12-29-2018 Annual Foosball Tournament at Windschief Beach Bar

The tournament started with doubles, but there were only three teams playing, and it went super fast, with Matt & Trevor kicking everyone's butts. Thus, we failed to get any photos of the doubles games. So, here are photos of the (double elimination) singles games:

Trevor vs. Jonathan

Matt vs. Josh

Pam vs. Eric

Had to include this one just because it has Trevor holding his super adorable son, Erei.

Oli vs. Luckie

Josh vs. Pam

Oli vs. Jonathan

A video camera over the foosball table allowed it to be shown live in the bar for all to see.

Trevor vs. Luckie

Eric vs. Matt

Luckie vs. Pam

Matt vs. Oli

Trevor vs. Eric

Oli vs. Luckie

Final game - Oli vs. Eric
In singles you had to win 2 out of 3 games, and most matches took all 3 games and went down to the last point in each!

2018 Championship results were the same as 2017! Doubles champs were Matt & Trevor, and the Singles Champ was Eric!

Matt receives his winning T-shirt from Pam.

Pam with Trevor wearing his winning T-shirt.

Eric receiving his winning T-shirt from Oli.

All of us (minus Cara who took the photo) who stuck it out until the bitter end.

We were rewarded with shots of Jagermeister (or a beer for the non-shot-takers).

12-25-2018 Christmas in Hopkins

A tradition on Christmas in Belize is to walk around visiting family and friends, who will offer you some rumpopo (similar to eggnog) or something to eat. We didn't exactly make the rounds, though we did stop by and see a couple of friends.

At Dean and Janine's they had "A Christmas Story" playing, which is a movie that Cara must see at least once for it to seem
at all like Christmas. They also provided us and other visitors with delicious food and homemade apple pie moonshine.

Their home was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Still, it's hard for it to exactly feel like Christmas when this is your view outside. (Sorry, not trying to rub it in - just saying...)

Later we all headed over to our friend Janette's place for a private Christmas pot-luck dinner.

We were treated to a Jankunu (Wanaragua) performance, which is also a tradition here in the Garifuna villages like Hopkins.

The dancers and drummers made their way around the village giving performances at different gatherings (and getting
tipped for it, as they should be).

Jankunu is a big deal here, and they have annual competitions for the youth and adults in nearby Dangriga Town.

There were lots of people at this event, with lots of good food, as usual.

Our friends Emma and Amanda, with Emma's awesome parents Juan and Lena.

Our friend Ruxandra was nice enough to take a couple pictures of us looking somewhat dressed up. (Thanks, Ruxi!)

We never try any filters, but Ruxi does, and this one looked cool.

12-16-2018 Sunday Beach Walk & Foosball Party

It was a calm, partly cloudy day for our beach walk. We started at Luba Laruga again and chilled by the beach for a bit.

Several people, dogs and pelicans were enjoying the nice day on the public dock.

Bees were busy pollinating the coconuts. Thank you bees!

We split a meal of Encrusted Snapper with garlic potatoes and steamed veggies.

Further down the beach, at Laruni Hati, Cara had to have some cassava fries that she missed
while in the States.

The bartender let us throw a dart at the Belikin coaster for a free drink. Amazingly, Eric missed his shot, but Cara barely
made it. Woohoo!

Heading north toward the new dock at Seiri del Mar.

It's amazing how much the beach came back after so much was washed away. To the left you can barely see a small rise in
the sand - that's where the beach ended this summer when the erosion was in full force.

We have pictures from last winter/spring of the waves lapping up against the Kismet Inn sign here, but not now!

A nice, colorful place to relax at Kismet Inn.

Fisherman in the distance.

It's kind of hard to tell where the horizon is - pretty cool.

After the beach walk we headed over to our friend Matt's for pizza and foosball. The food was delicious (Matt is a good
cook), and it was a really nice evening hanging out with friends.