I have been planning to write some tidbits about our two cleaning ladies for quite some time. However, every time they finished cleaning the house they are always in a hurry to leave for their next job. Just recently their scheduled changed and after they finished, they stayed for a little while so we had some time to visit and chit chat. The two cleaning ladies are under the umbrella of the company named " Heavenly Help". Their services are indeed heavenly for me and Macrine. We hired them twice a month for two hours each time. If we have a special job such as painting, cleaning my car we pay them an extra $40 per hour.
The first cleaning lady is in her late 40's and originally immigrated from Belize. For anonymousity sake let me call her OA. She is one of nine children. She studied and graduated from Nursing from a local college and worked in a Nursing home for a number of years. When she got tired and burnt out as a Nurse she and a partner joined Heavenly Help. They were introduced to us by Ditas, our youngest daughter. Ditas and us are among the dozens of their satisfied clients.
About a month ago, OA did not clean during her regular schedule for personal reasons. She went to Los Angeles to attend the funeral services for her mother. After the burial ceremony, we asked her about her mother's funeral. She showed us a nine page souvenir program of the funeral mass and ceremony filled with pictures of her mothers children, grand children and other closed relatives. Each page contain pictures of each of her Mom's nine children. She told us this is a tradition from Belize. Her Moms had over 100 grand children and great grand children. Our cleaning lady is the only one in the family without any children since she is single.
After OA informed us about this tradition, I got curious about Belize. I did some Internet search and here's a brief information about Belize from Wikipedia.
"Belize, formerly British Honduras, is a country on the eastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the north by Mexico, on the south and west by Guatemala, and on the east by the Caribbean Sea. Its mainland is about 290 km long and 110 km wide.
With 22,800 square kilometres (8,800 sq mi) of land and as of 2015 a population of 368,310, Belize has the lowest population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 1.87% per year (2015) is the second highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.
Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and languages that reflect its rich history. English is the official language of Belize, but over half the population is multilingual."
Our second cleaning lady (MC) is probably in her early 40's. She is a mixed Mexican-American, but do not speak Spanish. MC is well read, judging from the topics of our conversation ranging from local history, tourism and travel. MC loves to clean our carpet, paint and varnished our front door as well as detailing our car besides her regular household vacuuming and dusting. Macrine and I had not yet learned much about her personal life but she was very interested in my blogging activities. I gave her my website last week. I teased her that if she does not pass and give me the correct answers from questions I will ask her about my blogs I will fire her. She is also single. I have a feeling she and her business partner are also a couple, but I dare not ask them.
Macrine and I love our two cleaning ladies. If you live in the area and need household help, I highly recommend OA and MC services!
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