First Impressions

Whether it is Saint Thomas, Saint John, Dominica, Grenada, Bequia, Boca Del Toros, or San Pedro Town you see Caribbean similarities immediately. Ambergris Caye is off the coast of Belize and runs along the second biggest barrier reef in the world with tourism its primary income stream. There are foreigners here who make their retirement dollars stretch but opportunity is in a rising real estate market, a chance to open a business where locals don’t have the money, education or desire to start one of their own. Waiting at the airport, the sun is dropping and I can hear reggae on boomboxes in little neighborhood bars where men play domino’s and women complain about other women. Coming back to the Caribbean is like coming home. Jack, my host, doesn’t get to the airport to pick me up but a taxi dispatcher at the airport uses his personal cell phone to call Jack since my cell phone doesn’t have service here. Jack asks him to call Orlando. The taxi dispatcher calls Orlando and Orlando picks me up in fifteen minutes and delivers me to the Chez Caribe. ” Glad to see you, ” Jack says, sitting on a couch on the bottom floor front porch in a T shirt, levis, flip flops and shaven head. I sit and listen as he practices ” La Bamba” on an old acoustic guitar and then get introduced to my room. It has a yellow green color scheme like my own house in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. It is small but will do fine. Being picky usually doesn’t have good consequences. I come from a land of manana, and, making the most of where I find myself is my normal plan of any day.