Belize Journey - Let the Madness Begin (Part 6)

[Latimeria]

My plan was to wake up, catch a huge Jack, and head into town to get my Covid test so I could get back home.  I ended the evening with a few Godfather c*cktails so was a little foggy at 5am.  I didn't have to set an alarm since the birds would seriously scream in my windows every morning at 5, so there was no reason to bother with alarms.  This morning, I woke up to heavy rains and super windy conditions...



The normal humidity wall was about 90%, but it was a 100% wall with huge whipping rain.  The lightning also made me second guess and I decided to wait the storm out.  With my luck, the lightning bolts would prefer my fishing pole rather than the coconut trees.

I did slip out between showers and had the same results.  Nothing.  I kept finding these dead crabs throughout the week.  Not sheds, but would just appear on the rocks randomly.



The sun literally would come out of everywhere between storms.  Apparently, this is a tropics thing, as one-minute hot sun and the next pouring rain.  I walked around taking pics of some random stuff around the property before we headed into town.

The rapper's house from the back.



There were orchids growing everywhere here.  This one had 10' long flower stems gowing out of each side of them!



The property from behind.  That large cistern is a rain collection tub.  Since the water is so hard and filled with Calcium, they don't use well water and use rainwater instead.  Apparently, all of my showers, laundry, dishes are cleaned in rainwater.  Not filtered at all so I'm not sure what airborne organisms might be living in that puppy.  It must me chlorinated in some effect, but I'm just not sure.



We finally started heading in to get the COVID test.  When I first got down here, I was amazed how poor of a country it was, but I expected that.  I just thought everyone was more conscience about trash and respected the land more... not even close to the case.  People just dump trash wherever they wanted and the entire country seemed to be covered in trash, except in the tourist areas and the ExPat communities.

Houses were all unfinished and looked like condemned structures, but it was far from that.  Some of these buildings looked to have 3 or 4 generations living in them.



Supermarkets were filled with random items and I don't remember seeing a single expiration date on anything.  Basically, you bought it and did the smell test when you got home to see how fresh it was. 



People lived in the cemetery also which seemed pretty odd...



Some stores, you couldn't tell were stores unless my buddy didn't tell me it was a store...



We get to the hospital, and it looked like a converted elementary school.  The front wasn't too bad, but when we went out back to get the Covid test, I was a little mortified.  Lol



We had some issues with our appointment.  Everything was recorded on carbon paper so no one really knew what was going on, but the director wrote a tiny little note in his pad of paper, put it in his pocket and told me to come back at 1:00.  I said I need to have the papers today since I won't be able to come back to get it as I'll be down in Belize City the following morning.  He said "we're open until 5:00 and we'll have it for you".

On the way home, they brought me to their favorite breakfast spot.  I looked around since I wasn't exactly sure where we were going.



Finally realized the spot and we went in.  They've been open for 30 years which is quite the accomplishment for stores in Belize, so I felt like I was going to get a great breakfast.  One thing I noiced was Belize had terrible coffee.  I tried coffee at 6 different places and it was all the same.  It was a tan color like you were cleaning out the coffee pot from the coffee in the pot from the previous morning, and the coffee was crunchy.  Lots of floaters in it.  lol





It took a bit, but I ordered the Fry Jack Breakfast, which was a breakfast burrito with a fry bread wrapping.  It was delicious, but I wasn't sure what some of the meat was as it had a weird texture.  I tried not to think about it and just gobbled it up.



We headed back to the house since we still had a few hours to wait until I had to return for my test.



More random scenery along the way.  One thing they told me was only Chinese people owned and ran the super markets and stores.  I thought he was crazy until I started reading all of the names of the stores off and was amazed to see there was something to it.



Some houses looked like they were going to tip over in a stiff breeze.



I spent the time catching some geckos and lizards.  I tried to catch some iguanas, but was not even close.  I kept having to watch out for the poisonous snakes out there though.  They have something called a Jumping Viper that does what exactly you think it does.  In other words, I probably wasn't going to catch anything because I was too worried about all the vipers and poisonous bugs down there.



I walked around for a few hours before we headed back down to town to get my Covid test.
Pelican Point....  I'm assuming they knew this isn't a pelican...



We headed back down and took a new route to get some different scenery.



As we got to the hospital and Covid testing area, I looked across the parking lot to see a huge smoke stack attached to a building.  The sign on the building said "Crematorium" and the stack was bellowing smoke.  There was a funny smell in the air and the stack was only 100 feet away from the testing site.

The testing area was made of ripped tarps, old wood, nails and ropes.  They were dumping the bio-waste right outside those doors where they store the oxygen cylinders.  I had to walk inside to pay and all of the doors were barely held on the hinges and there were tons of broken or missing floor tiles.  Once I paid, I went back and passed some wheelchairs that were overgrown in small trees and vegetation in the middle of the court yard.



I had to wait a bit since they aren't in any rush down there, but finally got my test.  They told me they close at 5 and to come back then.

We left for home and stopped to get gas since he was almost out.  There are not many gas stations down there, so the first one we went to was totally out of gas.  We drove 6 miles to the next one and they were out also, but followed it up with: "The entire Country is out of Gas... we hope to have gas by the weekend"... WHAT?!?!!!!
There aren't any real news channels down there, so when something happens, there is little in the way of anyone knowing it's happening until it's happening!
We had enough gas to get back home and get back to get my Covid Test, but he said he doesn't have enough to get to Belize City.  Whoa!!!  This trip is ending on a stressful note as we had our boat trip out to the Cayes in the morning and I was hoping to even get to the plane to fly home!  We just went home to try and figure out a plan...

We decided to drive down to the hospital at 4:00pm as to give ourselves an hour in case something went wrong.  We got to the hospital at 4:10 and everyone was GONE!  WTF!?!?
I tried all the doors, and they were all locked.  Apparently, everyone decided to cut out early and close up the hospital!  I saw a nurse leaving and begged her to get me the paper, but she just said come back in the morning.  She said it was locked up in her boss' office.  I pulled out some cash and said, "Can you possibly find it for me?"  Here I am bribing a nurse to break into her boss' office to find my paperwork... UGH....
She came out with it and I let out a huge sigh of relief and almost grabbed and hugged her I was so relieved.



We drove back and decided to raid some emergency generators and fill the truck up with gas that way, so I hope no hurricane shows up there anytime soon.  At least I have my paperwork, we have gas to get to Belize City and will be able to get out to the keys on the fishing boat for some snorkeling and some serious fishing! 

I was so stressed from the day, I needed some good drinking to calm my nerves.  Thankfully we had some beautiful weather and a killer sunset in progress!



Michelle was out there also trying to get some good pics.  She basically had to deal with a drunk husband and drunk old co-worker all week, so I have to give her credit.  Hahahah



Well, tomorrow morning will start the Belize trip that I was looking for.  In the very least, I was going to catch some fish, or at least I hope!

Last evening at Casa Handrus!  My two little friends!

[sasquatch]

Really enjoying the saga.

[jrodda]

Jeeeeez, those are some wild turns. The rum drinks were well earned after that one.

Very interesting run through of the town and the norms over there. That has me thankful for expiration dates on our groceries.

[Tim524]

 Wow, Mystery meat for breakfast and a Tucan( Toucan ) that identifies as a Pelican   I sure hope you score some nice fish between these tropical storms before you have to leave

[KogaHead]

Thanks for eliminating Belize off my retirement list.

[skrilla]

Part 6 is my new favorite.