Getting across the boarder.

Well, we arrived at the boarder at 3:20 yesterday and it's been a very long 24 or so hours.  When we arrived there were things we did wrong and several things we did right.  One is that we got a very good broker to argue the price of our goods and bringing them over.  The other was that the timing was completely wrong to arrive, the Belizian government has switched to a new system at the boarder that is computerized and hooked up with the Mexican and the American boarder system..  They had just implemented the system and were learning how to operate it, needless to say, it went down for more than several hours and more than several days in the last twenty four hours.  It took us about 23 hours to get the truck across the boarder, but they let Tip and us cross last night to  spend some time with Bill and Jen.  It was a good day though to spend in a Belizian Immigration Boarder....the weather was great and there was the best breeze ever.  I really was glad to not spend one more day in the truck and I got to meet other expats that were coming in as well as other people trying to get through the system.
The broker was really great, he got the porter to assist us in getting a taxi, making sure  C.J was occupied today as well as making sure that we got lunch and were pushed through.  finally about 3:30 we were allowed to go, we hopped over to get our automobile insured and stopped to look at some appliances on the way out of Corozol.
Finally we got to stop in Copper Bank and Charlie got to see the house.  It was better than I remembered but I had  hoped he would see that I did make an effort.  I am so glad to have Rogel and Lolita as our landlords and I think it will be a good thing.  They will make the transition easier for us.
After talking with them and coming back to the resort we got some dinner and sat up with Jen and Bill watching that new show on Discovery called preppers.  It was interesting because the whole show was completely subtitled in spanish.
We came back to the room and I opened up my facebook to find some very nasty posting from Charlie's brother on my Facebook.  It's difficult to face his anger over us choosing to move away like we did.  He is under the impression that anything he says we need to conform to and he also seems to think that I am the sole reason for the move and the sole responsibility for the move is on me.  He doesn't give Charlie any credit for wanting to move and yet,  I know that I wasn't the sole reason.  He hasn't figured out yet that I want my child to grow up with better morals and a better code to live by and be more respectful of what he has...This is truly what Belize can offer.  The people do not see the color of your skin nor do they have that sense of entitlement that just because a child is born you need to spend the rest of your life providing them with the "best" of everything.  Belizian's believe that you need a roof over your head to rest, a good meal to share, a christian belief that God is there and that you have only what you need, and God will provide.  I know this  isn't all Belizians but the majority of the ones I have encountered are this way.  I wish more Americans thought this way.  I also wish more Americans saw that their own freedoms are being taken away bit by bit in a government that seems to think they need to dip into so many areas of our lives, much like Charlie's brother who broke into our house without our permission thinking he had a sense of entitlement to do so.............hmmmm
Maybe I did leave the States for a good reason.....the only thing is that I do miss our good friends, they are hard  to come by!

Well, today is the day...we are expected to cross the boarder into Belize and our friends have all been warned that we should arrive today.   This will be a quick note because we want to get on the road.  We spent the night at a quality inn in Villahermosa.  The Inn is nice and has excellent views and good rooms. There is a really nice pool and the people seem genuine.  Tip ended up in a kennel last night which kind of upset CJ, again, Mexicans don't seem to understand how much Americans love their pets...We had stopped yesterday at a road side diner.  CJ and I ordered the "Hamburgeusa" or hamburgers.  I didn't like the texture of the meat and didn't eat all of mine because I am kind of picky about things like meat, they should taste like meat.  CJ ate his completely because he was hungry and then last night it happened, a full night of throwing up and me trying to not join him and Charlie cleaning up. (It's always been this way when the kids got sick Charlie learned to take care of it himself since I am so soft and start joining them on the toilet)....so today, while being a happy day, we are exhausted.  I can't wait to be in a familiar place tonight.  And we do so love spending time with Jen and Bill, truly nice and interesting people!  Onward to our new home!

Mexico, learning the fact, tolls, and hotels.....

Yesterday we passed over the boarder.  It took us 4 hours after entering to get everything straightened out.  It was something I am sure that in the future I will laugh about but right now.....hmmm.   We had gone, after crossing the boarder, several kilometers away and found out that we needed to go back to the bridge and get our permit for the car....what a mess!  We spent hours trying to get through the lines to finally have everything worked out and then drove as far as we could without a break for lunch or anything until we stopped in this little pueblo that had several "worn" motels and restaurants. It had been raining and trying follow directions in Spanish was tiring...At one point we had to make a really quick turn and almost slide off the side of the mountain!  (Bumper is slightly dented in but God is watching over us).
When we finally stopped at this small hotel. The funny thing is that CJ kept going on and on about how this wasn't a good hotel.  They took us in no questions in regards to the dog and then there was no internet and the motel was well worn.  You could see that at one time the place was beautiful, it had a court yard with cobblestones and the native floral that you expect to see in Mexico.  It even had a small swing set area.  The woman was nice when we checked in but you knew they believed in values because she asked me if we were married and wanted to see my wedding ring!  The room was so worn and needed work that initially we felt uncomfortable.  We went out to eat to a small Cocineria down the street called Mona Lisa..  We had the best meal by far for under $20 dollars and the room cost us only $300 pesos.
I have to say the most impressive thing about Mexico so far has been the view and the mountains!  I was so surprised after all I heard about Mexico to see such greenery and the mountains are gorgeous!  I am so glad we came here, I don't think I could ever walk away from Life without having seen such beautiful scenery!

Today we got up and started early, eating cereal in the car and trying to make up time for yesterday's fiasco. It was hard work trying to get further along and Charlie had decided that if we could we would attempt to make it to Pueblo and go on from there.  We were on the outskirts of Mexico city when we were pulled over by the police on motorcycles.  Needless to say, $600 American dollars flew out of our pockets and into the pocket of the policeman.....I truly was shaken (up) but it's all a learning adventure!  After they stopped us they were "nice" enough to tell us they would help us get out of Mexico city, they told us to follow them and they got us thoroughly lost and we spent hours trying to figure out how to get back on the road we wanted.  We were exhausted and then finally got to Pueblo after a long drive.  In Pueblo we stopped at a Holiday Inn and were registered and in our rooms when they came in and told us they needed us to leave.  They didn't want to let our dog stay after all.  What a contradiction these people are, they tell us they didn't want us there because the dog might make noise but then as we are leaving there is a big family partying on the steps of the motel making all kinds of noise.  We decided we were just going to keep on going until we couldn't go any further.  It was hard driving on the mountains at night but I did it with really thick fog and just keeping myself together.  I think I want to call Mexico Gods roller coaster, with  scary times on the side of a mountain feeling as though one wrong move and you could go flying off the side.
Finally we stopped and got the hotel to agree to give us a room if we left Tip in the car tonight.  I introduced Tip to the security guard who cautiously petted him.  Everyone here asks if Tip is a killer......it seems many Americans have brought guard dogs over and they are very frightened of dogs.  They automatically think we have him for protection and don't understand our love for the dog. Dinner tonight wasn't as good as last night , but we are tired and worn out......I think I am settling down enough to hit the sack but I am so glad we decided not to live in Mexico....I don't like the country as much as I thought I would!

Funny thing to think about on our way to the boarder

So, today we cross the boarder into Mexico.  Charlie came in a few minutes ago and  I looked at him as I was gathering our stuff together and he looked a little sick so I asked him what was wrong, he said "Our stuff, we have too much stuff!".  It hit me then that he was worried about carrying too much over into Mexico  in the back of the truck.  It's funny how much "stuff" we left behind us.  We had taken our "stuff" down to two mattresses , two sewing machines, two tv's, pots and pans (bare minimum), two desks and our personal belongings.  Even then it was amazing to us that we had 13 boxes of books...(we are avid readers) the majority was shipped from Houston and just the clothes, my paints, meds, and dog goods are in the back of the truck.  He was saying that although I had pared down the majority of my "stuff" it was still too much.  The really bad thing is that I think he was right......we do have too much stuff.  So little compared to some and so much compared to others.....how much "stuff" do you live with?  How much is really necessary?  I wonder about what I really need in that truck and what I am taking just because I have it.........That makes me think about other "stuff" that we are trying to leave behind us.  The emotional "junk" of having worked in a law practice for over 16 years and knowing that, I've carried other peoples "junk" around for years, voluntarily, yes, but I still need to let go.   Hmmm......funny thing about boarders, they make us think about our "junk"

Laredo

Well we are still in Texas...just for the night.  We stopped just outside the Laredo Airport, at a place called LeQuinta's .  Seems pretty nice after a day of driving, got something to eat and unloaded the truck.  I have to say today was so much easier than all the other days since we aren't lugging the trailer with us. When we were in Houston this morning we dropped off the goods to be shipped, dropped the U Haul off and then spent a few minutes with my cousin Todd and his wife, Jennifer.   I truly like them, they are good people and I was so grateful for them to put us up for the night!
My impressions of Texas are kinda weird.  One minute your in a major town and their are highways in the sky, the next minute you are traveling across miles and miles of what looks like barren land.  No towns, nothing but trees, cactus, and cattle.  It's so neat to realize that we've gone through  Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and now we are at the tip of  Texas....I think Texas is the flattest state and it's pretty in it's unique sky, barren but green land and the roughness of the life reminds me of Belize somewhat.   I am impressed with Texas more than I thought I would be.

Tomorrow we start the part of the journey that everyone seems think is the worst, going through Mexico.  I just feel like God is watching over us in so many ways...if I hadn't gotten sick I would have probably been traveling through Isaac, if we had left when we were supposed to I would have had the gall bladder attack on the road and if I hadn't hit the states when we did we would have incurred even more problems!

Good Morning from Houston.  It's been a bit of a race to get here' the main issue being that we needed to turn in our trailer today and drop off the items we are having shipped the rest of the way.  The one item that impresses me the most about Houston I have to say is the "Super" highways.  The highways are built on huge Pilons that make it seem as though your flying :-) per C J.  Its been a push but we made it here by Friday which we needed to do.  After dragging that trailer through mountains and hurricane states I am not sorry to drop it off today.  I so hope our stuff makes it to Copper Bank OK.

Going South

So far I had written about Belize and about our trip but I've never written about how we came about with the decision to move to Belize.  Besides the fact that the humidity is wonderful, that there isn't snow, that we will have a lagoon in the front yard, and that life would be slower and hence less stressful we have some primitive ideas that we would be useful to some of the people down there.
Sure it's great to move to a place that makes you feel healthy and able to do more than you can...but it's also a good place to stretch our wings and live with the idealistic thought that we may improve something about the area that we are moving to.  We are not going there as tourists........I want to volunteer in the school and Charlie would like to see what he could do for the government there.
The other point that I had wanted to discuss in this particular posting was an observation that I have spent more than several days, weeks or months coming to.  We had a big house, (now down to the three of us living there) and a big office.....we had a LOT of stuff.  In the course of moving we knew we needed to take ourselves down to the bare basics.....that only critical items could go.  I found myself looking at alot of what I had acquired over the years and there were items that I had associated certain feelings or memories to go with.  It was interesting that initially I was going through each item and saying to myself things like Mom gave me that so therefore I couldn't possibly get rid of it or that's something that was in the family to begin with .  You start to get impatient with yourself and wonder if you really NEED this item and come to the conclusion that you can have all these items, that materialistically they might mean something to you but suddenly you realize, how much you hold on to things they would never bring back that moment or even make that person that it makes you think of come back.  You really look at how we as people assimilate memories and there comes that heart breaking moment of realizing that all the "junk" you carry around it really "junk that it would never take you back to those memories and having the items don't really do anything for you......
hmmmmmmmm.  Well I am exhausted and I want to spend some time with my cousin and his family so I will sign off now...............