shall we gather at the river,,,,,

Let’s see. Where we last left things, it was raining. It has stopped raining but we now have multiple problems due to the amount of rain lying around.
The biggest news is the wash out of the Kendall Bridge, it is completely gone!
In case you don’t know, losing that bridge effectively severed the country in two pieces. The southern hiway is the only method of supplies reaching the southern half of the country. This is a very serious issue and one that that new GOB will be tested on!
They must drop everything and deal with this fast! Not only supplies going south but any and everything that would normally go north, including people and that now precious crude oil.
Last I heard they were considering the idea of boating folks across to get on busses. We have seen that work in the past.

Yesterday morning, when I first heard about this bridge deal, I thought about our 4 guests. They were to leave Monday and drive to dangriga to catch a boat to the cayes.
Well that wasn’t happenin. I go over and explain it to them and they think I’m joking! Why? Because the last time they were here the same thing happened! Way back around the second or third lobsterfest a road flooded somewhere on the western and supplies were cut off again. They actually postponed the lobsterfest for a week. These guests were here at the time and almost could’nt drive back to the international. So they thought I was yanking them again. No,, this is real again! I’m startin to see a pattern here.
So we get them a flight to dangriga and they leave their rental car here.

Tomorrow we have another set of guests who are also leaving by car, or so they thought. Now they have a plane res and will also leave their car here. I don’t know how long it will be before those rentals can make it back to the barn. Ironically, the next two sets of guests also have rental reservations with Crystal car rental. And I just happen to have 2 Crystal cars in my lot. I’ll let you know if this works out or not. One set of guests are at the zoo right now and will be in contact with us today to see what’s up.

A bus just went by going north. Maybe they have their boat plan in action. The river may have dropped some as we got no rain here last night.

Then yesterday afternoon as we got a couple emails warning us that the stores in placencia were almost empty, we drove down there as fast as the shitty road would allow. I had 4 empty crates of beer in the back for replenishing.
Wallens was far better stocked than we expected. No rice, flour, or beans tho.
And they were limiting you to 3 cases of beer. But we got lots of food, pork roast, pork chops, chickens, and other good stuff. Now, since the fridge is full, we fully expect the power to go out! It did last night and you could have heard me cussin from wherever you are! But it came back about 10 minutes later. And now we have no computer?

I don’t have the access I had hoped to have to more info this morning as while I flicked on the computer something (I assume in the power supply) went POP! And it is now dead. The laptop I am using basically sucks and has no info stored on it including photos. My priorities changed right then. Today is fix the desktop day.

So, this will really put P.M. Barrow to the test. His first crisis. No matter what, I bet he handles it better than Musa would have, the theivin bastard!
On a side note, there are quit a few of us who figure the money set aside for the pave job, will be used to fix the bridge. More chicken feet for scurvy.

Rain delay,,

As tropical storms Arthur and Alma make a swing by Belize, we have had quite a bit of rain this week. Good for everyone and everything I say. It even slowed down the dump trucks! I have not been anywhere but I would think the road is a mess. Also the price of diesel has risen to over 10 bz!
Sitting home in the gloom and rain was a good day to cook a chicken. Roast that sucker in the oven and make soup from the carcass.
From this photo can you tell Scurvy smells chicken?
He'll let me know when it's done.















And just look at the frosty cold Belikin!











Then in the afternoon, we heard ‘the band’ was playing at Mango’s again. Better hop up there for that! Adriane saw some Kodak moments and snapped a few. We also shot some video but have not figured out how to download it yet, CRAP. As soon as we ed-u-ma-cate ourselves I will post it.



It got crowded later, these are before the booze got to flowin.