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After The Storm - Belize 03/07/07 to 03/10/07 Wednesday, March 7:My return Toronto is still 14th of March arrival at Perason International 20:00 which should put me back in Waupoos around 01:00 AM. I am now sleeping with a 50' Refrigerated trailer complete with 24/7 diesel running 20 feet from my ear. Today was another change as the ships chippy switched to shrimp freezer processor fabricator this AM. Another day in Caribbean land almost ground the boys to a stop with sanding the aft deck but got the first coat of fiberglass on the windows and foredeck area and epoxied the forehatch. Finished forming the backof the cabin and laid the first of the gell coat. Time on the net is running out so must go and guard shrimp. Charlie is moving tons of the things. After the Storm is progressing now. 
Life on the Shrimp Plantation and working as a wooden boat chippie is entirely agreeable and a far better holiday than a Hilton. Most of the people speak a fair bit of English that a Canadian has no trouble getting along. My often useful broken Spanish nearly useless as the native Creole is a far and away from Spanish. Perhaps the flag of Belize says it all as it shows a black and white man united building a country. No doubt there is a black white thing somewhere but I did not see it. I wish I had come here 20 years ago or even five years ago. There are bad people like everywhere, but Belize wins the overall friendly award in my recent experience. 
Ladyville is far from upscale living. There is a light industrial and small shop strip along the Northern Highway with native housing extending back for several more blocks. Charlie’s place is a little more than a 45 minute walk away. It does not take long walking the streets to learn to watch where you are walking as large holes in drain grates are an all too common sight. Getting back out was more entertaining as it was now dark and rush hour. I took a couple of little side tours and saw what would count as the typical American subdivision. For the evenings entertainment were went for a second night of trying to get through Master and Commander a story of British sea power during the Napoleonic wars. Fitting me though as here I am building berths for the Captain of the Highwayman with hand tools. |
March 8:This was my day of my original return flight and it is a good thing that I postponed it. There was a rain last night leaving the boat too wet to fiberglass. 
This was the day the new refrigerated trailer arrived with the plan to use it as a primary freezer. It was late when Charlie pulled up with the rigid he needed to get his on site guy to bring him up to speed on fueling the thing so I got the opportunity to take a walk to the headwaters of the Shrimp ponds his pump house. First you drove back as afar as the peeling shed where the native women cleaned and beheaded shrimp all day. Then the road passed from road to path for perhaps another half mile of Jungle darkness. As we got further out I could see a dim light which was eventually followed by the grumble of a generator and whir of pumps. Just like in the movies set up on this elevated pump house in a one room shack was the native pump keeper. Living next to the generator and pumps must have required an amazing amount of adjustment, but he seemed quite happy with most of the yard dogs hanging out there.
The size and volume of sea water that Charlie has to pump for the ponds is huge with the main inlet almost a yard across and a couple of feet deep. 
March 9:The sweet song of the new refrigerated trailer provides a new background sound this evening as I stand guard over Semi trailers full of shrimp. I have not yet met one of the bad men comes to rob me but they are there. Only days before I arrived three guys jumped Charlie when he got home after locking up the station. 
Just me and my Bowie sitting back in a shadowed corner of the porch. Not the shotgun but more than enough for me to feel safe. It is pretty wild out here as the sun sets over the ponds and scrub that extends to the edge of the jungle. On the porch again sipping Island over proof rum and updating my notes. 
Today Charlie Danny and the rest of the shrimp crew emptied the expensive freezer at Nova into the new “reefer”. Nova was a larger and now defunct shrimp farm next to Charlie. What a huge task and one that they all complained about being too cold. Their day went on and on and it was dusk before I saw the rig come back. Today was another good day of sanding, sanding and more sanding? Overall a high productivity day and I will be glad to come off watch and put my head down. Tomorrow Saturday will mean a new rush to Dukes Marine Supply to complain about the last gallon of polyester resin that coagulated and pick up another two gallons. We get the occasional jungle cat that comes down and prowls the outlying areas but unfortunately I have seen nothing more than a set of eyes in the dark. I figure I have now gone over the edge and like this life a lot. He reservoir for the ponds also serves as an excellent moat to prevent people crossing as it is perfect Croc habitat that is encouraged. March 10:Only three more work days to my return. The deck is finally sanded even if the guys got a little too nuts with an edge in places. I have a first coat of Gel Coat down on the window and foredeck and the fore-hatch is epoxied. There is one lock installed which turned into quite a war of wills as Miguel would not listen to me and swore we could not mount the lock. We could as all it took was countersinking the lock, but just another day with San Salvadorian labor. 
Living with Kim the clutter queen gets tough at times as tiding up is not in her nature and only highlights the difference in out cultures. 
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