Well, we made it! After only six weeks between decision and move, we are living in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. The last week in Phoenix was an absolute blur of activity--waaaaaay too much activity! There was simply not enough time to do everything on the to-do list. Packing to live in a foreign country was stressful enough--especially when you consider we were pretty much making educated guesses on what we would need. On top of that, we were trying to pack up our house (gee, it seems like we just did that like a little over a year ago!) while deciding what went where (still not sure where some stuff ended up from the last move!) and getting the house ready to (hopefully!) be rented. All-in-all, it was a bit stressful for all those involved. My parents and little brother were a HUGE help! It would have been a lot worse without them.
The day of departure arrived far quicker than I expected. I knew six weeks would fly but that was just a whole new meaning to the word “fast”. Saying “see you later”--no goodbyes here--to the kiddies was absolutely heart-wrenching. My sis-in-law and I both bawled like babies, which made the kiddies start crying, which brought tears to Dingo The Dog’s eyes, and on and on it went. It was not a pretty situation. After seeing this, my husband was understandably concerned about my parents dropping us off at the airport. He was afraid it was going to be, oh how should we put it--a massacre. After a very tearful see-you-later to our boxer/daughter Elway, we were off to the airport. And I’m proud to say that while, yes, there were a number of tears shed, my mom and I held it together pretty darn well. Jamal, the United curbside guy, also provided some much needed comic relief. I now know they are not tears, just airport dust!
We arrived on the island with no major hiccups and have been settling into our new digs over the last few days. There was pretty minor panic attack episode on my part our first night. I believe it consisted mainly of “oh my god I can’t believe we really did this” and “wow we are really living on an island, in a third world country”. Again, I’m proud to say no tears were shed and I quickly got my perspective back in line. This is an ADVENTURE! This is something not everyone gets to do everyday! It’s time to buck up and take advantage of this opportunity, not dwell on being out of my comfort zone! So that was my pep talk and so far it’s sticking.
Our cell phones are useless right now, which has been oh-so-difficult. We have no internet access at the house yet, which has been like losing our right arms. And probably the left leg as well, as long as we’re being honest here. But on the plus side, we stumbled across the most delicious and absolute best ceviche in town while scoping free wifi. So pros and cons...pretty even in the end! We also got to meet Henry, the young entrepreneur making his living selling pirated dvd’s. He’s got a pretty cool little racket going. The Hangover III with Chinese subtitles was interesting (and I’m thinking it couldn’t have made that movie any better with or without the subtitles.) After numerous trips into town on our borrowed golf cart, we are still giggling to each other about where we now live. It’s still hilarious to see nine people crammed onto a four seater golf cart or to see men riding bikes you can’t believe still roll while carrying 12 foot PVC pipes to a job site. I told my husband last night “Imagine when this is normal to us!” It is definitely a life less ordinary.
Our house is awesome, beautiful and very nice. Although lacking some storage (underwear and socks don’t hang very well), we are super spoiled getting to stay here. Yes, we are living in a construction zone. However, it is one of the quietest construction zones I’ve ever been on. I guess far less power tools and machinery will have that effect.
We will be working this weekend and then the project is set to officially open for public sales November 1st. I know we are both really looking forward to getting started. This is a crazy place, a crazy opportunity and we are thrilled to take advantage of both!
Miss & love you all!
J&E
