A Quiet Month for Construction News

Now that the major portion of the home construction is finished, with just the plastering left to do for now, the pictures and news from the construction site have dwindled to a trickle. I had some friends I've met through the blog go down to Belize recently, but I have yet to hear about their trips and adventures. Others will be going down shortly, so I'm sure the news will begin to flow and I will have more to post.

Our next door neighbors, Pip and Jason, have sold their house in Canada and Pip is planning a trip to Belize later this week to find tile and cabinets for their new home in the Shores. I'm sure Pip will take lots of pictures. This will be her first time seeing their new house, since Jason was the one who stayed for several weeks in March and April during the initial construction. I am looking forward to talking to her when she is down there and can get a birds-eye view of all the construction on their place and ours. We can also start to discuss options for restoring the fauna and grasses to the area around both our homes that has been damaged due to the construction.

I have contacted George Greenwood, of Taribo Industries, LTD., to see about providing black dirt for the area in front of the retaining wall and for the area surrounding the pool. He has determined that each section will require about two truck loads each (70-80 cubic yards total) and will cost in the range of $350-$400BZ for each load delivered to Consejo Shores. I have heard that there are a couple of types of black dirt available, so I will need to find out which is best for my intended application. I will also need to decide which type of driveway we would like to have. Crushed limestone, concrete or maybe even pavers.

The last month or so around here at home has been quite hectic. We've got Mischelle's mom, Fay, staying with us for the summer. Her sister, Marie, from Yuma, Arizona, had just recently lost her husband and was also staying with us during the funeral arrangements and also for a family reunion that was happening the following weekend. During that time, our neice Josette and her friend Lexy also were staying with us so they could also attend the family reunion and Lexy wanted to check out a couple of colleges here in SoCal.

The Gentile family reunion is an annual bash held at cousin Phil's ranch in Chino Hills, California. It is not unusual to see at least 5 generations of family represented at these day long bashes. It is a working cattle and horse ranch with all of the bar-b-que grillin's directly from the ranch. Lamb, steak, goat and lots of it. It's an Italian family gathering so there's lots and lots of great food and drink. Horses for the kids to ride, horseshoe pit for the adults to congregate and socialize. And not too hot this year.

It is amazing to see all the kids change from the previous years. The younger kids growing up, the new additions to the family. This year was the largest gathering yet with probably 60-70 family and friends. These really are special times to remember.

Filling in the Void

Today they began filling the area in between the structural beams. John thought it would require around 40 truck loads of fill to cover the entire house and inside the retaining wall. But George, from Taribo Ind., thought it might be closer to twenty loads, not forty. George won. And so did our pocketbook.

Now they will start tamping down all the loose fill dirt to make the pad for the house floor. Then they will construct the wood forms around the perimeter of the house, so they can start the pouring the cement for the floor on Saturday. After this point, the house walls should go up rather quickly and they will probably start that part of the project on Monday.

And other good news is that George will pull up the tree stumps in the beach area when he has the equipment here to do it. These are the remains of previous times they tried to remove these trees and now just the stumps remain. And they continue to try and grow again and again.

I have spent many hours trying to cut all of the roots that I can find, but there is no way for me to pull the stumps out and load them on any kind of truck or trailer. But once they are gone, it will be easier for me to decide what I am going to do with the beach area.

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.