green

Tropical storm Alex blew through here a few days ago-- we got a little bit of high winds and a lot of rain.  Now everything is amazingly, intensely green.

This little iguana was taking a bit of a sun bath and let me take his picture before zooming off into the bushes.....

He looks so prehistoric, doesn't he?

Is anyone in the states watching the World Cup?  Belize pretty much shuts down when there is a game on.  This morning the guy at the post office gave me someone else's mail because he was trying not to miss any of the netherlands vs slovakia game.  On the up side, he only charged me 95 cents tax to get my package-- which is the least amount I've ever had to pay...

Don't worry Napoleon, I'm sure there's a babe out there for you too. Peace out.

Ever wonder where Kip and his girlfriend ended up?  

Yep.  Cooking BBQ and rice and beans right here in Belize.

jamaica juice

At the market last saturday I bought some dried jamaica (pronounced ha-my-ka) flowers to make juice from.  The juice is really popular in Mexico, but luckily we can get flowers here too.

you can boil the flowers and then strain the water, but I had some cheesecloth and made a little bundle.

When the water boils and is a nice deep red color you add a bit of sugar (it doesn't take that much) and done!

You know when you were little and wanted the "red" popsicle, which really had no specific fruit flavor, just "red?"  That's the best description I have for what this juice tastes like.  It's really refreshing when it's cold, a nice change from water or lime juice.  I'm pretty sure you can get jamaica tea bags in the states if anyone wants to try it.....

hello, pig

So the other day Daniel wandered in and asked what I thought of maybe getting a pig to raise for a few months, and then slaughter for meat.  I told him as long as it was far from the house (pigs stink) I didn't much care because it would be his pet, not mine.

Literally 30 minutes later I went out to our goat pen to help with evening feeding, and there was a pig.

Daniel swears he got the pig after running the idea by me.....

Anyways, I am trying to stay away from this pig.  Because I think pigs are kinda cute, and they have the  best little noses.  And I cannot become fond of what will be my dinner.  It makes me feel too guilty.

I couldn't resist a name though----

meet penelope.  

saturday at the market

3 pounds beans

onions

purple, red, and green peppers

potatoes

bananas

avocado

pitajaya

dried jamaica flowers 

--------------------------------

$10 US

So, what the heck is a pitajaya? (pronounce it peet-a-hi-ya)  It's that weird pink fruit behind the beans in the picture.

This also is called the dragon fruit, and comes in a yellow version too.  But I like the pink, because this is what it looks like when you cut it up:

You peel the skin off like a banana, then eat the inside, seeds and all.  It is sweet and mild- kind of like a blueberry, only slightly slimy.   The yellow version has white insides.....not nearly as interesting.  I'm planning on blending it up with some orange juice and freezing it into popsicles- yum! 

my favorite belizean drink

I drink massive quantities of lime juice.  We have a few lime trees on the farm, so whenever we run low on our stash of limes I just send Daniel out for a walk.  I think lime juice has a mellower taste then lemonade (I like lime juice a lot better).  Plus, it's just more belizean.

Lime Juice (one perfect glass)

1 golf- ball size lime

3 heaping spoonfuls of sugar

water

ice

tiny tiny dash of salt

Filter the seeds out with your fingers as you squeeze the lime.... This takes a LOT of sugar, so don't be afraid to pile it on.  You can always dilute it later or add more lime juice.

Enjoy!

  

golden-fronted woodpecker

Daniel got a bird book for his birthday (the absolutely wonderful "Birds of Belize")  and we enjoy identifying some of the many kinds of birds we see here.  This type of woodpecker is fairly common here.  This is a female, and she is tending her nest.  I really wanted to climb up and see the babies, but this nest happens to be in the front lawn of Mount Carmel Church.  I didn't really think all of Benque needed to hear about that gringa climbing the palm tree.....

more sunsets

Saturday at the market

1 pound onions

1 pound cucumbers

1 pound carrots

1 pound potatoes

bananas

avacodo

pineapple

oregano plant

some yellow dishes

--------------------------------

$6 US

I'm not counting the movies, because of course I would never buy non-original copies of dvds..... but just in case you were wondering Shrek 4 is good.  The fat cat was amazing.

things I have been up to

We have puppies.  They are cute.

We started off with 9 and are down to 3.  These things are only a month old.  I swear they grow over night.

I got a sewing machine, and have been making little skirts for my 4 year old niece.

She didn't take this skirt off for 4 days.

Meanwhile, in the next pasture.....

The goats are training hard for the Ruta Maya.

They start them young.

I'm thinking they have a good chance, though, cause I don't think there will be many more participants in the "goats in a dory" category.....

the ants go marching two by two (million)

This was the wall in my kitchen a few nights ago.  All those black dots? Ants.

Ants in Belize are just a different entity from those nice black ants we have in Pennsylvania, which mostly just build little ant hills in the driveway.  First, there are about a million different kind of ants here,  like leaf cutter ants, red ants, and army ants.  Second, every kind of ant, even the tiny tiniest ant, bites. Hard.

These are army ants (using my curtain rod as their own personal superhighway).  Ever had to read Leinigan and the Ants as a short story in high school?  I did, but I didn't think that huge armies of ants that wander the country existed outside of Africa... we have them in Belize.  Basically, these ants don't have a nice ant hill.  They wander around all the time in huge, huge groups looking for things to eat.  They happen to wander into our house usually about once a month.

When they come in, you move.  They won't hurt you as long as you leave them alone, but if you squish one they will all come after you.  So I just move outside or to the other side of the house and hope that they don't get into my bed (cause one or two always get left behind) and watch various insects and small animals flee like from an oncoming fire.  This is about the only time I don't squash spiders when I see them.  I feel bad for them.

Then, after about 20 minutes, they all leave.  Don't ask me how a million ants communicate among themselves to move on to the next place...

And for those who think ants are gross, here is a nice sunset picture :