Nicole, Elizabeth, & Bob

We’d been emailing and planning Bob, Elizabeth, and their daughter Nicole’s trip for months, so when they finally arrived we were almost as excited as they were for them to do all the stuff we’d planned. Unfortunately, as you read in the Trekforce entry, their first day started out a little rocky when their guide to Caracol didn’t show up. Tom drove them to Caracol, and it turned out to be a very good thing that he’d left late and only caught the tail end of the convoy, because between where the convoy starts and Caracol, a guide from one of the local resorts who also does bird tours had pulled over on the side of the road. Tom pulled up next to him to make sure everything was okay, and found a car full of very excited people – guide and guests – who were watching a flock of 20 to 30 Scarlet Macaws in trees visible from the road. Since the Chalillo Dam was built, it has become very rare to see Macaws in that area. In fact, most Belizeans never see Macaws in the wild, so this was a huge treat for everybody lucky enough be there. Tom was suddenly glad the guide hadn’t showed, and our guests knew enough about Belize and the area to know that this was a truly special sighting.

It was a good thing that the replanned trip started out on such a positive note, because things didn’t go so well at Caracol. Because it was Sunday and Permanent Residents and Citizens of Belize can get into the parks for free, Tom decided to walk around with our guests, who were suddenly taking an un-guided tour. They purchased one of the guide books, and were walking around looking at things as 18-year-old Nicole – the only one with eyes young enough to see the small print – read from the guide book. They climbed one of the big temples, and as they came down Tom was approached by the Tourism Police. The Tourism Police patrol at all the archeological sites both to keep an eye on things and make sure nobody is being robbed or harassed, and to make sure that nobody who is not a licensed guide is giving tours. The Tourism Police wanted to talk to Tom, because they had been told by somebody else on the site that Tom was giving a tour and is not a licensed guide. Tom was a bit taken aback and explained that he’d scheduled our guests for a tour, the guide didn’t show, Tom drove them to the site so they wouldn’t waste a day of their Belize vacation, and he was walking around with them only because it was Sunday and he could enter the park for free as a Permanent Resident. The Tourism Police backed off, but wanted his contact information. Tom walked around with our guests a little more, and then decided that he wanted to know who had complained, so he asked the Tourism Police. They pointed out the gentleman who had complained – and it was the guide who had been supposed to pick them up, and who had arrived at Caracol about a half hour after Tom! We have no idea why he did that instead of just approaching Tom and our guests and asking if he could take over – which would have delighted Tom since he could have turned them over to the guide and then headed home to do what needed to be done there – but needless to say we won’t be using that guide again. Tom double checked with the Tourism Police who said again that everything was fine, and our guests were actually entertained by the drama, so there was no harm done. When I got home with the horseback riders, Elizabeth hustled out of the cabin to fill me in on all the day’s happenings, so despite a late dinner and an un-made room, they had an exciting start to their stay in Cayo.

The next day was pretty relaxed, with a leisurely breakfast and then a trip to 7 Miles to Ka’ax Tun. They were as awed by the trip as April and Zack, and told me – again – that I need to get over there to get the full tour.

The following day did not start with a relaxed morning, since they were taking a trip to Tikal and in order to make all the ride connections from here to San Ignacio to the Guatemalan border, we need to get out of here by 5:45am. All the connections went smoothly, and they had a great day at Tikal, and were delighted by their driver and their guide. The only glitch was getting caught in road construction on the way back to the Belize border, which meant they didn’t get into San Ignacio until after 6PM. I had a dinner planned, but I thought we’d be home by 5:00, and not getting home until 7:00 meant that it would have been a very late dinner. So, we decided to eat at Erva’s in San Ignacio, which turned out great. Germo took good care of all of us and made sure none of us ever had an empty Belikin bottle next to our plates, and we introduced Bob and Nicole to Erva’s delicious chaya burritos while Elizabeth had Belizean chicken cordon bleu, so everybody was happy.

The next day Nicole, Elizabeth, and Bob went to ATM with Gonzo. They were predictably awed and had a great private tour, although their return home was delayed by another Belize transportation snafu. The hike from the cave to the parking lot is about 2 miles. Gonzo had another group booked to go in the cave after Nicole, Elizabeth, and Bob, so he left his pack at the camping area by the cave and walked them out to meet his next group in the parking lot. They got to the parking lot and the second group wasn’t there. Gonzo made a phone call and found out they’d missed their connecting flight, so they weren’t going to make it for the ATM tour. That meant Nicole, Elizabeth, and Bob had to wait while Gonzo hiked two miles back to the cave to pick up his pack, and then two miles back out to the parking lot. They could have returned to San Ignacio with another guide’s group, but they elected to wait for Gonzo and said he made great time getting in and out for the second time that day.

Despite a week of tenuous transportation connection, they decided to delay leaving for their last night at the Belize Zoo until the afternoon. This gave Bob and Elizabeth a morning to kick back and relax, and it gave Nicole time to go out on Nessa on a short trail ride with Tom. They had a great time riding, Elizabeth and I had a great time gabbing on the porch, and Bob had time to get out and walk on some of our trails. We had a late morning brunch, and then Tom took them into San Ignacio to catch the 1:00 bus heading towards Belize City and the Zoo. They left us with lots more fun memories, as well as a much appreciated pile of books which I’m steadily chewing through and thoroughly enjoying.

Trekforce, Take 2

The first three Trekforcers, Jo, Lucie, and Roseann, had such a good time that they referred five of their fellow Trekforcers to come stay with us the next weekend and go for a horseback ride. Tom picked up Emily, Tanya, Flora, Aaron, and Stuart in San Ignacio last Saturday when he picked up our other guests from Nevada, and brought the whole truckload out for the night. We all ate dinner together, then everybody went to bed so we could get an early start on our well-planned day the next morning.

Unfortunately, making good plans isn’t always enough. Our other guests were scheduled to go to Caracol with a guide we’d contracted so that Tom and I could both go riding with the Trekforce people. The plan was for both of us to ride up to Big Rock with the group, then I was going to immediately turn around and take the quick route home so I could get everything done around here that needs to be done when we’re housing eight guests. We had the Caracol group ready to go, and were just about ready to start saddling and packing the horses. However, when the Caracol guide (not Selwyn, who we couldn’t use because we needed a driver, and not Gonzo, who was out of town) hadn’t shown up an hour after the scheduled pickup time, and when our guests had only about 20 minutes to make the half hour drive to meet the convoy, Tom and I did a quick replan. I threw the lunches I had packed for the riders into a cooler for the Caracol group, Tom grabbed the car keys, and Tom became the Caracol taxi for the day. They hit the road at about 9:15, and I started making lunches to replace the lunches on the way to Caracol.

I left a mess in the kitchen, but I made enough lunches for the six of us, finished tacking up the horses, got everything packed, got appropriate riders up on appropriate horses, and we hit the trail – about an hour and a half later than planned, but nobody seemed to care and with the long days right now it ended up not even mattering. We had a great ride up to Big Rock, and although the day wasn’t as hot and sunny as the first group had had a week before, it was declared perfect riding weather by everybody. We had a lot of rain that week, so the Falls were much bigger than they’d been the previous week as well and didn’t offer as many good jumping-off spots, but everybody had a good time and all were happy to hang out on the rocks. Finally, at a little after four, I regretfully broke up the party and hiked back up the trail to get the horses for our return ride home, which also went smoothly. As we had on the way up, we walked on the narrow trails, and had a couple of good gallops on some of the open fire roads.

Stuart almost lost his head on a low hanging vine, but the vine moved before Stuart’s head popped off. And, I think I may have terrified Aaron, who was riding Ness. We’d noticed the week before that Ness acts like she wants to roll in the water, but April, who has been riding for a long time, just pulled her head up and kicked her out of the water. Aaron has only been on a horse a handful of times and is very gentle, so when Ness looked like she wanted to roll and I told him to pick her head up and kick her, he did it very tactfully…a little too tactfully, since Ness was showing all signs of totally ignoring him and rolling anyway. So, I buzzed in on Glinda and started running around Ness, kicking her in the rump and the shoulder with the toe of my boot, and yelling instructions at Aaron. Really yelling, and in fact I sort of scared myself because I heard my old coach and friend Karin’s voice coming out of my mouth telling Aaron to “Kick her! No, really kick her! And yank her head up! Pull her nose right around to your knee! And KICK!” The nose around to the knee trick finally worked because it put Ness enough off balance that she couldn’t lay down, and then Ness finally got moving enough in a small circle that Aaron was able to keep her moving out of the water, which was no easy task since by that time Ness was also thinking that kicking the very annoying Glinda might be almost as much fun as rolling in the water. But, we all got out of the water wet from splashing but not soaked from rolling, and had a good laugh before we galloped up the trail.

We rode into the driveway right around 5:30, and I was relieved to hear the small generator running, which meant that Tom beat us home – a good thing, since he got a head start of the very messy kitchen, and had settled our other guests with drinks and snacks. We took care of all the horses, and then Tom left to drive the Trekforce group back to town and I made a hurry-up dinner which I managed to serve before 8:00, although Tom wasn’t yet back to join us at the beginning of the meal.

We learned with this group that it’s VERY rewarding to host people who have been roughing it out in the jungle for a good part of the past five months. Despite the fact that five of them shared a room, their trail ride left late, their lunch was a quick re-cook, and the weather and the Falls weren’t as sunny and perfect as the week before, everyone was happy and did nothing but rave about how nice it was to sleep in a proper bed, get a proper hot shower, eat real food, drink real tea (they’re British), and be just a little bit pampered in that somebody else made their meals and their beds. They left us a stellar review on TripAdvisor – so nice that we’re worried nobody will think it’s for real – and all promised to stop by and see us when they get back to Belize.

Kids in Belize

I sometimes feel bad because Hector, one of the 11-year-old boys from next door, is always somehow annoying me and getting yelled at either by me, or by one of his parents when they realize he’s annoying me. He doesn’t really try to be annoying, he just has a talent for asking the wrong question at the wrong time, or showing up at a completely inappropriate moment, or moving fast when he should be moving slow, or slow when he should be moving fast, or being where he isn’t supposed to be, or not being where he is supposed to be, or…you get the picture. He and I just don’t usually operate on the same wavelength.

So, he was shocked one day last week when I told him how proud I was of him, and how much I wished there were more boys like him in the US. I don’t think he could figure out why Sybil suddenly showed the other side of her personality, and was saying nice things to him instead of yelling at him – and I think he’s actually more comfortable when I’m yelling at him. At least he knows I notice him!

What did he do to attract my positive attention? In his mind, nothing out of the ordinary. In my mind, he was being extraordinarily good. Tom and I walked by their house one day on the way to get the horses out of the pasture, and Hector was outside with his almost-five-year-old sister Zulmi. They were playing in the driveway, throwing rocks at a plastic soda bottle they had filled with gravel. Not only was I amazed that two kids could amuse themselves with a plastic bottle, some gravel, and rocks, but that the big brother bothered to spend time with his younger sister. Then, a few days later, Tom and I were driving home from town and Hector and his other little sister, eight-year-old Marixa, were together in the driveway, and yelled as we went by. We stopped, not sure if they needed something. They didn’t need anything, but they wanted to show us what they were doing, which was playing some game they call Hanging Man where they pull the stamens out of a flower, then try to hook the top off of each other’s stamen. The loser is the one whose head pops off first. They were totally engrossed in the game with each other, and we were again amazed that Hector plays with his little sisters without any sort of toys, props, supplies, or anything other than their imaginations and what they pick up next to the road and in their driveway.

I’ve resolved to think of this next time I’m about to yell at Hector – although I’m sure that in the heat of the moment I’ll entirely forget the good brother with the amazing imagination and yell at the annoying 11-year-old anyway. I guess I need to grow up too!

And just so you know, I had to look up flower anatomy to know they were playing with the stamen of the flower. I was going to say “pop the anther off the filament,” which is what they were really doing according to this picture, but I didn’t want it to sound like I knew anything about flowers.

April & Zack - with a little bit of Trekforce

We just finished another fun-filled week with our latest guests, April and Zack from Florida. Before coming here, they spent 10 days in Hopkins, so they were already used to the ways of Belize, and had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to do while here.

They started the week with a trip to Caracol, and a relaxing stop at Rio On Pools on the way back to the farm. We’ve learned to advise our guests to just hang out for an hour or so, because even though lots of tours stop at Rio On on the way back from Caracol, most of the resort tours have their guides limit the Rio On stop to 45 minutes or an hour. We’ve learned that our guests love waiting out the crowd, and then having the whole beautiful place to themselves until they feel like leaving. The next day they went to ATM, and were awed by both the history and geology, and really enjoyed a private tour with Gonzo.

The following day we took a trail ride to Sapodilla Falls, and again didn’t see another soul for the entire day – one of the definite advantages of visiting Belize in the off-season!

On Friday night, we were joined by three women volunteering here in Belize with Trekforce. Trekforce is a British organization that organizes groups of volunteers to do projects in developing countries around the world. The group these three women are in is on its last segment, and they are living with host families in small Cayo villages and teaching in Cayo schools. They get the weekends off, so they decided to splurge and head to Moonracer Farm for a few nights in “real” beds, hot showers, gringo food (including “a proper cup of tea”), and a trail ride to Big Rock Falls.

On Saturday morning, the three Trekforce volunteers, Lucie, Roseann, and Jo, joined April, Tom, and me on a trail ride. Zack decided to forego a second day in the saddle, so he went with Selwyn to a fishing hole in the Macal River, where they didn’t catch anything, but enjoyed the river and the jungle.

The six of us had a great ride up to Big Rock, and just as we got there around 1:00, Zack pulled into the parking lot in their car and joined us for lunch and a swim.

Everybody had a great time, jumping off the high rocks, and Zack and Tom enjoyed hanging out with the bikini babes. I left early and took the quick route home so I could get cleaned up and get dinner ready, and everybody else stayed for another swim.

On Sunday, Tom took Zack and April to Ka’ax Tun. They were as impressed with the place as Tom and I were, so we’re definitely adding this to our list of adventures for our guests.


They even climbed the rock chimney, and used the vines to rappel up and down the rock walls – something I want to do next time I go!

They had a delicious lunch of chaya soup prepared by Julio’s wife Janet, and then made it back to Moonracer Farm in time to pick up the Trekforce volunteers – who had a nice lie-in – for a trip to the Green Hills Butterfly Ranch before heading into San Ignacio so the volunteers could catch a bus and they could do a little shopping and get dinner.

April and Zack used Monday as a research day. April’s sister is getting married and is considering a honeymoon in Belize, so April and Zack visited some of the honeymoon destination lodges on the other side of the river to take pictures and collect information. This also gave them time to visit the Belize Botanical Garden at DuPlooy’s, which was a highlight of the Cayo segment of their trip since April grows orchids and Zack creates bonsai trees.

This, by the way, made our expeditions into the jungle with them very interesting, since they were spotting orchids and other vegetation that Tom and I would never have noticed, and explaining things to us – very interesting! Then, they were off bright and early on Tuesday morning to head into Guatemala for the final segment of their trip.

Jaguar Update

Tom and I thought it was odd that after George from the Forestry Department came and talked to our neighbors, we heard no more about the jaguar in the area. A few days ago, we think we found out why.

When we towed Tony up into the Mountain Pine Ridge to visit our friend George last month, we knew we had ridden past a motion sensing wildlife camera mounted on the Slate Creek Line. We suspected, but didn’t know, that it was one of Blancaneaux’s cameras which they’ve mounted in various places to collect information on cats within a 5-mile radius of the lodge. Tom was in 7 Miles a few days ago, and a friend who is working on this project at Blancaneaux asked if we’d had a good ride up the Slate Creek Line since as well as capturing pictures of cats, the camera got a good picture of us. Geraldo then asked if we saw signs of cats up there, and we told him that we’d seen many tracks. Then, he asked what we thought about the jaguar killing one of our neighbors’ pigs.

Tom corrected him and said it was a dog that was killed, and Geraldo then informed Tom that rumor has it that a pig was also killed not too long ago. So, after a brief discussion with Geraldo, Tom came to the conclusion that we’re no longer in the loop on what’s going on with the jaguar around here. Apparently when the delegation approached us to get help, the help they wanted was an assurance that the jaguar would be shot and killed. When the neighbors instead were told to protect their dogs and livestock, and to contact Forestry again if anything happened, they decided they’d deal with it their own way, and the rumor Tom heard from Geraldo is that they’re trying to get a gun so they can kill the jaguar themselves.

We find this very distressing. First, we don’t think the jaguar should be killed anyway, since we’re in its territory. Second, we think the neighbors have a way overblown sense of the danger of the jaguar, and just find it inconvenient to protect their animals. Third, even if they go out and hunt and kill a jaguar, there’s no guarantee that the jaguar they kill is the one attacking dogs and livestock. George says the only way to make sure you trap the right jaguar is to get a trap to the site of a recent kill, and put the carcass of that kill in the trap; most jaguars will return to finish their own kill, but they won’t be attracted to the carcass of a dead animal they didn’t kill. So, the neighbors are not going to deal with Forestry or tell us what’s going on because they know we won’t do what they want us to do. It’s very frustrating, and we just hope that the rumor mill continues to get the rumors back to people like Geraldo who will contact Forestry and see if they can get a trap out here – although the trap would be more likely to succeed if the neighbors would contact somebody right after an animal was killed so the carcass could be used for bait.

So Proud of Nessa!

I just have to do a separate entry to say how proud I am of our horse Nessa. April rode her on both trail rides to Sapodilla and Big Rock Falls, and Nessa was a star! This was Nessa’s first time out on the trail with anyone other than Tom or me, and it was the first time she’s gone on the really long, ten-plus mile rides. April was the perfect person to be our test rider. She’s been riding since she was a kid, she loves horses, and she has the perfect personality to let Nessa know that she wanted to work with her without being rough. Nessa responded in kind, and the two ended up loving each other.

Since very few of you have met Ness, it might be hard to understand why this is such a big deal to me. We got her from a man in San Antonio who had rescued her from a person who had inherited her and had no idea how to care for a horse, and the original owner had apparently been less than kind to his animals. The man from San Antonio had cleaned her up and fattened her up some, but she was still a bag of bones with a dull coat, scars from misuse all over her, and a front ankle twice its normal size because of a tendon injury that hadn’t been treated. She’s been pretty roughly handled, and was extremely head shy with everybody, and wanted nothing at all to do with men. Elphie was eight months old when we got her and had never been weaned, so Ness still had to tolerate the filly shadowing her constantly and trying to nurse.

We weaned the filly and turned Ness out, giving her lots of food. We’d groom her and fuss over her, and we gradually got her to the point where we could tie her and groom her without her having a complete meltdown and flying backward every time we lifted a hand with a brush because she thought we were going to hit her. Marjie fixed her feet so the injured ankle wasn’t so painful, and about seven or eight months after we got her, she was walking sound, she’d gained some weight, some of the scars had healed, and we could work around her without her being afraid of us. I decided to try to ride her one day, and found out that she’s extremely broke (I probably don’t want to know what methods were used for that), and I started to take her out for walks to get her in some sort of shape. Then, a couple of months later, we realized that Lodo was on the way, so she had another vacation while being a broodmare. When Lodo was a few months old and could be separated from her, I started working her again. I quickly realized that she’s very well trained and safe to ride (although we did have a wheel and spin incident with some birders, but I couldn’t blame her, and we weren’t with any other horses), but I didn’t think she was in good enough shape to do the long rides, and I wasn’t sure if her ankle injury would bother her. A couple of months ago we had Josh ride her to the Butterfly Ranch, but that’s only a mile away, and 10-year-old Josh wasn’t much of a load for her.

She’s now pretty fat and shiny, sound at all three gaits, and I’ve been taking her out for six or eight mile rides and she’s been doing fine. Since April was the perfect person to be her first “tourist rider,” we decided to give it a go – and she was great.

Perfectly well behaved on the trail, able to ride anywhere in the line, comfortable for some trotting and cantering on the trail, and able to do two days back to back without getting sore, lame, or even grumpy. So kudos to Nessa for making such a great comeback, and many thanks to April for making her first gig as a trail horse a good one!

License Plate Silliness

Usually when Tom and I are stymied by the way something is done here, we remind ourselves that we’re no longer living in the US, and that just because Belize doesn’t do it the same way as we’re used to, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. However, we just went through a situation where we think somebody needs to look at how things are being done and see if they could make it operate just a little more efficiently.

Tom picked up our little blue truck on December 24 of last year. As of last week, we still didn’t have license plates on the truck. We’d stop in the Ministry of Works Department of Transportation every few weeks to see if the license plates were in, and were always told no, just check back in a few weeks. It wasn’t a big deal; nobody cares if a vehicle doesn’t have plates, and the Dept. of Transportation gave us a little handwritten note attached to our registration that asked anybody who stopped us to please be courteous and understand that it wasn’t our fault the vehicle didn’t have plates (seriously!). However, the little handwritten note was only good for Belize, and we couldn’t take the truck out of the country without plates. We have a few things coming up where we may want to take the truck into Guatemala or Mexico, so we decided that we should start pushing to get the plates.

So, when Tom went in to check on plates last week, instead of smiling, saying thanks, and leaving when the woman told him they didn’t have any, he asked who he should talk to since we were about to need the plates, and we’d already waited almost six months. The woman had him talk to one of the officials, who told him that he could get the plates in Belmopan.

We tooted off to Belmopan, just to get the plates. We found the Ministry of Works there, Tom went in to get the plates, an official came out to make sure our registration matched the VIN on the truck, and Tom went in to fill out the paperwork. And, he had to pay an extra $15 because even though we’d already paid for the plates we never got in Santa Elena, issuing the plates from Belmopan required the creation of a new title, and that cost $15. Tom also found out that we never would have received plates from Santa Elena, because only one box of plates was issued this year for general Cayo registrations, and that box of plates went to Belmopan and couldn’t be split, so Santa Elena isn’t going to get any plates to issue for quite a while. All it meant to us was an extra trip to Belmopan and $15 ($7.50US), which obviously isn’t the end of the world – but it just seems silly, and is a situation which could be easily fixed. However, we now have our plates and can take off to Mexico or Guatemala whenever we want!

Tom finally managed to get the books left here by Ariana, Josh, Rachel, and Ian back in April. The books have been driven back and forth to 7 Miles on a fairly regular basis, but we always seemed to get to the school on a day that was a soccer tournament, or the teachers had closed school early to cash their paychecks, or it was a test day, or a holiday we didn't know about...some obscure reason classes weren't in session, and that people without kids in the school just didn't know about.

Now that the books are finally there, the kids are thrilled.

Jorge, the principal, was elated and said that anytime our guests leave books or school supplies, they're more than happy to use them in the school since their resources are very limited.

So now the kids can sit in their fixed chairs and read good books!

The Chair Doctors

Despite a lack of business at the moment, we are managing to keep ourselves busy. Since working on the water line shortly after we arrived in Belize and bought this property, Tom has remained in touch and become friends with Julio, the chairman of the village of 7 Miles. After working on the water line with Tom, Julio knows that Tom has his “gringo tools,” which make some repair tasks a whole lot easier. It came to Julio’s attention that many of the chairs at the government school in the village had, to put it mildly, seen better days. The chairs are ten years old, they’re wooden which makes them very susceptible to the climate here, and they’ve been used by children – enough said. Julio asked Tom if he could bring his DeWalt tools and some screws to the school to fix “a few” chairs.

Tom loaded his DeWalt tools and some screws into the little blue truck last Tuesday morning, and we left for the school. When we got there, we spoke briefly to the principal, and he said the older boys would bring out the chairs in need of attention. So the boys started bringing out chairs. And more chairs. And more chairs from another building. By the time they were done, we had 23 chairs lined up, some just needed a screw or two to fix a wiggle, some in pieces, and some missing pieces. Tom quickly realized he needed more than just the tools and some screws, so we put together a list and I drove back to the farm for scrap wood, the little generator, the DeWalt battery charger, extension cords, and some of the more high powered corded tools.

Tom and Julio took inventory while I was gone, and when I got back with the supplies we backed the truck up to a little palapa behind the school and went to work in the makeshift shop.

Some of the boys wanted to help, but only so many people can work on a chair at once, and Tom couldn’t cut pieces fast enough to keep everybody going, so Tom and Julio ended up with an audience of the boys who had carried the chairs out of the school. We think many of the chairs were the only chairs those boys had to sit on, so since their chairs were outside, they sat outside too rather than in the classroom.

We fixed most of the big chairs and broke for lunch, and didn’t get back to the school until after the kids had left for the day. The boys had taken their chairs back into the building, but had left all the broken little-kid chairs in the palapa. By this time it was after 4PM, so we loaded the chairs into the back of the pickup and brought them home so Tom could use all the tools in his shop to fix them.

Tom said he really felt like King Moonracer on the Island of Misfit Toys, fixing all the little misfit chairs. In the end, they all got new backs and enough screws to keep them from wobbling for the time being, and they went back in the truck and back to the school, ready to be used.

Ka’ax Tun

When Tom agreed to help fix the chairs, he thought “a few” chairs – not 23 – would need his attention. Julio had invited us to have lunch at his house with his family, and our plan was to fix the chairs in the morning, go to lunch at Julio’s house, and then go tour The Center with Julio. While there were more than a few chairs and we didn’t finish in the morning, we remained on the planned schedule and had a delicious lunch of escabeche and fresh corn tortillas at Julio’s, and then went to The Center.

The Center is a large plot of land in back of 7 Miles which Julio has been improving for the past 15 years or so. The land is all rock, so it’s not suitable for farming, but Julio has had the vision to turn it into an environmental education center, called Ka’ax Tun, which means Big Rock in Mayan.

Julio, with volunteer help, built this education building, along with bathrooms with flush toilets and running water. He’s planning to put in a kitchen so groups can come to stay and have their meals prepared. Groups already use the area, but currently camp and bring their own meals.

From the main building, Julio has created paths through the rocks. The rocks are huge and are covered with jungle vegetation. Small caves with Mayan artifacts are tucked under rock overhangs, and in one place a stonework altar is still in place.

The paths wind through the rocks, underneath and on top, and Julio has put in ropes, cement steps, and wooden handrails where necessary. We only walked around for a few hours, and spent a significant amount of time just sitting awestruck and staring at the rocks, but Julio says you can hike around on the trails all day.

Even after traveling in Belize and spending a lot of time outside enjoying Belize’s natural wonders, Tom and I found the physical features of the area breathtaking, and it’s an area where you can still feel the presence of the Maya. Julio says that we can offer a park tour as one of our trips, and we’re looking forward to our next guests so we can share this beautiful piece of Belize with them.

Earthquake!

Well, it woke us up around 2:23am this morning, Thursday, May 28, 2009. At first I (Tom) thought Recona, who was locked on the front porch, was scratching a lot and shaking the house. Then I realized, no, it is a LOT more shaking than that! We were a' shakin' for at least a minute, enough time to wake up, wonder what was up, go to the window and look out at the pitch black jungle in the middle of the night, and ponder how long do these tremors last; to us, it seemed like a very long minute. Nothing scary though, just wondering if our house would fall into the ground since caves are all over in Belize, and the whole place is undermined with limestone. Not sure how much we would have felt it if we didn't live in a house on stilts!

We have heard that there is a major fault in the Caribbean that is way overdue for some major shifting. Who knows, we had a major quake in Upstate NY while we were there. In the Adirondacks there were roads that had 2-3 foot shear rises or drops.

We will keep you posted! Travelers shouldn't change your their travel plans though (as far as we know), this just adds to the excitement in life! One of the advantages to living back in the bush is we don't have electric lines to come down, phone systems to fail, or huge buildings to come toppling down, however there are some tall water towers setup for the towns.

We really feel bad for the water board in the town of Independence. The UDP illegally ousted the PUP water board last year and the courts last week declared that the old PUP water board should be able to take back over. In a report we just read on MSN.com, the water tower in Independence collapsed due to the quake. Bad luck for the PUP water board coming back in, I am sure that the water problems are all going to be blamed on them now.

Also, we are wondering if we can apply to NEMO for road much needed road repairs to the Georgeville Road!

Recona’s Whoop-de-doos

Recona is a very funny dog, and Tom and I sometimes wonder if she didn’t receive a good bit of coaching from Mel before he died since she does so many things just like he did. For example, since we’ve been keeping her on the porch at night, she’s been very good and hasn’t bothered to chew shoes or anything. But, one night earlier this week, we came out in the morning and found that she had taken our mini-binoculars off the rail, neatly out of the case, and had removed one eyepiece. The same night, she took a pair of my reading glasses apart. When Mel was a puppy, we were always baffled by how his destructive efforts always had themes, and he would collect things to chew and then leave them in a pile. One day I came home from work and he had apparently jumped up on the counter and taken a wooden spoon, a small plastic bowl, and a cookbook, and then he’d gone in the garbage and pulled out a bag that had contained flour. Apparently he was planning on a baking project. Another time, shortly after we’d moved into our Canadice house, he gathered a hammer, a jar of nails, and a few pictures in frames we had left propped next to a wall. I guess we weren’t decorating quickly enough for him. So, when we found that Recona was following his tendency to use themes for her destruction, all we could do was shake our heads.

The other thing she does is what we call Whoop-de-doos. Whenever we fed Mel, he would jump around on his hind legs, doing circles and pirouettes. Recona has taken this a step further, and she leaps, spins, and dances when she knows dinner is coming. She has a few distinct moves – the double spin-reversal, the pirouette-horse buck combo, and some pretty snazzy side to side moves – and I’ve been trying to get her to do specific moves on command by giving her a cue as soon as I can tell what she’s doing.

Tom says it’s as funny to watch me as it is to watch her, and he’s trying to figure out how to get our camera to get a video.

Another Adventure

While Tom and I have been less than busy with guests over the past couple of weeks, we’ve managed to take some time off and do some really fun things. One of them was a horseback ride to visit a friend who lives up in the Mountain Pine Ridge, and a ride to a waterfall we hadn’t visited before. We left around 9:00 Sunday morning, with Tom riding Es, me on Glin, and a saddled Tony dragging behind Es for George to ride when we got there. We knew it was seven or eight miles from here to there through the trails, and we figured it would take us about 90 minutes, and not more than two hours. However, we didn’t factor in the factor that Tony is basically a boat anchor with four legs. Even with Tom pulling him and me behind with a whip to tap his butt, it took us two and a half hours to get there, and George was just about to come looking for us when we finally showed up.

We made it without getting lost, following George’s directions for the trails we hadn’t yet ridden. We had a drink and a quick tour of the farm, and then we took the horses and rode for a delicious lunch at the waterfall, which is well off the beaten track. We thoroughly enjoyed the ride, the swim, and the lunch, when I suddenly realized it was a few minutes after 4:00. It gets dark here between 6:30 and 7:00 right now, and it didn’t take a mathematical genius to figure out that with about 45 minutes to get back to George’s house, and then two and a half hours home, we’d be riding through the jungle after dark.

We did a quick pack-up and got back on the trail. George volunteered to walk the bit between where we could pick up the trail home from the waterfall trail to his house, but we’d decided that it didn’t really matter since things always work out in Belize, and horses see in the dark anyway. So, the three of us rode back to George’s, taking a shortcut through the bush to save a little time, and Tom and I did a quick about face to head home.

This was where things got funny. We thought that because we were heading home, we’d just let Tony run and we’d drive him from the backs of the two mares. Horses always want to go home, especially when they know dinner is waiting there – right? That’s what we thought, but not Tony. He would have been perfectly happy eating George’s lawn, probably forever. After trying to chase him around to get him moving and getting a double-whammy kick well placed on Tom's shin, Tom put the tow rope back on Tony, and rather than going around and down the driveway through the farm, we decided to just cross the ditch. Tony seemed to think he’d rather stay and eat the lawn than cross the ditch, and after Es jumped across Tony slammed on the brakes and launched himself backward, pulling the rope out of Tom’s hands, which freed Tony to head back to the yummy lawn. Tom went after him, and jumped off Es to recoil the rope. Es pulled away, and decided she was going to head home on her own, and she seemed to think home was through the bush, the way we’d come back from the waterfall. So, I had to go careening through the bush on Glin, dodging trees, bushes, rocks, and vines, trying to get beside the galloping Es (how do they gallop like that through the bush???) so I could grab her reins. She finally came out on a cleared spot so I could pull up beside her and grab her. I got off to get things organized so I could pony her back through the trees, and Tom came crashing through to fetch her, having left Tony happily grazing on the lawn. We both remounted and galloped the long way – not through the trees – to get back to George’s to fetch Tony. I stayed in the road on Glin and held Es while Tom chased Tony around the yard. Tony was perfectly happy to stay there as long as he was left in peace to graze, but knowing that Tom was coming to drag him away somewhere gave him incentive to gallop around the yard. All this time the clock was ticking, and about 20 minutes had passed by the time Tom got Tony over the ditch, he got back on Es with the tow rope, and I got behind with a whip to keep Tony going. We took off at a somewhat herky-jerky trot with George shouting to drop him an email when we got home so he’d know we weren’t lost in the jungle.

Since I’m blogging, you know we made it. And, we actually did it in pretty good time – 1:38 as opposed to 2:30, and it was still light enough that I could read the words “I fear no beer” on the back of Tom’s t-shirt. The trail is fairly clear and flat, it’s downhill home, and even though Tony is a dolt, I think the horses knew dinner was waiting for them, so we managed to get them trotting. We’d seen a lot of wild cat tracks on the trail on the way up, so I was hoping to see a cat on the way home, but no such luck. We did find out where water is being collected to be delivered in San Antonio, since we had a brief delay and had to lead the horses across the Slate Creek concrete ford since the concrete pad was just about full with the tractor, the water wagon it was towing, and the noisy generator that was being used to run the pump to get the water out of Slate Creek and into the water tank. Es and Glin crossed without much problem, but Tony the dolt refused to move and the water guys had to turn off the generator before he’d tiptoe past the tractor and wagon. Tom and I had a brief discussion about whether to take the road home or use the jungle trails we’d used in the morning, and since my fear of idiots in cars and trucks on a dark road is greater than my fear of what comes out in the jungle at night, we took the trail and it wasn’t any problem. It was pitch dark by the time we finished feeding, but as Tom’s Gram used to say, no horses lost, no men killed. Or maybe it was no horses killed, no men lost…whatever, either way we all got home, ready to ride another day.

And regarding the water – we had enough pipe water to fill our tanks one night late last week, but we haven’t had any since then, and San Antonio didn’t even get that – which is why the water needs to be delivered to San Antonio.

Flor de Izote, Take Two

We caught another Flor de Izote at the prime time for eating, and the ripening of the flower perfectly coincided with the appearance of a Barton Creek Mennonite in a 2-horse wagon appearing in our driveway selling dairy products. So, I ran with my original idea of making something like Fettucini Alfredo, Belizean style. I sautéed the flowers with garlic, salt, and pepper, cooked up some linguine – the Belizean pasta company I like makes linguine, but I haven’t found fettucini – and used all local products to make the sauce. The result was delicious, but I wouldn’t try to pass it off as Alfredo sauce, since the local dairy products, which are completely unprocessed, are all a little stronger than the ultrapasteurized products we were used to in the US. The cow butter is not sweet cream butter and tastes a little like it’s already been mixed with parmesan cheese. The cream, which is super thick, also has a bit of a cheesy taste; I definitely wouldn’t use it to whip for a dessert although it’s perfect for a pasta sauce. And while real parmesan cheese is sometimes available but rare and expensive, the Mennonites in Spanish Lookout make a hard cheese coated in red wax which is a very acceptable substitute. The result was an “only in Belize” dish that Tom and I thoroughly enjoyed, although my stomach, accustomed to a much lower fat diet, had a few complaints after I went to bed that night – but all was well in the morning and we’re wondering if any more of the Flor de Izotes will bloom.

And, by the way, the Mennonite delivering the dairy products said he would stop by every Saturday morning. In addition to the fresh cream, he was selling blocks of cheese, which we also tried and really enjoyed. It’s not like cheddar or any of the well aged cheeses, but more like what we used to call “squeaky cheese” curds all pressed together with a mild flavor. It doesn’t melt and get gooey, but it will cook into things, and it’s tasty just to slice and eat. He never stopped before because he said most gringos don’t like their products, although we don’t know if that’s because they don’t like them or if they’re nervous about eating dairy products which are probably made of unpasteurized milk, and which aren’t refrigerated prior to being loaded into the non-refrigerated horse wagon for delivery. It’s a little weird to buy a baggie of very thick cream out of a 5-gallon bucket off a horse-drawn wagon, but the products are very tasty and Tom and I stayed healthy while eating them this week.

Jaguar Update

The update is that we don’t have any new news, either of the jaguar doing mischief in the area, or of the jaguar investigators doing anything other than talking to people and advising them on how to keep their pets and livestock safe.

However, Tom took a picture of the front and back of the brochure provided to us by George from the Forestry Department. It’s not all practical here – for example without electricity most people can’t rig up motion sensing lights – but the brochure provides lots of helpful information.

The Jaguar Saga

We haven't heard any more reports of jaguar misdeeds over the past couple of nights, but today George from the Forestry Department drove into the area to interview people and assess the situation. Since we had submitted the report, he stopped here first, and then went to our neighbors' houses to talk to them. Tom went with him to our closest neighbors and said that they showed him photos of their mauled dog and the tracks around the dog, and George confirmed that it is a jaguar, and that a jaguar taking dogs is a problem. We don't know how far George got with his interviews today, but we'll post any new info as we get it.

Tom and I were talking, and we decided that George and the other "problem jaguar specialists" have an interesting job. We think it must be sort of like chasing ghosts. They hear about these happenings, and then have to go interview freaked-out people about something that could be very difficult to find. And the people are freaked out; Tom came back from our neighbors' this morning and said that all the women were yelling at George, telling him someone has to kill the jaguar, because it is going to come in their houses at night and eat their children. George told them that in the entire Jaguar Corridor, from the Southwestern US, through Mexico and Central America, and down into South America, only one death has been caused by a jaguar, and that was a unique situation. A man in Venezuela would go out into the jungle on a regular basis and take food to a jaguar. One day the man got drunk, went out into the jungle without any food, and fell asleep in the spot where he usually fed the jaguar. The jaguar came along and ate the man. That’s a somewhat horrifying story, but it’s a far cry from a jaguar breaking into people’s houses and eating their children at night. We were told we don’t understand because we don’t have children, but I have to wonder if some of this fear isn’t just handed down from generation to generation because the big threat parents use on their children is that if they don’t behave, El Tigre, the jaguar, will get them. If something is said often enough people start to think it’s true, and from what we’ve seen, that threat is used very frequently in this culture.

So, part of George’s job is to assess the situation and, if necessary, come up with a plan to trap the problem jaguar. The other, and probably larger, part of his job is to educate people so they don’t make themselves targets for a problem. They need to be told that the jaguar won’t hunt them or their families, but if they put calves or foals in open pens out in the bush, it’s pretty likely that a jaguar will make a meal of the young animal. They also need to be told that just running out into the jungle and shooting any jaguar they find probably won’t solve the problem, since multiple jaguars may be in one area, and there’s no guarantee hunters will find the right one. George gave us some brochures for farmers with recommendations on how to keep livestock from becoming jaguar prey, and he advises people to keep their pets contained at night. Tom and I have the attitude that this is something we have to deal with since we’re in the jaguar’s territory, but George said most people don’t have that attitude, and they just want to get rid of the cats from around where they live. We certainly don’t envy George and the others that part of their job, but in other ways, it’s rewarding because they get to see and study the animals. And, we wonder if the animals are studying them because George told us that on his way here today, he saw a young black jaguar cross the road – something most Belizeans never see!

Jaguar in the ‘hood!

The big news right now around here is that we have a jaguar in the ‘hood. After spending 20-plus years living in an area where bear sightings were big news, we think this is kind of a thrill. However, our neighbors, who use the threat of “el Tigre” to make their children behave, aren’t quite as positive about it as we are.

At 7AM on Sunday morning, our 11-year-old neighbor, Hector, was in our driveway. El Tigre had mauled their dog, Rex, and would we like to see him before he died. Or after. Whatever. Did we want to see what a jaguar could do to a dog? Our answer was – no surprise – NO.

We did, however, ask how they knew it was a jaguar which had injured their dog. The answer was, thanks to the rain arriving a few weeks before the rainy season, the mauler of the dog had left huge cat tracks in the mud. Apparently the families next door heard the fight in the rain around 3AM, ran outside making a lot of noise, and when they went to check on the dog, they found Rex, mortally wounded, with very large cat tracks around him.

Upon telling other area people about what happened, it turns out that about half a dozen families within a mile or two of here have lost dogs over the past couple of weeks. It’s an assumption, but it’s not unrealistic that some or all of these dogs have been taken or killed by a jaguar.

Today, we went to town to do some shopping. On the way home, two separate families in the area stopped us to see if we could contact the Zoo, knowing we have a good relationship with the Zoo due to us donating cage material. So, we emailed Sharon and told her what was going on around here.

Sharon almost immediately emailed us back, and told us that she had forwarded our email to the Forestry department, the Zoo department that handles jaguar cases, and Dr. Bart Harmsen, who works with Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, who is coordinating the entire Jaguar Corridor from the Southwestern US through Central America and into South America – recently documented in National Geographic. Sharon also told us that jaguars who take dogs are usually sick or elderly, and that the situation should be monitored – and that people should keep their dogs inside or otherwise contained.

Right now, Tom is out telling our neighbors that we received an almost immediate response from Sharon, and what that response was. We’re waiting to hear from other people in the area about jaguar sightings, which we will immediately report to Sharon. We hope the jaguar will either move on, or that the Zoo and the Forestry Department will team up to trap it before it does anything worse than kill a few dogs.

In the meantime, our dogs are, as usual sleeping in the house. Even Recona, who usually sleeps tied under the porch, has been elevated to “sleeping on the porch” status – which she is very quickly becoming accustomed to, and which is probably permanent whether we like it or not.

And we’ll keep all of you posted. This is big news around here!

More water...

Since our last post, we’ve had three days of rain. That has been a huge blessing, and we’ve not only been able to fill our tanks from the rainwater collected from the shop roof, but we’ve also had water in the pipe last night and tonight, which has been a relief for our neighbors. Tom actually took our two 200-gallon tanks back up the hill, and we’re hoping they fill from the pipe tonight.

The Water Situation

Since our last post about the water woes around here, we’ve had enough water. We haven’t had enough water that we’re comfortable, but by managing the supply to keep our tanks as full as possible, and by conserving and asking our guests to conserve, we’ve managed not to run out before the water flows in the public pipe and our catch-tank is refilled.

However, we now haven’t had water in the pipe in well over a week.

We’ve taken our two 200-gallon tanks down from the hill and put them in the back of Tinkerbell and rigged up a system so we can pump the water from the tanks in the bed of the truck into either the catch-tank or directly up the hill to the gravity feed tanks without any bucket hauling.

Tom went into 7 Miles this morning and filled the two tanks, and our new system seems to work – well enough that we decided I could do some laundry and we can get more water from 7 Miles in the next couple of days and keep hoping that either the pipe water starts to run again or we get a couple of good thunderstorms. We’ve had threats of thunderstorms and some rumbles, but so far we haven’t had enough rain to make a difference with our water situation.

We can’t complain too much since San Antonio is heading into its third month without any water, and as I said in a previous blog entry, we’re lucky to have Tinkerbell, the 200-gallon tanks, and a pump so it’s inconvenient but not too physically difficult to get water. However, it’s a very frustrating situation because the problem could be fixed. Tom talked to people in 7 Miles this morning about what’s causing this problem, and they say it’s as simple as a pipe being rerouted so that instead of feeding the town from the 600 foot drop out of the Mountain Pine Ridge, the town is being fed from a reserve tank which is only 200 feet above the town. By rerouting the pipe, they’ve significantly reduced the water pressure, and not only are San Antonio and everybody on this end of the pipe without water, but the pressure is only high enough to supply about half of the village of 7 Miles and it has nothing to do with water supply. When Tom asked if the Water Board has plans to fix it, his queries were met with shrugs and averted eyes since people are afraid to complain to the new Water Board for fear their supply will be permanently cut off. Some people are just resigned to the fact that the water supply always runs short in the dry season, which will last for about another three weeks, so even though they’re hearing that the problem could be fixed now, they think it will resolve itself in a few weeks. That remains to be seen, and right now we’re going to sit tight and do what everybody else is doing.

This is especially difficult for Tom, but he’s still standing by his resolution to stay out of the water politics around here since the Water Board takeover meeting a year ago when the authorities told him the water was none of his business and threatened our residency status if Tom chose to make a fuss. For the most part, we love the fact that everybody in Belize is close enough to the government to be able to talk to any official and make a difference, but in a situation like this, it’s difficult. When the individual is big enough to make a difference, the individual is also big enough to be a target if crooked officials are displeased. If this goes too far – for example if it looks like we’re going to be permanently without water – we’ll step up and start making noise, but in the meantime we’ll do what everybody else is doing, and just manage for ourselves.

Lunch on the hoof, er, trunk

As Tom was trimming the horses’ feet the other morning, I was looking around as I held them and noticed that the Flor de Izotes had bloomed. Flor de Izote is a once-a-year delicacy around here, so my mind immediately turned to lunch. The flowers taste somewhat like asparagus or artichokes – not surprising since all three are flowers – and can be cooked like asparagus or artichoke.

As soon as Tom was done trimming the horses, we got out the ladder and began to plan how to get the flower out of the tree, and of course the flower was on the absolute highest point possible.

Tom was a little uncertain about whether resting the ladder in the leaves of the Flor de Izote and the shrub next to it was really safe, but since we were both fantasizing about the pending lunch, we decided it was worth the risk.

You may say that the risk was all for Tom since he was the one climbing the swaying ladder, but he had a machete in his hand to cut the flower out of the tree, and I had to hold the ladder, so I was at risk too!

Tom successfully chopped the top out of the palm and got the flower, and himself, down intact.

The wok, some olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and egg, and it’s almost Artichoke French! The next flower is going to be eaten with white wine and cream sauce over pasta! Mmmm.

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!

Margaret

We just finished a weeklong visit with our old (well, SHE is not OLD, we just have been friends for a long time) and dear friend Margaret from Virginia. She just earned her MBA and reached a milestone birthday, so her friend Billy gave her tickets to visit us in Belize as a congratulatory gift. We gave her a place to stay and, we hope, a week where she had as much fun as we did. We just received an email from her that she’s home, exhausted and sore, but nonetheless coming off the high of a great week in the Caribbean.

We’re really not surprised that she was tired and feeling the muscles in her legs when she got home, because we didn’t give her a break. Her brother David and his family were here in December, and they told her what they thought she would like to do, and we agreed. Unfortunately for Margaret, Dave and family were here for two and a half weeks, and Margaret was here for only one week, so while we were able to intersperse a few kick-back-and-relax days between activities for Dave, Tamis, and the kids, for Margaret it was one adventure after another through the entire week.

We picked her up from the airport and stopped at the Belize Zoo, where we toured the whole Zoo and then had a Junior Buddy encounter.

The next day it was off on a full day tour to ATM and the Handprint Cave with Gonzo, followed by a half day at Barton Creek Cave with Selwyn and a shopping expedition into San Ignacio in the afternoon.

On Wednesday we spent the entire day at Caracol with Selwyn, and were lucky enough to see a Great Curassow, also known as a Punk Rock Chicken, on the road on the way into the site. On Thursday, Tom and Margaret took off for Hopkins for the day, where they swam in the Caribbean and walked the beach.

Then, it was back underground on Friday, when we went to Chechem Ha Cave and had a delicious traditional Belizean lunch prepared by Gonzo’s mother at her house.

Yesterday was the tearful goodbye at the airport, with Tom and I glad we’re living in Belize so our friends and family can come visit us and we love it here, but sad because seeing such a good friend after almost two and a half years and realizing that we probably won’t get together again for a long time made Belize seem very far from our old life in the US. But, we’re now getting ready for our next round of guests where we know we’ll make new friends, we have more good old friends already scheduled to come in August, and we’re hoping that we’ll have a few more visits from friends and family scheduled in the next few months. In the meantime, we won’t have any trouble keeping busy!

Mysterious Orbs

As we were looking through Margaret’s photos with Gonzo, he pointed out that many orbs are in the photographs of the caves she had visited while here. We spent an interesting half hour or so each drinking a beer, blowing up the orbs in a photo shop program, and seeing what we could see in them. I then googled “orbs in photographs” to see what the “experts” say on this subject, and found that the jury is hung as to whether they’re dust motes in the photos or something paranormal. You decide…you can blow up the pictures by clicking on them, and then copy them into a photo app of your choice to blow up and manipulate the orb images. Have fun!

The orb is in the lower right corner of the picture. This one is interesting because it’s not inside the cave where the flash could create orbs from dust motes. Of course it could always be a drop of water on the lens…

More orbs outside the cave in a picture taken at a different time before they got in the canoe to go into the cave.

Orbs were photographed inside Barton Creek Cave as well.

For what it’s worth, this picture is part of a series of pictures snapped relatively quickly in sequence, and the orbs are only in this one.

This is on the beach inside the Rio Frio Cave, which we visited on our way to Caracol.

Dursban. Blech.

Now that Margaret has returned to Virginia, Tom and I don’t have any guests booked for a couple of weeks. So, we’re taking advantage of the time off (although it doesn’t feel much like the vacation type of “time off”) to take care of some things around here. Top of the list is to Dursban under the cabins, since we’ve had an explosion in the number of creepy crawlies which have been invading the cabins over the past few weeks. We’ve seen up to three or four scorpions a night (although not every night) as well as a number of spiders, roaches, bees, chinch bugs, and assorted other pests with whom we don’t choose to share our living space. Tom spent this morning raking under our cabin and spraying, and he’s holding off on spraying the guest cabin until we decide if we’ll be able to sleep in our cabin with the smell. So far it doesn’t seem too bad, so if all goes well Tom will spray the guest cabin within the next couple of days, then we’ll give it a couple of weeks to air out, and then we’ll be open for business again, minus the creepy crawlies.

Bravo!

Tom’s other task is to take Bluebell back to Bravo Motors for the well child oil change and checkup. We laugh because when we lived in NY we drove so many miles that it seemed like one of our cars was always in the shop for its checkup and oil change, but here, for the first time ever, we passed the time milepost for the oil change before the mileage milepost. Unfortunately Bravo is almost two hours from here in Belize City. Fortunately Bravo is quite responsive and schedules the maintenance at our convenience, although we’re bumming a bit now because since we’re in the down season most flights only arrive and depart on weekends, when the Bravo service department isn’t open, so we can’t combine an airport pickup with an oil change. But the little truck uses a lot less gas than Tinkerbell and we can always find something else to do while we’re out, so we’ll make it worth the trip.

BTB Swine Flu Info Link - perpetually updated

The Belize Tourism Board sent out a link for the most up to date reports on the status of the swine flu situation in Belize. You can access it here.

Update

As we expected, we received a notification about swine flu from the BTB. This is a copy of our email:



From the Belize Tourism Board, April 29th. 6:00 p.m.


SWINE FLU UPDDATE

The occurrence of swine flu in Mexico and several countries throughout the world has raised concerns for travelers and our businesses in regards to the prevention of transmissions and the impact on travel plans. As this situation is rapidly evolving you are urged to keep updated on the worldwide and local situation.

The Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture and the Belize Tourism Board have not been advised of any confirmed cases in Belize and maintain contact with our local health authorities to closely monitor any new developments. We will share with you any information that is forthcoming and have included helpful resources at the end of this message including a link to the Belize Ministry of Health website at - http://www.health.gov.bz/moh/

Please be advised of the following, excerpted from April 29th releases from the Belize Ministry of Health:

BELIZE BORDERS

It has been reiterated that the closing of borders is not recommended as it is not recommended by International Health Regulations. Surveillance and screening of visitors at the northern and western border continues. Surveillance and screening at the Phillip Goldson International Airport will begin on Thursday, April 30th.

CRUISE SHIPS
Any sick person on board a vessel (including a cruise ship) will not be allowed to leave the ship and come on onshore.

INTERSECTORAL COORDINATION
A meeting with stakeholders took place on April 27, 2009 to discuss the multi-sectoral approach in responding to the potential introduction of Swine Flu. Participants included:
Office of the Director of Health Services, Ministry of Health
National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO)
Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA)
Regional Health Managers of the Ministry of Health
Ministry of Education
Customs
Cuban Medical Brigade Coordination
HOT LINE
The Ministry of Health has established a Hot Line for the public from 8:00 am – 8:00 pm. the number is 629-5604 and will be handled by Nurse Augustina Eligio, stationed at MOH HQ.

EVENT CANCELLATIONS
With the underlying principle of preventing any potential transmission of Swine Flu in the country of Belize, the Ministry of Health through the Director of Health Services, in accordance with Section 83 of the Public Health Act, has issued a directive to postpone all major public gatherings until further notice. This includes the following events:

The Annual General Meeting of the Holy Redeemer Credit Union Belize City
Morgan Heritage Musical Concert, Belize City
The University of Belize Fundraising Event – Spring Fling 2009, Belmopan
National Agriculture and Trade Show,Belmopan
Cashew Fest, Crooked Tree
Hermanos Ponce Circus, Belize City
- End of Ministry of Health release -


KEEPING HEALTHY

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.

From The World Health Organization(WHO)
WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders.
It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.
There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products.

For Tourism Businesses:
Ensure a high level of sanitation in your property to minimize the spread of any infection. Health experts recommend frequent hand washing and use of alcohol-based hand cleaners. Cover your nose or mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth as germs spread in this manner.
Any employee who exhibits flu symptoms should stay at home, minimizing contact with others. If flu symptoms persist or worsen, seek medical treatment.
Maintain a level of concern, not panic. At this point there is no reason to discourage people from traveling to or within Belize.
Individuals should be encouraged to take common sense steps to protect themselves including maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle with adequate sleep, proper nutrition, controlling stress and maintaining physical fitness.

For individuals - Take everyday actions to stay healthy.
Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
Stay home if you get sick. Stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.
Develop a family emergency plan as a precaution. This should include storing a supply of food, medicines, facemasks, alcohol-based hand rubs and other essential supplies.
Additional Resources
Belize Ministry of Health - http://www.health.gov.bz/moh/
The World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/en/
The Center for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

Since so many people have asked...

...this is what we know about the swine flu situation in Belize. This link is a news story from yesterday's Channel 7 news. Beyond this, we haven't heard anything and haven't noticed people around here even being aware of it. There's a thread about it on the Belize Forum because people are wondering how it will affect travel, but so far we haven't heard of any official government position on that issue, and if the Belize Tourism Board issues any notices, we'll receive them via email - and I'll post them here.

A Funny Ferry Tale

Things can be so strange here. Yesterday Tom and I drove to Spanish Lookout, and decided to take the ferry rather than driving the long way around over the bridge. As we pulled up behind the single car waiting for the ferry to get back to our side of the river, we saw the driver look in her rear view mirror, and then jump out of the car and run back to us as though she had been waiting for us. We both looked at her as she got to Tom’s window, and she blurted out “I’m afraid of the ferry! Will you go in front of me?” She was obviously very upset, so Tom, being the ever helpful Tom, asked her if she would like him to drive her car on and off the ferry for her. “Oh yes, I would really appreciate that! My husband said I should go this way because it’s so much shorter, and I didn’t want to do it, but I did, and then I wished I didn’t, and I’m so glad you pulled up behind me to help!” We couldn’t help but laugh, but she was so obviously relieved and had worried so much about this, that we were only too happy to help her. She had a legitimate concern with the ferry – the river is low, the ferry bounces, and sometimes getting the first car on the ferry can be a little bit of a trick if the car is small and gets to the ramps when they’re bouncing up. She was driving a Geo Metro, so I drove on first with Bluebell and waited on the ramp until Tom had her front tires on the ferry. I pulled on, he pulled on, the woman walked on, and we chatted as we were cranked across the river. When we got to the other side, I was the first off and actually had to wait a minute or two for the ferryman to get the ferry ramps positioned on the cement ramp – or I could have driven off into the bushes! But, once we were docked, I drove off, Tom drove the Geo off behind me, then the woman got in her car, Tom got in ours, and we were all off, safely on our way to Spanish Lookout!

Ariana, Josh, Rachel, & Ian

This past weekend we had a fabulous time with Ariana, Josh, Rachel, and Ian from Massachusetts. This was their first visit to Belize, and they wanted to spend some time in Cayo seeing the archeological sites and wildlife, and the rest of their vacation on the coast in Hopkins, where they could do some water activities and some more hiking in the jungle, along with a bit of beach time.

While they were here, they took a hike with Selwyn to Big Rock Falls, where they swam and ate lunch. Tom met them there with Bluebell, and as soon as they got here they jumped in their car and took off for Barton Creek Cave. They did the amazing ATM tour the next day, followed by a full day at Caracol with stops at Rio Frio Cave and Rio On Pools.

As if that wasn’t enough activity, the morning they left we saddled up Ness and Tony and Tom and I walked while Ariana and Josh rode to the Green Hills Butterfly Ranch.

Rachel and Ian drove down and we all took the tour, complete with lots of photographs.

Josh is an amazing photographer with incredible patience.

But we still had to rely on Tom with his old Sony Cybershot to get this picture of the butterfly landing on Ariana’s arm!

Because they live in northern Massachusetts and spend most winter weekends skiing in Vermont, we knew lots of places in common. And, they brought us real Vermont maple syrup, so we could really enjoy our waffles!

We also now have a whole box of books and school supplies which Tom and I will be taking into 7 Miles this week where they are much needed – so we have to thank Ariana, Josh, Rachel and Ian for all the stuff, as well as for giving us a really fun weekend. They promised another visit to Belize, and we’ll do our best to continue to remind them of that promise!

Haircut Lessons For Marge

Marge has been grooming horses and dogs for years but had never attempted to cut my hair. Now that we live in the jungle, I hadn’t had my haircut since Tamis was here around Christmas around 4 months ago, and the only ones we have found to cut my hair are the local kids, she decided it was time for her to put her “skills” to the test.

Armed with a Wahl hair clipper set, complete with a set of directions on how to be a successful hairdresser (LOL), she went to work.

Now, my favorite part about getting my haircut was that I can sit and watch the birds right in the horse pasture as Marge went to work. I made Marge stop when I spotted the small bright blue bird we have been trying to identify as she was shearing off the locks on the back of my head. My LEAST favorite part of getting my haircut us we have to run the generator (but we had to run water up the hill anyway so we made good use of the big generator being on) and we have to listen to the noise.

After some finishing touches, here’s the end result. Man, I now feel like a horse that has traveled from NY in the winter to FL and had my winter blanket cut off; nice and cool. Marge was worried that she wouldn’t get it to come out right but I reassured her that SHE was the one that had to look at my hair all the time (not ME) so what do I care? Also, if she REALLY messed it up? Well, we could just get out the Gillete and shave it all right down and start again, it will keep on growing back and, besides, it would be a bit cooler that way!

End results in my book, “Great job Marge”! Now she can become a beautician here in Belize. Next she can start practicing on my nails and callouses.

Bravo for Bravo Motors!

We just got a flier from Bravo Motors last week. We purchased our little Isuzu from them on the day before Christmas, 2008 and they asked for our feedback. Then we find ourselves in their New Customer Corner. Thank you, Bravo, our little truck is doing great up here in the mountains.

Armed with only a machete…

Tom managed to chop down (in 5 minutes right where he wanted it to fall), chop up, and move this gumbo limbo tree which our horses had girdled.

It actually had some new leaves coming out on its branches, but between the fact that the horses had girdled it, and that it had termite trails running up it, Tom decided it was time for it to go. Turns out that was a good decision since the termites were eating it from the inside out.

We now have 2 new starts to gumbo limbo trees back behind the guest cabin. We will see if they grow like everyone says they do. The rumor is, all you have to do is stick the branches in the ground and they grow! We will keep you posted.

She’s Baaacckk…

Marjie had been here the week before last, and left last weekend to go to her property in northern Belize, so we were delighted when we got an email from her on Monday that it turned out she had a few extra days and wanted to come back. So, her second visit overlapped with Steve and Hannah’s, and she was actually able to spend a few days here without working on our horses’ feet since she’d finished everybody the week before. However, she couldn’t stay away from the horses, and ended up hanging out for a few hours a day for a couple of days at the Blancaneaux stables, where she’ll be helping them out a little when she’s here for good. We, of course, are thrilled, since not only will we then get to hang out with them, but we’re ensured good care for our horses’ feet! I think most of Cayo will be thrilled to have a professional horsewoman in the area, and I'm certainly pleased that some of the locals around here will be able to see that if I'm odd because I'm female and passionate about horses, at least I have company.

Steve & Hannah

Steve and Hannah visited us from Alaska for a few days last week, and were lucky enough to have their visit coincide with the blossoming of the Cortes tree. Steve is a scientist who studied wildlife in Belize for a number of years before settling in Alaska, and Steve decided it was time to show his teenaged daughter Hannah where he and his wife used to live and work. We knew we’d like them right away, first because they were referred here by Sharon, and second, because we found out within a few minutes of conversation that the reason Steve and Hannah were traveling without Steve’s wife and son (Hannah’s mother and brother) was that they have a dog with a heart condition who also suffers from separation anxiety, and they’re afraid he could die if the entire family left him. Hmmm…I think Tom and I know more people than most who tailor their vacation plans around their animals.

While they were here, Steve and Hannah visited Chechem Ha Cave and Xunantunich, spent a day exploring ATM, and then went up into the Mountain Pine Ridge to 1000 Foot Falls to see a falcon – not the falls – with a stop for fun at Big Rock. We’re just hoping we get to meet the other half of the family eventually!

So brief!

We have a tree over our cabin called the Cortes tree, and it erupts in brilliant yellow flowers once a year for two or three days. Then the flowers fall off and make the ground beautiful for a day or two, and then they dry up altogether.

This was the Cortes tree on March 29. If you look closely, you can see two toucans in the branches in the upper left.

This is the tree same tree on April 9. Beautiful.

Here it is from a greater distance. It really is right over our house.

And here it is today. So sad! We have to wait another year before this flashy tree shows off for us again.

HOT!

We moved directly from the cool rainy season into the hot dry season. The temperature was over 90 every day for the past week, although it’s hard to complain with all the sunshine. It’s been so hot that our candles melt!

We’ve also moved directly into forest fire season, with one fire in the Mountain Pine Ridge the week before last that caused some guests to pack up and leave Five Sisters Lodge, and one this week that had Hidden Valley and some of the farms around there very worried. We went out gallivanting on Thursday because Marjie was here, and we ran into Melina who owns Bull Run Farm near Hidden Valley, and she said all of their workers were dedicated to fighting the fire. We then went and had a great lunch with Rich and Cindy in Belmopan, and on the way home, we could see the smoke spreading from the Mountain Pine Ridge. On Thursday evening the three of us went to Blancaneaux for a beer, and when the sun set, we could see the glow of the fire through the hills. People are a little worried because it’s also been windy, so the fires have been able to jump roads and creeks that would normally contain them. We’re having another hot and sunny day today, so Tom and I are planning to head up to Big Rock for a swim this afternoon, so we’ll see what the fire status is then.

Got ‘im!

My limited patience finally paid off and I managed to get a photo of one of the baby Golden-Olive Woodpeckers sticking his head out of the nest hole. I’m still trying for a photo of one of the parents, who are very beautiful.Tom is a little more patient than I am, and he got this shot.

Woodshop Projects

Over the past few weeks, in between guests, Selwyn and I have made 4 more suitcase stands and 2 beds for Mark’s house. Since he was coming down this time with the entire family, he needed more furniture.

I am always amazed that we can take just ordinary looking lumber down here, cut it up, sand it, and then assemble it to make very pretty furniture. We have not been staining or finishing the wood since the wood is so hard and beautiful when left natural.

Not sure the next wood shop projects are going to be. I have bedside tables to make, chairs, and a wardrobe for Marge & I, so we have a place to put our clothes (we are still living out of the plastic drawers we bought for the camper). I have also been talking to some people about making some furniture for their homes. Who knows, maybe we will become Moonracer Farm and Furniture!

And, to facilitate the furniture building, we just took scrap lumber and made some very sturdy workbenches for the shop porch.

Friendships Never Fade

Tom and I had a completely awesome day yesterday visiting with our old friends (or long-term friends as one friend said I should say now that we’re approaching an age that the kid-generation could term “old”) Bob and Tere from Prattsburg, NY. We’ve known Bob and Tere for 25 years, ever since I worked with Bob at my first job out of college, and then Tom became very involved with the Prattsburg Boy Scout troop, of which Bob was the Scout Master. We’ve stayed in touch since we’ve moved here, and a couple of months ago Bob emailed and told us that he and Tere were planning a cruise that had a one-day stop in Belize. Tom and I have spent the past couple months planning the perfect day in Belize (with the help of Sharon at the Zoo), and yesterday was it.

We left home at 5:30am to meet Bob and Tere at Tourism Village in Belize City, where they disembarked from the tender. Fortunately we met a guide we know at Tourism Village, who told us the process for getting visitors’ passes into Tourism Village so we could go in to find Bob and Tere. By 7:45 we were on the road to Cheers, a restaurant near the Zoo, where we had a delicious breakfast. I had my third fry jack since we’ve lived here and Tere fulfilled her craving for a real tamale, while Tom and Bob had slightly less Belizean breakfasts, although Bob did have a flour tortilla. While at Cheers I finally got to meet Chrissy face-to-face. Chrissy is one of the owners, and she and I have been emailing for months exchanging horse information since she’s also a horse nut. Then George, our neighbor from up near Hidden Valley, stopped for breakfast with his son, and we were able to introduce Bob and Tere to “our Belize.”

We left Cheers and headed to the Zoo, where we walked around and looked at the animals, talking non-stop, until about 11:00 when we met up with Sharon near Junior Buddy’s enclosure. That meeting was funny because I had described Sharon to Tere, and while Bob, Tom, and I were still around the corner watching Junior Buddy, Tere had settled on a bench. She saw a woman who fit my description of Sharon, so, being Tere, she jumped up and introduced herself. The three of us saw Sharon and Tere come around the corner talking like old friends, and Sharon invited us to go in for a Junior Buddy Encounter in the cage within the cage.

Tere declined – she was hot and ready to go tubing – but the rest of us went in the cage with Sharon and kissed, scratched, patted, and oohed and aahed over what a beautiful animal the now-2-year-old jaguar has become.




We left the Zoo right around noon and after a few logistical decisions, headed to the Sibun River for our tubing adventure. This involved dropping our truck at the end point River Camp and piling into the Zoo truck to get dropped about an hour’s float upriver. We had a delightful float down the river, watching the birds, spying the iguanas, trying to steer around branches and rocks in the river, and talking, talking, talking.

We arrived at the River Camp about an hour later, where John had set up a beautiful Belizean lunch for us – chicken, rice and beans, slaw, and Belikin. The only downside to all this fun was that we’d all been having such an enjoyable time, none of us had been checking our watches, and we suddenly realized that we had about 45 minutes to get Bob and Tere back to Tourism Village to catch the last tender to their cruise ship at 3:00. We piled up our dishes so we didn’t leave John too much of a mess, had John snap a couple of pictures of the four of us, quickly changed into dry clothes, jumped into Bluebell and started the mad dash into Belize City.

Well, it was sort of a mad dash. We went fast enough on the dirt road away from the River Camp that I managed to bang my head on the ceiling as we hit a bump in the road, but Bluebell’s speed was sorely tested. Tom and I have known that Bluebell doesn’t have much power – she is a “third world vehicle” after all – but we were really feeling it as we were watching the minutes tick by on the digital clock as Tom kept the gas pedal floored and we approached Belize City at the amazing speed of about 107 kilometers per hour, Bluebell’s top speed on the flat. None of the four of us said anything as 3:00 ticked past and we were still about 5 miles from the tender, and then Tom asked what happened if they missed the boat. Bob very wisely said that he wasn’t sure, and while he might get upset about being late back in their real life in NY, he wasn’t going to get upset on vacation until it was necessary. I told Bob and Tere that things always worked out in Belize, and I wasn’t going to get upset unless it was necessary either. Tere smiled and shrugged, and Tom apologized repeatedly and kept the gas pedal floored until we got into Belize City, and then simply went as fast as possible.

We hit Tourism Village at 3:08, piled out for quick hugs, and then Bob, Tere, and I dashed into the terminal. The security guards at the gate told them they just made it, and they dashed through the doors as I fumbled in my wallet for ID to exchange for the Visitor’s Permit. Tom charged through the doors with his ID just as I got mine out, and we went out to make sure Bob and Tere were on the tender. They weren’t. BUT….the last tender was radioed back to pick them up, and after an abbreviated docking job, Bob and Tere jumped on and headed back towards their ship, Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas. This picture is of the ship on the far left, the next to last tender heading back to the terminal in the middle, and the last, delayed tender carrying Bob and Tere back to their ship on the far right. Phew! While the last 45 minutes of the day were a little stressful, we were glad that we knew we’d spent every possible minute visiting and enjoying ourselves.

We’re also glad that this was our first real experience doing anything with cruise ship passengers beyond just joining them for a tour (as we did with friends cave tubing last spring), and that Bob and Tere were so easy going about it. Then, for the ride home, we ended up meeting our guide friend who had helped us in the morning, and we gave him and two other guides from Cayo a ride home. They told us that next time we needed to get the terminal’s phone number, and if we were running late we could call and make sure the tender would wait. We wish we had known that this time, but next time we meet somebody from a cruise ship, we don’t intend to push it all the way to the limit again!

We're on the Toucan Trail!

The Toucan Trail is an association of hotels which the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) helps to promote through a special website and other promotions. Hotels and lodges must offer at least one rate below $60US, and we've just been accepted as a Toucan Trail member! The Toucan Trail general website is http://www.toucantrail.com/, and our listing is here.

Autumn in the Spring

As the snow is melting and everything is dripping in the US Northeast where we came from, everything here in Belize is in the process of drying out. Everybody here says that the hot and dry season is late this year since we’ve still had relatively cool temperatures and intermittent rain up until the past few days. Suddenly, we realized it hasn’t rained in close to a week, and the temperature has been turned up dramatically – like from the low 70s up to the high 80s to mid 90s. That’s a shock to the system, even for people like me who like the heat! We heard the cicadas for the first time this year last week, and the leaves are falling off the trees and everything is turning brown. Of course we don’t get the brilliant change of colors that we loved in NY, but we can suddenly see farther into the bush and different bird species are being sighted in the area as the migratory birds head north and our summer residents move back from where ever they’ve been.

We even have a nest of Golden Olive Woodpeckers in one of the trees just outside the yard, so we’re keeping an eye on them as the babies grow. I’ve seen them a few times, although never with camera in hand – but I intend to keep trying to get a picture. People sometimes ask if we miss the seasons here, and the answer is honestly “no” because even though we don’t get the same seasons as we had in the Northeast, we still have seasons. It will be hot and dry and brown now until the end of May or beginning of June, then it will rain and everything will turn green overnight. The seasons are sort of out of order – we’ll get fall, then summer, then spring – but the refreshing feeling of moving into a new season and watching Mother Nature change her clothes is still here.

We had a reminder of what we’re in for with the dry season earlier this week. The Belize Defense Force and the British Army have been doing maneuvers with live rounds up in the Mountain Pine Ridge for the past week, and they started a forest fire that got out of control. One day last week it looked like the sun was setting at about 1:30 in the afternoon as it was shining through a yellow-orange smoke cloud. The next morning, the first sense that registered as I woke up was the smell of pine smoke because the smoke settles with the dew in the morning, and everything looked misty. The smoke seems to have dissipated over the past couple of days, so we’re hoping the fire is out and that we won’t have any more at least until the end of the dry season.

Stefanie & Clemens

We had our first real referrals email us last Monday evening, and we then spent the rest of the week with Stefanie and Clemens, Germans currently living in London. They looked us up when they were in San Ignacio because friends of theirs from London, Leanne and Craig, told them that they would enjoy staying with us. We’ve corresponded with Leanne and Craig for quite a while, and met them when they were in Belize at the end of last year, and we were delighted that they liked our place enough to refer friends.

Stefanie and Clemens went to Barton Creek with Selwyn the day they arrived, and then did a Mountain Pine Ridge tour with Tom and Selwyn on Wednesday. On Thursday they hiked from Moonracer Farm to Big Rock, so over the two days they managed to see most of the waterfalls in the area, as well as a good chunk of jungle and pine savannah.

We really enjoyed comparing notes with them about being expats, and were surprised how similar our experience as expats from the US in Belize is to their experience as expats from Germany in London. Despite the vast differences in cultures, we found that both the things that make it pleasant to live outside your homeland and that sometimes make it difficult are very similar. From food to money to just ways of doing things, we all noticed that the things you take for granted and don’t even think about in your homeland are suddenly viewed differently in another country. But, by being flexible and open to new ways of thinking, we all find it a very rewarding experience.

Horseback riding to Sapodilla Falls

A couple of weeks ago we had a free Sunday, so our friends Karen and Omar and their three kids Kimara, Dylon, and Venisha from Roaring Creek came up for a horseback ride. We took off in the morning and rode through the jungle and the Mountain Pine Ridge to Sapodilla Falls where we had lunch and a swim before heading home. It was a great day, and Tom and I found that we were really able to relax because Omar has trained race horses and has worked at some of the ranches in the area, so he was as comfortable on and around the horses as we are, and more comfortable than we are making sure their kids were okay. He did the tack check, picked a suitable horse for each kid, and made sure everybody’s stirrups were the right length before heading out. The kids were troopers about two hours each way in the saddle, and despite the frequent repetition of “Soon reach?” (Kriol for "Are we there yet?") everybody had a good time.

Karen, Charlie, and Brendan

Tom and I were very excited to finally meet Mark’s wife Karen and the rest of the family. In the almost two years we’ve known Mark, we had never met Karen or his son Charlie. Tom had been teasing him that Karen didn’t really exist, but now we know that she is a living, breathing person, as is Charlie. The man really does have a family! Unfortunately for Mark, Janie and Kelly’s spring break was the week before Charlie’s, which is why Mark came down for almost three weeks and the rest of the family has been in and out. While Janie and Kelly were horseback riding on Friday, Mark went to the airport to pick up Karen, Charlie, and Charlie’s friend Brendan. The whole family went for a great Zoo tour with Sharon on Saturday, and then Tom and I went horseback riding with Karen, Charlie, and Brendan on Sunday while Mark took Janie and Kelly back to the airport. Karen spent the past couple of days working on decorating the house, while the boys explored Belize. They went with Tom and Selwyn to Barton Creek and some of the Mountain Pine Ridge places on Monday, and then went to Tikal with Gonzo on Tuesday. Today they all took off for San Pedro until Saturday, when Karen, Charlie, and Brendan have to fly home. Mark will then be back at his house and here for a couple of days before he flies out early next week. We’re teasing Mark that he’s spending his whole vacation driving back and forth to Belize City, but he doesn’t seem to mind and we’re having a great time getting to know the rest of the family.