Good Luck to Selwyn!

Selwyn has decided to go out on his own to start his own guide business, and Tom and I want everybody to wish him good luck in his new venture. Understandably, I think, we have mixed feelings about this. When we were paying for his guide school, giving him paid time off from work to complete school, paying for his license fees, and running him around to cut through the red tape involved in getting his guide license, we understood that he intended to continue to work for Moonracer Farm and guide for us, and that the three of us were building a business together. However, since he obtained his license in November and has been doing most of our tours, he has been increasingly dissatisfied and unhappy about doing all the other things around here that always need doing on the days when he isn’t guiding. And, unfortunately for all of us, we’re not yet busy enough that we can keep a guide busy full time. We thought it was a good deal for him that he was getting paid on the days when he wasn’t guiding, rather than sitting around waiting for tourists and not getting paid like most of the freelance guides, but he feels that he can pick up other guide jobs on the days when he’s not guiding for us, so he asked to be released from Moonracer Farm, and we felt that not letting him go with our blessings was akin to keeping a parrot in a cage around here. We might treat it well and care for it to the best of our ability, but we would not be allowing it to be a parrot. By not allowing Selwyn to guide at will, we wouldn’t be allowing him to develop his career as he thinks he must.

We’re also worried because tourism was down during this past busy season in Belize, and we’re now entering the off season when even fewer tourists will be in the area. We worry because he hasn’t set up any sort of support for his business, so we’re not sure where he’s going to find enough tourists to guide to keep him busy full time. We’re not so worried about getting along here without him since most of the heavy construction work has been done and the two of us can handle the care and maintenance of the place, and Selwyn is still available to guide for us, as are many other guides in the area. However, we decided that we would give him his four weeks’ notice pay and only require him to work here for guide jobs, so we feel as though we’re helping a little by giving him time to work on these things. And, as I said in the beginning of this post, we want everyone to think good thoughts for Selwyn and wish him luck in his new venture!