Summer in Belize
Date: 24 November 2004

Greetings from Belize! Yes, we are still here, alive and well. I know it has been a long time since we last shared our trials and tribulations in the 3rd world, but after nearly 3 years of it, it all becomes so normal that the adventure becomes mundane. Looking back, we have as many new stories to tell as ever (and life hasn't gotten any easier), but we've fallen behind in our online journal -- we're too busy living our lives to write about them. ;-) We've adjusted quite a bit to this simple way of life. The children are flourishing at school, which resembles the one room school houses our great-grandmothers used to attend. We have been hinting to the children that we might move to another place, and they have let us know that they like it right where they are. But this little town is a bit too small for making any money, and I have been spending a good bit of time travelling to and from Honduras with my satellite internet business.

In the last six months, I've been to Honduras about a dozen times, both on the mainland and the Bay Islands, particularly Roatan. Honduras is much more developed and has about 10 times the population that Belize has -- and the countries are about the same size. Importing goods into Honduras is a breeze compared to Belize, and after I posted a couple pages on the web about satellite internet in Honduras, I have been getting lots of inquiries. My passport ran out of pages I had so many stamps into and out of foreign countries.

Lila, the children, and I flew back to the States & Canada at the end of the summer. We spent a couple weeks visiting family in Los Angeles, Montreal, and Quebec City. What a culture shock it is these days to return to the land of malls, skyscrapers, museums, restaurants, and all the trappings of 'civilization'. It is nice to get back to reality from time to time, but it's becoming harder to tell what that is.

Travelling through the States has become something out of the mind of George Orwell. "Papers, please." "For your own safety, inappropriate language will result in your arrest." "For your own safety, we will be checking through your things every chance we get." "For your own safety, please follow me into the examination room." At least be honest -- it is not for MY safety but for THEIR safety, because when I say, "Oh, don't worry about me, I am willing to take my own chances," they say, "it's for you own safety, sir," and I say, "no really, I'm fine," "SERGEANT!" And the Transport Security Agency employees look the same (and make the same wages) as the employees of McDonald's -- and are just about as excited to be alive -- who is going to protect me from them? We have seen the enemy, and it is us. It's good to be back here where nobody (particularly Americans) believes anything the US government says. ;-) Of course, the Belizean government's reputation for honesty is non-existent...

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow we are going to the Gringo Gathering which is held every month. All the ex-pats bring food and we all eat and talk. There were about 70 people last Thanksgiving. No offense to the many retirees here, but I wish there were a few more younger folks around. A couple new families have moved to Corozal Town in the last year, so we have some new friends we can relate to.

We've been considering moving to San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye. There is more computer business there, and I have been offered a sushi-chef job at Fido's. If not San Pedro, I think we may get on the road again and do some travelling to Honduras and visit Guatemala along the way. Probably after ringing in the New Year we'll know more about our future here. There are so many online businesses to get into, we are looking at all the possibilities. Of course, most of the big moneymakers are not the sort of things we want to do, and what we'd like to do, doesn't really pay much. The same for 'offline' careers, eh? But Lila is beefing up her yoga web site, and my Liberty Quotes site has been going through a few changes. We have about 5000 subscribers to the daily Liberty Quotes email list -- I hope to double it by the end of next year.

Add us to your 'buddy list'! For those of you who are into Instant Messaging (IM), you can contact us through MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger -- our sign in names are:
MSN: xyz@telemanage.ca
Yahoo: ericnumeric

We have SO many pictures it has slowed us down trying to sift through them for our next newsletter. But we have been postponing for so long that I just wanted to pass along our Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes to all our friends and family before the seasons yet pass again! We'll post some new pictures soon.

In case you missed them, you can go to our web site to read our past newsletters:
http://centre.telemanage.ca/img/pix.nsf/web/Belize1

From our family to yours, all the best to you! Cheers,

-Eric, Lila, Cheyenne, and Lakota Schaub

Next Newsletter - 22 April 2005, Going South

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