RAY

Ray is a character. He was a fisherman in the 60's on Caye Caulker -- when

Caye Caulker was a tiny fishing village with 90 people -- and he literally

created the tour fishing biz on CC. He married a Belizean woman, sired a

passel of kids, and then retired to the Miami area in the 90's, where he

played the OTC stock market and made some money. He formed a thing called

the Belize Development Trust (he is a self-taught master of Trusts) and

began to write articles which you can find here.

He is the "father" of the uselist I frequent, which is called bz-culture. (Find 

subscription directions here.   It is an eclectic group of 200-300

Belizean-Americans and American-Belizeans who ramble on a variety of topics

which should revolve around Belize. Sometimes they don't. Some people hit

'delete' a lot, and some people, like me, put off-topic stuff in buckets to

(maybe) read later. At any rate, Ray wants to come back to Belize (most of

his kids are here, raising families and all that homey stuff, and he wants

to get out of Miami. <surprise!!> So...

Ray bought some land in Cayo and he looks at Cayo as a new undeveloped area

like he discovered 45 years ago in Caye Caulker. He has visions of

backpackers treking thru the "Belize Alps" -- the undeveloped mountains in

the Central Western part of Belize -- part of which has already been

developed by Francis Ford Coppola into a plush mountain resort called

Blancaneaux Lodge. But, Ray wants to cater to the unmoneyed backpackers who

will come and climb these mountains, and stay in a hostel which he is

building in Hillview, a suburb of San Ignacio. More about the hostel later.

CAYO & SAN IGNACIO

San Ignacio (pop 30,000?) is the portal to Guatemala and the fabulous ruins

at Tikal -- perhaps the best known of all the Mayan Ruins. SI is the

fastest growing part of Belize, full of new Gringo retirees, who are

creating business, so that SI is BOOMING. A passel of older "horsey"

Gringos identified Cayo as the best (perhaps only) place to raise horses and

cows and established western-style ranches here in the last few decades of

the 20th century. Cayo is cool at night, and nice in the daytime (like

Colorado) except that the lows are in the 60's!! The number of businesses

seem to have doubled since I was here three years ago.

HILLVIEW

Ray has put in some green official-looking signs pointing to Hillview, but

it's a pretty obscure little development up in the hills above Cayo. (maybe

pop. 400)  Cayo is already hilly -- more like the hills of Western

Pennsylvania than the mountains of Colorado -- but Hillview is really up and

down. Part of Hillview has a nice view of San Ignacio but Ray's little

hostel is on the backside of Hillview -- almost out of reach of the TV

antenna and potential wireless connections. The view -- of undeveloped

verdant hills -- is magnificent. (Indeed, there is no "view" in

BelizeNorth, since it is all flat.) Hillview's roads are incredibly rocky,

made up of sharp little rocks cemented together by Marl so that they just

get rougher and rougher as they erode. Poor Betsy was complaining so much

that when I got to Ray's place, I let her rest, and copped a ride with Ray

whenever I could.

Ray hasn't really permanently moved to Cayo yet, and he needs somebody to

watch the place while he's gone. (If you go off and leave a place with

fixtures in place, thieves will come in and 'thief' everything -- toilets,

sinks, windows, doors, etc. -- so you really need a caretaker.) Ray's

daughter has a place just down the road from his, and she's been putting off

adding fixtures because they will just go away if nobody is watching the

place. So... 

Ray offered me a place to stay, rent free!! Either his daughter's place, or his, 

or both! He suggested that I should pay utilities,

but I think he would pay utilities if I pushed it. Well -- I have chosen to

live in Corozal, basically because it is my home town, and hopefully I have

"community" there. (more about that later.)

We had an interesting couple of days while I was in Cayo. Ray took me into

town, to a couple of i-net cafes (one was down) and a lunch place or two.

There is cheap food, and there is expensive food; SI seems like a good place

to retire -- with a range of choices that should satisfy any Gringo. If

you're contemplating a relocation, you should check it out. I finally got

to meet Phyllis, one of the other list members, and Karen, a wonderful

painter who is living in SI. We had some Belikin beers, of course, and were

going to go out to Ek' Tun later, but time ran out. Next time. (Check out

Ek' Tun here.) 

CUSTOMS, YET AGAIN

On Friday, I came back to Belize City and tried to get my stuff out of

customs. That was a bummer. I spent most of the day finding out that I was

considered to be a "rich Gringo" and a target for gouging by the Government,

which is in dire straits. (About a half Billion in new debt, which they are

scrambling to just pay the interest on.)

I shipped my stuff from Houston, and that's the key -- they apply a 30%

tariff to shipping, so my $680US shipping bill added $400BZ to my already

high duty -- bringing my duty on amplifiers, a little TV and a DVD recorder,

to $1800BZ (about $900US.)

Considering that we originally paid $400 BZ for all of our household goods

when we brought them in in 2000, that is pretty stiff. After we established

permanent residence, we should have gotten a $15,000US exemption on

household, but we didn't, and I just don't feel like waiting weeks, or

months, to try and get a better deal. So, I will borrow some money, and pay

the duty.

Afterward:  Because of a visit I made to Vildo Marin, my district rep, the transport 

tariff was ultimately forgiven. 

The moral of the story, for future émigrés, is -- you should look like

the Beverly Hillbillies when you come in. Everything should be old,

scarred, bent, rusted, etc. It should be piled on top of your (old) truck,

preferably with Granny riding shotgun -- only she should carry a shovel or a

machete -- shotguns are illegal. DON'T SHIP ANYTHING, unless you really

are a Rich Gringo.

I am going to Belize City on Wed. and get my stuff -- paying the duty, etc.

In the US, we call that "rolling over." (Do you think Customs will scratch

my tummy? Probably not.)

Rick Z.

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