10-4-2020 Lonely Sunday Beach Walk

We pretty much got out of the habit of our Sunday beach walks for many months because it's just so different now. Most of the places we would stop at for drinks and/or snacks have been closed, and even the ones that are open, it's just not the same to stop there and have to wear a mask and socially distance.

This particular Sunday we just felt like going for a walk to get some exercise.

So, we walked (at record speed without all the stops) all the way north to "Hawaii".

It was one of those weird days where the color of the sky is about the same as the color of the sea.

We did catch a nice sunset where the lagoon/river meets the sea at "Hawaii".

The recent storms changed the landscape of the area a lot. That whole sandy area where Eric is
standing in the distance at the right - that used to all be water, not beach.

Yeah, beach walks just aren't the same. However, we know we are fortunate to be able to take these 
beach walks anyway, and for that we are grateful.

3-1-2020 Snorkeling, Beach Walk and Blues Music with Family

Some of Eric's family (mother, step-father and uncle) were visiting, and they wanted to do a snorkel trip, so we went out
with Happy Go Luckie Tours for ahalf day trip. It was rainy and chilly on our way out, but that didn't dampen our spirits. At
our first stop Cara went snorkeling with Eric's mother Nancy and Uncle Paul. We saw the usual beautiful coral and fish, as
well as a couple of stingrays, one of which we saw bury itself in the sand. 

Just when we got back in the boat Cara spotted a big turtle swimming by the boat. In fact, it was a huge Loggerhead turtle!
Cara and Paul jumped back in to watch the curious turtle, who hung out by our boat checking us out for several minutes. It
was quite the experience! Sadly, we didn't get any really good pictures of it.

At the second stop we all went in the water, though it was much less eventful. Hard to compete with a Loggerhead sighting!

After going home and taking showers we all went for our usual Sunday beach walk.

We met up with several other friends along the way. Here we are at Driftwood Pizza Shack.

Next we stopped at Queen Bean Restaurant.

Then we headed up to Hopkins Beach Club.

It turned out to be a beautiful day, thankfully.

Eric and his mother, Nancy.

Our last stop was Rhum Shack at Hopkins Bay Resort for the best pina coladas.

That evening we went to Jalapeno's BBQ & Grill for dinner and some awesome blues music.

In the center are Steev Inglish (aka Mr. Downchild) and Kasimira Vogel - they are Blues Meets Girl. They were backed up
by Trevor Wall on bass (at far right), and another great guitar player whose name we unfortunately did not catch.

It was the last time they were going to play in Hopkins for a while, so we were happy to be able to see them again. Eric's
family loved them as well. It was a full and tiring, yet excellent day!

12-22-2019 Sunday Beach Walk in Hopkins

We encountered a most interesting looking spider that was wrapping up a meal for later. We had to Google it, but this is a Gasteracantha cancriformis, a type of orb-weaver spider. It is a female because it has six "spikes" instead of four or five.

Lovely decorations for the nearby beachside restaurant called Fred's Lime Tree.

It was a fairly calm day, which unfortunately meant that the sand flies were out in force.

The dock between Hopkins Bay Resort and Seiri del Mar.

The natural area known as "Hawaii".

Nice views of Gaston's sailboat...

4-18 to 4-22-2019 Easter Celebrations

Thursday, 18 April - Fundraiser Concert at Swinging Armadillo

We knew there was a concert to raise money for a surgery for DJ Boss' mother. We went and enjoyed the live music. We also then realized that we knew DJ Boss from when we gave him a ride away from the beach on a night a couple of years ago when there was a threat of a tsunami in Belize. (The tsunami never materialized, thankfully.)

Saturday, 20 April - Ella's Cool Spot Easter Bash & DJ Boss B-Day Party

Ella's Cool Spot was the place to be on Easter Weekend. There was live music, DJs, raffles, various contests and more.

They tried to raffle tickets to another concert in Seine Bight and called about four numbers, but nobody there had the
winning tickets, so they turned it into a punta dance competition.

There were also bounce houses and trampolines for the kids to enjoy.

That night at the basketball court was the annual DJ Boss Birthday Party concert. It started at 10 pm and went until 5 am.
We met several friends there and made it until about 3:30 or 4 am.

This concert was also a fundraiser for DJ Boss' mother.

Sunday, 21 April - Beach Walk, Sweet Making & Ella's Cool Spot Easter Bash

We started our day with a little beach walk. There were loads of visitors from all over Belize, and it seemed that everyone
was at the beach enjoying the shade or a swim.

We stopped for lunch at Queen Bean - this is Eric's stuffed fry jack. After lunch Eric took a nap and Cara joined friends at 
Pam's mother's house to help makes some sweets to sell at the Sittee River Fair the next day.

All kinds of good stuff was growing at Pam's mother's place. See the pineapples hiding in here?

Molly apple - delicious, fresh from the tree.

It's a beautiful place, right on the river, and the breeze was good that day. 

Early dinner: onion sauce, cabbage dumplings, and "boil up" (potatoes, yams, plantains, etc. boiled with some kind of meat -
pigtail in this case, which hadn't been put in the pan yet).

Left pot: freshly grated coconut, fresh coconut water, ginger, milk and sugar boiling to make a fudge of sorts called "tableta".
Middle pot: boil up.
Right pot: coconut water, sugar and lime juice boiling down for the "stretch mi guts" sweet that is like a Belizean taffy.

When the liquid for the "stretch mi guts" seemed thick enough Pam, Shelly and Cara started stretching and stretching it. You butter your hand so you don't burn yourself, then start with a little hard bit and stretch it, then add a little more to it and keep stretching, add more and keep stretching until it's a light caramel color and very smooth. Cara had a nice piece going, but then a Pam added a little bit that ruined it by turning it lumpy. The rest of the stuff in the pan started to get lumpy as well. Pam's mother, Orlanda, determined that there wasn't enough lime juice. So, we put everything back in the pot, added more lime juice and put it back on the fire to remelt it. Unfortunately, at this time Orlanda was busy inside making other food to sell at her stall at the Sittee River Fair. So, Pam, Cara and Shelly were charged with watching and stirring the pot on the fire. There were also beans on the fire, and while Pam was adding water so they didn't burn, the "stretch mi guts" liquid burned.  :(  Cara and Shelly were blamed by Pam for burning it (since they were the newbies), lol. However, Cara was still invited back to try it again next year - yay!

Neighbor, Horace, passed by in his party boat - he had taken some people out for a ride.

Eric checked out the party at Ella's Cool Spot while Cara was in Sittee River. When Cara returned to Hopkins Eric met up
with her, Pam, Oli, Shelly and Jonathan. We enjoyed the live music at Ella's, then wandered around or hung out at
Windschief when the DJs played.

Monday, 22 April - Sittee River Fair

The Sittee River Fair is always a nice, family-friendly event. There is a nice shady area by the river with lots of trampolines
and bounce houses for the children.

This is also the area where Orlanda had her booth. There was a nice breeze, and we hung out here much of the time.

There was a canoe race, but you only get to see a little bit as the canoes fly by.

There were football (soccer to us) games going on all day long.

There was live music under one tent.

One of the beautiful wooden canoes from the race.

Pam sat in the shade watching her niece much of the afternoon while her sister worked the booth.

Pam's mother, Orlanda, took her turn watching Sophia when she took a break from the booth.

Oli trying to get a smile from his niece.

Success! A rare smile from Sophia!

We stayed until just before dark, then drove back to Hopkins and crashed early. It was a fun, but long weekend because Easter in Belize is huge! Kids get a full two weeks off school, and for the adults it's a main party weekend.