Joe,
I often think of you being in Belize. As a Green I prickled a bit by your comments about Greens in the essay Nine Billion Little Feet. No doubt I and other Greens are trying to save the world (planet and humanity).
Canada, I expect, will be in another election soon. The Harper government wants a vote of confidence to perpetuate the war in Afghanistan. Condi Rice is managing that campaign. An election as remote from affairs of the heart as any endeavour can be! I participate simply because I don't know what else to do.
You have rightly pointed out there is much to do close at hand with the people I meet everyday when I ride the bus, sit in the town square, make my rounds as TV lady at a hospital. Shite! But I could write volumes about the corporatization of health care. Sick people/patients are a money maker for the company I work for. Don't laugh.
Each time I make my rounds of the maternity ward and see the adorable babies and their not so adorable parents, I wonder about their future, how to educate them for a drastically changing culture/environment.
I, fortunately, will receive old age pension in October and will most certainly leave my job. Maybe retire in a third world locale where I can live on the old age pension. Strange to contemplate just being neighbourly. I'm sure I will experience withdrawal as I put aside the strong work ethic.
Not much to say really. I just wanted to connect and add that reading your articles helps me stay strong. Thanks. If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then maybe I'm not crazy. Or we are both looney tunes.
Almost forgot, I wanted to know about the water supply. Is there enough potable water for the people of Belize? Where I live in Canada we are particularly water conscious as we fight the fight to get the plastic water bottles out of our town.
Ellen
Canada
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Ellen,
If we are both looney tunes, I am happy to be in your fine company.
Regarding the Greens, I tend to be referring to the American Greens I know, and even then I should not generalize so much. There are many fine people among them, but their leadership here seems to be full of themselves. Which seems to be what happens when people rise to the fore of a group.
I also reach retirement age in October and will get a small social security check -- enough to sustain me here in Belize if I am careful. So feel free to come down and we can make mad insect bitten love on the beach and stay drunk on cashew wine.
Seriously though, as I constantly try to tell people, this place ain’t heaven. Not even close. It just happens to suit my Neanderthal tastes.
Regarding potable water, my impression is that it depends upon where you choose to live. As near as I can tell, the best and most plentiful water is in the least desirable, most remote places, such as mountainous jungle. Here along the coastal beaches, the damned stuff is wretched -- full of sewerage seeping into ground water, etc. Unless of course you happen to live in an expensive condo development with a water treatment plant. But I could be wrong, and surely someone will write and tell me I am full of shit. Most likely a rich retired American or Canadian.
In art and labor,
Joe
