3-23 to 3-28-2015 Things we enjoy during an average week in Belize

Visits from the local iguanas - we often see this guy feeding outside our window.

This was the first time we found the iguana sunning himself by our car.

The beautiful Sittee River, where our friends Ingrid and Yuri live.

Local music (on the beach this time) at Driftwood Pizza Shack.

The view from Windschief Bar.

Windschief Bar (this is the first time we got there during daylight so we could take pictures).

Windschief Bar again - we often go here on Friday nights.

Sometimes they project games on the wall at Windschief Bar.

Eric loves the Margarita Fish at Windschief Bar.

It's not unusual to find cats or dogs hanging out inside stores, and they make themselves at home.

Live music at Loggerheads Pub.

This cool walkway (leading you to the bathrooms at Loggerheads Pub) is just bottle caps pounded
into the ground.

A unique, artsy walkway up to the doctor's office in Dangriga.

Our iguana friend again.

The first night bloom of a very unique flower.

The view is pretty hard to beat also.

3-22-2015 Maya Day in Blue Creek

Yesterday we saw these iguana tracks on our beach.

This morning we saw him outside enjoying a banana peel.

Our Mayan friend, Victor, had told us about Maya Day, so we drove with him to his place and picked up his wife and two of his children and headed to Blue Creek for Maya Day.

On the Southern Highway you see signs for pedestrians...

Signs for bicyclists...

Signs for horse and buggies (Mennonites)...

And signs for tapirs - where else would you see all that but Belize!?

The nice map of the event location.

The event encompassed a huge area, and there were about 1,000 to 2,000 people in Blue Creek (ordinarily a village of 450).
The event brings Kekchi, Mopan and Yucatec Maya from across the country.

There were musicians playing traditional music, and dancers did traditional dances.

There was a presentation of a plaque to Florencio Mas for his musical contributions.

The line of stalls along one side had games for kids and informational booths.  A line of stalls on the other side were full of
food booths.

There was even a bounce house for the little ones.

There was a "fancy dress" contest, in which the contestants had to make their outfits from recycled materials.

Here you see a woman rocking her baby in this white sheet, which is hanging from her head.

There was a conch shell blowing contest, a cacao grinding contest, and much more!

Participants getting dressed for the Deer Dance.

Everybody gathered around to watch the Deer Dance.

The costumes are bright and colorful, and the masks are incredible.

One of the European looking dancers aiming his wooden rifle at a deer dancer.

Here is a video of part of the Deer Dance:

Last were dancers on stilts from the nearby cultural learning center.

Here you see a jaguar, a blue butterfly, and an owl.

There was also a toucan, a parrot, and a couple other beautifully dressed dancers that I could not identify.

It was a hot, sunny day, and lots of people were enjoying nearby Blue Creek.

It was a veritable traffic jam as people departed on the one road out of the village.

3-19-2015 Cave Tubing and more at St. Herman's Blue Hole National Park

We (Eric, Cara, Sabrina, Jack, Lauren and Janet) first went cave tubing in St. Herman's Cave at Blue Hole National Park.  Our guides, Edgar and Melito, were nice, informative, helpful and funny.  If any pics turn out from this we'll add them later.

After cave tubing we headed over to the Blue Hole itself.

This is obviously not the famous Blue Hole that is in the ocean.

This Blue Hole is a natural spring that forms a river.

The water is cool, refreshing, and crystal clear.

This panorama (a little distorted) shows how the river bends around, and it then disappears into a cave.

A beautiful red dragonfly that landed nearby

Jack and Lauren at the Blue Hole.

This is where the river disappears into a cave.

A cacao tree - this is where chocolate comes from.

A Cohune Palm Tree, the leaves of which are popular for thatch roofs.

On the way home we stopped at The Country Barn for some really good ice cream.

It has lovely grounds there.

This shows the grounds after the many busloads of kids left.

There are three of these birds that live near the house, and they are getting bolder.  This one is
right outside our front door.