Which Way
To Heaven? Page Two Through
Hell, High Water, and a Hurricane:
the story
of one couple’s perilous journey from New England to Belize
Photos & Text by
Robin Sparks
May 25,
1999
Richard
wrote, "After six and a half months of healing and rebuilding, we are ON
OUR WAY!"
With light
easterly breezes and three-foot rollers, they sailed out through the cut
in the reef and drank a toast to the memory of Robert Gates-- and to David,
Felipe, Marcos, Silva, Tim and all the others in Xcalak who helped put
the Ocean Gypsy back together.
June 1999
I climbed aboard
the Ocean Gypsy in Belize City for the final leg to Placencia.
Ran Villanueva, a native Belizean, came along too to help navigate the
shallow waters inside the reef. Richard perched on his stool at the
helm, wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his free hand and commented,
“If it ain't hard work, it ain’t much of a dream.”
With that we
floated through a seamless cocoon of aquamarine sky and water for nine
hours. While Linda and I chatted and read in the back of the boat, Ran
stood on the prow, scanning the waters, one hand a visor against the sun,
the other pointing the way for Richard to weave through the maze of barely
submerged coral reef. As the sun dropped behind the Mayan Mountains, we
sailed around the tip of the peninsula into the lagoon behind Placencia.
Ran had every
nuance of the labyrinth lagoons written on his genes, so it didn’t matter
that the Gypsy’s running lights weren’t working on that moonless night.
He quietly
directed Richard around vine and mangrove shadows and around inky twists
and turns until we glided to a stop at a narrow wooden pier, where we disembarked.
“Eight Bells.
As one watch ends, another begins.”
EPILOGUE
The following
excerpts are from letters written by Linda and Richard from their new home
in Placencia, Belize.
July 1999
~from Richard ....All
the locals are sure our business will make it because NO ONE else offers
overnight trips to the reef or cays.
We’re coming
up to the wire on getting the boat ready to make money and we need it bad.
We’re down to robbing piggy banks! Except for working on the boat, I haven’t
had time to do much but some physical therapy with an 18 month old CP child
that I’m seeing a couple of times a week. The parents are superb people...they
own a local grocery, so, after five months working gratis, you could say
I WILL WORK FOR FOOD! I have! I can’t legally work for money or even volunteer
yet because of Belize’s labor laws. Come see us! The following items will
get you in the door: Skippy Peanut butter, Caffeine-free Diet Coke, a couple
of good videos, and BAGELS! Oh, and Whiskas Bits of Beef Cat Food.
February
2000 ~from Richard The Ocean
Gypsy is ready for charters! Due to the slow pace down here in the tropics
we’re getting a much later start than we’d hoped.
March 3,
2000 ~from Richard
Life in Belize
is beautiful and wild, but a little ragged around the edges. Sometimes
the electricity is out, sometimes the water, and sometimes the phones.
The unpaved roads are murder on everyone’s vehicles and nobody cares about
being “on time” for anything. It’s still not clear to me whether Belize
with its high cost of living will ever be competitive in tourism with Mexico,
Guatemala,
and Honduras.
There are seven
things one needs to live comfortably here: patience, money (milk: $5 a
gallon), bug spray, patience, money, more bug spray, and a good sense of
humor.
For anyone
considering quitting their jobs and chasing their dreams, I would say,
"Do lots of research, bring lots of money, try to find a strong, smart
local partner for any business ventures and try like hell to avoid any
and all natural disasters."
As far as
our two-year experiment goes, I don’t know -- the bottom line is money.
We’ve lost 16 months to salvage and rehabilitation. I think it’s
clear that the Ocean Gypsy will be a money -maker, but we can’t wait much
longer for that to happen.
March 4,
2000 ~from Linda It’s taking
longer and is more difficult than we thought it would be to get the word
out about our charters...One of the problems for under-capitalized expats
(like us) in a third world country is that you need an umbilical cord to
the U.S. There are constant problems “getting things” from home including
money (even your own), living conveniences, knowledge and skill about parts
and repairs. It’s like trying to import a piece of home to put up down
here -- sort of like living in an aquarium. I think we’re
part of a new breed of expats who keep ties to the country of origin, and
more importantly, to the people we left behind. We go home every few months
to see family and to stock up on stuff we miss. In reality, we live in
two places.
Richard and
I didn’t leave for Belize out of dissatisfaction with the U.S.. We were
simply looking for a place where Richard could sail year round and where
we could afford to live on what we imagined would be a limited income.
We’ve never been rich, so we had no illusions of striking it rich, or even
living in an upgraded manner.
March 5,
2000 ~from Richard We’re about
tapped out financially. We barely had enough money for this venture
when we started, and that assumed we’d be earning money in November of
‘98. It took too long to rebuild and advertising has been too little, too
late. Within a month, we’ll know if we can stay. I’m doing everything I
can to keep the faith....
March 7,
2000 ~from Linda and Richard Our first
two charters were a success! Nigel, our Rastafarian guide, caught
one fish after another including a 15 lb. red snapper and a big barracuda.
Then he cooked them to perfection. The snorkeling was phenomenal and the
guests quickly lost track of the hours and the days.We saw manta rays and
50-foot whale sharks! The whale sharks are beautiful, docile creatures
longer than
our boat! We’re planning 3-5 day charters so that passengers
can swim and snorkel with the whale sharks or just sit on the Ocean Gypsy
and watch them drift by.
