We usually start our day by walking to the market. The market is about 7 blocks from our temporary house. We are here until December so we had to find an apartment for December until April.
Mom being her usual worry wort needed for us to find a place right away. So we looked at a few places. One was a lower level of a house. It was a two bedroom and had a huge new king size bed in the master bedroom, but the bathroom was a bit icky and the shower was plugged and the man was trying to unplug it. It was not the cleanest and it had no security bars on the windows. Which is weird cause the upstairs apartment had security bars but the one easier to break into on the bottom had none. There was a fence around it but only half of it was 7 ft tall the back half of it was only 5 ft tall so easy to jump over. Everyone has advice as you know and one lady told us to be sure to get an apartment or house with a fence and security bars on all the doors and windows. I guess considering that there is some poverty here mom and dad thought that would be some good advice. So although that house was only $350 a month we went looking some more. We looked at a REALLY NICE apartment on the second floor but sadly that one was not furnished so we are out of luck there because buying furniture to leave behind in 6 months is silly my mom says.
We then looked at another apartment two bedroom with security bars but the yard was pretty small for me and overgrown so who knows what would be hiding in the grass? This one was furnished to for only $450 a month. But the yard scared me a bit, and we were quiet a ways away from the market and any stores so thank goodness we never took that one. We had a tip on a 'suite' in a hotel so thinking suite you think kitchen living area, bedroom bathroom right? Wrong it was just a really big bedroom no place to cook no balcony so that was a definite No. One think mom insists on is way to go sit outside, she spends a lot of time outside, being stuck inside is not her idea of a good time!
So then we went to check out a tip that a indie man that ran a furniture store had rentals, this man did have some rentals. The one he showed us was a HUGE 4 bedroom apartment it has to be at least 2500 sq ft is not bigger. It has two full bathrooms (one of the bathrooms is as huge about 20'x30' the walk in shower is 10'x15') and two terraces and 3 balconies. There are lots of security bars on all the windows and doors and it is on the second floor. It is actually the whole second floor of the building, under the apartment is a restaurant. Would not want to have to heat the monster in Canada but here you only need power and water. It is way to big for us in reality, but the price was right only $650 a month furnished, it is a bit more expensive than the first two ground floor apartments but it is worth paying the extra for peace of mind, and there is tons of room for guests if we get company. Plus it is right on the bay of Corozal. When I say right on the bay I mean you sit on your balcony and only see water you can not see the ground under the balcony it is very cool. Also it is just 3 blocks from the market and downtown shopping is only a block away. So we rented that one. It needs a real good cleaning cause no one has lived in it for awhile but he said someone will go in and clean it and if it is not clean enough we can hire someone for $15 a day to clean it for us.
It was a lot easier to find a place to rent than mom expected. Dad is always pretty laid back and does not worry to much about it though so he never stresses like mom does.
So we have to get some dishes and sheets and things for the apartment. We have been checking around a bit to see prices. Some places the price of things is just the same as living in Canada if you buy stuff at the dollar store back home. There is no Dollar store here though so that is sad, there should be. So we are checking out the price of things. Today we are going to the A&R store someone says they have a lot of stuff. We have also been told that it is cheaper to shop in Chetumal in Mexico across the boarder and then someone else will tell us it is not because we have to pay import tax on everything we buy there, so we have mixed reviews on that one. So if we can find everything cheap enough here in Corozal we will purchase it here. We made a deal with the man we rented the apartment from to buy our coffee maker and toaster half price so that is great. Not sure if there is a second hand store here to purchase dishes or not we have to ask around about that one. Most people are very very nice so it is easy to find things out.
One thing you don't really realize when your in a place that has a lot of fresh tap water is the amount of water you drink and use for cooking. One of those blue water jugs at home on a water cooler will last sometimes a week even two at home but here they last two days at the most. Plus mom and dad drink way more water cause it is hot. The lady we are renting from currently says that the town water is chlorinated so should be safe to drink the town people drink it. Mom says she is going to boil it for drinking water when we move into the apartment just to be safe, cause she does not want to lug a big water jug every two days to the apartment, as we will probably only have one or two jugs at a time because there is a $35 deposit on the jugs but a refill it is only $2.50. Dad saw a water delivery service so maybe we can check out the cost on that.
Shopping at the market is sometimes hard for mom cause she wants to be fair to everyone. She has three vendors she likes so she tries to buy something from all three of them when we go. Yesterday we went to buy our meat from the butcher at the market but he was not there so we have to go back to the market today for our meat.
Mom wanted to make baked beans but we can not find molasses anywhere so far. Most things we have found though and we still have not checked out all the stores by far! The thing I like best is that all the stores let me come in with mom and dad and everybody loves me :-D, I am starting to get used to people wanting to touch me. Kind of resigned myself to it, cause everyone wants to touch me. But do not try and come up to me in my yard or my house I Will Still Tear You Apart! Don't think I have gone soft or anything like that! Okay no laughing allowed!!
We went to the Chinese restaurant across the street on Friday and mom and dad ordered Fried Chicken it was $2.50 each and was better than Kentucky Fried Chicken mmm mmm mmm. Hamburgers there are only $1.50 each so next time we will try them. We are still looking for somewhere to buy fry jacks though.
Pop seems a bit more expensive but I guess it is not it is just the same price as back home. Mom buy Cherry Juice for .50 cents a bottle she says it is really good. The bologna is really tasty here and so are the hot dogs and cheap too, $1 per package. Plus the Happy Cow cheese mom loves is .75 a package.
So we are looking forward to going to the A&R store today. Will keep you posted on how that goes.
Sniff ya later.
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