5-28 to 5-29-2016 Hopkins Mango Fest

Mango Fest is one of the biggest, best organized events in Hopkins. Last year was fun, and so was this year. The bonus was
being able to walk to/from the event since we're in the village now.

What kid doesn't love a trampoline?

There were vendors from all over Belize. The Farm House Deli came from Belmopan, about two hours away.

Miss Deb's came from even further away in the Cayo District - Santa Elena is about two and a half hours away.

The concerts the first night were packed. We were happy to be outside the main tent anyway because it was plenty loud.

We started the next day with "Chicken Plop Bingo" - in the US they use a different word than "plop", but we're sure you know
what it means.

Catching a chicken for the first game

Total let down - the very moment the chicken was put in the bingo pen it did it's business, but NOT on our number.  :(

All the food and drink vendors showcased mangoes when they could, but everyone was complaining that the mangoes aren't
really ripe yet.  Be that as it may, we still enjoyed delicious mango juice, mango slushes, mango daiquiris, mango salsa,
mango enchiladas, and fresh mangoes over sweet rice (should have gotten a pic of this Filipino dish because the bright green
rice against the orange mango was beautiful).

After the stage collapsed (thankfully we didn't hear of any injuries), an impromptu drum circle formed behind the beer tent,
and everyone over there was singing and dancing along to the well-known songs. No surprise - this is Hopkins, Belize, which
loves and is known for drumming!

5-21-2016 Dangriga Day

Our friends Will and Leslie had decided to check out the first annual Dangriga Day on Saturday, and we decided to explore it
with them. It was held an area behind the market known as "Y Not Island", which isn't really an island. We knew the event 
would probably be small, and it was, but it was the first ever, and things got going late, so it may have gotten busy later in the
evening. It was fun nonetheless.

Gambling on the number that would come up on the wheel (as a school fundraiser, lol), although you just get a stuffed animal
if you bet right.

It was a hot, sunny day, and lots of people were enjoying the water.

Eric tried the dunk tank and surprised the girl when he hit the mark with his last ball.  Here he just threw the ball.

Here is the volunteer wringing out her braids in the dunk tank.

On our way out of Dangriga we stopped at the new ice cream shop, Mimi's.

Flavors we enjoyed included Brownie, Mocha, Soursop and Fireball (yes, with actual Fireball whiskey in it).

5-15-2016 Nick & Amanda's Engagement Party

Sabrina's son, Nick, surprised his girlfriend, Amanda, by proposing to her during a staged photo shoot "for the rental property".

Congratulations Nick and Amanda!  They will have the wedding in Belize next year.

The happy couple with parents

So, an engagement party was thrown for Nick and Amanda.  Amanda's mother, Jennifer, was happy to be here for the actual
engagement and the party.

The party started about 3 in the afternoon and continued on late in to the evening.  It was a really fun, fantastic night!!!

Our friend Jonathan's father was hired to roast a whole pig for the party - Filipino style.

The pig - there were also a couple of roasted chickens for those who don't eat pork.

Cara played bartender most of the evening

Roi, at left, is the photographer who did the engagement photos for Nick and Amanda.

Our friend Emma managed to get Eric on the dance floor very briefly.

Uh oh!  Time for Rising Sun shots...

5-12 to 5-13 2016 Trip to Chetumal Mexico

We moved into a new place and we haven't posted much because we have been organizing the new place and doing boring stuff not worth writing about.  Our new place is great, but needed some personalizing.  We will post some pictures soon.  Anyway we needed fans, curtains, organizers, chairs, lights, kitchen items, etc.  We had heard that the selection is better and prices cheaper in Mexico.

We weren't sure what to expect and were in the mood for an adventure.  Our schedule was tight, we should have stayed 2-3 nights ideally, but we were in a hurry and we stayed in Chetumal for only one night.

The picture doesn't really show you how blue the water was as we passed through Corozal, Belize on our way to Mexico.

Welcome to Mexico

We stayed at the Capital Plaza Hotel, probably one of the nicer hotels in the city, for $47 US a night!

Mexican Walmart

Between Walmart, Home Depot, Auto Zone and a grocery, we got most everything we needed at very reasonable prices.

What I thought was just going to be a big grocery store (which had lots of gluten free goodies) turned out to be another
Walmart-like store.

Back in Belize!  Another view of the aqua water in Corozal as we head home.

The hills on the left form a feature that locally is called "Sleeping Giant" because it kind of looks like the profile of a giant
lying on his back.

Enjoying the lush green hillsides as we go through the Maya Mountains on the Hummingbird Highway.