SEPTEMBER CELEBRATIONS

Belize Independence Day is September 21, and the whole month of September is filled with parades and events.  They call it “September Celebrations” for good reason.  Every town and government building, along with lots of businesses and private residences, are decked out with flags and other decorations.  We attended a steel drum concert here in Belmopan that drew a crowd of about 2,500 people.  We also managed to catch a “parade” in San Ignacio (that consisted of about 4 trucks towing floats and a couple groups of school kids marching) and a carnival parade in the coastal town of Placencia.

Happy birthday, Belize!

The government buildings in Belmopan.

Our car even got in on the action with flags and side view mirror covers.  Oh, and new tires.  We made it 7 months before our first flat tire - and realization that we needed a whole new set.

Despacito meets steel drums.

We went to San Ignacio for a long weekend at the beginning of the month.  San Ignacio is about an hour west of Belmopan.  It’s a cute little town with a wonderful Saturday market and several good restaurants.  We’d been there for day trips a couple of times but wanted to have more time to explore, so we booked a couple nights at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel.  The hotel has several trails and offers guided morning bird walks (perfect for me) as well as a green iguana conservation project (perfect for Andrew, clearly, given the photo below).  There’s also a Mayan ruin called Cahal Pech located right in town, so we checked that out too.  Nature, ancient archaeology, and fantastic restaurants all in one town.  It was a super weekend.

Andrew's new friend.

And me trying to make new friends.

Green iguanas...

...and toucans!

Some of the ruins at Cahal Pech in San Ignacio.

A float in the "parade" in San Ignacio.

There are lots of wonderful murals in San Ignacio.  This one depicts the history of Belize. 

Another colorful mural.  And no graffiti!  I very rarely see graffiti in Belize, which is so unlike the rest of the countries I've visited in central America.  Just an interesting observation...

We spent the actual Independence Day holiday last week fishing off the coast of Placencia with a few other folks from the Embassy.  We also went with Andrew’s taxi driver, a local who helped organize the trip for us with his cousin, the boat captain.  The captain had one other crewman aboard, a salty old fisherman who did some fishing himself and easily caught the same amount of fish as the rest of us combined.  But that’s really saying something because we all caught fish.  Lots of them – probably about 60 all total.  We were told they were silk snapper and good eating.  We gave a bunch to the locals but still ended up bringing home a pile of fish.  Andrew took them to the local market early Friday morning and to get them cleaned, and then we cooked them up for a big feast at our place on Friday night.  It was a fitting culmination to our own September celebrations.

A beautiful day for a trip to the cayes for some fishing.  The brown pelicans were busy diving in to do their own fishing.

First we had to catch some bait fish.  Luckily, we had a seasoned veteran fisherman in our boat to do that.

Andrew's taxi driver showing off the first catches of the day - sardines - the bait for the rest of the day.

Andrew's first fish!

The fish hunters.

The fish feast!

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you some of the fun that Andrew and I have been having in the great outdoors this last month.  First of all, there’s golf.  The one and only golf course in Belize - Roaring River Golf Course - is about 15 minutes from our house, so we get out for a round of “jungle golf” every now and then.  It’s a 9-hole course, which is just right – especially in this heat.  By the end of the round, I’ve drunk about a liter of water… and sweat out every drop.  Paul, the owner, always has ice-cold washcloths – and Belikins – available in the 19^th hole, so that’s a refreshing stop after our game.  There are a couple of water holes, and we’ve been told to keep an eye out for alligators, but so far, the coast has been clear.

Andrew teeing off on the first hole

While we haven’t spotted any critters at the golf course, we certainly have our share here at the house.  Andrew was visited by an enormous moth during a late-night work session one evening, and we were greeted by a snake shimmying across our front porch one morning.  Lizards and geckos are common visitors outside – and inside – the house.  We also have a resident iguana and cane toad in our yard.  No shortage of wildlife sightings in view from our front door.

Andrew's late night visitor

A no-legged non-friend on our front porch

We got in a quick getaway to Florida a couple weeks ago for some more outdoor fun.  The scenery – and humidity – wasn’t all that different from here in Belize.  But I’ve been in Belize for 6 months now (!!!) and I haven’t had more than a day off since starting this job in March last year, so I was due for a little R&R, like going to Trader Joes!  And eating sushi and salad!  And going to the dentist!  And getting a hair cut!  It is these sorts of things you get really excited about after being out of the states for awhile.  We went to a wildlife sanctuary and took a little boat ride around the intercoastal waterway, but otherwise, I was quite content to hang out at the pool and just relax.

We had to go to Florida to finally see a little alligator (at McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary)

The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

And finally, last weekend, Andrew and I and a small group of folks from the Embassy went cave tubing and ziplining just outside of Belmopan.  It was a fantastic day!  This was the second time I’ve ziplined (the first was in Costa Rica during my “Latitude Adjustment” in 2014) and Andrew’s first time.  For someone who is not a fan of heights, let me just say, this was pretty cool!  Sailing through the tree canopy and over the river… it’s a whole different perspective on the jungle. 

The intrepid zip-liners before heading off on our adventure

"I'm going to do WHAT???"

Andrew coming in for a landing

Can't deny how pretty it is up here

We lived to tell!

After ziplining (and working up a bit of a sweat, of course), we grabbed some inner tubes and hiked to a put-in spot on the Caves Branch River for an hour-long float.  We floated through a huge cave for a good long portion of the float.  For someone who is also not a fan of enclosed spaces, let me just say, this was also pretty cool!  The river is wide and the cave has lots of room, and we all wore headlamps, so even though it’s dark, it’s not scary in the slightest.  It’s one of my favorite things we’ve done in Belize so far. 

Hiking with our tubes to the put-in spot

Getting ready to get our float on

The intrepid cave-tubers heading down the river

 

Floating through the cave

And floating out of the cave

So pretty and relaxing!

The end of the line

The great outdoors (and, in the case of the lizards and geckos, the great indoors) have provided lots of fun and activities for us so far.  Looking forward to getting out there for some more adventures soon!

BEACHES, AND CHEESES, AND WHEATS-ES!

June has been chock full of all of the above.  First up, lots of beaches!  As part of an annual leadership day, all the staff in the Consular section at the embassy (all 9 of us) headed to Belize City for a day of planning and discussing various elements of our work.  But it wasn’t all work and no play.  We ended the day with a trip to Goff’s Caye for a little beach time and relaxation.  It was a great way to get to know all the local staff better and blow off a little steam as a group.

Arriving at Goff's Caye

The Consular section staff of Embassy Belmopan

Next up, some cheeses!  There is a position in every Embassy called the “Community Liaison Officer” or CLO.  It’s a paid position, usually filled by the spouse of an officer, who helps to organize outings and events for the Embassy community and help keep up morale.  Our CLO left post about 2 months ago for their next assignment, and with the Department of State currently under a hiring freeze, our prospects for refilling the CLO position during the remainder of my time here are slim at best.  Enter Andrew, who has volunteered to be our “Faux CLO” and help organize some fun things for us to do.  For the 4^th of July, he arranged for 10 of us to head out to one of the local jungle lodges.  The lodge is one of the oldest in Belize and has an amazing botanic garden, and we started the day with a guided tour of the gardens.  Next up, we were treated to a tour and tasting of their on-site cheese-making facility.  It’s the only facility in the country that makes artisan cheeses, and we got to sample several of them.  We wrapped up with a traditional high tea – finger sandwiches, fruits, and more cheese! - in a gazebo next to the Belize River.  His first effort was a huge success and received rave reviews, so looks like he’s stuck with this “job” now whether he likes it or not. 

Pine cone ginger... a favorite of the botanical garden tour

One of the many types of orchids on display.

Cheese making in the jungle.

The aging room.  SO MUCH CHEESE!

Tasting the final products.  Delicious!

And finally, the Wheats(-es… for the sake of consistency)!  My old neighbors from Prunedale – Nancy and Ted – came for a week-long visit, so we got to play tourist with them.  I headed out to the coastal town of Placencia with them for an overnight, and we went on a snorkel trip to Silk Cayes the following day.  It was a fantastic day – white sand, blue skies, and all sorts of marine life.  We saw more types of coral reef fish than I could count, along with nurse sharks, rays, and even a loggerhead turtle.  We also checked out the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich, the market day at San Ignacio, and a few of our favorite spots around Belmopan.  Always fun to see friends from home!

Cocktails at the Barefoot Bar in Placencia with Nancy. 



One of the Silk Cayes, and our destination for some great snorkeling.

A fun day of sea and sand with Nancy and Ted.

This is where we put guests if they misbehave - the "safe haven" (i.e., cage) at our house.  

Can’t believe we’re now into July and have already been here 5 months.  The weeks are flying by, and I look forward to seeing what other adventures await!

INTO THE JUNGLE

A couple weeks ago, Andrew headed back to New York City for work for a few days, and I headed into the jungle.  The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a couple hours south of Belmopan and is in the thick of it.  It’s a 150 square mile area that is protected and managed in part by the Belize Audubon Society.  It’s home to tropical forests, rivers, and loads of wildlife, including jaguars.  I went down for an overnight trip with a friend and colleague from the British High Commission here in Belmopan.  She has been in Belize for three years and has visited Cockscomb before, so I figured I’d take advantage of her bird knowledge. 

A pretty waterfall at the end of one of our hikes.

The Audubon Society has some basic accommodations in the preserve, so we reserved one of them.  “Basic” = no air conditioning, no hot water, no fans, no electricity after 8pm.  All well and good… except when it is 110 degrees and the humidity makes the air feel like a sauna.  The two days I was in Cockscomb were THE HOTTEST I have possibly ever been.  I drank liters of water… and immediately sweated out every drop. 

The Ritz...it is not.  Photo courtesy the Belize Audubon Society.

But I digress… The main point of this post is that we an AMAZING array of birds.  

The Woody Woodpecker woodpecker (AKA pale-billed woodpecker)

Boat-billed heron... and baby boat-billed herons!

Woodpeckers, tanagers, parrots, all manner of little songbirds, and… the most amazing of all… scarlet macaws.  We heard them before we saw them, could tell they were getting closer, and then they started flying overhead in groups of 3 or 4 until a flock of upwards of 30 had assembled in a large tree at the edge of South Stann Creek.  I understand many of you are probably thinking, 30 birds, big whoop.  But when you consider that the total population of this bird species in Belize has been estimated at as few as 150 birds, this really was incredible to behold. 

So amazing to see these macaws flying through the forest!

A few of the 30+ birds that took over this tree.

The first book I read when I got to Belize was called The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw by Bruce Barcott.  For anyone interested, it provides an excellent overview of the history and politics in Belize in the context of the conflict between development and environmental protection.  This is a small, still developing country, and macaws are under pressure from habitat loss and poaching.  The status of the population of these birds in Belize is tenuous at best.  But we saw 30 of them, flying free, flashing rainbows of color amid the trees, and it was a sight I will never forget. 

EVERYTHING'S UP TO DATE IN BELMOPAN

I just realized it’s been over a month since my last blog post.  I initially thought, geez, we haven’t done much this month that merits a post.  But then I realized that wasn’t exactly true.  It’s just that the things that have happened are at a different scale – a scale more in line with Belize in general, which is smaller, less flashy, and more laid back.

Perhaps the biggest news to report is that Belmopan now has its very own traffic light!  It’s the first traffic light in our town, and only the fifth traffic light in the entire country.  (And even then, a couple of them aren’t working.)  This was big news around town.  Everyone was on the edge of their seats to see if it would work.  Would all the lights be green at the same time?  Would the timing be off?  And, most importantly, in a country with only 2-4 functioning traffic lights, would people know how to use them?  The traffic light is really only needed during the “rush 10-minutes” immediately before 8am, at lunch time, and after 5pm when everyone in town is on the road.  Until the light arrived, during the rush 10-minutes, traffic at this intersection was regulated by 2 guys directing traffic.  The rest of the main intersections in town are traffic circles, which function quite well.  While the traffic light is working correctly, the jury is still deliberating whether it is really more efficient than 2 guys directing traffic for less than 30 minutes/day.

Behold!  The technology!  And PS- that gray-ish sky you see is what I call the Haze of Humidity.  I'm posting this blog at 10:30am and it is already 100 degrees outside.  Welcome to the jungle!

Andrew and I also spent a long weekend in the coastal town of Placencia, about 2 hours from Belmopan.  The town is a long spit on the central coast, with the ocean on one side and a lagoon on the other.  It is seriously only about 100 feet wide in some spots with a road running down the center.  We stayed at a lovely hotel, had some great meals, found the best ice cream shop in Belize (and stopped in every day we were there), and had a fantastic day trip to a little island called Laughing Bird Caye for some incredible snorkeling… but somehow I did not end up with pictures of any of that.  All I have to show for that weekend is this shot of the sunset and moon.  Fear not!  I’m sure we’ll have a return visit to this town while we’re here. 

Sunset in Placencia.

We also visited the little town of Crooked Tree during the annual cashew festival held there.  Many observations here.  First off, Belize has some awesome town names.  Crooked Tree.  Gallon Jug. Fire Burn. Guinea Grass.  Teakettle.  Cowpen.  And my favorite… Dump.  Next, Belize has lots of festivals.  There was an orange festival here in Belmopan a couple months ago.  In addition to cashews and oranges, there are festivals dedicated to coconuts, chocolate, mangoes, lobsters, and others.  Having now been to two of these festivals, it seems they all follow more or less the same theme:  tents set up with people selling the particular festival item in various forms (roasted cashews, cashew jam, cashew wine, cashew cake,..), along with folks selling barbecue, drinks and beer, and other refreshments, a few tents selling other kinds of goods, and lots of rides and games for the kids.  The festivals don’t get going until later afternoon (we arrived at the cashew festival around 2pm and they were still setting up).  So clearly, the intent is that people come and stay for the day.  I admire those who can hang out all day, in the heat, eating cashews (or insert-the-festival-item-here), but I don’t have that in me.  We made a couple rounds of the tents and headed out.  But Crooked Tree is also home to a wildlife sanctuary and huge lagoon/wetland complex, so I may have a return trip there just to geek out on birds.

The Cashew Festival in all its glory.

The Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary.

And now it’s on to summer.  The “summer transfer season” at the Embassy will see lots of my colleagues moving on to their next posts, and lots of newcomers arriving to fill those empty slots.  We’ll be sad to say goodbye to some friends we’ve already made here, but are looking forward to meeting the new folks who we’ll be spending time with for the rest of our stay in Belize.  We’re also looking forward to returning the favor that many extended to us by showing those newcomers around and pointing out what our town has to offer… especially that new traffic light.