Beaches

One of things I am very disappointed with here in Belize is the beaches.  This a wonderful place to go out to the reef and snorkel or scuba dive but, not a good place to walk the beaches or take a swim.

The problem starts with the reef.  Because it creates a natural barrier for the island, there are no waves reaching the shore.  Therefore, you get a large growth of sea grass.  The grass, along with a lot of trash comes to the shoreline at high tide.

When the tide recedes you are left with the beaches defined by the leftover grass and debris.

When walking on the beach you can only go into the water at certain places, and then only for a few feet.  And, every time we walk the beach, we find at least a couple dozen sandals and flippers—none of which ever match any of the others.

I guess I have to keep in mind that we are about two and a half miles south of town.  As you get closer t town the beaches do improve a lot.  In fact, right in town wherre the restaurants and hotels line the beach, it is not dirty at all.

But out here, to enjoy the ocean you really need to go out beyond the grass where the water is a clear, turquoise in color, warm, and, at least on the shore side of the reef, shallow enough that you can stand.  And, just about everyone has a pool with either fresh or salt water anyway.

Chicken Drop

There is a Bar/Restaurant on the beach that has what they call, a Chicken Drop.

They construct a square about ten feet across with netting around it.  Inside is a large piece of plywood that has smaller squares numbered from one to one hundred.  Everyone can go to the bar and for a $1 pull a number out of a hat. 

Then they get a chicken.  They have fed it until it is bursting; they shake it until it is dizzy; they blow on it’s tail feathers for luck; and then place it inside the netted area.  Everyone hollers at the chicken, flails their arms at the chicken, and try in any way they can think of to get the chicken to move to the numbered square they have drawn. 

When the chicken finally poops, whatever number it poops on is the winner.

Last night they put a chicken in the ring.

It did nothing so they brought out the backup chicken.  Now there were two chickens in the ring.

Still nothing happened so they got the second backup chicken—a rooster.

Finally-------POOP!!!! 

Number 56 was the winner.

This is done multiple times during the evening with greater gusto as the hour gets later.

We didn’t win.

PS: I was thinking-if the Catholics get tired of playing Bingo, this could be a great fund raiser.

Laundry Day

There are two major things this condo does not have—an oven and a washer/dryer.   We do have a version of a washer/dryer.

It is a pretty little “Kiddie Pool” about three feet across and about eight inches deep.  It fits nicely in the shower.

 We could send our laundry out but it costs approximately $15Belize for a single ten pound load.  So we decided we could do it ourselves.

We have the detergent, the bleach, the miniature swimming pool and room to hang the clothes to dry.

I think Gail has done this before because she is certainly good at it.  We wash it, ring it out, and then rinse it.

After that we have to find a place to hang it all to dry.  Today was not too bad since we did not have a large amount.

It is amazing how long you can wear something when you realize this is how you have to wash it.  And, ironing is something that is just not done—unless you have an office-type job or go to school and have to look a whole lot nicer than we do.  I have a number of seersucker shirts that have a really casual look (wrinkled)—at least that is my rationalization.

Happy Thanksgiving

Gail and I got to have turkey for Thanksgiving.

As you can see, not only did we turkey but also cranberries and stuffing.  There was also black beans and rice—you can’t have a meal without that.

The table was set really pretty with fresh flowers and a palm leaf.

It was just the two of us which was really different and made us both a little homesick.  But, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

You Will Never Guess

what we bought today!

Another Sunday Afternoon

We decided to ride our bicycles downtown this afternoon.  We skipped “Crazy Cannuks” horse shoe contest and went on down to the center of town to just walk the beach.  They were cleaning fish and the stingrays were hanging out getting fed.


There are a pretty large number of hotels and condos that are beginning to fill up with people.  None of them are big—they are limited to three stories high—but some are unique and have that beach motif.  One is called the Conch Hotel.

There are a lot of swimming pools right on the beach and docks with palapas and bars everywhere.

 and boats, boats, boats.

We stopped at a place called Fidos (pronounced Fee-doze) to listen to some live music and have a Belekin Beer.  (We had dinner there the other night and enjoyed it.)

Then it was home to enjoy another great sunset and watch Amazing Race.

Heading North--Again

The beach is very pretty with a lot of palm trees lining the sand.

When you looked toward shore from the Palapa Bar you saw this long pole sticking out of the water. 

It was hard to tell what was on top of it but using the zoom of the camera we could see a bird.  It looked like an eagle but it is a bird called a Frigate.  It had a nest full of little ones.

 Further down the road we came across a very familiar sign.

There was a police “post” that they have on many of the lesser traveled roads.  They have one by our condo that has someone in it quite often.

I noticed along the road, and everywhere else on the island, that the flowers are very vibrant.

Finally we made it to Captain Morgan’s—

That is as far as we had decided to go although the road continued for several more miles.  As I stated when we started this ride, this ended up being about a fifteen mile ride—more than enough for one day.  When we got home both of us got in the pool and just relaxed for a while.

Rainy Days

I want to interrurpt our trip to the North part of the island to tell you about the last couple of rainy days.  The dirt roads around the condo have all of the pot holes, big and little, full of water.  When we ride our bicycles it is almost impossible to get around them.  And, since we do not have fenders on the bikes, the mud splashes up our legs.
There is a little bar and deli down the road called Joes that we go to eat and have a beer quite often.  Many of the people around here congregate there.  It is about two to three blocks from here.

The other evening, after the rain, we did not have much to eat at the condo so we decided to walk over to Mr. Joes for a bite.  We knew the roads would be full of water so we just put on our flip flops and headed out.

I never knew walking thru water with flip flops could be so tricky.  First they are hard to keep on; second, you get all kinds of boulders between your toes, and; third, they flip water up the back of our leg with every step.

But we made it--had a glass of wine, excellent chicken nachos, said Goodbye to some frineds who are heading back home for a while, and flip flopped home.

Yesterday, the Razorbacks won (squeaked by), and we got to Skype with Gail's Father and some of the family. 

Today,the rain is gone and the sun is shining magnificently.

 

Continuing North

After crossing the bridge heading to the north end of the island, the road turns to dirt and is full of holes.  This should not be a surprise since all of the roads here are terrible, even the streets in town other than the main three.  We forged on and headed to the Palapa Bar and Grill. 

This is very well known place that most tourists seem to find.  It sits at the end of a dock.  Just about every piece of wood has been signed by someone who has been there—even the bathroom door.

(Notice the Go Buckeyes for those Ohio State fans.)

The Palapa is a two story structure with the bar on the upper level.  The bathroom itself is on the lower level and is certainly nothing to shout about.

 

One of the cool things is the color of the water from the Palapa, especially on a sunny day.

 

Leaving the Palapa Bar, we continued our journey north……..

EXPLORING NORTH

The other day we decided to explore the north end of the island.  We had no idea we would end up riding our bikes over fifteen miles—but what a lot of new things we saw.

I have said this before--there are three streets that go north and south—Front, Middle, and Back—named for their proximity to the ocean.  Front street is one way north, Middle street is one way south and Back Street is for two way traffic.  Front and Middle streets are very narrow with just enough room for the golf carts to park diagonally and for the other golf carts and bikes to get by.

The interesting thing is that from the 1^st to the 15^th of the month they park on one side of the street and from the 16^th to the end of the month they park on the other side.  It works well for everybody.  Maybe Fayetteville could use this idea for Dickson Street and the surrounding area.

Once you make your way through town, you have to cross this new bridge to get to the north end of the island.  (It used to be a barge that had a rope and pulley system that you pulled on by hand to get vehicles across.)

It is a toll bridge--$1Belize per bicycle each way and $2.50 per golf cart each way.  They do sell monthly passes.  Part of the money goes to maintaining the bridge ,of course, but most of it goes to the city and the schools.

Once you cross the bridge, the first thing you see is the movie theater.

It is a nice building but they do not use it.  We were told they have had two concerts there but no movies.  After they built it they could not decide on how much to charge for movies since you can rent first run movies here very cheaply.  No one would pay the extra amount just to go to the theater.

There is much more new construction on the north end of the island and you see a lot of new condos there.

We didn’t know it but we had just started our journey.  More tomorrow.

Stingrays

We went downtown this morning.  Gail wanted to check out the used book store and the library.  The used book store didn’t open until eleven so we had to come back later. 

The library is about one tenth the size of the Bella Vista Library and all of their books are donated.  To check out a book you have to pay a $3 membership fee and show them a copy of your rental agreement--I guess to make sure you are going to be here a while.  Of course we didn’t have our rental agreement so we went back later in the day

The book store (Pages) sells used books for a minimum of $6 Belize. 

We decided to join the library.   It has David Baldacci books so Gail will be happy.

When we left there, we rode our bicycles a little further down town and along the beach.  Some guys had just come in from fishing and were cleaning their catch.  They had about forty pink colored fish, each about fifteen inches long.  They were filleting them and throwing the skeletons in the water.  There were six stingrays swimming around and eating the fish remains that were thrown in the water.

This picture is one of the stingrays going after a fish and Gail’s foot (if you click on the picture and enlarge it, it is easier to see).

We had lunch at a place called My Secret Deli—it was wonderful and way too much food.  Gail had some kind of soup (it had chicken, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, a whole egg and lots of spices in it) with rice and tortillas on the side and I had pork with beans and rice and coleslaw.   With a bottle of water and a coke, the total came to $11.

Then it was on to the bicycles to head home to a beautiful sunset.

Mornings

In the morning we wake up to a beautiful sunrise,

set up the computers and turn on the Fayetteville, AR (Magic 107.9) radio station

have a cup of coffee and watch the boats go by,

enjoy a breakfast of fruit, and start the day.