Jobs in San Pedro Belize

View outside my old condo at the BYC.

Josimar at Changes in Latitudes helping a big iguana relocate outside the yard.

The sign from our LobsterFest booth…and the name of our award winning cocktail.

Recipe for the Mermaid’s Kiss: 1.5 oz. coconut rum, 3/4 oz blue curacao, 1 oz lime squash, 4 oz. water, 1/2 oz coconut cream. Add ice and shake. Delicious and sweet.

Junior the Jaguar at the Belize Zoo. (I have no special camera, this is how close you are to him).

Tikal in Guatemala.

No really, I never wanted to work again. December 2007 rolled around and I hadn’t worked since May 2006. It was awesome. Except for my Lehman Brothers stock that was beginning to tank.

When you are not working and not worrying about working, it’s amazing how you can fill your day will the little things. Walking into town to go fruit shopping, going to the gym and a swim in the ocean? All in one day? Impossible. I took a whole new approach to life.

But not many around me seemed to enjoy it. Aren’t you getting restless? How do you think you are ever going to find a job? And my favorite: “I could never do what you are doing…I would get too bored”. Ummmm…THEN DON’T DO IT!

Ok, maybe they had a point…so I opened my mind up to the possibility of getting a job. And incredibly one popped up almost instantly.

One of the oldest and more popular bars in town, The Tacklebox, has had many owners since it opened in the late 1970s. In the summer of 2007, the previous American owners (who had done so pretty big renovations) closed the doors and put the place up for sale. It was purchased at the end of December, an acquintance recommended me to the new owner, I met him and had a 4 minute interview and we opened the bar two days later.

I had never run a bar and never worked at a bar or restaurant. But hey, I love bars…I always loved this bar. It could work. Plus, the owner was willing to sponsor my work permit. As the owner of the bar, his permit was almost a given. But if you are a foreigner and non-business owner, it is a much more tricky to get this permit that allows you to work either for pay or even as a volunteer. Plus, it costs $2000bzd or $1000usd a year. Again, I got lucky. My work permit came through relatively easily as General Manager of Tacklebox Bar & Grill and my work paid for it.

I worked for 5 months before I went home in May of 2008 and had a huge garage sale. I sold all of my stuff. Clothes, shoes, books, pots and pans…almost everything. I now have only 3 boxes at my mother’s house. And only two winter outfits.

My advice to you when coming down here for work. Give yourself time. Finding a job is not easy. Meet as many people as you can. Yes, most of this networking takes place in bars in this town. But the more friends and acquaintences that you make, the better. Ask one million questions. Make it known that you are looking for a job. You never know where an interesting oppurtunity is going to come from. Hang out with locals, tourists, local gringos…this town, like most places, is often about “who you know”. Take advantage of that.

You never know what is going to pop up. But you also need to be prepared to wait.

I guess my next installment is: How I Got My Residency in Belize (the equivalent to a US Green Card).