We Take Our Hammock Sitting Seriously ...

It has been a while since my last post, and for that I apologize.  It felt a bit like I had settled in, almost to a point of monotony. That isn't all bad, I am retired after all, the whole point here is I don’t’ “have” to do anything. And boy I’m getting exceptionally good at doing nothing.

But that is “nothing” in a healthy sense. If you ever need to relax, lower your blood pressure, find some place to meditate, consider your life, I can’t recommend the Caribbean, specifically this place, enough.

I am elevating hammock sitting on an over the water dock to an art form. So to let you know what is happening in this corner of the world, otherwise known as paradise:

Well first, one of my favorite bar/restaurants closed. I’m not always sure of the veracity of the stories I hear but what I've heard is the mother of the owner, who is from the UK, has fallen ill and he has decided to return to England.

The Purple Space Monkey has been in existence for 12 years in one form or another and seemed to have survived a few owners and a fire to become a relatively stable village staple. Good food, wonderful staff, good drinks. One of the very few places you could get a Belikin on draft.

When the owner decided to sell, in swooped Caldwell Banker Real Estate. They are selling most of the properties at Sanctuary Belize, a very upscale development in the area. I’m not really sure of the reasoning for Caldwell Banker to choose this property although it does put them on the main road right next to two other real estate offices. But they are apparently going to take a good restaurant property and enclose it to make an office building with a bar out front. I don’t know, maybe expats with a lot of money are looser with the checkbook after a few drinks.

The last few days at PSM were bittersweet, one less place your likely to run into friends for a drink while in the village, separate from the bigger beach bars. It was cool to see many of the local business owners, including restaurant and bar owners coming in for a meal and drinks and to say goodbye.

The Staff at Purple Space Monkey

The staff is going off in different directions, some will be working at other local bars, the chef Rick is building his own restaurant up the main road a piece, not sure when it will be built and operational.

Personally,  I’m sorry to no longer be able to get a Pizza at PSM, it was really quite good, and I loved a Monkey Mud Slide as a dessert drink.

In other news, at the cabanas where I live it has been fun  we seem to be forming a little community. Just about every afternoon and evening, some or all of us will end up on the dock, lounging in the newly purchased hammocks, exchanging stories about our day, telling each other what new we’ve learned about living in Placencia as an expat and learning about where we all came from. Mostly we’re just becoming professional hammock sitters.

There is Doc, he’s from Texas, a retired veterinarian and an author. He has published four books of short stories about vet life and has a fifth being edited for publication. His long term plan is to live here almost permanently, having just bought a piece of property but  he does go back to the states to travel to several very large stock shows where he has a booth to sell his books. Although his wardrobe now is shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops, it doesn’t take much to imagine him in boots, spurs and cowboy hat. You can check out his books and his website here.

There is Cruz, a former software engineer form Chandler, Arizona who just decided the Caribbean life was for him, so he sold everything and came on down. Long term he’ll likely buy or build a home here or in another Central American country,  and who knows, may start his own business. Don’t let him fool you though, in addition to being an engineer he is quite the dancer, ballroom style, western swing. You can often find him in one of the local watering holes cutting a rug and making several of us less than graceful types look reasonably okay on the dance floor.

Dan is the most recent addition to our little “community”, a former truck driver from Phoenix, Arizona who after a medical scare, retired and decided he could better afford life here and could avoid all that traffic.

John and Donna have lived here longer than the rest of us, they own the 2 Can Be Sweet coffee shop and bakery on the sidewalk. Donna makes those amazing cinnamon rolls I’ve previously raved about. They plan on moving and expanding their business a bit, less baked goods and more breakfast and lunch food in a new building on the main road. Right now they are in Guatemala on their newly purchased sailboat that after hurricane season they will bring up and anchor here to live on.

Finally we have Mike, a business owner from Kansas City, Missouri, who while back in the states right now will be back soon. He is building and opening a fishing charter business, in partnership with a local Belizean boat captain and fishing guide. Looks like he’ll be very successful. Hoping I might get a chance to go fishing with  him.

L to R: Dan, Doc and Cruz, cleaning fresh fish from the Co-op before grilling, it was excellent.

There is still one cabana unoccupied, you should come down and try out the hammock sitting job. There is always a breeze on our little dock, in fact sometimes it seems almost gale force winds but even then it is still comfortable and beautiful.

Next week I’m off to Utila for a week of diving with friends. Can’t wait to see Greg, Paula and Sandra. Besides the diving, Greg is checking out some homes there,  maybe I should get him to write a guest blog post about his trip to Utila and Placencia. After diving he’s visiting with me up here, checking out the local bars and restaurants and getting to enjoy the annual Lobsterfest.

Next post will include, ferry, taxi, bus and small plane rides to get to and from Honduras and an overnight stay in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.