Home Sweet Home

Today I want to tell you a little bit about where I live.

If you walk down my street when it's quiet ( that would have to be before 7am) you'll see big potholes, unfinished pavements, rummaging stray dogs, rusting heaps of old vehicles, and a collection of ramshackle clapboard houses. Many of the houses stand precariously on stilts, and most look as if they haven't had a lick of paint since they were built. Weeds grow up underneath the houses, and you'd probably think that this was a ghost town, deserted after the last hurricane blew through and wreaked destruction.

Walk down an hour later, and the street will be buzzing with people hurrying to work, children dressed immaculately (girls with elaborately braided hair, in white school uniforms, boys in white shirts and pressed trousers) and on their way to school; streetsweepers, taxis, bikes, street vendors selling breakfast, and delivery vehicles. It's a mystery how these seemingly uninhabitable houses are really homes turning out normal people who have a purpose and a destination. Now you'll notice signs on some of the buildings indicating that they are small bnusinesses; Chinese restaurants, tyre repair shop, undertaker, beauty parlour.

My house is different to the others. Solidly built, painted white, gravel-drive lined with palm trees, manicured gardens and lush vegetation all around, and flowers in pots even along the fence. Insect screens on all the windows keep out all but the most determined tiny creatures, and my apartment is way more than I could have hoped for.

It's on the ground floor, and consists of a living room with a kitchen area, dining table and chairs, and a sofa. My bedroom has a comfy single bed with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, and an ensuite shower room. There are windows on every wall, so I can check what's going on all
around without stepping outside.

I have no aircon though I have a fan to keep me cool.

I don't have running hot water (I don't know many people in Belize City who do), but enough said for now - heating water and my daily routine can be another chapter!