As I mentioned before, I’m from Germany. I’m also an old Hippie. Took the backpack and set out for if not greener so newer pastures.
After a couple of years or so, on my way to Australia, I got stuck here in the U.S. Got stuck on a good man to be exact. That lasted a long while. Then he unstuck himself from me, leaving part of me flopping in the wind. Luckily I have a heavy center, so I’m never in real danger of drifting off completely.
So the floppy part set about finding new “meaning”. For starters I ditched the boring day job and followed my bliss. Design. Since that falls into the artsy category, I was preparing for a low bucks operation. Haven’t starved yet, I am happy to report. And who wants to get fat anyways…
That having been accomplished I pulled my Bucket List from an old folder and set about reviewing it. On that list was Belize. I had met a few other backpackers along the way, all putting Belize on the “Must See” list. Mind you that was over 30 years ago. But I figured better late than never. So what if Belize has changed, I don’t know what it was like back then.
My first trip I played it safe, stuck to the main roads, went about exploring the big cities. “Big” is relative, seeing how all of Belize got about 300,000 people. Didn’t much care for northern Belize, skipped the south (they call it the Mosquito Coast for a reason), loved the islands, but I’m not the beach variety. (I lived on assorted beaches of this world for months on end, and unless you are a sea-going person, a diver, surfer or otherwise aquatic inclined or have a large capacity for drink, there doesn’t seem that much to do – in my opinion. I like to dig in dirt, plant stuff, look at mountains.) But I fell in love with San Ignacio / Santa Elena – the Twin Cities straddling the Macal River. I felt at ease, I felt comfortable, I felt at home.
Made several more trips, made lots of great friends. I had found the blog of a lady from Oregon, wrote to her, we got to talking, asked her who I should meet, she named names, I visited, Bingo! Friends. Friends have friends, and so it goes.
Then I decided it was time: No Guts – No Glory! I went and bough my little acre on a hill with jungle view as far as the eye reaches. Well a few houses thrown in, I’m right at the city limits of Santa Elena.
Got a fence installed to keep the Blogin Dogs from wandering off. Utilities are going in as we speak, or soon anyways.
Next – THE MOVE.
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