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.