Nothing like a polarizing election to boost blog readership! If you are new here, welcome! My name is Sharon, and I'll be your tour guide on how to escape the U.S., regardless of your motivation. Politics and division were strong factors in our decision to expatriate.  Increased website activity wasn't on my radar Wednesday morning until a dear friend texted me: I'm sensing your expat blog ...

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 tr ...

What a weekend... Friday night we finally opened up the pinball machine. Our stuff was delivered nearly a month ago, but we had been putting off unpacking it - partly for fear that it was damaged. Nathan, Clayton, and Zach did such an excellent job wrapping it, nothing was broken! It fired right up and now our Living Room looks even more like a frat house, with no sofa, one chair, and a pinb ...

This week has seen a LOT of rain, with small breaks of sunshine. Surprisingly, the King Tide has not been a factor so far this month, it was projected to start on the 16th. I'd prefer it stay away as we are forecast up to 10" of rain with the tropical depression currently southeast of Belize.  Tuesday I completed the grocery shop circuit, only missing a few items from my list. I'm getting be ...

Outside of my whirlwind, Monday-through-Friday visit in October of 2022 to set up the villa, we haven't been in Belize for the "winter" months - October through March. October can be very rainy; we welcome the free water for our plants and after living in the desert, the rains are a nice change of pace. Imagine our delight when it was CHILLY this weekend! To be fair: "Chilly" might be a stre ...

It's officially not all that fun living here after a week of our home continuing to find ways to suck, and getting fleeced at every turn. I'll get to those specifics in chronological order. Prepare for a bitchfest. Monday afternoon saw a bill for almost $2,000BZ come over from Angel, and that was without pumping and sanitizing our septic system - that was just replacing the pump. Even more f ...

Friday after work, Nathan and I were in the front yard working when a local guy was speaking with our neighbor - and offered to help spread rock, with our neighbor vouching for his work. Perfect! Welcome to the team, Benji. Saturday was our "60 days in Belize" mark! We're still here! I think we're starting to find our groove, and realize that we have really large-scale plans and decisions to ...

Tuesday I headed to Caribbean Queen/Depot to order rock to fill our villa's yard - they don't just deliver things via the barge, they are also a source for raw building materials like dirt, sand, rocks, etc.! I'm not entirely sure how far their scope expands, those are the items I know of for sure. They sell rock by the square yard, not ton, so this required some new calculations compared to ...

What a week! I ran errands and grocery shopped on Tuesday, and picked up some plastic plant pots for an absolute STEAL at Harmouch's Hardware!  After yet another defeat in Fantasy Football, I opted to eat my sorrows with a banana split from Western Dairies, $4.50 U.S. and I got to choose 3 flavors of ice cream (strawberry, pineapple, and chocolate for the win.) If you have visited the islan ...

Saturday was Belize's 43rd Independence Day, having split from the rule of England in 1981. I still have plenty to learn about Belizean culture, but one thing I know for sure: They take holidays and celebrations seriously! "J'ouvert" (translates to, "Daybreak" in French - not sure why a French word is used) starts at 5 on the morning of Independence Day, and seemingly, most folks stay up all ...