storiesbygary

And then there was water and electric 🙂

When last I wrote about the cabana, I was still without water or power, but that was coming to the cabana soon. You will find that the word “soon” has a whole different meaning here in Belize.

To get the water system installed and hooked up to the “public” water system that runs under the ground in front of my house, I just had to sign up with the water distributor, in this case, The Plantation Resort up the road a mile or so. Signing up was a piece of cake, give them the address, telephone number, and a deposit, along with promising to pay the monthly minus of $15 Belize. However, the story does not end quite yet, because it would be connected the following week. Of anything, that was the easiest utility to get hooked up. The truck arrived when it was supposed to, and the dug the channel by hand from the road to the electric pedestal on my property, attaching it to a water meter.

All that was left to be done to get water to the sink, shower, and toilet was my contractor’s guys. First, they had to install a pressure tank and water pump to bring water into the house. Now the water pressure was good enough to bypass that system if it wasn’t for one thing.

The water company shuts off the water every day at 4 PM and doesn’t turn it back on until 6 AM.

So, if you want water during the night, you need a holding tank and water pump to provide stored water. After that was finally installed and set up, including a China produced “Instant Hot Water” system, another fun story, I had water to the cabana.

Next the saga of getting electric to the property. Months ago, my first builder, Kevin had gotten the electric company, BTL to my lot to show him where to build the electric pedestal. He then proceeded to build it to their specs so when the Cabana was brought in, BTL could install a power pole near it in front of my lot and run a power line from across the street to the pole, pedestal and then to my Cabana. Sounds like great planning doesn’t it? So the Cabana arrives, Kevin calls BTL to get a wood pole “planted” so their guys could run the power line. For two weeks almost every day, Kevin called them, and they said they would “plant the pole tomorrow”.By three weeks, I could feel the frustration emanating from Kevin, and amped by myself. Finally, he got an answer from then on why it wasn’t installed, “they were not “planting wood poles anymore, you have to build a taller pedestal”!

Following that response, Kevin proceeded to reach out to offices in Belize City and Independence and was finally told the pole would be “planted” tomorrow, and low and behold it was planted the next day. Of course, it was another three days before we could get the BTL guys out to run power, but alas, it was finally run to our property, and to our circuit breaker box, and we had light.

Did I tell you that my wife Marsha had arrived two days prior, and we were living in the cabana without power for two days? Needless to say, she was not very happy for those two days, but instantly smiling when the lights and ceiling fans came on.

And I will leave you with a beautiful pic of my beach here in Maya Beach.

Till we meet again, much as gracious for following my blog,

The Pirate…Gary

“Permission to come aboard Admiral”

One might believe if in fact Belize being in a “3 rd world country” as many believe, that you could just come up with a house plan, a builder and build anything you might fancy to live in. If you drive around the towns and countrysides of this beautiful country, you find the inhabitants living in just about anything. The fact is, if you are a Belizean, you are guaranteed a parcel of land to build on, with certain time restrictions, but never less, you can live in anything you put together, pretty much.

An aerial view of Maya Beach, and home to “Pirates Paraiso”.

For those of us coming to Belize from other countries, like the U.S. and Canada, its a bit different, and much more challenging. Many Expats came here and continue to come here, and build or plan to build massive, thousands of square foot homes that look like they belong in L.A. County. For whatever reason, they bring all their monies here, build mansions (on a Belize scale), and expect to “fit into” the community. They either are in larger “Expat Communities”, or private homes on land, with massive walls around them, to protect them from criminal elements.

My personal thoughts on that? In Belize, if you want to “fit in” to the neighborhood, don’t portray yourself as rich, build a massive “guarded home”, wear diamonds and expensive clothes, or pull out your wallet with hundreds or thousands of dollars showing. Break that hundred down to tens and twenties at least.

Not even close to the “average” Belizean’s home.

Getting back to my story, there was a time when the government didn’t get that involved with what Expats built, but those days have left the building. Now you need to jump through hoops, submit your architecture drawings to the Central Banking Authority, and wait months for approval stamp before you can even start to build. Of course, even before that, you need to get title to your property before you should even think about building.

We were pretty smart on most of these things when we purchased our lot here in Maya Beach, Placencia Peninsula November 2016. We selected a very professional Real Estate firm, Remax 1st Choice in downtown Placencia to handle our purchase. They made sure our contract was handled legally and professionally, and I must say, we had our title to our property within a couple months.  We were already working with a builder and Architect, who submitted our final plans to the CBA (Central Banking Authority for approval.

Helpful Hint 🙂 A Mennonite Cabana under 1000 sf and “portable) does not need CBA Approval, at this time of course.

That was over four months ago, and we are still awaiting the approval so we can start building. We are hoping for a Feb. 1 start. Time will tell. As the title of this blog states, “permission to come aboard”, you will find that you are always in the hands of the Belize government. Your paperwork may be sitting on a desk somewhere, already signed, until someone there decides to forward it. You may have omitted something in the forms, but nobody informs you.

Remember, when you are told to expect it on Tuesday, they won’t tell you what Tuesday.

Expect some exciting new developments here on the Peterson beachfront lot in the next blog post. Electric, water, maybe even hot water, who knows. All I can say is, utilities are coming to tune town.

Hasta La Vista Baby,

The Pirate (Gary)

Let me begin by apologizing for the delay in blog posts over the past two weeks. Let me tell you that the rumors about the internet services in Belize are very true. Kind of like sex, you don’t always know how much you will get or how long it will last. Let’s say that I have jumped through hoops, been promised much, and still don’t have my internet service in the cabana to this date.

In my last blog post, our new Cabana arrived and was installed upon 7-foot posts. That was all well with the slight exception of the 6-foot stairs not being high enough to connect to the deck. That was my choice when the guys delivered the cabana when they asked if I wanted it a bit higher, without thinking of the assembled stairs. For now, we decided to make some adjustments, and modify later. More on that in a later post.

I had arranged with my builder Kevin to put in the septic system, run in electric to the breaker box, connect the house water to street public water, install an “instant” hot water system, and an air conditioner system. This blog will be about the adventures in utilities, and in some cases futilities.

My contractor tells me that the guys should start installing the septic system a couple days after cabana arrival. As I arrived two days later to the building site, I see a head poking out of a hole in the sand. After a brief conversation, I realize the Belizean worker is all by himself, digging the hole for the placement of the septic tank, in 80+ degree sunshine. This guy was just smiling away, all day as he dug until he hit the water! You see, depending on the tides, the water levels under the sandy beaches change higher and lower. When he was down 5 feet and standing in 2 feet of saltwater, he quit for the day, after about 7 hours of digging.

As I drove to the site the next day, I expected to see the arrival of a septic tank to be hoisted into the hole. To my surprise, I instead found about six workers, and a rebar cage measuring about 5 x 8 feet and 5 feet high. A load of gravel rock was delivered along with bags of cement. To my amazement, I realized that they were going to build my septic tank from scratch, on-site. I watched over the next few days as they mixed bucket after bucket of cement, and poured the floor and sides of the tank until they reached the top.

When they reached the needed height, they proceeded to hand dig the drainage field and prepare it for pipes from the tank after it was installed. Finally, the day arrived at the end of the week, and a backhoe arrived to lift and lower the tank into the hole. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it wasn’t, because they soon realized that the bobcat couldn’t do the job so they brought in a larger piece of equipment and lowered it into the hole. After much adjustment, digging by hand and leveling under the tank, they were finally happy with the tank placement.

But wait! This septic tank needs a top, right? For the next two workdays, they proceeded to again use a rebar flat 5 x 8 rectangle to build the cement top. About the same time, the crew finished digging out the drain fields, installing pipe, gravel, sand and connecting it to the tank.

The next step was to dig a trench between the tank and under the cabana and attaching the septic pipe to the cabana drain pipe. And then there was a completed septic field, and working house drains and toilet.

Wait one….that would be a working toilet if there was water connected to the cabana, and electric and lights to see where you were sitting :).

My next blog post will bring you through the adventures of getting hooked up to a “public “water meter system in Belize, and also the bad experience of being at the mercy of a Belize electric company, and many “install promise dates”.

Until then, the sun is shining, the beach is beautiful, the water is warm and refreshing, and of course, the rum is flowing.

The Pirate (Gary)

The Cabana Arrives in Maya Beach, Belize

Everything has been ready for the arrival of the Linda Vista Cabana onto our oceanfront lot in Maya Beach, Belize. My contractor Kevin and I have determined the exact placement of it and staked accordingly. I had been given a date of this Friday for delivery and told that the driver would contact me. In fact, Thursday afternoon Elmer the driver did in fact call to tell me he was delivering my Cabana the next morning. I asked him about what time he expected to arrive at my homesite, and he said 6 AM. 6 AM! Seriously I asked him. Yes, he would be leaving around 4 AM to avoid traffic.

That does make a lot of sense, as they are pulling a 8-foot flatbed trailer, with a twenty-foot wide house on it. If you have ever driven the road here in Belize, you know how difficult they can be, and how crazy some drivers can be as well. Then there are the potholes.

So up I get Friday morning after a restless night, tossing and turning, like the night before Christmas at 5 years old! I finally give up at 4 AM and make coffee, and by 5:45 as I get into my “Little Bull” to head over to my lot, some five minutes away, my cellphone rings. It’s Elmer ad he just went past the Maya Beach sign entering the village. I bomb my way over to the lot, and 3 minutes later park in front, where I can see the red flashing lights on what appears to be something really massive taking up the entire road. Yep, that’s my tiny home.

Almost ready to lower flatbed and drive out from under.

As I move the Bull out of the drive entrance, expecting the trailer to stop out front so I can give directions onto the lot, I realize Elmer has actually driven past the entrance, grinds into reverse and stairs backing onto the lot. Now, what I have not told you is that the lot is soft sand, and it’s been pouring rain all night, and still is. I visualize the trailer sinking to one side, and my home sliding off. Needless to say, Elmer stopped, jumped out, shook my hand and asked where I wanted it. I walked him over to the corner stake, told him that’s where the back left corner needs to be, and he said, “ok” and jumped back into his truck. After a few maneuvers, he had the Cabana sitting pretty close to where I wanted it. Then he called me over, to where he and his two workers were standing, arms crossed, looking very serious. He told me to put it exactly where I wanted it, they needed to cut a major branch off the tree.

Standing on its own. That’s Elmer by the way.

Have I ever told you about Belize and the machete? In Belize it is not uncommon to see Belizean men walking the streets with machetes, eating in restaurants, hitchhiking, and just carrying down the highway. It’s the main “tool” here in Belize, for the nurseries, banana farms, etc. Can you imagine stopping in the U.S. to pick up a hitcher holding a machete? I do here!

Anyways, with the speed of lightning, outcomes a machete and the branch is gone, Cabana is moving into position, and all is well. Over the next few hours, I watch in fascination as these guys raise the Cabana to a height of about ten feet with hydraulics as the whole deck of the trailer raises up. The guys proceed to dig out holes for the structural poles to sit in so they can lower the house onto them. Before that the drop a large diameter round cement form into the holes, to which each pole is attached. This will keep the poles from sinking and making walking inebriated difficult upstairs with uneven floors.

Before ya know it, all the poles are in place, attached to the house understructure, and Elmer jumps to the control, and lowers the flatbed, then drives the truck from beneath the Cabana. They proceed to the installation of the stairs and handrails, and before long, everything is completed.

These are my “Three Amigos”! Myron, Elmer and Victor.

I would like to say that my entire experience with Linda Vista Home Construction was excellent. They are polite, hard-working guys, and produce some fine work for the price of Cabanas. The whole process has been enjoyable, and I now have peace of mind, that I will be able to live in this cabana while my main home is built. All timelines were kept, which by Belize standards, doesn’t happen often.

Our Tiny House now has a home. 

Stay tuned for the next chapter in this story, as things like the septic tank install, Electric install, and water come to the new Peterson residence.

If you have not clicked on the “Follow” button at the bottom right of this blog, please do so you don’t miss any of the upcoming chapters.

Cheers, and remember, Belize is the land of “No Worries”, and also the place where when they say they will get it done Tuesday, they never tell you what Tuesday 🙂

Cheers,

Gary

The date finally came and as I boarded the American Airlines flight on a “one way” ticket to Placencia, Belize, I have to admit my stomach was churning. Leaving family and friends behind was bad enough, but leaving Marsha and my pup Oliver was heart-wrenching, to say the least. Over and over I reminded myself of a saying heard in many movies, “Daddy is going ahead to prepare a new home and life for you”.

You mean I’m not going with you, Daddy ?

My flight and plane change in Dallas International went as well as expected, is that I had a four-hour layover at 4 AM. I arrived in Belize City, and within half an hour was in the air on a small prop Mayan Air flight to Placencia. As I clambered off the plane and my sandals hit the tarmac, the realization that I was home hit me.  I was there to accomplish one thing, to be the “pioneer dad”, get the home built, outfit it with everything needed for my family to live for all time, at least, all my time 😉

Oh Crap! is all this going to fit in my golf cart?

As I loaded up my rental golf cart from Barefoot Rentals, with the 5 mega bags I brought, my excitement began building. I was off to my little rental cabana for three weeks until the Mennonite cabana I was having built arrived on my beach lot. Once it was, and Kevin hooked up all my utilities, I would move in and live there until our home was complete. More on that process later.

As I drove my overloaded golf cart up the dirt road to my rental cabana in Maya Beach, I thought to myself, this road looks familiar. Arriving I was stunned and excited to see the rental was across the road from my builder and friend Kevin’s house. The cabana wasn’t as exciting, beautiful and beachfront as other rentals we have had here on the peninsula, but it answered my basic needs. Out of the weather, shower, bed, stove fridge, electric, internet, close to my beachfront lot in Maya Beach, and cheap! After all, our money needed to go to building our dream home, not to an extravagant rental for three weeks, and this definitely wasn’t that.

It is what it is, that’s all it is, said Popeye 😉

The next very important task at hand and my first order of business was securing a permanent ride for the peninsula, in other words, a set of my own wheels. We had really looked at the possibility of shipping a newer vehicle down via the QRP retirement program here in Belize, with its “duty-free’ capabilities. Then Marsha and I came to the sudden realization that maybe we didn’t need to buy a car at all. If we had something like a UTV to drive around the peninsula, we could just rent a car if we need to go to the “big city”. This made sense, and we looked at shipping a Polaris down in our shipping container. And then I say a Facebook post from a couple guys in Maya Beach, announcing they were now distributers for “Beach Buggies”. The photos showed multiple units, from Razor like to similar to our Mule. After much research on this newer vehicle from China, I decided to take a good look at it when I got to Maya Beach.

They call it the Brahma, I call it “My Little Bull”

The afternoon of my arrival I met with Barry from Beach Buggies, checked out the “Brahma”, took a test drive, called my wife and said, “wire the funds, we have our vehicle”. There are so many reasons why this was a great idea, and they’re really weren’t any things I would need to add to it. Automatic, mega on and off rod lights, wench, and a dump bed that dumps with a push of a button. Plus, its bright red! And wait till you hear this, the top speed in this 4×4 that is now named “The Bull”, is 70 mph!

And so the story continues. Next, you’ll get a sneak peek of the Cabana, and preparation of the beachfront lot.

Until my next post, may your dreams become your reality, remembering, only you can make that happen.

Gary

As I awoke this morning at 5 AM from a dream soon to become a reality, I realized no matter how efficiently I packed for this trip, it wouldn’t be enough. You see, a few weeks ago I purchased my first “one-way” ticket to Belize City. I can’t really explain the feelings I have had over the past few weeks as the countdown continued, but as the days grew smaller, the internal anxiety grew larger. What to pack and take with you, what to leave and what to ship later are major decisions. From taking to other Expats already in Belize, there is no correct answer or choice.

The Placencia Peninsula, Belize, Central America, our new home.

Possibly the worst of this venture right now is leaving my wife Marsha behind in Oregon, as she isn’t ready to retire yet. However, I do believe in the back of her mind, one incident would bring the words “I Quit !”. As we sold our ranch and moved into the country in a golf course / RV resort with a large 5th wheel, she will be quite comfortable for a while, at least the year or so that it takes to get the Belize house completed for her to move down to.

Everything seems to be in play and most plans in action. We opened a savings account with Atlantic Bank, International to transfer funds for our build and purchases. Really didn’t take to long in “Belize Time”, like two months. Wasn’t so much the time it took, as the hoops needed to prove to Belize banking system, what the money was for. After letters from our banker in the states and my physician, they realized we weren’t drug or money traffickers, and we got the account. Wiring monies to Belize is another challenge, as it takes from 5-7 days before it shows up in your Belize account, and you can use it. Anyone planning to build and move to Belize needs to realize this. After a few more weeks we received by DHL service, our “on-line” banking number and log on info for on-line banking. This was actually pretty cool, as they send a device that generates a passcode every time you want to log onto your account.

View of our lot from the water, wooded, left of the white house

Our initial “builder”, Kevin in Placencia is ready to go as soon as I get there, building our house and pier. Wait one! Let me clarify, he is ready to start once the Central Banking Authority approves our house plans. It seems that the project takes some time, from a couple months and up to six months or more. Our home design plans were expertly created by our licensed and registered Architect at New Horizon Architecture also in Placencia.

They have had our house plans for over two months. No word at this moment.

View of the land after clearing, ready for houses

So, on to the next part of the story, where do, I plan to live during the construction of our home in Belize. The answer, I rented a cabana in Maya Beach for three weeks. By the end of that three weeks, the 20 x 20 ft open plan cabana being built by local Mennonites should be finished and transported onto our beach lot. We decided to go with one of these cabanas, because they have a great reputation for their units, build plenty of them, and very in-expensive. The reason for that is the company we are using, Linda Vista, is part of a lumber yard business. They build so many, everything that goes into it they buy in bulk, therefore a reflection of lower cost to us. The day they were waiting for my deposit wire to arrive, they actually sent a photo to us of the ground floor of the cabana! I knew I was going to like these guys, and can’t wait to see this thing. Will have awesome Belize hardwood floors and ceilings, (cathedral), and a large fully covered deck on it.

Our Cabana being built

It will also be interesting to see how they transport it on a flatbed truck, about 70 miles, and place it on twelve, 6 ft high posts? Pics and video of that coming in the next post.

My plan is to continue to update you all on the next year, covering everything in the process after my arrival to Placencia Airport. Construction, getting appliances, ceiling fans, custom furniture, food, and settling into our new country.

I hope to enlighten you with our story, so you can experience what it takes to completely relocate to Belize, in case you already plan to, or are interested in the endless possibilities of living your dreams.

Warmest Regards,

Gary

Wen we last visited together, my readers were under the impression that Sanctuary Belize / Buy Belize was a dream come true. After three years reality kicked in and it became clear that it was just a dream, to good to be true. Lessons have been learned by well over 300 lot owners there, that we have been the results of a major scam, that has devastated many who were living the dream, and are now scrambling for survival of their funds, and dreams.

I’m not going to dwell on those broken dreams and promises, other than to use them as an example of what not to do and what to actually do in order to not be scammed on your dreams.

I have started on a new path in Belize, going back to my root beliefs. Do not build my new home in a “World Class Dream Resort Community”, managed and run by crooks, felons or a HOA! Build where you are boss, make all the decisions, and pray to god that the country you have choose allows you to do just that.

My new book about moving to Belize, released 5/4/2015

Now I fell in love with the country of Belize for it’s people, beaches, low cost of living, diving, fishing, history and of course, the ruins. Changing direction to a positive experience took very little on my part. I needed to find a lot on the Placencia Peninsula where we could build a freestanding house. At the end of last year, in November 2015 I traveled back down for two weeks, for the main reason of finding and purchasing a building lot. I was working on-line with a couple local Real Estate office to see what they had listed for lots before I made my trip. Before I flew down, I selected 1st Choice Remax in Placencia, because in my opinion, they were the best for me.

Using VRBO I found a pretty cost effective beachfront condo unit to rent in downtown Placencia and booked for two weeks. I rented a golf cart for two weeks from Barefoot Rentals near the Placencia Airport, and away I went.

After arriving in Placencia, I checked in with my Realtor who was originally from Canada, Donna Gartner at Remax 1st Choice. I had about 12 different build-able lots to check out, with seven being on the lagoon side and five beachfront on the caribbean. Keep in mind that there are advantages to both, with water access and breezes on the beach side, and of course a higher price tag with it. The lagoon front lots were definitely cheaper, and offered direct access to the lagoon waters and fishing. At this point I was happy with either if I could get for the right price in the best location.

I spent the first week visiting these lots along the 15 mile stretch of the peninsula, many times. I really started falling in love with a couple of the beach front Caribbean lots, but the prices were killing me. The prices ranged from about $260K-320K, and the all needed work on the lot, and included some waterfront erosion issues. Remember, this is the Caribbean and there are hurricanes that do come through once in a while. Protected waterfront is ideal, but not always available with building lots.

This is the house to the left of our lot.

I was stuck in a buyers rut, unable to make a decision, with a wife back in the states getting hundreds of emails/texts and video’s of all the properties, and both unable to narrow down a decision.And then one morning I rode past the northernmost lot and there it was, a blue sign on a beachfront lot, next to a beautiful large two story white home. I had no info on this lot, no idea how much they were asking, but I investigated the lot on beachfront for about two hour, and fell in love. I had no idea how much the owner was asking for it, and I didn’t recognize the reality sign

Getting back to town I touched base with my realtor Donna, and she got the listing data or me. They were asking $250K, and I felt my heart been to feel the affect of panic. I wanted this lot, had to have it. After walking the lot with Donna, and running a bunch of video’s by my wife, I made an offer and after painful days of waiting, got an acceptance for $200K.

The lot was ours, and within weeks we had paid cash for the lot, and a few weeks later obtained the title. Let me just say, getting clear title of any building lot or property in a foreign country is vital and extremely important.

searching lots for the right one

My next post will take you from locating and purchasing our beachfront lot, to the process of home design and approval by the country of Belize and the Central Building Authority. I will also go over the “how to” of banking, loans and getting a Be;ice Bank Account and transferring funds from the U.S., Canada or elsewhere.

My plan is to enlighten you all to the do’s and don’t’s, mistakes and successes I encounter along the way of finding the right building contractor, and the entire process of building our beachfront home in Maya Beach, Belize, Central America. In a few weeks I will be relocating to Belize to be on-site during the entire construction of our new home, and sharing the adventure with you.

Our lot in Maya Beach, cleared and ready to build, with electrical pedestal on Left

I hope you follow along with my adventure, and maybe you to will join us in paradise.

And the adventure continues,

Gary