BEaUtiful Belize

We are here and things are going well.  I know that I need to put the last couple of days of the road trip up but that takes time and right now I am in the moment...present...  We are slowly settling in and becoming in Belize.  It's hard to believe we have been here for two weeks yesterday.  Time is flying.

Our days are filled with education and we have successfully tackled the home school challenge for two weeks.  Not just the classroom type but Belize and our backyard in particular presents endless hours of math and science exploration.  We have seen all types of birds, geckos, iguanas and reportedly have a crocodile in the canal in the back which has sparked a fascination with iguanas, crocodiles and alligators (for a while we thought it might be an alligator).  The kids now opt to watch animal planet over cartoon network and we have "ironically" been catching all kinds of specials on crocs and alligators.  After researching online to determine whether our hidden friend was a crocodile or alligator we discovered that there are two crocodile eco-sanctuaries in Belize...one in San Pedro and one in our neighborhood!!!  So me being me I called the number that was listed on the site and low and behold I reach the owner/caretaker/director guy and we have an educational tour scheduled for next Thursday!!!!  We are so excited!  The kids have come up with about 5 questions each including "does it do any tricks"-Mazz and "do they eat fish or people"- Jaah'z.  Pics from the field trip to come...

The people are great and have been incredibly helpful but there is a lot to be said about a little perseverance and girl friends with contacts in Belize.  On our own we have navigated getting butane (our primary source of fuel for cooking and hot water) after the tank unexpectedly went dry and getting cable turned on and with a little help internet, the van fixed and oil change (check engine light came on but thankfully was minor and we got fixed with no trouble) and finally got fish!!!  One thing I have found amazing is though I may have expected certain things to be a certain way we still thankfully been provided for.  I think that is part of my lesson of being here...just because things don't happen the way I expect them to doesn't mean that they won't happen and possibly be better than I expected...

It is raining at the moment and although it only cools it down for a second it still counts in my book.  It is hot!!!!  Not unbearably hot unless you factor in no AC.  We have been able to get into a habit of opening windows and regulate the fans we have.  Nonetheless we have had the brief rain showers for a few days with it raining for no more than 15 minutes before stopping.  I wonder will we ever have a need for these light jackets and look forward to slightly cooler days...

A few days or so ago I had a food crisis after being unsuccessful in getting fish and feeling like all we were eating is potatoes, rice, beans and fruit.  Now that's not to say there are not options; we have had callaloo that i ruined, spinach that I cleaned poorly, yummy slightly overpriced brocolli and squash and carrots that I loved but the kids complained endlessly about.  So after talking with a girlfriend that is in nutrition school I decided to really embrace some of my longer held desires of experimenting more with food.  Since then we have made tortillas, pancakes, hamburger buns, black bean veggie burgers and of course chocolate chip cookies from scratch (and if you were wondering what to send in a care package I vote for semi sweet chocolate chips).  It has opened up our palate and enlivened our meal times!  Next week on the menu we have lentils: loaf, tacos, and sloppy joes and MAYBE homemade pizza...shhhhhh....don't tell the kids...

All and all the experience thus far has been amazing...

Blogs still to come:

The Carnival/Parade
Belize Journey: Days 5-6
The Intern
Video Chatting in Belize 101

Check out more pics below of our backyard paradise....