Belizean Chocolate

Today I went to the Garifuna village of Barranco for a mobile clinic. It is a charming village on the coast south of Punta Gorda. The Garifuna are descendents of the Carib Indians and the Africans that were brought over as slaves. They are wonderful, garrulous people full of stories and we had a very enjoyable morning with them. They served us lunch before we headed back to PG.

Russell took the kids to a lodge/cacao farm called Cotton Tree Lodge. It is along the same gravel road that we took toward Barranco. Our first week here I came across some amazing locally grown and produced chocolate in one of the grocery stores. The cacao grown in the Toledo district is sold to the UK company Green and Black's for their Maya Gold chocolate bar. But, this Cotton Tree bar was also produced right here in Toledo. And, it is some of the best chocolate I've ever had. So I encouraged Russell to go check out the farm and try to procure more of the stuff for me.

It is actually a high end luxury lodge along the Mojo River. The kids enjoyed walking along the extensive boardwalk trails in the jungle. And, yes, Russell did bring me home some chocolate! I'd still like to see a cacao plantation and see what the cacao plants/beans look like. But, it apparently is not the season at present.

On his way back to PG Russell saw a very clever cow. I , for one, am glad to be out of the States during this election. But, I could hardly say that we are insulated from it. Just goes to show you that many worldwide are interested in who will be taking office!

We have one more week in PG. There will be only one student with me next week so he and I will be busy. The kids seem to have settled in. Just in time for us to pick up and disrupt their routine again. Perhaps off to see Tikal in Guatemala after we leave PG. Northern Belize got a ton of rain with this tropical depression (the south did too, but not as much). There is a fair amount of flooding and we are reconsidering our plans.

Placencia, Ruins, and Fishing

The Ball Field at the Mayan Ruin of Nim Li Punit




























































Placencia: Natalie snorkeling, playing in the water in front of the cabana, the cabana, and Liam enjoying the boat ride.


Russell with his yellow tail snapper on a fishing trip to the keys offshore Punta Gorda.

















The clock tower on Punta Gorda Main St.

Toledo District Explorations

Above are the ruins of Lubaantum - site of the Crystal Skull (ooh, aah). The Mayan village of Blue Creek is where we hiked in the jungle and went swimming.










Saturday market in Punta Gorda.

























Pictures of our house and view of the almost daily thunderheads on Front Street in Punta Gorda.









Internet access, while available, is not exactly convenient - especially to take time to do something like update a blog with pictures. We are enjoying a weekend getaway for this long three day weekend. Belize celebrates what I guess is Columbus Day at home as Pan American day. That this area would celebrate Columbus Day in any form at all seems rather ironic to me. We are in the town of Placencia which is the only area in mainland Belize that really has a sandy beach. It is definitely more tourist oriented than Punta Gorda, but still way less than the northern cayes. The cabana is just feet away from the ocean edge and the kids have already enjoyed a swim in the bath water warm Caribbean. While Natalie and Liam are sleeping inside Russell and I have been drinking our Belizean beers on the veranda and enjoying access to the wireless.

This past week was, I learned, International Elder Week. Appropriate that my Mom became an elder on Monday (sorry, Mom). I would not have known this except that I was involved in a Belizean Elder Health Fair of sorts. Along with another volunteer physician down for the week we saw about 200 local Punta Gorda elders (over 65) this week. It allowed me to experience and meet a wonderful cross section of Belize and hear some great stories from the people. A very rewarding experience all around.

Russell took the kids on a field trip to a local Mayan ruin - Lubaantum - about a 45 minute drive away. And we all went to Blue Creek, a Mayan village in the same vicinity, last weekend to have a little hike in the jungle and go swimming. The Saturday market in Punta Gorda is the big market of the week so we had to check that out as well. Russell ended up buying some red snapper from the fish market, but it ended up being a rather pathetic amount and didn't taste quite the same in our fish tacos as halibut. I'm not sure we'll eat rice and beans again for a good long while once we return home. But, it is quite the staple here and, fortunately, still a favorite of the kids'.

We went snorkeling today out of Placencia. Natalie swam with her goggles and life jacket the entire time and had a blast. Liam swam with his life jacket a little while and happily entertained himself on the boat. Three of the nursing students working at the Hillside clinic went with us as well. They were less into snorkeling than Russell and I and graciously watched Liam for a while. He was perfectly content hanging with the pretty young women. They both absolutely crashed when we got back to Placencia. Liam even nodded off on the boat ride home. With any luck maybe tomorrow morning will the first one in 3 weeks that they might sleep in??? Not holding my breath. It took all weekend to upload these pictures. So the ones from Placencia will be in the next post.

Meanwhile back at home a wind storm blew down 13 trees at our house.

Wave Jumping on Amelia







The Red Otter Superheroes










Doing laundry in our temporary housing.




















While we are living in our current pad we have had the use of some bikes. Not sure we would travel with the kids on our bikes at home this way, but it has been fun to tour around PG with the kids this way. We move tomorrow to a different house. It will have some advantages over our current place. It will be a lot quieter, has three bedrooms, is right on the coast so will be cooled by ocean breezes, and there is a hotel with a pool that we can use for a small fee right next door. But, no bikes and it is a bit smaller overall. Russell had already made some acquaintances in the "neighborhood" where we are. Namely a woodworker two doors down. Liam managed to lock himself into the bedroom a couple of days ago and was obviously hysterical when we couldn't get him out. Ultimately, Russell broke the door down to free our son. And, then remembered seeing the woodworking sign so went to befriend the guy and borrow some equipment to fix the door. We were both amused when the guy brought over some "scrap" mahoghany to use as a shim.

I went with the other physician and two medical students (all women from the UK and all 10-15 years younger than me - I feel so OLD!) to Monkey River today. It is a Garifuna village about 2 hour drive away. It reminded me quite a bit of doing Alaska Bush village trips. I'll be doing home visits with the nurse practitioner all next week and that should be quite interesting. Natalie accompanied me to the internet cafe and is getting antsy so more in a few days....