Belize, later that day.

It’s a amazing how little tequila is available in Latin America. To be honest it saddens me. In Santa Domingo we had to drink Ideal tequila. In Belize we had to settle for the bottom of the Jose Cuervo line. I think most tequila is produced in Mexico, so you would think…

IS A COCONUT GONNA HIT ME IN THE COCONUT?

Anyway we get to our condo, check in, learn to use the room safe, then we head for the nearest store to get a few provisions. There are two small stores nearby, the first doesn’t have much to offer so we head two blocks further away to visit Mr. Joe’s. Mr. Joe’s has a lot of good stuff. Fresh baked goods, hot sandwiches, cold beers, snacks, meats, fruits, etc. So Mr. Joe’s is gonna be the place to shop for the next three days.

Back to the room, then to the beach for a late afternoon walk. Wrong. Because of all the crap on the beach you can’t walk far. The bulkheads are all different sizes, there is all kinds of building materials in the water. There are tons of shells, large shells that have been removed from the beaches that front condos and resorts and dumped on the next lot over. All the “yard trimmings” collected by the gardener are dumped on the next lot over, along with anything that washes to shore. That would be logs, piles of seaweed, plastic bottles. All kinds of stuff and it makes it tough to walk the beach. We had headed one way, but couldn’t get far, so we turned around and walked the other way. There was a trail, so it was passable but still scattered with trash. We walked for about ten minutes and passed everything from a public park, to million dollar homes, to shacks. Then a restaurant/bar named Fido’s appeared right before our very eyes. A big open place with a large thatch roof. We bellied up to the bar, ordered drinks, introduced ourselves to Javiar, the barman and asked for a menu. We enjoyed some good ceviche, pibil, and grilled shrimp with a jerk sauce. The beer produced in Belize is Belikins and not my favorite, but I was able to choke it down, with shots of tequila.

We have the place to ourselves, along with the barman, Javiar and a waitress named Carmita. They are both really nice people and that’s what we found with most every local we got to speak with. Stacey and I always ask lot’s of questions of the locals we meet when traveling outside the U.S. We just want to know a little bit about their hometown we are visiting and maybe a little about them if they seem willing. These guys were great. Carmita told us all about the different ethnicity that make up Belize. She said that there were Creoles, Mestizo, Maya, and Garifuna making up the population in Belize. She even drew us a map of the country showing us the different districts.

By the time we left it had gotten dark, but the moon was out and we had on shoes so the walk back was no problem. We were tired and had laid down, flipping channels when someone taps on the door. DAMN. We haven’t been in Belize six hours and we’re not yet at ease , so this kinda startled us. We knew of the twenty six condos only a few were occupied. Who could this be? Tap, tap, tap again and then “security, please open the door”. What! Security? Coming in from Fidos, we had seen a little guy in a blue uniform, we spoke, but kept on walking to our room. About an hour later, someone was tap tap tapping at our door. So I jumped up to see who it was, sure enough, it was him, but I ain’t opening the door. “What do you want ?” I asked. He replied “Please open the door”. I said “Tell me what you want” I was not gonna open the door. Finally he told me he wanted water. WHAT ? WATER. Is this guy kiddin’ me ? I just gotta find out. So I put on my shorts and opened the door. I asked “YOU WANT WATER ?” “yes” he said. “YOU WANT WATER ?” I screamed. “yes” he said. “YOU WANT WATER ? ARE YOU KIDDING ME ? IS THIS WHAT YOU DO ? GO DOOR TO DOOR ASKING THE GUESTS FOR WATER ? IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE TELLING ME ? “yes” he said. “I DON’T BELIEVE IT, SHOW ME.”

So he did.

He walked me to a couple of units over, went up to a door and knocked on it. A lady cracked the door and a man’s head appeared over hers. The security guy asked for water and damn if they didn’t just hand over a bottle of water. No questions asked. Just handed over a bottle of water.

Maybe I over reacted…