Legal issues in the US

Watch out as I'm digressing big time.   Here, living in the bush, my news feed is the internet.  There's something really satisfying to be outside, looking in, but it's also very disturbing to read about the craziness that seems to be taking over our beloved country.  Living in Belize with a much more basic lifestyle and few laws dictating every breath we take, gives me an interesting comparison.  Some view Belize as a dangerous country as they hear murder statistics.  Yes, there is violence here, as there is everywhere in the world, but the greatest share is in the City.  I can't say with authority where and why, but I do know that we don't feel threatened here, but rather feel watched over by our village and neighbors. 


Today, the news was about a case before the Supreme Court in the US, deciding how the police are supposed to treat a mentally challenged person who is threatening others.  GIVE ME A BREAK!  If a person is a danger to others, who has the rights?  How do the police determine that a person has a mental issue?  Will every criminal with a rifle in hand holler, "I'm mentally challenged", and you have to treat them specially?  That's what's really insane.  More and more it seems that the criminals have all the rights while everyone else is just a victim.  People want and expect the police and the laws to protect them and give them justice, but there the laws themselves seem to be the crime.  I can't imagine anyone, unless they have a death wish themselves, wanting to become a police officer.  They have to know and juggle so many laws while being diplomats, always in the view of the public with their cellphone cameras.  How many of us could survive that constant scrutiny?  Now they might be called upon to be psychologists or psychiatrists to be able to judge the person they're facing who doesn't really care.  Every criminal will be laughing at all of us, claiming a mental issue.  Heck, we're all a little crazy to put up with all this BS. 


We're hearing more and more from disenfranchised folks in the US and Canada saying that they want to get out.  They're confused, saddened and frustrated with the direction things are headed and the futility of it changing. 


We live outside the US for economic reasons.  We can afford to live our little life here on our social security.  We do return to the US once a year for medical reasons.  More and more as we're in the downward end of our lives, we're questioning whether to return to the US or remain in our peaceful, simple life here in the bush. 

Trooper - AGAIN

Boy, this is really getting to be almost too much.  We keep the old Trooper as a backup vehicle and to have a car here, even when the truck is gone.  It's also part of Rene's pay that he can take it every-other weekend so they can do their errands and shopping.  He had to take his wife, Bonita to Melchor, Guat. to see the Dr. on Saturday.  He took the car to Benque and they walked across the border and took a taxi to the clinic.  I had a call from him that the clutch went out on the Trooper-AGAIN.  This could make this old girl (me) get even older really fast.  I quickly phoned Chindo and asked for his help.  He sent one of his fellows with me to get the car going.  I told him I could go by myself, but all I could do would be look at the darned thing, kick it and maybe swear.  Actually, I can't even swear as Rene is quite religious and I don't want to offend him.  We stopped in San Ignacio to get a clutch slave cylinder and then off we went to Benque. 


I digress here as we all get quite frustrated when we have to go to Benque as it is quite close to us here, but there isn't a road south of Bullet Tree that crosses the river.  We have to travel back east to San Ignacio and then back west on the Western Hiway to thru Succotz to Benque on the border.  The whole trip was probably 20 miles.  The mechanic bro't a large piece of cardboard, slid under the car and made the repair.  It didn't take much more than 15 minutes.  Bonita and I chatted while the fellows took charge of the repairs.  Once running again, I told Rene we'd follow him home to be sure that nothing else happened.  We left the Trooper at the shop as they discovered some missing bolts on the transmission.  They even delivered the car up to our place the next day.  It's such a blessing to me as Art no longer drives, so this car shuttling gets tricky.  Now for the good part.  I was gone from home a total of two hours, most of which I was accompanied by the mechanic and our labor bill was $30bz.  The cylinder was $70bz, so we got off exceedingly cheaply.  Thank goodness as I have to license the old thing this month too to the tune of $200bz for a year.  Here's hoping all the lights etc. work in case they inspect her. 

Car repairs

I guess the powers that be got tired of hearing me whine about our transportation problems because we now have both cars sitting in our parking area, raring to go.  After a couple of false starts, the Trooper clutch seems to be cooperating.  Smooth!  After thinking he had a new valve body for the Tundra pickup, Chindo found another used one somewhere, and fixed it just for the price of the parts.  Sure can't complain about that.  We'd already dropped a chunk of change with him for the initial work on the transmission, so this sure made us happy.  After over a month of dinking around with not being able to trust the truck, it's great to have it back. 


I have to say that living here can be a challenge to our patience, but the other side of that coin is that we've also met lots of really nice people. 

I'm back with a new (to me) computer)

I've been so frustrated since my previous computer died.  This makes three in five years.  The humidity is a killer.  I was so fortunate that my dear friend, Diane, had an old Dell laptop that she wasn't using.  I had to have some work done on it, but was able to limp along.  I just checked an realize that I already regaled everyone with my computer issues.  Anyway, I'm now in possession of my slightly used Acer, which was carried down by another dear friend.  When you buy on eBay, from a pawn shop, I was worried I'd be disappointed.  I'm so excited that it's even better than I hoped.  The price was great and it's in terrific shape.  I just wish my signal was as good, but when you live on the fringes, you take what you can get. 


We're still struggling with car problems.  After spending a bunch on the Tundra transmission, it's worse than ever.  There's only one shop in Cayo that works on transmissions, and he's frustrated about getting the parts.  He now thinks it needs a "valve body".  He located a used one in Crooked Tree, which is north of Belize City and had it bro't down.  Wouldn't you know, it was for the smaller Tundra.  Pooh!  Now our truck is up on a hoist and it may never come down.  I was almost in tears when the clutch gave up at the same time on our old Trooper.  It now has a new main cylinder, but, it just locked up on me again.  Can you hear me screaming up there in the States?  I managed to get it back to the shop where they bled the brakes (???) put in more fluid and it's working for now.  I just had to attach a hanging bit on the bumper with a zip tie, but I'm not complaining about it's looks or dependability.  With 300k really hard miles on it, you have to love the poor old thing.  We're all getting old and worn, but we just keep trudging along. 


Bailey update.  For those who know and love our dear old dog, I want to let you know that he's made a huge improvement.  I was preparing myself to have to say goodbye to him, but he's responded even better than we expected to the treatments.  He's actually more like he was when he was a lot younger.  He's ragging on the pups, chasing his tail (what's left of it) and being much more active.  He's still losing dead hair, but I can tell it's because the new hair is coming in.  A month on an antibiotic, vitamin C and a daily dose of Cod Liver Oil seems to be the answer to his immune system failure.  Whatever, we're so thankful.  It's going to take a few months for him to have his beautiful coat back, but he's beautiful to us.  Blessings

Missing family at Christmas

Coming from the Northwest, it's very strange to be in the tropics during the holidays.  I know our family thinks it's great that we're having sun and warm weather now, but for us it brings home the fact that we're not "home" for the holidays.  We have a wonderful card on the wall from my brother and sister-in-law of their dogs in the snow and I so wish I could be there to share the fun.  If we ever are able to go back we'll have to put coats on our Setters as their hair is thin and they crave the heat. 

In the States we've all moaned the fact that Christmas starts so early with decorations and music popping up on the heals of Thanksgiving.  It does seem to be overly commercial, but when you're away from it all you realize that you miss the color, the music and the joy of Christmas.  I miss having people wish a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays with a smile .  The small things like putting what you can in the Salvation Army container and seeing the kids so excited.  Here it's almost a non-event.  There are a few decorations around, but none of the warmth and joy of Christmas.  No one says "merry Christmas" or even felize navidad (?) ( I still don't speak Spanish).  

We are blessed with wonderful friends down here and will share in Christmas dinner with a large group.  We always have a good time and share terrific food when we get together. 

Of course, the main thing we miss so much is to be able to share hugs and the beauty of the holidays with our family.  Both our kids are having huge struggles and I wish we could give them our love in person and had the means to alleviate some of their trials.   Christmas isn't just about jingle bells and red ribbons, it's about love and goodwill and the story of Christmas.  I just wish the whole world had more of it in their hearts now and all year long.  Anyway,    MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR to anyone who happens to stumble upon my ramblings.      Blessings

Computer problems

It seems the only things I have to write about are problems and that's not really what Belize is all about.  It's beautiful here with wonderful people, but our reality right now is dealing with problems.  I haven't been posting for a couple of reasons.  First, I hate to be negative all the time, but the real reason is the computer.  In the 5+ years that we've lived here full-time, I've lost three laptops.  The first was a Dell, which I bo't especially to have here with it's 17" screen and lots of bells and whistles.  In less than a year it died and I got absolutely no help from Dell because I had the nerve to take it out of the US.  My wonderful cousin then shipped me a new ASUS.  I did get a couple of years out of that one, but it also failed.  Last May, when we went to Oregon I bo't a refurbished HP.  It gave up the first of November.  The humidity here is killer on electronics.  I cover the computer every night with a thick towel to try to help and have it on a tray for air circulation, but to no avail.  The problem with all of them is that if one part fails it takes the whole system with it.  The Dell had a design flaw with the webcam, but it was all necessary for the initializing process.  They all have one large circuit board inside, so the problem area can't be bypassed or replaced.  Pooh!

My dear friend, Diane, is in Florida right now, but she is letting me use an old Dell that has been in her closet for a bit.  It's so old it actually had Vista as an operating system.  I've had a lot of trouble with it too (maybe it's really just me).  It took it to Sergio, who has a place in San Ignacio and is terrific with computers.  He's the one who tried to resurrect my HP.  Besides being so slow and unable to connect, the keyboard went wonky and started typing on it's own.  Freaky!  He literally stripped it down, took off Vista and installed Windows 7 and disabled the keyboard.  I bo't a USB keyboard and am limping along.  I suspect my router is also giving up the ghost.  When I want to use the computer I plug it directly into the repeater.  When I want to use the Kindle, I plug in the repeater.  Go figure!  I'm definitely technologically challenged, but am making it work.

I'm really missing the DVD drive on the computer as our little stereo also quit working, so I can't play Christmas music.  There are definitely some disadvantages to living in the bush on limited funds.  

With all our car repairs and limited funds, I've been searching for a new computer.  Sergio suggested an ACER, as they're the only ones that seem to be effectively sealed against the humidity.  He hasn't had one in his repair shop for these problems.  I looked at Amazon and BestBuy and checked the reviews.  For every great review, I'd see someone saying that they got their new computer home and it didn't work, right out of the box.  Living in this tiny country, where it can take months to get something here, that wasn't very reassuring.  I ended up taking a huge chance.  I went on eBay and found exactly what I was looking for a about 1/3 of the price I would pay for a one new.  Actually this one has more storage and speed than I needed.  It's from a pawn shop in Detroit.  Scarey!  I ran it by Sergio and his comment was that they don't lend on a computer that doesn't work, so I put in my bid and won.  I had it sent to a friend in Colorado who is coming down in January.  She isn't any more adept at computers than I am, but she said she plugged it in and it connected to the internet just fine, so I'm crossing my fingers that in January, I'll be good to go again. 

I suspect that my problems aren't all the fault of the computer.  This repeater is less than reliable, so may have to reactivate the satellite and probably get a new router.  My internet connection is as important as food as I couldn't stand being so far away and not be able to connect with family and friends. 

Anyway, I'm delighted to be able to get and receive emails and even Skype with this old computer, so my holiday spirit is surviving.   Blessings and Merry Christmas

Bailey's problem

Our poor, lovely old Akita, Bailey, is really suffering.  His hair is so thick with a very dense undercoat.  This has always worried us, but it seemed to serve as an insulation.  He's now either 11 or 12 years old, so is fairly old for such a large dog.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that he lost a patch of hair on his back, which I attributed to fleas.  We've fought that problem with all three dogs.  We finally got my order of Stronghold from the UK, which seems to have alleviated the flea problem for this month.  We had a vet out to our farm and after he took skin scrapings and had them analyzed, they determined that it's actually a fungus.  Not surprising as we've had a lot of rain periodically, followed by heat.  We're not alone in this fight, but that fact doesn't help our poor old guy.  The vet gave us medicine to make a spray, which helped the first spot, where the hair is regrowing, but his hair is now falling out in huge clumps and he has black patches on his usually pink skin.  I use a ferminator to strip out the dead hair and I fear that he'll soon be bald.  Actually the vet suggested that we shave him down, but we've had such cold nights that we don't want to as we're afraid he'll get too cold. 

Rene looked at Bailey when he was working and suggested we prepare a bath for him of Ix-canon (Red head polly).  It's a common plant here that grows in cleared areas.  I checked it out in "100 Rainforest Remedies" and they determined that it has antibacterial and antifungal properties.  I collected the leaves and tore them into little pieces, trying to crush as much as possible.  By adding water, it made a tea type bath.  We have a large, shallow watering trough that I bo't especially to bathe the dogs.  In the book they suggest you actually boil it for tea, but we needed too much, so he told me to make it a day ahead and then pour it over Bailey, and even leave some of the leaf material on the sore spots.  Mayan medicine often uses the term "one-in-one-out" meaning every other day, so that is what I'm trying to do.  This seems to give him the most relief.  The vet, Eduardo, is local and he agreed that the Ix-canon is a good remedy. 

The vet now feels that Bailey's immune system is shutting down as his body seems to almost be shooting the hair off.  We're supplementing his food with vitamin C and cod liver oil and he's been given antibiotic shots.  Today he actually seems to have lots more energy, but he's starting to look old.  Our poor daughter just had to have her beloved dog, Shadow, put down and we fear that if Bailey can't fight this off, we'll have to follow suite.  This is a really tough climate for dogs, but especially for double coated dogs.  I hope after the holidays we'll have good news to report as we're sure not giving up on our wonderful friend and family member.  Blessings and keep your fingers crossed. 

Life in the tropics

In so many ways, Belize is paradise.  Right now, it's sunny, but relatively cool.  At night we sometimes have to add a light blanket to ward off the cold.  During the day it usually hovers around 80 F.  We could actually use some rain, but we're not complaining.  The big down side here is the humidity.  We have a couple of issues that are causing us concern.

We're fighting an almost impossible battle with fleas.  We had a few tiny showers and now sunshine and high humidity make dogs a petrie dish for fleas.  Everyone we talk to is dealing with the same battle and no one, including the vets, has an answer.  We've tried everything from Frontline to Revolution and several in between, with negligible results.  I've ordered Stronghold from the UK, which is Revolution over there.  It's been two months since I ordered and the shipping is delayed so still not here.  SCREAM!  I'm spraying the dogs with Adams, giving them flea baths and we're spraying the yard.  All we can do is repeat every few days and hope we finally give them some relief.  Poor Bailey, of course, is the worst.  I was brushing him to try to pull out some of the undercoat, when a huge patch of hair started pulling lose from his back.  It turned out to be a flea nest.  He's literally covered with fleas.  It's a wonder he hasn't gone crazy, poor old dear.  Being an 11 year old Akita in Belize, isn't easy.  

An additional frustrating problem for us right now is repairs on everything.  A few days ago we had one of those days you hope doesn't come along very often.  The transmission went out in the truck, the cross or u-joint went out in the Trooper, our big weedeater had an issue and the word is that my computer is trash.  I handled this depressing news by getting most of my hair cut off and Art and I went to lunch to talk about how to handle all of this.  All we can do is to trudge ahead and hope for the best.  The good thing is that, here in Belize, car repairs are handled quickly and MUCH cheaper than in the U.S.  Perfecto only charged $40bz to change the u-joint and then we need all new bushings in the back.  Each shop here specializes in certain repairs so the truck is in a different shop.  I know the news won't be as generous there.  We keep the old Trooper as backup, but hard when they die at the same time.  Anyway, we're handling things and not letting them get us down.  I find that using my KIndle for email is really SLOW, but I'm grateful that I have it.  To replace the clutches in the transmission and repairing a motor in the 4x4 cost $2k bz.  Ouch!  We can blame these car problems, mostly on the horrible roads.  There is a small light in the rough road tunnel, in that the government finally sent a grader and roller to smooth out some of the holes in Paslow Falls Rd.,  We're still waiting for the truckloads of gravel that were promised, but we imagine it will be several years before they appear.  Promises here are liket the wind, made and blown away.  

My computer is another problem.  The screen died and I was told that it can't be replaced as it's imbedded in the whole machine.  They heated the chip (?) and it worked for a couple of days and then quit again.  This time I was told it's a lost cause.  The humidity did it again.  Well darn.  This is my third computer in 5 years.  A Dell (never again), an ASUS, and now an HP.  I got to thinking about the humidity issue and decided I had nothing to lose, so set the laptop upside down on the railing, in the sun.  When I picked it up a few hours later, it was almost hot enough to burn my hands.  Voile!  It worked.  I've had to do it a couple of times with mixed results.  I also put it under a bed pillow at night to keep it from absorbing more moisture.  We don't really have windows, just screens, so we have no control over the humidity.  This isn't a problem for us, just for electronics.  Time will tell how much continued success I'll have with my solution, but for today, it's working.  

I guess wherever you are there are good things and bad.  We would like to be able to sell and return to the US for medical reasons and to spend time with family, but that doesn't seem to be on our horizon.  We'll just sit on our veranda and watch the birds, listen to the howler monkeys and thank the Lord that we're both still able to function.  Blessings. 

Belize's social conscience?

I've been pondering several situations here that are disturbing and have had me questioning people's motives.  To live in a country other than where you've grown up you have to agree to accept that things aren't going to look or feel the same as what you've known.  We agreed when we moved down full-time that this isn't the US, nor would we really want it to be.  Some of the lovely simpler ways appealed so much to our beaten up psyche's.  We were looking for and found a quieter, simpler way to live.  

I appreciate so many of the villagers, their warm smiles and "hello miss," greetings.  Actually I'm also called "mommy" which is a sign of respect to an older woman.  Gosh it's hard to be that old, but reality and the mirror let me know it's the truth.  I feel safe here and do feel that many keep a watch out for us, knowing that we're alone on our hill.  Stepping back tho', now that I have more time for contemplation, I find I have to turn my back on so many things in order to continue surviving in our insulated environment. 

We have friends who live in the village and are under huge stress because of the insensitivity of others.  Our friend, David, is extremely ill and several neighbors know, but are uncaring about his illness.  They play extremely loud music all day and into the night.  To most Belizeans, music must be played at the loudest volume that their speaker will stand.  When asked to keep it a little lower,  one neighbor responded with "but it's my music and I like it loud."  This is actually a recurring response everywhere here.  Loud music seems to be the norm and even tho' there are supposedly laws to at least force them to shut down at night, they are regularly ignored.  You can often hear the boom, boom of the base all thru the night.  

A huge frustration, here in Bullet Tree, is the relentless noise of the stream of Guatemalan trucks traveling from the Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout through the village and up Calla Creek road to Guatemala carrying the precious commodities that should be here for the betterment of Belizeans.  This route lets them bypass the customs checks at the Benque border.  There is a checkpoint here in the village that supposedly checks cattle for disease or ??, but we see envelopes changing hands and have heard that this is with Minister's approval.  Of course that means greasing palms and it's OK.  These trucks are noisy, with most not realizing or caring that they can and should turn off their Jake brakes on the flat in the village, so their speed and noise can keep having face to face conversations come to a halt until they pass.  The dust created by their speed, coats everything.  Up here on our hill the sound is faint as they are passing on the other side of the river, but I still resent how this is destroying the comfort of so many in order to line the pockets of a few.

Besides the noise, the road through the village is constantly eroding, making a trip of even 10 mph seem horribly uncomfortable.  The Mennonites don't feel at all responsible and the village is lucky if the government agrees to grade the dirt road more that once every couple of years.  

The examples of the uncaring attitude of the "haves" for the "havenots" is so extreme here and goes on and on.  From the hollow promises of government workers and officials who will promise to make things better in exchange for a vote, to the supposed pastors who exhort the poor folks to give to support the church and to find that all the money collected here and from outside the country to help the poor, just goes to let the pastor drive a new vehicle or have a nice house, but the struggles of the parishioners go unheeded.  

These and many more examples have made me try to fathom what is so different here.  As an outsider I feel that there is a huge difference here regarding our feeling of personal space and responsibility.  As Americans from the US, we're overly apologetic of what we have and our responsibility of trying to make the world a better place.  It's hard to "butt out."  Here I find that it's more every man for himself, even when it comes to family and friends.  There's a general selfishness that precludes everything, allowing family members to turn their backs on others if it means giving up their time or worse yet, their money, to assist. 

 It's hard to disagree with the young who want to move to the US for a "better life" but even when given education support to study abroad, almost none return to help their homeland survive.  

Belize is so proud of being independent now for 33 years, but I don't think that they see that they are slowly sinking into a hole from which I don't think they can recover.  They're abandoning their goal of being a "green" haven to siphoning off all the funds into the hands of a few politicians and rather than improving the infrastructure to allow for responsible growth, they go for the fastest under the table situation.  It's so sad as Belize is a beautiful country that could be a shining light throughout Central America and the Caribbean, but probably won't survive the greed and insensitivity of the culture. 

Dreamer farm retreat

As I sit on the veranda this morning I'm struck by the absolute silence. ( Not having neighbors in close proximity can be such a quiet blessing).  The air can be totally still and the birds get quiet.  The only sound I hear is the gentle ticking of the new clock telling me I should get busy.  Hush up!  Then I hear the quiet chirping of the small warblers and sparrows and so many others I have yet to be able to identify.  We'd have so many more birds near the house, but having  two Irish Setter pups, one of whom is obsessed with chasing the birds, has nearly cleared their one acre yard of some of our previous friends.

 It's approaching mid-morning, so the chachalaca's have gotten quiet as have the howler monkeys, whom we never see, but seem all around us.  Periodically a light breeze passes by keeping it from getting too hot.  I'm so happy that we made the choice to have our roof extend over the entire veranda, which protects the house and gives us cool spots during the day.

We had some lovely folks look at our place a couple of weeks ago.  We had no idea of their agenda as they came with a realtor.  I wish we had known they were looking for a retreat as we had designed so much of the land with that in mind, even knowing that it would always be beyond our resources.  We planted a circle in the middle of the open area to allow for a drive-around for three potential cabana sites.  Setting them with a back to the trees would block out sounds from the village.  We also had Rene punch a path thru the bush towards the east to access our coconut trees.  There would be a couple of great spots for additional cabanas which would be set in the trees.  The area to the west, behind the house has been cleared and Rene has planted some of the medicinal plants as well as various small palms.  There's a meandering path thru and with the placement of a couple of seats, it would be a lovely spot for contemplation. 

It's been and will continue to be a beautiful retreat for two old, very tired people, but we do feel that we need to get back to family while it's still an option.  As we've told ourselves so many times tho' if we have to be stuck someplace, there can't be a more wonderful place than Dreamer Farm.  
Blessings

Quit whining, it's been raining

I should have whined earlier and maybe we'd have seen more rain.  We still aren't getting the big rains that we usually see, but at least it has been raining a bit.  Good for the ground, the cistern and my disposition.  We were all starting to feel that there was a bubble over our area, making the clouds go around us, but maybe the bubble has broken.  Anyway, I'm trying to get my gumption going and start doing things.   Thank you our lovely rain. 

Cohune nuts & healthy eating

We've both become extremely lethargic since our projects have ceased and the weather has become extremely hot and humid.  I've never been much of a cook and now, with the heat, I have made only a minimum effort thinking about meals.  We've both come to the same conclusion that we need to lose some weight.  Or better yet, a lot of weight.  I've decided to make a positive step by eliminating processed foods from our diet.  Here it's probably easier to get clean organic foods as the farmers are less sophisticated, thank goodness, but our choices are definitely limited.  

One really easy change is to start using cohune or coconut oil.  Both can be found in the farmer's market and we now are enjoying a small bottle of cohune oil from Rene and Bonita.  We are so lucky to have a large group of healthy cohune palms on the west side of our property.  These fantastic trees are becoming more scarce with each burning season.  Many farmers consider the cohune a nuisance and intentionally burn them.  Others use burning as a method of clearing or cleaning and the cohunes, which burn easily, are lost in the process.  

The nuts are formed in huge bunches that hang down and take a year to mature.  When they're ripe they fall and can then be gathered.  It takes a lot of determination to break the hard outer shell to get to the nut.  A sledge or back of an axe are necessary if processing by hand.  The nut tastes a lot like a coconut.  Rene collects and bags the ripe nuts and takes them home for Bonita and family to process.  The lay them in a secure area to dry, then break them by hand.  One 100 lb bag of nuts will produce about 2 quarts of nuts.  The shells are set aside and when fully died they'll use them as fire starters.  I've also been told that they infuse a wonderful coconut smell to the fire.  

Bonita uses a huge, very old cabbage bark log which had the center burned out to a depth of about 1 1/2 feet.  The nut meat is put in this hole and she takes an iron bar and crushes the nuts.  These are then placed in a large pot with water and they're boiled an entire day.  At night they put out the fire and in the morning the oil has risen to the top and they scoop it off.  She boils the nuts the second day and repeats the process.  The second day produces most of the oil.  They later throw the nuts into the fire for heat and the lovely smell.  They boil the oil slowly to get rid of the remaining water and get the pure oil. 


I wish we had the money to buy a press that would crack the nuts to encourage the locals to bring their cohune nuts to be more easily broken to try to preserve this precious product.  With jobs so scarce it would also be a small way for some to earn a little extra.  Too bad we're not the "rich gringos".

To me the overriding value tho' is their beauty.  To sit on the veranda and watch them gracefully sway in the breeze and realize their worth to this tiny country makes me realize that, to me, they are Belize.