Dear Noah: Where's the Ark?

We knew something was up first thing in the morning. The birds were coming two by two.

Black-Cowled Orioles.

Blue-Gray Tanagers

This Yellow-Winged Tanager came alone but took enough for two.

Our resident gimpy Chachalaca came late.

The water was stirred up and starting to boil. The winds were blowing.

The flood started.

The water was rising.

Flowing across the room.

Bob, being the boyscout that he is, was prepared.

Where is that ark parked?

As The Heron Flies

This morning we got up early and headed to Dangriga to get some business done. We headed to Val's for coffee, sat around for a bit, then off to find some storage bins. Nothing in the market so we went to one of the Chinese stores by BTL, they had some, but were a little costly, so we decided to wander around and check out some other places. Uncle Harry's didn't have any, but Habet's did. We got the last one and we were happy to get it. Then to the bank. We got all our business done and managed to make the 11:00 a.m. bus, what a great day!!

I was checking my email when Bob called me and said, "There is a huge heron on the beach." I grabbed the camera and ran. He wasn't kidding, the darn thing is as tall as I am. Now, as my dear friend Leslie said, and I quote: "lol well that isn't really all that tall ...heheheheh".

According to my bird book, this is a Tricolored Heron.

I started out about 30 feet from him and just started slowly walking towards him.

He let me get about 15 feet away and then took a few steps away, then he did this little dance for me.

He stopped and just waited for me to get closer.

He actually took a few steps closer to me and stood up very tall, as though he were telling me that he was the tallest. Just what I need, a smartass bird.

I got to within 9 or 10 feet before he took off and you can see his wingspan is huge, yes bigger than I am tall.

I thought he was pretty majestic myself. The rest of the photos speak for themselves.

Bats In The Belfry?

No belfry at our place, however this little guy did seem to like our bedroom.

The pictures will be a little blurry, but I was nervous, not having been this close to a wild bat before. He flew in the door, around the living room, and zipped past me into the bedroom straight to the curtains over the bed.

Here he is, peeking out over the edge of the dowel. Cute little thing isn't he?

Bob warned me to be careful as he might be rabid... might be?

He spread his wings for us, but I was a little nervous, however, you get an idea of his wingspan.

Finally, Bob opened the bedroom door and I was able to get him on the broom and gently put him outside. Not a good picture but I had the camera in one hand and the broom in another. Hopefully, next time I won't be so nervous.

The Grill Has Left the Building

In the beginning, you were tempermental and tried to stop us from learning how to use you efficiently. We perservered and babied you, figuring out what you like best. Eventually, we found the way to keep you happy and now you are the best grill around. Today we sold you. It's not that we don't love you. We are moving at the end of the month and where we are going, we don't need you. However, there is solace in that fact that we know you went to a good home. Be good to your new owners and cook their food well.

Another Ladies Night

Well 'LilBit', you can chalk up another successful Ladies Night. Last night we met at the usual spot and had a great time.

There seems to be a lot of food brought for a pre-dinner meeting. Last night there was paté and crackers (mmmmmmm - sorry, my mouth was full)!! Spiced corn chips and of course, popcorn. It's a good thing we laugh a lot to wear it off before going home to eat dinner.

Of course, it isn't all laughter.... yeah it is.... no, really..... we discuss serious things, between laughing, that is. We do, we really do. But that would be for another post. Last night was simply an hour or so of laughter with friends. We missed you last night Adriane.

Be warned ladies, next time I am bringing the camera.

Putting the "Dang" into Dangriga

Pelicans on a wire. Not something you see everyday, unless you are in Dangriga and yesterday we made a run to Dangriga.

For those who don't know us all that well, that means early to bed the night before, up at 5:30 and on the road waiting for the bus by 6:20. It is an hour and a half ride from Maya Beach to Dangriga on the bus. Junior, the Ritchie Bus driver must watch for us because I can see his flashers start as he comes around the final corner before picking us up. As we get on the bus, it is always a "Good Morning" from both Junior and his conductor and people always smile and say hello as we squeeze past the other riders. Yesterday, as I was getting on the bus, a woman insisted that I share her 3/4 seat with her. What a great start to the day!!

Once we get into Dangriga, we immediately head across the street to what is becoming our favourite street vendor. Chicken tacos with hot sauce for breakfast... yum yum!!!! We take our package and head straight to Val's backpackers Hostel, because she makes the best coffee in town. She also has juice, water, ice cream, and internet service. There is a hostel and laundry service as well. We like to sit out on her porch with a very large (only one size here) cup of fresh brewed coffee and eat our breakfast while watching the ocean which is the view from her porch.

For anyone wanting to try her coffee or needing internet service, she is right across the road from the 'old' Post Office and almost across the street from the Bonefish Restaurant and Hotel.

After that it was just a quick walk (two blocks) back to the main street to Immigration to update those passports. We picked up an extra set of papers for applying for residency and got some information from the smiley woman in the office.

Then it was up the road to the bank. The 'bank' was the ScotiaBank where we have found there is less hassel and no extra fees for getting your money from your 'home' country. We found that they actually want our business and made it very easy for us to open an account. There was a woman in the bank, who came in like a freight train, sat down and started a conversation with us. We chatted a bit and found she was born in Dangriga, but at the age of 15, she moved to New York and spent most of her adult life there. Now she is home in Dangriga. She told us she was 50% retired and 50% lazy which equaled 100% tired. We were standing outside the bank deciding our next move when she came out of the bank. She insisted on giving us her name, address and phone number. Our instructions are to phone her the day before we come to Dangriga next and she will make lunch for us. Kindess to complete strangers.

After some shopping for items we needed, we headed up to 'Tangles', my favourite place to have my hair done and a pedicure. Bob went for a walk-about while this 'girl' stuff was happening and was back at 11:30 to pick me up. He almost didn't recognize me. I was a changed woman.

We went for lunch at one of the little places on the main street and then hit the grocery stores. We usually hunt around S.P. Cheng's for unusual flours for cooking and baking. Once we found Chestnut flour which was interesting to say the least. Then on to the Price is Right where we saw John and Cordy, friends from Seine Bight. We bought a few things and went back to Val's to get some ice water and kill some time.

Then we headed to Bibi's bar. It is across the street from the PUP office by the Hope Clinic. If you have a chance to sit and meet the people, you will not be disappointed. There are always all kinds of characters there. One group of men play dominoes, another couple, give impromptu 'punta' lessons. Everyone is always friendly. It's not fancy but you can get good drinks for a good price.

Just after 4:00, it was time to stagger the two blocks to the bus depot where our bus was waiting for us in the usual spot. The bus left exactly at 4:30 and we were home in Maya Beach at 6:00. It really was a good day.

Here I am, not so blonde.

Some Days You are the Windshield and Some Days You are the Bug

Today is my Bug Day!!!!

It all started when I woke up at 2:30 this morning to something bothering me. I looked out the window and sure enough, it was raining. I wasn't too worried, half the sky was clouds while the other half was stars. However, that wasn't what was bothering me. I think I awoke from a dream, a dream of bugs crawling all over me. But wait, it wasn't a dream. I got up at 3:30ish (I couldn't go back to sleep) to find that I was covered in doctor fly bites. Either it went for the all you can eat buffet, or invited friends to dinner. At least it wasn't scorpions (sorry Mrs Barn)!

To make matters worse, I dropped the phone and broke it. Yes, I dropped it HARD!! Next time we head to Dangriga, guess who gets a new phone for Valentine's Day?

A ride on the bikes to Seine Bight was good until I remembered that all our phone numbers are saved in the phone memory and not the SimCard memory. What was I thinking?

Then our internet (Not So Smart) went down and they kept telling us we just needed to reboot (yeah right - that always fixes the problems). After rebooting and numerous calls, they finally told us there was a problem and the technician was out working on it.

I went to sit on the beach to tan and get some of those soothing rays, but since they took our rake away from us, it is like sitting in a garbage dump; so tanning didn't last long.

So now we are back up and ready for business, but there is more. When Bob's daughter came to visit, flights were cancelled and rebooked. The refund was finally paid but they put it on the wrong credit card and now when we asked for it to be put into our bank account, we were told "so sorry, no can do". Now, our bank and our credit card are with the same financial institution and you would think they would be able to do a simple thing like electronic transfer. Apparently security doesn't allow that. However, they will cut a cheque and mail it to our Canadian address sometime in the next sixty (60) days. What do you do?

Well this woman is going drinking and I think I will just put it on the credit card.

Girl's Night Out

Last night I went again to 'Girl's Night Out'. Although I am not usually into girlie, groupie things, I find myself enjoying the time spent with the other women of the area. It started out to be a night of card games, computer games, but it is turning into a time to just relax and be yourself. I enjoy meeting women that I might otherwise not have any contact with, as our paths just never cross.

I was very pleasantly surprised when one of the women said that they were going to miss us when we moved. The reason that I was surprised is that we only see them as they walk by on the beach and wave. I mentioned that they never came and visited and she said that they were never invited. I assumed that anyone who wanted to visit would just come on up. But upon thinking about it, we also wait for an invitation, so..... we are going to be a little more outgoing, dare I say, aggressive in our mixings with other people. And yes, I did invite them to come over.

As for Lil' Bit, thank you for being the hostess and inviting all the women into your house for a couple of hours each week, I think it is good for all of us.

As for the picture of the Blue-Grey Tanagers, they weren't there last night, but I liked the picture.

The Sun Is Back

The sun is back!!!!! This morning's sunrise taken from our deck.

Yesterday we headed to Belmopan with our friends Pam and OB. On the way back we stopped at the Ag Centre and what a treat that was. There are so many plants and trees, it can easily overwhelm you. I took only ninety-one photos and I hardly put a dent in the photo ops.

Just to give an example of some of the flowers, here is Pam with a hibiscus. They are huge, to say the least.

Who would have thought it would be exciting shopping for someone else's plants for their new home they are building? Well, it sure can be. Check out some of these flowers.

It is a another perfect day outside and I am heading to the beach to renew my tan that has faded over the last two weeks. I am starting to look like a tourist and we can't have that!!

More Things To Do In Paradise

Okay, it keeps raining, but the sun is really, really trying to stay out. When the weather is crappy, I find I experiment a little more on the web. So today when I was reading Barnacle's blog, I decided to test what he put in yesterday. I went and clicked on his 'tool thingy' and when the page came up, this is what was there.

Supposedly this is an artist's rendition of my blog. I was able to change colours and the way it looked. I think it is kind of cool, if you want to do your own, click here.

Rainy Days and Sundays?

Okay, so the song goes "Rainy Days and Mondays" (an oldie by The Carpenters), but it is raining and it is Sunday. What can I say?

Here is a picture of our view this morning. Not nearly as pleasant as usual. The good thing is that is it not cold today. Yesterday was cold, I think it got down to 68 degrees. BRRRRRR.

Even the birds aren't coming for their breakfast of fresh fruit this morning. They were around a while ago, but once it started really, really raining, they high-tailed it for cover. Can't say that I blame them.

It's a good thing we went for a walk along the beach yesterday afternoon. I think I managed to get a couple of good pictures.

I thought this was a cool picture of Bob walking along the beach, check out the clouds.

Guess who's footprint in the sand?

These appear to be either Franklin's Gulls or Laughing Gulls, but they were having a fine time.

For anyone out there that follows lacrosse, last night Portland won their game against San Jose and Edmonton lost to Toronto. Both games work for us.

This picture is for Matt.

After numerous drinks at two different establishments, we managed to find our way home along the beach, and have a great dinner. Bob was smart to make stew before we headed out for our walk.

To Paddle or Not To Paddle

I always worry when I look off my deck and see obvious novices to paddling, flailing away at the waves in an effort to move the kayak from one trough to another. So I keep watch, just in case.

Today was no different, the wind is up, the waves have whitecaps and yes, you guessed it, there were novices out there. I guess if you pay for a vacation, you are going to do everything you planned on doing, screw the weather and screw safety.



This nice couple said that they came from the other side of False Caye and that the weather was nicer when they started out.



I watched them approaching and saw them turn sharply as though they had no control. It was a trip to the beach to keep an eye on them.



The water wasn't all that rough but you could see they were struggling.



Here we can see them safely back on shore, but they still need to get back to where they are staying.



I love this picture, look who is carrying the paddles and who is dragging the boat back up the beach.



That's much better. I had a little chat with them as they went by. I think they were a little shook up because when I asked them where they were staying, they couldn't remember the name of the place, just that it was 'up the beach'. Neither one of them had paddled a boat before, nevermind a kayak. They were used to 'river rafting' and quite possibly thought it was a similar sport to paddling a kayak.

I think all resort owners should have some kind of questionaire for their guests to fill out before taking out a kayak or canoe on the water. I have taken some time to set one up, if anyone would like a copy of it, just ask, I can send it along to you.

Sample Paddling Questionaire
Below is a list of questions to be answered before taking kayaks out on the water. If you answer NO to 3 or more questions with the exception of question 6, you should not take out the kayaks when the wind is blowing and you can see those little white thingys on the water.

1. Have you ever been in a kayak before?
2. Have you ever paddled a boat before?
3. Can you swim?
4. Do you know what whitecaps are?
5. Can you remember where you are staying?
6. Are you stupid?

Just Another Day in Paradise

It's just another day in paradise here in Maya Beach. We got a phone call from my brother Ken, this morning, which was a pleasant surprise indeed. It's always good to hear from the family. Ken wants more pictures of people on the blog, so be prepared, I am going to start carrying the camera everywhere.

We heard a rumour that in a week, the winds will die down and it will be hot again. We are getting worried about our tans fading.

Last night was the 'Grand Opening' at Singing Sands. We heard that all those who were invited had a wonderful time. Good show Singing Sands.

We are happy to see that Scurvy survived his run in with the 'other' dogs. He still seems to be hurting a little bit, but I think I saw a smile yesterday as he went by.

Surf's Up

It's a bit of a blustery day here and I thought I would take a short walk down the beach and see the waves.

Looking north towards Maya Breeze Inn and Maya Beach Hotel.

Looking south towards Singing Sands I saw two boats.

I noticed something in the water in front of the boats.

Is it a sea creature?

There's two of them.

On closer inspection, they are coral heads, being battered by the waves.

I hope they don't get too broken up.

Looking north again, good shot of BellaMaya Resort.

So my question is..... where are the windsurfers?