<< back
the house hunting has taken a back seat to dealing with customs. the antiguan customs has our container which was shipped down containing all our personal possessions, my office equipment, our subaru & my recently acquired 750 suzuki katana. yep, its a motorbike. and i can't wait to get it on the road. its great on gas & i get year 'round riding. but i digress...
customs procedures requires the vehicles & possessions be processed separately. fair enough. except the guys who packed our container, crated & packed the bike, first. then all our stuff (fridge, washer, beds, dressers, computers, desks, generater, etc) then built a bulkhead then drove the car in under the bulkhead. the car was the first to come out. but before the container with all the goods can leave customs the bike has to come out.
... that means, tomorrow morning i must arrive at 8:30 am, with 3 guys, dollys & fingers crossed for no rain. we must tear out the bulkhead, remove every single item, uncrate the bike, remove the bike & replace all the remaining contents back into the container, minus the bike. with this done, it looks like i will have everything by end-of-week. and at $60./day for storage of the container & ? /day for the parking of the subaru, its adding up.
all of this is for my security of course. i met security. a half dozen very nice ladies who preferred to spend their time in a building sipping cold drinks. and look at the picture (left). its the open, unattended door my associate & i went through, unchecked while we walked around for a half hour looking for a supervisor. at another gate, the 2 antiguans i was with, refused to give ID to the security, but she let us all through...
it is an ongoing story which will most likely see a conclusion this week. cross your fingers for me. i hear the duty on the motorcycle is 47%. the rest is duty-free because lois is a returning expatriate, i am still expecting to get jacked. i hear, if you can handle customs, you've had your initiation & are welcomed to the island.
so far, this entire expedition has been truly incredible. what we've learned, moving from one country to another, we could write a book. but save your money, you might find the info here. or simply ask us.
and even though all these curve balls have been thrown, i am proud to say i've been getting better at handling it without blowing any fuses. with all that is going on in the world, life is simply too short.
the philosophy i have decided to latch onto is: "i am only going around, once". follow me on this one... where did the whole concept that we have to hunker down until retirement? what is up with that? freedom 55? if we're lucky... huh? people have suggested that i've been brave. i notch it up to blocking out all the messages we are constantly bombarded with & listening to my own voice.
i don't need new toothbrush technology or a razor with 5 blades. i've discovered that i don't have to squirt chemicals on a countertop spill to wipe it up. why do they gas oranges for north america? can't we handle oranges that aren't really orange? or ground beef that's not injected with red dye?
i've stepped away & turned many of the messages OFF. and they've been replaced by something i can't quite put a name to. but definitely something to be shared...
