Wednesday, March 22, 2006

from the "day one" dept.

It's the first full day in Belize... and still quite early. I find that in such a warm and humid place, sleeping in is difficult. However the body tends to adjust by getting sleepy earlier in the evening. If you go to bed at 10, you're up at six, with eight hours of sleep.

Well, in a perfect world.

Here, around 3am, the local hounds went nuts. For about an hour they barked their heads off. One group feeding off another. Such is Belize City, and certainly not unexpected.

I should add some of the highlights from Tuesday:

Arrival at the airport was smooth, as was customs. The US$25 cab ride to the city was typical. A chatty cabbie with lots of great stories -- especially about politics. I think he was surprised by my knowledge!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I arrived at Brent's and we broke out the 23 year old Guatemalan rum in honour of his upcoming 40th birthday.

We dined at a small Chinese restaurant around the corner (good, cheap and filling)... before hanging out for the evening. Roh arrived home around 8 and we BBQ'd up a mess of ribs. Fantastic meal...

And that brings us to Wednesday.

I've spent the morning following the news of the sinking of a BC Ferry off the northern coast. It's amazing to be able to sit here and listen to live CBC BC radio coverage in addition to reading copy as it moves on the wires. Through my CBC work, I have access to the internal news network and can call up stories, scripts, etc.

And, if I were not in Belize, I'd be working the CBC BC website today.

The plan for the day is rather loose. Brent has his hands full setting up a shoot for a Mexican crew. They're coming to Belize tomorrow for several days to film a commercial for a cruise line.

While he works the phone, I'm just hanging out. There's little to see in Belize City, so there is no point leaving the house. Which means I have lots of time to do nothing in particular. I've got some reading to catch up on, but that's the extent of my plan.

Tomorrow I will go with Brent up to the Mexican border. He has to pick up one of the Mexican crew members. I haven't driven up to that part of the country (directly south of Playa del Carmen (Chetumal) since my first visit to Belize in 1999. It's doubtful we'll cross over into Mexico, however.

This weekend I'll head down to the southern part of the country with Katia to work on her film. I've yet to confirm days or times... but I'm expecting it to be 2 or 3 days. There's a small bit of pay, and my expenses will be covered... however I'm not doing it for that -- it's about helping out cool creative folks.

I forgot to mention that Grandmaster popped by yesterday. He was in fine form, and looking for a bit of scratch. He makes occasional appearances at Brent's place looking for a dollar or two. Fair game, Brent says, as GM isn't making anything from the production of the doc and has donated a lot of this time.

That's the story so far...

Cheers!

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