No News, Good News?

It's been about 10 days since my last update from the construction site and I'm still waiting. I haven't heard from John Harris about the windows or the roof pour, that happened on Sunday, so I have to assume that everything is going OK. So, while I wait for new pictures, there are other things I can do.

I continue my research on hurricane windows and I am now just waiting on pricing from the various places. It looks like there are some good options that won't break the bank. I am also looking for something that is easy to ship, store and install. These are the current options I am looking at, but I hope to hear from friends in the hurricane zone that actually use the products. Not much use for hurricane shutters here in California.
Aluminum Panel

Steel Panel

Polycarbonate Panel

Kevlar Fabric Panel

Pip and Jason, who are building next door, have just sold their home in Canada and are now starting to really plan for the big move. I wish we were to that point, but we're not quite there yet.

The remodeling continues at our Camarillo home, with the hope to sell the house before the beginning of the new year. The market is starting to pick up and the interest rates remain low. There are not a lot of homes for sale in our neighborhood, so hopefully that is a good sign that our house may sell quickly. We are now starting to go over our storage options for our furniture and household goods along with trying to decide what we will bring to Belize. I can already see that January will be here before I know it.

A Kid in a Candy Store

This week, my contractor, John Harris, came to LA to check out windows, security systems and electronics for his new house and others he is building. He spent a good part of last week in Mexico, searching for a quality vinyl window manufacturer. What he found was that most of them have them manufactured in the US and then shipped to Mexico. So not only are you going to pay for shipping and duties in Belize, but you will have paid for the shipping and duties, plus a middleman markup, to get the windows into Mexico. And the windows that were made in Mexico were not the quality the John was looking for.




So, while John was here, we went to a couple of window manufacturers, a couple of window distributors and a home improvement store.





At the home improvement store, John was blown away at the prices of the windows and granite counters. The windows were one third the cost of Belize, with US standards. Same with the glass sliding doors. Two by ten foot granite counters, with bull nosed edging, for between $150-$250 each. John estimates that same granite counter would be a thousand dollars or more, in Belize. Same with the bathroom counters. John has estimated that with shipping and duties, he can still bring the windows and granite into Belize cheaper than he can buy it there, with much better quality.





Next, we went to a electronics wholesaler, where John was able to pick up all his security equipment in one stop, also at a huge discount. Unlike Belize, you can do one stop shopping here in the States. John figured that the money he has saved, on just the items he needed to buy, has paid for his whole trip.





The next stop was the window manufacturing plant. WinDor (www.windor.com) custom makes every window, so there are no extra charges for odd sizes. The quality was far superior to anything we have seen so far and the prices were the same as the windows he was getting from Spanish Lookout. And, they can make the 8 ft French doors that I am looking to install in the living room. I was very impressed with their displays and they even gave us a tour of the manufacturing facilities behind the showroom. A very clean, modern, well run manufacturing plant. John is planning to order all the windows for his house to see how much the shipping and duties will add to the final price of the windows, and if it is a reasonable alternative to offer his clients. He seems to think that with the quality and price, even with the duties, it would be worth it to purchase them here, in LA.





From there it was off for a liquid lunch at a local sports bar. John got to enjoy a cold Guinness, on tap. I enjoyed a real nice lager from the tap. Something you can't get in Belize. We discussed what we had seen and where we going to go next. This is where a kid in a candy store begins.





Our next stop was Pacific Sales, a wholesale seller of kitchen, bath, TV's and appliances.

John and Mischelle at Pacific Sales

John was drooling soon after entering the store. Of course, the first things you see as you enter the store is the TV's. Plasma's, LCD's, large and small. Prices were also pretty unbelieveable. The prices for TV's has dropped so much, it's almost worth it to pick up a spare TV. After prying John out of the TV area, we entered the kitchen appliance area. Again, so much to choose from. Stovetops were the main items we looked at, with over 50 different types on the showroom floor. The prices varied widely but there were some excellent bargains, especially with the holiday so close. Some of the items were up to 70% off. Mischelle and I are thinking of going back this weekend to purchase some things for our home, even if we do end up paying shipping and duties, because the prices are so good.

After spending an hour at Pacific Sales, it was back to seal the deal on John's electronic equipment, then off to dinner. We went to a nice steak place, figuring John doesn't get to have a good steak very often. We had a wonderful dinner, then dropped John off at the Bicycle Club casino so he and his friend could play cards.


It had been a long day, but we got a lot accomplished. We found a window and door supplier, picked out our kitchen appliances and had a good conversation with our contractor about the status of our home.

Our Neighbors in the Mayan Seaside

During the 6+ weeks I was in Belize, I was able to meet some of the neighbors in the adjoining community of Mayan Seaside and Wagner's Landing. The Friday night place to meet is at Smuggler's Den, in Wagner's Landing, where the owners, Ray and Rosa have a small bar, restaurant and resort overlooking the bay. People from both the Shores and Mayan Seaside gather for a few drinks, dinner and to shoot the breeze.

Over at the Mayan Seaside (http://www.mayanseaside.com/), it continues to grow, with new homes going up every few months. A nice planned community run by Art Higgins that will have a large community park and dock when all the work is completed.

Overlooking the park and bay, Brian and Laura have built a beautiful home that is open to the breezes from the sea, with high ceilings and lots of windows. The custom doors, that are the gateway to their home, were made by a local carpenter with the Belizean birds that inhabit the area as a template.

Brian has designed unique features into the design of the house and is using a windmill to generate alternative power options to run appliances and other equipment. His cinema room will be like no other in Belize, with a large screen TV, Bose 10.1 surround sound, motion seating and even a popcorn maker.

Brian and Laura share their home with their three ferrets. The ferrets have their own separate room, complete with a waterfall. I only saw them while they were sleeping, but I"m sure that they are a hand full when they are awake.

Another couple of recent additions to the Mayan Seaside community were built by my contractor, John Harris. Just down the street from Brian and Laura, one of these homes is owned by Barry and Libby and was just recently completed in April. Some minor work still needs to be done and the garage is just now being added on, but Barry and Libby are extremely happy with their new home. It sits overlooking the bay and future community park.

Another home built by John is a small one bedroom house, that the owner, Nick, wants to add on to, as his visits to Belize become more frequent. I'm sure he's going to need to add more rooms once his friends find out he has a place in Belize.

Nick, on the right, and his friend Tony, came down for a week of relaxing, fishing and drinking beer. Or at least that is what Tony thought. But Nick had some other things he wanted to accomplish while he was there, so Tony not only got to fish, drink and relax, he also got to paint and clean up the not so minor paint spills. But, Nick did supply the beer. I probably would have painted for the free beer. I never did see their fishing prowess, with them only catching a few catfish, but they could only go as far as the pier. I can see that the next item that Nick will get is a boat.

Another cute house in the Mayan Seaside is owned by a wonderful couple, Jim and Elle. They have a Mennonite built home, brought to the site and put up on stilts. This is their home until they are ready to build their dream home on the lot next door. The call their place the Monkey House and the downstairs is home to Jim's Baboon Bar. I've already had the pleasure of throwing back a couple of cold Belikins at the Baboon Bar.

Another example of a Mennonite home is this home that was For Sale, also in the Mayan Seaside community. As you can see, some people fill in the underneath of the home, like Jim and Elle, and some just leave it open, like below. The things to consider when buying a Mennonite home is termites and wood upkeep. But the price can be right and for a reasonable amount of money, you can own land and a home, near or on the water.

The Building Goes On

When I left Belize, the house was two sets of blocks up from the foundation. The electrical boxes were just being placed and some flex conduit between boxes was installed. The pool was just getting a rough coat and the lounge area cement pads were just in the finishing stages. The area below the retaining wall is now flat and ready to work with. The project is beginning to move along rather quickly.

When John sent these new pictures, they had already moved up to eight blocks up on both the inside and outside walls and looked like they were moving fast. Since I was out of town and didn't have internet access, I didn't check my e-mail until Saturday. From the pictures that John had sent, I noticed two things were wrong and one thing I had hoped to change. But, were they too far along to easily fix the problems? The first thing was that the bedroom windows facing the ocean were being set for 4 x 4 foot windows and not the 4 x 5 foot that was on the plans. The other was the placement of a bathroom window and also the size. When I called John, he assured me that both problems would be checked out and changed as needed. The other change that I wanted was removing the top step out of the pool. It just looks like a great place to stub a toe. Also, by removing the step, it doesn't allow for dirt collection and provides a larger step, down into the pool. John has to check on that to see if is safe and possible to do.

For now, I have to wait for the next set of e-mails from John, hopefully, with more pictures. So in the mean time, I will update the blog with the things that I saw and the people I met, during my months long stay in Belize.

Is It Friday, Yet?

Here in Belize, Is It Friday, Yet?, takes on a whole new meaning. Nothing. Nada. Nyet. You don't count the days here in Belize, you live them. Friday is just another day here in paradise. Yes, you might want to hit the market for fresh veggies and fruit, or maybe the butcher, for fresh pork chops. But, then again, maybe not. Do I feel like driving to town? Do I need to?

Oh, I remember now. Friday is the day we go to Chetumal, to look at a new window supplier. I was up early, to be at John's house at Four Mile lagoon, by 7AM. The traffic was tolerable. I saw one other car on Consejo Road. It took me 20 minutes to go the 15 miles to John's house. I had to pass 3 farm tractors and a car or two. And that's a busy day on the Corozal roads around the outside of town.

After arriving at John's home, I parked my truck and John, Gusto, Donna and Jeanne were all waiting for me. I was two minutes late and blamed it on Belizian time. Jeanne said it was Jamaican time. I was just glad I was there around the right time. I haven't set an alarm since December 26th. So we all piled into John's truck, with Gusto at the wheel, and away we went to the border crossing.

The border crossing is fairly easy once you know the routine. On the Belize side, you pay the $36BZ or $18US for the environmental fee then take your receipt to the immigration desk, where they will stamp you out of Belize and send you on your way. On the Mexican side, you go into the immigration office and fill out a visa, they look at your passport, stamp it and send you on your way. It's that easy...if there are no lines

So away we went to Chetumal. We stopped off for coffee at the large mall that has a 13 movie Cinema, McDonald's, Liverpool department store and a large grocery store. Just like home. After coffee we made our first stop at what was to be the window manufacturer. Turns out they are just a distributor and only can get powder coated metal windows. Not what we were looking for, so it was off to try and find another window manufacturer.

But after a couple of attempts to locate a manufacturer in town, we found a supplier that was in Tampico. John is going to contact them to see what they may have to offer but he's not giving up on finding one in Chetumal.

John had Gusto drive us around town so we could see what Chetumal had to offer and then it was off to lunch in Bacalar. After a short drive, we ended up at a restaurant at the Cenote Azul, which borders the Bacalar lagoon. This was a beautiful restaurant location overlooking the cenote. The water looked so cool, clear and refreshing. There was a high diving platform that we were dared to go off. I told Jeanne it was she and I that were going to make the first jump. She didn't like that idea so much, but Donna said she might be willing to make the jump. John said he had made the jump before and gave a lame excuse as to why he wouldn't jump this time.

So we went into the restaurant for a wonderful seafood lunch. John and I split a seafood platter that said it was for 2 people. It probably could have fed everyone at the table We had lobster, shrimp, and 3 or 4 different kinds of fish. All of that fish and shellfish cost 400 pesos, or about $31US. Quite a deal. And for a nice change of pace from just Belikin beer in Belize, I had a few Negra Modelos, which went down nice and smooth. It was nice to have a selection of just more than three beers, like it is in Belize.

After lunch it was time for a swim and maybe a jump from the platform. I was up for it and after a little coaxing, Donna was up for it too. Maybe John would jump if Donna and I did. But no. Same lame excuse. So Donna and I both made the 18 foot jump and John showed us his world famous back flip off a 2 foot high dive platform. (See John, you should have jumped with the big kids, just so you wouldn't get sh*t in my blog.)

The Platform Jump

Me after my jump.

Donna getting congrats after her jump.

John getting ready to wow the crowd.

Too much splash on entry, John. The judges only give it a 6.0

Jeanne enjoying the cool refreshing cenote waters.


After the swim in the cenote, we dried off and enjoyed music from some of the local musicians. We did a little dancing and singing, another cold Mexican beer and then it was time to get to our next destination, the Las Vegas Casino, in the free zone.

That was my idea, but I was just planning to have them drop me off and I would catch a cab back to John's house a little later. But I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted to visit the casino. Donna had wanted to see what the casino was like, but I don't think she mentioned it to John, so when I brought it up, John was nice enough to show us around. Nice little casino, but it was kind of quiet when we were there in the early afternoon. So I bellied up to the nearly empty tables and proceeded to gamble away all my left over money from lunch. But I did have a good time while I was losing.

After leaving the casino and doing the border thing, we headed back to Johns' to pick up our trucks and to head over to Donna's place to see the clearing and the filling of her lot. They did quite a bit of work cutting down all that jungle and now they are doing the job of filling it all in. George Greenwood of Taribo Industries, is the man to see for that (tariboind@yahoo.com , local no. 501-621-3244). He and his crew worked on our lot and they sure know how to handle that equiptment and move that dirt around.

They have done a good job of filling Donna's lot and it should be ready to build on when she and Jacques are ready. Now comes the fun part of the house design. Good luck.

P.S. Thanks Donna for the extra restaurant pics.