So let me tell you a little about Belize:

• There are approx 300,000 of us

• Most Belizeans are of multiracial descent. About 34% of the population is of mixed Maya and European descent (Mestizo), 25% are Kriols, 15% are Spanish, 10.6% are Mayan, and 6.1% are Afro-Amerindian (Garifuna). The remaining population includes European, East Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and North American groups. Dutch and German Mennonites settled Belize, most in the isolated areas.

• We speak Spanish 46%, Kriol 32.9%, Mayan dialects 8.9%, English 3.9% (official), Garifuna/Carib 3.4%, German 3.3%, other 1.4%

• Age structure:
  0-14 years: 38.4%
  15-64 years: 58.1%
  65 years and over: 3.5%

• Median age: 19.6 years

• Unemployment: 12.9%

• Per Capita Income: $8,400 in 2006

• Capital: Belmopan

• Administrative divisions: 6 districts; Belize, Cayo, Corozal, Orange Walk, Stann Creek, Toledo

• Belize borders Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, the Caribbean Sea to east.

• Government type: parliamentary democracy

• Independence: 21 September 1981 (from UK)

• Legal system: English law

• Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

• Executive branch: chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor General Sir Colville YOUNG, Sr. (since 17 November 1993), head of government: Prime Minister Dean BARROW (since 8 February 2008); Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar VEGA (since 12 February 2008)

• Religions: Roman Catholic 49.6%, Protestant 27% (Anglican 5.3%, Methodist 3.5%, Mennonite 4.1%, Seventh-Day Adventist 5.2%, Pentecostal 7.4%, Jehovah’s Witnesses 1.5%), none 9.4%, other 14%

Our official language is English, but our national language is Kriol.

While there are some people in each ethnic group that only speak their language, anybody who has been through the school system speaks English, almost everybody speaks Kriol, most speak some if not fluently Spanish, and then whatever their mother language is.

Kriol, while deceptively easy, is the hardest for me. It is a very descriptive bastardized English derivative. But you got to learn it just like any foreign language.

Some Samples:

My name is …Ah nayhn (or) Mee naym

What is your name? ….Weh yu nayhn?

What’s up? Hello (informal) …. Weh di go aan?

Good morning…..Gud maanin.

How are you?….Da how yu di du?

Fine, thank you ….Aarait.

How much does this cost?…..Humoch dis kaas?

What time is it?….Weh taim yu gat?

I’ve had a wonderful time…..Ah mi gat wahn gud gud taim.

It doesn’t matter…..Ih noh mata.

Is that so?….. Fu chroo?

And here is a favorite: A Cedar tree here produces sweet berries, but you get constipated if you eat to much. Charmingly it is called “Cork Bottom tree” or “Bluggabutt”.

]]> http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/2010/02/12/a-little-info-about-belize/feed/ 0 http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/2010/02/04/we-are-here-here-being-belize/ http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/2010/02/04/we-are-here-here-being-belize/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:41:18 +0000 The Grunt http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/?p=214 We all got here November 25,  Thanksgiving Day.

So we are woefully behind on updating this blog. But there was so much to do. The weather invites being outside rather than sit before the computer. Lots of excuses.

But you will now hear from us, should you care to listen, at least a couple of times a week.

so much leaving…

Sunday my 3 big plants left. By big I mean big. I have had all three for over 20 years. The Fiddle Leaf Fig had trunks that would have been 12 feet tall, had I had that high of a ceiling. The Ficus Benjamina had an 6 plus foot diameter. The huge Philodendron Solleum had humonguous leaves, and lots of them.

But they got adopted by the nicest people who came all the way from Phoenix with a horse trailer to pick them up. My first thought when the 3-horse-trailer pulled up was “overkill”. As it turned out, every inch was needed. The trailer drove off with leaves peaking out of every window.

Kindly the lady let me know in an email that the plants had a good trip and are doing well.

Still, they were my pride and joy.

Today I found a new home for my ducks and parakeets, possibly even the stray cats I’m feeding.

The first plan for the ducks fell through. But it looks like this one is an even better deal. Lake an all. So they will have a good life.

Still, they were my quackers.

The parakeets go to a lady who already has one older bird. They may or may not all live happily together. They may stay in separate cages, her boy and my couple. Sure is that they will all yack on top of their lungs with each other. Fun will be had by all.

Still, they were my birdies.

I made a final plea to everybody on Craigslist to please take over feeding the two cats. None of the rescue agencies will take them. They are all overflowing. The Humane Society will. But they have a slim chance of getting out alive. Well, I got a response from a kind heart who seems to be willing to take them on. Details to be worked out.

Those boys are some of the nicest cats I have come across.

All these good-byes are starting to take a toll. By the time I leave here I will be numb. The only defense left.

Just talked to my trusty car driver / travel trailer hauler. Sensibly he pointed out, that if bad weather delays us, the Mexicans suddenly require a USDA stamp for the dogs or what have you that requires US attention… the time to NOT be at the border is a day before the Thanksgiving weekend.

So we are leaving earlier.

Now why I am in a panic? We are already leaving 3 MONTHS early, what’s a few additional days to not get stuff done?!

So the time has come to cut the niceties.

I’m almost done wrapping up work. Everybody will have to get wrapped a bit faster and less tidy.

I’m almost done emptying out the furniture. Expect a fire-sale.

I’m almost done sorting stuff. Time to make eBay and Goodwill runs.

And this blog?

Well, the subtitle is “reporting back”. We might just have to do that. Once I’m there with time on my hand.

The dogs will tell you how they liked 10 days in a car. I’ll tell you how I liked being in car with them. And the next few weeks will look better in the rear view mirror!

]]> http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/2009/10/22/what-me-panic/feed/ 0 http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/2009/10/21/and-then-everything-just-stops/ http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/2009/10/21/and-then-everything-just-stops/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:03:17 +0000 The Grunt http://www.postcardsfromadog.com/?p=206

My neighbor in Belize died last night. Nothing sudden. He had been ill a year or so. He saw it coming and so did his wife.

Still.

His world has come to a grinding halt.

And so has hers to some degree. When she comes out at the other end of grieving, she will be a different person. Reassembled from pieces that was her before him, her with him and a new her.

There is so little one can do to help. It’s a lonely process.

But the good thing about the mind is that it mercifully blanks out the things you can’t handle or can barely handle. Later, looking back, there will be a fuzzy blank spot where the year is, that she still has to live. She will only have to live it once. It won’t be with her every waking moment the rest of her life.

I don’t know my neighbors well yet. But Paul seemed so full of stories to tell. Maybe Tricia can tell then to me. I’ll see. If it helps her to tell his life, I will be there to listen. If not, I won’t ask her to.

I hear “aren’t you excites?”, “how marvelous”, “what an adventure”, “gutsy”.

The last one comes close.

The word coming to my mind are: “gut wrenching” and “exhausting”.

Every day is a “last” for something. A”goodbye” to someone. An “adios” to a possession. Death by duck bite.

I have left before. Twice. So I was not starry eyed or unprepared for the move. Yet, honestly, it gets harder not easier.

The first time the leaving was not voluntary. My parent took me. We left East Germany ahead of the wall as refugees. I was told we were not going back, when it was done. I was hammered flat. I was home sick on and off for years. When I think of Germany and try to visualize any part as home. It is still the house I grew up in those first year.

The second leaving was easier. After that first move I was not really at home anywhere in Germany. Though I lived for a decade in the Black Forest and liked it there, it was not some place I ever attached to. Even moving back to Berlin, West, because the wall was still up, did not attach me there.

This time is hard. I have 25 years worth of friends to leave behind. And the Granite Dells. I have a tap root sunk into these rocks. Leaving the house is ok. It’s a good home, but houses are just that. Shelters from the elements, glorified caves. Keeps the cooking fire from blowing out. Furniture was never my thing. Though I’ll miss some of my house plant that have gown humongous in the quarter century.

I will miss my parakeets. But the dogs of course come along. I would not have gone without them or if they would have to be put through quarantine.

And I allowed myself to pack some little knick-knacks that serve no earthly purpose other than looking nice. My consolation price for giving up most of what I own.

But the sheer amount of work is exhausting.

The good-byes are gut wrenching.

Yesterday my chickens left for if not greener though posher pastures. They now have a deluxe coup with a daily cleaning attendant. (may I move in?)

God, do I miss them!

At least 3 more months until I can get new chickens. To top it off, I will have to BUY eggs, in a STORE, like regular people.

The ducks will move next, out to a ranch with a LAKE and other domestic ducks. A real lake! After the tupperware tub that will take some getting used to. They will be able to do a dive without boinking bottom with their heads.

Still working on the Mexico dog permits. And you know it, after getting it all squared away, no one will even so much as look at all that paperwork at the border. Except of course if I don’t have it all.

Got the Belize import permits. Will post all of the above once it is all clear.

The latest info says I also have the show my dogs were treated for Endo and Ecto Parasites. As in worms, fleas, and ticks.

This comes from the folks who provided me with the “paid for” travel info and was seconded by an airline info site.

I’m going for a third opinion. My vet. I shall report back

With November 21^st, our moving date, rapidly approaching I need to get on the dog travel / import permits.

But what exactly is required?

It seems to be a moving target. Wait a while, and yet another form, approval, or permit has been added. Each designed to maximize revenue. Not mine of course. Theirs.

I wrote a letter a few weeks ago to the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix inquiring on the procedure for importing the 3 dogs. (not long a go there was no question as to the quantity of dogs, now there is). I also inquired if the health certificate really needs an USDA stamp or if the vet’s signature suffices. Provided the vet is USDA approved. Because you guessed it, the USDA wants another hefty fee for their stamp. Plus it takes about a week, which makes being at the border within 72 hours of issue of the certificate by the vet kind of hard.

I have not heard from the good Consulate. So I sent the same letter to their office in Tucson. What do I get? A call on my machine from a friendly but un-understandable man from the consulate. Call him back he says, or I assume the says. Couldn’t get the name to save my life. And thank God for Caller ID.

I call. Of course I don’t know who to ask for. But a very nice lady is more than willing to help. “No problem with the dogs, Mexico is a dog friendly country. 3 dogs? No problem! Stamp? What stamp? We are dog friendly”.

So I requested to get that in writing please.

This caused her to take down my name and phone number.

Bingo, the morning man calls back. I understand him as clear as before. Like every other sentence. 3 dogs? Yes, problem, $135 for 3^rd dog. Stamp? Asfkjriefnmnfrtkrqagarg! Can you repeat that? Asdjakhtr4uafgdjtg. I give up.

Can I PLEASE have that in writing.
No. We don’t do that at the consulate.

I spent the remainder of the day reading every opinion on the subject on the internet.
I even shelled out some $$$ for “official travel documents for Mexico” from PetTravel.com
The consensus is: You don’t need a USDA stamp on the certificate. Yet.

So here’s the plan. I get my vet (who is USDA certified) to issue the international health certificates. I skip the USDA stamp. We hit the border, 2 dogs in one car, one in the other. We hope no one looks to close at the papers and notices they are all in my name. If they do we explain we didn’t know about the 3 dog rules, and I did all the paperwork for all of us. But the other two don’t belong to me. Honest. Worst case scenario: $135. Worst worst case scenario: they make us get the stamp at the USDA in Texas. Worst worst worst case scenario: we need to get the stamp from the USDA in Arizona. But then again, FedEx and a hefty fee to the USDA can get that done.

Tomorrow: I will post the forms here.