I'm A Star (or at least my 15 seconds of fame)

The most recent Belize Tourism Board (BTB) video has just been released, highlighting all the positives in each of the six districts throughout Belize, and the first episode is on the Corozal area. The host, Emaun, toured our area and selected my neighbor, Jason Pierce, to take her out sailing on the Corozal Bay. Jason asked for my help with this video project, so he could explain the highlights of sailing, while I steered the boat. Here is a link to the first episode and my claim to fame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsqGPYsWEI

It was a fun day and I was glad to promote the best of the Corozal Area. The bay is a under utilized area where sailing, windsurfing and kite boarding could be a well known draw to the area.

Fish Fry At The Casablanca Hotel

Our local hotel, the Casablanca, was hosting a Fish Fry, with our local fishermen supplying the fish and different preparation techniques by the local fisherman's wives. The hotel invited the Consejo Yacht Club to participate and host a booth along with other local vendors selling their goods and food. The yacht club gladly accepted and in accordance with the goals of the club, offered to take local kids and their parents, out sailing on a couple of Hobie Cats that the members of the yacht club had purchased for their own use, free of charge.

The goal of the yacht club is to provide sailing experience to the new generation of children, that has been part of their heritage, but is quickly being lost. In the Corozal and Consejo area, fishing and sailing have been a big part of the livelyhood and trade for the whole northern Belize and southern Mexico. The club has also joined the newly formed Belize Sailing Association and has qualified to help Belize start a sailing program with the end result being an official entrant in the Olympics, sometime in the near future. The Belize Sailing Association and the Consejo Yacht Club are currently in discussions to purchase boats for training to achieve the needed experience to compete at such a high level.









The sailing experience for the kids (and the adults) was overwhelming, with 53 adults and children taking part in the sailing event. For many, it was the first time being on a sailboat. Almost all came back with a grin from ear to ear, and not one of them got seasick, even though it was a rough day, with rain and thunderstorms all around. But all the bad weather seemed to miss us and the event went off without a hitch. I hope it will turn into a yearly event, as everyone seemed to have a good time.

Our First Tropical Wave

Mischelle and I have now been here in Belize, just short of of nine months, full time. For the most part, the weather has been just what we expected, comfortable during the winter/spring months and hot and humid during the summer and hurricane season. But this will be our first hurricane season, full time. We've been through hurricanes in Cabo, but we could leave after it was over, and our hotel facilities could get us through all but the worse storm. Here, we are on our own. But that statement is not really true. I feel our neighbors are here to help in any distubance, and would go beyond what is need to make sure you're secure. It's just the things that are beyond the normal circumstances. It's a slippery, mushy seven mile drive to town after a good rain. The road has been flooded so that only 4 wheel drive vehicals could make it through to town. There is no immediate help so you better do the best you can to be safe.

We got a small taste of that when a tropical wave came through. Some high winds in the 50 mph range and heavy bouts of rain at times, but overall, not too bad. But it gave us food for thought about how we are going to protect ourselfs.

Our usually calm beach area was totally underwater. There were times you could barely see we even had a seawall.






Now we need just need to get our hurricane shutters we ordered from Home Depot delivered before the first hurricane hits us. And we also need to find space for all the outdoor furniture we have. I guess in the worse case scenerio, we could put all that furniture in the guest room. I shudder to think of all the geckos, spiders and other bugs that have made their home in the nooks and cranies of our outdoor furniture. Next on the build list...a storage shed.

Visiting The Local Sites

We had our friend Bruce, visit us from the States, and he wanted to see what Belize had to offer. So we started off in San Pedro for some diving and a little partying. It was just after Easter and the tourist season had come to a screeching halt. The place was empty, and I mean empty. Nobody on the beach, nobody in the restaurants, nobody at the bars, but that also meant there was nobody at the dive sites. We had some great dives with loggerhead turtles, nurse sharks, eagle rays, and the list goes on. Definitely a good time to go if you want pristine diving and only a few people. Not a good time if you want to party.

Then it was on to the Mayan ruins at Lamanai. A fun two hour boat ride up the New River that is part Disneyland Jungle Cruise and part Florida air boat ride.





We had to stop along the way to see the monkeys, feed them a couple of apple bananas, then move on to Lamanai. Beautiful birds and lush fauna lined the shores of the river, and the viewing opportunities made the trip to Lamanai seem short.





After we arrived at Lamanai, we sat down and had a lunch provided for us by the tour company, then it was off on a short walk to the ruins. Our tour guide had studied the Lamanai ruins for over 20 years, so he knew a lot of the history, not only of Lamanai, but of the neighboring ruins and their part in the overall development of the area.









The ruins are in fairly good condition and you can still get close to and climb to the top of some of the taller ruins, unlike some of the ruins in Mexico. It is deceptive how steep the stairs are that going to the top. It can be a little bit unnerving to some people, but they do provide a rope to hold on to on your accent and decent.





But the view from the top is amazing, allowing you to see for miles in any direction.




Mischelle climbed to the top of one of the ruins, and her thighs burned for days. It's not the usual step pattern, so muscles get used that don't normally get used.




She's smiling now, but that won't be the case tomorrow!

After a long, but enjoyable day, it was time to take the boat ride back to Orange Walk and head home from there, or at least to the bar near home.






The next day, Bruce wanted to explore the Free Zone and the local casinos. Not much in the Free Zone to do but shop for "knock offs" of just about anything in clothing, shoes or handbags. Not a place to take the wife or girlfriend, if you plan on doing anything else that day. But then again, she could say that about me and going to the casinos. But at least the drinks in the casinos are free....well sort of, if you're lucky.




On Bruce's last day, his flight didn't leave until late afternoon, so we thought it would be a good time to visit the Belize Zoo. It has a very good reputation, especially for being such a small facility. But don't let it fool you on the size. They do a great job on displaying the animals and you really have a chance to get up close and personal. Just don't get too close, as the signs say. Fingers can come up missing if put in the fence at the wrong time.








The zoo does a great job educating the people about the inter-relationship between the different animals, and how as caretakers of the country, they need to preserve the forest and not exploit the resources that are natural to the country.

The zoo was great experience that I would recommend to anyone that visits Belize. But it was time for Bruce to end his vacation and head back home to LA. I'm sure glad I'm no longer in that boat. Back to work on Monday and months before your next vacation. In Belize, I'm on permanent vacation.

At It Once Again

After a few months of no posts to the blog, I am hoping to begin again, with at least a few posts a month. Even comments from Julian couldn't get me back to posting on my blog. I spoke to a few others that also blog and it's not unusual to get blog burn-out or a sort of writers block. But what ever it was, I hope to get back into some kind of routine. There is so much here to blog about, I just need to do it. So here we go. I'll include things from the last couple of months, just to get started again.

Mischelle's mother, Fay, stayed with us until early April. She was here for 4 months, and I'm sure she'll be back soon, probably after the hurricane season. But for now it will finally give us a chance to get settled into routine around the house. We still have a lot to unpack.




We went to Sarteneja for their Easter Day Boat Races. Our friends, Tom and Terri joined us for the drive. Unlike last year, we decided to drive there rather than take the boat. The road out there was recently graded, so the drive shouldn't be too bad. What could take the most time was waiting to cross the river on the ferry. It only holds four or five cars at a time, so if there was a line, we could be there for a while. But as it was, there were only a few cars ahead of us, so we made it on the second ferry across.






We arrived in Sarteneja, after driving for about an hour and a half, and found that the boat from Consejo, with our other friends and neighbors, had also just arrived. The Consejo Yacht Club had entered the Maranatha in one of the races, so there was a large group yacht club members there to support them.




Unfortunately, the event wasn't as well organized as last year, and there several mix ups involving the boat and the captain. Also, the Maranatha was way out of her class, due to the fact that the other boats had brought larger sails and extra rigging, just for racing. So, it turns out that we all just watched from the sidelines this year.

There were not as many booths selling merchandise and food. There was no information board showing when the races began or what classes of boat were racing. It was a two day event, this year, instead of just one, so some of the bands had played the day/night before. It just seemed to be a much quieter affair this year. But we still managed to have a good time, drink a few beers and chow down some food.






After a few hours of walking around the town, we decided to head back to Consejo and finish our Easter celebration there. I was a little disappointed in the races this year, but we will go again next year, and hopefully it will be better.

Things Are Moving Along

I can't believe it's already been a month since my last post. We've got a few more things going on around the house. We are getting quotes for the fence work we need to do and we are starting the landscaping of our front yard. They have begun to bring in marl to raise the level of the lot by about 6 to 8 inches. There are several areas in the front of the lot where the water pools because the crown on the side of the road is higher than that of the lot.







They are going to start with four loads of marl for the driveway and the carport pad. After that, they will bring in the top soil for all the landscaping and then crushed rock to finish the driveway. This will probably be an ongoing project for the next several months.

I finished my pet project down at the seawall, that included adding a handrail, umbrella stand, and a nautical flag pole. I do seem to get things done, it's just done at a Belizean speed. All and all, I think it adds a nice touch to, what was otherwise, just a plain seawall.




We recently attended our local art fair called Art in the Park. It was a very enjoyable evening that started with pizza and beer at one of our favorite drinking establishments, Jam Rock.




After finishing off a pizza and a couple of beers, it was time to head over to the park. It was a lively gathering, with lots of families attending. There were some beautiful wood carvings, jewelry and paintings throughout the park and of course, food vendors. I was beginning to wish I hadn't eaten before we came.




We met many of our neighbors from Consejo and lots of our friends from town. We came across Dave and Diana, who write the Winjama blog, also there for the food and fun.




We picked up some meatpies and stuffed jalapenjo peppers, which were absolutely delicious, to take home for later. We toured all the art stands and found a very unusual mahogany bowl that we ended up buying for $50 BZ. There was some very good deals there on local artwork. It's a well attended monthly event.




And this past weekend, I helped our neighbor, Jason, who was hosting a video shoot for the Belize Tourism Board(BTB). They were videotaping a young lady, Iman, in various places throughout Belize, that would showcase things to see or do in that particular area. For the Corozal district, they had contacted Jason about sailing on his Hobie Cat out in the bay. He wanted another crew member to help out, so he contacted me. It was a great morning for sailing, with about a 12 mph wind and small chop on the ocean. We went out for a couple of tacks and let Iman steer the boat for a while. She was really having a good time. The cameraman said he got some great shots of us out sailing. So who knows, I may be in the next Belize tourism video.

On Sunday, we sailed Jason's boat down to town, where they were hosting the first annual Corozal Waterside Festival and Expo. It's an idea that originated from members of our Consejo Yacht Club(CYC), and we were originally going to host the event as the Corozal Sailing Regatta. But the logistics of planning and hosting an event like that was just too daunting for such a new and small yacht club. So, we conacted other groups about helping us, and the Belize Sailing Association (who knew Belize had a sailing association?) stepped in and ran with the idea. They were well connected to the right people, so that most of the things the yacht club would have needed to provide, if we had hosted the event, were provided for FREE. That included port-a-potty's, park space rental, booth spaces, etc. They got the Belize bank to donate the prize money and others to pay for the transportation of the Sea Scouts and 10 of their boats, to Corozal, so they could race.




We sailed Jason's Hobie from Consejo and Gerard had sailed his in from just outside of town, so we were able to race in the multi-hull catagory.




The Belize Sailing Association came in, set up the course, explained the rules and provided the officials. There were 12 boats total, with three different classes.






There were lots of food vendors selling meat pies, shish kabobs, BBQ chicken, tacos and all kinds of other good things. It makes me hungry just writing about it. There were also several companies showcasing their goods, to see if there is a market for them in the Corozal area. And what would a festival be without a beer tent?






Finally it was our turn to race. As we waited for the starting horn to go off, we got caught up in "irons", which means we were sitting dead in the water. The air horn sounded and the other Hobie was off and sailing, but we were still caught up in irons. After three or four minutes, we were finally off and sailing, but we were well behind the other boat and had a lot of ground to make up.




But, after two laps on the course, we were on their tails and closing fast. We had two more bouys to clear before the race was over, so it was now or never. Unfortunately, we missed our tack and had to regroup to try and tack again. We got close, but we came in second (there were only two boats in this class, so I look at it from the best side).





The waterside festival was a smashing success and everybody seemed to have a good time. As the kids played in the water, their parents listening to the band as they ate and drank, other kids participating in art workshops or learning to sail, it was a truly fun day and the weather could not have been better. I'm already looking forward to next year.