Trip to the Dump, Coconut Collecting, Our Stuff is in the Country!

Wednesday was pretty uneventful - although I did draft out a design for a grill table for our patio. We have a lovely gentleman on the mainland who sells teak furniture for a song (compared to the U.S.). He sent us 4 teak pool lounge chairs last year, they were $225U.S. each. We want 2 small tables for those chairs (for drinks, phones) and a 36" wide x 24" deep x 36" tall table with a shelf. We can put our smaller flat-top grill on it and the shelf can hold the butane tank. Metal does not last here at all - even "stainless steel" - so we figured that teak would be our most durable bet. The total cost for all three tables is going to be $275U.S. 

I also sold a Mexican Fan Palm out of our front yard - Nathan doesn't like them, and it moved quickly for $100BZ on Facebook Marketplace. The buyers had just moved here for work, originally from Mexico and Ecuador. We've met a lot of ex-pats, not just from the U.S. - add them to France, Guatemala, El Salvador, South Africa...

On Thursday, Jhimel from Belize Freight let me know our goods from Arizona had arrived in Belize! We weren't even aware they had left Houston yet, so this was a nice surprise. I made payment for the freight from Houston to Belize City ($4,500 U.S), as well as the Customs Broker's fee ($470 U.S). Once we have a Customs Duty assessed, we'll have to pay that in order for our goods to be released.

With that big news, the heat is on for us to make room for the 864 cubic feet of inbound goods.

The previous owners of our villa left a fair amount of garbage in our bodega, and then we added to it when we had to purchase additional furniture; most of the packaging moved to the bodega since there isn't curbside trash collection here. For non-compostable household waste, we drive about 200 yards to the community trash barrels, but what we have is too large and we don't want to fill the shared bins. 

Nathan helped me load up the cart for my journey south to the island dump, which is "behind" Mahogany Bay, for lack of a better location description - behind Mahogany Bay, and east of the Belizean Queen Marina.

As I turned down the road that leads to the dump, I was dismayed by the amount of refuse on the side of the road. 

It is a long drive out to the dump for most, if you are almost there, why leave your trash on the ground just outside..?!

Sadly, this is not a problem localized to an island in Belize; every developing country and island nation that we have been to, from Bora Bora/Tahiti to the Dominican Republic, they all struggle with managing trash. If you only stay in All-Inclusive Resorts, you may not see it, but I promise you, it is a real problem globally!

I pulled up to a shack inside the gate and let the attendant know it was my first time, what do I do? He said the charge was only $5BZ for my cartload of garbage, and to drive it into a raised building that looked like a giant barn, probably 50' wide and 200' long.

Once inside, I regretted not turning on my phone's location as it was straight out of a horror movie; compacted garbage pressed up against a wall, with objects randomly tumbling down. Did a rat cause that? Or a looming killer? I parked about 50' away from the wall as the smell was unbearable, so I then had to lug my debris across a sticky floor, in flip-flops, and heave it as best I could toward the pile. 

From my composting class, I know that garbage is barged to the mainland and driven some 40+ miles inland to a landfill. I have no idea how they get it out of this shed to barge it; it has a concrete floor and concrete ramp leading to it, so I don't think they ship the whole shed. 

Friday, Nathan took the afternoon off and we drove north to collect coconuts. We've made multiple trips in previous years to collect fallen and sprouted coconuts to plant on our land; on undeveloped shorelines, they are everywhere, and they seem to transplant pretty well. I believe the last time we went was in 2020, as COVID was just taking hold. We drove to where Margaritaville was redeveloping a resort at that time, before heading back.

Margaritaville is now open, although we didn't see a single guest there. It would be what most would consider "inaccessible by road" as it's a sandy, narrow passage through light jungle, sargasso, and garbage to reach it; presumably, they ship guests in via boat. We drove through but did not stop; we're not Jimmy Buffett fans at all, and the grounds are pretty kitschy. 

North of Margaritaville we found a few private homes and upon reaching Tranquility Bay - the furthest north resort - we stopped for a photo, then headed back south to collect what we had come for: coconuts. We picked up nine for the front yard of our villa; with any level of care, they grow very fast and can provide shade. 

Tranquility Bay's dock - the furthest north resort on the island

Nathan planted the coconuts along our fenceline when we got home; at the time, our front yard was dry. Saturday morning, it was not:

The King Tide returned with a vengeance, which is concerning if it doesn't recede - how will we move in very heavy, large, and awkward boxes when our stuff arrives? The pinball machine? We pray it recedes before our delivery shows up!

Saturday we drove to Secret Beach to see how the clearing of our land is progressing. In a word, slowly. I filmed a video but for some reason, it is sped up to an unwatchable level, so here's another video from that day about the Sand Pirates that stole sand from our land: Sand Thieves at Secret Beach

The water is higher everywhere right now, so that accounts for some of the rising water. However we saw the thieves last summer when we were here, and an adjoining property owner also confronted them later about it. The struggles of owning land far away from where you live!

Sunday we were lazy and watched football at home all day, not wanting to battle the front yard flood. We have been having gorgeous sunsets, though!

Today (Monday) I hope to hear from our Customs Broker how bad the duty assessed was; it's been a major stressor for us. There are guidelines but at the end of the day, it does depend on the mood of the Customs Agent and how good your Broker is...fingers crossed that they are gentle...!