Temporary Home – in Ambergris Caye.

The music buffs out there will know that Temporary Home is the title of a song recorded by Carrie Underwood a couple of years ago.

So, why have I chosen this for the headline for today’s post? Well, I thought I would give you an insight of what renting means for us whilst we wait for our new home to be built.

Knowing that it was only a matter of time until we could come and live on Ambergris Caye whilst our home was being built we had, whenever coming on holiday, been looking at and talking to people about what rental options there were for us.

This enabled us to select the development that ideally we wanted to rent an apartment at and fortunately when the time came for us to make the move they had two properties available. We chose the beachfront one . It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of which is en-suite, a reasonable sized kitchen/living area and a veranda that is around 22 feet long by 5 feet wide that is ideal for life here.

The apartment is well equipped with appliances and utensils and has air conditioning. I am pleased to say though that the benefit we have of being on the 2nd floor and oceanside (good breeze) has meant that we have only had to use the air conditioning once during the six months we have been here. This helps because electricity costs (well at least compared to the UK) are high here. We run at about BZ$110 per month ( remember have not had to use air conditioning). Water is also expensive and for us runs at around BZ$180 a month.

The apartment is conveniently located with us hardly ever being much more than 10 minutes in the golf cart away from where we want to go (getting to where our house is being built is the notable and regular exception).

We have a good beach in front of us and a swimming pool to the rear. It couldn’t be much better.

Beach in front of our apartment.

In front of the apartment looking south.

In front of the apartment looking north.

In front of the apartment looking east.

The pool and deck area.

There are a number of companies on the island that manage rental properties but if you find a development that you like it pays to go in and speak to someone direct . This is what we did and we are pleased that we did.

Saw an interesting sight (well for me anyway) when walking along the beach this morning . Hope our coconuts are as adaptable and hardy.

So how is the build going I hear regular readers say. Well, when we visited this afternoon the guys were – as we expected- putting the forms in place .

Forms on the lagoon and northern side of the house.

Form going in on the southern side of the house.

Making sure that the measurements are correct.

Banging in stakes to keep the forms in place.

Fixing the rebar between the house and where the ground floor steps will be.

Read Sunday’s edition for an update on the house and the inaugural contribution from Bar Hopper. Don’t miss it ! Become a follower and make sure that you do not miss an issue.