9-14-2020 Hurricane Nana & Covid-19 Update for Belize

In the wee hours of the morning on September 3rd a hurricane hit Belize. In fact, it hit just a few miles south of where we live. We had been watching Tropical Storm Nana make its way here, and thankfully, it turned into a hurricane with 75 mph winds just before hitting land, so it just barely made the grade to be classified as a hurricane. That means it was pretty weak by hurricane standards. If you look at this chart below you can see how much difference in strength just a few miles per hour wind speed makes. For example, if the winds had been just 10 miles an hour more, then the hurricane would have been nearly 3 times as strong! And we certainly would have sustained a lot more damage than we did.

Even this weakest of hurricanes blew the roof off 10 homes in the village, and caused 3 homes to
fall down off their posts. This is one of the fallen homes. (Photo credit to Hopkins UnCut)

Another fallen home - this one made the news. Fortunately, the home didn't fall until the morning
after the hurricane, just after the residents had stepped outside. (Photo credit to Hopkins UnCut)

Our friend's fallen house - thankfully nobody had been living there, but it was uninsured.

There were LOTS of trees down, which is apparently what caused the damage to this truck. We were
super fortunate to not have any people injured or killed. (Photo credit to Hopkins UnCut)

I think everyone who had a palapa like this lost it. This used to be a restaurant we liked called
Laruni Hati.  (Photo credit to Hopkins UnCut)

There was also damage to several docks. This resort lost the end of their dock that had been covered
by a palapa. Thankfully, their boat was not damaged.

Bread and Butter Cayes is a favorite island to visit, and it was not spared. Where these guys are
standing in the water at what appears to be a fence - that used to be land. It will have to be refilled
with conch shells and sand.

This cabana lost part of its roof, and more damage was done to the big
cabana there. We were supposed to be out there right now for a couple of
nights with friends, but that is being rescheduled.

On a positive note, the hurricane did deposit a lot of new sand on the beaches. 

Here you can see well how high the waves came up during the hurricane. To the far right you can
see the usual line of sargassum along the beach - that's where the waves normally hit. But, to the
left you see another line of sargassum - that's where the waves were crashing during the storm.

As you can see, the virus is now a real issue in Belize. There are 1480 confirmed
cases, with 969 of those currently active. There is now 1 confirmed case in our
village. So, the government lock down/quarantine orders have been extended
indefinitely. The curfew was lifted, but with nothing going on and nowhere to go,
it doesn't much matter. No sports, and basically no gatherings of any kind are
allowed. I mean, technically, you can have a wedding or funeral, but with no more
than 10 people, so realistically that's not going to happen. Also, the opening of the
airport was pushed back until October 1st.

My (Cara's) first attempt at made from scratch falafel patties. These were baked instead of fried so
they would be healthier. They turned out okay, but they are definitely harder to make using a blender
(instead of a food processor, which we don't have). Everyone says to use dried chickpeas that are
soaked because the canned chickpeas have too much moisture. However, I think they turned out a
little too dry for my taste, so next time I am going to buck the recommendations and try canned.

Granola peanut butter balls - the recipe made lots more, but this was all that was left by the time
I remembered to take a photo. Apparently they were a hit.

I (Cara) am missing in person Yelp events, although the virtual events that
Yelp has been offering via Zoom are pretty nice. And, you can join Yelp
events from across the US this way. This is from a yoga event.

This was from a Zumba Yelp event that I enjoyed during the evening before the hurricane hit.
So, the event was hosted out of Indianapolis, Indiana (USA), although I was enjoying it from
Belize, and this instructor here was Zooming live from Mexico! You gotta love that!

8-11-2019 Yelp Bottleworks Event

I (Cara) was lucky enough to go to a Yelp Elite event that showed the plans for the new Bottleworks District, which will be in the old Coca-Cola plant on Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapolis.

We were treated to Mimosas, as well as donuts and veggie quiche from a nearby restaurant called The Garden Table.

This was originally supposed to be a hard hat tour of the facilities, but because they were
fixing the roof of the building at that time, a small group of Yelpers met at the offices of Hendricks,
the company doing the renovation and development.

Megan from Hendricks was super bubbly and gave a nice presentation about what is being planned for the space. Everyone
was happy to hear that they are preserving as much of the beautiful building as possible. So, the renovated and updated space
will house a food hall (different than a food court because it showcases unique, local restaurants), a boutique hotel, a movie
 theater, a bowling alley (with duckpin bowling and regular bowling), apartments and condominiums, office space, and lots
of retail space.

At the time of the event, there were 12 vendors committed to places in the food hall. There is space for about 27 vendors.

An overview of what the new space will look like.

8-1-2019 Yelp's Indy Fringe Preview Event

As a Yelp Elite, Cara gets to go to some really cool and fun private events. This one was a preview of several of the acts performing at this year's Indy Fringe Festival in downtown Indianapolis. It's a non-juried event, so you get all kinds of acts, some really good, and some that just don't resonate. But, it's a good venue for up-and-coming and experimental artists.

While the Yelpers filed into the event, we were treated to the beautiful, soulful sounds of Allison Victoria Music. She had an
incredible voice and presence, despite claiming to have mostly lost her voice that day. Her father was on the saxophone.

There were nice Grilled Cheese samples from a local restaurant, Rooster's Kitchen.

There were also free smoothie samples from Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Carmel, Indiana.

Cara had the Blueberry Bliss smoothie with blueberries, strawberries and banana, and it was good.

A song preview from Make Me A Match.

Christian and Catalina, the husband and wife team performing mind reading tricks from their act, Mind Tripping Show.

A scene from Game of Crows: Winter's Coming, a parody of Game of Thrones.

Taylor Martin doing a bit from his show called Tasty Bits.

Improv from Stroopwafel.

Beyond Ballet - Cara failed to get an action photo of their lovely, improvisational dance.

A scene from Orgasmo Adulto Escapes From The Zoo.

The Amazing Barry, with a helper he picked from the audience, doing his "yoga card trick" from his show, A Fine Collection
of Magic.

This was Cara's favorite act. He actually picked out the card from between his feet while doing a headstand.

Michael Swinford doing an honest and depressing monologue about coming out from the show,
The Only Worse Thing You Could Have Told Me.

A scene from Another Mulligan, a show about times you want "do-overs" in life.

"Joan of Arc" singing a funny rendition of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" from Mad Women's Late Nite Cabaret.

Cool art inside the Indy Fringe theater.

7-23-2019 Yelp Down on the Urban Farm Event

Early Tuesday evening we went with our friends Mark and Annette to a Yelp event at the Growing Places Indy urban farm
located in White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis.

This is a working urban farm that provides produce to local restaurants and individuals.

However, as the sign says, you can walk around the gardens and sample a little.

This bed has lettuces like rainbow chard.

Another bed had two types of basil plants.

The Growing Places Indy booth.

Kat from Growing Places Indy explained what they do, then led us in a short guided meditation.

The couple (one vegetarian, one omnivore) who started Duos Kitchen, which sources produce
from the Growing Places Indy gardens.

We sampled a delicious carrot soup made from carrots and other things from these local gardens.

Phil, one of the farmers, talking about these Anise Hyssop plants, which have a yummy
black licorice or root beer flavor.

After the event we all went to MacNiven's Restaurant to try their Savor Indy menu specials.
Eric enjoyed our appetizer of Scotch Eggs.

Cara had a nice Vegetarian Taco Salad.

Eric had a hearty Steak Pie.

We split a nice, locally made toffee ice cream for dessert.