12-24-2014 Christmas Eve

We slept in and then worked a while and then at 6 we drove to town and met with Lea and his neighbor who overseas the district's schools.  They have a lot of schools and no computers and I have an idea that we might be able to crowdfund some computers to get shipped in.

After that we headed to the Driftwood Bar and met a couple of cool people.  One guy was Jack and he plays music a couple of times per week.  The second guy was the bartender and he operates a fledgling tour company.  His name was Blaine.  He was very interested in doing a better job of promoting himself online.  We exchanged info and I e-mailed him on Christmas morning.

Too bad we screwed up and didn't take any pictures.

12-23-2014 Happy Birthday Greg and Chef Rob. Angel and Kent came for a visit.

Today is my brother's birthday.  I gave him a call on Mark's Internet phone.  The phone works great. 

We worked most of the day and took a break to shop for some fresh fruit.  The sister of our host Sabrina came in for a visit from Indianapolis.  They arrived at about dark.

A fruit and vegetable truck makes its rounds.  Notice the scale hanging on the stick on the right?



This is a picture of a scorpion that we killed in our apartment...I am doing better checking my shoes and clothes before I put them on.

This is Rob, owner of Chef Robs.  Today was his birthday and his friend who owns Frog's Point restaurant got him a t-shirt.

There was a surprise party for Rob in his restaurant right after he closed

This is a picture of a smaller Katydid or Grasshopper or whatever it is

12-20-2014 Jack came

I did a pretty rotten job of photo journalism today.

We are staying with Mark and Sabrina.  Sabrina's youngest son Jack came to visit.  Yuri picked up Eric and they went to Dangriga for some more parts for the Trooper.  That night we went to Chef Rob's Café which is just a few doors down from where we are staying. 

Eric had the Sirloin that was trimmed and little bits of the rendered fat were also included and appreciated

Desert consisted of a chocolate mousse with some ice cream on top

12-18-2014 Headed to Belize City to get a car

A friend named Yuri who we went fishing with the other day knows of an Isuzu Trooper.  He picked Eric up at 7 A.M. and headed to Belize City.  Yuri has done many things in the past and he owned a used car dealership.  He is a good mechanic and has air tools and the whole nine yards. 

He negotiated like a seasoned professional.  He scored an Isuzu trooper with 130,000 miles for 9,000 Belize which is 4,500 American dollars.  That is the perfect car for the Belizean roads.

The Trooper got tons of new front end parts and all new shocks.  There are just a couple of parts that are on order and the 4 wheel drive will be trustworthy.  Yuri is a perfectionist and made the car like new again.

It is about 3.5 hours each way to Belize City from Hopkins. 

The Isuzu Trooper is just about the perfect car for Belize

On the way back the road was blocked because they were transporting a house that took up both lanes and then some

After we got back we headed to the Treetop Bar to tell some stories

The Treetop Bar is part of a hostel that is called The Funky Dodo

I snapped this picture of the front yard of the place we were staying....it is just about starting to be sunset and you can see just a hint of pink in the Horizon.

12-16-2014 Boat Trip with Captain Yuri

We are still working on organizing the pictures on this post so the final one will be done by 1-15-2015.

Yuri has been a Captain in many other countries, but he just got his Belize Captain's license!  So, he and his wife, Ingrid, took us and our friends Mark and Sabrina out for a special celebratory trip on his boat (also his home), and we enjoyed fishing, snorkeling and relaxing.

Medal, one of the best tour guides in the country, put us on the fish almost immediately.  More than a dozen fish ended up in the cooler: mackerel, porgy, jacks, snapper, and more.  On more than one occasion we saw dolphins playing near us.  We also saw a manatee and giant sea turtle.

While snorkeling saw loads of different fish and incredibly beautiful coral.  Cara also saw a large jellyfish (larger than a frisbee) and an itty-bitty jellyfish (about dime size).

Cara, Sabrina and Pooch as we travel the Sittee River out to the sea.

Yuri, Sabrina and Mark fishing

Yuri observing, Eric fishing and Medal holding his latest catch

Between private residences, businesses and marine research stations, Medal said about 60% of Belize's 200 islands are
inhabited.

Medal found a conch while snorkeling. Here he works to make a whole in the shell so he can
remove the conch.

After making the hole in the shell Medal separated the muscle that attaches the conch to the
shell, and here he is pulling the conch out of the shell.

This is the conch, freshly separated from its shell.

This is the incredibly beautiful conch shell.

The awesome floating island in the area where we snorkeled.

After returning from our awesome boat trip, Ingrid treated us to an amazing dinner:

Truly FRESH fish!

Potatoes - Ingrid made a delectable lemon caper sauce for the fish, but Cara like it with the potatoes. 

Cara's special vegetarian dish was delicious!

12-14-2014 Walk on the beach and dinner at Frogs Point

We worked for a couple of hours on Sunday, hung out for a little bit, then decided to take a long walk on the beach.  That night we had dinner at a nice place in town.

This is the beach heading north from where we are staying in Hopkins, Belize.  The tide doesn't have much effect here,
probably because of the proximity to the equator.

Frogs Point in the town of Hopkins is owned by our friends' friends, Peer and Regina (from Germany).

That evening we were treated to live music - old school country western (Johnny Cash, etc.).

Cara tried sorrel wine, which is made from hibiscus flowers, not grapes.  It's different - on the
dry side, and very nice.

Cara's yummy salad

Eric's delicious fish special

12-13-2014 A few things we've learned about Belize so far

Geckos are everywhere - inside and out!  Good thing we like them.

Things grow larger in Belize - this is a grasshopper!

Geckos are numerous and resilient - Cara found this little guy (minus his tail) in a crockpot.
She didn't find the tail, but it will grow back.  (He got released outside and scurried away.)

Sand flies are a B#&%*!  Apparently you do become immune to them after about four months.
Great - we should be used to them just in time for us to return home!

Did I already say geckos are numerous?

The party never stops at our friends' "beach bar" - this is but a fraction of their friends hanging out on a Wednesday night.