Yesterday’s project was a trip to the Immigration Office in Dandriga to get a Visa Extension – having rented a car for the day.

When I picked up the rental car on Wednesday afternoon, the “covers everything, we don’t even have to do the walkaround” insurance was available so off I went. I stopped for groceries on my way back to the rental.

I also stopped into the Digicell office (my local cell, pay-as-you-go, provider). Given that my internet had been out from Sunday morning (a story for another day) I had used my Canadian cell phone – which charges $15 CAD per day for “roaming” – to call home as I had been totally out of touch. Then I got a message Wednesday morning that I owed $118 Belize (about $80 CAD) and if I did not pay up I risked being cut off. Turns out = not my charge and they would put it on “Garth”‘s account where it belonged and that I still had $18 BZ available. After the hassle of the internet being cut off, I had thought that my local cell had been incestuous with my Canadian cell in some sort of I-phone way and that I was going to pay, big time. What a relief to find Garth, not I, was going to have to deal with the problem. ps – don’t know Garth!

Thursday morning, I bailed the boat (yet again! It rains most days here in the rainy season) I headed across the canal and found this fella on the dock

What was not available when I picked up the car was the GPS I had ordered! I do not have a Belize map, Google maps won’t work on my local cell phone (which is, perhaps, a 2G model of more than 10 years ago) so I had to figure out how to get to Dandriga, a place whose airport is familiar from quick stops on the baby plane from Belize City to Placencia but otherwise unknown to me.

So, what to do? I drove into Placencia and stopped at the local police station where the very pleasant desk sergeant gave me very good directions: head up Placencia Rd to the first roundabout out of town, turn right to the first T-junction, turn right and then turn left at the Ecumenical School and follow that to the Immigration Office. Well, all was well until I headed down the Ecumenical school road and got thoroughly lost. So, I stopped in at something called the Belize Amnesty Office (they work with migrants to help them take advantage of an amnesty for being in the country illegally – something I was trying to avoid). They gave me directions that got me to the Immigration Office where I spent 5 minutes filling in paperwork, 5 minutes paying the whopping fee ($100 USD) and 5 minutes while the Visa Officer filled in and attached the Visa Extension to my passport.

Mission accomplished I headed back to the car — only to find a ticket for $50 BZ (about $33 CAD) for “failure to stop at a stop sign” on “St. Vincent Rd”. Well, most of the stop signs were behind trees but I managed, I guess, to see all but one. That, or the cop thought my rental car/tourist/foreigner status was fair game! The ticket threatened all kinds of things if not paid within 30 days and I was so unamoured of Dandriga that returning to pay the ticket was not something I really wanted to do. So I set off looking for a police station to find out where to pay the ticket and got myself thoroughly lost.

Giving in to being lost, I saw a police truck at the side of a road and two policemen probably picking up their lunch from the bbq stand. When I showed them the ticket and asked where to pay it, the more senior one started giving me directions. He soon realized I did not have a clue of the geography of the town and told me to wait a couple minutes till they had their orders and then to follow them. I did. I would never have found the place so his kindness was much appreciated.

The ticket office was a hole in the wall with a small opening in the glass where one could hand over documents and cash. The area in front of the office was under a huge, well-worn tarp – gift of the People of the United States, through USAID under “hurricane relief”. Given the sun, more than happy to wait my turn sitting in my socially distanced chair under the tarp.

I then went back to my chariot and headed back. Dandriga was not a very inviting looking town – much bigger than Placencia but with worse roads, one way streets and hidden stop signs. Most of the people I saw were locals trying to make a living but I did see a few, white, grey haired, dreadlocked, leather-skinned expats wandering around. Kicking the metaphorical dust off my feet, I managed to head back to Placencia. I stopped en route at a Chicken Fi Wi store and cafe for a much needed potty break and a cup of coffee – nescafe, hot water and powdered creamer – and managed to get thoroughly lost before hitting the right road and getting back to Placencia where I filled the car and returned it – mentioning casually that I was not impressed with the “sleeping policemen” of Placencia. I managed to hit only one: I never saw it at all as it was just in the shadow of a large tree and had no yellow zebra stripes like the others. I was only going about 25 kph but, boy, that was a bounce! Saw no damage to the car so was happy!

All in all, I have no inclination to return to Dandriga. The only food joint, besides the roadside bbq’s, I saw was the Chicken Fi Wi and, as a pescatarian and coffee afficionado, no need to go back. Next time, I may take the caretaker of this property’s advice and take the “hokey pokey” (water taxi) to Independencia and a taxi from the dock to the Immigration Office and back – he says it is cheaper and it sounds like more local colour!

The car rental guy drove me back to the laundry nearby my rental where I picked up the clean load of laundry, walked back to the dock, loaded the boat, relearning not to get my fingers between the dock and the boat (yup, I have a big bruise under my left index finger nail) and got back to the rental to find my internet was back on! A very good ending to a day that, at times, was trying.