Joyce's Funeral; Contractor Hired; Architect Draft #1, Sofa!
My apologies for the long delay in posts; life has been hectic.
I was set to fly to Arizona on October 28th; the week leading up to then was a bit of a blur, trying to find an appropriate dress in my packed clothing, shoes, a jacket...make sure Nathan and the cats had everything they would need while I was gone.
We renewed our passports early just in case something went sideways with my travel - cancellations, hurricanes, you know. We're legal to stay through January 4th now.
We shaved Roxy after exhausting our search for a cat groomer on the island. She was getting a few mats and overall was a good patient. She looks so skinny now!
It is far from a professional job but we removed the mats and trimmed her coat shorter to keep her cool.
We engaged Alex Garcia of Garcia's Construction for the work on our villa; we were pleased with his communication skills and his pricing was more in line with what I expected. Still high, but not gougy-high. He subs out AC work to Ramos. We sent deposits to both guys and were excited to finally get the work underway. I also had to commit to exterior paint colors, which was endlessly frustrating. I have been having trouble making ANY decision lately, let alone a "5,000 square feet of color commitment" decision.
The other Alex in our lives - our architect - sent us a first draft of our home's plan! Admittedly, it is over 50% larger than our goal, so revisions shall follow, but we're glad to have the process started.
Monday the 28th, we awoke to storms. UGH. Nathan dropped me off at Tropic Air at 9:30 for an 11 AM flight, when usually we roll in 15ish minutes before takeoff - his strategy was to get me on an earlier flight before bigger storms were forecasted. Tropic was able to bump me up to the 10:30, and my long journey officially began.
Checking in at BZE, I learned from Immigration that my new 2-month visa extension would be invalidated by my departure. I may as well lit that $200U.S. on fire.
Ramos called and informed me that the 50% deposit we sent to him, he had given us the wrong account number. Here, banks don't verify that the account holder name matches - if the Bank and Account Number exist, that money is GONE. It was a typo, a simple mistake, but about pushed me over the edge. Fortunately, there was not an account that matched the number at the Bank we sent funds to, and after a few days, the money was back in our account.
On my layover in Dallas, the first "American Item" I purchased was McDonald's French Fries. At 10:30 AM local time. They were extraordinary.
DFW to PHX was delayed over 40 minutes, but when we did depart, the sunset was breathtaking.
My in-laws, Mela and Clayton, claimed me from the airport and I had my first fast-food meal in almost three months: A Wendy's #1 with strawberry lemonade, which I was hazed relentlessly for choosing.
Which is fair.
They also lent me their truck so I could drive where I needed to without Ubering, and gave me a place to stay. I am eternally grateful to them! Except after 3 months of driving a golf cart, it was a bit of an adjustment to drive a Ram 1500 Crew Cab! I also signaled with my hands more than once.
On Tuesday I packed an overnight bag and drove to my dad's home in Mesa. My Aunt Linda flew in and I was able to visit with them both before heading to Joyce's service.
I will spare you the details but it was an incredibly difficult two days, on so many levels. As I wrote in July, we fully expected that Joyce and Keith would be our first visitors, not that I would be back 90 days later to attend her funeral. My Uncle called out that I looked so much like Joyce in her younger photos - I hadn't noticed before, but he was 100% correct - my younger photos look nearly identical to hers, even more than I resemble my mom at that age.
Wednesday night I was able to meet up with the boys, their girlfriends, and my in-laws for dinner - Thai food! Tom Kha for me. All the ingredients are here, yet no one seems to make it. I also met my, "Grandkitten", Gaara, who Zach adopted shortly after leaving us in August.
Thursday was a marathon of trying to squeeze too much into too little time, but I managed to do most, and enjoyed chile relleno from Dick's Hideaway, one of the meals I didn't get a chance to have before we moved.
Belize Freight also called - our sofa would be on the Caribbean Queen Barge that day! After our dustup with CQ, I had the delivery company that picked up our old sofa lined up to collect this one and deliver it.
Friday AM I had my alarm set for 4, but was up before it. Clayton dropped me at the airport for a 6 AM departure. I had to check in with American in-person for the typical questions: Do you have $50/day to support yourself in Belize? Do you have a return flight?
PHX to DFW, the middle seat was....17 pound Tate. He was moving from UT to FL and on flight #2 of 3. He was much better behaved than our cats on that same flight, three months earlier.
Orange Cat using his one brain cell to try to formulate an escape plan.
It was a disappointment to have rainy, cloudy weather both directions of my flights; when it's clear, the views are stunning and make for great photo ops.
Nathan picked me up when I arrived in San Pedro, and we claimed our first shipment via Water Taxi! It was 2 Big Joe floats I ordered during Prime Deal Days. For those keeping score at home, Belize Express Water Taxi > Caribbean Queen.
Saturday Ramos and Irving, his helper, went to work installing four mini-splits - they did the interior hardware, and would work on wiring and external parts Monday.
Sunday we went to Hurricane's and enjoyed the sun - it rained the entire time I was gone.
Monday saw the return of Ramos and Irving - they were here until nearly 7 PM finishing the installation of our mini-splits.
It was also: SOFA DAY!
Over 3 months since we had a brand-new, factory-wrapped sofa delivered directly to Belize Freight, our last 3 items (#119, 120, and 121) were to be delivered - the other two were the pop-up canopies.
The good news: It was not rotted or busted up.
The bad news: It wasn't wrapped, and was FILTHY.
The above photo is after I took a few passes with a wet cloth, before realizing I should photograph it. I spent over an hour trying to get the dirt out of every piece. There is a fabric scuff down to the frame on the top-left corner. We don't know where in its long journey the damage occurred, but we're disappointed. Nothing else arrived in this bad of shape.
Removing the sofa's condition from my equation, I would rate Belize Freight a B-. They were the lowest-priced, but communication lacked on our missing items, and it took so long for them to arrive.
I had a phone conference with Alex (the architect one) to go over the initial design, and also to remind him that we are not constructed of $100 bills, let's scale that bad-boy back a tad. We have another meeting set for next Monday after he makes the requested edits.
Tuesday I interviewed a couple for my large writing project - they manage Aqua Vista Beachfront Suites. They gave me a tour while there and the property is beautiful! Six modern rooms, private parking, and the most welcoming of hosts. Also: Look at that view!
That's my past two weeks in a semi-condensed version, just to bring everyone up to speed! I will be back on schedule now.
NOPE! I just realized today is our three-month residency mark! Other than the obvious event, days 61-90 were MUCH improved over days 1-60.