Watching TV- The Hard Way

The other night we were watching Dancing With The Stars and I began thinking how silly we must look.  The furniture in our condo is made of concrete.

The couch is tall so it can have the queen sized bed under it.  Most people’s feet do not touch the ground.    And, although it is covered with pillows, it is extremely hard and uncomfortable.  Also, since our TV is small and the couch is across the room, it is very hard to see the picture if you are on the couch.  So, I have devised a way to sit in the concrete chair.

I place one pillow on one side of the chair and two small pillows on the other side.  I can then drape myself sideways over the concrete arms and face the TV.  The back of the chair works great to hold drinks and the remote.  You also have storage under the concrete chair for beer and soda, which we buy by the case to save money.   This works pretty well for about  an hour or so and then my back begins to ache and I have to rearrange and just walk around or stretch out on the couch for a while.

We only have one wooden chair in the condo and it is like an office chair—not comfortable for TV watching.  So, we have brought in a plastic patio chair for Gail.

This works pretty good when you add a footstool, another stool for a side table, and a pillow or two.

 

We have learned to make do with what we have but it sure will be nice to have a comfortable couch again.

                                                          

More Things You Don’t See In NW Arkansas-2

Beach Bowling

Constructing a building without using 2x4’s

Making friends with the Pelicans and Frigates while cleaning fish.

Lobster traps stored when the Lobster season is closed.

Parking on the right side of the street from the 1^st to the 15^th of the month and on the left from the 16^th to the end of the month.

Non-refrigerated eggs at the grocery store.

Restaurants with outdoor stoves.

Clothes drying outdoors.

Full Moon

Last Saturday night there was a full moon that was the largest and brightest full moon in the last eighteen years.  At about nine o’clock I stepped out on our balcony and took a picture of it.  There were people down at the Palapa playing games but other than that the only light available was from the moon.  These pictures have not been computer enhanced; they are just as it looked that night.

More Things You Don’t See In NW Arkansas-1

Streets with no double yellow center line.  You can pass any time and any where as long as you think you can make it.

Trash cans along the streets that people actually use.

Streets lined with Bougainvilleas of all colors.

School children not allowed to leave the school property while school is in session.  Here they are buying lunch and snacks through the fence.

No Seat Belt.

Beautiful ladies buying and selling Mangos along side the road.

Crocodiles on the beach.

Uncovered garbage trucks and they still don't lose anything and litter the roads.

Immigration

Every thirty days we have to go to the local Immigration office and have our passports updated.  It needs to be done exactly on day thirty.  If you are late they slap your hands and give you a little speech—we’ve only been late once and then only by one day.  If you are early, they stamp your passport for that day and you lose days.

The process is that you first go to the Immigration office.

 The officer there looks at your passport and writes a note on a scrap piece of paper saying you have to pay $50 Belize each.  (We have been told it is double that, $100 Belize per person per month, after six months.)

Then you go outside, across the veranda, to the cashier's office.

You wait in line there since many people are paying for many different things.  You hand the cashier your handwritten note, your passport, and $100 Belize.  She gives you a receipt. 

You then have to go across the street to the Mail Boxes, Etc. store and have them make a copy of the receipt the cashier just gave you.

Then you go back to the same Immigration Officer you started with and give him the receipt, the copy of your receipt, and your passport. 

He asks where you are staying and enters that along with your names in a ledger, stamps your passport, and says he’ll see you in thirty days.

One couple here did not go through this routine and when they left the country they had to pay all of the back fees plus a fine.  (You also have to pay $37.50 US per person to leave the country.)

Sounds like something the US should consider doing.  It’s a great money maker.

All Heroes Day--San Pedro Carnival Day 3

Day 3 of the San Pedro Town Carnival was for the adults.  The merchants on Front Street got ready

“The aim of the game is to "paint" as many people as possible - a custom rooted in a tradition of disguise and role transformations.  The centre of the town throngs with street dancers known as comparsas and prizes are awarded to the best dancers.  Most of the local dignitaries dress up in drag and win these prizes.”

Most people had paint in bottles and cans and everyone in the vicinity was in danger of being covered. 

Fortunately Gail and I were able to stay out of the line of fire.

There were pickup trucks hauling huge speakers blaring recorded music supplemented by people playing live music through the streets.

The pickup trucks would stop and play music while the people danced behind them.

Many of the dancers were men dressed as women.

The pickup trucks would then move down the street a few yards.  They had to unplug the extension cord that was bringing power to the music equipment in the bed of the truck and find another place to plug it in.

It was a wonderful festival with everyone having a lot of fun.  It was like Mardi Gras except without alcohol.  I did not see a single person drinking during the entire time we were watching. 

We had not yet been painted so we decided to leave before the judging and not take any chances.

It was a fun and interesting evening.

All Heroes Day--San Pedro Carnival Day 2

The second day of the carnival was dedicated to the kids.  It was their day to run through the main streets of town attempting to cover each other in “a cocktail of lipstick, paint, and colored powder”.

They chased each other up and down the beach and the streets.  The more paint they threw the more fun it was.

There were a lot of kids having a lot of fun.

The idea of the paint is that you can wash it off in the ocean and, at the same time, wash away all of your troubles.

I don’ think the kids cared much about the history or the symbolism.  They only cared about the fun.

What they didn’t realize either was that they were merely in training for the more intense celebrations the adults carry out.  Day 3 was for the adults.  It was a total “Mardi Gras” type of experience.

Next time.