New Pictures Arrive

After three weeks at home and limited news of the construction in Belize, pictures of the house in Belize have finally arrived, showing the construction as of June 25th. Several days of rain have delayed construction, but the walls seem to be going up and everything seems to be in the right places. These first few pictures show the construction as of June 19th.

These last pictures are of the construction as of June 25th. The walls for the bedrooms are just about to the right height, then the blocks need to be set for the higher ceiling in the living room and kitchen.

View of the front door

East side of house

View from the water looking back at the retaining wall and patio

View looking at the retaining wall and west bedroom

View of retaining wall and east bedroom

View of retaining wall, cistern and pool

Almost finished east bedroom and bathroom walls

All of the walls almost complete

I have decided to change the patio doors from the standard 6ft 8in height to a larger 8ft height. With the living room ceiling at 11ft+, it should add to the air flow and sunlight in the living room and kitchen, while also adding a visual effect of a larger room.

On a more serious note, Bob Wright, whom I rented a studio apartment from while I recently was in Belize, is undergoing surgery tomorrow to help restore his hearing. Good luck to Bob and a speedy recovery. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the surgery is successful.

The Support Beam Work is Almost Done

The work forming up the support beams is just about complete and they will start to pour the cement tomorrow. The heavy rain and thunder storms that came through the last couple of nights has slowed construction and made a mess at the job site. I just hope that we don't have another storm pass through tonight. The plumbing is just about all in and except for a couple of minor changes, everything is ready to go.

This is when the house build really begins. They will start to bring in all the fill dirt beginning on Wednesday, and that will probably take a couple of days to complete. Then, by Monday, they might be ready to start pouring the floor. That will probably be the last part of the build that I will see before heading home. I wish I could stay longer and watch more, but I've got places to be and people to see. Just talking about it makes me feel like I'm back in the rat race. Maybe I will be, but I will be starting from last place and taking my time. The race goes on without me.

Careful what you wish for

Another night of pouring rain has decended on to Consejo. It rained again last night, sometimes hard enough to wake me up. We need the rain, just not in torrents. The work site was a sloppy mess, with lots of water, but work continued.

I am finally seeing progress on the main structure of the house, and not just the stuff behind the scenes. The rebar for the support beams has been assembled and put in place. Now the job is to tie the support beams all together and form the support for the whole house. After that, they will make forms for the cement beams and probably pour them on Saturday or Monday. My time is running short, and as much as I am looking forward to returning to my Mischelle and the dogs, I still want to track the progress on my own. You just need to have faith in your contractor and discuss all the options ahead of time so there are no surprises for both you and the contractor. John, I'm sure, will take care of everything, and if he does have questions, I will know far enough ahead, as not to disrupt the construction schedule.

I see a couple of problems in the cistern, but nothing that can't be readily fixed. John and I are scheduled to go to Chetumal on Friday, instead of Thursday. I am looking forward to that visit, although I'm not really sure what I will be looking at or what I will be looking for. I am looking for a quality product, that will hold up over time. I think Mischelle and I have decided on French doors rather than sliding doors, just because they offer double the area open to the breeze. I don't think screens will be that much of a problem, but if we don't get the doors right the first time, it will be something we will have to live with. So, I think we are right in choosing the French doors and we will deal with the screens later. I think the same may apply to the other windows, but I need to see what they offer.

Finally, we have rain

It has been a while since we have had a good rain, but last night it poured for a good hour or so. It also put on a good light show on the distant clouds, with lightning about every couple of seconds. It was too far away to hear the thunder, but the light show was enough. There has been rain in Chetumal and in Corozal, just not here in Consejo. It just seems to pass us by.

The work site was a mess with all the mud and water and they needed to empty the cistern and pool before they could start their work, so things got off to a slow start. But they had a job pouring concrete around the pool and cistern that needed to be done today. A little rain won't stop these guys. They did need to dig a small trench to drain some of the water from around the retaining wall but the concrete pour went ahead as scheduled. Things are starting to move along.

John has scheduled us to go over to Chetumal, Mexico on Friday, to look at a window manufacturer that may have a better price and/or quality than he is getting right now. With so few construction jobs going on in the area right now, suppliers are lining up to do business with him. He stresses quality first, then price. I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to offer.

On Saturday, Phil Freytag was looking for company on the drive down to Orange Walk, a medium size town about an hour or so drive from Consejo. I had no plans that day, so I said sure. I had only been through Orange Walk once, and that was driving through at night, after I had flown into Belize City. Phil had some places he needed to visit, but was willing to show me around the town and stop in the few places that I had wanted to see. We stopped in a couple of tile shops and hardware stores that he thought I should know about. It's a much different city than Corozal. It's geared more towards the business sector and manufacturing and had many more big businesses than Corozal. The tile shops had a nice selection of tiles and trim, so I don't think we will have a problem finding tiles that we like. The hardware store, though, is no Home Depot. They are more like a small town hardware store, but unfortunately, what they have is what you get. There is not a lot of selection and you must be willing to improvise with what you do have access to.

After showing me around Orange Walk, he took me to a wonderful Chinese resturant, Mr. Lee's, where we had a plentiful lunch and a price that couldn't be beat. Three entrees', a Belikin, Coke and water cost all of $38 Belize, or about $19US. That meal would have been double that in Camarillo. I haven't had the guts to try any of the many Chinese food places in Corozal. They just don't look that appetizing.

After lunch we went over to where they made the pilings that they drove for me at the Shores. Quite an operation they have there, making pilings, T-bars and pre-manufactured septic tanks. It was really dusty though and probably a miserable place to work when the wind kicks up. I'm sure last nights' rain helped that situation. They showed us around all of the manufacuring facilities and how they pre-stress the concrete.

After that we went over to another brick and pre-stressed concrete manufacturing facility, Rick's, that was in town. They are a business that really wants to expand their product line and are looking for new ways to do just that. Phil had worked with some of Rick's clients before, so they were able to "talk shop" and catch up on old connections.

It was getting late in the afternoon, around 3PM and we had been gone for about 6 hours, so it was time to head back to Consejo. It was a pleasant drive with everchanging scenery and even a Mayan ruin or two. We were back in Consejo in no time. It was a very informative trip that I will probably do again before I leave.