Today was my visit to the Immigration Office in the little town of Independence. I climbed aboard the Hoochie Koochie Water taxi with 29 others and set off on my first adventure outside Placencia since arriving here 4/1. $6 BZ/$3US. It's about a fifteen mile ride that took about 20 minutes. The water taxi left at 7:45 am. I could not get anyone around me, all locals, to engage me in ny chit chat. I was the only white guy there.
It was like riding a roller coaster ride. Everyone had to at least slip a life preserver over their head. We navigated around a couple of dozen small islands. Once away from Placenica coast every island was a mango tree paradise void of any development. After cutting across an open body of water in the bay, we arrived at Mango Creek about 8:05.
Immediately after debarking, I waved down one of the taxi drivers sitting around. We then took off in a old beat up van with ripped seat cushions, broken front window and generally beat up inside and out. My driver was Nelson, with four kids. For $20BZ/$10US round trip, he drove me about the four mile route to the Immigration Office, a small one person operation that opened at 9 am and stayed with me until I finished at the office, which turned about it be about 9:15. I was the first one of about 5 people waiting there. I paid my $50BZ, to the Immigration Officer who stamped my passport and entered some minimal info in a log book I did not have to produce any documentation. I just gave him the address on my place here. I did not have to show I had a way out of the country, or show I had sufficient income to support the stated $60.00/day, the official policy said I had to prove.
I got Nelson's name and phone # and told him I would contact him before I came back next month and wanted to use his services again.
The road from the dock to the hardtop road that led to the Immigration Office was a dirt rutted road that took you past numerous old Belizean housing and a few stores. Nelson said he was not going to get a new car until they paved this dirt road. His van sounded like it was running on half its cylinders.
The trip back was uneventful. The water taxi runs on the hour starting at 10, 11, then noon. I chatted with a nice local man who was the only one who would engage me in conversation. There was a young kid of 18 from Honduras who also was at the Immigration Office. He was clean cut and a really nice young man who spoke perfect English. As we talked waiting for the Hoochie Koochie, he shared he had interviewed for a job in Placencia, but needed a work permit to actually get the job.
After debarking back in Placenica, I gave him my name, phone number and my email and encouraged him to let me know if he got the job at the Dive Shop in town and join me for lunch one day in the future. He said he would. He expressed appreciation for taking an interest in him. I sensed he was here all alone. My guess was that he was wanting to get to a place with jobs so he could begin life anew. He said he has two younger sisters, a mother and grandmother back in an urban center someplace in the center of Honduras.
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