This Christmas was a fun one – besides the missing my family part – we had a great day.  The holiday really started for us on Christmas Eve.  My mom cooked a dinner for the girls who work for us and we had some small gifts to give them so it was our version of the staff party.  We also invited a few friends to join us for dinner.  Mom fried a whole hogfish (caught in Belize) for our appetizer and then the main dinner was baked chicken along with a few typical holiday side dishes and it all turned out fantastic.  We closed the bar early so the girls were out the door before 8pm and since we would be closed for Christmas day and Boxing Day they had the next two days off.  One of our waitresses had brought over a sampling of the rumpopo her mom had made for the holidays.  Rumpopo is a traditional eggnog type drink in Belize that is made with eggs, cream, nutmeg, cinnamon and overproof rum and is delicious.  After we ate and opened gifts we all took a few pictures by the tree (fake).

A very typical sound in Corozal during the Christmas season – especially on Christmas Eve to bring in Christmas day – are the blasts of various fireworks and firecrackers that are let off all day long.  As the night continued on, more and more blasts are heard and we all knew that we would not be falling asleep before midnight so I grabbed a book and knew exactly when midnight hit by the obvious finale happening all around town.  In Corozal that night it sounded like New Year’s Eve sounds in the states.  After midnight I did fall asleep easily and was woken up by a 7:30am phone call so I drug myself out of bed and spent the next few hours hanging out with my parents and getting ready for the party later that day.

At 11am we were in the truck headed to Ken’s house for a ride on his boat to Progresso Lagoon.  My friend Matt and I were going to ride in the boat with Ken and then my parents were going to take a truck to the same party so that they would have a way to get back home.  It was a perfect day for a boat ride – the bay was calm and the sky was mostly sunny – we zipped over there pretty quickly with just one pit stop in the Copper Bank lagoon to catch Rod on his way over too.  Rod had his own boat and he zoomed off ahead of us, long gone by the time we even hit the Progresso Lagoon.  We got to the party around noon and the food was already out.  We were among the first to arrive and my parents got there almost exactly the same time we did.  Bruce and his wife Nicole already had the place ready for guests.  They had put a pig in the ground the night before and it had cooked all night long, there was also an abundance of Indian food purchased from one of the local men in town along with the various side dishes and desserts other people brought with them.  We all grabbed a drink and a seat to start in on conversation.  Slowly, more and more people started to arrive and by the end of it all there were about 40 people there.

The boat ride was already a far cry from the typical holiday activities when I was living in Oregon but it was about to get even better.  After dinner the water toys started to come out.  Water skis, tubes, a wakeboard, boats and kayaks; I knew that I wanted to water ski so I put on my swimsuit and headed out to the boat.  Matt hadn’t been waterskiing since he was a kid so he wanted a go at it too.  So Matt and I got on Rod’s boat with Rod as captain.  It was a ton of fun on two skis but I did take a nice fall to end my first trip around the lagoon.  It sort of stunned me so I passed the skis off to Matt and he got right up and made a nice spin around the lagoon before he fell.  I got back up on the skis and we made our way back to the dock were I made a much more graceful landing.  While all this was going on there was a big group of Belizean kids who were very excited to go on a boat so they piled on Ken’s small boat and from the dock it looked like an accident waiting to happen.  Luckily all the kids were wearing life jackets and the lagoon is very shallow, but sure enough, as Ken’s boat was coming back in to dock the kids were getting nervous because the front of the boat started to take on a little water due to the amount of weight on board.  Suddenly some of the kids panicked and went to the bow of the boat; well this was the very last thing that should have happened because as all their weight shifted to the front the boat took on more and more water.  Rod saw what was happening and ran his boat over to the scene to help as Bruce did a quasi dive in to the lagoon as the kids (most of whom have never been on a boat before) were insanely screaming in terror.  In the end everyone was okay but a few of the kids were very upset – I knew one of the little girls from other trips and I grabbed her hand as she was crying hysterically by herself on her way to the house.  We found her mom and eventually she calmed down, but it was quite an experience for them.

After everything had calmed down I went back out on the boat to try my luck at getting up on one ski.  I had done it before a few years ago during an Oregon skiing trip but it had been awhile, so I fell on the first attempt and the next 10 or so attempts.  At one point I did get up but did not stay up for any amount of time, but on my last try my hip popped and my leg went numb so I figured that was enough for the day.

Most of the guests left soon after that and there were just a few of us (who were spending the night) visiting before everyone made their way to bed.  As you may have already guessed I was extremely sore from my slalom experience but the worst part was that I actually injured the right side of my neck so for the last four days I’ve been nursing that.  We also attempted Corozal’s first annual Christmas Boat parade which I will write a separate entry on.   Happy New Year everyone!

Sailing is an experience I had yet to have in Belize.  Most of our friends around here have motor boats which has been outstanding, so it was after about 11 months of being in this country that Capt. J (yes the same guy I’ve been spending so much time fishing with) had fixed the rudder on his Hobie Cat and offered to take me out and try to learn how to sail.  Since my mission here in Belize is to avoid declining any interesting experience I said, “Of course!”

The outing was off to a great start.  It was early afternoon when we went out, the sun wasn’t too hot and the wind was blowing with just the right amount of force to provide us with an easy trip.  Capt. J brought down the sails from under the house so that we could start rigging it.  He asked his friend Lewis to help him out with that and I also helped as much as I could.  About 10 minutes in to the rigging process I became a little nervous – Capt. J hadn’t sailed for at least a year and was having a hard time remembering how to put the sails up.  He would give it an attempt and decide that was wrong, move to the next attempt and that wasn’t right either.  Finally he exclaimed that he would have to consult the manual and ran off to the house.  At this point I expected him to come back with a book explaining the whole process, so imagine my surprise when he emerges from the house with only his cell phone in hand.  I didn’t say anything and just observed what would come next.  He tells me that his son was the person who had actually bought this Hobie Cat and consequently should remember how it all should be put together.  I found it quite hilarious that he expected his son to remember this procedure three years after actually operating or rigging it – and over the phone no less.  As I had silently expected, the problem would not be solved as a result of this phone call, so it was back to trial and error. 

After a bit more effort the job was done and we were ready to get it in the water.  We all pushed the cat in from the grass, over the sea wall and in to the water.  The sails went up and the three of us were off.  During the struggle with the sails earlier the wind had picked up so the ride would be slightly more entertaining.  We headed across the bay first and it was marvelous – wind was whipping through our hair and the water we were gliding over was spraying all around us from the mesh bottom we all sat on.  Once we got to the opposite side of the bay Capt. J stopped the boat and gave me this funny look which I soon learned meant that he didn’t know exactly how to complete the next task, which happened to be turning around.  I laughed while he attempted to get the cat to turn around without flipping us on our side.  I was laughing, but I was also holding on firmly to the “oh shit!” straps – okay, I doubt they’re really called that but that’s what I dubbed them.  He was trying the gentle method of turning but after a few minutes it was clear that technique was not going to work.  So he told us both to hang on tight and stay clear of the sail changing directions.  As soon as he let out the last word of his sentence the sail rapidly shifted directions and nearly knocked Capt. J in to the water.  He recovered quickly and we were back on track to get home. 

The wind had really kicked up for the trip back so we were all holding on and enjoying the coolness of the water hitting us – it’s not a bumpy ride because of the mesh you sit on, but it is a little wet.  On the way back we lost a Croc clog (the unofficial shoe of Belize) in the water but we were moving fast so no one wanted to jump out and go after it.  It would be the price we would pay for the ride the wind gave us that day – if only that was the only price. 

As we got closer to shore Capt. J was going to attempt a second turn around so that we could have two rides across the bay.  This time he kept looking up at the top of the mast with concern.  I was still bracing for another sudden turn when Capt. J starting shouting, “Something’s not right!  What’s going on?  This isn’t right!”  I had no idea what he was talking about – I looked up at the mast a few times but nothing looked amiss so I turned my head back towards the front.  Suddenly I hear this shriek, a creaking sound and then, with a thundering crash, the mast came plummeting down.  Suddenly we went from a sailing vessel to a floating raft with a bunch of laundry on board.  I was so stunned I couldn’t stop laughing – this was my first Belizean sailing experience and it was so ironically perfect. 

Luckily we were still close to shore, but we were about a couple miles from Capt. J’s dock.  All we could do was drift.  I held the mast up to prevent it from hitting the rudders as Capt. J tried to maneuver us back to his dock.  The water was still a little too deep for anyone to jump out and guide the boat back.  I had made the very bad decision to wait until we were done sailing to eat so – as if my brain knew that it would be a slow ride back home – I immediately got very hungry.  I learned a very important lesson that day – eat before going anywhere that could potentially result in being stranded.  It would have been nice to have a bottle of water with us as well.  I knew this wasn’t a dangerous situation – we were close to shore and would make it eventually – so I could not stop laughing the entire time back.  We were all laughing – we’d laugh, become silent for a bit and then burst out laughing again.  It was really all we could do drifting up shore with our mast down and encountering a random audience every once in awhile who were on shore undoubtedly laughing along with us (they can’t be laughing at us if we’re laughing too). 

We did eventually make it back to the dock and had to get the boat up on to the grass.  We got it safely stored under Capt. J’s raised house and I got a ride back to my house.  Nothing ever seems to be boring around here and this was no different – we’ll just have to see how long it takes for me to get back on that boat. 

My uncle Charlie (Mom’s brother) was the first person to visit us in Belize.  He arrived a couple weeks before Christmas and would be in town for about five days.  At this point we had made a few friends in town who had boats and other water toys to play with so we had a few things planned for his trip.  It would be a busy month because right after he was scheduled to leave my Dad would be flying in for a couple weeks.  That would be over the Christmas holiday so it would be nice to have him here to spend Christmas with us.  U. Charlie was flying in to Cancun and then taking the bus down to Corozal – he was going to be arriving pretty late and told us to be ready to pick him up at the border around 2am so we had a long night planned.  He told us he would call when he got close but what he didn’t count on was that his cell phone wouldn’t work in Mexico, so we were sort of flying blind when it came to his arrival time.  Finally we got an estimated time down for his arrival at the border and we drove over there to wait.  20 minutes went by, then 40 and 50 – we were starting to get worried.  Just as we were about to go looking for him I see this guy in the distance walking to the border with a suitcase in tow.  I couldn’t tell for sure but I was pretty certain it was him considering this was very obviously a tourist walking to the border at 3am – that doesn’t happen so often.  Sure enough, it was him so we waited until he got through customs and immigration and ran over to him when he got through the building.  We all exchanged big hugs and then heard why it had taken him an hour longer than he had told us. 

The way the border is set up between Mexico and Belize you go through the Mexican border first and then there is an entire little commerce area after that border and before the actual Belize border called the Free Zone.  If you don’t realize what is going on it can be a bit confusing.  Well, U. Charlie thought he was through with the borders since he was told that he was in Belize (technically you are in Belize once past the Mexican border and over the river but there still is an official border to go through on the Belize side).  So he camped out at one of the casinos before the actual border and was waiting for us.  Finally someone saw him sitting there with his big suitcase at 2:30am and asked what he was doing.  He told the guy that he was waiting for a ride from his sister – he was promptly informed that he had not quite reached the Belize border yet.  So he got up and lugged his bag along the road until he finally saw the border which is where we finally found him.  We were so glad to see him because we were starting to think the worst.  We got back to the house and stayed up for another hour or so just chatting and gave U. Charlie his first Belikin beer. 

For the next few days we really tried to show off Belize.  It seemed to work because he loved it here.  The major trip was a boat outing with our friend Ken and another guy we had befriended from Canada named Rod.  They both have small boats that we decided to take from one lagoon to the Progresso lagoon.  Then we were going to stop by another new friend’s house.  Just a nice day trip and it was the first time that I would be on it.  We left late morning packing our beer, rum and minimal food – we left from the Copper Bank lagoon (off Rod’s dock) and headed out.  It was a beautiful day and actually not just my first time on these lagoons, but also my first time on a boat in Belize.  The ride was fantastic – to get from the Copper Bank lagoon to the Progresso lagoon there is a serious of thin waterways that you weave in and out of and with a small boat it’s pretty incredible.  It really was a day full of laughing, drinking and general fun.  My uncle got along really well with everyone and was thoroughly enjoying himself.  I think the smiles were actually plastered to our faces for the entire day.  We stopped off at Bruce’s (American) dock to say hi and have a couple drinks.   I had never met him and his wife but my mom had once and she sure thought he was a kick.  We were warned that he can tell a mean story and will have you laughing the whole time you’re around him.  By the time we docked the boat we were all a little tipsy and I was pretty determined to not drink anymore.  Little did I know that not drinking at Bruce’s really isn’t an option.  It only took a few minutes to realize that this guy is an entertainer.  I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone who can tell a story like Bruce.  We were thoroughly entertained the entire time and by the time I left I was drunk and my face hurt from laughing so much.  I immediately took a liking to Bruce and his wife – he’s the kind of guy who really couldn’t care less what you think about him.  He says it how it is and that is refreshing in an odd way.  They were currently working on their house – he was in charge of building it and the two of them were putting in most of the labor themselves.  They had a party room with thatched roof already standing and then living in the motor home they had brought down while they built the rest of the house. 

After a long and entertaining day in the sun we headed back to Rod’s place – the sun was setting and the water was gorgeous.   We spent most of the night out on Rod’s beach talking and laughing and having the insane type of philosophical conversations that you can only have when you’ve had way too much to drink.  Yes, I did fall backwards while looking up at the stars to convince my uncle that the prominent constellation you see in this part of the world is Orion and not the Big Dipper.  No, he didn’t believe me at the time but a couple weeks later admitted that I may have been right. 

The rest of the trip consisted of impromptu poker games and general entertainment – U. Charlie loved it and we hope to see him back very soon.  The next visitor on deck would be my dad and sadly this visit would cause some major fireworks between Will and me.  It really would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

When we pulled up to the house it was totally covered in mud due to all the rain water still standing so we cautiously made our way to the front gate. Their dogs started barking at us, all five were giving us their most ferocious sounding barks and, to be honest, it was slightly intimidating. Especially considering one of their dogs was about the size of me – probably taller than me if it stood on it’s hind legs. That was not the dog they were letting go of though. The owner of the dogs came out quickly once we had arrived and greeted us. She told us not to mind all the barking – they were just doing their job. She told us that she would invite us in but their yard was currently a mud hole so we just stayed behind the gate to look at the dog. She brought Coffee around, a blonde dog with pretty brown eyes and a little timid. The owner told us that Coffee was shy around new people, but would quickly warm up to us. She looked nice enough and we were told that the other dog, Maya, was just like Coffee except a darker, reddish-brown color and a little slower – whatever that meant. Both dogs were local Belizean dogs, or pot-lickers as called by everyone in Belize (most dogs owned by the gringos are brought in or bred from dogs brought in). We agreed that we would take both Coffee and Maya so the plan was for the owners to walk them over to our house the next day.

So now we were going to have vicious dogs to protect our fences at night – ha! Likely. The next day we hear a chorus of barking dogs about mid-afternoon and automatically assume that it must be Maya and Coffee walking to our house with every other neighbor dog barking at them. Sure enough, our assumption was correct and we see the dogs on their leashes coming around the corner as happy as can be. I felt a little sad for them since they were going to be leaving the owners that they knew and loved. We got the dogs in the gate and saw Maya for the first time, sure enough, she was a dark brown color with some reds sprinkled in. This is when I became a little concerned because unlike Coffee who had eyes with a little character behind them, Maya’s eyes sort of looked blank. Maya was definitely the more dominant of the two, they were both about a year old and female. Coffee took the backseat to Maya and their owners told us that we may even have to feed them separately because sometimes Maya doesn’t let Coffee eat her food. What it really boiled down to was an extreme jealously problem. Maya can not handle Coffee to have anything that she doesn’t, including attention.

We quickly learned what it meant when the previous owner of the two dogs said Maya was “slower.” That blank look in her eyes simply meant that she was not, at all, an intelligent dog. She did bark though and that was the main goal so we were fine with it – for a couple weeks – then it got very old. I love animals and I hate to say mean things about my new dog but I have basically encountered the dumbest dog ever. We were told that she is un-trainable. So now we basically have two dogs that eat a lot of food, bark only at other dogs, children, passing horses and the neighbors. Oh, and the cats are completely traumatized – they used to go outside all the time and they loved it. Now, they sit at the screen doors looking out and hissing whenever a dog comes in to sight. It may take awhile for them to warm up to the dogs. So we have a situation where the cats all want outside and the dogs both want inside – neither is getting their way at the moment. I guess the dogs are all for perception. If we have them behind the fence people think that they are guarding the property – little do they know that if someone were to hop the fence those dogs would probably quickly become best friends with the would-be thief.

Coffee

Maya

Coffee and Maya want in

This really wasn’t a big deal until a few weeks in because the problem isn’t just the restaurant’s menu selection, but combined with the fact that that all the grocery stores sell the same items it becomes a bit boring.  My meals all start to look and taste the same.  I suppose this could be a good thing if I was a person who didn’t care much about food, but that is not me – I LOVE food.  Even my cats miss the various treats I used to give them from the take-out food I brought home, so their diet has been dramatically changed as well. 

For the first few weeks of being in Belize we did not have a stove or a grill and no propane to power either so even if we did have them we could not use them.  So we ate out for every meal.  Our first pick was a cute little place called RD’s – a family restaurant on one of the main roads in town.  It was close to our house and easy to walk to which was essential if we wanted to cut down on the blisters that were showing up on our feet from the miles and miles of walking we were getting in due to the lack of a vehicle.  Dinner was the first meal that we had at RD’s when we headed over there it was dark and rainy, on the walk over our legs were being speckled with mud but by now we were getting used to this look so it didn’t bother us too much.  We finally got there, ducked under the overhang to get out of the rain and sat down; it is a very nice, clean and inviting establishment so we were looking forward to dinner.  The owner, Rick came out to greet us and hand us our menus.  We put our umbrellas down and introduced ourselves.  He was very friendly and very willing to give us advice about where to go to get certain supplies, who to call for propane and just gave us some general advice about doing business in the area.  He is a Belizean but not originally from Corozal, he moved to Corozal from Belize City.  As we looked at the menu little did we know that these would be the same 12 food items on every menu so for that particular dining experience we weren’t yet jaded and we enthusiastically picked something off the menu to enjoy. 

I chose the chicken quesadilla, which was absolutely delicious.  Unfortunately another truth about food in Corozal is that you will never get the same taste as the last time you ordered that particular item.  People told me this and I didn’t really believe them at first but it was soon evident when that delicious chicken quesadilla was never ever quite as good again.  So from that moment on I typically don’t even try to find something unique; I take a quick look at the menu just in case, but then go for rice and beans, the dish of Belize.  There are some stars out there in town, but when there’s only two or three even they get old after awhile.  One of the nice places right on the bay, Vamp’s, has a fantastic pan fried fish and chicken fajitas.  If you ever find yourself in Corozal, Belize make sure you stop in there.  So because of the fact that there is no real selection of food in this town we were slightly optimistic that our restaurant would do well – we would be serving something totally different and without the main staples of the typical Belizean diet.  We chose to be optimistic, but in reality this could mean we do really well or completely sink.  This was still to be seen.  We had two main reactions from people when we told them what we planned on serving.  The first was, “You’re not going to serve rice and beans?!?  You have to serve rice and beans!”  The second went something like, “Oh!  That’s fantastic!  We need a good burger place in Corozal.  Something new!”

On the bright side of this whole situation is that the food supplies we need to get for the construction of our hamburgers is all organic, hormone free and totally green.  The produce is all local and pesticide free and the meat is also local beef that is grass fed and hormone free.  It is a little sad that it costs so much more to eat like this at home but here it’s pretty much the only option.  So I have found a bright side to the state of food in Corozal.  In fact, I’ve noticed that due to lack of infrastructure here, green living is a common side effect.  Many people grow their own produce, all coke/beer bottles are glass and recycled, alternate energy in the form of solar and wind are commonly used and buses/bicycles are the main mode of transportation. 

So as we struggle to appreciate a more simple way of eating we also continue to work on getting our restaurant set up.  The walls are freshly painted, the sign is completed, the tables and chairs are polished, the grill is in and it almost resembles an actual restaurant.  Scotty’s Bar and Grill would be up and running in a couple of weeks. 

The Bar - Before Cleaning

The Bar After Cleaning

The Sign is up