It's been a hectic couple of weeks. First issue was a sick baby goat. Scours but still eating, standing all by himself away from the others. Took him to the vet. She wormed him and said to try to get a sample poo. So the next day we kept him on the patio for almost 5 hours waiting for the sample. When it finally arrived, I took it to the vet. Hookworms. Stronger wormer this time. Still had scours so I only fed him kefir for a couple of days. Still has scours but wants to eat with the others. I gave him some Imodium generic and let him have some Mill Feed. Next day he was out browsing. Not perky but better. He's finally got nugget poo so he eats with the other boys now.
Next issue was one of the does. I brought her to the milking stand and there were hard lumps in her teat. I kept that milk separate to check it later. Doesn't seem to bother her and she lets her kid nurse that side. So I spent a lot of time researching. I didn't think it was mastitis. Vet doesn't have CMTs. Neither did the feed store in the next town. I'll have to order some. What I found out researching was interesting.
Our soil is mostly limestone/limerock having been under ocean at some distant point. We dig up a lot of old coral pieces. Goat milk has a high amount of magnesium in it. There's the balance between the calcium and magnesium that is so important to goats. Could the girls be magnesium deficient? I happened to have some magnesium powder so I mixed in a spoonful along with some Vit C into her food. Seemed to be helpful. So all the girls are getting a little magnesium in their food right now. I also wormed them all as their coats seemed shaggy and they look skinny except for still having baby bellies. They're looking better, sleeker, have more appetite and are producing more milk in just a couple of days.
Had a lot of errands to do in town. Shopping is an adventure as is trying to pay a bill or get customer service help. I went to pay the land taxes. Taxes here are only on the land, no taxes on structures. Tax is based on how much land you have. A parcel is 30 acres - tax is $300. BZ ($150US). We have 15 acres - tax is $15 BZ ($7.50US). Up to 29 acres is $1. per acre. A city lot is $10 BZ.
The Land Office is now computerized but it still takes months to get a Land Certificate (Title) to a piece of property. We have ours and it is in the system with all the proper information. I take my passport for ID and the parcel number and stand in line for at least 30 minutes while the clerk was working with one person. Me now. She looks up and verifies the info for me. All is correct. Now I have no idea what she was doing on the phone, going back and forth between computer screens for almost 1/2 hour. Finally she prints out the bill and gets out her calculator because there was a $.75 cent credit listed. And of course, she had to calculate the discount for paying before the due date. All said and done, I paid $14.12BZ.
There are no name brand stores in Belize. Well, except for one ACE hardware in Bz City. We have Cinty's Corner, Cintys and New Cintys. These are all one Chinese/Belizean family run stores. They have everything you could need, Chinese quality, but decent prices. The problem arises in that all 3 stores are disaster areas. You can barely walk into them. Stuff is everywhere and there seems to be no logical order to the mess. You ask for what you want and if you can get an employee to understand what it is you want, they will bring it out to show you.
I needed 100 feet of rope for making goat tethers. All they have is plastic braided. I should have brought a piece with me and saved some time and frustration. I asked the girl for rope. She says, "yes, we have." I tell her what I wanted. She brings electric wire. Finally, she takes me to where the spools are located. I point and tell her 100 feet. She tells me that it is sold by the pound and wants to know how many pounds I want. It's $6 a pound. I said I don't know how many pounds. I want 100 feet. She goes to the owner and the owner shouts out that rope is $6 a pound. So I ask her if she can measure out 100 feet and then weigh it. She tells the girl to do that. They use the floor tiles as a measure. 100 feet later, she puts a piece of masking tape around the rope. She then asks if she should cut it there. I don't know how they would weigh it without cutting but I said yes, cut it. Moral of the story....100 feet of that rope is 1.5 pounds. $9.BZ and I'm on my way to the next Cintys to buy boots.
Same sort of story. I ask for ladies work boots. She shows me shoes. I said rubber work boots. "We have. What size?" Now my last boots were from the US and a size 8. Boots here come from Guatamala and use European sizing. I told her 39. She must have been gone 20 minutes. I could see her in the back of the store throwing pairs of boots from one side to the other. She finally brings me a pair. Good thing they fit as my patience was running out. $14BZ. My US WalMart boots split all the way across the sole and the toe end was flapping as I walked.
All the rest of my stops were like this. I was glad to get to a friends house for a while to wait to get my hair cut. Judy has been working with the distributors to do some bulk buying of items that are not sold in the Corozal stores. We usually make a trip to Bz City every couple of months to buy those items. Example is butter. The stores, all Chinese run, only carry Anchor Butter in 1/2 pound package for $6.50. In the City, we could get Wisconsin butter for $7.25 a full pound. Remember Belize dollars are 2 to 1 US. Judy was able to get us the full pounds for $6.20 each. I was so grateful. The only other butter sold is in the can. And I just can't do Blue Bonnet. There must be full freight containers coming into Belize loaded with just Blue Bonnet. They sell tons of it. She also ordered cottage cheese, sour cream, English muffins and items like that. Many of the stores don't carry refrigerated items except drinks because they turn off the power to the coolers at night to save money, and many Belizeans do not have refrigs so they wouldn't buy the items. So those of us spoiled expats must figure out creative ways to satisfy our cravings.
So much for another day in Tropical Paradise. BTW...it's 88 degrees today.
Yup, I knew I had "arrived" when I had my name written in the bathroom with an endearing label next to it.
