Getting Homesick: Monday, June 8

We slept well last night, got ready, and ate breakfast at The Aguada again. Dean's American Breakfast was $7.50 BZ – toast with (garlic?) butter, jam, two eggs, meat. I had a Belizean Breakfast Burrito - $9 but big and delicious! We packed up and checked out. The resident rottweilers were chasing frogs in the pond. We got a great rate at The Aguada - $48 / night + 9% tax – 15% discount. The only downer was that we didn't realize we were being charged $2.50 each per day for drinking the coffee that sat out in the dining room!

We saw some horses playing under the palms on the way towards Spanish Lookout.

Back in Washington State, we're used to poplar trees lining orchard land. In Belize, you can use palm trees for that!

We had a very nice lunch with John & Judy Banman. We were served a typical Belizean meal with some delicious sides: chicken, rice and beans, cucumbers in a nice dressing, homemade cottage cheese. They have a very nice house with many modern pieces of furniture, lights, fixtures, etc. The woodwork in their house and deck was beautiful. The home isn't completely finished, but it already looks great! Their two daughters are adorable; they only speak German, though, because they won't learn English until they attend school. John repairs car A/C systems and is also a photographer. Dean drooled over his Canon 50D (and 30D). He makes money taking passport photos. They have modern computer equipment and A/C in the photo studio. John showed us some of his family and nature photos – very nice. While chatting after lunch, John received a text message on his cell from an employee and sent back an answer before we realized it. As Dean and John talked about challenging A/C repairs, a VW bug was brought up as an example, and Judy confessed she'd like to have one. We told both the Banmans and the Reimers about Leavenworth.

Here's a picture of that beautiful type of tree again. It's called a Flamboyant or Royal Poinciana.

After lunch, we stopped briefly at Camp Camalote to say goodbye to Nathan, Ginger, and kids. I had been wearing a skirt and blouse whenever we were with the Mennonites, so I took the opportunity to change while there. Nathan joked that I was changing out of my “Christian clothes” and getting into my “sinner clothes”, a tank top and capris, in this case.

A sign in Belmopan that we chuckled at:

We stopped at the Art Box gift shop and finished our list (and then some)! Next we headed down Hummingbird Highway, which was stunning. Dense foliage borders the road. Here and there are For Sale signs, meaning you can buy your own little piece of jungle, I guess! We had hoped to see the Blue Hole, but the attendant said it was more green that day. It was getting late in the afternoon and Dean was tired and anxious to get to our hotel back near the airport, so we just turned around and headed back. There were probably more beautiful views up ahead on the highway, but alas... The picture shows a bus with its back door wide open!

We stopped outside Belmopan and got ice cream bars and a bag of fried plantains for a total of $5.75 BZ. The plantains tasted a lot like potato chips. Dean said they tasted “amazingly not like bananas”!

Here is a picture of a dump. As usual, the philosophy for unwanted things is to burn them!

We made good time to the Global Village Hotel. The staff were the sweetest! We discovered our room already had an occupant – a cute little lizard. I heard they are good to have around to eat bugs...

Dinner was scrumptious! For $31 BZ, they cooked up sweet & sour chicken with salad, fries, and a Coke for Dean. The sauce was vinegary, and each item was separate on his plate. Ginger had noted that sweet & sour is always with fries in Belize, many times on the top! I had fabulous pork chow mein and a Sprite. We chatted a little with the wife who helps run things around the hotel. They are from Taiwan.

Here is a tribute to all that the two of us drank in a day:

When flipping through the channels, we came across one playing “Little Women”. We saw a flicker, then the word “Play” came on screen. They were broadcasting a VHS or DVD! Another channel shows movies that are still in the theater...