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San Ignacio - part 2 by Alissa Reid The bus comes to a complete stop in Santa Elena, the sister city to San Ignacio. They are separated by a wooden bridge large enough for one vehicle to cross suspended above the Macaw River. Between both cities, the population is around 16,000 people. The city looks worn and dirty compared to the countryside. We stop in the middle of the road. People start jumping out the back of the bus and the ticket agent with the gold fillings walks out the front of the bus. We wait. The bus driver honks the horn and everyone comes running, jumping back onto the bus with styrofoam containers filled with BBQ chicken and rice and beans, the Belizean staple food. It smells incredible. We are then dropped off in the middle of town square, where the local fruit and vegetable markets are held. We are told to jump out the back emergency exit and I hold my breath until a man hands our big back packs down to us with a smile. We made it! As we start to try to close the scho...

The Road to Cayo Belize - part 1 by Alisa Reid We threw our backpacks onto the back of our golf cart and tied them in for the ride to town. We decide to leave the light on outside and the TV on inside. We have also come to the realization Steve's office might be a safer place to leave our computers and passports as we live outside San Pedro town, on the more remote North side of the Island. Our ferry boat to mainland Belize leaves at 9:30, so we decide to go into town for breakfast. We have also decided to leave our golf cart locked up in town on Front Street, as taxis are not allowed on the North side of the Island. We park in front of another real estate office, an empty space now since our English friend Peter jumped ship to fly back to reality. Something you see on the Island on a regular basis. We go to Estelle's, a favorite beach breakfast spot where Charles serves us fry jacks, bacon, and refried beans. Our favorite beach dog, who we affectionately named Playa, walks up ...

Love waking up at 6 am been having a very productive morning got advance guest posts set up for the next 2 days ready and started this mornings among other things - just realized the time I better get ready for the pool. Going to test waterproof camera at the pool today and see if the memory card formatted correctly - silly me I forgot to put it in when we went out Sunday. My underwater camera is another way of mastering patience. I have a set routine. First I run it under the tap and press the buttons a few times then I put it in a bowl of water while I go wash up. After that I rinse it off do the buttons again and set it outside in the shade to dry. Today I am timing it by lunch - will eat sandwich and drink iced coffee then it will be time to dry it off with a small cloth followed by adding the laundry into the dryer and finally I will be able to check out today's pool pics. BY the way it looks like my memory card did not format. I will have to check it once more or try my spare...

This morning I put pics up from yesterdays Island Academy fundraiser at Pedro's - was a great time. Still need to add text but will fill that in over the weekend. It's Labor day in Belize and I decided to take the day off. This evening I did get around to doing some work on the school blog with an April update and May wish list . Paul aka tacoboy pointed out an interesting post on the message board this afternoon. Short version... BEL (Belize Electricity Limited) buys electricity from a hydro-power company in Mexico. The Mexican company announced that due to problems with their own power plants, they will suspend the sale of power to Belize for 4 months, starting now. BEL advises customers to be conservative in their use of electricity. If Belize has no power at all coming in from Mexico for the next 4 months we may want to anticipate and prepare for frequent an prolonged lapses in power. Monel just popped me on coconut phone after reading same post and asked i...

All around me people are taking steps towards good health and fitness. As you all know I am a big fan of the pool and really feel aquafit is good in so many ways. Many others feel the same as class was packed today in spite of the fact that it was pouring rain. Even Dick made it out to his first class which was great because Paul went because he was going. After a great work out we all enjoyed some homemade peanut butter fudge that Monel brought to celebrate Madame's birthday that just passed. The Lime Biggest Looser Challenge is on right now and people are competing to see who can loose the most and get healthy. Monel who has become a regular at the pool and is taking part in the challenge sent in a couple of him getting fit climbing the steps at Lamanai with Ruth and some of his family. (The second pic is him and his niece Nicole on the temple steps at Lamanai.) Helda is also taking the challenge and she is loosing as well. The lucky winner is going to get a nice prize to celebr...

If I could be anywhere right now I would be back in San Fran enjoying sushi happy hour or at the location of the photo below taken by Diane Campbell. The sandbar looks like a small slice of heaven on earth. While I am not sure of the exact location of the picture my guess is that it would be somewhere around the west side of the island. We have been there a few times with Dick and Carole and it is always a time stopping delicious experience. Trying something new cooking wise today and hoping it turns out decent. As most of you know I am much more a fan of eating when someone else has done the cooking and having ended up in the land of tacos and cheap bbq is a dream come true. I decided to get some stewing beef and I cut it up into small slices - fried it in a pan to brown it and then put it in the crock pot this morning to slow cook on low heat to make the beef tastier. Paul is going to get some veggies cheese and tortillas in town and I will put it all together and make some quesadil...

It is actually Monday night right now but I am crossing stuff off my list on order to get ready for my trip. I figured uploading the pics and text (see below) from my newest guest contributor Joe is as good a place to start as any. He did a nice write up below and took some great pics of the kegger fundraiser for FOTHS at Sweet Basil. You can see more of Joe's Belize photography here . I am sure when Wednesday morning rolls around and I am hours away from leaving I will be very glad to pre-scheduled this and be full of chatter about going away for a few days. Finally wed is here - I am all packed and ready to go - leaving on the 2pm tropic. It is very sunny and windy here today heard is around 50 degrees in Sf - ouch got my jean jacket packed hopefully that will be enough. Almost out the door now just shutting everything down now and doing last min print out of all my information - so exciting. I hope there is a good movie on the plane. Saturdays in San Pedro are generally lively a...

Forrest sent me this today and we both thought it would be a great idea for me to post it for all our British friends - of course we both realize most of the brits we know are cheeky enough to disobey this one.... No kissing, please, we're British: In an effort to reduce delays, the Warrington Bank Quay train station in Warrington, England, has banned all kissing of passengers being dropped off. So do your smoochy goodbyes before you go to the station, people! Meanwhile, according to the Scotsman - Glasgow Daily Record and the This is Chelsea (on line): The Warrington Wolves have declared their ground ‘a kissing friendly stadium’. Also the name of the company that owns (or operates) the trains involved and the one that put the signs up happens to be Virgin Rail. The 'no-kissing' sign at Warrington Bank Quay station in Cheshire courtesy of Reuters

Three cheers for tacoboy. While in town he took a few pics of the new Black Orchid Spa for us all to see - this is my first preview too. I like the sink pic and the candle holder shot - my guy getting artsy.

Just got this email in from Gailtor and it is definitly worth sharing the good news... Hey Laurie.. Check this out.. In case there is anyone you know who might be able to be available Jan 1st to 8th.. It's $235 all in... $88 -- Non-Stop to Belize from Toronto, Roundtrip http://ca.travelzoo.com/top20/450701-503847/ Source: Signature Vacations Gail

I wanted to share with you an important email from bonnieandclyde - see below. Bonnie and her husband moved here and wanted to get involved in the local community. They both decided to join the lions group - a fine organization. Bonnie has also put her valuable skills to use in volunteering for Dr Efrain Cima. Next week starting Monday, Nov 10th, the Lion’s Den will be hosts to a group of approximately 100 Doctors, Dentists, Dental Assistants and Veterinarians from the US – this group is known as the “Belize Mission Project” They will be setting up a FREE Dental Clinic at the Lion’s Den and will be accepting patients from 8:30AM – 12 noon and 1PM till 4:00PM, Monday Nov 10 – 14. During this time they will be offering cleanings, restoration procedures, extractions, dentures and more. PLEASE get the word out to all of Ambergris Caye for this great opportunity to come and be taken care of. Also any donation would be appreciated especially adult toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and any c...

As if I don't have enough stuff rattling around in my head already, Michele added to that by reminding me about at Stumbled Upon . So now as I sit here and click my stumbled upon button and much like playing slots wait to see if I hit the jackpot. I am finding sites like... dollar bill folding - Your Age on other Planets - this one was a bit scary but I had to remind myself it is ok even though we have a cold spell in the mornings now I have not had to pull out my socks yet. I am off to meet rubyd at the pool - even though Maureen is away we are going to try and make classes happen. Turned out 4 of us showed up and we had a great class. while I can say I do like it best when Maureen is teaching, rubyd and I managed to remember a bunch of her routine and we made it through just fine. Important Email... Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 08:10:40 -0700 From: Dianne Subject: Help for Lacy's boys To: tacogirl Hi Laurie If you please send this out asap it would be appreciated. Due to Lacy...

This morning I decided to take Mark on a pool hopping adventure. As we were about to leave Mary turned up and joined in the fun - we hoped in her cart with floaty toys and headed off to test out Pedro's newly finished pool. We only had time for a our quick dip - as we turned the corner heading to or second swimming destination at the San Pedro Fitness club, We ran into Our super star teacher Maureen on her way to the pool. After class Mary Dropped Mark and I off. Miss Joy cooked breakfast for Paul Mark herself and I. She is busy packing for her move to Placencia this aft and I am off to read my book for a while. I have some correspondence to share today... Email from Quicksilver Dianne... Hi Laurie Just wanted to extend a thank you to your readers for their votes in the Karaoke Contest. Tonight (Thurs) is the big night (9pm at Jaguar's and live on Channel 7 TV and 92.3FM). Hope you turn up or tune in. Should be a fun night. Cheers, Dianne Dare to dream and enjoy life's jou...