NEWS FROM THE SOUTHERN FRONT

Sent:    February 8, 1999

We're here in Corozal, Belize, CA. How is a bit of a story.

We got to Houston & turned Scout & Trailer over to a freight expediter. Took a plane to Belize City, saw the Embassy Hotel across the parking lot & walked over and checked in. The owner, John Collier, is a Texan, been here 25 years, born-again (at a Billy Graham crusade in early 80's) a "project" guy like me, and his latest is building houses out of "insulated concrete", a mix which includes little balls of polyethylene foam which make the concrete about one tenth the weight of regular. He can build a little Belizean house (800 sq ft) for less than $7,000 US, which is about half what anyone else can. (They are giving every family a lot, but typical family can't afford to build on it. So this could really be a boon.) Anyway, his computer was freezing up every 20 minutes, and he wasn't able to get his email. (two different problems.) I cleaned up his hard disk, which pretty much fixed the freeze problem, and then straightened out his connection with BTL so he could get his mail. He'd been getting a lot of lip service from local "experts"-one told him he needed a new CPU chip (!!!) and I fixed him up pronto, so now he thinks I'm THE MAN, when it comes to computers. (which, of course, I am!!) He offered to let me park the trailer behind the hotel for free, and we would go into biz building computers, and he would sell them right there at the hotel. I may do that, but mostly I want to live on the bay here in Corozal. So we came up here, and then found out that freight expediter couldn't get our trailer in the container. (it is 8' wide outside, not in; 92" inside, & our trailer is 91"+.) So, it missed the boat!!!

So, I'm going to go back, along with a friend of John's, and drive the truck and trailer down. There will be a delay, so we rented a house, semi-furnished, and set up housekeeping. We had to buy a little fridge, a kerosene stove, and some pots & pans, but we are living Belizian style and loving it. It gets very cool (low 60's) here at night, and very hot ( mid 80's) every day. (Charlotte says you'll think that's nuts.) I already have a little sunburn, had a heck of a time finding sunburn lotion. We are looking forward to going to Chetumal next week, where they have extensive shopping (for exotic things like Ziploc bags) Actually, the prices here are pretty comparable to US prices, except for real US stuff like toothpaste & Secret, which may cost 50% more. Chicken is $0.75 a pound, all veggies are $0.50 a pound (including excellent tomatoes, imported from Mexico.) Meat is a lot more expensive. Beef & pork are $2 a pound. (!!!)

We can go down to the dock & get fish early in the morning; we can go down the block & get meat, fish or shrimp when we need it. There are mini-markets all around the neighborhoods; they are like a 7-11 except that 1) they are only open from 8 to 8, 2) they are a lot cheaper and 3) they are neighbors, and they're very friendly.

The walk along the bay reminds me of Santa Monica or Venice; there is a cabana in the park (it's called the Bayview) along the bay and this is where all the gringos gather in afternoon or early evening. We have met a lot of folks; I've met several fishermen, but they all use a handline, like the Belizeans. I will do that, in order to learn how & where to catch fish, but ultimately I want to learn to do it with a fly rod. They catch LOTS of fish when they go out, and I've met two people with nice big boats. As usual, there are more things to do than there is time!

The cable TV company here in Corozal has everybody wired in that has a TV!! They pick up the primary satellize feed (sorry, only one HBO) and sell it to everyone for $15 a month. They tried to sue in the states & this company. said "nope, it's on the airwaves & belongs to everyone." and the Belize courts agreed.

So, until stealing TV signals gets to be a high international crime, I can watch CNN for a pittance.

There is one computer place in town; called "the virtual office" which has a copier, internet access, a printer I can hook into, etc. The owner, Fred, is moderately knowledgeable, but he has an young Gringo hanging out there who seems to be pretty sharp. He says there's a firm in Belize City that flew some "experts" down here from Miami at great expense to work on a Business Basic program. (BB was a lang which ran on Data General machines in the 70's. I'm familiar with it.) They weren't any good, so the problem is still there, and that's another possibility. This kid is one of two CNE's in the country, and he says Novell is more cooperative here than MS. He admitted that he doesn't know much about Windows NT, and several people have NT servers and no one to help them. This is all in B-City, of course, which I want to stay out of!!! I can take the bus down there easily enuf, but I really don't want to spend much time there. He also told me about a sizeable operation in Punta Gorda (down at the southern tip of Belize; they call it "P-G") and they fly him down and put him up to work on their network.) Another possibility. I didn't come here looking for work, and of course, that's when it finds you.

The Belizeans up here are irresistibly friendly, and so, by-and-large, are the gringos. It will be easy to make new friends, but I think about you a lot. I hope you can figure a way to come down and see us. BTW, we tried to buy one-way tickets from Houston to B-city, but the round trip were $30 cheaper!!! ($370) So, we have a round trip ticket which is good for a year. (In case we get too homesick, eh?) However, I will use mine up, going back to TX to get the trailer.

We are walking several miles a day, and Charlotte's knee is bothering her some, but we are starting to feel a little more healthy. (Hanging out in that trailer in Canyon City was not a good workout.) We started out our healthy meals last night with a big plate of steamed veggies, and I have good intentions of keeping that up. Tonight we had veggie beans, & save the beans for "beans & rice", the big Belezian standard.

The dogs in the neighborhood are pretty noisy, so I'm in the market for a tranquilizer gun.

I'll let you when we have some more big news. Keep the faith.

Love,

Senor Reek

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