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.
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| Arriving at Goff's Caye |
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| 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 4th
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.
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| Pine cone ginger... a favorite of the botanical garden tour |
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| One of the many types of orchids on display. |
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| Cheese making in the jungle. |
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| The aging room. SO MUCH CHEESE! |
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| 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!
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| Cocktails at the Barefoot Bar in Placencia with Nancy. |
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| One of the Silk Cayes, and our destination for some great snorkeling. |
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| A fun day of sea and sand with Nancy and Ted. |
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| 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!
