Flores Guatemala

I told you I was behind in my blogging. Sorry to bombard you but I'm trying to catch up. We are in Guatemala now. We had to postpone our journey here by 4 days due to Bob's injury. A couple of weeks ago he cut his foot on glass. We were playing a frisbee game called FrisKnok. He sliced his arch good. He had 10 stitches put in and was layed up a good part of when Cindy & Ginger were here. With that being said, we couldn't leave the island until the stitches were pulled out. Bob's foot is still healing; not quite closed all the way but he is making daily progress. We left the island on Friday morning. I wish I could say all went smoothly but no. I had the the alarm for a 5:30 wake up call. We had a 7:00 a.m. ferry to catch. When I woke it was 6:30 a.m. What the hell? Guess it helps to set a.m. and not p.m. Fortunately for us our neighbor Claire was up. She had no problem taking us to the water taxi. Amidst all the hurry of last minute packing we forgot our breakfast in the refrigerator, Bob forgot half his antibiotics on the counter and we left without leaving the keys behind. Nice, huh? O'well! We made the ferry which was very important. We had to be at the US Embassy by 11:00 a.m. to pick up our new passports. It's Friday and they close early. That went very smoothly. We were at the bus terminal waiting for our bus to Guatemala border when we were approached by what Bob thought was a shuttle driver offering a ride in a van. Sounded great in lieu of the old Blue Bird school bus. We're talking more comfortable ride & half the time. But his first price was $25 usd per person. This man is crazy. We let him know we had lived in Belize for a month & had talked to several locals on what the "real" prices were. So after several minutes of negotiations, we thought we had beat him down to a great rate of $35 Belizian dollars. SCORE! Turns out it was only the 2 of us on what we thought was a shuttle. That should have been our first clue. Bob told me later that he was wondering how the driver could make much profit from only 2 passengers. Cost of gas in Belize is about $3 usd per gallon & we were traveling around 60 miles one way. We had a very pleasant conversation w/ the driver until Bob went to pay...that's when the deal went south. Huge misunderstanding. The taxi driver was talking US dollars and Bob was talking Belize dollars. Belize's currency is dollars, just like the states. Bob was pissed to say the least! Reluctantly & with a few harsh words, Bob shoved the xtra dollars in the man's hand. Live & learn! So if you travel to Belize, make real sure you're negotiating in the same currency. Once we crossed the border we took a shuttle/ "Collectivo" to the city of Flores. It was 15 passenger mini van. No A/C and a driver from hell. Honestly, I thought we were going to die. I told him several times to slow down...he just laughed. The roads were horrible and for some reason he felt he needed to drive 70 miles (I'm guessing) and trying to avoid large pot holes. I just knew the van was going to flip over. That was horrible. We made it Flores full of dust and found our hotel. This place is nice. Flores is actually an island. I had no idea until we got here. There's a lot of construction going on but this place is going to be beautiful. The lake is huge and so clear. We have a hotel right on the lake so we get a constant breeze which makes for cool evenings. While here we plan to visit the Tikal Ruins and hang for a few days before moving south to Antigua. Bye for now. Stay tuned for Tikal pics. Love - B&B

Chicken Drop in Belize

Wednesday nights host the

big event called the

Chicken Drop at

Pier Lounge.

Tourist and locals gather around starting around 6:00 p.m. to draw numbers. Each number cost $1.00 or $.50 US. You can buy as many numbers as you want. They can have as few as 3 rounds up to 7 or more. Just depends how many folks turn up for this event and play.

What happens is someone out of the crowd volunteers or is chosen to take the chicken out of a basket. He/She must perform a little ritual which means lift the chicken up and to the right, to the left (without getting the chicken dizzy) then last they must blow on the chicken's butt. They say it helps make him poop. The person then puts the chicken in the large cage and hopes that he poops on your number. If he does, the person holding the number wins $100 bez.

Guess what folks...We had a lucky winner. Ginger! As a winner she had the privilege of cleaning the chicken's poop along with winning some beer money. Way to go!

Everyone gathers

around the cage

and cheers the

chicken on.

Basically scares the

shit out of him

The link below are more pictures for your viewing.

http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=58f2ee52bf9853e22a944dfefaeb216b

In between rounds the

CocoNut Man appears

and performs for tips.

Very Acrobatic

Did I mention

he only has

5 teeth.

We're missing our guests

I'm so behind on blogging...YIKES.

We had guests and I gotta tell you that is such a special occassion for us. So thank you to our friends that came to the island, we cherish your visit.

Mike & Jill

were the 1st

to arrive.

We took them on a snorkeling/diving excursion to Hol Chan and Stingray Isle.

Bob & Jill are the divers while Mike & I snorkeled. Hol Chan is a Marine Preserved area meaning no fishing. In fact fisherman come to this area after fishing and throw out left overs. So fish, rays, sharks and turtles come when they hear boats in the area.

School of fish

Saw plenty of

stingrays

And Reef Sharks

We're told they

don't bite

In fact our guide went down and wrestled one of the sharks and brought him to the surface, since Bob & I were the 1st in the water we had the opportunity to pet one of these creatures. So smooth to the touch.

Having a cocktail at

Tacklebox.

We enjoyed a day of Reef fishing. The day was pretty windy but we still had success in hooking lots of fish. The fish we brought home Mike made us this amazing bowl of Ceviche. Awe Man...My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was awesome. Thank you, Mike! Why didn't we take a picture of that?

Gus arrived

April 10th.

We really felt bad for Gus his 1st full day with us. He arrived on a Friday and we had him up very early on Saturday morning to get back on the water ferry and head back to the mainland. (He had just come from there). We had a Cave Tubing excursion planned and we knew he didn't want to miss it. This tour was very cool. The excursion started with 40 minute hike thru the jungles. Our tour guide was very thorough in pointing out the trees and benefits or medicinal purpose each plant. Have you guys ever eaten a termite? Neither had we until this excursion. The guide did it so why not us. They're crunchy and very minty. I kind of liked it once I got passed the initial shock of what I was eating. No one from our group cared to experiment with the tasting. You guys missed out. After our hike we walked to an area where we put our tubes in the crisp cool water. It was a hot day and we had a nice little hike so it didn't take long to adjust. We floated or should I say "paddled" our way thru caves (the river was low). I gotta say when we first booked this trip; I wasn't too excited. I'm a bit clausterphobic and the thought of entering caves didn't appeal to me. To my surprise the caves were very large and not as dark as I thought they would be. We did have lights mounted on our heads but they didn't really produce much lighting. We saw pottery dated back as far as the 1700's, of course what's a cave without bats, ancient paintings on the cave walls, and stalagtights. It was very cool and we all enjoyed it. We made our way back to the island that evening pooped.

What the hell is this?

Gus, man you're

on an island!

Tanks, flip flops

and shorts...

That's it!

Gus is a lot younger than us and he liked staying out till all hours of the night and single so, I guess he was dressing to impress. I gotta say he was the best smelling guy on the island.

What a trooper too. He may have partied till 4:00 a.m. but he slowly got up early every morning to enjoy the day with the rest of us.

He did have to take

a little cat nap

while waiting

for our Capt

to take us

out fishing

Wide awake now.

Gus' first stab

at fishing.

He looks like a pro

We love you, Gus!

Cindy, Ginger & Richard showed up next and ready to party. They wasted no time checking out the town and local hangouts. Everybody on the island knew them by the time they left.

Fido's was one

of our local hangouts We danced many of

nights to this band

Coco Loco's was

another favorite.

Who doesn't love a swim up bar that

overlooks the ocean?

Cindy and Ginger treated us to a day of fishing. Unfortunately, I should have let Bob booked this trip. My attempt was horrible. We didn't get the hours we paid for and the fishing was lousy. Ginger & I were the only 2 that caught anything. We caught some large Barracuda's. That was my largest fish to bring in. The only positive from this trip was that I learned how to cook Barracuda. This is a good fish. I know not everyone is a fan of this fish but if they gave it a try; I'm thinking they may have a change of heart. It's a white fish and didn't have the fishy taste. I cooked it 2 ways...Frying and pan saute. Both came out nice.

Cindy giving her hand at it.

A boat ride is always good!

Mike & Jill had left before Cindy & Ginger arrived. Gus' visit overlapped w/everyone so he got a good taste of different party levels. Cindy, Gus and Ginger all left on the same day, Sunday. Bob & I hung with Gus till the wee hours of the night on Saturday.

Ginger and Cindy...well see for yourself.

Lights out by 8:00 p.m.

But in their defense...They partied all day long starting around 10:30 a.m. - 6:00 ish. They were looking for the best margarita on the island.

We hope everyone enjoyed their stay with us. I know we loved their company. We look forward to more visits from them.

Tia Luz

Hi everyone! It's been awhile I know. I've been entertaining my friends for the past 2 weeks and had a fabulous time. But before I get into their visit; I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of my Tia Luz. (Tia means Aunt in Spanish for my English only friends). My Aunt Luz (actually my Great Aunt) is an amazing person. She's 80ish, beautiful and learning so much about computers. She recently bought a computer and requested a headset for Christmas which she got. This lady has learned to used Skype and calls me. She has signed up on Yahoo so we can instant message one another and she using email like crazy. She sends the best jokes and emails. I can't tell you how proud I am of her and how she's willing to learn and get in tuned with all this technology. But, she surprised me AGAIN! She sent me an E-Card wishing Bob & I a Happy Anniversary. I was blown away. Thank You, Tia Luz for being so Internet suave. I love hearing from you in all forms and fashion. We love you dearly!

First wave of guests

Hey everyone, how's it going? Bob & I have been busy; we're expecting our first wave of guests today; Mike & his friend Jill. We are so excited. They should be here around 1:30 and we'll meet them at the water taxi pier. Bob "Mr. Tour Guide" has been researching all kinds of tours and activities for our guests. Both Mike & Jill are divers so I know that tops the list plus we have a fishing boat booked for Saturday. I gotta give Bob lots of credit; he's good at tracking things down. You should see his list of activities to do...includes snorkeling, diving, fishing, beach bbq and cave tubing, recommended restaurants and of course it's Easter weekend...lots going on in town. We'll have more guests arriving next week so they can do a little or as much as they want. Everyone knows how much we miss our family & friends so we're very excited to spend the next 2 weeks visiting our friends. I can't wait to give them each a big hug. We have our camera packed with us now at all times so, I will start taking some pics and sharing the fun times in the near future. O'guess what? What's one of my favorite pastimes? POKER. The bar across the street host a game every now & then. I had told them that if they ever got a game to come find me. Last night there was a knock at the door around 9:00 saying a game was going to start if I wanted in. I said, "let me think about that, YES!" Bob was already nodding his head while watching tv so we wasn't up to it. I was out the door and played till 2:30 a.m. There was only 6 of us but had a fantastic time plus I more than quadrupled my money. Gotta like that. Cash games are so different from tournament style but I enjoyed those boys buying in over & over again. Show me your money! For those of you not sure what I'm talking about "Cash" vs "Tourny".... Cash Game - There's a buy in for your chips which last night ours was $20. If you lose your chips you can buy another $20 to keep playing. Also, in a cash game...you can walk away at anytime. You're not waiting to have a 1st & 2nd place winner. You can play one hand and decide to cash in. Tourny Game - There's a buy in for chips but once you lose your money your out. The other player keep going until there's a winner. Not much fun if you're the 1st person out. You either go home at that point or wait & watch the others finish up and start a new game. So, I did enjoy the Cash game. Hadn't played that way in a long time. Well I guess I should be closing out for now. I need to whip up some fresh guacamole & salsa for Mike & Jill. I need to have a little something for when they get here. Just wanted to say Hi and tell everyone to have a wonderful Easter Holiday. Love you - B&B

Pampering tips for ladies (& men)

Howdy! I think I found a new calling. As many of you know when we were living on the island of Utila (Honduras) last May I had big time problems with my hair. My hair turns to dreadlocks over night. The salt air mixed with my thick course mane is disastrous. LOL! Today I'm not wearing my hair as long as I did on Utila but still fighting that "dead" feel. Thanks to an Oprah show I saw a few months back which got me interested in Homemade Masks for hair and face. I've been experimenting and having so much fun trying different things out. I thought I'd share a few things with you ladies. Like I said, Oprah was my inspiration. On her show she talked about the benefits of raw eggs. We all know they are full of proteins but did you know they make excellent masks? I separate the egg white from the yolk and apply the whites for 15-20 mins. At first I was only applying to my face now I apply to my neck, chest, hands and nails. Anyway, leave the whites on for 15-20 mins and rinse off. Next apply the yolk and leave on for 30 mins (longer if you have time). You can just feel your skin tightening. It's amazing and one egg is all you need. You will love what it does for you nails. I know who has time to do this? I do but, I've also had time to look up other "natural" ingredients used for masks. I thought I'd share some of my favorites although, I have a long list of others to try too. The egg wash is a little time consuming but definitely noticed sun spots on my hands fade and my skin tighten. But, my next favorite is dissolving 3 Tbls spoons of sugar into 4 Tbls of warm water and applying to face. Double the batch and use on your neck, chest & hands. Hands need to be pampered too. Leave mask on for 15 mins and rinse with warm water followed by cool water. Leaves your skin feeling soft. Of course an avocado mask is fantastic too. Just mash the meat of the avocado into a creamy texture and apply for 15-20 mins. But did you know that bananas work wonders for wrinkles. This one was a little messy so make sure to have a towel nearby. Mash a 1/4 of a banana until creamy and apply to face. Again leave on 15-20 mins, rinse with warm followed by cool water. I had fun with that one. These two are simple smashing no need to mix with anything and your skin feels great. Next Hair Masks. Now not everyone has thick course hair like mine so this may not be the type of mask you'll need for your type of hair. But if you do have hair like mine...You'll love this. Whisk 5 Tbls of Olive Oil with 2 full eggs. Massage thoroughly & cover w/plastic shower cap. Leave on for 30 mins & shampoo out. This mask can get a little messy too as you sit and wait. The heat from your scalp will cause some of the oil to be runny so have a small towel near by. The 1st time I did I was worried after I shampooed. My hair felt tangled but I followed w/my normal conditioning process and wow...my hair was silky and shiny. Loved it. For those just wanting to put shine back in their hair try this one. Mix 1 tsp of honey with 4 cups of warm water. Make sure it's well dissolved. Use as a rinse. After shampooing apply the Honey mixture and don't rinse out. Style hair as normal. Of course I had to condition before applying my honey mixture. Really liked the feel of this one too. I know kind of corny but this has been fun for me. What else am I gonna do? Let me know if you have any favorites or try any of these. Also, don't forget to pamper your neck, chest, hand and nails. Since using the eggs on my nails...they are long and strong. O' I had also learned, tried and it works a trick about clear nail polish. Mince a 2-3 cloves of garlic and put in your favorite clear nail polish. Let it sit for 7 days before using. After polishing your nails apply a coat of clear nail polish and see how strong your nails are. So you see my new calling... A tester! Who knows maybe I'll treat my guests to a little pampering when I open up my tiny resort. Hope you take the time to pamper yourself. Love -Bonnie. (Bob took no part on the testing- I tried)

Trip to the Embassy!

Time to renew our passports...Can't believe 10 years is already up. Every country has a US Embassy and the process is very easy to renew from what we read on the internet. But still Bob & I find out not everything we do goes so smoothly. We headed out early on our bikes to catch the 7:00 a.m. ferry to Belize City. My legs don't peddle that fast in the morning so, we barely made it. Once we got to Belize City we had to take a taxi to the bus terminal where we would catch a "school bus" to Belmopan; the capitol of Belize and home to the US Embassy. The bus ride was only an hour and not bad at all. We tend to research tons of things on the web but for some reason we failed to look up the exact location of the Embassy. We just assumed it was in the main market square. Bob asked a cap driver if the Embassy was in walking distance; No, was the answer we got back. We walked across the street where we saw the little local bus & asked if he stops at the Embassy. He said, sure and we hopped on...Not sure why, we didn't have our photos or money for the passport process. Well, the Embassy wasn't that far but it would have been longer than I would want to walk. What we hadn't planned on the Embassy being in the middle of nowhere. There was absolutely nothing around this compound. We had to ask our bus driver to take us back where we started which was the main market area we found out. The bank was there and the several photo places within a corner of each other. We used one of the places the Embassy recommended called Venus. The guy in there was very helpful and let us know we weren't dress appropriately for our picture to be taken. Bob had on a white tank top while I had on a beige one. We needed a shirt w/sleeves and had to be bright in color to go against the white backdrop. One more item we didn't research. UGH! We did find a flea market around the corner and bought a shirt that both Bob & I could share. Nothing fancy....A coral/orange t-shirt w/sleeves. We went back to the photo shop and got our pictures taken. (Bob & I wearing the same shirt on our passports crack me up) Now we have money and photo in hand and returned back to the Embassy. From this point everything went very smoothly. No lines to wait in....we walked in, filled out some paperwork and handed them our cash and they told us our new passports will be ready 7-10 days. We'll head back to the Embassy on our way to Guatemala to pick them up. We left Belmopan quickly and spent a little time in Belize City. Cruise ships stop here so there where tons of tourist shops. We had a fabulous lunch (chinese food) and made our way back to the water taxi and back to the island. Another thing we learned while riding the water taxi....NEVER sit in the front of the boat. The water taxis are enclosed except for the back end. The front is very hot and can be closterphobic. (which I am). So always fight your way up to the front of the line and get a seat in the back of the boat. That's what everyone else is doing. Other than that we made it home safely and in time for Happy Hour. Take care & safe to travels to everyone. Love, B&B