7-26-2015 Quiet dinner with friends

A few of us went down the road to try dinner at Woven Palm Restaurant (at Belizean Dreams resort).

The grounds there are lush and beautiful.

It looks very much like Hopkins Bay Resort, and we're told it's the same owners, so that makes sense.

We saw one cute, lone pineapple growing near the restaurant.

The restaurant is right by the swimming pool.

We sat the the poolside bar and had drinks while we waited for the restaurant to open.  These Mango Mojitos are delicious!

The view from our table - there is air conditioned indoor seating, but we much prefer eating outdoors.

Eric's beef filet

Sabrina's grilled shrimp skewer

They made a special (and wonderful) sauteed vegetable dish with coconut risotto.

7-22-2015 Mega Errand Day

Everything converged, and we ended up having to go to Dangriga (40 minutes north of Hopkins) AND Placencia (1 hour south of Hopkins) for a bunch of errands.  Dangriga errands included getting our monthly passport stamps, mailing stuff at the post office, getting haircuts, going to the auto parts store, and stopping at a grocery store that sometimes has gluten-free items.

After finishing our errands in Dangriga we stopped for lunch at Selena Restaurant for Chinese food.

We each had soup and watermelon juice to stay hydrated on this hot day.

Placencia errands included going to a grocery store that often has gluten-free items, a pharmacy, and two banks.  After that we walked around town and Cara did a little second-hand store shopping.  We also ran into friends and chatted for a while.

Leaving Placencia you see this sign, which makes Cara laugh inside every time.
Merry Isthmus - get it?  (Okay, it might help to know that Placencia, Seine Bight and Maya
 Beach are on a long, skinny peninsula, so on the other side of the road from this picture is more
water - the "lagoon", which is really still sea.)

As we passed through the village of Sittee River we encountered sheep and goats roaming free all around and over the road.

We also enjoyed this view over the wet grass savannah.

We stopped in at the cute and colorful Lucky Lobster for dinner and drinks.

Eric's "Hot Chix" chicken sandwich

Cara's "Schmickle" (grilled cheese with 3 cheeses, pickles and tomato).

7-18-2015 Surprise Birthday Party for Sabrina

Sabrina knew one friend was supposed to come over for a drink, but she was truly surprised when friends kept showing up.
Yay - we actually pulled off a surprise party!

Annett brought a lovely flower arrangement she made for Sabrina.

Tango was happy because her boyfriend Pooch got to come to the party also.

It was a fabulous party!!!

7-17-2015 Sabrina's Birthday Dinner at Chef Rob's

Sabrina wanted a quiet dinner at Chef Rob's for her birthday, so that's what we had.  Chef Rob rode his motorcycle to work
that day, so Mark and Sabrina posed with it outside the restaurant.

A birthday surprise for Sabrina - Champagne, her favorite!

Red wine and appetizers: tortilla chips with tomato marmalade, and bread with garlic hummus.

Papaya and cantaloupe soup with island spices

Green mango and papaya salad

Red roasted pork tenderloin with tomato marmalade

Lobster tails for Sabrina

Veggies in a piquant red curry sauce

Candles don't stay lit with that ocean breeze, so sparklers made a nice replacement.

Cardamom and cinnamon spiced cake with ice cream (the cake is hiding under the ice cream)

On the walk home Eric thought his package of leftovers looked like a purse, and Mark was
carrying Sabrina's flowers, so a picture seemed appropriate.  ;)  Those goofballs!

7-17-2015 Cara's recent wildlife sightings

This iguana was found climbing the concrete electrical pole at the end of the driveway.

Who knew iguanas could climb concrete?!

I want to make friends with all the lizards down here, and it seems I am making progress with the Jesus Christ lizards. On
more than one occasion I have been able to throw fruit out for them without scaring them away.  Here is a small one just
before he started eating the dragon fruit I threw out for him.

Can you see the larger Jesus Christ lizard here?  He is approaching the other half of the dragon fruit.

This sizeable toad was just found inside a crate of empty Belikin beer bottles. 

He was let out of the crate, but where he hopped to he appeared to get his arm stuck in the fine fibers of the wood garden bed.

I freed his arm, and he gave a grateful grunt, then hopped twice and stopped to let me take more pictures.

Happy trails Mr. Toad!

7-13-2015 Boating with Yuri & Ingrid

Yuri and Ingrid invited several of us to go boating, and that's an offer that is hard to turn down.  So, we went boating on a
Monday, along with friends Sabrina and James.

It was a very calm day, perfect for boating.

Heading down the river to the sea...

Our guide, Martin

Trolling as we head out to sea...

The water colors are ever-changing, and it's all amazing!

Crystal clear waters - you can easily see the coral below.

James fishing

Captain Yuri fishing

Eric fishing

Sabrina fishing

Pooch is a good boy and knows to get out of the way when people are fishing.  Nap time!

All the little "sparkles" in the water are tiny fish. There were large schools of these around the boat.

Near Bread and Butter Cayes we anchored, and most of the men fished while the rest of us swam, snorkeled and floated.

Eric climbed up to the fly bridge and took some photos.

This was the best fishing spot for James.  The day's catch altogether was at least a couple dozen fish.

James cleaned all the fish on the way back.

Ingrid rinsed the fish fillets and collected them to cook for dinner.

Everybody went home quickly to clean up before Ingrid's delicious dinner (fish with lemon caper sauce, potatoes and green
beans).  This was the sunset over the savanna on our return trip to Yuri and Ingrid's.