Monday, July 9, 2007

Belize Letter 11

We went to Hamanasi Resort on the Caribbean for a swim and lunch. After lunch we did some more swimming and sun bathing. They have a very nice pool that overlooks the beach. The weather was perfect! The sun was shining and there was a very nice breeze. Lunch at Hamanasi is always a treat. The food is always good. Diane and I had Belizean Bouillabaisse. This consisted of big chunks of red fish fillet and shrimp in a spicy tomato broth. Shrimp are farm raised in Belize. They are always fresh and never frozen. This is an excellent way to spend a day.

I made a post on July 1 about Five Blues Lake. This is a lake that is 4 miles from our property. Last year at this time, the lake made headlines by losing all its water. I have some links in that post to a few pictures.

We had cleaned 4 guava trees on our property. Two weeks ago they started to bear fruit. Ripe guava’s are yellow in color somewhat pear shaped. Inside they have pinkish red flesh that contains very small hard seeds. The fruit tastes similar to a strawberry. The fruit is also very fragrant. Due to the seeds, it is not too good for eating as is. However, when the hired cutters were working in that area, they sampled quite a bit of fruit. If the fruit could be processed through a Foley food mill or similar device, it would make an excellent sauce. I tried guava ice cream and it tastes very much like strawberry.

The other week I had to take my truck for routine service work. The auto dealer where we purchased the truck is about five or so miles outside of Belize. It usually is about a 3 or 4 hour wait no matter what you have done. The dealer offers rides to Belize city for the people having their cars serviced. I decided to take the trip into Belize. The way it works is that you tell the driver where you want to go and he will drop you off and give you a time he will pick you up. One couple was dropped of at a supermarket and he said he would pick them up in an hour and a half. I told him I was just along for the ride but I did need to go to a pharmacy store. Well he too had lots of errands including bank, post office, etc. I got to ride all over Belize City. What a tour! One thing nice about the service is that when your car is returned it is exceptionally clean because it has been hand washed.

The rains have returned! Rain in Central America can be very hard at times. I never saw so much water coming down! During these hard rains, the satellite Internet either slows to a crawl or stops completely. Everything is growing rapidly and changing to a very lush, dark green. My grass cutting is a never ending almost daily task. Mid to late June our pump returned to action. I believe it may have been a clog as when it began working, quite a bit of mud and grit was caught in the filter.

I have some pictures uploaded for public view at the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jmadeira/PhotosBelizeLetter11

I will be changing a few things soon. Most importantly, I will be adding a lot of short single subject topics instead of the multi-topic letter form I have been using. I will keep you updated.


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